The smoke and dust slowly dispersed, revealing that quite a bit of gold sand had fallen off Rasa's body.
This gold sand had helped him block a portion of the heat.
At that moment, Rasa noticed a change in Jiraiya.
At some point, two green old toads were now standing on Jiraiya's shoulders.
Both of the old toads wore cloaks, their hands clasped together in front of them.
Red eyeshadow had appeared on Jiraiya's face, and red markings extended along both sides of the bridge of his nose. The chakra around his entire body had completely changed.
Sage Mode!
Alarm bells rang wildly in Rasa's mind.
Jiraiya was already a troublesome opponent, but after entering Sage Mode, his strength underwent a qualitative transformation. His perception, speed, power, and the potency of his ninjutsu were all enhanced across the board.
On top of that, there was Kiyohara, who could interfere with his gold sand, as well as the elite Konoha forces continuously rushing to the battlefield.
This battle had already lost the meaning of a surprise attack.
If they continued fighting, Sunagakure might not gain any advantage and could instead be dragged into a war of attrition. And right now, Suna was fighting on multiple fronts, they could not afford such losses.
Rasa made a decisive decision. He raised his hand and gave the signal to retreat. Three red signal flares shot into the sky and exploded in the night, blooming like blood-colored flowers.
"Retreat!"
The Sand shinobis withdrew, covering each other in a disciplined manner. The wounded were quickly evacuated, and their formation remained intact as they soon disappeared into the depths of the forest, leaving behind only devastation and lingering smoke.
Meanwhile, Chiyo, who had just arrived at the rear, saw the grim expression on Rasa's face.
"Not continuing the fight?" she asked.
"We can't. If I don't have at least ninety percent certainty, I won't act," Rasa shook his head.
If he were seriously injured or if anything unexpected happened to him, Sunagakure's situation would become even more precarious.
It was even possible that Konoha might join forces with Kiri and launch a fierce offensive against Sunagakure. At that point, things would only worsen.
While fighting Jiraiya and dealing with Kiyohara's interference with his gold sand, Rasa had also noticed the battle between thousands of Suna and Konoha shinobi.
The Konoha shinobi here were equally difficult to deal with, and there were quite a few members of the Hyuga clan among them.
They could directly see the weakest points in the puppets' mechanisms and then inject Gentle Fist chakra into them, disrupting their operations.
Since there was no advantage to be gained, there was no reason for Rasa to continue the fight.
Excessive casualties would only be detrimental to their future negotiations with Konoha.
"Let's go," Rasa said.
He had already given orders earlier that if Konoha proved difficult to handle, then after his withdrawal, they would present a proposal for an alliance.
"Very well," Chiyo nodded.
At her waist hung two sealing scrolls, containing the puppets she excelled at using, puppets inherited from the ancestor of puppet masters, Monzaemon.
After a puppet master died, their puppets were usually passed down.
Chiyo had inherited these puppets in her youth and had mastered the White Secret Technique, which was even more powerful than the Black Secret Technique, making her the most talented female puppet master in Sunagakure.
At the same time, she had also mastered medical ninjutsu and sealing techniques, and during the Second Great Shinobi War, she had been known as a rival to Hanzo of the Salamander.
"Where is Pakura?" Chiyo asked again on their way back.
"We'll see if we can ransom her back," Rasa nodded.
Although Pakura leaving Sunagakure would benefit his own prestige, for the sake of stabilizing the situation, Rasa had artificially elevated her status, turning her into a "star figure" of Sunagakure.
She had gained the title of "hero," something neither Chiyo nor Rasa possessed.
But the cost of doing so was a reduction in his own prestige.
However, Pakura's Scorch Release could not be allowed to leak out.
After bringing her back, if she married and had children in the future, Suna could produce more shinobi with Scorch Release.
Even if not all of them awakened the bloodline limit, it would still plant seeds that might one day bear fruit.
But if she remained in Konoha, it could allow Konoha to gain control over this bloodline limit.
Konoha already possessed enough bloodline abilities. Rasa had no intention of strengthening them further.
After weighing everything, he still decided to bring Pakura back.
Chiyo nodded at his words and followed alongside Rasa with the large Sunagakure force as they retreated.
As Rasa and his forces withdrew, the Konoha camp erupted into thunderous cheers.
At first, the sounds were scattered, but they quickly gathered into a wave that echoed across the night sky.
Jiraiya released Sage Mode and let out a long breath.
Fortunately, Rasa had chosen to retreat. The moment he entered Sage Mode, Jiraiya's sensory abilities had greatly increased.
He had sensed new chakra approaching nearby, that was Chiyo's chakra.
That woman was not someone easy to deal with.
At the same time, the two old toads on Jiraiya's shoulders, Fukasaku and Shima, exchanged a glance before both turning their attention toward Kiyohara.
"Little Jiraiya, that young man…" Fukasaku began slowly.
"The natural energy within him… is quite peculiar. It's not pure senjutsu chakra, but it does contain natural energy."
"It resembles a cursed seal, but it's different," Shima added.
"And it feels somewhat familiar, a bit like the methods from Ryuchi Cave… cold, with the aura of serpents."
Jiraiya frowned. "Ryuchi Cave? Orochimaru?"
He scratched the back of his head, recalling that Orochimaru had failed in his attempt to train in senjutsu at Ryuchi Cave and could not properly enter Sage Mode.
"Not certain," Fukasaku shook his head.
"But you need to pay attention to this. Natural energy isn't something that can be easily controlled. Don't aim too high."
He did not finish his sentence, but the meaning was clear.
Jiraiya nodded. "I understand. Thank you, Big Sister and Boss."
He held great respect for these two old toads. After all, they had lived for eight hundred years.
"Alright then, we'll head back first. There are matters to attend to at Mount Myoboku," Shima said with a nod.
After speaking, the two old toads turned into white smoke and disappeared, returning to Mount Myoboku.
After seeing Rasa leave, Kiyohara did not forget to gather even more gold sand. Aside from filling an entire gourd, he had also obtained quite a bit more.
More importantly, he had learned the method of manipulating gold sand. Even if he ran out completely, he could still search for it in nature and refine it himself.
The Sharingan truly was a good thing.
Kiyohara sighed inwardly. This was the correct way to use a bloodline limit, not simply relying on the abilities granted by talent, but using that talent to turn others' abilities into one's own.
On the battlefield, the Konoha shinobi began cleaning up.
The medical team busily treated the wounded, while those severely injured were urgently sent to medical tents.
The logistics team gathered scattered shinobi tools and recovered usable equipment.
The reconnaissance team remained on guard, watching for any potential counterattack from Sunagakure.
Kiyohara also joined in, searching through the bodies of Sand shinobi for anything of value.
He first confirmed their deaths, then searched their shinobi pouches, taking out kunai, shuriken, explosive tags, and other supplies. After that, he checked their personal belongings and found several encrypted intelligence scrolls.
There were also some specialized Sunagakure tools, such as poisoned shuriken and mechanism-based explosive tags, as well as a few booklets recording Sunagakure's tactics and signals.
From these fragments of information, Kiyohara roughly deduced Sunagakure's intentions. This attack had been a planned probe, meant to assess Konoha's frontline defenses, the state of their high-level combat power, and their response speed to sudden assaults.
Rasa's personal involvement was both to ensure the strength of the probe and to deliver a decisive strike if necessary.
However, Konoha's resistance had exceeded their expectations, so Rasa decisively withdrew to avoid being dragged into a prolonged battle.
'It seems Sunagakure is hesitating as well,' Kiyohara thought, storing an encrypted scroll away.
'They know Konoha is dealing with multiple battlefronts at once and that their forces are spread thin. They want to seize an opportunity to take a bite, but they're also afraid of breaking their teeth.'
Kiyohara estimated that Kirigakure would be next. In the original storyline, Kiri and Suna ended up in a mutually damaging conflict, though Kiri held a slight advantage.
Thus, Sunagakure would likely take the initiative to show sincerity, handing over Pakura to bring an end to the war between the two nations.
"Kiyohara, do you want to rest for a while?" Kurenai walked up to him and asked.
She had just seen Kiyohara seizing Rasa's gold sand and assumed his consumption must have been considerable.
"I'm fine, I've mostly recovered. It would have been better if Rasa had left a bit later, I could have gotten more gold sand."
"That outrageous?" Asuma had also been present in the battle, though by the time he arrived, it was nearly over.
What did he mean by wishing Rasa had stayed longer?
That was the Kazekage of Sunagakure, not someone you could casually take advantage of.
Asuma instantly realized the gap between them.
"Then what about your iron sand from before?" Kakashi asked curiously.
"I sealed it away," Kiyohara replied.
Just because he now had gold sand did not mean he would abandon iron sand.
Gold sand was consumed during battle, and using iron sand was more economical.
"Then how much is all that worth?" As the battle ended, the atmosphere relaxed considerably.
Ebisu stood beside ANBU-clad Guy.
Even though Ebisu had not seen Might Guy remove his mask, he was absolutely certain that this was indeed Guy.
"I'm not sure. I'll have to calculate the purity when I get back," Kiyohara shook his head.
Gold sand was not pure gold, after all, so its exact purity would have to be tested after returning.
An hour after the battle ended, the camp had basically returned to order.
The wounded had been treated, defensive fortifications were reinforced, and patrol rotations were reassigned.
Kiyohara received a summons from Tsunade, asking him to come to the main tent.
"Come in."
Kiyohara lifted the tent flap and saw Tsunade sitting in a chair. Medical reports were spread out in front of her, but her gaze was not focused on the papers.
Her complexion was still somewhat pale, but much better than before. At the very least, her hands were no longer trembling.
The effects of her hemophobia were fading, after all, there was no blood around now.
Shizune was not present, and only master and disciple were in the tent.
"Sensei," Kiyohara called.
Tsunade gestured for him to sit, took a deep breath, rubbed her temples, and then spoke, "Tell me in detail about the situation tonight."
Kiyohara reported everything truthfully.
When she heard that Kiyohara had learned Rasa's Magnet Release technique just by watching it once, Tsunade's eyes lit up, and her earlier fatigue seemed to dissipate somewhat.
"You can really control gold sand now? Show me."
Kiyohara nodded. Without forming hand seals, he simply raised his right hand, palm facing upward.
A small cluster of golden sand flowed out from the gourd at his waist and hovered above his palm.
"Although I'm still not proficient, and my control range and precision are far inferior to Rasa's, I can indeed manipulate it."
As he spoke, he controlled the gold sand to form simple shapes in the air, a sphere, a cube, a spear.
Tsunade stared at the shimmering golden sand for a long time, leaning forward slightly, her gaze growing brighter and brighter.
"From now on, you're my personal little gold sheep."
She patted Kiyohara on the shoulder.
"?"
Seeing the confusion almost forming on Kiyohara's face, Tsunade continued, "Gold sand."
"That's gold, real gold. If you run out of money in the future, just take a walk in the desert. Grab a handful and refine it into gold bars. Isn't that… getting rich?"
The more she spoke, the more excited she became, even starting to calculate, "The market price per gram of gold right now is… if you can collect one kilogram a day, then in a month that would be… no, we'd need a safe channel to sell it. The black market would lower the price a bit, but it's still good…"
Kiyohara shook his head and guided the gold sand back into the gourd.
"Sensei, controlling gold sand and creating gold are not the same thing. Gold sand is naturally occurring sand that contains gold, and its gold content is usually not as high as refined gold. Whether it has high purity or not depends on luck."
"I see…"
Tsunade looked a little disappointed, her shoulders slumping, but she quickly perked up again.
"Then at least when your teacher runs out of money in the future, you can show some filial piety, right? It doesn't have to be much, just enough for drinks and gambling."
Kiyohara nodded seriously. "It is only right to show filial respect to my teacher. However…"
He paused briefly before continuing, "I wonder if you have any new medical ninjutsu to teach me?"
Tsunade narrowed her eyes and sized him up, her gaze lingering on his serious and handsome face.
After a while, she snorted lightly. "I was wondering why you were being so obedient. So this is what you were waiting for, dangling gold sand in front of me and then asking for medical ninjutsu?"
Kiyohara's expression did not change. "A diligent student is a teacher's blessing."
"Smooth talker."
Tsunade laughed and scolded him lightly. Somehow, it had become her blessing.
However, she was not angry.
She stood up and walked to a large wooden chest in the corner of the tent.
It was a dark brown box, its surface worn with age.
She opened the lid, rummaged inside for a while, and then took out a new medical ninjutsu scroll and handed it to Kiyohara.
"This technique is also an A rank medical ninjutsu. It can handle multiple internal organ injuries at the same time, such as a ruptured spleen combined with intestinal perforation. With your current level of chakra control, it should not be a problem."
Then Tsunade waved her hand. "If you have questions, come back later and ask. I need to take a bath now. I'm covered in sweat and it's unbearable, everything feels sticky."
Kiyohara tactfully took his leave.
After returning to his tent, he first lit a lamp and then unfolded the newly obtained medical scroll.
At the beginning were complex diagrams of the meridian system and chakra flow, densely annotated with small handwritten notes, with additional remarks in certain areas.
Kiyohara quickly skimmed through it and confirmed that it was indeed a high level medical ninjutsu. It was not easy, but with his current chakra control, it was entirely within his ability to learn.
He put the scroll away and practiced controlling gold sand for a while.
Without Rasa's interference this time, his progress was obvious. He could already stably control small amounts of gold sand within a radius of ten meters, making them float, move, and undergo simple transformations.
After about an hour, estimating that Tsunade had likely finished bathing, Kiyohara went to the main tent again.
Before knocking, he deliberately waited for a moment, and only after hearing Tsunade's voice from inside saying "Come in," did he push the door open.
As he entered, he saw Tsunade just after finishing her bath.
She wore a loose bathrobe made of soft fabric that clung to the curves of her body. The collar was slightly open, revealing her delicate collarbones and a glimpse of fair skin.
Her long golden hair was still wet, draped over her shoulders, with droplets of water still falling from the ends.
She was using a white towel to dry her hair, her movements relaxed. The sleeves of her bathrobe had slipped down to her elbows, exposing her smooth forearms.
The tent was filled with a faint fragrance, a mix of the freshness of soap and a subtle feminine scent, along with a faint trace of alcohol. It seemed she had taken a small drink after bathing.
"Sensei."
Kiyohara shifted his gaze away.
Tsunade responded with a soft hum and continued drying her hair.
"Did you read the scroll?"
"I skimmed through it, but some parts require practical application to fully grasp."
"That's only natural."
Tsunade placed the towel on the back of the chair and shook her hair, scattering droplets of water.
"By the way, can you use Fire Release to dry hair?"
Tsunade asked.
She had heard this from Kurenai.
"Yes."
Kiyohara nodded.
He had a strong talent for fire chakra nature, so performing such an operation was not difficult.
"Help me out then. Use fire chakra to dry my hair. It feels uncomfortable when it's wet, and I might catch a cold."
"Alright."
Kiyohara stepped forward and stood slightly behind and to the side of Tsunade.
She sat in the chair while he stood, the height difference making him lower his head slightly.
He extended his right hand, gathering gentle fire chakra in his palm, from which waves of heat emerged.
Kiyohara carefully controlled the temperature so it would not be too high, around forty degrees, like a warm breeze.
He then gently lifted Tsunade's long hair, his hand loosely cupped, allowing the chakra to envelop the strands.
Moisture quickly evaporated, forming wisps of white vapor that carried the scent of freshly washed hair.
Tsunade turned her head slightly in surprise as her damp hair slipped through Kiyohara's hand.
"The effect is actually quite good."
"Of course. After all, I am your student."
Kiyohara replied, lifting the strand of hair again and controlling the flow of chakra.
"When I was practicing chakra control before, I tried heating water with Fire Release. Gradually, I learned how to control the temperature."
Back then, Kiyohara had sold everything he could at home.
After inheriting fire nature chakra, he began experimenting with this method to heat water.
"I see."
Tsunade nodded slightly.
Kiyohara continued drying her hair.
From this angle, his gaze inevitably passed over Tsunade's profile and neck.
Her skin after bathing was fair with a hint of pink, so delicate that not a single pore could be seen.
Kiyohara estimated that it was due to the effect of the Strength of a Hundred Seal, keeping her skin in optimal condition, fair, smooth, and firm.
He shifted his gaze away and continued drying her hair.
But Tsunade seemed to notice something. She gave a light snort and raised her hand to adjust the collar of her bathrobe.
"Brat, where are your eyes wandering?"
Her tone did not carry real anger, more like teasing.
Kiyohara remained expressionless, continuing his task. "I am helping you dry your hair. Almost done."
Tsunade turned back and shot him a glance but said nothing further, allowing him to continue.
After her hair was completely dry, she stood up and asked him if there was anything he wanted.
"What?"
"Isn't your birthday coming up soon?"
Tsunade said.
Hearing this, Kiyohara finally realized that his birthday was approaching.
He had completely forgotten about it himself.
Right now, what he cared about most was calculating how long it would take for the next "Last Will" to arrive.
After some time, there would be a new alternate self again.
"I will like whatever you give me, Sensei," Kiyohara said.
Tsunade looked at him for a moment after hearing that.
She had to admit that her disciple was indeed good looking.
People naturally felt happy when they saw beautiful things. That was an objective fact.
She began to ponder what gift to give him.
Shinobi tools?
Kiyohara did not lack those. He could choose the most suitable ones himself.
She would have to think carefully.
Tsunade made up her mind.
This was Kiyohara's first birthday since becoming her disciple.
(End of Chapter)