I founded the "Bragging Cult" in Naruto.

Chapter 98 states that while merits and demerits cancel each other out, demerits are objectively real, but merits are often subjectively constructed.

"Ding~ [Strength +385], [Speed ​​+430], [Constitution +425], [Spirit +395], Pick up?"

Hearing the announcement in his mind, Chenma himself found it hard to believe. This was the most talent he could pick up in a single instance, so he immediately chose to pick it up.

However, Tatsuma also knew that the price paid for such a gain was far too high. Both sides had lost a total of sixty or seventy lives to achieve this gain.

After acquiring the talent, Tatsuma looked at Sha Xing. Tatsuma did not rush forward rashly. As a Jonin who was skilled in puppetry, it would be strange if Sha Xing could get close to him easily.

Despite Sha Xing's somewhat dazed appearance, Chen Ma would bet that if he had pounced on Sha Xing directly, Sha Xing would have used the countermeasures he had prepared long ago.

As a descendant of the second Kazekage, Shamon, Shashin has produced a total of three puppets so far. One was destroyed by Tatsuma, and another was a spider puppet, which was also damaged by Tatsuma using an explosive tag.

There was also a humanoid puppet, which was dismantled by Inuzuka Makoto last time, but it was the same humanoid puppet that was used when Sand Star attacked Tatsuma's team just now.

Since the humanoid puppet has been repaired, Chenma would assume that the spider puppet has also been repaired. Moreover, the fact that Shamon has only used three puppets does not mean that he only has three puppets.

Moreover, Shamon is not only skilled in puppetry, but also in the secret art of sand manipulation. The sand manipulation ninjutsu has not been lost, after all, there will be a Masaru ninja in Sunagakure in the future.

The three unique skills of Sunagakure are puppetry, sand control, and wind release. Shamon pioneered the first two, while his descendant, Shashin, only used puppetry. However, this does not mean that he only knew puppetry.

Before Tatsuma became a ninja, Jiraiya warned him that ninjas need to keep their trump cards up their sleeves, and Tatsuma didn't believe that the Sand Village wouldn't understand this principle.

When Sha Xing saw that Chen Ma did not attack first, he felt a little disappointed. He had indeed prepared for Chen Ma to attack him, but Chen Ma was not impulsive.

Tatsuma's Nine-Tails chakra was almost depleted, which severely reduced his strength and stamina. However, the negative emotional impact of the tailed beast chakra was also decreasing.

He noticed this, and so did Sha Xing, which is why Sha Xing didn't leave at this time.

If Chenma remains in the same state as before, Shaxing might weigh things up and most likely choose to leave—that's the nice way of putting it; to put it bluntly, it's running away.

Although Sandstar still had to pay a heavy price after escaping, as the squad leader, he had caused the deaths of all his men and had not yet been able to completely eliminate the enemy.

Even after the Second Kazekage, and as the disciple of the Third Kazekage, Sha Xing had to pay a considerable price to quell the resentment in the village upon his return, but he was willing to endure it in order to survive.

But things are different now. Chenma's condition has clearly declined, and he is no longer as strangely powerful as before.

This gave Sha Xing an idea: he could kill Tatsuma! Although killing Tatsuma wouldn't bring his subordinates back to life, it would greatly reduce the punishment he would have to receive.

However, he could easily exaggerate Tatsuma's threat, portraying him as a prodigy whose talent was no less than that of the Third Hokage—no, no less than that of the Second Hokage or even the Two Heroes of the Warring States period.

As long as Tatsuma poses a significant enough threat, it would be worthwhile for Sasori to pay any price to kill him.

Moreover, this brat is Tsunade's disciple and is using the weapon that the White Fang of Konoha once used. He must be an extremely promising genius in Konoha. If handled properly, he could not only avoid punishment but also gain merit.

Having figured all this out, Sha Xing looked at Chen Ma with a newfound determination in his eyes. As long as he killed the brat in front of him, the credit and demerit would be up to him to decide.

Tatsuma also noticed the sudden murderous aura emanating from Shaxing. He glanced at the chakra dagger on the ground not far away but did not choose to pick it up.

Because he was not really skilled in swordsmanship, the chakra short sword in Hatake Sakumo's hands could allow Hatake Sakumo to better utilize his strength, but in Tatsuma's hands, it would only hinder the man and the sword.

Moreover, his chakra is still quite sufficient. After all, the multiple layers of Lone Soul buff and the Nine-Tails' power bank have kept his physical condition at its maximum, but he is mentally exhausted.

Blinking his eyes, feeling the fatigue emanating from the depths of his mind, Chenma gently shook his head and forced himself to look at Shaxing.

No longer waiting, Sha Xing raised his hands, chakra threads gathering at his fingertips. With a wave of his hands, he pulled out two puppets that were waiting in the forest.

It was a humanoid puppet and a spider puppet. Now there were only two people left, one against one. Chenma carefully examined the two puppets and found that they both had repair marks, which made Chenma breathe a sigh of relief.

He feared that Sand Star might have two other identical puppets. The fact that they showed signs of repair strongly suggested that the puppets were not common items for Sand Star.

Both puppets had small nameplates on them; the spider puppet's nameplate read "Shinbura," while the humanoid puppet's nameplate read "Nodera-bo."

While Tatsuma was still observing, Nodera suddenly moved. Under the control of the chakra threads, it pounced on Tatsuma at an extremely fast speed, reaching out to hug him with both hands.

Its mouth was wide open, revealing jagged canine teeth, the sharp teeth coated with a black substance. Upon seeing Nodera's mouthful of black teeth, Tatsuma's expression turned somewhat unpleasant.

Inuzuka was accidentally bitten by Nodera Bo, which led to poisoning and death by Sasori.

However, this was not the time to reminisce about the past. Tatsuma dodged Nodera's embrace, raised his leg and kicked Nodera in the ankle.

"Clang~"

But then a metallic clang rang out, and Chenma gasped as he instantly vanished. When he reappeared some distance away, he couldn't help but start flexing his ankles.

The remaining Nine-Tails chakra quickly relieved Tatsuma's pain at this moment. Just as Tatsuma recovered, Nodera Bo pounced on him again.

This time, Chenma did not fight back, but instead began to dodge, dodging around the big trees and boulders. However, after dodging a few times, he gave up on this approach.

Unlike steel wire, chakra threads are not affected by terrain in terms of flexibility.

Upon landing again, Tatsuma suddenly turned around while forming hand seals, and spat a ball of intensely burning oil at Noderabo. The oil hit Noderabo, and flames quickly engulfed his body.

"Fire Release: Flame Bullet!"

"Hmph! It's useless!"

Sha Xing, who controlled the chakra threads, smiled disdainfully. With a flick of his fingers, Nojibo broke through the flames. Apart from the clothes covering his body being burned to ashes, only streaks of black marks remained on his body.

Seeing this, Tatsuma immediately teleported away again, with Nodera in hot pursuit. After a few leaps, Tatsuma landed on a tree and looked back at the onrushing Nodera, his hands already forming a hand seal.

"Wind Release: Wind Slicing Technique!"

With a wave of his hands, invisible wind blades appeared and struck Noderabo. Sha Xing still had a disdainful expression. He raised his hand to control it again, but found that Noderabo did not move.

In that brief moment of delay, Chenma rushed toward the main body of the sand star.

(End of this chapter)