The Hokage's office was tense. Hiruzen Sarutobi paced back and forth, his weathered face creased with concern. When the door slid open and a young man entered, the Third Hokage's expression shifted immediately—relief flickering across his features.
"Minato. You came quickly."
"You called for me, Lord Third?"
Sarutobi gestured for him to approach. "Just an hour ago, scouts from the Land of Grass sent urgent intelligence. Iwagakure has mobilized a massive shinobi force."
Minato Namikaze's jaw tightened. "War?"
"Yes. I've already briefed the elders, but I needed you for something else." Sarutobi's voice dropped lower, weighted with concern. "I sent Seiran to investigate the Land of Grass two days ago. Now we've detected a large Iwa deployment heading in that exact direction. I haven't heard from him since."
Minato didn't hesitate. "I'll leave for the Land of Grass immediately."
"Seiran is Konoha's only dual-Kekkei Genkai user—the first of his kind," Sarutobi said firmly. "His safety is paramount. You're our fastest shinobi, Minato. I need someone I can trust completely."
Minato nodded, already moving toward the window. "You have it."
---
The Land of Grass sprawled beneath an amber sky as Seiran opened his eyes, exhaling slowly. The morning sun painted everything golden, serene. For a moment, he simply existed in the quiet.
Level 4. Electromagnetic Manipulation.
His lips curved into a satisfied smile. Without that Iwa ninja's interference, the breakthrough would've taken weeks. But desperation had a way of accelerating growth. And with the Third Shinobi World War erupting, he no longer had the luxury of time.
By his calculations, Level 4 put him squarely in Kage-class territory.
The new ability came packaged with the upgrade: Matter Disassembly. It had limitations—nanoscale only—but that was more than enough. He could now break down any metal into particles the size of nanometers, then manipulate them through electromagnetic force into magnetic fluid. When he'd hunted nearly a hundred Iwa shinobi the night before, he'd turned their own metal into weapons, trapping them underground before dragging them skyward in suffocating columns of liquid metal. They'd learned fear in those final moments.
He'd tasted that terror before, back when he relied on his sword and Tyrant Mode. Now? He could generate magnetic fluid at will, in quantities that staggered even his own imagination.
The limitations weren't lost on him, though. Pushing disassembly further meant colliding with his own authority ceiling. When Electromagnetic Manipulation could finally operate at the atomic level, he suspected something fundamental would shift. Some of his most dangerous concepts required atomic precision.
Like rubbing a nuclear bomb between his palms.
But Level 4 had gifted him something else entirely: the super electromagnetic cannon. A railgun. His railgun.
He could've imitated it weeks ago, sure—but power matters. True power. Not mimicry.
The mechanics were elegant. Electromagnetic cannons came in types: coil guns, railguns, even the experimental relay variants that the great nations obsessed over. Space-based kinetic weapons—tungsten rods dropped from orbit, letting gravity do the annihilation. The Americans called them "Rods from God." In a world where nuclear deterrence mattered most, this was the perfect alternative.
But Seiran suspected Misaka Mikoto's super electromagnetic cannon worked differently. A relay railgun of her own design. When she flicked that coin skyward, she'd wrap it in a constructed magnetic field. As gravity took hold, electromagnetic energy would accumulate on its surface. Then came the flex of her fingers—
The sky split.
Her coin had to burn out past fifty meters, but his magnetic fluid coins? Infinitely better. Heat resistance measured in different scales entirely. The ravine that gouged through the countryside had proven that well enough.
Seiran took a deep breath, rolling his shoulders. His body felt light. Energized. Even though he'd pushed himself all night, fatigue was a ghost—his chakra reserves had refilled completely, his physical conditioning enhanced beyond normal limits by the electromagnetic conditioning.
He started moving, leaping across the grassland toward Konoha. Iwagakure's main force had already reached the Land of Grass and was pushing closer by the hour. Whether the Third Hokage had received the scouts' reports yet or not didn't matter. Seiran needed to get home and relay everything he'd learned.
He was halfway through a sprint when his senses spiked.
A biomagnetic field. Powerful. Impossibly fast. Moving directly toward him.
Chance encounter?
He activated his Byakugan, and the world crystallized into perfect clarity.
His expression went strange.
The figure approaching at that velocity could only be one person in all of Konoha—the fastest shinobi alive. Minato Namikaze. The same name Seiran had used to fool Taiseki earlier.
He doesn't know about that, right?
The thought barely finished forming before Minato arrived, skidding to a halt with effortless grace.
"There you are! I was worried I'd be too late."
Minato's face broke into a genuine smile of relief. But then he caught Seiran's strange expression and paused, scratching the back of his head awkwardly.
"Oh—right. You probably don't know who I am yet." He straightened up, still smiling, but with an edge of politeness now. "I'm Minato Namikaze. I teach Kakashi. The Third sent me to find you."