"The range of the Magnetic Force I can borrow has increased," Kiyohara marveled internally. "It feels like I'm absorbing the power of the earth itself."
Although Kiyohara didn't fully understand the underlying physics, the physical sensation was undeniable. His body felt lighter, almost hollow.
If he had to describe it, it was as if his personal gravity had been reduced to a fraction of its normal state.
Hiss... Ha...
White, superheated air plumed from his rebreather mask, dissipating into the chaos of the battlefield.
Kiyohara took a tentative step.
He felt a massive, coiled force beneath his feet, just waiting to propel him.
Just as plants naturally absorb light and heat from the sun, his newly mutated DNA, combined with the Magnetic Field Rotation, was passively drawing the ambient magnetic energy of the planet into his chakra network.
Across the ruined battlefield, Kakashi's lone Sharingan spun wildly. He caught sight of Rin being ambushed near the treeline.
He tried to break away, but two Mist Jonin intercepted him, forcing him into a desperate parry. Frustration and panic surged in Kakashi's chest.
He and Obito had made a promise: *They must protect Rin.*
If he failed, how could he face Obito when he eventually crossed over to the Pure Land? More importantly, Obito aside, Rin was his most cherished comrade.
"I can't break through!" Genma shouted, spitting out a barrage of senbon.
The needles pinged harmlessly against a thick, flowing Water Wall cast by the advancing Mist forces. "There are too many of them!"
"The distance is too great," Kurenai gritted her teeth, weaving defensive signs. "My Genjutsu can't reach her from here!"
Both Ninjutsu and Genjutsu have absolute range limits.
Currently, their squad was fractured into several isolated pockets, separated by hundreds of meters of rubble and enemies. Rin was the furthest away, having been forced backward by a relentless barrage of water whips.
Kurenai suddenly thought of Kiyohara's wire-shuriken tricks. Could he throw them that far?
She turned her head.
"Kiyohara?"
From a distance, it looked as if Kiyohara was physically steaming.
"Are you alright, Kiyohara?" Kurenai yelled, ducking under a Mist kunai.
"I'm fine," Kiyohara replied, his voice eerily calm through the mask. "Never been better."
He drew his Tachi. With a fluid, backhand slash, he cleanly decapitated a Mist Chunin trying to flank him.
Thud.
Kurenai's ruby eyes widened.
Kiyohara's drawing speed and sheer kinetic power had spiked exponentially. It was as if someone had pressed the fast-forward button on him.
'He must have activated a forbidden jutsu,' Kurenai realized.
But Kiyohara didn't explain. He locked his eyes on Rin's distant, struggling figure.
He took a step forward and bent his knees.
Forces act in pairs.
This was the fundamental law of physics.
What happens when Kiyohara channels a massive, concentrated blast of Magnetic Force into the soles of his feet, creating absolute repulsion against the Earth's natural magnetic field?
The Radical Spirit had already given him the answer.
The Earth is fixed. It possesses near-infinite mass. When a powerful magnetic force pushes down on the Earth, an equal and opposite force must push upward.
The Earth won't move.
Therefore, the only thing that can move... is Kiyohara.
BOOM!
The ground beneath him shattered into powder.
His body was launched forward by the sheer repulsive force. He didn't run; he was fired from a Railgun. He shot across the battlefield like a bolt of lightning, a straight line of dust kicking up in his wake, heading directly for Rin.
Hoo... hoo...
Rin panted heavily, her vision darkening at the edges.
She looked at the Mist ninja circling her through the coastal trees and felt a cold, crushing despair.
She had expended too much stamina dodging.
The enemy numbers were overwhelming, and the distant wall of sea fog was visibly surging toward them, threatening to swallow the entire coastline.
If they dragged this out, the Konoha forces would be wiped out.
But Rin noticed something chilling.
The Mist ninja surrounding her weren't rushing to kill her. They were pacing themselves, throwing non-lethal strikes to keep her moving, wearing her down.
'They're using me as bait,' Rin realized with sickening clarity.
They wanted to lure her comrades into a reckless rescue. Kakashi and the others, anxious to save her, would abandon their defensive formations, exposing fatal weaknesses. Once the Mist slaughtered her protectors, they would harvest her—the Medical Ninja—at their leisure.
She looked toward Kakashi. She could see him trying to mold chakra for the Chidori, desperately trying to punch a hole through the enemy line to reach her. But he was repeatedly blocked, draining his already limited chakra.
"If you keep dragging this out, your friends are going to run out of energy and die," a Mist Tokubetsu Jonin named Jōkichi sneered. His face was rough, and he wielded two jagged, battered swords.
Taking advantage of Rin's momentary distraction, Jōkichi lunged.
Slash.
His sword cut across Rin's back.
Blood sprayed. Fortunately, the wound wasn't deep, and Rin instantly applied the Mystical Palm Technique to stop the bleeding.
"Despicable," Rin grunted, drawing a kunai.
A burning pain radiated from the cut. She could feel micro-fragments of stone embedded in the wound—likely debris left on Jōkichi's blade from shattering an Earth wall earlier. It would make healing difficult.
But she didn't care about healing anymore.
Rin tightened her grip on her kunai. She was prepared to sacrifice herself. She refused to be the bait that killed her friends. She would make one last, suicidal stand.
At that exact moment, a pale white head emerged from the soil inside a concealed coastal bush.
White Zetsu.
He observed the battlefield, quickly transmitting the data across the Land of Fire through his subterranean telepathic network directly to Madara Uchiha.
This was Madara's greatest asset: absolute, global surveillance.
"Do we need to intervene?" White Zetsu asked Madara.
Madara had ordered them to monitor the people around Obito. They were vital pawns. If it weren't for their connection to Obito, Madara wouldn't care if Kakashi, Rin, or Kiyohara were slaughtered.
"Don't be impatient," Madara's voice echoed.
He formed a hand seal, connecting his mind to White Zetsu's optic nerve. Visual-sharing jutsu were rare, but not unheard of—similar to Gaara's Third Eye. It consumed significant chakra, but hooked up to the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path (Gedo Mazo), Madara had chakra to spare.
"Something interesting is happening," Madara murmured, his ancient face as calm as still water.
"Something interesting?" Tobi (the Swirl-Zetsu) perked up beside Madara's throne. "Is it poop?!"
Tobi quickly relayed the question through the network. Lacking digestive organs, he was utterly fascinated by the concept.
"No, you idiot," White Zetsu replied from the battlefield. "It's... Kiyohara!"
White Zetsu's golden eyes widened.
He tracked a figure tearing across the battlefield, covering hundreds of meters in seconds, kicking up a massive dust trail. The speed was terrifying.
Jōkichi heard the high-frequency vibration a split second before he felt the gale-force wind hit his ear.
Years of brutal Bloody Mist survival instincts kicked in. Without even looking, he formed a seal.
Splash.
Jōkichi's body collapsed into a puddle of water just as a blade sheared through the space his neck had occupied a microsecond prior.
Water Clone Jutsu!
Jōkichi survived, but his squadmate did not.
Splat.
Kiyohara's Tachi didn't stop. It carried through the water clone and slammed into the Mist ninja standing behind Jōkichi.
The pale blue Lightning Release coursed through the Chakra Metal blade, amplifying its cutting power to horrific levels.
Like a hot knife through butter, the Mist ninja was cleaved diagonally from collarbone to hip. The top half of his body slowly slid off his waist and hit the dirt.
"The enemy is here! Don't be careless!" Jōkichi yelled, materializing from a nearby puddle.
He was sweating. He had completely underestimated the Konoha boy's speed.
'Is he a Body Flicker specialist?!' Jōkichi thought, raising his battered swords.
.....
.....
.....
Support me and read advance chapters on patreon.com/ImmortalDaoWriter