That familiar voice echoed within his mind right on schedule, and Kiyohara's spirit instantly lifted.
He quickly found an excuse to step away from his companions, who were still busy reinforcing the defensive fortifications, and slipped off to a more secluded spot—behind the shattered remains of a collapsed wall where he could also overlook part of the coastline.
At that moment, faint ripples began spreading across his consciousness.
Those ripples slowly converged, and from them emerged the outline of a new urn.
This time, however, the urn that appeared was completely different from the previous two.
It wasn't made of wood, nor was it ordinary ceramic. Instead, it was a dark, rough, and heavy-looking stone container, its texture resembling rock mixed with metallic ore.
On its surface was carved a peculiar emblem.
Kiyohara recognized it immediately—the forehead protector symbol of Sunagakure.
"Sunagakure's mark?"
Kiyohara's heart skipped a beat, and a strong sense of foreboding rose within him.
"Don't tell me… this is a version of 'me' from another hidden village?"
He had just thought this when the stone urn gave a slight tremor, as if something inside was trying to speak.
"Yah!"
"Even if I die today, I'll kill you worthless insects!"
"…?"
The strange shouts coming from within left Kiyohara staring in bewilderment.
As the voice fell silent, a faint, phantom-like figure slowly emerged from the urn.
This figure was also young, and his face resembled Kiyohara's by seven or eight parts—but the temperament was completely different.
He wore the standard uniform of a Sunagakure shinobi, and tied around his forehead was a forehead protector marked with the Sand's symbol.
"Oh? So, I'm already dead?"
The future Kiyohara lowered his phantom-like hands to inspect them, then lifted his head to study the much younger Kiyohara before him. His brows raised slightly, and a look of genuine surprise crossed his face.
So, he was no longer in the middle of battle.
He spoke:
"Didn't expect the so-called Last Will System to be real. The moment you die, you really are packaged up and delivered to another timeline's version of yourself.
Unfortunately, I only completed one will before dying, so I passed on only part of my power."
His memories were still stuck at the moment when he had been fighting alone against dozens of enemy shinobi. He didn't even know exactly when he died.
"You're… the Sand version of me?" Kiyohara asked.
"Correct. I'm a shinobi of Sunagakure, and I also awakened the bloodline limit Magnet Release."
The Magnet Release Kiyohara tapped the forehead protector on his head.
'There really is a bloodline limit …'
Kiyohara's thoughts raced, and a thrill of excitement surged inside him.
This was a great thing.
With a Kekkei Genkai, he would finally stop being just another ordinary, talentless observer in the shinobi world.
He would no longer be stuck in the bracket of "civilian-born, nothing special."
And Magnet Release wasn't even something that couldn't be revealed publicly.
The key was how to reveal it.
Awakening a bloodline limit out of nowhere would be too abrupt. It was best to gradually hint at it, step by step, so that others would not find it suspicious.
After all, bloodline limit could be developed, mutated, or awakened through training. As long as he first showed an interest in researching chakra attributes, then slowly revealed improvements, the appearance of Magnet Release would seem reasonable.
Besides—Magnet Release wasn't unique to the Sand Village. Sunagakure had it, yes, but so did the Cloud's shinobi, like Toroi.
Kiyohara's lineage was still rooted in Konoha. His family had been Leaf shinobi for three generations. At most, his ancestors had mingled with other clans before Konoha was founded.
"How did you die?" Kiyohara asked carefully.
He needed to understand the cause of death—because that was usually linked to the final wishes.
"Die?"
The Magnet Release Kiyohara let out a disdainful chuckle, crossing his arms.
"It was simple. I thought the shinobi village system had become too urbanized, shackling the true posture of the strong.
So I wanted to test how strong the Third Kazekage's Magnet Release really was. I also wanted him to understand that what Sunagakure needed was absolute strength, not weak compromise."
His tone was relaxed, as if he were talking about what he had eaten for dinner the previous night.
But the content made Kiyohara's eyelid twitch uncontrollably.
He thought the village system had become too urbanized?
So he went to challenge the Kazekage?
Kiyohara took a deep breath, resisting the urge to hold his head and scream.
Yes—this version of him had a few screws loose.
His worldview was extreme, his beliefs warped toward absolute might makes right.
Not just a little extreme—very extreme.
"What's your last will, then?"
Kiyohara cut straight to the point.
There was no point circling around with someone so fixated.
The Magnet Release Kiyohara held up two fingers.
"Very simple. First—I want you to kill a Sunagakure Anbu.
Just one will do. Given your current strength, that's probably all you can handle."
This was essentially him wanting revenge on Sunagakure, but because this Kiyohara was still weak, he lowered the requirement.
Kiyohara nodded.
"Second…"
The Magnet Release Kiyohara continued:
"I want you to defeat Pakura. That woman was always older than me by a few years, and she beat me down every single time."
He finished listing his wishes.
Kiyohara found that neither wish was too outrageous.
Both were related to Sunagakure.
The first was revenge.
The second, Pakura was clearly his personal obsession.
But this also depended on the timeline.
For example, seventeen-year-old Sasuke was nearly invincible.
Thirteen-year-old Sasuke? Completely average.
The current Pakura definitely wasn't as powerful as her future self.
"I understand. I will do my best to fulfill your wishes," Kiyohara said.
"I hope you won't disappoint me too much."
The Magnet Release Kiyohara said this, then curiously looked around at the world his younger self inhabited.
It seemed this version of him had been born in Konoha, not Suna.
"If I complete your wishes," Kiyohara asked, "will I inherit your Bloodline Limit? Do I need to complete both? Or just one?"
Usually, inheritance only transferred a portion.
"It should be the Bloodline Limit," Magnet Release Kiyohara said.
He lifted his phantom hand and attempted to summon Magnet Release.
Black iron sand floated around him.
In the mindscape, everything could materialize through thought alone—just like Naruto's mindscape, which had water covering the ground and walls besides the Nine-Tails' cage.
"My Magnet Release came from my own development. It was weak at first.
But after I completed one will, and that version of me also had Magnet Release. The two stacked together, made mine much stronger."
So, he really had depended on another alternate future Kiyohara to enhance his bloodline.
"I see…"
Kiyohara nodded.
If he completed the first will, he should also inherit both Magnet Releases.
Unfortunately, this future self had failed to complete all his wills—otherwise Kiyohara felt he would inherit even more.
"You're in Uzushiogakure?"
The Magnet Release Kiyohara drifted out of Kiyohara's body and looked at the boundless sea.
"Yes, the ruins of the Uzumaki homeland," Kiyohara replied.
"Then are there any Sand shinobi around here?"
The Magnet Release Kiyohara asked, eager, almost too eager, to get revenge by hunting Sand Anbu than Kiyohara.
"There might be. Or there might not."
Uzushio was vast. Konoha couldn't possibly monitor everything.
Other villages might sneak in—either to fish in troubled waters, launch surprise attacks, or simply make the situation even more chaotic to weaken both villages involved.
After speaking, Kiyohara glanced at the future version of himself again.
Now that he had Magnet Release…
Could he develop electromagnetic cannons, or other applications beyond manipulating iron sand?
The thought lingered, sparking possibilities.
(End of Chapter)