"The road has to be walked step by step."
Kiyohara looked at the white smoke that was gradually dispersing, quietly mapping out his plans in his mind.
First, he needed to quickly accumulate enough battle merits to exchange for a B-rank Lightning Release ninjutsu, thus fulfilling the first unfulfilled wish of Steel Release Kiyohara.
At the same time, he would make use of mission opportunities to see whether he might run into a lone Iwa Steel Release shinobi.
Night fell.
Two figures were rapidly interweaving with one another.
They were on a relatively open stretch of ground at the edge of the camp, an area that had been repurposed as a temporary training field.
Kiyohara and Kakashi were engaged in nighttime sparring.
Around Kiyohara's body floated countless grains of black iron sand, so fine they looked like dust.
He formed hand seals with both hands.
"Lightning Release: Lightning Current Technique!"
Crackle!
The electric arcs did not coat a kunai or a shinobi blade. Instead, they surged directly into the vast cloud of suspended iron sand.
In an instant, dazzling azure sparks leapt wildly within the iron sand mist, crackling sharply through the air.
"Magnet Release: Iron Sand Drizzle."
Kiyohara swept his hand forward, and the thunder-lit iron sand cloud surged forth like a commanded swarm of bees, carrying with it the shrill hiss of electric currents as it shot toward Kakashi in a dense, overwhelming wave!
The area it covered was enormous, almost completely sealing off all of Kakashi's conventional escape routes.
Faced with such an attack, Kakashi pushed up his forehead protector, revealing the crimson Sharingan beneath, marked with two tomoe.
The Sharingan spun ceaselessly. Its formidable dynamic vision captured the trajectory of every single grain of iron sand, analyzing their speed, angles, and vectors in real time.
Just as the lightning-charged iron sand was about to strike him, Kakashi moved.
His body slipped, twisted, and retreated through the narrow gaps within the dense barrage of iron sand!
A few grains that pierced through his defensive perimeter grazed past the hem of his clothes, carrying a faint smell of scorching, but they failed to inflict any real damage.
"The perception power of the Sharingan really is troublesome," Kiyohara muttered.
Seeing this, he did not grow discouraged. Instead, he focused even harder, manipulating the iron sand to change its formation.
Kakashi was equally concentrated, the two of them trading moves back and forth without pause.
At the edge of the training field, Rin sat quietly on a rock, her chin propped in her hands as she watched the two sparring figures in the field.
Moonlight spilled over her delicate features, outlining her face with a gentle glow.
This kind of scene—felt like going back to the past again.
Rin remembered how it used to be: she would sit to the side like this, watching Obito noisily challenge Kakashi, only to get beaten black and blue, then stubbornly struggle back to his feet—
Only now, that hot-blooded and impulsive figure was gone, replaced by Kiyohara, calm as still water, with an endless array of methods at his disposal.
'Kiyohara—he's completely different from Obito,' Rin thought silently.
Stronger… and—more handsome.
The thought made her cheeks warm slightly, and she hurriedly shook her head to clear it.
The sparring continued for more than ten minutes, until both of them had expended more than half their chakra and finally stopped, panting lightly.
"Kiyohara, the speed at which you're getting stronger is terrifying," Kakashi said as he pulled his forehead protector back down to cover the Sharingan, breathing a little heavily.
"I just put more time into training than most," Kiyohara replied.
Kakashi nodded.
In his impression, Kiyohara really was someone both diligent and highly talented.
"Then I'll head back to rest first," Kakashi said.
Keeping the Sharingan active constantly drained his chakra, so he fatigued more easily than ordinary shinobi.
"Kakashi, I have something I want to say to you."
Rin looked at Kakashi's retreating back and hurried after him.
"What is it?" Kakashi turned around to look at her.
"I want to ask… why is it that ever since Obito died, you've rarely trained together with me anymore?" Rin asked softly.
Before Kakashi became obsessed with developing the Chidori, the three of them—herself, Kakashi, and Obito—had practically been inseparable.
She had thought that once Kakashi finished developing his new jutsu, things would go back to how they were before.
Who could have known that Obito would remain behind at Kannabi Bridge?
And that Kakashi, too, would grow more and more silent, devoting himself solely to solitary training day after day.
"Because Obito entrusted you to me. Even if it costs me my life, I must protect you."
"But—"
"Rin, Obito—he really liked you. Very much. He cared about you deeply."
Hearing Kakashi's words, Rin didn't know how to respond.
Obito liking her—what did that have to do with Kakashi no longer training with her?
"And I… am just a scumbag who once stood by and watched you die without lifting a finger."
Kakashi shook his head.
Even though Rin hadn't said anything afterward, the fact remained that he had indeed chosen to prioritize the mission at that time, abandoning Rin.
It was only after Obito's impassioned words that he had finally realized that comrades were far more important than missions.
But that realization had planted a thorn deep in Kakashi's heart—a thorn of guilt.
Rin watched Kakashi's departing back, her lips moving slightly as if she wanted to call out to him, but in the end, no words came.
She let out a soft sigh, a trace of disappointment passing across her face.
Why was it that everyone was clearly such good comrades, yet after Obito's death, a rift had formed between them?
"A melodramatic love triangle," Kiyohara muttered, shaking his head.
Even without knowing the past in detail, he could easily guess what had happened.
After recovering some chakra, he began converting it into magnetic force, sensing the iron sand scattered throughout the ground.
Part of this iron sand, Kiyohara planned to use for his daily application of Magnet Release ninjutsu.
The rest, he intended to sell.
Iron sand was, after all, a type of metallic ore and could be sold as a resource.
He searched the surrounding area for a while. Perhaps due to the local terrain, he managed to collect quite a lot.
To Kiyohara's surprise, Rin came back again.
"Kiyohara—I'll help you look," she said softly, crouching down and beginning to help identify the black iron sand that Kiyohara had magnetically drawn up and scattered across the grass.
"Thank you," Kiyohara replied.
He didn't refuse. He could sense that Rin needed something to occupy her mind right now.
The two of them collected silently for a while, the atmosphere subtly delicate.
In the end, Rin couldn't hold it in any longer and asked quietly, "Kiyohara, do you think Kakashi, will he never be able to forget Obito?"
Kiyohara's hands paused briefly. He turned his head to look at Rin.
Under the moonlight, she was looking down, her long eyelashes lowered, hiding the emotions in her eyes.
So that was it—
Kiyohara understood at once.
At this stage, Rin probably just had some feelings for Kakashi.
But those feelings hadn't even had time to bloom before they were cut short.
After all, Kakashi was—an absolute steel-straight man.
After some thought, Kiyohara spoke in as gentle a tone as he could: "Don't be sad, Rin. Kakashi, maybe he just hasn't fully come to terms with Obito's death yet. That Sharingan isn't just power; it's also a heavy burden of responsibility and guilt.
When he sees you, he probably can't help but think of Obito's final request. Feeling conflicted would be unavoidable."
"I'm not—sad," Rin replied.
Hearing that, Kiyohara couldn't help but smile. He pointed at her face. "Your worries are practically written all over your face. And as for Kakashi's Sharingan and Obito… with a bit of association, anyone could roughly guess what's going on."
"Are my emotions really that obvious?" Rin touched her cheek.
Were her feelings really that easy to read?
Kiyohara paused, then said half-jokingly and half-seriously, "A girl as pretty and kind as you, Rin, naturally draws attention. That makes your emotions easier to notice too. Being able to see what's on your mind—isn't that perfectly normal?"
This almost blunt praise caught Rin completely off guard. The heaviness in her heart caused by Kakashi was unexpectedly eased by these sudden words.
Kakashi might not care about her.
But—there were still people who did.
Rin lifted her head and glanced at Kiyohara's handsome face.
She had once accidentally seen Kakashi without his mask, but compared to Kiyohara's looks, he still fell just a little short.
Seeing Rin's shy expression, Kiyohara knew his words had worked. He didn't pursue the topic further and instead changed the subject. "Alright, don't think about it anymore. Since we're already out here, how about practicing some medical ninjutsu? I still want to reinforce the basics you taught me before."
"Mm—okay," Rin nodded gently, using the opportunity to steady her emotions.
At the same time, inside a tent.
Kakashi sat alone on his sleeping bag, his back against the canvas, staring up at the ceiling.
After sitting motionless for over an hour, struggling internally, he finally let out a sigh, stood up, and decided to go outside to check.
He was worried that Rin might remain upset because of his attitude.
All he wanted was for everyone to remain comrades.
But when he lifted the tent flap and stepped outside, he saw Kiyohara and Rin walking side by side from the direction of the training field.
Moonlight bathed the two of them. Rin was speaking softly to Kiyohara about something, while Kiyohara slightly tilted his head, listening attentively.
Seeing this scene, Kakashi silently returned to the tent.
With Kiyohara there to console her, it seemed he wasn't needed after all.
"Obito, I will uphold our promise," Kakashi thought quietly.
The next day.
Kiyohara rose early and packed the iron sand he had collected the night before into sturdy cloth sacks.
The grains were uniform and pitch-black in color—excellent metallic material.
He planned to use the free time during the morning rotation break to complete a transaction in a nearby transit town.
Kiyohara easily found a merchant in the relevant supply chain. After inspecting the quality of the iron sand, the merchant offered a fair price.
Forty thousand ryō.
That was the money he received from selling part of the iron sand.
The remaining iron sand from recent days, Kiyohara stored in a thermos.
This was already a decent amount of money, after all—iron sand wasn't a precious metal.
In the modernized shinobi world, techniques for mining and smelting metals were well developed.
Naturally, prices couldn't be very high.
If he really wanted to make money, he'd have to look to Rasa as a model.
Kiyohara's desire to meet Rasa grew stronger by the day.
He was genuinely curious about how Rasa used magnetism to control gold dust. If he could learn that, he wouldn't have to slog away using iron sand anymore.
"At least it's safer than carrying out missions," Kiyohara thought.
Collecting iron sand only cost time and chakra. Since not every place had it, exploration was required.
Even so, it was still far better than running ordinary missions.
After returning to the base, Kiyohara found a spot to squat down and count his money.
He considered whether to buy another set of armor.
His previous armor had already suffered some wear. If he encountered an enemy attack, it would be easy for it to be shattered.
Just then, he suddenly felt the light dim. Two enormous shadows seemed to loom over his face.
A scent mixed with faint alcohol drifted close.
Kiyohara instinctively raised his head—only to find his entire field of vision blocked by a towering, tightly wrapped snow-capped mountain range.
"What are you looking at?" Tsunade's voice rang out.
Only then did Kiyohara realize—he had forgotten to turn off his auto-aim.
Maintaining a perfectly calm expression, he shifted his gaze away and took a step back while still crouching.
He leaned his neck back slightly and lifted his eyes, finally meeting the sight of that lazily smiling face.
(End of Chapter)