Samaru’s Final Intelligence

The activation of Heavy Weather came through the destruction of the ozone layer and the resulting light refraction that directly impacted the subconscious of anyone who saw the rainbows.

So, Ishiki Kujo reasoned: If I can slow down the ozone damage—or better yet, repair it—maybe I can reduce or at least delay the reach of Heavy Weather's effect.

Then came the real question: How do I produce ozone?

In truth, nature had its own ways of generating it. Thunderstorms. Lightning. Each bolt discharged hundreds of thousands of volts. When high voltage ionized oxygen molecules, ozone formed automatically.

Ishiki had done exactly that during his fight with Obito, summoning lightning to blast the skies. He just hadn't checked whether that stopped the spread of the rainbows.

But it was, by far, the easiest method he had to try. The only issue was… How much ozone would it take to counteract the damage done by Weather Report?

Overproducing ozone could backfire. It would kill plant life. Humans would develop nausea, coughing fits, respiratory issues.

But if the alternative was a world full of snails… well, people could survive a little air discomfort.

Ishiki immediately dispatched a shadow clone to run beyond the range of the rainbows. Meanwhile, he focused his Stand, Weather Report, on conjuring a storm above his own head.

The thunder rumbled almost instantly—thick clouds roaring with lightning—and something odd happened.

His right eye, the Saint's Eye, pulsed.

It began absorbing chakra.

And then… it projected a visual field into Ishiki's mind—exactly what the shadow clone was seeing.

Ten kilometers out, the clone finally exited the zone of rainbow influence, but even from that distance, Ishiki could tell the effect was still expanding, spreading like an oil slick of subconscious transformation.

Then thunder cracked.

Lightning flashed.

The clone's vision wavered… and the rainbows began to fade.

Ishiki exhaled.

It was working.

But still—he couldn't go around living with a perpetual thunderstorm overhead. What was he supposed to do? Hide in a mountain? Haunt valleys?

He began thinking of alternatives.

He faintly remembered two other methods for producing ozone:

Ultraviolet radiation: Dry oxygen exposed to UV light could split molecules and form ozone.

Electrolysis: Running low-voltage DC current through water could create ozone at the anode via oxidation.

The first method was viable in small amounts.

The second would require him to create a functioning DC generator.

"...I really need to read more books," Ishiki muttered under his breath.

His shadow clone sprinted off toward Inuzuka Zawa's group, while Ishiki himself stayed near the Kusa-Tsuchi border. He'd stay hidden, using shadow clones for field operations, and wait.

Returning to camp was a no-go. Heavy Weather's effect leaking into the tents would just turn the entire force into a snail colony.

He turned his attention back to his Saint's Eye. The field of vision showed everything the clone saw. Just like Gyro's Steel Ball Eyes in the manga.

Before, shadow clones could only transfer their memories at death. Now? Ishiki had turned them into remote drones.

A new use.

More potential.

He just needed a cover story for his new eye—one more reason to say he hadn't stolen a Sharingan.

Ishiki then circled back to an earlier thought:

Can Genjutsu cancel out Heavy Weather's subconscious effect?

He needed a test subject.

Maybe someone with a strong mind… or even Kurotsuchi, the girl who had slipped through his grasp during the chaos.

He hadn't sensed her for a while, even with Ripple detection. She was likely beyond his range by now.

Lucky girl.

As for Deidara, Ishiki felt confident Zawa's team would bring the explosive maniac back to the Konoha camp.

He looked forward to seeing Ōnoki's reaction when news of his grandson's capture reached Iwagakure.

And there was something else.

In his current location—surrounded by dozens of snailified Iwa-nin—he knew the incident had already made its way back to the enemy.

It wouldn't be long before someone else came looking for him.

He smiled.

Let them come.

Meanwhile, far from the battlefield, Kurotsuchi was still running underground—several kilometers away now.

She hadn't dared to look back.

Not once.

Because she remembered what Samaru had told her just before he turned to fight:

"Go. Don't look back. Only when you reach the village will you be safe.

He has chakra far beyond anything I've seen.

And something inside his mind—something circular, like a disc.

Even if we all attacked him together, ambush and all, I don't think we could win."

Kurotsuchi never got to hear what Samaru was going to say next.

Because he never finished the sentence.

But she'd seen his expression—a strange mixture of fear and awe, like a man witnessing a god and hoping, foolishly, to match it.

She remembered it clearly.

And so she ran.

And ran.

And ran.

She would get word to Lord Kurotsuchi. She would carry Samaru's last message back to the village.

Even if she didn't fully understand the stakes, she understood one thing:

That Konoha shinobi with the terrifying eyes and impossible power—Ishiki Kujo—was not someone they could handle.

She would deliver Samaru's intelligence intact.

No matter what.