Rasa was in a very strange state. Many advanced applications of Electromagnetic Force were things you only learned in graduate school or even at a research institute. He had no background knowledge in that area.
Yet Electromagnetic Force seemed as if it naturally belonged to him. He didn't understand the principles, but he could use it. As long as he had an idea and his ability could support it, he could make it work after a few tries.
Ōnoki wouldn't understand the principles behind Dust Release: Detachment of the Primitive World Technique, yet he could use it to break down almost any object. That was more or less how it felt.
To master his newly acquired cheat as quickly as possible, Rasa kept to himself over the next few days, focused solely on developing stronger abilities to prepare for the coming war.
After several attempts, Rasa had figured out how to use his ability and what his current limits were.
He was stronger than Magneto in his early days, when he could only move coins. Rasa could manipulate nearly every kind of metal—the elements most easily controlled by magnetic fields and magnetism.
This also meant that Rasa's Magnet Release no longer had any weaknesses. It worked with every type of metal.
The Third Kazekage's Magnet Release had the strongest control over iron. Rasa's original Magnet Release, on the other hand, specialized in gold—specifically, Gold Dust.
Gaara also possessed the Kekkei Genkai known as Magnet Release, which allowed him to control sand even after the One-Tail had been extracted from him.
It was difficult to define the limits of his control. Put simply, it was around seventy kilograms and a hundred and fifty meters; within that range, precision wasn't affected much.
The energy consumed by his ability could come from either mental energy or chakra. After all, chakra was a combination of mental energy and physical strength.
There was something of Einstein's unified field theory about it.
Directly manipulating metallic elements and reshaping them into all kinds of weapons was still beyond him. Rasa estimated that he'd need to raise [Electromagnetic Force Precision] to at least Lv3 before he could manage that.
So for now, the best way to boost his combat strength was to manipulate shuriken, kunai, long swords, and other weapons directly, accelerating them with Electromagnetic Force. Nothing could withstand their force, and nothing could beat their speed.
As long as he didn't run into someone like Madara Uchiha, who could summon a giant mecha, or the Third Raikage, whose defense was off the charts, Rasa was confident he could take an enemy general's head with a single strike!
Now I'm Rasa the womanizer, the Little Luo who'll take the top spot!
To perfect his ability, Rasa also borrowed all kinds of iron objects from the village to test which shapes he could control best.
At the same time, he called over his brother-in-law Yashamaru to serve as a standard Chunin unit and test subject.
Pointing to a target a hundred meters away, Rasa took out a standard-issue Sunagakure shuriken and handed it to his brother-in-law. "Throw it with all your strength.
"Aim for that target. Let me see what you can do."
"Brother-in-law, that's impossible."
Yashamaru looked troubled and muttered, "An ordinary Chunin would already be considered an expert if he could hit the target every time from within twenty-five meters.
"Even a Jonin would struggle to maintain accuracy beyond thirty-five meters if their shuriken didn't contain chakra-conductive metal.
"Thirty-five meters is the limit. Even the Uchiha Clan of Konohagakure can only improve their control within that range. They can't increase the effective striking distance."
An effective range of thirty-five meters was about the same as a bow's. That was far better than throwing knives in his previous life, which were limited by their shape and weight to a maximum striking distance of only a dozen meters or so.
"Just throw it. Why all the talking?" Rasa gave Yashamaru a smack on the head and urged him on.
That simple gesture made Yashamaru feel positively thrilled. It was like how the heroes in Tang Dynasty novels loved getting kicked in the butt by Li Shimin.
His brother-in-law had always been rather distant and rarely acted so affectionately toward him. It seemed that spending time in the Kazekage Office had really affected him!
Apparently encouraged, Yashamaru gathered chakra, took aim at the target a hundred meters away, and hurled the shuriken with all his strength.
The shuriken shot through the air. Sure enough, at around thirty meters, its speed dropped noticeably and its trajectory began to wobble.
At fifty meters, it even followed a trajectory like a knuckleball in soccer, then plunged into the ground as if blasted by an anti-aircraft gun, embedding itself in the yellow sand.
"Sorry you had to see that, Brother-in-law."
Yashamaru modestly added, "The wind's light today, and it hasn't been shifting much. That was better than I usually do."
Rasa studied the results. Yashamaru was right: the effective striking distance was about thirty meters.
Within that range, not only was the trajectory stable, but the shuriken also flew at around 160 meters per second. Converted to an hourly speed, that was roughly 700 kilometers per hour. Beyond thirty meters, its speed dropped sharply.
A bullet's initial velocity was about 400 meters per second. Clearly, the force a human arm could impart to a shuriken was no match for the force gunpowder imparted to a bullet.
And with the shuriken's aerodynamic limitations, its effective striking range was also inferior to a bullet's. It seemed even ninja had their limits.
Behind him, iron objects were laid out in a row, from shuriken, kunai, and long swords to hammers, iron balls, iron blocks, and even an iron pot...
He had everything.
Glancing at the objects behind Rasa, Yashamaru seemed to realize something. He suddenly exclaimed, "Brother-in-law, have you made a breakthrough in your Magnet Release?"
"Yeah, I just broke through a few days ago."
Rasa nodded. To others, it wouldn't seem too strange that he'd gained some basic control over Electromagnetic Force.
"That's great! Just great! Your strength has improved again, Brother-in-law. You'll definitely be able to keep Pakura completely in check. I've never liked that arrogant woman!"
Yashamaru was genuinely happy for his brother-in-law. In terms of sheer destructive power, Magnet Release: Gold Dust couldn't compare to Magnet Release: Iron Sand.
Gold was a precious metal, but it was clearly less hard than iron. That was why, in the original story, Rasa could only follow the Third Kazekage's methods and overcome the weakness by gathering huge amounts of Gold Dust to win through sheer mass.
In fact, Rasa was very dissatisfied with Magnet Release: Gold Dust too. Aside from being able to film dozens of episodes of a get-rich-quick show, its damage was nowhere near worth the cost.
Rasa waved a hand. Don't get excited. I haven't even shown off yet.
Seeing that his brother-in-law was about to put on a display, Yashamaru quickly shut his mouth and stepped aside, eagerly awaiting what Rasa would do next.
Electromagnetic Force controlled the iron objects behind him as naturally as his own limbs, without the slightest delay.
The kunai trembled twice before shooting forward under the control of Electromagnetic Force. Nothing about it had changed; it was simply fast. Propelled by Electromagnetic Force, it broke the sound barrier after twenty meters.
It punched straight through the target, flew another several dozen meters, and embedded itself in a rock pillar, leaving behind a single hole.
The sudden sonic boom made Yashamaru jump. What had happened?
Had someone used an Explosive Tag?
Then the shuriken, long sword, hammer, iron ball, kitchen knife, and iron pot all shot forward with a series of booming blasts!
They flew in orderly formation, arranged from largest to smallest. Despite their different weights, they all moved at the same speed, tearing through the target at twice the speed of sound before embedding themselves in the rock pillar.
"Clang! Clang! Clang..."
One iron object after another fell, smashing the rock into flying rubble and leaving a massive crater!
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