After a short half-hour rest, and confirming there were no enemies nearby, the convoy set out again.
After witnessing what happened with Might Duy, everyone moved with even more caution.
They reached the shoreline earlier than expected, where evacuation ships were already waiting.
One by one, they boarded. The sea breeze blew across the deck, carrying a salty tang.
The ships slowly pulled away from the ruined port, cutting through the waves, heading toward a rear-line base where the fighting was relatively lighter—
The Land of Fire coastline.
Kiyohara stood at the rail, looking back at the shrinking island.
If he'd been any weaker, he might have stayed there forever.
Next… it'll probably be Rin's abduction, he thought.
The war between Konoha and Kirigakure would drag on for a while yet.
The Seven Ninja Swordsmen weren't everything Mist had.
At the very least, the Three-Tails jinchūriki would likely enter the stage soon.
In the original story, Mist Anbu sealed the Three-Tails into Rin.
That clearly didn't involve some wild, free-roaming bijū.
Those Mist Anbu weren't strong enough to wrangle a feral Three-Tails.
It had to be a transfer from Mist's existing jinchūriki into Rin.
And if Obito could use his Sharingan to control Yagura, the Fourth Mizukage, for years, then with Madara's monstrous ocular power, controlling a few Mist Anbu—or a jinchūriki—was trivial.
...
Konoha, Hokage's Office.
Among shinobi, information was life.
In war, that was even more true.
Messenger birds and messenger shinobi ran ceaselessly through the village, funneling news from the front.
Secret long-range communication jutsu only made things faster.
News from Uzushio reached Konoha's leadership almost immediately.
Orochimaru's retreat order was seen as the correct call.
Mist had overwhelming numbers and total terrain advantage on the sea-wrapped island. Dragging things out further risked total annihilation.
Losses Konoha could no longer afford.
They were already dangerously short on manpower.
"Duy… to think he possessed that kind of power…" Hiruzen murmured.
Word that Might Duy had single-handedly crippled the Seven Ninja Swordsmen had certainly reached him.
It surprised him.
Eight Gates wasn't exactly a secret—some shinobi in Konoha trained it. It wasn't S-class classified.
Otherwise, a "forever genin" like Duy would never have had access.
But those who truly pushed that training to the end were almost nonexistent.
"Hmph. So what if such power exists? No one in the village now can train that way," Danzō said coldly, watching Hiruzen with his single eye.
The method was known; the issue was that no one could replicate it.
Taijutsu, in some ways, demanded even more natural talent than ninjutsu.
Danzō, however, cared more about bloodline limits than about Duy.
"Hiruzen, the fact that a Magnet Release user has appeared in the village is extremely strange," he said, narrowing his eye.
What annoyed him was that he'd missed a gem like this.
He'd always been trying to expand Root's core—sifting for elite talent.
Only the gifted could enter the inner circle; others stayed in the periphery as auxiliary forces.
Even then, Root's core membership was only seventeen.
Most of those had been lured, coerced, or manipulated by him into joining, then brainwashed.
And yet Hiruzen had blocked a lot of his efforts.
Still, Danzō never stopped.
The Hokage couldn't watch him every minute of the day. Whatever slipped through—that was his chance.
"What are you thinking, Danzō?" Hiruzen asked lightly, giving him a brief glance.
He'd already noticed Kiyohara during the chūnin exams; he wasn't surprised Danzō had sniffed him out too.
"Hehe, Hiruzen, I am simply… eager to gather talent," Danzō said, smiling thinly.
A civilian suddenly awakening a bloodline, unburdened by clan thinking, still young—
Exactly the sort of raw material he liked.
Like a blank canvas, waiting for him to draw layer by layer—leading Kiyohara down into darkness.
A future, loyal blade of Root.
Maybe even the seed of a Magnet clan.
"That won't be necessary. I have my own plans for Kiyohara," Hiruzen said, exhaling a puff of smoke and refusing him without hesitation.
Danzō hadn't expected such a blunt rejection.
"You're wasting a genius!" he snapped.
"I know what I'm doing," Hiruzen replied calmly.
"You'll regret this, Hiruzen!"
"That's enough, Danzō. I am the Hokage."
Hiruzen's voice hardened as he slapped a hand on the table.
Danzō really was getting bolder.
At the word Hokage, Danzō's expression twisted for a moment.
Damn it. If he'd stepped out just one minute earlier, that hat would've been his.
Seeing there was no point pushing, he turned and stormed out.
Kiyohara's Magnet Release awakening had been the last topic of the meeting; everything else had already been discussed.
Hiruzen let him go without stopping him.
"These are troubled times…" he muttered, eyeing the door.
If Danzō broke it, he'd be paying for it.
"Magnet Release, hmm… worth investing in," Hiruzen thought.
Despite his bloodline, Kiyohara was still, in essence, a civilian.
He had no clan—no inherited agenda to bind him.
Hiruzen picked up the report.
It detailed Kiyohara's three generations of family history.
Every line pointed to the same thing: his background was clean.
...
Back on Land of Fire's coastal line, Kiyohara finally let himself breathe.
He'd been pushed to the brink of exhaustion.
After he followed procedure—reporting in, confirming his identity, and receiving a tent assignment—he finally collapsed onto a wooden bunk and slept.
The night passed in a blur.
In the morning, he did not wake up naturally.
He realized someone was staring at him—and then a finger poked his cheek.
He didn't need to guess who.
"Kurenai, seriously…"
He opened his eyes and, sure enough, there she was.
"You're awake already?" she squeaked, quickly pulling her hand back and turning her head, leaving only her pale profile facing him.
Last time, she'd been a hair away from touching his face; it had stuck in her head—
Today she'd finally followed through on that impulse.
"You still haven't told me what you're doing here," Kiyohara said, pushing the blanket aside.
The bedding had been issued with the tent. It was warm enough even in the damp coastal air.
But if he'd had a habit of sleeping naked, wouldn't she have just seen everything without anyone knowing?
"Hmph. Why aren't you this grouchy with Rin?" she snapped.
Something sour twisted in her chest when she saw his flat expression.
When he talked to Rin, didn't he always have a small smile on his face?
She was his teammate. His first comrade.
She was here first.
That jerk Kiyohara had been insufferable since Academy days.
~~~
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