After letting out a quiet sigh, Hayashi moved his left hand slightly.With that subtle motion, dozens of kunai hanging on the wall sprang to life, slicing through the air to hover in front of him.
More than ten seconds later, the room filled with the faint but sharp hiss of wind being torn apart.Hayashi extended his left hand, grasping the hilt of a kunai directly before him, and gave it a hard pull—but the blade didn't budge.He tightened his grip and applied more force. Still, it refused to move.
After a brief pause, he flexed his right index finger. An iron sword, hanging outside the house, responded instantly—whistling through the air as it shot toward him.Catching it with one hand, Hayashi released his magnetic hold on the weapon, then swung the blade down with all his strength at the stubborn kunai.
The result was immediate—the iron sword shattered into useless fragments, while the kunai remained untouched, not even a faint scratch marking its flawless surface.
Seeing this, Hayashi nodded in satisfaction.Tomorrow's competition, he realized, was already as good as won.
The reason was simple—the Magnetic Release technique he now commanded was one of the most formidable bloodline abilities in existence.
The Third Kazekage had earned his title as the strongest Kazekage in history largely because of his mastery over Magnetic Release. His Iron Sand could manipulate metallic particles with devastating power, serving as both shield and spear.Later, Rasa—Fourth Kazekage—had wielded a variant, Gold Dust, capable of controlling heavier golden grains, giving him a crushing advantage in desert terrain and even allowing him to suppress the One-Tailed Beast.
As for Gaara, Hayashi wasn't entirely certain how refined his sand control remained after losing the Tailed Beast, but it certainly wasn't as advanced as it once had been.
These shinobi had all possessed Magnetic Release—but only as limited branches, their control over the force relatively narrow.Hayashi, however, had inherited all of their abilities combined—a complete, perfected Magnetic Release.
At its highest level, the art could manipulate anything in the world influenced by magnetism, not unlike a refined, shinobi version of Magneto.True, Hayashi's current mastery was far from that—barely one hundred-thousandth of such potential.But even so, he could already hurl iron objects weighing hundreds of pounds at blistering speed, and even "enchant" them—dramatically increasing their density and durability.
From the simple test he'd just performed, he estimated his projectiles could easily reach speeds several times faster than sound.Pair such velocity with weapons reinforced to many times their normal hardness, and you had tools that were, for all practical purposes, unbreakable.
Only a handful of the most absurdly resilient warriors in the later eras might withstand them—and even then, if they weren't actively defending themselves (or encased in some mecha monstrosity), they'd walk away with at least minor injuries.Even the somewhat unimpressive version of Naruto from the Boruto years, Hayashi thought with a smirk, would take serious damage from just one well-placed strike.
And this, he reminded himself, was merely the basic form of Magnetic Release.With time, it would grow stronger—evolving one day from Magnetic Release into pure Magnetic Force.
The thought filled him with quiet confidence. Turning away from the hovering kunai, he headed toward the bathroom.
Meanwhile, in a house several kilometers away…
"Sister, aren't you going to sleep yet?"
Yasha Lane pushed open the door, peeking in at the woman seated by the window, gazing out into the distance with a faraway look.
Karula turned her head slightly at the question, casting her younger sister a brief glance before resting her chin in her hand again, her melancholy eyes fixed on some unseen point beyond the rooftops.
Yasha Lane's brow creased in concern. She padded softly across the room, leaning her head gently against her sister's graceful, rounded shoulder.
"Sister, what's wrong? You've been like this since dinner."
Karula gave no sign she'd heard. Her gaze remained fixed on that distant point—though Hayashi's home was kilometers away, she seemed almost able to see him moving about inside it.
Only after another long stretch of silence did she finally speak, her voice so soft and fragile it might shatter with the wrong word.
"Yasha… if only our family were stronger. Then we could help him. Instead of sitting here, afraid to make things worse… afraid to even visit, in case we add to his burdens."
At that, Yasha Lane's frown deepened. Her sister had always been gentle, yes, but never this defeated.She wasn't stupid—she knew exactly who Karula was speaking of.
That realization brought a tangle of emotions to her chest. But she pushed them aside, drew in a slow breath, and—her modest frame rising and falling—turned Karula firmly to face her.
"Sister, why waste time drowning in self-pity and imagining what he thinks of you? Why not go to him yourself and ask?"
For a moment, Karula's deep blue eyes lit with something—hope, maybe—but the spark faded almost instantly. She looked away, tilting her head as she murmured:
"If someone like me—who's only met him twice—suddenly went to him now, wouldn't Hayashi think me… opportunistic?"
Yasha Lane's temper flared. She seized Karula's pale, elegant hands and pulled them away from her face.
"I can't stand seeing you like this! Hayashi's not some short-sighted fool. And even if he did misunderstand—so what? You could explain why you came! Better that than sitting here like some… abandoned, lovelorn woman!"
The last phrase made Yasha Lane's cheeks turn scarlet. She wasn't used to such bold words—her own innocence made them feel almost scandalous.
"Yasha Lane! How can you say such indecent things?"
Karula's own face flushed as she pulled her sister back, scolding her in a mix of shock and embarrassment.
Yasha Lane ducked her head, enduring the reprimand. But when she caught sight of the faintest smile softening her sister's expression, she hid her own smirk.
She didn't agree with Karula's fears—if anything, she knew Hayashi far better than her sister did.Still, she shared the concern about intruding on him at the wrong time. This little burst of provocation, though, had at least broken her sister's brooding mood.
In a dimly lit home near the edge of Sunagakure's central district…
Ye Kang lay on her bed, listening to the wind and sand whispering against the walls.
She touched her forehead lightly, a rare flicker of doubt crossing her cold, striking features.
"How strange… why did some odd images just flash through my mind? Elder Chiyo ordered all shinobi to search for the Third Hokage today across the entire Land of Wind—how could I have seen… something else?"
"Hayashi clearly blocked that decision earlier, and everyone agreed…"
Her voice faded into the stillness, the words carried away by the restless desert wind.
After showering, Hayashi stretched out on his bed, closing his eyes.Perhaps tonight he'd be lucky enough to have a good dream.
And if fate was kind… perhaps it would be of Tsunade.After all, he'd been imagining her only that afternoon, and the memory was still deliciously fresh.