The fastest way to eliminate magnetism was actually very simple —
heat the metal.
Once the temperature of the magnetized metal surpassed the Curie point,
its magnetism would vanish almost instantly.
That was something Ishiki Kujo had learned back in high school.
He thanked the gods he hadn't "returned all his knowledge to his teacher" after graduation.
Against Troy, the best way was obvious:
Fire Release Ninjutsu —
and it just so happened that one of Ishiki's strongest affinities was Fire Release!
The initial Phoenix Fire Jutsu had merely been a probe —
testing the Curie point of Troy's massive shuriken.
Then, the Fire Dragon Wire Jutsu had gauged the specific temperature needed for demagnetization.
Finally, the flaming iron wires ensured complete degaussing.
The way Troy's shuriken plummeted from midair was proof that the magnetic forces had been utterly stripped.
And perhaps due to chakra being involved,
the demagnetization process was even faster.
But this worked entirely in Ishiki's favor.
Now that Ishiki had fully calculated the needed temperature,
unless Troy had new tricks,
or wielded weapons with different Curie points to exploit gaps in Ishiki's reaction —
the battle was already decided.
And Ishiki had spotted an even faster way to finish this.
His Sharingan spun.
As soon as Troy's eyes met his through the faintly-tinted glasses,
Ishiki unleashed it:
Genjutsu: Sharingan!
No mere sunglasses could block a true Sharingan.
Troy froze in place.
In the next instant, Ishiki flickered above him —
his palm gathering a swirling, roaring mass of chakra.
In the blink of an eye,
a massive spiraling sphere formed —
Rasengan!
Ishiki had been refining this A-rank jutsu lately,
and now it exploded from his hand with devastating force!
BOOM!
Troy didn't even have a chance to react —
the Rasengan slammed him into the earth, cratering the ground.
His eyes rolled back.
He had underestimated Ishiki.
He should have suspected Uchiha blood the moment he realized his opponent might have a Sharingan.
The sunglasses were nothing but a trap.
Damn those treacherous, conniving Uchiha!
He thought bitterly,
as darkness swallowed him.
Landing smoothly, Ishiki immediately wove hand seals, creating a Shadow Clone.
Then, without missing a beat,
he bit his thumb, summoning his Stand companion, President — the green-shelled ninja turtle.
The ruby-encrusted key was extracted from the scroll at his hip —
the clone quickly wrapped Troy up like a dumpling,
dragging him to touch the ruby embedded in President's shell.
Whoosh!
Both the Shadow Clone and Troy disappeared into the pocket dimension,
while President vanished with a puff a moment later.
Troy was still valuable.
Ishiki planned to interrogate him —
to dig out intel on Kumogakure.
And, if possible, maybe even harvest something useful from Troy's abilities.
Of course, regardless of the outcome,
Troy could not be allowed to live.
He had seen too much.
Knew too much.
Ishiki turned and surveyed the battleground.
He swiftly formed seals,
gathered fire chakra,
and unleashed a Great Fireball Jutsu,
incinerating all traces of his clash with Troy.
Satisfied, he dusted his hands off,
then sprinted toward the frontlines.
The battle had already shifted elsewhere.
Kawahara Shunji hadn't anticipated that Kumogakure would send a Jinchūriki after them.
Though his traps and ambushes had taken down a good number of Kumo-nin,
once he realized the Two-Tails Jinchūriki — Yugito Nii —
wasn't harmed by the first round of ambushes,
he made the call:
focus purely on escape.
That meant letting Yugito catch up.
And now, at the shores of a misty lake,
Kawahara Shunji threw the precious scroll to their Hyūga teammate:
"Heiichi! Get the scroll out of here!"
Of everyone,
Hyūga Heiichi had the best chance of escape —
with his Byakugan and their earlier preparations.
Though reluctant, Heiichi caught the scroll firmly.
He activated his Byakugan,
glaring back once at the fiery destruction approaching.
"Good luck. She's almost here."
Without hesitation, Heiichi turned and bolted across the lake, chakra reinforcing his steps.
Kawahara and the others stayed behind.
They swiftly laid a series of prepared traps.
Kawahara pressed his palms into the ground,
weaving seals —
Earth Release erupting from beneath the trees.
Only seconds later,
a shadow tore through the forest:
Yugito Nii —
already partially transformed into her Two-Tails form.
Wrapped in a cloak of blue-black chakra,
her human figure was barely recognizable —
only a single tail swinging behind her.
Even incomplete,
the pressure from her chakra nearly crushed the air out of their lungs.
But they struck first!
Massive stone pillars exploded upward,
attempting to imprison Yugito.
At the same time, from behind the misty lake,
Yamashiro Aoba unleashed his jutsu —
a colossal Water Dragon Jutsu crashing toward her.
The momentary obscuring mist gave them a sliver of hope.
But Yugito merely roared.
Blue flames erupted around her,
blasting out like missiles, colliding with the oncoming water dragon.
Steam billowed, masking the battlefield.
From within the whiteout,
Yugito's mouth gathered a sinister mix of black and blue chakra:
Tailed Beast Bomb!
A shriek of compressed destruction.
Two explosions shook the heavens —
one as the water-dragon-infused stone trap collapsed,
the other as the Tailed Beast Bomb tore through the mist and detonated.
When the smoke cleared,
Yugito stood unharmed.
The massive stone trap had shattered like glass before her.
At that instant, a murder of black crows swirled around her —
an ambush from the shadows!
Hidden among the burning crows,
a black dagger flashed toward Yugito's throat!
It was Reitō, an elite assassin from Konoha's special forces.
Yet—
Before Reitō's blade could connect,
a massive tail smashed into him,
twisting his arm grotesquely and sending him flying like a rag doll into the forest.
As he crashed through the trees,
Reitō heard Yugito's cold murmur:
"Still one short."
Yugito barely spared Reitō a glance.
She stepped onto the lake's surface,
racing forward like an unstoppable flame.
Above, the crows circled helplessly.
No one could stop her now.