This puppeteer is a bit... well...

Chapter 167 The Hokage Personally Joins the Battle (Please Subscribe, Please Vote for Monthly Tickets)

"Pfft pfft pfft pfft!!!!"

With a dull thud, the giant python, which was as tall as a two-story building when coiled up, crashed down.

Seeing this, Orochimaru's heart sank.

He realized he had been making some assumptions.

At first, he thought that even if these puppeteers were skilled in mechanical arts, without sufficient preparation and logistics, even if they hastily assembled war machines, they wouldn't be very powerful.

but.

Orochimaru's eyes twitched as he looked at the three giant python corpses lying outside the hospital building, with the dense crossbow bolts stuck in them—the exposed parts of which were more than a meter long, making them giant crossbow bolts that could be called javelins.

This thing is basically a crossbow used for attacking cities or hunting large animals. Its power can penetrate a wall that is two palms thick and is no less than a typical B-rank ninjutsu.

But the question is, where did this thing come from?

Orochimaru was a little confused.

To fire such huge crossbow bolts, it must be a giant ballista.

Judging from the speed and frequency of the crossbow bolts that were just fired, there were clearly more than twenty of them installed inside.

Something this big couldn't have been made by simply piecing things together on the spot.

Could it be that they came to Konoha to study and were doing their internships at the hospital while carrying storage scrolls containing the corresponding parts with them?

Orochimaru's guess was correct; the fifty Sand Village puppeteers, led by Yashamaru, did indeed carry storage scrolls for large war machines.

When Ryuji proposed sending a student delegation to Konoha in exchange for benefits to the Third Kazekage, he had already considered the possibility that Konoha would turn against him, and naturally he would take corresponding countermeasures.

Considering that this was in Konoha, and that it was impossible for him to send experts to guard them every day, he decided to take action.

Therefore, the only solution is to allow them to hold out longer during conflicts with Konoha, while waiting for our rescue.

There's not much to say about the ninja academy. Because it's near a commercial street with high foot traffic, the Konoha ninjas are hesitant to act rashly. As long as Karura, a master of wide-range ninjutsu, isn't caught off guard and instantly killed, they can stall until reinforcements arrive.

But things aren't so easy for Yashamaru.

Although the hospital also has a large flow of people, most of whom are injured or have low combat power, medical ninjas and related workers, there is a Kage-level Tsunade (the protagonist does not know that Tsunade would avoid such matters) in charge.

While Yashamaru and his group were all elite puppeteers, none of them possessed exceptional strength or expertise in large-scale destruction, making it impossible for them to deter Konoha from taking action against them by using hostages and causing damage to surrounding buildings and property, as Karura had done.

If Konoha suddenly turns against them, they will have a hard time holding out until rescue.

To avoid this situation, Ryuji devised a plan based on the characteristics of puppeteers and the layout of the hospital buildings.

That is a storage roll that everyone carries with them for parts of large war machines.

If Konoha suddenly turns against them, they should act decisively, avoid Tsunade in the diagnostic building, gather forces to take over the inpatient building, assemble war machines, and transform it into a war fortress to defend against reinforcements.

Konoha Hospital itself doesn't have much protective force, and the inpatient building is mostly filled with the elderly, weak, and disabled. Unless you're unlucky enough to run into a powerful figure visiting a hospitalized friend, nothing unexpected will happen.

Once the hospital building is captured, hundreds of patient ninjas will be held hostage, making Konoha hesitant to act. Furthermore, using the building as cover and weapons as a means of counterattack, even a Kage-level expert would find it difficult to breach the defenses in a short time.

Orochimaru thought this was just a clever move by the puppeteers. He believed that war machines assembled without sufficient preparation wouldn't be very powerful. He thought that as long as large summoning beasts were used as meat shields, they could rush in and take down the enemy.

Little did they know that these puppeteers had planned this all along.

The three giant pythons he summoned were riddled with holes by thirty dragon-hunting crossbows.

Even the most agile ninjas are forced into a state of saturation by the overwhelming firepower from devices such as kunai launchers and shuriken ejection boxes.

As for relying on defensive ninjutsu to fight their way in under fire, that's wishful thinking... Even if the Dragon Hunter Crossbow has a slow reload and isn't flexible enough in aiming, it's unlikely to be effective against agile ninjas.

However, the puppeteers also possess weapons such as explosive shuriken, poison bombs, and giant scythe boxes that can break through various defenses.

Furthermore, the entire road leading to the hospital building was covered with arrays of explosive tags.

Unless you can fly, whoever gets on board will die.

The best approach is to surround them without attacking, and wait until they run out of ammunition and supplies, at which point they will collapse on their own.

But Ryuji Ayaki had already led his men to meet them.

Unless Konoha can stop the people coming to meet them, this plan will be difficult to achieve.

As for whether they can stop them... If it were in the past, Orochimaru would never have believed that someone could lead more than forty people to wreak havoc in Konoha without any hindrance.

These forty-odd people were either equipped with advanced and war-advantageous weapons, or they were the elite of the elite, with top experts who were in no way inferior to those from Konoha.

Furthermore, the other party had anticipated this and had prepared a variety of covert methods.

In contrast, Konoha underestimated the opponent's strength, naively believing that the opponent would not retaliate, and thus was unprepared.

Not only are more than 80% of the elite experts still on the front lines, but Jiraiya was also released shortly before the plan was executed, and another Tsunade has been hiding from the beginning and her whereabouts are unknown.

Under such circumstances, Orochimaru really couldn't be sure what the final outcome would be.

"If we don't disregard the lives of the hostages and don't intend to capture them alive as bargaining chips to extort benefits from Sunagakure, and simply kill them, there are still ways, but..." Orochimaru shook his head, recalling the decision made by the Konoha leadership.

Sunagakure had clearly anticipated all of Konoha's actions and made preparations well in advance, hoping to successfully execute their plan... It's not that there's no hope of success, but it's really, really, really difficult to succeed.

Even if we succeed, we will have to pay a heavy price.

Will the benefits we get from Sunagakure be enough to offset these losses?

Thinking of this, I decided to report the situation here to the Hokage's office and let the Hokage make a decision.

"yes!"

……

"Clang!"

Danzo hastily raised his sword to block the attack.

The immense force caused his tiger's mouth to split open, and the sword in his hand flew out of his grasp.

But Ryuji uses dual swords, striking left and right in quick succession.

Just as he blocked one blade, another immediately came down.

"die!"

Long Er's eyes were wide open in anger, his beard and hair danced wildly without wind, and his body exuded murderous aura, making him look like a demon god.

This unwavering killing intent plunged Danzo's heart into despair.

With his talent for manipulating people, he could tell at a glance that Ryuji Ayaki showed no hesitation because of his identity, and he struck with his knife without any hesitation.

(Has it come to me the time to dedicate my life to the village?)

In a brief moment, Danzo's past experiences flashed through his mind like a revolving lantern.

Danzo was not a good person.

But as a ninja, the word "good person" is itself a sarcastic term, and he disdains to be one.

Throughout his life, and through all the people he had seen who sacrificed themselves for the village, whether willingly or unwillingly, he would always ask himself: If I were in their shoes, would I make the same choice?

Then, every time he thinks back to the time when he missed becoming Hokage, he regrets it.

At that time, I had clearly made up my mind, but because of my attachment to life, I couldn't speak up and ultimately lost to Hiruzen Sarutobi.

This time...

"I will not hesitate any longer."

Danzo's eyes flashed with a resolute will.

"puff!"

The short sword imbued with wind-style chakra easily severed Danzo's entire right arm, and blood gushed out like a fountain.

However, Danzo showed no fear whatsoever.

He endured the pain of his severed arm, pulled open his collar, and then grabbed Ryuji's arm to prevent him from escaping, revealing the sealing runes etched on his chest.

"At the very least, I'll drag this threat down with me!"

Danzo, bathed in blood, had a ferocious expression.

Despite having lost an arm and being driven to the brink of despair, his momentum remained undiminished, and he even subtly gained the upper hand over Long Er.

"sucker Punch!"

Long Er sneered and raised his leg to kick him away.

Suddenly, the air exploded, and a stick as thick as a large bowl tore through the air, hurtling towards the direction of the Hokage Building.

With that kind of speed and explosiveness, if you were to get hit, you'd be crippled or killed.

But Danzo grabbed one of his arms, preventing him from dodging. His other hand had just finished swinging his sword and was exhausted, with no time to defend himself. He could only watch helplessly as the several-kilometer-long staff came hurtling towards him.

(I already overestimated the Third Hokage's strength, but it still far exceeded my expectations.)

Looking at the sticks that filled his entire field of vision, Ryuji felt a sense of calm.

He had already prepared a backup body, and as soon as this body was destroyed, he would immediately transfer his soul and fight his way out of his personal space.

However, just before the stick was about to hit him, suddenly with a "bang," it transformed into an old man wearing a black tight-fitting combat suit, a ninja hat, and a small mustache in a thick cloud of white smoke.

The old man was incredibly agile; he spread his legs in mid-air and kicked Ryuji and Danzo in the chest respectively.

The powerful force separated the two.

The kick to Long Er's chest even sent him sliding more than ten meters before he crashed into an abandoned wall and came to a stop.

The old man did not pursue Ryuji. Instead, he grabbed Danzo's only remaining left arm with one hand, and chakra burned on the five fingers of his right hand, on which the five Chinese characters "metal, wood, water, fire, earth" faintly appeared.

"Five Elements Seal!"

"Bang!"

The old man pressed his right hand hard against the sealing pattern on Danzo's chest.

Instantly, Danzo coughed up blood and was sent flying.

However, the already activated Secret Seal Technique also stopped.

The Reverse Universal Seal... This was originally a technique that could not be stopped once activated, but the Five Elements Seal is a seal that disrupts the flow of chakra.

Even if the Reverse Universal Seal is incredibly powerful, as long as it still relies on the flow of chakra, being hit by the Five Elements Seal will disrupt the flow of chakra, causing the technique to fail to activate.

Danzo spitting out blood wasn't caused by being attacked by an old man, but rather by the backlash from a failed spell.

It's like when Naruto was sealed by Orochimaru's Five Elements Seal, but he still forcibly extracted chakra and ended up flying away himself.

(End of this chapter)