One of the remaining Suna ninja barely deflected a few shuriken with his kunai—
but a sudden tightening of the copper wire looped around his torso carved a deep gash into his side, ruining his posture and movement.
"Lightning Style: Lightning Current Technique!"
Kiyohara's fingers wove through the signs, and a pulse of electricity surged along the wires.
The last standing Suna ANBU tried to dodge.
He studied Kiyohara's fingers carefully, predicting the shuriken's path through their manipulation.
Left!
He leapt to the right, internally smirking—
he'd trained in advanced shuriken control himself.
But—
Splurch!
Agony exploded across his back.
His body seized up as the current surged through him, burning flesh and nerve endings alike.
Even beneath his mask, the stench of scorched skin filled his nose.
"Why…?"
His stunned whisper barely escaped his lips before he collapsed.
His eyes were wide, filled with disbelief.
Why hadn't the shuriken followed Kiyohara's finger cues?
"Hah… as expected. Magnetism can manipulate metal."
Kiyohara remembered the Cloud jōnin, Toroi, who developed a style of Magnet Release that focused on magnetizing enemies and objects.
He'd done something similar—causing two magnetized shuriken to attract each other, redirecting the trajectory mid-flight.
With that—
Both Suna ANBU were dead.
Only four Suna ninja remained.
But while Kiyohara was clearing house, Moonlight Hayate and Uzuki Yugao weren't idle either.
Hayate popped a pill, recovering just enough chakra to activate his Permeation Kekkei Genkai—
his body shimmered, vanishing into transparency, and reappeared behind a Suna ninja to silently finish them off.
Yugao used her sword arts to swiftly down another.
Now only Makki (Pakura's disciple) and the Suna jōnin Ōta were left.
Kiyohara quirked a brow.
Would he eventually unlock Permeation Release Kiyohara?
It was a great ability for stealth and assassination—
Shame that Hayate's body was too frail to unleash its full potential.
"Captain Ōta, what should we do?"
Makki asked, tense.
Ōta wasted no time—he weaved signs rapidly.
"Wind Style: Wind Cutter Jutsu!"
A razor-thin blade of wind sliced toward Kiyohara.
He was clearly targeting the biggest threat first.
"Oh? Targeting me?"
Kiyohara responded with his own jutsu—"Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!"
At the same time, he laced a thin layer of iron sand onto his blade—too little to be noticeable.
The wind attacks collided mid-air, causing the suspended wire traps to ripple like spiderwebs in a storm.
And then—
Kiyohara vanished in a swirl of falling leaves.
"Where did he go?!"
Sweat dripped from Ōta's brow.
There were too many wires.
Too many traps.
He didn't have time to locate and disarm them all.
Whip!
A blade flew toward him.
Ōta reacted fast, deflecting with his kunai—
but some iron sand quietly clung to it.
He didn't notice.
Kiyohara yanked the copper wire and the blade reversed direction—
he caught it mid-air, then closed the distance for a clean slash.
Ōta smirked.
He assumed Kiyohara was abandoning the web of traps for melee—big mistake.
He lifted his kunai—
—but paused.
Why did it feel heavier?
Why were his movements… slow?
"What?!"
By the time he realized the iron sand had magnetized his kunai, it was too late.
SHING!
Kiyohara's blade cleaved through half his skull.
From the outside, it looked like Ōta had simply failed to defend in time.
'Magnet Release really is handy for dealing with people like this.'
Kiyohara exhaled slowly.
Ōta had been too focused to notice the iron particles.
Even if he had, he probably would've thought it was dust or debris.
Magnet Release users were rare.
"One left. Capture her."
"Got it."
Yugao bound Makki with practiced ease.
After all, sealing-type kunoichi like her weren't meant for close combat.
"Who are you?" Hayate's voice rasped from the mist.
"Kiyohara. Dispatched by Orochimaru-sama for reconnaissance."
He showed his Konoha forehead protector and recited the correct passphrase.
Only then did Hayate fully reveal himself, coughing into his sleeve.
Kiyohara glanced at him.
'How the hell did this tuberculosis patient get into ANBU?'
Maybe he was a "special admission."
After all, the full name was the "Special Assassination and Tactical Squad," and his Permeation Release was perfect for stealth.
"This girl's coming with you. See what intel you can get out of her," Kiyohara added, gesturing at Makki.
He wasn't trained in genjutsu, otherwise he would've done the interrogation himself.
"My mission's not over yet—I need to finish scouting."
He still had one day left.
Patrol for a while, then sail back—report completed.
He had considered deserting and faking a mission failure, but…
In wartime, Konoha had zero tolerance for cowards.
As he finished looting the bodies, Yugao suddenly called out to him.
"Thank you… for saving me."
He turned back, briefly eyeing the mask of Uzuki Yugao.
In the original timeline, she and Moonlight Hayate were tragic lovers—
star-crossed ninja, both doomed.
Even without her mask, he could already picture her beautiful face.
After all, Yugao was known as one of ANBU's "finest flowers."
He just shook his head.
"It was nothing."
He'd only helped because he didn't want to waste manpower.
Originally, he planned to back off and join the fight later.
But the enemy was too weak—he'd ended it before a "group brawl" even began.
"Anyway, I should go."
With that, he vanished into the woods.
Leaving Yugao stunned, silently watching his retreating back.
"…He's not exactly normal," she muttered.
Hayate coughed again.
"What's wrong?"
"…Nothing. I just feel like I've seen him somewhere in the village before."
"Let's head back."
Together, they took the captive Makki to the nearest outpost.
As for Kiyohara, the rest of his patrol was uneventful.
The next day—
He boarded a ship back to the Uzushiogakure outpost.
The moment he arrived, he could feel the tension.
The air itself felt heavier.
He filed his mission report and was awarded war merits.
Calculating his current tally, he had enough to redeem two jutsu.
He chose Earth Style: Earth Spear Spike, a technique that suited his close-combat style.
In his view, unused merit points were useless.
Only by converting them into real skills could he keep climbing the ladder.
Because in four hours…
The Mist's full-scale invasion would begin.