The coastal wind howled, whipping the quicklime powder into a frenzy.
Kiyohara stood at the edge of the gray cloud, completely unaffected. His thick goggles and rebreather mask sealed him off from the chemical hell he had just created.
His hands moved in a blur.
Swish! Swish! Swish!
Over twenty shuriken shot into the dense, burning fog, embedding themselves deep into the ruined pillars and the muddy ground.
Kiyohara hooked his fingers.
The near-invisible, specially forged copper wires attached to the shuriken pulled taut. In seconds, he had woven a deadly, electrified web inside the zero-visibility zone.
"I need coordinates," Kiyohara whispered.
The Radical Spirit floated out of Kiyohara's chest.
As a phantom, the quicklime didn't affect him. He drifted into the gray soup like a ghost, acting as the ultimate, undetectable radar.
A second later, the Spirit returned.
"Twelve total. Mei Terumī and the Kaguya kid. Ten standard Chunin. Two of the Chunin are down—blinded and choking on lime. They are combat ineffective."
"Ten left," Kiyohara's mind raced. "Reduce the mob first. Isolate the elites."
He looked at the Spirit. "If I engage the Kaguya, I might need you to take the wheel. I've never fought the Macabre Bone Pulse before."
"I know," the Radical crossed his arms. "Just don't die before you kill a Sand ANBU for me."
"Thanks," Kiyohara said dryly.
He turned his head slightly toward Kakashi, who was waiting at the edge of the fog.
"I'm thinning the herd. Move in when the fog clears."
Kiyohara gripped the master wire.
Blue lightning surged from his palm, racing down the copper threads.
"Lightning Release: Wire Trap!"
Because of the high humidity of the Hiding in Mist jutsu and the conductive alkaline moisture of the reacting quicklime, the electricity arced wildly, turning the entire web into a high-voltage cage.
"Argh!"
"Ugh!"
Three distinct thuds echoed from the fog as three Mist Chunin were electrocuted and dropped dead.
"Damn it!"
Kaguya Masaru's voice rang out, vibrating with shock and anger. His hyper-tuned combat instincts had saved him from the wires, but the residual static still numbed his skin.
'How is he aiming so perfectly in this chaos?!' Masaru thought, horrified.
"Mei! Dispel the fog!" Masaru roared. "Use Wind Release! Drop the Hiding in Mist!"
He realized the bitter truth: The Mist's signature assassination jutsu had become a death trap.
"Understood!" Mei coughed, her voice tight with frustration as she wove hand signs.
But Kiyohara wasn't going to let them regroup.
"Too late!"
Chakra exploded from his feet.
"Konoha Body Flicker!"
Kurenai gasped as Kiyohara dissolved into a swirl of green leaves and vanished directly into the gray, burning cloud.
Inside the fog, panic reigned.
"Where is he?!"
"I can't see! My eyes are burning!"
"This is worse than Zabuza's Silent Killing!" a Mist Chunin screamed, swinging his kunai blindly at the air.
They couldn't see. They couldn't breathe. They didn't dare move for fear of the wires.
Yet the Konoha boy was moving freely, striking with perfect precision.
It was a complete role reversal. The Mist ninja were being hunted in their own fog.
'Since you stepped onto this island,' Kiyohara thought, his Tachi slicing silently through another Chunin's throat, 'You must be prepared to die.'
The Macabre Bone Pulse (Shikotsumyaku).
Kiyohara used his voice to throw his enemies off.
When a Mist ninja threw a blind Water jutsu toward the sound, they hit nothing but a dispersing pile of leaves.
But the elite was waiting.
As Kiyohara dispatched his fifth Chunin, Kaguya Masaru locked onto the subtle shift in air pressure.
"Hmph. I've been waiting for you!" Masaru sneered.
As Kiyohara materialized from the Body Flicker, Masaru spun. He thrust his right hand forward, his fingers extended.
Cra-crack!
The stark white bones of his fingertips pierced through his own skin, shooting out like high-velocity bullets.
"Shikotsumyaku: Ten-Finger Drilling Bullets!"
Puff! Puff! Puff!
The bone bullets shredded the copper wire net in front of Kiyohara.
Kiyohara raised his Tachi.
Clang!
Sparks showered in the gray mist. The bone collided with the Chakra Metal blade. The kinetic force was massive, numbing Kiyohara's wrist instantly.
'What density!' Kiyohara was shocked. 'Is this the power of the Kaguya?'
Masaru was equally shaken.
'He parried a bone bullet with a sword? His kinetic vision and reaction speed are monstrous!'
The two clashed.
It was a brutal, close-quarters brawl. Kiyohara used the refined, foundational strikes of the Sword Master. Masaru fought like a wild beast.
Bones erupted from Masaru's elbows, knees, and shoulders, turning his entire body into a lethal weapon. It was a violent, terrifying dance.
Kiyohara slid sideways, narrowly avoiding a rib-bone spear thrust, and swept his Tachi upward, aiming for Masaru's exposed neck.
Masaru leaned back sharply. Cra-crack! The ulna bone in his left forearm erupted outward, forming a dense white shield.
Hiss!
The Tachi sparked against the bone shield, leaving only a shallow groove.
Masaru seized the opening. Kiyohara's swing had overextended him slightly.
Masaru pointed his left hand at Kiyohara's chest at point-blank range.
"Ten-Finger Drilling Bullets!"
It was unavoidable.
But suddenly, Kiyohara's body lost all weight.
Defying gravity and momentum, his body drifted backward horizontally, like a willow branch bending violently in a hurricane.
The bone bullets whistled mere millimeters past his rebreather mask, burying themselves deep into the stone wall behind him.
"How is that possible?!" Masaru's sunken eyes bulged. 'That wasn't Ninjutsu. That was pure, impossible body mechanics!'
Kiyohara exhaled, landing lightly on his feet.
'That was close.'
The Radical Spirit had momentarily taken control, forcing the muscles into a 100% output evasion maneuver.
'I need my own Bloodline Limit,' Kiyohara realized grimly.
The Sword Legacy was powerful, but against genetic monsters like the Kaguya, raw physical skill had a ceiling. He needed the Magnet Release.
'As soon as this skirmish is over,' Kiyohara decided, tightening his grip on his sword, 'I am requesting a transfer. I need to find a Suna ANBU to kill.'
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