"Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!"
After Uchiha Inabi's massive fireball was forcefully diverted upward by the blast of wind, the roaring flames continued their ascent, rushing straight toward Inabi as he hovered mid-air.
His expression changed drastically. He desperately wanted to dodge, but he had no leverage in mid-air to alter his trajectory.
Just as the backdraft of the fireball was about to incinerate him, several shuriken shot up from the ground below with pinpoint accuracy, striking the unstable, highly compressed chakra nodes of the fireball.
The fireball instantly destabilized and exploded in mid-air, turning into a harmless, showering sky of glowing sparks.
Inabi took the opportunity to land, his boots hitting the pavement as he staggered back a few steps, his face completely pale.
He looked up at Kiyohara and discovered that, at some point during the chaotic exchange, Kiyohara was calmly holding several specially made shuriken. Extremely thin, nearly invisible black threads were connected directly to the rings on their tails.
Those were Magnet Release iron sand threads.
It was these specific, tethered shuriken that had just shattered his fireball.
What alarmed Inabi even more—sending a chill straight down his spine—was that those microscopic iron threads had already spread silently through the surrounding space exactly like a lethal spider web, perfectly sealing off all of his possible escape routes.
If Kiyohara had wanted to, he could have effortlessly, severely injured or killed him just now without moving a single muscle.
"I..." Inabi opened his mouth, staring in paralyzed terror, but could not force a word out.
Kiyohara casually flicked his finger. The shuriken and the iron threads all retracted instantly, flying smoothly back into his hand, which he then put away into his ninja tool pouch.
"It seems I have won," he said calmly, completely unbothered.
With his current combat strength, dealing with two Uchiha Jonin was not much pressure at all; it could be said he defeated them instantly in a single exchange.
'Very good. This clears the way for one new technique,' Kiyohara thought to himself.
Inabi had just used Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique directly in front of him. Therefore, Kiyohara now possessed a flawless, legitimate public excuse for 'copying' it the next time he deployed Fire Release.
Elder Uchiha Setsuna's half-closed, tired eyes were now completely, violently wide open, and a distinct trace of unadulterated astonishment flashed in his cloudy pupils.
He had originally, arrogantly thought that a dirty clansman drifting outside the walls who only possessed a newly awakened, One-Tomoe Sharingan would have very limited combat strength.
Yet in the brutal fight just now... Kiyohara hadn't even utilized his rumored Magnet Release. He had easily, effortlessly suppressed Tagohiba and Inabi purely through basic Taijutsu, the Sharingan's insight, and a terrifying, inhuman hand seal speed.
This talent... this cold, flawless combat instinct...
In Setsuna's radical mind, the god-like figure of a certain historical person suddenly, vividly appeared.
'No. Impossible.'
Setsuna shook his head, violently throwing this absurd, blasphemous thought out of his mind.
That person was absolutely unique; this civilian brat before him was merely a bit talented.
"Not a bad performance," Setsuna finally said indifferently, his gravelly tone revealing neither joy nor anger.
"But do not arrogantly think this pathetic bit of strength is enough; you have yet to witness the true power of the Uchiha."
After speaking those bitter words, he turned around and slowly left, leaning heavily on his wooden cane.
Inabi and Tagohiba hurriedly, painfully pulled themselves up from the rubble and limped obediently after him.
After the radicals had walked far away down the street, Uchiha Shisui finally let out a long, heavy sigh of relief.
"Kiyohara... your strength has improved so terrifyingly quickly," Shisui exclaimed, staring at the shattered brick wall.
"Last time I saw you, you weren't this..."
"This strong?" Kiyohara smoothly finished his sentence.
Shisui nodded with a wry, self-deprecating smile.
He had recently, agonizingly awakened the legendary Mangekyō Sharingan and had arrogantly thought his own combat strength had advanced by leaps and bounds, placing him firmly at the absolute peak of his peers.
But seeing Kiyohara's flawless, brutal performance just now, Shisui realized the hard truth: there is always someone better, and heaven beyond heaven.
Kiyohara's talent was perhaps not inferior to his own at all.
It was just that the timing of Kiyohara awakening his Bloodline Limit was a bit too late.
Perhaps in the near future... Kiyohara would also be qualified to awaken the Mangekyō Sharingan.
"Let's go. Lord Fugaku is waiting for you," Shisui said, shaking off his shock.
The two continued forward. After passing through a few traditional streets, they arrived directly in front of a massive, spacious, aristocratic residence.
Walking gracefully into the pristine courtyard, the sliding paper door of the main house was wide open to the breeze.
Uchiha Fugaku was kneeling formally on the tatami mats, with an expensive, steaming tea set placed exactly in front of him.
"Lord Fugaku. Kiyohara is here," Shisui announced respectfully at the doorway.
Fugaku raised his head, his cold, dark gaze falling heavily on Kiyohara.
"Come in and sit."
Kiyohara removed his boots, walked calmly into the Japanese-style room, and sat down directly opposite Fugaku. Shisui sat quietly in the side seat as a witness.
Fugaku poured Kiyohara a delicate cup of tea. The tea was a rich emerald green, with light steam curling up into the air.
"I have already been notified by the clansmen about what exactly occurred outside just now," Fugaku stated, his voice flat.
He was, after all, the leader of the clan and the Police Force; he had hundreds of active subordinates and was well-informed of any anomaly in his sector.
"Elder Setsuna's attitude was a bit extreme and unauthorized. I apologize to you on his behalf."
Kiyohara took the teacup but deliberately did not drink.
He estimated that Fugaku knew he would be sought out by the radical hawk faction to test his mettle.
But the Uchiha were just like that; some things simply had to be witnessed personally before they respected you.
At least his current combat strength was no longer that of a pathetic Genin.
If he had obtained the Sharingan while still been a weak Genin, he would have only been able to be completely submissive and obedient after it was exposed to the clan elders.
"Lord Fugaku is looking for me specifically because of the Sharingan?" Kiyohara asked directly.
Fugaku nodded. "Kiyohara, your situation is special; you have successfully awakened the Sharingan, but your civilian growth experience and philosophy are completely incompatible with the clan's traditional structure."
Fugaku took a slow sip of tea and continued: "But... you do possess the sacred bloodline of the Uchiha, so our Uchiha Clan welcomes you at any time."
Fugaku did not force Kiyohara, but gave him diplomatic time to consider the massive political implications.
"I perfectly understand, Lord Fugaku," Kiyohara took a polite sip of tea.
He just indicated that he understood the offer. Officially submitting to the isolated, paranoid Uchiha Clan right now was not a good thing for his career.
Furthermore, he was not an Uchiha at all. The bloodline currently mutating his DNA was merely inherited from another, dead future.
Subsequently, Fugaku tactfully did not mention this sensitive recruitment matter again. Instead, he smoothly transitioned to asking Kiyohara about things on the eastern battlefield.
Kiyohara chatted strategically with Fugaku. Some classified military intelligence was simply not something an ordinary Jonin could access, but the Clan Head had high-level clearance.
Communicating more with Fugaku would also allow Kiyohara to know the macro-situation on the war fronts much more clearly.
Listening to Fugaku's grave tone, it seemed that the primary invasion group from the Hidden Cloud Village was not easy to deal with.
Currently, the vast majority of the Uchiha Clan's elite forces were actively fighting on the northern front against the Hidden Cloud, while the brutal war on the Hidden Mist side had temporarily eased into a stalemate.
Currently, the only major nations still launching highly aggressive offensives toward Konoha's borders were the Hidden Cloud and the Hidden Sand.
'The sword technique of the Hidden Cloud, huh? The Sharingan is indeed difficult to capture it,' Kiyohara thought to himself analytically.
The Sharingan was not omnipotent.
For example, in canon, when Sasuke arrogantly awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan and deployed to capture the Eight-Tails, he was physically, brutally schooled by Killer Bee's bizarre, unpredictable Seven-Sword technique when facing him in pure Kenjutsu.
In the end, Sasuke was beaten so badly he had to rely entirely on the ocular technique Amaterasu to force Killer Bee into faking his own death to escape.
For an elite ninja skilled in blinding, unpredictable sword techniques, those dazzling, chaotic sword arcs were terrifyingly difficult for the human body to physically react to, even with the Sharingan's enhanced dynamic vision.
Therefore, the elite Uchiha Clan had inevitably fallen into a bloody, grinding stalemate on the front line against the Cloud's speed specialists.
"Father."
As the sky outside the paper screens was getting dark and Kiyohara politely intended to suggest leaving, he suddenly saw a very young figure standing silently at the doorway.
That conspicuous, deep nasolabial fold line on the child's face made Kiyohara recognize at once that this was Uchiha Itachi.
'The ghost's second dying wish was to defeat him.' Itachi seemed to be only about four years old right now.
Kiyohara looked at his tiny, fragile appearance and felt that defeating a four-year-old Itachi would be a piece of cake.
It's just... Kiyohara took another, cautious look at Fugaku's stern face.
For an elite, scarred Jonin to casually state he wanted to spar with a toddler who wasn't even enrolled in the Academy... this didn't make sense no matter how you looked at it. It would make him look like a psychotic bully.
He had to find a flawless, diplomatic reason to beat Itachi up later to legally complete the dying wish...
"It's dinner time. Shisui, Kiyohara... please stay and eat together with us," Fugaku looked at the darkening sky, and the comforting sound of cooking food drifted from the kitchen. It was clearly Mikoto starting to make a large dinner.
"Then I will humbly impose on your hospitality," Kiyohara thought for a microsecond and deliberately did not refuse this proposal.
He had to close the social distance with the family to eventually find a flawless reason to complete the requirements of the dying wish.
Seeing that Kiyohara stayed, Shisui gracefully stayed as well.
He blinked playfully at Itachi, and Itachi also looked silently at Shisui.
Kiyohara coldly, analytically watched the micro-expressions of the two exchanging glances and accurately guessed that they already knew each other socially.
This was actually earlier than in the original canon work.
In the original timeline, four-year-old Itachi had gone to the bloody battlefield once with his father, and then after a month or two of processing trauma, at exactly five years old, he had formally met Shisui.
The current, pristine Itachi should not have been taken to the battlefield yet.
Kiyohara did not see the "Hokage-style thinking" in the toddler's eyes.
Only from the exact day he went to the blood-soaked battlefield and witnessed the horrific, real Ninja World would Itachi begin to obsessively think about "what kind of person he was."
Soon, Mikoto brought the food out to the low table.
Mikoto looked like a very gentle, beautiful woman, wearing a conservative domestic apron that couldn't entirely hide her figure, and there was a very soft, kind expression between her brows.
"Kiyohara, I don't know if the food suits your specific taste, but I hope you enjoy it."
"Lady Mikoto, I like these very much," Kiyohara said respectfully.
Mikoto didn't have much screen time or combat data in the original manga, but the official databooks explicitly recorded that she retired from active duty with the rank of full Jonin.
In other words, this gentle housewife was very likely also... a lethal, Three-Tomoe Sharingan user.
"Has your new military mission come down yet, Kiyohara?" At the dinner table, Fugaku asked casually.
Even if a front-line ninja is officially on vacation, they can't take many days off. Now that they were in a desperate time of global war, they had to spend the vast majority of their time executing combat missions.
"Not yet. It should come in a few days," Kiyohara said calmly.
Now that he possessed the ability to achieve aerodynamic flight relying entirely on Magnet Release, it actually didn't make much difference where Command deployed him.
Although this apocalyptic flight ability hadn't been publicly revealed yet, it could easily become a lethal, strategic weapon when necessary.
Whether for rapid, supersonic pursuit across the continent or emergency escape from a Kage, it was an incredibly overpowered ability.
"If you ever need anything specific, Kiyohara, you can also freely accept guidance from our veteran Uchiha Clan Ninjas," Fugaku continued smoothly, offering an olive branch.
Kiyohara nodded slightly, perfectly understanding that he had proven his value to the clan.
Now that he was close with Orochimaru and the Hokage visibly favored him, Fugaku's attitude toward Kiyohara was also quite soft and accommodating.
Soon, the peaceful time passed quietly.
After the meal, Kiyohara and Shisui formally said their polite goodbyes and left the residence.
Shisui walked him respectfully all the way back to the heavy main gate of the clan grounds.
After they finally parted ways in the dark, Kiyohara walked back to his civilian apartment alone.
'The key is still one's own strength,' Kiyohara stroked his chin, calculating variables.
He suddenly wondered... if Obito still teamed up with Itachi years from now to wipe out the clan...
Would he, this anomalous, outsider Uchiha, legally count as an Uchiha on their extermination list?
A few days later, a new mission was officially assigned.
Kiyohara's designated mission this time was to transport heavy military supplies to the volatile vicinity of Kikyō Mountain.
The Hidden Sand Village's aggressive, violent incursions into the Land of Fire were becoming exponentially more frequent and daring.
The official administrative rank of this escort mission was not high, merely C-Rank.
However, due to the highly sensitive strategic nature of escorting active supply lines, there was a massive statistical probability that Sand elites would attempt to sabotage the convoy.
Thereby encountering all kinds of enemies.
The actual combat difficulty could instantly, violently spike from C to B, or even an A-Rank skirmish.
All of this depended on probability.
Kiyohara felt that this probability of encountering an ambush was quite high.
In the historical canon Battle at Kikyō Mountain, thousands of Konoha Ninja died a bloody death, and the fighting was described as extremely tragic.
Yakushi Kabuto was adopted exactly at this time by Yakushi Nonou, who was already functioning as the civilian director of the Orphanage.
Nonou saw the terrified, amnesiac Kabuto on the battlefield, so she kindly gave him her surname, "Yakushi," and named him Kabuto.
'I wonder how Yakushi Nonou's Medical Ninjutsu compares to Tsunade's,' Kiyohara thought to himself clinically.
It was quite strange; both of these top-tier, world-renowned Medical Ninjas had a massive, crippling need for "money."
Tsunade needed it for her gambling addiction, and Yakushi Nonou needed it desperately to fund the starving children in her Orphanage.
Danzo Shimura had successfully, brutally relied on restricting that money to completely manipulate and enslave Yakushi Nonou.
Kiyohara had already safely, covertly sold the massive batch of high-grade supplies collected from the slaughtered Kirigakure ANBU in the Land of Grass.
This time, he sold even more volume than the last haul, netting a massive, liquid return of exactly two million ryo.
'If I use this massive cash reserve to legally 'buy' advanced Medical Ninjutsu tutoring... it would be exceptionally easy to open a diplomatic path with Yakushi Nonou,' Kiyohara stroked his chin.
Due to her crippling, psychological hemophobia (fear of blood), Tsunade had many massive, practical flaws in physically teaching Medical Ninjutsu.
The biggest difference between Medical Ninjutsu and other standard ninjutsu was that it strictly required bloody, hands-on anatomical practice and live surgery.
If there was no veteran surgeon to physically guide your hands, and you relied solely on theoretical self-study from textbooks, it was very easy to learn it completely incorrectly and kill a patient.
If he pragmatically used his massive cash reserve to heavily "donate" to the Orphanage and bribe Nonou, he might even be able to receive her flawless, careful instruction in live surgery.
Compared to forcing her to re-enter the active Ninja World, simply teaching Medical Ninjutsu for charity money did not violate Nonou's pacifist principles.
In the anime canon, she happily taught some gifted orphans Medical Ninjutsu all the time.
After pondering the logistics for a moment, Kiyohara continued his grueling training.
The escort mission was scheduled to officially depart tomorrow at exactly noon.
It was currently late afternoon, so he still had half a day to train.
He had already mastered 90% of the Lightning Release: Roaring Thunder technique; he only needed a little more repetitive refinement to fully, flawlessly control the recoil.
In the secluded courtyard, Kiyohara returned to his training.
Volatile Lightning Release chakra surged through his meridian system, running aggressively along the specialized meridians of his chest, throat, and mouth.
Some of the excess, escaping Lightning chakra faintly, dangerously sparked with blue electric arcs around Kiyohara's skin.
During this highly dangerous process, he didn't forget to mentally call out the ghost of Uchiha Kiyohara to help perfectly guide the chakra flow.
Uchiha Kiyohara, with his mature Three-Tomoe Sharingan, had copied and analyzed hundreds of complex Ninjutsu in his timeline.
Therefore, guiding Kiyohara's Lightning Release training was more than effortless for the ghost.
After continuing to train for three unbroken hours.
"Lightning Release: Roaring Thunder!"
A massive, thick, blinding blue lightning bolt was violently spat from his mouth, directly, flawlessly striking the heavy wooden training stake Kiyohara had purchased.
KRA-BOOM!
The kinetic force instantly shattered the thick wooden stake into a thousand splinters, revealing nothing but charred, smoking debris and a deep crater in the dirt.
Success.
Kiyohara felt the residual, crackling chakra fluctuations smoothly settling in his body, and a cold, satisfied smile curled at the corner of his mouth.
The raw power of this A-Rank technique was even stronger than he had initially calculated.
It was supersonic, had terrifying, armor-piercing penetrating power, and was perfectly suitable for instantaneous sneak attacks.
On the other side of the village.
Hiruzen Sarutobi had just finished handling the exhausting day's official political business.
He looked out at the peaceful scenery outside his office window; the streetlights were already glowing warmly, and the civilian crowds on the streets were gradually increasing as the workday ended.
"Is it time?" Hiruzen glanced at the clock hanging heavily on the wall and planned to finally go home.
Although his youngest, rebellious son, Asuma, had been sent to the bloody battlefield for experience, his eldest son and his wife were still stationed in the Village because they were elite ANBU, responsible for carrying out high-level guard duties around the Hokage.
Hiruzen, who had originally intended to go straight home to his empty house, suddenly thought of Kiyohara.
A few days ago, he had personally given the highly classified formula for Lightning Release: Roaring Thunder to the boy, and he didn't know how Kiyohara's training with the volatile element was progressing.
Thinking of this, Hiruzen decided to take a detour and go personally check on Kiyohara's progress.
If a Hokage wanted to cultivate a fiercely loyal confidant, it was best to provide warm, paternal guidance while they were actively training and struggling.
"Hokage-sama," the ANBU captain responsible for his security opened the office door respectfully.
Hiruzen nodded slightly. The remaining ANBU guards then seamlessly melted into the shadows, responsible for providing invisible, absolute secret protection during his walk.
Regarding the exact location of Kiyohara's apartment, Hiruzen already knew it from his intensive background checks.
He walked over step by step, enjoying the evening air.
Not long after, he arrived silently near the perimeter of Kiyohara's home.
Before even entering the street, his excellent, Kage-level sensory abilities instantly detected massive, volatile chakra fluctuations.
'Still training in Ninjutsu this late?' Hiruzen had intended to knock and casually ask about Kiyohara's progress, but he hadn't expected the boy to be outputting this level of chakra at this hour.
BOOM!
The deafening sound of crackling, high-voltage electric arcs suddenly rose up and echoed all around the neighborhood.
This distinct, highly familiar sound made Hiruzen freeze dead in his tracks.
As the creator who had personally, meticulously developed this specific Lightning Release Ninjutsu decades ago, he understood perfectly well what it sounded like when successfully, flawlessly cast.
How did this deafening sound seem exactly like it had been perfectly, flawlessly released?!
If the boy had failed the compression phase, the sound of the electric arcs should have been much more scattered and chaotic, not so terrifyingly, perfectly condensed.
Thinking of this impossible anomaly, Hiruzen placed his aged hand on the wooden gate of the courtyard.
He pushed gently, only to find the door was unlocked and opened directly.
He also saw the figure inside completely clearly.
What came into view was Kiyohara's bare back, with blinding, pale blue electric arcs swirling violently around his mouth, exactly as if the boy were holding a literal, boiling handful of blue plasma in his jaw.
BOOM!
It was already dark evening; a massive, blinding white python completely wrapped in the deafening sound of thunder streaked violently across the dim courtyard.
A massive, supersonic, spear-shaped lightning bolt erupted flawlessly from Kiyohara's mouth, striking brutally, straight onto the remnants of the wooden stake in front of him.
The thick, apocalyptic electric arcs displayed an absolutely violent, destructive side.
Exactly like a real, massive python, it effortlessly, violently tore the remaining wooden stake to absolute shreds, carrying its kinetic force entirely through to violently strike the ground behind it, blowing a deep, smoking crater in the earth.
That massive flash of lightning illuminated all the darkness in the courtyard like broad daylight in an instant.
It also illuminated Hiruzen Sarutobi's astonished face standing at the gate.
He had originally just wanted to come and casually, paternally check on Kiyohara's struggling situation, but he hadn't expected to see this scene.
Lightning Release: Roaring Thunder. That highly advanced, B-Rank assassination Ninjutsu he had only given to Kiyohara a mere few days ago.
A few days?!
No, it had only been exactly FIVE DAYS!
In five days... this civilian boy had completely, flawlessly mastered a complex, lethal B-Rank Ninjutsu?!
Hiruzen felt his throat go completely, uncomfortably dry.
When he was a young man, he was famously known worldwide as the "Professor of Ninjutsu," capable of executing all five basic chakra nature transformations flawlessly, and was a recognized, unparalleled genius.
But even he, at that exact same age, could not have learned and mastered a volatile B-Rank Ninjutsu this terrifyingly quickly.
He thought of his three legendary Disciples—the Sannin.
Jiraiya had completely average, mediocre talent and relied entirely on stubborn hard work and perseverance.
Tsunade inherited the Senju Clan's bloodline and had outstanding, unparalleled talent in Medical Ninjutsu, but was not prominent or interested in learning other elemental Ninjutsu.
Only Orochimaru.
That pale genius who had an absolute, fanatical, psychotic pursuit of learning all Ninjutsu, and was also born with the rare affinity for all five chakra attributes.
Therefore, Hiruzen had also felt that Orochimaru was the Disciple most like himself. And the Disciple most intellectually suitable to eventually inherit his Hokage mantle.
Even Minato Namikaze, whom he valued highly, was not as similar to him as Orochimaru.
Minato's natural chakra attributes only included Fire, Wind, Lightning, Yin, and Yang, lacking two basic elemental chakra attributes (Earth and Water).
Ninjas born naturally proficient in all five chakra attributes were astronomically, globally rare.
At least for now, Hiruzen knew from classified military intelligence that Kiyohara could effortlessly, use exactly four chakra attributes (Earth, Wind, Lightning, Magnet).
When Orochimaru was young... it seemed he hadn't shown this level of terrifying, instantaneous talent, right?
No, they couldn't be compared.
Hiruzen suddenly, shockingly realized that Kiyohara didn't just learn basic Ninjutsu impossibly quickly.
He also possessed... a dual Bloodline Limit (Magnet Release and the Sharingan).
Kiyohara only then supposedly "discovered" Hiruzen standing at the gate and quickly turned around to ask, acting surprised.
"Hokage-sama? Why are you here so late?"
In objective reality, Kiyohara had long since known of Hiruzen's slow approach through the ghost of Uchiha Kiyohara's spiritual body acting as an invisible radar.
Because the ghost had been floating outside the courtyard guiding Kiyohara's chakra, Kiyohara knew the exact microsecond Hiruzen arrived at the gate.
Hiruzen steadied his racing heart and walked calmly into the smoking courtyard.
"I came to see you."
He tried his best to make his voice sound grandfatherly and calm.
"That technique you just cast... was that 'Lightning Release: Roaring Thunder'?"
"Yes," Kiyohara nodded respectfully. "Thanks entirely to the detailed scroll Hokage-sama generously gave me, I have initially mastered its kinetic flow."
'Initially mastered...'
Hiruzen repeated the humble phrase in his shocked mind.
The power and structural stability of that lightning bolt just now... how could that be called just 'initially mastered'?!
"Kiyohara... your talent... is truly very good," Hiruzen looked at Kiyohara, his old eyes complex and filled with awe.
He couldn't help but genuinely, profoundly feel that this cold, brilliant child had quite a bit of his own, legendary demeanor from back in his prime.
.....
.....
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Give me powerstones.
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