The Suna ANBU barely managed to deflect a few incoming shuriken with his kunai, but he couldn't dodge the contracting copper wire.
The razor-thin thread wrapped around his torso. Although he twisted just in time to avoid decapitation, the wire bit deeply into his flesh, distorting his movements and trapping him.
"Lightning Release: Lightning Flow!"
Kiyohara formed the hand seal. High-voltage electricity surged down the wire.
The remaining Suna ANBU saw his partner get electrocuted and panicked.
He locked his eyes onto Kiyohara's fingers, trying to predict the manipulation of the remaining shuriken flying toward him.
'He's pulling left!' The Suna ANBU's combat instincts flared. He threw himself to the right, thanking the heavens that he was also trained in shurikenjutsu.
Puchi!
The next second, the face beneath the Suna mask twisted in disbelief.
Intense, searing pain assaulted his back. The shuriken had buried itself between his shoulder blades, immediately followed by a lethal surge of electricity. The smell of burning flesh filled the air.
"How... why...?"
He widened his eyes and fell forward with a wet thud, dead.
He didn't understand. Kiyohara's fingers had clearly pulled the wire to the left. Why did the shuriken curve sharply to the right?
'Hah... sure enough, magnetic force overrides physical tension,' Kiyohara thought, lowering his hands.
He remembered Toroi, the Cloud Jonin who magnetized his weapons. Kiyohara had just done the same thing. By magnetizing the shuriken mid-flight, he used the principle of mutual attraction to forcibly alter its trajectory against the pull of the wire. It was an invisible, unblockable feint.
With that, both Suna ANBU were eliminated.
While Kiyohara was securing his kills, the Konoha ANBU were not idle.
The coughing young man, Hayate Gekkō, popped a soldier pill into his mouth.
Instantly, his body became perfectly transparent. He vanished into thin air, appearing a second later behind a Suna Chunin to deliver a fatal strike.
'Tōton (Transparent Escape),' Kiyohara noted. 'A rare Kekkei Genkai. Perfect for assassination.'
He raised an eyebrow, wondering if there was a "Transparent Kiyohara" in the future waiting to be unboxed. It was a shame Hayate's physical constitution was so weak; he looked like a consumptive ghost coughing up a lung. He could never display the true terrifying potential of absolute invisibility.
Nearby, the female Konoha ANBU, Yūgao Uzuki, rallied. With the ANBU pressure off, her pristine Konoha-Style Kenjutsu made quick work of another Suna ninja.
Only two enemies remained: the Suna Jonin captain, Ōta, and the female sealing ninja, Makura.
"Captain Ōta! What do we do?!" Makura asked, her voice trembling.
Ōta ignored her, his hands flying through seals.
"Wind Release: Wind Cutter Technique!"
A massive, crescent-shaped blade of compressed air shot toward Kiyohara. Ōta knew the masked boy was the apex predator here. If he killed Kiyohara, he could still handle the exhausted Konoha ANBU.
"Coming for me?"
Kiyohara wove his own signs. "Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!"
Simultaneously, he channeled his new Magnet Release, pulling a minute, almost undetectable layer of iron sand from the soil and adhering it to the blade of his Tachi.
The two wind jutsu collided, creating a localized hurricane that sent the suspended copper wires swaying violently.
Under the cover of the wind, Kiyohara activated the Konoha Body Flicker. He vanished, leaving behind only scattered green leaves.
"Damn it! Where did he go?!"
Cold sweat dripped down Ōta's face. He was surrounded by a cage of wires, and he couldn't track the enemy's speed.
Whoosh!
A whistling sound came from the canopy. Kiyohara threw his Tachi directly at the Jonin.
Ōta reflexively raised his kunai to parry.
Clang!
He successfully blocked the sword, completely unaware that the impact had shaken the microscopic layer of black iron sand off the Tachi and onto his kunai.
Kiyohara landed, pulling the copper wire attached to the Tachi's pommel to snap the blade back into his hand. He stepped forward instantly, delivering a horizontal slash aimed at Ōta's neck.
Ōta rejoiced inwardly. 'He abandoned his wire advantage for close combat? Fool!'
He confidently raised his kunai to block the incoming strike.
But as his arm moved to intercept, an invisible force pulled against the metal of his kunai.
"What—?!"
His arm met sudden, inexplicable resistance, dragging his block down by a crucial half-inch. He thought it was just muscle fatigue.
It wasn't.
Puff.
Kiyohara's Tachi sheared smoothly through the top half of Ōta's head.
To an outside observer, it simply looked like Ōta was too slow to raise his guard.
'Magnet Release is terrifyingly convenient for micro-adjustments in close combat,' Kiyohara exhaled, shaking the blood from his blade. Ōta was so nervous he hadn't noticed the iron sand magnetizing his weapon, turning it into an anchor.
"Leave the last one alive. We need a captive," Kiyohara ordered.
"Understood," Yūgao swiftly subdued the terrified Makura, binding her with ninja wire.
"Who are you?" Hayate's voice echoed as he materialized from the air, followed by a violent coughing fit.
"Kiyohara. Sent by Lord Orochimaru."
Kiyohara lifted his hair to reveal his Konoha headband and recited the daily frontline cipher code.
After confirming the code, the tension dropped.
"This woman belongs to Suna's sealing corps. Interrogate her," Kiyohara instructed, pointing at Makura. He wished he knew Genjutsu so he could extract Pakura's location right now, but he had to rely on Konoha's Torture and Interrogation (T&I) division. "Take her back. My patrol route isn't finished."
As Kiyohara knelt to systematically strip the Suna corpses of their gear and scrolls, Yūgao walked over.
Beneath her ANBU mask, she observed the handsome, deadly boy who was currently acting like a battlefield scavenger.
"Thank you for saving me," she said softly.
"It was nothing," Kiyohara replied without looking up, pocketing a blood-stained coin purse. He had only intervened to steal the kill for his dying wish, but he wasn't going to say that.
"I need to go. Stay safe."
With a flicker of movement, Kiyohara vanished into the forest.
Yūgao stared blankly at the empty space. 'He is... unconventional.'
"What's wrong?" Hayate asked, leaning heavily against a tree.
"Nothing. I just feel like I've seen him in the Village before," Yūgao shook her head. "Let's hurry back."
The Next Day. Uzushiogakure Main Camp.
Kiyohara took a boat back to the island ruins. As soon as he arrived, he felt the oppressive, suffocating atmosphere. The camp was preparing for war.
He reported directly to the command tent, logging his kills and submitting his patrol map. He was immediately awarded a significant sum of Military Merit.
He didn't hoard it. He immediately went to the quartermaster's tent.
'Unused merit is just useless data. It needs to be converted into survival potential.'
With his new Earth affinity unlocked, he spent all his merits to acquire a C-Rank Jutsu scroll: Earth Release: Earth Rising Spear. It was a highly lethal, low-chakra jutsu that weaponized the ground beneath the enemy's feet.
He tucked the scroll into his vest, looking out at the gray, churning ocean.
There were only four hours left until dawn.
The Seven Swordsmen were coming.
.....
[AUTHOR NOTE: New fanfic Bleach: Echoes of the Soul is released today. Can you guys add it to your library if you like it and support and help in getting it to top spot in weekly collection list. You can find this fic in my profile or through search.]