Kiyohara's Sharingan spun rapidly within his eye sockets.
He no longer bothered concealing the tomoe of his Sharingan and directly revealed its three-tomoe form.
Against an opponent like Pakura, claiming that his desire to protect his comrades had pushed his Sharingan to evolve was a perfectly reasonable explanation.
Soon, Kiyohara could clearly perceive the subtle changes occurring within the fireballs. The chakra inside them was undergoing a transformation, the Scorch Release chakra becoming increasingly unstable and violently explosive.
This meant that once those fireballs made contact with anything, not only would they evaporate all moisture, they would also trigger a fierce explosion.
"Is Pakura finally getting serious?"
Kiyohara muttered under his breath as his right hand slowly gripped the hilt of the shinobi sword at his waist.
The moment his hand tightened around the hilt, fine chakra patterns appeared along the blade. He infused it with Wind Release chakra, sharpening its cutting power to an extreme.
"Body Flicker."
The scorched ground beneath Kiyohara's feet suddenly burst apart. His figure vanished from where he stood, leaving behind only a faint afterimage in the air and a rapidly expanding ring-shaped shockwave.
So fast!
Pakura's pupils shrank abruptly.
The speed he had just displayed was not even his limit.
Her dynamic vision barely managed to capture his trajectory as he closed a distance of fifty meters in an instant, appearing directly in front of her.
There was no time to think. Her battle-hardened instincts reacted faster than conscious thought.
Pakura forcefully pushed off the ground with both feet, throwing her body backward.
At the same time, two compressed Scorch Release fireballs formed beneath her feet and detonated the instant they touched the ground.
Boom!
The explosive recoil launched her upward into the air as if an invisible hand had tossed her skyward.
The scorching shockwave spread outward, and she used that force to evade Kiyohara's slash.
The shinobi blade passed just beneath her neck.
The wind-attributed chakra coating the blade sliced through the superheated air, leaving behind a clear vacuum trail.
Pakura could even feel a stinging sensation on the skin of her neck.
"Taking to the air, huh…"
Kiyohara's strike missed, and his figure came to a halt at the position where Pakura had originally stood. He lifted his head and looked upward.
Pakura had already risen to a height of seven or eight meters above the ground. Her hands moved rapidly as she formed seals in front of her chest.
Those were hand seals Kiyohara had never seen before, clearly a unique Scorch Release technique exclusive to the Hidden Sand.
"Scorch Release: Twin Star Explosion!"
With a sharp shout, the eight fireballs floating around her shot forward simultaneously.
Kiyohara twisted his body, and one of the fireballs grazed past his right shoulder.
But at the moment it passed him, it suddenly exploded midair, detonating on its own during flight.
Boom!
Orange-red flames burst outward, carrying a wave of searing heat that engulfed a five-meter radius in an instant.
The ground was blasted into a shallow crater, charred soil scattering in all directions.
Although Kiyohara had retreated in advance, the edge of the explosion still caught his left sleeve. The fabric ignited instantly, revealing the darkened skin beneath.
Under the intense heat, his skin flushed with a deep reddish hue.
"So they can self-detonate…"
Kiyohara showed a hint of surprise.
This made them far more troublesome than ordinary Scorch Release fireballs.
Even if one avoided a direct hit, they still had to deal with the scorching storm caused by the explosion, and the timing of each detonation was entirely under Pakura's control.
The remaining fireballs continued to fly toward him without pause.
Kiyohara pushed off the ground and dashed sharply to the right.
"I can't keep fighting like this on the defensive…"
The thought flashed through his mind.
Pakura used the airflow generated by Wind Release techniques to glide temporarily through the air, like a feather drifting on the wind.
A faint smile curled at the corner of her lips.
It was over.
She could already envision Kiyohara being reduced to a dried corpse amidst the chain of explosions.
But contrary to Pakura's expectations, Kiyohara did not continue evading.
His left hand pressed against the gourd at his waist.
Black iron sand poured out from the mouth of the gourd like a living entity. The moment it emerged, it condensed into dozens of spindle-shaped projectiles.
"What is that?"
Someone among the Konoha shinobi watching from afar cried out in shock.
"Iron sand… but that shape is strange…"
"It's a Magnet Release technique developed by Kiyohara. They say it's faster than sound!"
Kurenai kept her gaze fixed on the battlefield. Seeing Kiyohara and Pakura locked in an intense fight, she suddenly noticed a Sand shinobi below attempting to launch a sneak attack with a long-range ninjutsu.
Without hesitation, she cast a genjutsu.
"Demonic Illusion: Tree Binding Death!"
Her illusion took effect immediately, restraining one of the Sand shinobi.
The other Konoha shinobi also noticed the enemy's movements.
Ebisu, staring ahead, quickly threw a volley of shuriken toward the Sand shinobi.
One of them used a Wind Release technique to deflect his projectiles.
"Kiyohara has already made his move. That means it's my time to step in. Fifth Gate, Gate of View, open!"
In the next moment, green steam erupted from Might Guy's body as he charged forward.
The Sand shinobi on the opposing side were not to be outdone and rushed forward as well.
However, both sides tacitly avoided the area where Kiyohara and Pakura were fighting.
The extreme heat alone was already a form of damage that even trained shinobi found difficult to endure.
Pakura noticed that the Suna and Konoha forces had shifted their battlefield and begun fighting elsewhere, but she no longer had the luxury to divert her attention.
The last time, those iron sand projectiles had barely grazed her body.
If they were any more accurate, if they struck vital points, they would pose a serious threat to her.
Whether it was the head or the heart, those were weaknesses common to most shinobi, and Pakura was no exception.
"Explode!"
Pakura detonated the fireballs surrounding Kiyohara without hesitation.
At that exact moment, Kiyohara raised his right hand, spreading his fingers wide.
"Magnet Release: Electromagnetic Projectiles."
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
A piercing shriek tore through the air.
It sounded like countless steel needles scraping across glass at once, making the eardrums of every shinobi present ache with pain.
Behind each projectile trailed a clearly visible white shockwave.
Supersonic.
That word flashed through the minds of every shinobi who witnessed the scene.
The speed of the iron sand projectiles had already surpassed the speed of sound traveling through the air.
They reached their targets before the sound itself. By the time the sharp noise entered their ears, the projectiles had already struck the fireballs.
Under such extreme velocity, each fireball collapsed silently like a punctured balloon, dispersing into scattered streams of superheated air.
Pakura's expression changed slightly. Kiyohara had directly neutralized her Scorch Release fireballs.
"How is this possible…"
It was not as though she had never seen Magnet Release before. The Fourth Kazekage, Rasa, was famous for manipulating iron sand with Magnet Release, and she had even fought him in the past.
But those Magnet Release techniques had never been this fast, nor this precise.
The Sharingan.
It had to be the Sharingan's dynamic vision and predictive ability, combined with the chakra control of Magnet Release, that created such a terrifying technique.
In the span of a single thought, after shattering all the fireballs, the remaining iron sand projectiles were already closing in.
Pakura's hands moved swiftly as she formed seals.
"Scorch Release: Thermal Barrier!"
Blazing chakra surged out from her body, condensing in the air into a semi-transparent orange-red shield.
This was a defensive Scorch Release technique she had developed herself, using extreme heat to instantly melt or vaporize anything that approached.
Bang! Bang!
Indentations appeared on the surface of the barrier, and cracks began to spread across it.
Crack.
In the next moment, the thermal barrier was pierced straight through.
Although much of the surface had already melted and the projectiles had slowed significantly, the remaining kinetic force was still enough to pose a deadly threat.
Pakura forcibly twisted her body midair, and the projectiles brushed past her ribs.
Molten iron sand splashed onto her shinobi outfit, instantly burning through the fabric and leaving a scorching mark on her skin.
What shocked her even more was the level of strength Kiyohara had displayed.
Those supersonic Magnet Release projectiles, if there had been more of them or if they had been even slightly faster, she might already have been dead just now.
"So this is the new generation of Konoha…"
Pakura lifted her head and looked toward Kiyohara.
He still stood where he was, surrounded by newly reformed iron sand projectiles hovering around him.
His expression remained calm, his crimson Sharingan standing out vividly within the heat-distorted air, as if that terrifying attack just now had been nothing more than a casual gesture.
Humiliation.
As a hero of the Sunagakure, being pushed to this extent by a mere junior from Konoha was an unprecedented disgrace.
At that thought, Pakura's face flushed with anger.
Kiyohara was also observing Pakura.
"The Scorch Release kekkei genkai is indeed formidable…"
He evaluated silently.
If not for using Steel Release to harden his body, and Wind Release to block the heat, the high temperatures generated by those explosions alone would have been enough to seriously injure him.
Even now, the exposed areas of his skin burned with a stinging pain, the result of prolonged exposure to such intense heat.
This had to be ended quickly.
If the battle dragged on, the surrounding temperature would only continue to rise, giving Pakura an increasing advantage.
With that in mind, Kiyohara moved.
Pakura had just risen to her feet when Kiyohara was already in front of her.
His shinobi blade slashed out once more, this time in a horizontal arc aimed at her waist.
Wind-attributed chakra formed a pale yellow current along the blade.
Pakura did not dodge.
Or rather, she did not have time to fully evade.
Kiyohara's speed was simply too fast, the blade arriving in an instant.
She could only lean backward while raising her right arm.
At her right elbow, her chakra points opened abruptly.
A torrent of Scorch Release chakra burst out from the acupoints, forming a ring of orange-red flames behind her elbow.
The searing airflow, combined with the force of her elbow strike, crashed directly into Kiyohara's incoming blade.
Scorch Release: Flame Elbow!
This was a close-range technique Pakura had developed by combining Scorch Release with taijutsu.
By concentrating Scorch Release chakra at the elbow and releasing it at the moment of impact, it created a high-temperature shock that not only enhanced striking power but also burned the opponent upon contact.
Clang!
Kiyohara's blade struck against Pakura's elbow.
At the same time, a wave of scorching heat rushed toward him.
Kiyohara's leg turned pitch black, faint arcs of electricity flickering around it.
Magnet Release: Electromagnetic Kick!
Kiyohara lashed out with a kick.
Thud!
A solid hit.
Pakura's body was sent flying sideways like a kite with its string cut, crashing heavily into the ground dozens of meters away.
The scorched earth formed a shallow crater upon impact, dust billowing into the air.
But she was not seriously injured.
At the instant Kiyohara's kick connected, Pakura had already condensed chakra at her side, forming a dense layer of protection.
Although the impact sent her flying, it reduced the damage to her internal organs to a tolerable level.
Pakura rolled across the ground five or six times before dispersing the force. When she finally rose to one knee, her shinobi outfit was covered in charred dust, and several bloody scratches marked the pale skin exposed on her back.
Those were wounds caused by the sharp debris on the ground during her roll.
Her orange-green hair was in disarray, strands clinging to her forehead with sweat.
Her breathing was rapid, her chest heaving violently, and a blazing fury burned in her eyes.
As the hero of the Sunagakure, the strongest Scorch Release user in the village, she had just been kicked around like a ball by a junior from Konoha.
If news of this reached the village, her reputation would plummet.
But Kiyohara had no interest in what Pakura thought, nor did he give her any time to recover.
With a flash, he closed the distance once more.
This time, he threw a direct punch at her.
"What?!"
Pakura's pupils contracted.
This madman!
Though shocked, she did not hesitate.
She immediately released a large amount of Scorch Release chakra from her body.
But Kiyohara's fist had already slammed into her abdomen.
Sizzle!
The instant his fist made contact with the high-temperature chakra around her body, white steam rose from the surface.
Moisture on his skin evaporated instantly, forming vapor, and his Steel Release-hardened skin began to redden as the temperature rose sharply.
But just as the heat was about to reach its melting threshold, Wind Release chakra burst from the palm of his left hand.
Wind Release: Gale Palm!
A violent current erupted from his palm, forming a thin layer of air between his hand and her body.
The rapidly moving airflow carried away large amounts of heat, quickly lowering the temperature at the surface of his skin.
At the same time, his left hand did not remain idle.
He attacked with both hands, mounting Pakura and raining blows down on her.
Bang bang bang bang!
Each time Scorch Release chakra surged from her body, Kiyohara responded with another punch.
The sheer intensity of the exchange drew the attention of others.
Even the ground itself was trembling.
The Sand shinobis stared in disbelief.
The hero of their village, Pakura, was being pinned down and beaten by Kiyohara.
Pakura desperately released Scorch Release chakra, and Kiyohara's hands did suffer some burns.
After all, Steel Release and Earth Release techniques were not particularly effective at resisting extreme heat.
But compared to Pakura, Kiyohara's injuries were far less severe.
Under the Power of the White Snake, his burns were gradually healing.
Left with no choice, Pakura opened her mouth and spat out a massive Scorch Release fireball.
The moment it emerged, it exploded around them.
Boom!
Kiyohara quickly retreated, and once he reached a safe distance beyond the blast radius, he shook his arm. Charred, dead skin flaked off, revealing fresh skin beneath.
"So this is all the hero of the Suna is capable of?"
Kiyohara said calmly.
Pakura truly was resilient.
Each time, she managed to protect herself with Scorch Release chakra in time. Otherwise, if she had taken one of his punches without any defense, Kiyohara was certain she would have been unable to stand back up and would have collapsed on the spot.
As the smoke gradually cleared, Pakura rose from the ground, looking somewhat disheveled.
There were even visible fist marks left on her body by Kiyohara.
Yet astonishingly, there were no signs of burns on her.
Seeing this, Kiyohara could not help but marvel at the wonder of bloodline limits.
Scorch Release had fundamentally transformed Pakura's body.
This was a change at the level of her very DNA. Even her descendants would inherit her genetic traits. Even if they did not awaken Scorch Release, the gene would remain latent and continue to be passed down.
Simply put, it was like being a superhuman, a mutant.
Scorch Release likely granted a certain level of immunity to burns or the ability to absorb heat.
As long as the temperature did not exceed that limit, she would remain unharmed. Otherwise, she would have been the first to be dried out by the Scorch Release fireballs surrounding her, let alone fight an enemy.
Her light and revealing outfit, exposing her smooth back, slender arms, and long legs, was the best proof of this.
Other Sand shinobi covered themselves as much as possible, doing everything they could to avoid the desert heat.
Even then, their skin would never be as fair as hers.
Hearing Kiyohara's words, a layer of frost seemed to settle over Pakura's beautiful face.
"You brat from Konoha, don't get carried away."
She spoke coldly.
"What you saw just now was only warm up. The real battle begins now."
"Is that so?"
A faint smile curved at the corner of Kiyohara's lips.
"There's a saying, one should return courtesy for courtesy. Since you've been so enthusiastic toward me, I should at least show some response."
Before his words had even fully fallen, Kiyohara's figure vanished once more.
No, it was not that he had disappeared, but rather that his speed was so fast that the afterimage left on the retina was far too brief.
Pakura fully activated her perception and captured Kiyohara's trajectory.
In the eyes of everyone present, Kiyohara's figure abruptly disappeared.
All that could be seen was a ring of dust exploding outward from the charred ground beneath him, and in the very next second, he had already appeared twenty meters away in midair.
He hovered there.
There was no support beneath his feet, while black iron sand continuously drifted out from the gourd at his waist.
"This is the gift I leave for you."
After forming hand seals, Kiyohara opened his mouth and spat out a fireball.
Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!
Immediately after, the iron sand scattered around him began to circle the fireball, reacting with it.
Magnet Release started influencing the magnetic field, further heating the fireball.
In an instant, the originally orange-yellow fireball turned increasingly incandescent, shifting toward a blazing white.
When the fireball expanded to the point of instability, Kiyohara gave it another push forward with his breath, launching it directly outward.
The fireball shot straight toward Pakura.
Instinctively, Pakura sensed danger from it.
As a Scorch Release user, she had always been extremely sensitive to heat.
The moment she realized what Kiyohara had done to the fireball, she felt its temperature rising at an alarming rate.
Trusting her instincts, Pakura immediately retreated.
At the same time, she shouted for her fellow Sand shinobi to run as well.
Boom!
A deafening explosion erupted, accompanied by a blinding flash of light that illuminated everything within a hundred-meter radius as if it were broad daylight. Every Leaf and Sand shinobi locked in combat instinctively shut their eyes or turned their heads away.
Then came the shockwave.
The ground seemed to be struck by an invisible giant hammer, collapsing and cracking as it sank inward. The scorched earth and shattered stones on the outer edges were violently lifted and hurled into the air, forming a mushroom-like cloud.
The scorching heat swept wildly across the battlefield, leaving all the shinobi stunned.
Some Sand shinobi who failed to escape in time were instantly reduced to dried corpses, their body moisture completely evaporated by the overwhelming heat.
Pakura barely managed to escape. When the blinding light faded, she stared at the devastation before her, momentarily at a loss for words.
The power of that Fire Release technique had completely surpassed her previous understanding of such jutsu.
Was that an A-rank Fire Release, or even an S-rank jutsu?
The Uchiha clan was not supposed to possess Fire Release techniques of such destructive power.
Otherwise, she would not have relied almost exclusively on Scorch Release in battle, rarely using Fire Release at all.
To Pakura, Scorch Release was the superior evolution of Fire Release.
"Damn it…"
Pakura realized her consciousness had already begun to blur.
She quickly forced herself upright, trying to escape further.
But how could Kiyohara possibly allow that.
Just obediently become his stepping stone for promotion.
"Why the rush to leave?"
"Stay a while."
Kiyohara caught up to her and placed a hand on her shoulder.
Pakura attempted to resist, but when she turned her head, she was met with the crimson glow in Kiyohara's eyes.
In her already exhausted state, she had no strength left to resist the Sharingan's genjutsu and immediately lost consciousness.
"Is that… really the power of Fire Release?"
Kurenai's red eyes remained fixed on Kiyohara, her mouth slightly open in shock.
That explosion just now felt to her as if more than a dozen fireballs had detonated simultaneously.
How much chakra would such a technique even require?
"Kiyohara's ninjutsu is incredible."
Guy kicked a Sand shinobi in front of him flying, then turned to look toward Kiyohara.
Seeing that Pakura had been captured, the morale of the Sand shinobi collapsed like a landslide. Under their commanders' orders, they began retreating rapidly.
"Hmph, this is Kiyohara's strength."
Kurenai nodded.
Yes, this was what her teammate should be like.
Might Guy nodded in deep agreement.
Kiyohara was already a prodigy in taijutsu, but his ninjutsu was equally terrifying.
"Kiyohara, your eyes… they've changed again."
Kurenai walked up beside him and noticed the change in the tomoe pattern within his Sharingan.
"I guess I just broke through in the heat of the moment."
Kiyohara gave the explanation he had prepared in advance.
"Let's head back."
Looking at the Sand shinobi retreating in the distance, Kiyohara slung Pakura over his shoulder and began walking back.
Capturing Pakura alive was undoubtedly a great achievement.
Kiyohara felt that if he were to submit a request to the higher-ups of Konoha to become an Anbu squad leader, it would most likely be approved.
After all, how many people in the Anbu could match his strength?
Even Kakashi, who in the original story would eventually become captain of Squad Six, was far inferior to Kiyohara at his current level.
"Alright!"
"We won!"
The Konoha shinobi erupted into cheers, immediately pursuing the fleeing shinobi of Suna and striking them while they were down.
The commotion here soon caught the attention of Jiraiya.
By the time Jiraiya hurried over, all he could see was devastation spread across the ground, scattered limbs and shattered bodies, along with an enormous crater.
And Kiyohara, carrying a woman on his shoulder, walking forward amidst the cheers of the crowd.
A woman?
Jiraiya immediately sensed that something was off.
He took a closer look and his eyes widened.
Wasn't that Scorch Release user Pakura?
Wait, why was Pakura being carried on Kiyohara's shoulder?
He casually grabbed a nearby Konoha shinobi and asked, quickly learning what had happened.
So it had all been Kiyohara's doing. He had defeated Pakura and even captured her alive.
"Excellent."
Jiraiya could not help but nod in approval.
Pakura's capture would deal a significant blow to the morale of the Sunagakure.
After all, this was a very common tactic.
Suna had elevated Pakura, calling her the "Hero of the Sand," not just because of her strength, but also because they needed a symbolic figure for political propaganda to stabilize the situation.
Such a figure could inspire other shinobi and encourage them to persist in their own shinobi paths.
Otherwise, even Rasa, the Fourth Kazekage, did not hold the title of hero.
"Kiyohara, you did well, kid. Tsunade will definitely be pleased when she hears about this."
Jiraiya strode forward. Standing at 191 centimeters tall, he stood out among the shinobi as he approached Kiyohara.
"Lord Jiraiya."
Kiyohara nodded toward him.
"Was that your jutsu just now?"
Jiraiya asked with curiosity.
Why was Kiyohara's Fire Release so powerful?
After all, even he only achieved such destructive force by mixing Fire Release with Sage Chakra.
(End of Chapter)