Rin stood in place, panting lightly for a moment as the darkness creeping into her vision gradually receded and clarity returned.
What entered her eyes was a single silhouette.
It was Kiyohara's back.
"!"
Rin looked at the spot where Kiyohara had been just moments ago, then turned her head again to stare at the Kiyohara now standing in front of her.
This—what kind of distance had he crossed?
Was she dreaming?
In the blink of an eye, Kiyohara had appeared right before her?
However, the enemy had no intention of giving Rin time to think.
"He must have just used some kind of Body Flicker–type technique. Don't panic—his chakra must have been heavily consumed!"
Uekichi was the first to form hand seals, steadying his companions who had momentarily fallen into disarray.
"Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet Justu!"
A water dragon emerged behind him, surging forward in a violent torrent.
"Water Release: Water Tornado—!"
"Water Release—!"
Three other Mist shinobi beside him followed suit, rapidly forming seals and unleashing their signature Water Release techniques.
In an instant, a barrage of Water Release ninjutsu came crashing down upon Kiyohara and Rin like an overwhelming deluge.
"Rin, hold on tight to me."
Kiyohara held his shinobi blade in a reverse grip and, in a princess carry, lifted the slightly unsteady Rin into his arms.
A faint feminine fragrance mixed with sweat and the metallic scent of blood reached him, but Kiyohara had no mind to spare for such things.
In the very next moment, Kiyohara's magnetic force erupted.
The repulsive force beneath his feet launched him like a cannonball, and in the blink of an eye, he had already reached the top of a distant tree.
'The consumption is lower than using the Body Flicker Technique,' Kiyohara thought to himself.
Moreover, he could clearly feel that the acceleration speed he had just achieved was far faster than that of the Konoha Body Flicker.
Crash—!
The spot where Kiyohara and Rin had been standing was slammed by the Water Release techniques. The earth caved in, instantly forming a deep puddle.
If anyone had remained there, they would likely have been crushed into a bloody pulp on the spot.
"So fast—"
Rin felt slightly dazed. She lifted her head and stole a few glances at Kiyohara's handsome profile, only then gaining a sense of reality.
"Why is my chakra consumption so low?" Kiyohara asked Magnet Release Kiyohara.
Their exchange took place entirely within their minds, completely undetectable from the outside.
"Essentially, you only exerted one unit of force, and that single unit leveraged ten units of magnetic field to rotate. Of those ten, a portion becomes usable by you, so the chakra consumption isn't high," Magnet Release Kiyohara explained.
"If you had forcibly used this method before obtaining the Magnet Release bloodline limit, your physical body would have been on the verge of collapse."
Magnet Release Kiyohara folded his arms, floating behind Kiyohara like a guardian spirit.
Previously, he had only been letting Kiyohara experience the Magnet Release bloodline limit in advance. That early exposure placed a heavy burden on the body because, fundamentally, Kiyohara didn't yet possess Magnet Release—it was something Magnet Release Kiyohara had been forcibly synthesizing for him.
Now that Kiyohara truly possessed the Magnet Release bloodline limit, the situation was much better.
"So that's how it is—the pressure a bloodline limit places on the body," Kiyohara murmured, beginning to understand.
Bloodline limits had always placed a burden on their wielders, which was why conditions like "bloodline illness" existed.
Uchiha Itachi. Gekkō Hayate. Kurama Yakumo.
Kurama Yakumo possessed the Kurama clan's strongest bloodline limit, "Five Senses Domination," yet she struggled to even run five hundred meters.
TN: The Kurama clan's kekkei genkai is unnamed so I had put something randomly.
Kiyohara didn't even originally possess Earth-nature chakra; it had merely been forcibly refined and fused into magnetic force by Magnet Release Kiyohara.
"Once the second will is completed, the burden will be even lighter."
Looking down at the enemies beneath the canopy, Kiyohara couldn't help but feel a sense of anticipation.
With only a partial inheritance of Magnet Release Kiyohara's power, he had already attained such speed.
If the final wish were also completed, the increase in strength would surely be even greater.
"Be careful—they're coming again."
To avoid falling, Rin wrapped her arms around Kiyohara's neck. Seeing the enemies below about to close in, she hurriedly warned him.
"I know."
Kiyohara nodded slightly.
Even while conversing with Magnet Release Kiyohara, he had never let his guard down against the outside world.
In the next instant, his figure vanished like an afterimage, carrying Rin to another location.
At the same time, every time he arrived somewhere new, he pulled shuriken from his shinobi tool pouch.
Soon, crisscrossing copper wire nets began to rain down from the sky.
Kiyohara successively infused them with Wind Release and Lightning Release, allowing wind currents and electric arcs to dramatically enhance the sharpness of the wires.
The surrounding trees were sliced apart as easily as tofu by the copper wire nets.
With just this move alone, several more Mist shinobi fell to their deaths.
Uekichi hadn't expected the coverage of the copper wire nets to be so wide. He could only burn chakra repeatedly, using the "Water Body Flicker Technique" several times in succession to accelerate and escape.
"The copper wire nets are about to break…"
Kiyohara looked at the wires trailing from his fingertips and could feel the wear and tear on them.
These were already special copper wires made specifically for shinobi use.
Unfortunately, once infused with Wind and Lightning Release to boost their power, they faced the risk of being scrapped after only a few uses.
This was the cost ratio of shinobi combat—every battle drained not only chakra, but money as well!
Fortunately, the results were satisfying. A safe zone was quickly cleared around Kiyohara. Kurenai and Genma finally finished dealing with the enemies around them and began moving toward Kiyohara's position.
Compared to fighting alone, gathering together was undoubtedly safer.
"That was close—"
Seeing Kiyohara successfully rescue Rin, Kakashi let out a sigh of relief. Although he had no idea how Kiyohara had become so fast, his heart finally eased.
With the electric arc in his hand, he pierced through the chests of three enemies in succession.
Immediately afterward, he felt a wave of dizziness.
The burden the Sharingan placed on him was truly enormous, constantly draining his chakra.
Because of this, Kakashi could only hope to grow up and reach adulthood as soon as possible.
As a shinobi aged, their chakra capacity would also increase.
After all, when broken down to its most basic unit, chakra was "physical stamina."
Only when a shinobi reached middle age would they gradually begin to decline, their chakra reserves steadily decreasing.
Just as Uekichi's attention was completely focused on Kiyohara and he was considering what he could do next, a venomous snake silently bit into his ankle.
As sharp pain erupted, his vision quickly darkened.
The toxin injected through the fangs spread rapidly through his body, pushing him to the brink of death in just a few short seconds.
Such poison—such a peculiar snake—
Uekichi's pupils shrank as a name surfaced in his mind.
In the final second before collapsing, he also saw a pale-skinned young man walking toward him.
Orochimaru!
Unfortunately, Uekichi no longer had time to regret focusing all his attention on Kiyohara. The poison had already spread to his heart and brain, and his life faded away completely.
"Well done, Kiyohara-kun."
Orochimaru lifted his head and looked up at Kiyohara standing atop the tree canopy.
With his appearance, dozens of Mist shinobi in the surrounding area began to retreat.
They were waiting for support from the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist—someone like Orochimaru was not an opponent they could handle.
"What you're using should be some kind of—bloodline limit, shouldn't it?"
Orochimaru stared at Kiyohara with undisguised interest.
He had thought the other party was just a civilian, yet it turned out he possessed a Kekkei Genkai as well.
There was still too little information, so Orochimaru didn't yet know what kind of bloodline limit it was.
But at this moment, Orochimaru's interest in Kiyohara rose once more.
(End of Chapter)