Magnet Release vs. Super Electromagnetic Release

"Why, I'm here to borrow your head, of course!"

The moment Orochimaru spoke, countless venomous snakes burst from his sleeves and lunged at Rasa. Ninja Art: Multiple Hidden Shadow Snake Hands!

Rasa's expression changed abruptly. "Orochimaru, what are you doing?" he shouted.

His hands, however, did not pause for a moment. As the sand cushion beneath his feet shot backward, a wall of Gold Dust blocked every snake and crushed them into a rain of shredded flesh.

Rasa piloted his Flying Nimbus-ptui, his sand cushion-as it hovered in midair. He stared coldly at Orochimaru, who had suddenly attacked him, utterly baffled as to why he would strike just as they had reached an agreement to cooperate.

"I knew it wouldn't be that simple!"

Orochimaru had no intention of explaining himself to Rasa. He merely stood where he was and called out to the red-haired boy.

"Shun-kun, it's not every day you get to meet the Kage of the village you came from. Won't you say hello?"

Rasa abruptly looked down at the boy, whose red hair matched that of his own disappointing son. He felt that the boy looked vaguely familiar.

But a moment later, something even more astonishing happened.

The ever-vigilant Sand ninja could not help but pale when he saw Lord Kazekage attacked by Orochimaru. Yet he immediately made the most accurate judgment available and attacked the two boys under Orochimaru's command at once.

Countless steel needles gleaming purple sprayed from the Sand ninja's mouth, shooting toward the unsuspecting boys in an instant.

A bone blade burst from Kimimaro's palm. He stepped in front of Dōmeki and swung it fiercely. The venom-coated needles failed to strike home, leaving only a few sparks on the blade. Then three Wind Release Ninjutsu ambush attacks came at them, and yellow sand billowed up, concealing them both.

"Shikotsumyaku!" the Sand ninja growled. Without relaxing his guard in the slightest, he immediately unwound the bandages around the puppet on his back, revealing a bizarre humanoid figure.

He roared and moved his ten fingers slightly. The humanoid puppet opened the mechanisms all over its body and pounced toward the area shrouded in yellow sand, while his companions attacked from three other directions at the same time.

Sure enough, a powerful gust blew the yellow sand away in an instant, revealing the white-haired boy.

Hearing Orochimaru call out to him, the red-haired Dōmeki sighed helplessly and spoke to Kimimaro.

"Take care of yourself. Just hold them off!"

Only after Kimimaro nodded did Dōmeki rise into the air unaided and shoot rapidly toward the sky.

Kimimaro watched Dōmeki disappear, a glimmer passing through his eyes. Then several lengths of white bone extended from his limbs, pointing at the approaching Sand ninja, and he murmured under his breath.

"Dance of the Willow!"

In an instant, a storm of bone blades collided with the four enemies.

The battlefield in the sky.

Fourth Kazekage Rasa's expression changed dramatically when he saw the red-haired boy rise into the air. Ninjutsu that allowed flight were exceedingly rare in the Shinobi World, the best known being Iwagakure's Light-Weight Rock Technique. The boy's flight closely resembled that technique, but the Chakra fluctuations he gave off were unmistakably those of Sunagakure's Magnet Release!

As everyone knew, Magnet Release was a closely guarded secret of Sunagakure, and the Third Kazekage had become the strongest Kazekage only after studying One-Tail Shukaku and developing the Magnet Release Kekkei Genkai!

Rasa, too, had gained the upper hand over his rivals for the Kazekage's position because he was the Third's student and had successfully developed Magnet Release. Now a boy with the Magnet Release bloodline had appeared out of nowhere. How could he not be shocked and furious?

His thoughts raced. Could Orochimaru have stolen our Sunagakure bloodline? Fuck, that treacherous bastard Orochimaru would absolutely do something like that!

And that red hair-could he be my kid too? Damn it, I'm definitely going to kill him this time!

Remembering that his wife and youngest son both had red hair, Rasa found it increasingly plausible the more he thought about it. A trace of tenderness even appeared in his eyes as he looked at Dōmeki.

"Boy, what's your name?"

Rasa's strange look, however, sent a shiver down the boy's spine. He had never heard that the Kazekage had this kind of predilection.

Dōmeki nearly threw a Kunai at him, but the image of someone suddenly appeared in his mind.

"Forget it. I'll let it slide for her sake!" Dōmeki forced himself to hold back and flew over to Orochimaru's side.

He looked at Orochimaru and sighed somewhat helplessly, as though recalling something.

"Orochimaru, I may be from Sunagakure too, but how could someone as insignificant as me expect Lord Kazekage to remember me?"

"Oh? Then Lord Kazekage really must be blind! He actually drove a child as talented as Shun-kun out of the village!"

"Talented? Orochimaru, you must be joking. I'm just a guy who developed a little Magnet Release Kekkei Genkai on my own. What talent do I have?"

"Oh, I never imagined Sunagakure had so much talent to spare!"

"Ha ha, how could the child of an unknown Genin who died without a sound count as talent?"

From Sunagakure? A Genin's child? Driven out? Developed Magnet Release on his own?

The boy's words pierced Rasa's heart like steel needles.

Bastard! What I did was a last resort for Sunagakure's sake!

Sunagakure ended up like this because of that foolish Daimyo of the Land of Wind and those hateful people in Konoha!

Besides, our Land of Wind has always been like this. Is that your reason for betraying the village?

Listening to the two play off each other, Rasa flew into a rage. He was disappointed by Orochimaru's betrayal, and furious at the betrayal and disregard of this boy from the same ninja village.

Murderous intent erupted from Fourth Kazekage Rasa, soaring into the sky. He forced out each word through clenched teeth.

"You~arrogant~little~brat, let~me~see~what~your~Magnet Release~can~do!!!"

"Excellent, excellent!"

Orochimaru, who had personally provoked the Kazekage's anger, looked as though a great show was about to begin. His tongue flicked excitedly around his lips. "A grand showdown between Magnet Release ninja—this is sure to be spectacular!"

"Shun-kun, please don't disappoint me!"

With that, Orochimaru withdrew like an ordinary passerby, as though it had nothing to do with him, while the mass of snakes beneath him collapsed and scattered.

"Huh? Wait, Orochimaru, you're leaving already?"

Dōmeki stared speechlessly at Orochimaru, who had gone into hiding, and shouted in annoyance.

"When we're up against a village's Kage, aren't we supposed to forget about fighting fair and all jump him together?"

But Kazekage Rasa, facing him, could no longer contain himself. A brilliant gold gradually spread through the sea of sand beneath him, rapidly expanding outward.

By the time Rasa floated opposite the red-haired boy, a boundless sea of Gold Dust had risen into the air. He stared coldly at the boy, his deep voice carrying a bloody edge.

"Be buried beneath Magnet Release! Magnet Release: Gold Dust Wave!"

With a turn of Rasa's hand, wave after wave of Gold Dust surged toward the boy, piling one atop another.

Dōmeki chuckled softly. "I told you already, it's not Magnet Release. It's Super-Electromagnetic Release!!!"