Kiyohara didn't answer Kurenai's question.
Or rather—he didn't have the attention to spare.
While Magnet Release Kiyohara helped him condense the magnetic force, Kiyohara himself focused on controlling its circulation.
He began operating the technique known as Magnet Release: Magnetic Field Rotation.
Crackle—!
A coil of iron sand spiraled around his forearm, forming an invisible magnetic circuit.
Blue arcs of lightning danced along his skin. From a distance, it looked less like Magnet Release and more like Lightning Release.
But the lightning wasn't wild—it followed a calculated formation, pulsing in precise patterns.
"What is that…?"
Up close, Kurenai could sense the surging chakra concentrating in Kiyohara's hand.
The wind picked up, blowing wildly around him.
His long hair fluttered in the night breeze, exposing the Konoha headband on his forehead.
In the darkness, his handsome features were startlingly clear—
and Kurenai felt a sudden, instinctive danger rise within her.
"Kurenai. Back away."
Kiyohara exhaled.
His powerful spiritual energy gave him extreme focus.
While Magnet Kiyohara handled the magnetic and electric control, Kiyohara had to maintain the core movement of the technique.
"Back off, now!"
Kurenai's instincts screamed—she immediately pulled Genma back.
Their unit, Squad Three, was the only one still nearby. Squad Four had already charged ahead.
Kiyohara set his eyes on the chaos ahead.
Pakura's Scorch Release was a hybrid of wind and fire chakra—
a Bloodline Limit that could only be achieved with exceptional talent and control over both.
You couldn't just slap wind and fire together and call it Scorch.
Whatever the mechanism behind it was, it didn't matter right now.
All Kiyohara needed to know was—Pakura was strong. Very strong.
It made sense that she was once called the "Hero of Sunagakure."
Kiyohara watched as she waved her hand, casually neutralizing incoming jutsu with heated gusts.
Even the aftershock of her attacks scorched leaves into ash.
But—
'I don't need to get close.'
While Pakura focused on Katsuyu's acid barrage and exposed a gap in her defenses, Kiyohara seized the moment.
With his thumb and forefinger, he firmly gripped the dense iron-sand coin.
In an instant, the surrounding magnetic field twisted into an electromagnetic railgun!
BOOM—!!
A black flash erupted from his fingers, trailed by a piercing sonic boom and a flash of blue lightning.
The coin tore through the night air, accelerating to over 700 meters per second, and streaked straight for Pakura's right shoulder!
Magnet Kiyohara hadn't named this move, so Kiyohara decided on the spot:
Magnet Release: Electromagnetic Coin!
Though limited by chakra, they'd chosen to compress the coin into a simple disc rather than a complex spindle shape.
But even so, its power was nothing to scoff at.
At the last second, Pakura sensed mortal danger.
She instinctively twisted her body—
Splat!
The iron coin grazed her upper arm. It left a gash and sent searing pain through her nerves, amplified by electricity.
Pakura let out a muffled groan. Her movements halted briefly.
She had dodged—barely. But her subordinate behind her wasn't so lucky.
The black coin punched through the man's skull—
his head exploded in a shower of blood.
For a moment, the entire battlefield fell into silence.
'Was that an ally? An enemy?'
Pakura leapt back from Katsuyu's acid. Her sharp eyes swept through the battlefield, and there—on a higher ridge—
She saw a black-haired Konoha shinobi with arcs of lightning dancing on his arm, calm and focused.
Genma nearly swallowed his senbon needle.
He and Kurenai stared at Kiyohara in shock.
In that moment, Genma almost wanted to take him as a master—
'How the hell did a coin do that?!'
His own senbon couldn't even reach a fraction of that distance!
And they weren't the only ones dumbfounded.
Even the distant Konoha shinobi paused in disbelief.
Long-range jutsu were rare—this was another level.
Tsunade, still with her eyes shut due to her hemophobia, heard Shizune gasp behind her.
She opened her eyes for a glimpse—then immediately shut them again, nearly fainting from the blood.
But in that moment, she recognized Kiyohara.
That same kid who once cost her a fortune at the gambling table—
and whom Orochimaru had mentioned with interest.
'That was a bit off,' Kiyohara thought, gauging his first shot.
He'd been in charge of aiming and firing. Not bad for a debut.
At least it hit.
'If I could mold the coin into a true spindle shape… the damage would skyrocket.'
But that required precise chakra shaping.
Right now, even the compression step relied on Magnet Kiyohara.
All he could do was aim, activate Magnetic Field Rotation, and fire.
Another coin formed in his palm—dense and black, crackling with blue arcs.
It drained his chakra heavily—Kiyohara could maybe fire four at most.
The cost was similar to Chidori.
But as he grew more proficient and optimized the jutsu, the cost would drop.
"Don't let Pakura escape!"
Hayama bellowed, brandishing his sword with his uninjured arm.
Dozens of Konoha ninja answered the call.
Katsuyu continued spitting acid while spawning countless mini-slugs to heal the injured.
Boom—!
Another iron coin launched—
a jet-black projectile at 600 meters per second.
Another Sunagakure ninja dropped, head exploding.
Pakura was nicked again—this time deeper.
She staggered.
'No… this isn't good.
The Slug Princess is here, her summon's hounding me, jōnin surround me, and some sniper kid is out there killing my men from afar…'
Pakura's expression darkened.
She could handle the frontal assault, but now she had to divide her focus to watch for long-range sneak attacks—and protect Maki at the same time.
"This is bad. We're leaving."
After another few exchanges, Pakura gritted her teeth, grabbed Maki, and threw down a smokescreen.
She amplified it with Wind Release, covering their retreat.