At the same time, she executed the Body Flicker Technique, taking her disciple Maki and the remaining Sunagakure shinobi with her. Under the cover of the thick smoke, they flashed several times in rapid succession before disappearing into the depths of the night.
Tsunade sensed Pakura's chakra rapidly moving away and finally let out a sigh of relief.
Standing here, she could really only serve to apply pressure on Pakura.
If she were truly required to fight, it would be extremely difficult.
With her eyes still closed, Tsunade's complexion remained somewhat pale. Seeing this, Shizune stepped forward to support her.
She knew very well about Tsunade's hemophobia.
"The Second and First Squads pursue the enemy. Everyone else stay behind to hold the position and strengthen vigilance."
Hayama Shirakumo clutched his scorched arm and issued orders to the surrounding shinobi.
In the end, he looked toward Kiyohara in the distance, his gaze filled with surprise and admiration.
Kiyohara, meanwhile, slowly exhaled a turbid breath. Looking in the direction Pakura had vanished, he wasn't sure whether this counted as fulfilling Magnet Release Kiyohara's second unfulfilled wish.
Although he had only played a part in it, the finishing blow often came down to just that final strike.
Kiyohara lowered his slightly trembling right hand. Using "Electromagnetic Coin" at full power twice in a row had placed a heavy burden on both his chakra and mental strength.
Magnet Release Kiyohara also withdrew the partial possession.
Kiyohara then asked, "So—does this count as completed?"
At that moment, Magnet Release Kiyohara's spiritual form seemed as though a thousand-pound burden had been lifted from his shoulders. Already faint from repeatedly leaving his body, his figure now became even more transparent.
"It counts. Being suppressed by that woman for so long, it's finally satisfying to see her in such a sorry state," Magnet Release Kiyohara said.
"Is that so," Kiyohara replied.
It seemed that in Magnet Release Kiyohara's future, Pakura had not been betrayed by Sunagakure's higher-ups and killed by shuriken.
Or perhaps Magnet Release Kiyohara had never lived to see that moment.
"I can feel a sense of release. Part of my obsession has dissipated. Not all of it, but it looks like you've already fulfilled the requirement."
Magnet Release Kiyohara spread his hands, and one could see his body continuously emitting a soft, pale white glow.
The contours of his facial features rapidly blurred and dispersed, and his voice grew increasingly ethereal.
"Younger me, I can tell that your temperament is different from mine, but I hope that once your strength is sufficient, you will display the bearing a true strong person should have," Magnet Release Kiyohara said.
In his view, one should always act in accordance with one's own heart.
Even now, he did not regret wanting to challenge the Fourth Kazekage.
No matter how many times he thought about it, what Sunagakure needed was an absolute powerhouse to lead it forward, not weak compromises.
The only thing he could regret was his own lack of strength.
Thus, the sole final message he could leave for Kiyohara was: "Remember—only when your strength is sufficient should you express your ideas."
Magnet Release Kiyohara finally dissolved into countless points of light, strands of white radiance drifting toward Kiyohara.
The final, slightly larger point of light flew into the urn.
The remaining points of light were like fledgling birds returning to their nest, lightly sinking into the depths of Kiyohara's brow.
BOOM!
A refreshing sensation instantly swept through Kiyohara's entire body.
Kiyohara clearly felt that his spiritual energy had once again been significantly enhanced.
His mental power surged explosively once more!
That cool yet vast force nourished his soul, pushing his thinking speed and concentration to an entirely new level.
The surging spiritual energy merged seamlessly with the physical energy derived from his cells. As the two intermingled, the total amount of chakra produced instantly shattered the previous bottleneck that had limited him.
"This feeling—"
Kiyohara carefully experienced the roaring flow of chakra within his body, far surpassing what he had possessed before.
"My chakra amount has definitely exceeded 2 Kakashi chakra, and it's still continuing to transform. Once the transformation is complete, it should settle at around 2.2 Kakashi chakra!"
Kiyohara silently calculated his current chakra reserves.
That meant he now possessed more than twice the standard chakra amount of Kakashi.
An increase in chakra quantity meant he could sustain longer and more intense battles, and cast powerful ninjutsu more times.
Whether it was powerful taijutsu or ninjutsu, chakra was the fundamental requirement.
Those with insufficient chakra weren't even qualified to play a supporting role in the final battle.
Otherwise, they would simply be uniformly trapped by Infinite Tsukuyomi, reduced to living chakra batteries.
Or, at best, they might be as lucky as Sakura—fighting alongside Naruto and Sasuke, wedged between them, saying, "I've finally caught up to them."
As for whether she truly caught up, the answer was obvious.
Although Sakura was an academic genius with exceptional talent in chakra control—far surpassing even Sasuke—she was ultimately born a civilian, and her "Chakra" stat was only five.
Even Kakashi had far more chakra than Sakura.
Next, aside from the change in chakra quantity, Kiyohara could also feel that his affinity for and control over Earth-release and Wind-release chakra had greatly improved with the complete inheritance of Magnet Release.
These two attributes, which formed the foundation of Magnet Release, would now allow him to train in their corresponding techniques with greatly increased efficiency.
"Hm?"
Kiyohara also discovered that his neural reaction speed had improved significantly.
He immediately understood why.
Indeed, many applications of Magnet Release—especially high-speed attacks like the electromagnetic coin, as well as the even faster Magnet Release movement techniques that could be developed in the future—placed extremely high demands on the user's reaction speed.
During his lifetime, Magnet Release Kiyohara must have invested tremendous effort into training his reaction speed and possessed exceptional talent in this area.
This reminded Kiyohara of Kakashi's Chidori, which likewise required the Sharingan's assistance for precise control due to its excessive speed.
High-speed Magnet Release movement also had similar drawbacks to a certain extent. Fortunately, his increased reaction speed compensated somewhat for the lack of dynamic vision.
And my magnetic force has also changed.
Kiyohara sensed the final transformation.
That was magnetism itself.
His perception of and control over magnetic force had undergone a qualitative leap.
If previously, manipulating magnetism had felt like wielding a heavy, uncooperative iron hammer, then now, that hammer seemed to have become an extension of his arm, responding effortlessly to his will.
At the same time, he inherited several Magnet Release ninjutsu: "Magnet Release: Iron Sand Wave," "Magnet Release: Iron Sand Wall," and "Magnet Release: Iron Sand Drizzle," among others.
"Magnet Release: Iron Sand Wave" could create a wave-like surge of iron sand to block all enemy attacks, then use the high-density iron sand to continuously roll forward and pursue enemies ahead, making it a fairly effective large-area technique.
"Magnet Release: Iron Sand Wall" was similar to "Earth Release: Earth Flow Wall," raising a wall constructed from iron sand.
"Magnet Release: Iron Sand Drizzle" could shape iron sand into stone-like projectiles and fire them at extreme speed toward opponents, delivering shotgun-like power over a wide area.
Overall, they were all solid jutsus that greatly enhanced Kiyohara's capabilities.
"Kiyohara, your ninjutsu—"
Kurenai was momentarily at a loss for words.
"I've been pondering this method for a long time, so I just used it now," Kiyohara explained casually.
The process of inheriting Magnet Release Kiyohara's legacy seemed long, but to outsiders, the change occurred in just an instant.
What remained was the legacy continuously transforming Kiyohara's body, until it eventually reached its growth limit.
(End of Chapter)