Kiyohara's lips curled into a faint smile as he felt the chakra inside him surge, like a flood breaking through a dam.
His chakra reserves, stamina, and even his neural reflexes—
all had clearly improved the moment Magnet Kiyohara fused with him.
This kind of instantaneous power boost was… exhilarating.
Had he trained step by step to reach this point, it would have taken him years—maybe decades.
At that pace, he might've ended up like Rogue Kiyohara, choosing to follow Orochimaru just to gain strength.
But now, thanks to the The Will Scroll (System), he could stack his future selves' effort.
No Kekkei Genkai could compare to this.
As long as he stayed alive, the snowball would keep rolling.
Even stacking dozens of "Normal Kiyoharas" would eventually cause a quantum leap in power.
Right now, a flood of Magnet Release jutsu knowledge surged through his mind.
"Magnet Release: Iron Sand Binding Coffin."
"Magnet Release: Iron Sand Giant Spear."
Classic techniques once used in the original timeline.
One restrains and suffocates the target in black iron sand.
The other condenses that sand into high-density lances that skewer anything in their path.
So—Kiyohara wasn't just inheriting the weird "Magnetic Field Rotation."
He could use normal Magnet Release techniques too.
"Huh. I thought all you knew was that 'magnetic field voodoo'," Kiyohara muttered.
"I was still developing it," Magnet Kiyohara replied casually.
"...Right."
Kiyohara had long since stopped questioning his other self's strange priorities.
Honestly, if he'd just used standard Magnet Release against Kaguya Masaru, the fight might've been a lot easier…
"Whatever."
He dropped the thought and focused on absorbing every bit of the physical transformation—
staying alert just in case of a sneak attack.
He was strong now, but a blade to the heart still meant game over.
'Yeah… I'm stronger.'
His body was still evolving—pushing past thresholds he didn't even realize he had.
Suddenly—
"Who are you?!"
A Suna ANBU snapped, pointing a kunai directly at him.
Kiyohara wasn't wearing a flak jacket, and his forehead protector was hidden beneath his hair.
"Be careful. This guy feels like a jōnin at least," warned a Suna kunoichi with striking purple face paint.
She carried a massive scroll on her back, and though her hair was hidden under a turban, her resemblance to Rin was uncanny.
She was a sealing-type kunoichi, one of Suna's specialties—using cloth-based sealing arts unlike the Uzumaki-inspired ones Konoha inherited.
'Interesting,' Kiyohara thought.
If he remembered right, this girl was Pakura's disciple.
And his second future self's goal… was to defeat Pakura.
That made things very interesting.
He decided to leave her alive.
If he could take her captive, he might dig up valuable intel.
As his body rapidly adapted to his new powers, he kept his eyes on the group.
"Hmph. You Leaf nin should surrender while you still can. Maybe then we'll take you prisoner instead of corpses," one of the Suna nin growled, scars crawling from his eyes down his cheek.
"Careful, they're Suna ANBU. They're way stronger than normal shinobi!"
Uzuki Yugao's voice rang out, anxious and urgent.
She stared at Kiyohara intently.
She shimmered through the leaves, catching the angle of his face just right.
Handsome, high-bridged nose, sharp jawline… she definitely recognized him from somewhere in the village.
She just couldn't remember exactly where.
All she could think was—
'He's hot.'
No other impression.
"Surrender?"
Kiyohara twirled his bloodstained blade once, flicking off crimson droplets.
He calmly retracted the copper wire attached to his giant shuriken and sealed it back into a scroll.
"You guys really don't get it, do you?" he said casually, reaching into his tool pouch and unrolling a small sealing scroll.
The Suna ninja tensed.
Even though he was strong, they had more people, including two ANBU and a sealing specialist.
They had the numbers.
They had the edge.
Right?
So why was this Leaf shinobi acting so… calm?
"You've all been yapping this whole time," Kiyohara said, voice dripping with mockery.
"You didn't think I was just standing here because I enjoyed listening to your crap, right?"
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Smoke exploded from the scroll—dozens of shuriken and ninja tools filled the air around him.
And in that moment, a surge of magnetic force spread through his palms.
"I've been standing here getting stronger.
What you lot have been doing?"
I've been inheriting future power—chakra, talent, reaction speed, perception—every second I'm alive, I'm evolving.
Every breath I take stacks onto the legacy of dozens of Kiyoharas.
I'm not stalling.
I'm upgrading.
Kiyohara launched into motion.
His arms blurred—over sixty shuriken rained through the air like a metallic storm.
"Sixty?! At once?!"
One Suna ANBU gasped.
"What is this monster's hand speed?!"
The injured one ducked for cover. Another tried to use Wind Release to blow the barrage away.
But Kiyohara was already a step ahead.
His fingers twitched.
Hidden copper wires connecting the shuriken suddenly jerked taut—
And in midair, the barrage of flying weapons twisted and formed a shimmering net.
"Shuriken Handling Technique: Iron Web!"
The threads glinted under the moonlight—razor sharp.
The trap closed.
Shrubs were sliced.
Stones cracked.
Even leaves that drifted too close were neatly diced into squares.
"Aaagh!"
The wounded Suna shinobi wasn't fast enough.
A wire slashed through his arm—severed clean at the shoulder.
Blood sprayed in a wide arc as he collapsed screaming.
"So strong!"
That was all Uzuki Yugao could think, watching the flawless execution of death.