The gale, laced with lime powder, whipped Kiyohara's bangs backward, but his masked figure stood unaffected, firm in the storm.
With a flick of both wrists, over twenty shuriken sliced through the air, burying themselves in the ground and debris beyond the mist.
A beat later, Kiyohara's fingers twitched—nearly invisible copper wires tied to the shuriken pulled taut, forming an imperceptible web inside the fog thick with quicklime.
"Help me pinpoint their numbers and positions," Kiyohara whispered to Magnet Kiyohara beside him.
"No problem," the spirit nodded and drifted forward, phasing through the dense lime mist.
Moments later, he returned.
"Twelve enemies. Terumī Mei is among them, and there's a Kaguya brat too. The other ten are standard Mist Chūnin. Two are already incapacitated from the lime."
"Twelve… Terumī Mei and someone from the Kaguya clan…"
Kiyohara's mind raced.
'Take out the fodder first. Focus on the tough ones later.'
He nodded to himself.
"If things get tricky, possess me. I've never fought a Kaguya before."
"Got it."
Magnet Kiyohara crossed his arms. Helping his past self was fine—as long as his own unfulfilled will could be carried forward.
"Let's do this."
Kiyohara relayed quick instructions to Kakashi and the others: he'd go in first. Once the mist and quicklime cleared, they could follow.
Electric arcs burst from his palms and ran down the wire, igniting the hidden web with crackling lightning.
Lightning Release: Lightning Current!
A jolt—followed by three sharp screams and three bodies hitting the ground.
"Dammit!"
Kaguya Masaru's voice rang out, furious. He'd narrowly avoided the wires, but even then, his skin tingled with residual shock.
They had never expected their mist cover to be turned against them so ruthlessly.
"Mei! Use Wind Release to blow all this crap away! Stop maintaining the Hidden Mist—it's screwing us over!"
"Understood," Mei replied, voice tight with frustration. She began forming hand seals.
But Kiyohara wasn't going to let them regroup.
"Too late."
Chakra surged beneath his feet. Behind him, Kurenai gasped as—
Leaf Body Flicker!
Leaves scattered as Kiyohara vanished into the fog, guided by the vision of Magnet Kiyohara like a radar mapping a pitch-black battlefield.
"Where is he?!"
"I can't see anything!"
"This is worse than Zabuza's Silent Killing!"
One Mist-nin cried out, slashing blind in every direction. But there was nothing—just stinging eyes, lungs full of powder, and panic.
They didn't dare move. The wires were invisible. Any step could be fatal.
Jutsu? Risk friendly fire.
Meanwhile, Kiyohara moved freely, silent and lethal.
Some of the Mist ninja began questioning reality.
'Wait… who's the Mist shinobi here? Him or me?!'
How was a Leaf ninja more comfortable in Hidden Mist tactics than they were?!
Everything felt upside down.
But Kiyohara's target was already locked: Kaguya Masaru.
He saw the silhouette through the haze.
Near him, Terumī Mei stood defiant, her youthful face already possessing that signature allure. Her jaw was raised, her angry eyes scanning through the fog.
'You stepped onto this battlefield. That means you came ready to die.'
Shuriken rustled as Kiyohara darted, his position a phantom.
Every time a Mist-nin tried to retaliate with Water Release, they found nothing but leaves—just illusions in the wind.
Compared to Kiyohara—masked, prepared, unreadable—they were flying blind.
Then, in silence, his blade slipped free.
This mist wouldn't last forever. He had to take down as many as possible now.
Even his lines were deliberate—meant to deceive, to draw attention away from his real position.
He slashed down two more before—
"Hmph, I've had enough."
Kaguya Masaru finally caught his location.
Just as Kiyohara's sword lashed out, Masaru spun, fingers together.
Shikotsumyaku: Ten-Finger Drilling Bullets!
Crack-crack-crack!
His bones fired from beneath the skin like pale missiles, shattering Kiyohara's wire web.
Clang!
Sparks burst in the fog as bone and steel clashed.
Kiyohara staggered back, arm numbed.
'What power… Is this the legendary Shikotsumyaku?'
He imagined: If there were ever a Kaguya Kiyohara in the future, could he inherit this kekkei genkai?
Would he, one day, collect so many bloodlines that he achieved Kekkei Ōrō—the bloodline collector's ultimate form?
While Kiyohara processed, Masaru had thoughts of his own.
'This kid's swordsmanship is way sharper than I expected.'
They broke apart and clashed again like twin bolts of lightning.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Kiyohara's sword style was clean, forged from hard solo training and real battle.
Masaru's style was chaos incarnate—bone protrusions from elbows, knees, shoulders—every joint a weapon.
Brutal. Beautiful. Wild.
Kiyohara ducked a rib-spike and swept upward toward Masaru's throat.
Masaru bent backward unnaturally, left forearm morphing mid-motion into a bone shield.
Shing!
The sword slid off with a screech, leaving only a shallow mark.
"Shikotsumyaku: Ten-Finger Drilling Bullets!"
Masaru fired again, taking advantage of Kiyohara's brief moment of exhaustion—his opening had passed.
This time, it was point-blank.
Impossible to dodge—
And then—
Kiyohara's body floated back as if weightless, drifting like a windblown leaf.
The bone bullets sliced past, barely missing, crashing deep into the wall behind him.
"What?!"
Masaru's eyes went wide.
'That… wasn't taijutsu. That wasn't ninjutsu. What even was that movement?!'
Kiyohara exhaled.
That move had been Magnet Kiyohara's doing.
When he possessed Kiyohara, he could push the body to extreme limits—squeezing out every drop of chakra, forcing feats most thought impossible.
'No… I need to get my first bloodline. And fast.'
Kiyohara clenched his jaw.
Kekkei genkai gave an overwhelming edge.
And there were no Sand ANBU here to fulfill his current will.
Once this threat was cleared, he planned to file for reassignment immediately. He would find and complete that will—and inherit Magnet Release.
Once he had it, his fights with other bloodline users would be far more manageable.