"Let me handle this, Yugito-sama."
Behind Yugito, a shinobi with a yellow scarf stepped forward.
He wore Kumogakure gear, had short purple hair, and a thick ring of purple beard around his jaw.
Kumo's Magnet Release shinobi—Toroi.
"It's Kumo's Magnet Release user, Toroi," Minato Namikaze said to the others.
He glanced at Kiyohara.
Kiyohara wasn't the first shinobi ever labeled "Magnet Release."
In the ninja world today, the best Magnet Release users belonged to Sunagakure—the village with the most Magnet Release bloodline users.
Next came Kumo's Magnet Release.
And Toroi was the most prominent one in the open.
"Hmph. You killed our comrades—pay with your life," Toroi sneered.
So what if the Yellow Flash was here?
After the AB duo had fought Minato—and with the intel they'd gathered over time—they'd already mapped out his habits.
Flying Thunder God could cross space instantly, appearing and disappearing. The fastest in the world.
But… kunai throw speed didn't cross space.
Minato could only warp to where his Flying Thunder God-marked kunai were. If there was no marker, he couldn't "fly" there.
"Yellow Flash—your Flying Thunder God won't work on me!"
Toroi deliberately ignored Kiyohara at first and focused on Minato.
He converted freshly molded chakra into magnetism, wrapping himself in an invisible magnetic field.
As long as Minato couldn't get close, Toroi didn't have to fear that speed.
He bent slightly. Two stacks of square "shuriken" slid from his sleeves.
They weren't the classic four-pointed stars—more like square plates.
Custom tools built specifically for his Magnet Release, meant to create a wider damage zone than ordinary shuriken.
Minato frowned.
That was the annoying part about Magnet Release users—
it wasn't that Toroi was overwhelmingly strong, just that his kit countered Minato in a very specific way.
Still…
Minato didn't believe he'd lose to Toroi.
And as Minato prepared to switch tactics, Kiyohara also refined chakra and converted it into magnetism.
Between jutsu of the same nature, the rule was simple: more chakra = stronger.
That applied to bloodline limits too.
"!"
Only now did Toroi finally look at Kiyohara.
He knew the intel—"Konoha's Magnet Release shinobi."
He'd always scoffed at that. That was why he hadn't even given Kiyohara a proper look, staying fixated on Minato instead.
But now he realized this kid might be more dangerous than the rumors.
A cruel glint flashed in Toroi's eyes. He spread his hands—those square shuriken hovered in front of him and began spinning at high speed as he fed them magnetism.
"Magnet Release: Conserving Bee Twin Blades!"
Then Toroi launched forward like a cannonball, the spinning plates moving with him.
His plan was clear: close-quarters, magnetize Kiyohara by contact, then lock him inside the plates' kill zone.
"Magnetizing the opponent by touch, then killing them with magnetic attraction… not a bad idea," Kiyohara remarked.
His black eyes bled red.
A single tomoe appeared—then slowly became two.
Normally, Sharingan progression was irreversible: once you reached three tomoe, you stayed three tomoe even when drained. Only Mangekyō could temporarily regress to three tomoe when low on ocular power.
Maybe because Kiyohara's Sharingan was inherited, he found he could control it.
Two tomoe was what he chose to show here—stronger than one, but not as shockingly abrupt as revealing three.
He planned to reveal three tomoe in a later fight.
After all, how long had it even been since he "awakened" it?
Compared to the Uchiha's usual growth pace, his would look like rocket acceleration.
I can see his chakra flow.
In Kiyohara's vision, Toroi's chakra pathways were crystal clear.
Toroi's Magnet Release chakra… felt subtly inferior to Kiyohara's. Kiyohara couldn't articulate why—he just knew it.
The distance collapsed fast.
One hundred meters.
Fifty.
One.
Toroi snapped his right hand forward, fingers wrapped in magnetism, aiming to touch Kiyohara's shoulder first.
One instant of contact would be enough to magnetize.
Kiyohara would need time to purge it—
and that tiny window would be Toroi's chance.
But at the exact moment Toroi's muscles tensed, Kiyohara slipped sideways as if he'd read the move before it happened.
At the same time, Kiyohara's left hand opened, and a dense surge of Magnet Release chakra erupted.
The two magnetic forces collided—silently, violently.
"What?!" Toroi's pupils shrank.
He felt Kiyohara's power interfering with—erasing—the magnetism he'd injected into the plates.
The shuriken that had been "extensions of his arms" went unstable. Their spin wobbled, trajectories skewing.
"My Magnet Release is far above yours," Kiyohara said, his voice appearing right beside Toroi like a whisper.
Then Kiyohara's chakra nature shifted again.
If Toroi's Magnet Release was a crude magnet, Kiyohara's was a precise electromagnetic field.
A reverse polarization surged out of Kiyohara—neutralizing Toroi's attempt to magnetize him and then pushing back, invading Toroi's own chakra control.
"No… impossible… how can you—" Toroi stammered.
Two of his square shuriken suddenly flipped and shot straight at him.
He jumped back in panic, hurriedly forming seals to stabilize the remaining six. Cold sweat beaded on his forehead.
This Konoha kid's Magnet Release control was above his.
Kiyohara gave him no time to breathe.
As Toroi retreated, Kiyohara drove off his right leg—leaving a shallow crater.
From ankle to thigh, Kiyohara's skin turned black and metallic.
Steel Release.
Earth Release: Earth Spear.
And that still wasn't all.
Magnet Release: Rotating Field.
Two bloodline limits fused perfectly—one plus one becoming far more than two.
"Magnet Release: Electromagnetic Acceleration Kick!"
Kiyohara's right leg snapped out like a whip.
The air tore with a shriek.
Toroi saw only a blurred black shadow. Instinct took over—he pulled all his square shuriken together into a crude metal shield in front of his chest.
BOOOOM!
The metal impact rang so loudly that snow shook loose from nearby branches in white sheets.
Toroi watched in horror as his proud custom tools—secret-forged weapons he'd carried for years—began to crack under that single kick.
First hairline fractures.
Then collapse.
Then a burst into countless shards that sprayed in every direction.
And the metal-glinting leg, wreathed in a magnetic field, didn't stop.
In Toroi's vision, the foot grew larger and larger—
He felt his flak jacket compress, then the cloth and chainmail beneath deform and rupture. A force beyond description punched through every layer and struck his insides directly.
Time slowed.
Toroi looked down and saw a hollow in his left chest.
Not a dent. Not broken ribs.
A real hole.
Flesh, bone, organs—everything had been pulverized and burned away by the impact.
Charred edges marked where friction had produced extreme heat.
He didn't even feel pain—just a sudden, empty draining sensation.
"Y-you…"
His lips moved—no words came.
His body was launched backward like a severed kite string, arcing through the air before slamming into snow twenty meters away, silent.
Snow drifted down, settling over the corpse as it cooled.
Silence.
The remaining Kumo shinobi froze, staring in disbelief.
Toroi-sama… Kumogakure's renowned Magnet Release jōnin…
killed by a single kick from a newly risen "Magnet Release jōnin" of Konoha?
Toroi had been famous for years.
Kiyohara was just a recent upstart.
"Kiyohara… he just beat him outright!" Rin gasped.
"Toroi-sama!!"
A young Kumo ninja burst out, eyes bloodshot, lightning flaring around his body.
"Lightning Release: Elbow Bolt!"
He condensed lightning chakra into his right elbow, becoming a blue bolt as he charged Kiyohara.
This was one of Kumogakure's most common lightning techniques—and a favorite of many Raikage over generations.
Not hard to learn, but it concentrated lightning's penetration and destruction into a single point—enough to shatter boulders in one strike.
In that instant, a gold flash appeared beside him.
Minato was already in the center, palm holding a violently spinning sphere of blue chakra.
"Rasengan."
A calm voice.
The Kumo ninja didn't even have time to turn.
The Rasengan pressed into his back, shredding his vest, twisting muscle apart, cracking bone, and driving that destruction deep through his body.
His forward momentum died instantly. He crashed forward, carving a trench in the snow—still.
But the fight wasn't over.
The moment Minato moved, Yugito moved too.
She'd been waiting for that heartbeat—when Minato's attention was pulled.
"Die!"
A crimson glint flashed in her eyes, like a beast's vertical pupils.
Two-Tails chakra erupted, forming a dark-red tailed-beast cloak over her skin.
Her hands became claws—nails stretching into hooked talons—ripping straight for Kiyohara's throat.
The timing was perfect. The strike was lightning-fast.
But Kiyohara was already prepared.
Sharingan—Genjutsu.
Even though he was "only" at two tomoe right now, with his stacked mental energy, Yin-release affinity, and inherited ocular power…
his two-tomoe Sharingan was far stronger than an ordinary two-tomoe.
Indra's three-tomoe and a grafted three-tomoe on Danzō's arm were never going to be the same tier, after all.
In Kiyohara's vision, Yugito's movement slowed.
But he didn't just want to see—he wanted to disrupt.
Invisible ocular power expanded.
"?!"
Yugito's vision blurred. Kiyohara's body split into overlapping afterimages, the world warping.
The disorientation lasted less than half a second—
but in a high-level clash, half a second was fatal.
Kiyohara slipped aside. Her claws grazed his neck, slicing off a few strands of black hair.
At the same time, he inhaled deeply, chest expanding—hand seals already complete.
"Fire Release: Great Fireball Jutsu!"
A torrent of flame blasted out at point-blank range, nearly swallowing Yugito.
The fireball exceeded four meters across—heat so intense that nearby snow instantly vaporized into white steam.
"ROAR!"
Yugito released a nonhuman bellow. Her tailed-beast cloak flared outward; two massive red chakra claws crossed in front of her and tore the fireball in half.
Flames split, scorching twin trenches into the ground.
But she wasn't unharmed.
Her chakra claws showed signs of melting under the heat. Even with the cloak, her skin stung with real burn pain.
This fireball's temperature was way beyond normal Fire Release.
"His Fire Release…" Yugito stared at her faintly reddened arm. Two-Tails chakra began repairing the damage—but noticeably slower than expected.
Then the next hit arrived.
"Chidori!"
The shriek of a thousand birds ripped across the battlefield.
Yugito had been watching timing.
So had Kakashi.
When he saw his closest comrade in danger, he almost moved too early.
He didn't want to lose another teammate.
But he held back.
Now was the moment.
Kakashi appeared at Yugito's rear flank, lightning condensed into a piercing arc, stabbing for her back.
Yugito's face changed. She twisted hard, slamming a chakra claw into the lightning.
Lightning and red chakra collided, exploding into dazzling light and snapping arcs.
"Retreat!" Yugito barked, using the clash to spring back ten meters, landing in front of the survivors.
Her eyes swept the field.
Toroi was dead. Another jōnin had been erased by the Yellow Flash.
Two chūnin had already been sniped earlier.
Their ambush unit had lost nearly half its strength.
Meanwhile, Minato looked basically untouched. The Magnet Release kid was far stronger than intel claimed. And Konoha had Sharingan Kakashi plus two more shinobi behind him.
Yugito also sensed something huge inside Rin—an amount of chakra that rivaled her own.
What was that?
Kumo had once infiltrated Konoha and kidnapped Kushina—who was supposed to become the Nine-Tails jinchūriki.
But this girl clearly wasn't Kushina. Wrong age, not red-haired.
And Konoha was supposed to have only one tailed beast.
So why?
Yugito's thoughts raced.
Kirigakure had sealed the news to hide weakness.
Konoha kept quiet to profit from it.
That shared silence meant other villages didn't know a tailed beast had changed hands.
"Yugito-sama! What about the base behind us? That's our supply point!" a young Kumo ninja shouted anxiously.
"Abandon it," Yugito said through clenched teeth.
"With the Yellow Flash here, we can't hold it. Fall back—get the intel home!"
She stared at Kiyohara as if engraving his face into her memory, then turned.
"Move!"
The remaining Kumo shinobi didn't hesitate. A few leaps later, they vanished into the snowy forest.
If they'd been facing any other enemy, abandoning the mission like this could mean punishment and shame.
But when you saw Minato Namikaze?
That burden evaporated.
No one would ever punish someone for retreating from the Yellow Flash.
Kiyohara deactivated his Sharingan and exhaled. White breath misted in the cold air.
"Kiyohara—are you alright?" Minato walked over.
His blond hair was striking against the snow, and the fight hadn't even wrinkled his clothes.
"I'm fine, Minato-sama," Kiyohara nodded, then smiled slightly.
"Looks like your reputation is more effective than any jutsu."
If Minato weren't here, Kiyohara didn't believe Yugito would've pulled out so cleanly.
Minato gave a wry smile.
"That's only for now. Once your name spreads, Kumo will start running from you too."
His gaze held open admiration.
"Honestly… in a few years you might surpass me. That kick—combining Magnet Release, Earth Release, and taijutsu like that… even I was surprised."
Even Kakashi glanced at Kiyohara at that.
To be praised like that by Minato-sensei… Kiyohara's growth really was absurd.
"Minato-sensei, what do we do next?" Kakashi asked.
Minato's expression sharpened.
"Keep moving. Our target is the supply point. Yugito said they're abandoning it, but it could still be a trap. Stay alert."
Then Minato's eyes flicked to Kiyohara's two-tomoe Sharingan.
He thought to himself: His talent is incredible—his eye is evolving fast.
Only slightly slower than Obito's abnormal speed…
This time, Minato assumed it was again driven by the urge to protect comrades—turning one tomoe into two.
Minato glanced at Rin.
Last time Kiyohara awakened, it seemed tied to Rin.
The others noticed the change in his tomoe too. When asked, Kiyohara simply said he didn't know when it happened.
But Sharingan evolution was common in wartime.
Other clans got weaker the longer the war dragged on—
Uchiha could get stronger.
Fewer survivors meant the ones left tended to be monsters.
The squad regrouped and advanced under Minato toward the map's marked coordinates.
Fifteen minutes later, they arrived.
A cluster of structures hidden in the snow mountains—outwardly like abandoned hunters' huts, but the walls were unusually thick and reinforced.
Now, it was empty.
"They really withdrew," Minato confirmed after checking key points.
"But they left in a hurry—some things weren't fully destroyed."
He pushed open the biggest cabin. Inside were dozens of wooden crates.
Some had been smashed, contents scattered—but many were intact.
"Take what we can carry. Destroy the rest on site," Minato ordered.
"Priority: medical supplies and soldier pills."
"Understood!"
Everyone moved.
Kurenai pulled a small sealing scroll from her pouch and unrolled it.
She'd picked up the habit recently—after running missions with Kiyohara, she'd learned that he always "shopped" the battlefield. Without sealing scrolls, you couldn't carry the haul.
"Rin, look," Kurenai said proudly, waving it a little.
"Going on missions with Kiyohara without this is just impossible."
Rin blinked, watching Kurenai start stuffing supplies like a chipmunk—bundled bandages, disinfectants, clotting powders, painkillers, antidotes…
All the things a battlefield was starving for.
Their mission was to destroy the supply point, not occupy it.
So these supplies were essentially fair game.
If they'd been capturing the point for a garrison, they couldn't touch anything—command would redistribute later.
"Kurenai, when did you become so…" Rin trailed off.
"So experienced?" Kurenai finished with a grin.
"Because I've been running missions with Kiyohara longer than you have. Every time, he seals away a ridiculous amount of stuff."
On the side, Kakashi and Minato exchanged a look.
…That did sound about right.
Meanwhile, Kiyohara was busy looting too.
He casually pulled five sealing scrolls from his coat.
Minato's eyelid twitched.
He remembered after the Kannabi Bridge mission, Kiyohara had come back with bags and bundles—
but not like this.
Now it was five scrolls. Upgraded.
"Kiyohara… you're really—" Minato started.
"Minato-sama, look," Kiyohara said, opening a crate.
Inside were high-quality soldier pills, each individually wax-wrapped—clearly Kumo jōnin-level special issue.
"Kumo's soldier pill formula differs from ours. Bring it back for Tsunade-sensei to analyze—maybe we can improve Konoha's."
"And this is chakra-conductive metal scrap. Not shaped, but perfect for forging kunai and shuriken edges."
"Land of Lightning herbs. Some of these don't even exist in the Land of Fire."
As he spoke, Kiyohara sorted, packed, and sealed with lightning speed—smooth and practiced.
Having sold loot many times, he even knew the market prices by heart.
Minato opened his mouth, then sighed and shook his head with a smile.
"Fine. Efficient."
War wasn't just frontline slaughter—it was resources and logistics.
Using the enemy's equipment to strengthen yourself?
Why not.
~~~
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