"Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!"
A massive, hyper-compressed fireball erupted from beneath the Monkey mask's mouth.
Because his companion had simultaneously cast a massive gale of Wind Release to feed the flames, the fireball instantly expanded exponentially, appearing like a roaring, apocalyptic prairie fire swallowing the entire alleyway.
Seeing the S-Rank combination ninjutsu roaring toward him, Kiyohara didn't flinch.
He smoothly reached down, grabbed the bleeding Ox Mask operative—who had just lost both hands—by the collar, and threw his screaming body directly into the path of the flames.
People, at certain moments, can also be utilized perfectly as ninja tools.
Especially an operative's dense physical body, which could easily be used as a meat shield to absorb thermal radiation.
BOOM!
The screaming Ox Mask collided head-on with the roaring fireball. His legs and torso were instantly, horrifically charred black by the flames.
Then, his burning body smashed directly into a tree trunk.
But the fireball's aerodynamic trajectory was successfully, momentarily diverted as a result of incinerating the human mass.
By the exact millisecond the remaining assassins wanted to form hand seals to release their next volley of ninjutsu, Kiyohara had already thrown his heavy black sword.
Absolutely anything, as long as it has enough kinetic propulsion, can be thrown as a lethal projectile. The stronger the propulsion, the faster the speed!
The deafening sound of the air being violently torn apart lingered in the alley; the heavy ninja sword, acting exactly like an armor-piercing bullet fired from a sniper rifle, instantly, brutally pinned the Snake Mask operative directly through the chest to the brick wall behind him.
The expression under the Monkey Mask brightened slightly.
Although his companion had just been lethally impaled, the momentary distraction provided Monkey with the necessary microsecond to form hand seals.
"Fire Release..."
He rapidly wove the seals for his execution technique.
PUCHI!
A massive spray of arterial blood blossomed from his back.
The Monkey Mask widened his eyes in absolute, freezing shock...
Only then did he look down and discover that, perfectly hidden by the blinding glare of his own fire, a nearly invisible, microscopic black line was connected directly to the hilt of Kiyohara's thrown sword.
The source of that black line was the heavy gourd at Kiyohara's waist.
It was an ultra-thin, razor-sharp iron sand thread formed by Magnet Release! Kiyohara had simply yanked the thread backward, causing the heavy sword to rip violently out of Snake's chest and impale Monkey from behind.
With a wet thud, the Monkey Mask collapsed face-first onto the cobblestones.
His porcelain mask hit the ground and shattered cleanly into two halves, revealing the blank, dying face of the assassin underneath.
Kiyohara stood in the quiet alley, the flames dying down, and looked clinically at the broken bodies of these elite Root Ninja.
Danzo had acted far faster than he had anticipated.
This proved that the exposure of his Sharingan had made certain paranoid politicians in the shadows utterly unable to sit still for even a day.
But Kiyohara did not regret slaughtering them.
Strike once with absolute brutality to avoid a hundred future strikes.
Psychologically, Danzo was definitely the type of sociopath who couldn't be reasoned with using soft, diplomatic words; he only respected and feared absolute, overwhelming force.
Kiyohara calmly stepped forward. He utilized the Regeneration Technique to heal their fatal wounds just enough to keep their hearts beating, keeping them barely alive.
And then... he methodically, brutally severed the major tendons in their arms and legs with a kunai.
These horrific, crippling injuries could theoretically be healed with extremely advanced Medical Ninjutsu at the hospital, but they would leave significant, permanent neurological aftereffects. Even if cured, their physical combat strength and agility would be permanently, catastrophically diminished, effectively forcing their permanent retirement from the assassination profession.
Kiyohara took out a massive, heavy-duty canvas storage bag from his pack, which he had originally prepared for scavenging enemy supplies, not expecting to use it for this.
After unceremoniously stuffing all four bleeding, paralyzed bodies into the massive cloth bag, Kiyohara turned and effortlessly hoisted the bag—which weighed several hundred pounds—onto his shoulder, walking steadily toward the Hokage Building.
It was a bit heavy, but with his physical mutations, it didn't matter much.
Kiyohara walked step by step out of the alley.
The fresh bloodstains soaking his clothes and the massive, dripping bag were seen by civilians as he gradually returned to the bustling main streets.
But everyone was accustomed to this sight.
This was a hidden military village engaged in a bloody world war. Where is there a single ninja who doesn't come home covered in blood?
Some civilian merchants looked at Kiyohara strangely, assuming the young Jonin was carrying the massive, butchered corpse of some dangerous Summoned Beast for a bounty.
Absolutely no one knew that the fresh blood dripping from Kiyohara's bag was, in a dark political sense, the blood of Konoha's own black-ops.
Hokage's Office.
"Hoo..."
After finishing the day's suffocating mountain of official paperwork, Hiruzen Sarutobi comfortably lit a fresh cigarette for himself.
Then he pulled out his classified Crystal Ball from his desk drawer.
His legendary Telescope Technique allowed for real-time remote visual surveillance across the entire village, as long as the target's unique chakra signature had been previously recorded in the archives.
Just as Hiruzen was planning to casually check certain secure locations to relax his mind, a heavy knock suddenly echoed on his office door.
Hiruzen seamlessly put down the crystal ball without changing his expression and called out for the person to enter.
The person who entered was highly unexpected.
Kiyohara?
Why did he leave for the night and suddenly come back? And... why is he entirely covered in fresh blood?
Hiruzen frowned slightly, his political instincts flaring.
Before he could speak, he saw Kiyohara heavily drop a massive, dripping canvas bag directly onto the pristine floor of the Hokage Office.
"Hokage-sama. I encountered hostile spies," Kiyohara stated flatly, untying the knot on the bag.
"These four individuals ambushed me in a dark alley. After I verbally warned them several times to present official authorization, they still chose to attack me with lethal intent. During the assault, they explicitly mentioned working for someone named 'Danzo'."
Kiyohara's black eyes were perfectly calm and innocent.
"I honestly don't know who this 'Danzo' is, but considering their use of Yamanaka techniques and lethal force without a warrant, I logically deduced they were likely foreign spies attempting an abduction. In order to protect myself and Village secrets, I defeated them all in self-defense and surgically severed their major tendons to prevent them from escaping before interrogation."
'Danzo...'
The exact moment Kiyohara casually spoke that name, Hiruzen's heart skipped a heavy beat.
As a lifelong, old friend and political rival of Danzo Shimura, Hiruzen naturally understood the man's dark, paranoid character perfectly.
The members of Root were recruited directly by Danzo, and some recruitment processes involved orphans being aggressively "forced" to join Root through psychological torture.
Thinking of this, Hiruzen's expression sank into absolute, cold fury.
Danzo was truly becoming more and more unhinged and unscrupulous.
There were many factors behind Hiruzen's initial, reluctant agreement to let Danzo establish the Root subdivision years ago to handle the Village's dirty work.
But now... Danzo had clearly turned Root into his own personal, rogue military fiefdom.
Had Root already become a private assassination organization for Danzo to eliminate political rivals and abduct innocent Konoha citizens for his experiments?
"I will investigate this matter with absolute seriousness," Hiruzen thought for a long moment and stated gravely.
Internal, lethal fighting between Konoha ninjas was strictly, legally prohibited. But according to what Kiyohara reported, this was a flawless, legally justified act of self-defense in the face of an unprovoked assassination attempt by unregistered operatives.
"Rest assured, Kiyohara. I will personally give you a satisfactory result regarding this incident."
"Many thanks, Hokage-sama. I will take my leave now," Kiyohara bowed respectfully.
After all, as a civilian orphan, he had indeed never had any official contact with Danzo Shimura in his life.
Therefore, as a newly promoted, innocent Jonin, he would simply, legally not "know" of such a highly classified, shadow figure as Danzo Shimura. His alibi was ironclad.
After Kiyohara left the office, Hiruzen immediately, furiously slammed a buzzer, calling his elite ANBU squad. He ordered them to aggressively summon Danzo to the Hokage Building immediately to retrieve his crippled dogs.
Root's Underground Stronghold.
In his dim, stone-walled office, Danzo Shimura—who had just returned in humiliation after being forced to retrieve his crippled operatives directly from Hiruzen's office—had a face so dark it looked like it could drip poison.
To punish him for the brazen, illegal abduction attempt in the Village limits, Hiruzen had furiously cut a massive, crippling percentage of Root's black-budget funding for the fiscal quarter.
Hiruzen had coldly stated that Root had certain political red lines that absolutely could not be crossed without consequence.
"Four elite Jonin-level assassins... beaten into this pathetic, crippled state by a civilian brat?"
Danzo's voice was terrifyingly calm, but those who knew him knew this quiet tone was a precursor to psychotic rage.
"Kiyohara's strength... is much, much stronger than the intelligence reports suggested, Lord Danzo."
Snake Mask lay paralyzed on a medical stretcher, carried by two trembling Root medics.
He had suffered the 'lightest' physical injuries, having only been pinned to a tree through the chest by Kiyohara's sword before having his major tendons severed.
Snake's voice trembled slightly, his broken heart filled with the absolute, conditioning terror of having failed Danzo-sama.
"His live combat experience is terrifyingly rich, not what one should logically possess at his age... and his speed is extremely, impossibly fast, making him incredibly difficult to contain."
Danzo fell completely silent in the dark.
He had indeed massively underestimated Kiyohara Shin.
He had arrogantly thought that sending four elite assassins—including an operative from the Yamanaka Clan who was highly skilled in instant mental invasion—would be more than enough to quietly, seamlessly "invite" Kiyohara back to the underground cells.
He hadn't expected them to be brutally slaughtered and handed back to the Hokage in a bloody bag instead.
"Trash."
Danzo coldly spat out the single word.
But beyond his bruised ego and anger, his dark mind was also rapidly calculating.
The talent and sheer, ruthless strength Kiyohara displayed had already vastly exceeded the scope of an ordinary 'Genius'.
If such an apocalyptic pawn could be completely grasped in his hand, it would be of unimaginable benefit to his future plans to rule Konoha.
Unfortunately, his rash abduction attempt had now permanently alerted the enemy.
Kiyohara would inevitably become the focus of attention from all sides—the Hokage, the Uchiha, the Sannin—making it much harder for Danzo to make a move in the dark again without sparking a civil war.
"It seems I need to completely change my approach..." Danzo tapped his bony fingers lightly on the desk.
He thought of one specific, highly valuable operative: Nonō Yakushi. The legendary "Walking Miko" who had once shined brilliantly as his best asset in the intelligence division.
She had eventually defected from Root and was currently working as the civilian director of the Konoha Orphanage.
If he could forcefully pull her back into the fold...
"Take this trash to the Konoha Central Hospital and see if their nervous systems can be salvaged," Danzo ordered the medics coldly.
The global war had reached a bloody tipping point where Konoha was critically short of elite troops. Even though there were many expendable orphans below who could be deployed to fill losses, permanently losing four veteran assassins was still a massive logistical loss for Root.
The other three were likely permanently crippled, but Danzo intended to see if he could still salvage the Yamanaka operative to sit in a chair and conduct mental interrogations.
He sat completely alone in the darkness, his single eye sinister and calculating.
Kiyohara... possessing the wild Uchiha Bloodline, the Magnet Release Kekkei Genkai, and a cold ruthlessness beyond his age.
Such an apocalyptic anomaly absolutely could not be left alone to mature under Hiruzen's weak philosophy.
I will either permanently control his mind... or I will absolutely destroy his body.
The next morning.
Kiyohara, having returned late from the Hokage Building, slept peacefully until dawn.
At this moment, he had just woken up, eaten, and was intensely training in his small, private courtyard.
His bare upper body glowed with a healthy sweat in the crisp morning light, his heavily scarred, dense muscle lines smooth and highly functional, not exaggerated for show.
He formed complex seals with his hands, feeling his vast chakra flowing smoothly within his meridian system, attempting to master the newly acquired Lightning Release: Roaring Thunder.
The difficulty of this B-Rank assassination technique lay in highly compressing the volatile Lightning Release chakra directly in the lungs and throat, and then explosively releasing it in the form of a focused, devastating "breath."
It required incredibly strong, microscopic chakra control and a profound, intuitive understanding of the violent nature of Lightning.
Kiyohara closed his eyes, sensing the crackling flow of chakra in his chest.
Lightning Release chakra was inherently very violent and unstable, exactly like a wild horse, incredibly difficult to tame without frying the user's vocal cords.
He had to seamlessly use his massive chakra control ability to flawlessly guide that violent energy, making it perfectly stable before release.
Once, a minor failure.
Twice, a micro-misfire.
The third time... bright, blinding arcs of blue electricity began to flicker intensely in his mouth, making a sharp, dangerous "crackle" sound.
But the chakra was not compressed densely enough; it dissipated into harmless static as soon as it was spat out.
Kiyohara was not discouraged.
He pragmatically adjusted his breathing, analyzed the failure, and started the sequence again.
The ghost of Uchiha Kiyohara was also silently guiding his internal chakra flow from the mental space.
Just then, the front doorbell rang softly.
Kiyohara smoothly stopped his training, grabbed a towel to wipe his sweat, and went to open the door.
Standing outside the door was Rin Nohara.
She had changed out of her uniform into casual, light-black civilian clothing, and was carrying a woven basket filled with fresh produce and ingredients.
"Good morning, Kiyohara-kun," Rin's smile was incredibly gentle and bright, though she still looked slightly pale.
"I've always noticed you eating those dry, terrible compressed military rations, but eating too much of those heavily processed bars isn't good for your health. So... I decided to cook a real, hot meal for you today, Kiyohara. I hope you don't mind the intrusion."
Kiyohara looked at her face, then down at the fresh fish and crisp vegetables in the basket, and nodded slowly.
Thinking that perhaps Rin just wanted to repay his medical kindness, he stepped aside and let her in.
After all, he had saved Rin's life twice now against impossible odds. Even if she offered herself in an arranged marriage to him out of gratitude, it would be justified for two lifetimes.
"Come in."
His courtyard was very small and austere, containing nothing but some training gravel and overgrown weeds.
Kiyohara led Rin into the house and pointed to the small kitchen.
"Are your injuries completely healed, Rin?" Kiyohara asked clinically.
He was directly referring to the massive, terrifying puncture wound on her chest where he had driven a red-hot sword. At the time on the battlefield, he had only simply used the emergency Regeneration Technique to close the arteries. Most of the miraculous cellular healing relied entirely on the passive, regenerative effects of the residual Tailed Beast Chakra.
Kiyohara didn't know if the brutal surgery would leave a permanent, ugly scar on her chest.
"It... it has healed quite a bit," Mentioning this highly sensitive, physical topic, Rin's pale face flushed slightly red.
"Then I'll leave the kitchen to you, Rin."
Since Rin wanted to cook a domestic meal for him, Kiyohara didn't refuse free, high-quality calories.
Then, Kiyohara smoothly patted Rin on the head before turning around to walk back to the courtyard to continue his grueling training.
Rin's brown eyes widened slightly in surprise; she hadn't expected Kiyohara to actually pat her head like that.
Watching Kiyohara's broad, scarred back as he walked away, Rin bit her lip, her heart feeling an inexplicably warm, profound flutter of joy.
She walked into the kitchen, and what met her eyes was an absolutely, horrifyingly "minimalist" kitchen. There was basically nothing.
"..."
Rin finally understood with clarity why Kiyohara had been surviving solely on military rations or buying cheap takeout.
She whispered to Kiyohara to wait for a moment, then hurriedly ran back to her own home to bring over her personal kitchen utensils, and began happily busying herself in Kiyohara's kitchen.
Time passed slowly, peacefully.
The domestic, comforting sounds of chopping vegetables, the splashing of clean water, and the satisfying sizzling of a hot oil pan drifted from the kitchen.
The rich, mouth-watering aroma of home-cooked food gradually wafted out, mixing pleasantly with the scent of wet grass and soil in the courtyard.
After the massive meal was prepared, Rin carefully set several steaming dishes on the low dining table.
The paper sliding door of the living room was wide open, allowing a direct, clear view of the courtyard outside.
In the courtyard, Kiyohara was training his Lightning Release ninjutsu with an expression of absolute, cold seriousness.
Heavy sweat trickled down his scarred back, his dense muscles rippling flawlessly with his explosive movements, while raw Lightning chakra danced violently around his body, emitting blinding blue electric arcs.
Rin watched him, and her face felt slightly, pleasantly warm.
She suddenly had an incredibly strange, domestic feeling... exactly as if she were a young wife who had just finished cooking a hot meal, quietly waiting for her strong husband to return home from his training.
Rin recalled the conversation from yesterday after returning to the Village, when Kushina Uzumaki had helped her reinforce the Seal.
"Rin. The Tailed Beast currently locked inside you is stable, but remember... you must learn to dominate and control it, not be controlled by its malice. Also... always, fiercely cherish those who are willing to risk their lives to bleed for you," Kushina had said those serious words to her at the time, looking deeply into her eyes.
Kushina had also reminisced about how she and Minato first fell in love—Minato had heroically saved her from Kumo kidnappers, and that was exactly how they gradually became close.
Of course, Rin vividly remembered the broad, unyielding back of Kiyohara standing in front of her against an army, and how he had spared absolutely nothing—risking his own life against a Seven Swordsman—to save her.
It was a known, tragic historical fact that the spontaneous awakening of the Sharingan inevitably required the agonizing loss of someone very, very important to the user's heart.
Then... was she actually very important to Kiyohara's heart?
Thinking of this romantic, terrifying possibility, Rin's little heart began to thump wildly against her ribs. This thought made her cheeks burn like fire.
So today, she wanted to do something normal, domestic, and kind to express her gratitude.
Rin approached the paper sliding door.
"The... the meal is ready," she said quickly, her gentle voice slightly flustered.
Kiyohara nodded calmly, wiping his sweat with a towel, and walked into the house.
On the dining table was a massive feast: perfectly grilled fish, rich miso soup, crispy vegetable tempura, and steaming white rice.
Simple, but very, very thoughtful.
"Looks highly nutritious," Kiyohara stated clinically.
The two sat down and began to eat.
Rin secretly, nervously observed Kiyohara's cold expression as he ate.
Seeing him nod slightly in satisfaction after taking a large bite of the grilled fish, she felt a massive wave of relief.
"The caloric flavor is very good," Kiyohara complimented her.
"I'm so glad you like it!" Rin smiled brightly.
While eating, the two chatted easily about trivial, domestic topics: the recent shift in the weather, the minor infrastructural changes in the Village, and how Kurenai and Genma were recovering.
The atmosphere in the house was incredibly, peacefully relaxed.
"Kiyohara," she asked softly, her tone turning a bit more serious. "About your Sharingan... will it cause you trouble with the clan?"
Rin had obviously heard the village rumors that the arrogant people of the Uchiha Clan were not very easy to get along with. She didn't know how they would view Kiyohara, who was originally considered a dirty "outsider" civilian.
"Perhaps. But I'll only know their angle once I go to the meeting," Kiyohara said calmly, chewing his rice.
He estimated that the Uchiha Clan elders would inevitably summon him to the compound in the next few days.
The Uchiha Clan's attitude would likely be divided into two factions regarding him.
He estimated that the moderate 'dove' faction shouldn't have any major objections to him, just exactly like how they tolerated Kakashi possessing Obito's Sharingan.
The radical 'hawk' faction, however, would be a bit more aggressive and demanding.
There were many complex factors for exactly why Kakashi's stolen Sharingan could peacefully remain intact in his eye socket, supposedly "respecting Obito's dying wishes."
Such as his father being the legendary Sakumo Hatake, Minato being his teacher, and also Fugaku Uchiha's relatively weak, passive diplomatic attitude.
Although internally, Fugaku had been holding angry secret meetings, regularly discussing treasonous matters at the Naka Shrine, and even contemplating a coup in the future... his external political attitude toward the Hokage was relatively weak and submissive.
The Konoha Military Police Force and the ANBU had massively overlapping jurisdictional areas; if conflicts arose, Fugaku would almost always order his clan to yield.
"Is that so..." Rin nodded slowly.
She trusted Kiyohara's intelligence.
"The kitchen utensils you used to cook this... did you carry them all the way from your home?" Kiyohara asked, looking at the pristine pots.
His own barren apartment shouldn't have possessed the hardware to cook so many complex dishes.
"Yes. My parents happened to not be home, so I borrowed them," Rin blinked innocently.
"I see," Kiyohara nodded.
Having someone to regularly cook high-quality, hot meals for him was actually quite nice and highly efficient. A woman like Rin was clearly the epitome of a perfect, virtuous wife and a good mother.
"By the way, can you still go out and perform missions?" Kiyohara asked.
After the Nine-Tails was successfully transplanted into Kushina, her range of movement was strictly restricted to within Konoha's massive barrier for security.
This point was also clearly supplemented in canon lore. As Kushina grew older, her mastery of Uzumaki Sealing Jutsu also continued to rise astronomically. It was estimated that only when she could completely, flawlessly suppress the Nine-Tails by herself could she safely expand her range of activities.
"I can't deploy on combat missions anymore," Rin shook her head sadly.
"But the Hokage said I could stay at the Konoha Central Hospital and work as a Medical Ninja."
"That's an optimal outcome," Kiyohara said.
Rin had the unstable Three-Tails locked inside her; once it lost control, it would attack friend and foe alike. Keeping the Three-Tails perfectly under the control of a seal inside Konoha, exactly like the Nine-Tails, would also serve as a massive nuclear deterrent and make other Ninja Villages vastly more wary of attacking the capital.
The current global war had already entered its absolute, most tragic and bloody phase.
If a few more key figures died, Kiyohara felt the conflict would finally be reaching its exhausting end. There were only so many veteran ninjas on the continent; every single one that died was one less body for the meat grinder.
After the meal, Rin happily cleaned up the dishes and prepared to leave.
"Thank you so much, Kiyohara. Today... I was very happy."
"I was also highly satisfied with the meal."
Kiyohara walked her to the front door. "Take care on your way back."
Rin left with a bright smile.
Kiyohara returned to the quiet courtyard and immediately continued his grueling training.
He formed hand seals and took a deep breath. Chakra surged violently within him, continuing the complex nature transformation of the Lightning Release.
"You certainly don't have bad luck with women in this timeline," after Rin had left for a while, the ghost of Uchiha Kiyohara drifted out of the mental space, smirking.
"In your tragic future timeline, were you single?" Kiyohara asked coldly, maintaining his seals.
"Yeah. I only had my brothers on the battlefield."
"..."
Kiyohara felt that his future self had been hopelessly corrupted by the toxic, dramatic bonds of Konoha men.
Although this brotherhood melodrama was a Konoha specialty, Kiyohara's preferences were very normal and pragmatic. Compared to the suicidal bonds of brothers fighting to the death over ideology, he preferred the company of women.
It was just that due to his current age, there were many things he simply couldn't execute for the time being.
Otherwise, with his cold, handsome appearance and his monstrous, Kage-level strength, finding any elite female ninja to comfortably get intimate with wouldn't be a problem.
"Forget it. Let's return to the training," Kiyohara shook his head, clearing his thoughts.
After resting his coils for a few days, he still had to deploy back to the bloody battlefield. Improving his strength was the only way to survive.
Then, he opened his mouth.
"Lightning Release..."
A massive, brilliant blue bolt of localized lightning was spat violently from his mouth, dancing dangerously in the air before dissipating.
"I can barely cast the sequence without frying my throat, but the power output is still significantly lacking," Kiyohara stroked his chin and continued to aggressively adjust his chakra ratio.
With his Lightning Release talent stacked several times over by the Urn, his speed in training this ninjutsu could be considered terrifyingly rapid. It was estimated that it wouldn't take long for him to flawlessly master it.
The aerodynamic speed of lightning was vastly faster than a fireball. When encountering an ambush, he could effortlessly catch the enemy completely off guard with a supersonic blast.
But just as he was preparing to continue his grueling practice, his sensory perception spiked. Someone else had arrived at his gate.
Kiyohara walked over and opened the door.
This time, it was a squad of Ninjas from the Uchiha Clan.
Three young men stood on his porch, all wearing traditional, high-collared Uchiha robes adorned with the red fan crest, bearing deeply arrogant, condescending expressions.
The leader looked down at Kiyohara, sizing up the civilian's cheap apartment with disgust, and then spoke:
"You are the brat named Kiyohara? Come with us immediately. Clan Chief Fugaku demands to see you at the compound."
His tone was incredibly impolite.
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