On the opposite side of Quicksand Ravine, when Arakawa and the others finally returned to their temporary staging area, Jōgaki Tsukasa and the rest were already running around in anxious confusion.
Shiraishi going alone to provide rear-guard support had been dangerous to begin with. Now, with the situation in Quicksand Ravine completely unclear, the entire team had lost its sense of direction.
The moment Tsukasa saw Arakawa's group return without Shiraishi, his expression changed drastically.
"Where's Shiraishi?"
"He… stayed behind to cover our retreat."
"You let him hold the rear by himself?!"
Arakawa did not continue speaking. Instead, another genin beside him clicked his tongue.
"He was the one who arranged for us to hold that position in the first place. If there was a misjudgment, then it's only natural that he takes responsibility and stays behind."
Those words made Tsukasa's face darken instantly, rage boiling up. Before he could explode, the previously silent Arakawa turned around and punched the speaker straight to the ground.
"That's enough. Don't ever say something like that again."
After that, Arakawa bowed his head slightly in apology. Tsukasa did not pursue the matter further. Instead, he turned to look at Makino, who was clearly exhausted.
"We're going to prepare a rescue for Shiraishi. Makino, can you still manage?"
Makino had already overexerted her chakra earlier and was extremely fatigued. But her worry for Shiraishi outweighed concern for her own body. She forced herself to stand, weak but resolute, telekinetic waves circulating her as she once again activated her sensing ability.
Once Makino confirmed the direction, Tsukasa moved his hands. The two Red Flounders responded as if alive, gliding smoothly on either side.
Before heading to Quicksand Ravine, Shiraishi had once gone with Tsukasa to a desert area to set up numerous traps—poisons, explosive tags, and combined kill formations. According to Shiraishi, if anything went wrong, that place would serve as a contingency.
…And it turned out he was right.
Shiraishi, fleeing at high speed from Quicksand Ravine, did not head directly toward the rendezvous point. Instead, he chose a different escape route.
The situation on Makino and Tsukasa's side was still unknown. At the same time, Shiraishi intended to kill this puppeteer, and that meant drawing him toward the trap zone.
He needed to accelerate his plan.
For now, he was not yet on the battlefield. But once the Fourth Shinobi World War fully erupted, someone like him—carrying abilities like these—would inevitably be noticed.
That meant Shiraishi had to think about shaping his image.
A "top student genius" was not enough.
He needed to become Sunagakure's future research-oriented genius shinobi, someone who mastered core technologies.
As for the puppeteer behind him—his strength and methods were impressive, but his main arsenal was still chakra-thread control. The explosive properties embedded in those threads were troublesome, but not insurmountable.
Zi Ao moved quickly.
As a sensory-type shinobi, he relied on subtle changes in wind direction to track Shiraishi. Chakra threads danced from his hands as his figure streaked forward like a black shadow.
Moments later, a humanoid puppet appeared directly in front of Shiraishi. Holding a longsword, it thrust upward with terrifying speed.
Empowered by High-Speed Movement, Shiraishi kicked off the ground with his left foot, shooting forward like an arrow. His silver blade trailed behind him before stabbing forward viciously.
Clang!
A massive axe suddenly emerged from the puppet's back, crashing into the silver blade. Shiraishi instantly altered his blade path, sliding along both sides of the axe and slashing upward. Sparks burst from the clash of metal.
The puppet leapt backward.
Shiraishi twisted his blade, activating Treasure-Gathering Technique. Metallic fragments condensed and shot forward, shattering the puppet's outer shell. In the same motion, his silver blade pierced straight through the puppet's core.
Compared to other villages, Sunagakure shinobi were extremely familiar with puppet techniques. With Tsukasa—who came from a ninja tool family—as a teammate, Shiraishi naturally understood puppet weaknesses.
Metal attacks constructed through Treasure-Gathering were especially lethal to puppets. Once those chakra-infused metal fragments pierced the body, they destroyed the internal arrays and control mechanisms.
Zi Ao's connection to the puppet was severed instantly.
So it really is Magnet Release…!
Destroying one puppet did not mean the battle was over.
Zi Ao's eyes flashed with murderous intent as two more puppets appeared beside him, charging toward Shiraishi.
The fact that they had caught up meant Shiraishi's plan to lure Zi Ao into the trap zone had failed.
"Kid, you're finished."
To preserve a relatively intact body, Zi Ao attacked with precision. Chakra threads condensed to a single point, striking toward Shiraishi's chest.
The silver blade flashed. Metallic particles erupted outward in a violent burst.
One of the puppets spewed a special flame, blocking the metal fragments. Treasure-Gathering was not true Magnet Release or electromagnetic control—its power was limited, and the flames suppressed it.
But at that very moment, something changed.
Shiraishi's pupils flared.
Telekinetic power surged endlessly within him.
Telekinesis proficiency: 100%.
The telekinesis card instantly unlocked its branching routes. With mastery complete, its power skyrocketed—and Shiraishi's Circular Eyes observation ability also surged, rising rapidly from 7% to 12%.
With telekinesis fully released, Shiraishi's body felt light.
He floated.
Suspended in midair, metallic particles condensed once more into countless needle-like spikes, raining down in a torrent and piercing both puppets' bodies.
Under the influence of magnetic attraction, the two puppets began to smoke heavily, completely losing combat capability.
But compared to Shiraishi's enhanced Magnet-like control, Zi Ao's attention was fixed on something else entirely.
Levitation.
"What kind of jutsu is this…?"
Floating in midair—was this some kind of Iwagakure Earth Release secret technique, like Ōnoki's?
For the first time, Zi Ao hesitated.
Magnet Release one moment, Earth-style levitation the next—this kid was completely abnormal.
Telekinesis erupted outward.
A massive psychic vortex formed around Shiraishi, silver light expanding in waves, creating an oppressive mental shock that pressed down violently.
Faced with such an unfamiliar attack, Zi Ao did not dare to be careless. He recalled his puppets, using their heavy, durable bodies as makeshift shields.
The psychic assault was blocked—
But Shiraishi was already there.
The silver blade flashed again, stabbing forward at incredible speed, displaying a terrifying assassination technique.
Boom!
The blade pierced through the puppet, yet still failed to destroy the massive construct. Shiraishi was drenched in sweat, breathing heavily. Continuous use of so many abilities had pushed him close to exhaustion.
That strike… still hadn't killed Zi Ao.
"Heh… you're done for, kid—"
Zi Ao's laughter stopped abruptly.
Their eyes met.
In that instant, the power of Circular Eyes erupted violently.
A purple glow appeared without warning.
The purple card sliced effortlessly through the puppet's material and, in the same motion, cleanly cut across Zi Ao's throat.
Blood splashed across Zi Ao's own puppet.
Impossible…
That brief moment when his body was controlled—
That was a dōjutsu…
Magnet Release.
Earth-style levitation.
Dōjutsu.
Three utterly unexpected abilities—
All appearing within a single person.
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