Kiyohara observed the battlefield.
This time, Sunakagure had mobilized more than a thousand shinobis, an overwhelming number.
Their objective was most likely to crush Konoha's frontline camp and create conditions for a subsequent advance.
"Kurenai, use your Wind Whisper Song Genjutsu to interfere with their rear ranks."
"Rin, you are responsible for support and treating the wounded. Be careful and do not stray too far from the defensive fortifications. Kakashi, we will cut into their flank and disrupt their formation."
"Understood!"
Kurenai formed hand seals with both hands, took a deep breath, and slowly opened her mouth.
A song flowed out from her throat.
At the same time, her other hand completed a Wind Release seal.
"Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!"
The airflow trembled as the wind carried her voice, rapidly spreading across the rear of the battlefield.
Some of the Sand shinobis in the back who were preparing ninjutsu suddenly froze, their movements halting as their eyes turned unfocused.
Rin moved swiftly among the Konoha shinobis, her palms glowing with the distinctive green light of medical ninjutsu. Her chakra seeped into wounds like a gentle stream, stopping bleeding and healing injuries.
Occasionally, when a Sand shinobi broke through the defensive line and rushed toward her, she would counter with Water jutsu. High pressure streams of water blasted out, powerful enough to send enemies flying several meters, slamming them into trees or rocks.
Kakashi's figure turned into a streak of blue white lightning, weaving through the flank of the battlefield.
He did not directly use Chidori to pierce his enemies. Instead, he infused Lightning Release chakra into his kunai. When thrown, the kunai crackled with piercing electric arcs, leaving blue trails in the air. Upon striking an enemy, they would unleash small bursts of electrical shock.
"Kakashi's Lightning Release has improved as well."
Kiyohara noted that although Kakashi's rate of progress was not as fast as his own, it was still far ahead of most others. It seemed that war truly accelerated the refinement of ninjutsu.
Very quickly, relying on their defensive fortifications and coordinated teamwork, Konoha managed to withstand the first wave of Suna's assault.
However, the Sand shinobis' numerical advantage gradually became apparent. The battle line began to be pushed forward slowly, like rising tides eroding a shoreline bit by bit.
At that moment, Kiyohara noticed the direction of the main command tent. Tsunade and Shizune were standing there. Shizune was supporting Tsunade, and both were watching the battlefield.
Tsunade's face was pale as paper, an unnatural whiteness visible even under the moonlight.
Her hands trembled slightly as she tightly gripped Shizune's arm, her lips pressed together.
Tsunade wanted to go and support Kiyohara and the others. She wanted to personally treat the wounded who were constantly being carried back. But her body's instinctive reaction made it impossible for her to move.
Every time she saw blood, saw torn flesh, her breathing would become rapid, her stomach would churn, and cold sweat would soak her back.
In the end, Tsunade had no choice but to close her eyes and summon Katsuyu to assist.
Katsuyu quickly split into many smaller slugs, and one of them crawled onto Kiyohara's body, supplying him with chakra.
"Kiyohara-sama, I will assist you."
"Thank you, Katsuyu-sama."
Kiyohara nodded.
Katsuyu liked to address others with honorifics such as sama.
"Hm?"
In the next moment, Katsuyu sensed that within Kiyohara's chakra, there was actually a mixture of natural energy.
This peculiar chakra was somewhat similar to senjutsu chakra.
Katsuyu's two antennae swayed slightly, as if pondering something.
At the same time, Sunakagure's offensive suddenly intensified. A squad of elite jonin broke through Konoha's right flank and rushed straight toward the command center.
There were people like Nara Enchu in charge of command there. Once breached, the entire defensive line could collapse.
Jiraiya was entangled by three Sand jonin, all elite shinobis skilled in Wind Release and puppet techniques, leaving him unable to disengage for the moment.
He shouted, "Right flank! Hold the right flank!"
"Kakashi, the right flank!"
Kiyohara shouted as he had already rushed forward.
The two of them shot out like arrows released from a bow, one from the left and one from the right, targeting that squad of elite jonin.
Kiyohara's Magnet Release iron sand surged out from his gourd, gathering and transforming in midair into dozens of black spears. Their tips were razor sharp, slicing through the air with a piercing whistle as they shot toward the enemy.
Kakashi cut in from the side, the chirping sound of Chidori ringing out once again.
But just as they were about to engage, a sudden change occurred.
In the distant sky, a dim golden light appeared.
It was the reflection of moonlight shining upon it.
Within that light was a mass of gold dust floating in midair, countless tiny golden grains gathering into a cloud.
Standing atop the gold dust was a figure wearing the Kazekage's robe, its fabric fluttering violently in the night wind.
The Fourth Kazekage, Rasa.
He looked down from above, overlooking the entire battlefield.
In the next second, after forming hand seals, Rasa raised his right hand.
Within a radius of several hundred meters, the ground trembled. Golden grains seeped out from the soil, like reversed droplets of golden rain, gathering into wave after wave.
Magnet Release: Gold Dust Imperial Funeral!
The waves of gold dust crashed down.
Dozens of Konoha shinobis were engulfed before they could even scream, buried under the heavy gold dust.
The sound of bones shattering was drowned out by the rustling flow of the sand, with only occasional spurts of blood staining the golden surface red, like a painting from hell.
"It's the Kazekage!"
Shouts of fear erupted within Konoha's ranks, and morale wavered at that moment.
Jiraiya formed hand seals, his chakra surging.
"Shinobi Art: Needle Hell!"
His iconic white hair instantly hardened and extended, transforming into countless sharp silver needles, each as deadly as a kunai.
Jiraiya's hair shot toward Rasa in the air, covering a vast area.
The gold dust in front of Rasa moved automatically, forming a thick golden shield as solid as a city wall.
Clang, clang, clang, clang.
The needles struck the gold dust shield, producing sharp metallic sounds.
Whenever a portion was broken, new gold dust would immediately flow in to fill the gap.
"It is useless, Jiraiya,"
Rasa said calmly, his voice transmitted through the gold dust.
"Your technique cannot break my absolute defense."
Kiyohara did not join the battle.
After Rasa appeared, Kiyohara had already found a less crowded area and began to take it easy.
His pitch black eyes turned crimson, and three tomoe emerged within them.
The three tomoe rotated, capturing Rasa's movements as well as the flow of chakra within his body.
Through the Sharingan's vision, even the air revealed traces of chakra movement.
The Magnet Release chakra that Rasa refined was attached to the gold dust, manipulating it like puppets on strings.
Soon, Kiyohara also observed the path of Rasa's chakra within his chakra system.
"So that is how it works."
Kiyohara continued observing.
Thanks to his spiritual energy being even stronger than that of the Uchiha clan, his Yin Release chakra was extremely powerful.
As a result, his ocular power far surpassed that of ordinary Uchiha, allowing him to perceive far more details of Rasa's technique.
This was the power of copying.
Kiyohara believed that this was the true way to use the Sharingan, pushing the art of copying to its absolute limit.
He spoke on behalf of the Sharingan.
After observing for a while, Kiyohara began forming hand seals, attempting to mobilize the chakra within his body.
Earth nature chakra served as the primary base, with wind nature chakra as a supplement, mixed in a certain proportion while imitating Rasa's hand seals and chakra flow.
Deep beneath Kiyohara's feet, metals were being continuously drawn upward, eventually reaching the surface and forming a faint golden mist.
Upon closer inspection, it was gold dust.
'Because this is a forest rather than the desert of the Land of Wind, extracting gold dust is not as convenient as iron sand,' Kiyohara thought.
Gold dust was certainly not something that could be easily extracted.
Otherwise, Suna would not have become the poorest of the great shinobi villages.
Moreover, Rasa often had to personally go into the desert to refine gold dust.
Part of what he refined was used for combat, while another portion was sold to supplement the village's finances, though the impact was limited.
Kiyohara was not disappointed.
Under normal circumstances, extracting gold dust might be difficult and require proficiency, but now there was a ready made supply.
Kiyohara poured out all the iron sand from his gourd and sealed it into a storage scroll. Then he attempted to use his own Magnet Release chakra to draw in Rasa's gold dust.
All of this was essentially pure money.
How long would it take for him to refine gold dust on his own?
Without Rasa's level of proficiency, Kiyohara's refining speed would certainly be far slower.
But right now, this was a once in a lifetime opportunity.
He was determined to take Rasa's gold dust for himself.
At that moment, Jiraiya launched another attack.
"Fire Release: Fire Dragon Flame Bullet!"
Three massive fire dragons burst from Jiraiya's mouth, charging toward Rasa from the left, right, and front.
This was an A rank Fire Release jutsu that required extremely high chakra control. The movement trajectories of the fire dragons were entirely controlled by the user and could change direction at any moment, making them extremely difficult to evade.
The flames were intensely hot. Wherever they passed, the air distorted and the vegetation on the ground ignited spontaneously.
Rasa was about to manipulate his gold dust to defend when his expression suddenly changed.
He felt that his connection with part of the gold dust had become sluggish, as if something was interfering with his control, like a radio signal being disrupted.
Although it lasted only for an instant and the interference was not particularly strong, it was enough to disrupt the rhythm of the defense, causing the formation of the gold dust shield to slow by half a beat.
The three fire dragons were already close at hand, heat waves surging forward. Rasa could even smell the scorched scent of burning air.
Rasa made a split second decision. He abandoned the idea of full defense and instead gathered all the gold dust he could control in front of him, forming a thick golden wall. However, its coverage was much smaller than originally planned.
The fire dragons slammed into the gold dust wall. The explosive flames dyed the night sky orange red, like the return of a sunset.
The intense heat caused the surface of the gold dust to partially melt, droplets of molten gold falling down.
The gold dust wall trembled violently and cracks appeared, but it ultimately managed to block the attack.
As the smoke and dust cleared, Rasa's expression darkened.
He looked toward a certain spot on the battlefield.
There, a black haired young shinobi was also looking up at him.
"Sharingan... Kiyohara."
Rasa recognized the name that had recently appeared frequently in Sunakagure intelligence reports.
He had actually managed to learn how to control gold dust without a teacher.
Rasa's brows furrowed tightly.
Such learning ability was simply astonishing.
Moreover, he had never seen the Sharingan copy the secret techniques of a bloodline limit.
Could it be because Kiyohara also possessed Magnet Release?
Rasa pondered for a moment but could not reach a conclusion.
After all, there had never been a case like Kiyohara before. As far as Rasa knew, Kiyohara was the only Uchiha who possessed another bloodline limit.
"This kind of Magnet Release ability cannot be allowed to remain."
In the next moment, Rasa released more of his chakra, strengthening his control over the gold dust.
In terms of chakra reserves, experience, and mastery over large scale ninjutsu, he far surpassed Kiyohara.
After all, he was the Kazekage of Sunakagure. Even though the Third Kazekage was hailed as the strongest, Rasa had still seized the position of Kazekage from a leaderless village, which meant he was far from ordinary.
Even so, Rasa did not dare to be careless.
Such a growth rate was far too fast.
And in the shinobi world, there was no such thing as an unstable foundation.
If one step was faster, then every step would be faster.
"You want to seize my gold dust as well?"
Rasa shouted.
With a wave of his hand, the gold dust behind him formed into a vast golden curtain.
Kiyohara also sensed that Rasa had strengthened his control over the gold dust. Seeing this, Kiyohara continued to activate the power within his curse mark.
He raised his right hand, spreading his fingers, pointing toward a patch of scattered gold dust at the edge of the battlefield.
That was what remained from the earlier Gold Dust Imperial Funeral.
The power of the curse mark could also enhance the strength of techniques.
Under the augmentation of the curse mark, a portion of that gold dust suddenly broke free from Rasa's control, floating up and directly flying back into the gourd at Kiyohara's waist.
Kiyohara patted the gourd, feeling quite satisfied.
If he could harvest more from Rasa, he would be able to use gold dust in battle himself in the future.
And his financial situation would also improve.
Whether it was supporting the orphanage or building a new laboratory in the future and cultivating his own forces, everything would become much easier.
After all, Kiyohara's current wealth was far from enough to sustain an entire shinobi village, but it was more than sufficient for these purposes.
"Impossible..."
Shock flashed through Rasa's eyes.
Although Magnet Release as a bloodline limit allowed one to control metals, different shinobis usually specialized in different types of metals. This was related to personal chakra nature, bloodline purity, and even spiritual characteristics.
Throughout the history of Sunakagure, there were very few shinobis capable of controlling gold dust, and every one of them had required years of hard training to master it.
Yet Kiyohara had not only learned it, he could even steal Rasa's gold dust in reverse.
This was simply outrageous.
Watching Kiyohara stuff Suna assets into his own pocket, Rasa could no longer hold back.
He leapt down from the air to the ground and slammed both hands onto the earth.
A massive amount of Magnet Release chakra poured into the ground.
All the gold dust behind him also descended, covering the surface.
"Magnet Release: Gold Dust Wave!"
With a thunderous boom, new gold dust continuously surged out from the earth, mixing with the existing gold dust.
The gold dust resembled an ocean, shimmering under the moonlight, raising towering golden waves that surged toward Kiyohara.
Jiraiya's expression turned grim. Naturally, he would not stand by and watch Kiyohara be attacked.
This was not a battle Kiyohara should be involved in.
"Orochimaru just left as well..."
Jiraiya frowned.
He suspected that Sunakagure had chosen this exact timing to launch their invasion.
Seeing this, Jiraiya quickly formed hand seals.
"Earth Release: Swamp of the Underworld!"
His chakra created a massive swamp within the forest, directly halting the advancing waves of gold dust.
The swamp was infused with Jiraiya's chakra, interfering with the gold dust that attempted to rise out of it.
With Jiraiya's assistance, Kiyohara accelerated his interference with Rasa's Magnet Release chakra.
More and more gold dust began to gather around Kiyohara, quickly filling the gourd he had earlier.
The gourd contained embedded sealing formulas, so although it appeared small, its internal capacity far exceeded its outward size, something that had cost Kiyohara quite a bit of money.
Jiraiya also noticed this scene.
With his rich combat experience, he immediately realized that this was an opportunity, a chance to break the stalemate.
"Kiyohara, keep interfering with him!"
Jiraiya shouted while forming hand seals once again.
"Fire Release: Great Flame Bullet!"
Continuous fireballs shot from Jiraiya's mouth, trailing crimson flames as they flew toward Rasa, forcing him to divide his attention to defense.
Meanwhile, Kiyohara focused his mind and continued to infiltrate his chakra into the sea of gold dust.
Rasa's chakra was vast and steady like a rock, but there was simply too much gold dust. It was impossible for him to account for every portion.
Kiyohara kept probing for weak points, prying away whatever he could and turning it into his own.
For the first time, Rasa felt that the situation was troublesome.
No enemy had ever fought him in such a manner.
His gold dust no longer responded as smoothly as an extension of his own body. Every act of control now required more chakra than usual to resist the interference.
Although Kiyohara's interference was not yet strong and consisted only of scattered theft here and there, if Kiyohara had been alone, Rasa would not have feared him.
But Jiraiya was right beside him, constantly assisting Kiyohara while also forcing Rasa to evade his ninjutsu.
Against a shinobi of Jiraiya's level, even the slightest disadvantage could be magnified.
Furthermore, Rasa noticed the small slug on Kiyohara's shoulder that was occasionally supplying him with chakra.
He knew that Tsunade was present as well.
If two of the Legendary Sannin joined forces, combined with Kiyohara's interference with the gold dust, it would take him even longer to resolve the situation.
A surprise attack relied on speed, striking like lightning.
Once Konoha reinforcements arrived, the battle would become even more drawn out.
By then, casualties would increase.
This was extremely unfavorable for the current situation of Suna.
"Damn it..."
Rasa gritted his teeth, forming hand seals as he refined even more chakra.
"Gold Dust Domain!"
Even more gold dust surged out from the ground, as if the entire earth was secreting golden blood.
The gold dust formed countless sharp spears, each as thick as an arm, their tips razor sharp. Like a torrential rain, they shot toward Kiyohara, covering a vast area.
Even if Kiyohara could interfere with part of the gold dust, he could not block it all.
This was both an area attack and a test, probing the limits of Kiyohara's interference.
Kiyohara neither dodged nor retreated. He brought his hands together, his gaze focused.
"Magnet Release: Gold Dust Wall!"
The gold dust he had just stored surged out from the gourd, gathering in front of him to form a rapidly rotating golden wall, like both a shield and a grinding machine.
The gold dust spears collided with the wall, producing harsh screeching sounds as sparks flew, but they could not break through. Instead, they were deflected by the rotating gold dust and shot off in all directions.
In essence, this was the same as his previous Magnet Release Iron Sand Wall, except that the material had changed from iron sand to gold dust.
Taking advantage of this moment, Kiyohara maintained the gold dust wall with his left hand while his right palm condensed chakra.
A blazing fireball quickly formed in his palm, initially only the size of a fist.
Immediately afterward, he mobilized Magnet Release power to perform microwave heating.
Under the effect of the microwaves, the temperature inside the fireball rose drastically, turning it white hot. Its size did not increase, but its temperature surged tremendously, as if Kiyohara was holding a miniature sun in his palm.
"Fire Release: Microwave Bullet!"
Kiyohara hurled the terrifying fireball toward Rasa.
As it traveled, the air exploded from the heat, and the vegetation on the ground instantly carbonized, leaving behind a charred trail.
Rasa immediately tried to manipulate gold dust to envelop and isolate the fireball, but Jiraiya's attack arrived again.
"Wild Lion's Mane Technique!"
Jiraiya's hair grew wildly, taking the shape of a lion's head, each strand as hard as steel needles as it lashed toward Rasa from the side.
The hair was as tough as iron. An ordinary shinobi caught by it would be shredded instantly.
With a high temperature fireball in front and Jiraiya's binding technique from the side, Rasa was forced into a dilemma.
He had not expected that Chiyo and Ebizo were still on their way, yet as the vanguard, he had already been stalled to this extent.
Rasa decisively abandoned defense and rapidly retreated, stacking layers of gold dust in front of himself to form multiple layers of protection.
But he was still a step too slow.
The fireball exploded before the gold dust defense could fully take shape.
Boom!
A brilliant dark red mushroom cloud rose, and a blinding white light erupted instantly.
A violent wind swept across the area, sending leaves, grass, corpses, and shinobi tools flying outward.
Although Rasa retreated in time, he was still caught by the edge of the explosion.
The gold dust defense in front of him was mostly melted by the extreme heat, droplets of molten gold falling like rain.
The lower hem of his robe was scorched and tattered, and several burn marks appeared on his face, bringing a searing pain.
More importantly, part of the gold dust lost its magnetism due to the high temperature and slipped out of his control.
Seizing the opportunity, Kiyohara took control of that portion of gold dust as well.
Excellent, he had never experienced such a wonderful opening before.
Kiyohara felt that making money had suddenly become a very simple matter.
(End of Chapter)