Konoha, reported by the Fourth Hokage at the start.

Chapter 242 The Secret of the Third Kazekage's Survival

"Wow...that was a really fast slash!"

The Third Kazekage, who was being carried by Li Yao's Wind Release clone, was instantly slashed by countless attacks and became a bloody mess before he could even react. His heart clenched, and his heartbeat stopped.

Even the mighty Third Kazekage was no match for Feng Xing in a single move.

Although there are three Kazekage who do not understand the information related to the wind.

But who can withstand a slash that's so fast that even the nerves can't keep up?

In that instant, Scorpion gained a clearer understanding of Feng Xing, whose reputation in the village had firmly overshadowed his own.

"That kind of slashing attack..."

"So beautiful!"

For a fleeting moment, Scorpion was even captivated by this art of attack that could sever everything in an instant.

Fortunately, his pursuit of eternal art brought him to his senses.

The art of a fleeting moment is certainly beautiful and moving.

But only eternity is the true essence of art.

"Hmm... still alive?"

Sasori, having reaffirmed his unwavering commitment to art, comes to his senses to find that the Third Kazekage is still alive, and that Kazekage did not kill him.

Why?

The scorpion thought to itself.

"Wait for me here."

Li Yao's Wind Release clone landed, tossed Sasori aside, said something to him, and then with a thought, his Wind Release slash Chak transformed into a condensed wind bandage that bound the dying Third Kazekage. He then used his Wind Armor ability to carry the Third Kazekage to an altitude of ten thousand meters.

Wind Armor is an evolved version of Flowing Wind Armor.

The original Flowing Wind Armor did not have the ability to fly.

After breaking through the Wind Release chakra to Wind Release Slash Chakra, the Flowing Wind Armor used in this way became a true Wind Armor, also known as Wind Armor.

The fine wind-style chakra of the Wind Armor made Li Yao's Wind Release clones resemble a gust of wind, able to flow freely in the air or transform into extremely condensed wind bandages to entangle enemies.

It must be said that Fengxing is really clever in the development and application of Wind Release.

Li Yao's Wind Release clones reaped the benefits of the Wind Release, demonstrating a unique approach to the use of Wind Release chakra.

"Third Kazekage, it's been a long time."

At an altitude of 10,000 meters, Li Yaofeng used his mind to transform into Kimura Yao using the Perfect Transformation Technique, and the words he spoke became Kimura Yao's voice.

The Third Kazekage was unfamiliar with this voice, but it left a deep impression on him.

After all, he was the first man to get the Five Kage to join forces against an enemy.

The Third Kazekage couldn't possibly have been unforgettable. Hearing that voice, which had left such a deep impression on him, and hearing the chilling words, "Long time no see," was unsettling.

Even though he was on the verge of death, the Third Kazekage still struggled to open his blood-covered eyes and try to look at the man in front of him.

"It's you!!!"

"You're not dead?"

"impossible?"

"How could you not be dead?"

The Third Kazekage stared at the unharmed man before him, his wide eyes filled with shock. He had personally experienced the power of Dust Release back then.

Faced with such a powerful attack, Li Yao could not possibly survive.

Could it be...? The Third Kazekage suddenly thought of a possibility.

"I'm also curious, shouldn't you have died back then?"

Li Yao, like his Wind Release clone, was very curious about how the Third Kazekage survived the Dust Release attack back then.

He had always believed that the Third Kazekage had died from Onoki's Dust Release.

As a result, after he created a Wind Release clone of the Sand Village genius ninja Kazekage and obtained his memories, he learned that the Third Kazekage had not actually died.

Moreover, the Third Kazekage did not reappear in the eyes of the ninja world until the end of the Second Shinobi World War.

However, it was precisely because of this that Li Yao was able to personally kill his enemy.

Now that the Third Kazekage is at his mercy, Li Yao is in a relatively good mood and doesn't immediately kill him. He is very interested in how the Third Kazekage survived back then.

However, it is clear that the Third Kazekage has no intention of telling him the reason why he survived.

Seeing the Third Kazekage remain silent and resigned to his fate, Li Yao's Wind Release clone was not annoyed. He raised his hand, grabbed the Third Kazekage's head, activated the Rinnegan's eye power chakra, and directly read the memories in the Third Kazekage's soul.

A moment later, a look of astonishment appeared on Li Yao's face.

"I never expected this!"

Perhaps no one expected that the Third Kazekage, known as the nemesis of puppeteers, was actually the first genius puppeteer to propose the concept of human puppets and to have already created the first human puppet.

His family was also the first in the ninja world to develop the secret techniques of puppeteers.

Perhaps it is because of their understanding of the puppeteer's power and the puppeteer's prevalence.

Only the Third Kazekage's family could simultaneously develop puppetry techniques and ninjutsu to counter puppeteers.

Magnet Release was born under these circumstances, and it is also a unique bloodline limit that the three Kazekage families have been researching and passing down.

For many years, the family of the Third Kazekage has maintained its dominant position as one of the three major families of Sunagakure, thanks to its powerful puppetry skills and the Magnet Release's ability to counter puppetry. Even the First Kazekage was from the Third Kazekage's family.

It has to be said that the Third Kazekage's family is very skilled.

The third Kazekage also inherited the family's fine traditions.

On the surface, the Third Kazekage, who inherited Magnet Release: Iron Sand Manipulation, is the nemesis of puppeteers, but in reality, he is a genius puppeteer no less skilled than Sasori of the Red Sand.

In his memory, the Third Kazekage witnessed the Second Hokage Tobirama's Impure World Reincarnation during World War I, and this inspired him to create human puppets that also possessed the abilities he had in life.

In the following years, he successfully developed the Puppet Seal, the core seal of the human puppet, by combining sealing techniques.

Using the puppet seal, he secretly revived a severely wounded ninja from his clan.

But this person is actually dead; his soul is gone, he has no consciousness, he is a living dead.

As a result of this incident, the Third Kazekage's research on human puppets was banned, and all puppeteers were prohibited from researching human puppet technology.

Since the research on human puppets has reached the point of puppet seals, it has basically come to an end. To continue, a large number of ninjas will be needed to conduct human experiments.

This is clearly not allowed.

The village's higher-ups feared that once those puppeteers had a thought, they wouldn't be able to stop themselves and would turn against their fellow villagers.

Although research on human puppets is prohibited, there are still many people conducting research in secret, including top puppeteers like Chiyo.

However, only the Third Kazekage, the founder, ultimately achieved results.

As I recall, human experimentation was banned in the village.

The Third Kazekage brought the first vegetative-state undead puppet back to his underground research chamber to continue studying the puppet's magic seal.

After several years of research, the Third Kazekage drew inspiration from the Second Mizukage's Muku's Split Technique.

Since the Puppet Seal cannot preserve the soul of another, can one use their own soul instead?

Finally, the Third Kazekage improved the Puppet Seals. He continuously channeled his chakra into the puppet's body through the Puppet Seals, and then, under the operation of the Puppet Seals engraved on the puppet, it was decomposed into spiritual energy and physical energy, constantly nourishing the puppet.

Finally, after ten years of nurturing, the human puppet gave birth to a wisp of soul.

Perhaps because the human puppet had been nourished by the spiritual energy from the decomposed chakra of the Third Kazekage, the Third Kazekage discovered that the wisp of soul born from the human puppet was like a fragment of his own soul.

Thus, the first human puppet with true combat capabilities was born.

In the years that followed, the Third Kazekage secretly channeled chakra into the puppet, eventually turning it into a puppet clone that looked exactly like him.

He possesses the same body and soul as him and can use all the ninjutsu he knows.

Even in terms of strength, he was almost on par with the Third Kazekage himself.

In my memory, the Third Kazekage originally intended for the human puppet clones to be used only at crucial moments in the war.

But the five Kage joining forces is unprecedented.

Even with pressure from the five great daimyo, it's enough to show how terrifying Li Yao's strength is, capable of getting the five Kage to join forces.

In addition, all five Kage wished for the other's death.

Therefore, the Third Kazekage had a backup plan. In the battle where the five Kage joined forces to kill Li Yao, the one killed by Onoki's Dust Release was his puppet clone, while his real body was hiding in Sunagakure and secretly controlling the war.

Back then, Sunagakure was able to quickly leverage hatred after the death of the Third Kazekage to lower the guard of other villages, while simultaneously consolidating their forces and joining forces with Konoha to launch an attack on Iwagakure, thus gaining significant benefits.

The Third Kazekage is secretly manipulating things all of this.

Otherwise, given the nature of the Sand Village's higher-ups, if the Third Kazekage were to die, their first thought would be to secure the Kazekage position for one of their own before even considering dealing with external enemies.

(End of this chapter)