Kiyohara jumped down from the treetop with Rin in his arms and landed in front of Orochimaru, Kakashi, and the others converging on their position.
"Y–you can put me… down now, Kiyohara."
Rin lowered her head slightly. Being carried like that made her embarrassed and a little shy.
Especially with Kakashi right there watching. What did it look like, being in another man's arms?
Kiyohara glanced down at her and couldn't help but chuckle.
In this world, even though most girls were shinobi, they were still far more conservative than many women he'd known in his previous life.
An unexpected contrast, really.
"Rin, are you embarrassed?" he asked lightly as he gently set her down.
He noticed the flush on her cheeks and how she avoided meeting his eyes.
"Not at all," Rin said quickly, shaking her head in denial.
She straightened up and tucked a loose strand of brown hair behind her ear.
Kiyohara noticed not just her cheeks, but even her ears and the fine hairs at the nape of her neck were reddened.
But this wasn't the time to linger on such things. The sounds of clashing jutsu and combat still shook the battlefield.
The enemy wasn't pressing in yet only because Orochimaru's presence was holding them at bay.
"Kiyohara, just now—what did you use?" Kakashi asked, eyes still scanning for threats.
He was genuinely curious. Kiyohara had never shown power like that before.
He'd initially assumed it was some technique Orochimaru had secretly given him, but seeing Orochimaru's expression earlier, that obviously wasn't the case.
Orochimaru had even asked what bloodline Kiyohara possessed, which made Kakashi suspect it might be some kekkei genkai that boosted physical speed.
The vast shinobi world held countless bloodline limits.
Most appeared through mutation.
If they could be passed down steadily to descendants, they formed clans—like the Uchiha and Hyūga.
Kiyohara knew there was no hiding it now.
He sheathed his sword, let his face harden a bit, and decided to push it all onto that all-purpose explanation:
"bonds."
"I don't really know what happened myself," he said. "I just saw Rin in danger, and my mind went blank. Suddenly, I could control this iron sand… I guess it must be some bloodline limit that awakened."
He pinned it on "strong desire to protect a comrade" and "accident," which were both perfectly aligned with the Will of Fire narrative—and the least suspicious explanation.
As he spoke, he stretched out his hand.
Thin streams of iron sand rose from the ground and gathered into a visible cloud in his palm.
"?"
Rin's eyes flew wide.
Her back still throbbed with pain; she'd been thinking about how to bandage it.
Now she suddenly heard that Kiyohara had awakened a bloodline because of her.
Kakashi was silent for a long moment.
He remembered Obito awakening the true power of the Sharingan to protect him.
Now, seeing this…
Could Kiyohara's awakening really be the same thing?
He thought of Kiyohara's face, of his father's death, and of Obito's last words:
"Those who break the rules are trash, but those who abandon their comrades are worse than trash."
Could it really be that protecting comrades could trigger new power?
"Heh-heh… how fascinating. That's Magnet Release, isn't it, Kiyohara-kun?" Orochimaru said.
He'd seen it before—Toroi of Kumo, and Rasa of Suna.
Both used magnetism to control iron sand or gold dust.
"But let me create a safer environment to talk."
He formed seals.
Poof, poof, poof.
Several shadow clones of Orochimaru appeared and immediately moved to intercept the approaching Mist shinobi.
Unless they ran into someone truly above Orochimaru's level, the Mist ninja were cut down easily.
The Seven Swordsmen were still on their way.
Uzushio was the size of an entire country; they weren't exactly around the corner.
This sector just happened to be a bit overstacked with enemies.
"That acceleration just now… must've been an instinctive application of magnetism," Orochimaru said, turning back to Kiyohara with obvious speculation in his tone.
He was thoroughly intrigued.
Konoha had never had a Magnet Release user before.
After their last meeting, he'd looked into Kiyohara's records.
Three generations born in Konoha—family arrived at the village's founding.
Probably, some ancestor from before Konoha had lived elsewhere and passed on the latent Magnet Release trait.
Maybe Kiyohara would be the one to found a Magnet clan in Konoha.
Then Konoha would become the third village with Magnet Release—after Suna and Kumo.
"Maybe so, Orochimaru-sama," Kiyohara nodded.
His roots were as "proper Konoha" as they came. His grandfather's generation had been part of the first wave who joined when the village was founded.
Pure Konoha blood, through and through.
He wasn't one of those "politically incorrect from birth" Uchiha—
Magnet Release was rare, but hardly world-breaking.
Take Yakumo Kurama—her "drawing-made-real" cheat had never stirred this much fuss.
"It's a good thing I awakened this ability. Now I can contribute even more to your efforts, Orochimaru-sama," Kiyohara said, sounding earnest.
Orochimaru was a Sannin. There was no downside in building a connection; he'd make a solid backing.
Especially now, when he hadn't fully "snapped" yet.
After losing the Hokage race, that would change. Then he'd stop caring whether his experiments stayed in Konoha or not.
Someone as sharp as Orochimaru knew full well he didn't have to use Konoha civilians for his experiments.
The fact that he did it anyway was more a silent rebellion against Hiruzen than anything else.
"Heh-heh, it's good you feel that way, Kiyohara-kun," Orochimaru said, smiling faintly.
His golden eyes never left the boy.
After a long look, he pulled a scroll from his robes and tossed it to Kiyohara.
"There's no point in keeping you here. Go with the main-branch Hyūga in the first evacuation wave. This scroll holds my sealed orders."
In his mind, Orochimaru had raised Kiyohara's value another level.
Specimens like this were too precious to waste on the front.
A living one was worth far more than a dead one.
"Th—thank you, Orochimaru-sama," Kiyohara said.
His heart leapt, but he quickly lowered his head and took the scroll.
Acting in front of someone like Orochimaru was pointless; better to just hide his face entirely.
While they'd been speaking, Orochimaru's clones had already slaughtered roughly forty Mist shinobi in the area.
"Head that way," Orochimaru said, pointing behind them.
If they continued retreating inland, they'd reach the western shoreline of the island.
The Hyūga main family were already heading that way.
Once they reached the boats, they could evacuate quickly.
Abandoning Uzushio's defensive line and preserving their remaining strength was the only right choice now.