I, who just wanted to be lazy, was forced to become the Hokage.

Chapter 440 Unfair Deal?

The two puppet armies are currently fighting each other in the city of Loulan.

The puppet unit on the left had a clear advantage in numbers. Each puppet was covered by a huge dark red cloak, making it impossible to see their detailed physical structure.

Light blue chakra threads were attached to the backs of the group of dark red cloaked puppets. The dense chakra threads were distributed in mid-air and converged towards the "terminal"—a red-haired boy who looked very young.

The puppet army on the right, though significantly smaller in number than those on the left, had an average strength that surpassed that of the dark red-cloaked puppets.

The puppet army on the right consists entirely of soldiers made of dark brown, sturdy metal, maintaining a humanoid structure overall, with only the ends of their limbs undergoing some weaponization adjustments.

What's particularly amazing is that this metal puppet army has no chakra threads on its backs; instead, it emits a faint, shimmering purple light.

This purple light is probably the energy source for this metal puppet army.

With each flash of this purple light, the metal puppets would perform certain actions in mid-air, such as attacking, dodging, or defending, displaying remarkable intelligence.

In addition, on the left side of the chests of these metal puppets, their respective serial numbers were marked with capital letters, clearly indicating that this was a large-scale, organized puppet army.

The Konoha group consisted of elite ninjas who quickly assessed the situation and gathered intelligence on their own.

"Fourth Hokage, according to the intelligence from Sunagakure, the ninja controlling the cloaked puppet army should be Sasori of the Red Sand!"

Minato Namikaze's voice rang in Nara Rinka's ears.

"This cloaked puppet unit has nearly a hundred members, almost comparable to a ninja squad! Even the elite puppet unit of Sunagakure doesn't have that many puppets in total."

Nara Rinka watched the battle below and nodded slightly.

Although he did not go to the Land of Wind battlefield to fight against the Sand Village ninjas during the Third Shinobi World War.

However, at Kikyo Castle, Nara Rinka almost wiped out an entire Sunagakure puppet army!

He was well aware of the overall skill level of the puppeteers from Sunagakure.

At this moment, the total number of the dark red cloaked puppet army controlled by Sasori of the Red Sand below was close to that of all the puppets controlled by all the ninjas of the elite puppet army of Sunagakure!

A more special place.

The key is that Sasori of the Red Sand controlled this puppet army of nearly a hundred people all by himself!

Most puppeteers can only control one puppet in battle.

An elite puppeteer may be able to control one or two puppets at the same time.

Granny Chiyo of Sunagakure possesses the core ability of the "White Secret Technique: Chikamatsu Ten Puppet Masters," which allows her to control ten puppets simultaneously, each with its own unique function.

But Sasori of the Red Sand was controlling a full hundred puppets at this moment!

Even though the individual combat power of these puppets is clearly inferior to that of the metal puppets in the other puppet unit.

This ability to "do multiple things at once" is truly astonishing.

Nara Rinka knew that Sasori of the Red Sand was using a puppet technique called "Red Secret Technique: Hundred Puppet Manipulation," which could control hundreds of puppets at once.

In the art of puppet manipulation, no one is stronger than Sasori of the Red Sand!

"Fourth Hokage, what should we do now?"

Uchiha Shisui looked down at the battlefield, and crimson three-tomoe jade appeared quietly in his pupils.

"Should we support that metal puppet unit in their pursuit of Sasori of the Red Sand?"

"No."

Nara Rinka gave a refusal without hesitation.

"Let these two puppet troops fight for a while, let them wear each other down."

"The letters of appeal sent by Loulan and Sunagakure specifically mentioned that Sasori of the Red Sand had breached Loulan's defenses."

"The nearly one hundred puppet troops he is currently controlling do indeed possess the combat power to destroy a small country."

"However, for the other metal puppet unit, Sasori's red puppet unit could not achieve an absolute crushing victory."

"Don't you all find this strange?"

"The defenses of the Loulan Kingdom are far stronger than we anticipated!"

Konoha and Loulan are separated by a great distance, and neither side can ignore the distance to communicate immediately or exchange goods.

Before Nara Rinka arrived in Loulan, he thought that Sasori of the Red Sand had completely conquered Loulan and was about to destroy the small country.

Unexpectedly, the extent of damage to Loulan was far less than anticipated.

Moreover, the defensive strength demonstrated by this small country far exceeded expectations.

"That purple light within that metal puppet army was probably the dragon vein chakra refined and transformed by An Lushan, or rather, by Baizu?"

"This puppet army is really impressive! Unmanned, powered by clean energy, tireless, fearless of death… they can even hold their own against Sasori's [Crimson Secret Technique: Hundred Puppet Manipulation]!"

"The centipede's strength is slightly stronger than I expected..."

Just as Nara was pondering this.

The intensity of the battle between the two puppet forces below gradually decreased.

"Lord Fourth Generation, something's wrong down below."

Minato Namikaze immediately reminded him.

"Sasori of the Red Sand has stopped attacking, and the other unmanned puppet unit has also ceased its assault."

"Nara, have the people below already discovered our presence?"

Tsunade frowned slightly and suggested a possibility.

"I thought you were planning to start fighting as soon as you arrived in Loulan, but I didn't expect you to be watching the show here for so long."

"Such a large 'black bird,' anyone below who isn't blind can see it."

Uchiha Shisui remained silent, only tensing his body and preparing for battle.

"I think the chances of them discovering us are not high."

Nara Rinka did not tell the three that as they approached the Loulan Kingdom, he had secretly used the Shadow Concealment Technique to cover the Shadow Creature with an extremely powerful "protective shield" of concealment.

Neither the eyes nor chakra perception can detect the Shadow Concealment Technique.

Nara Rangsei has full confidence in this.

but……

The two puppet troops below are indeed very strange.

They were fighting for a while, and then suddenly stopped.

"Everyone, please keep your presence under control. Let's get a little closer."

Nara Rinka gave a reminder and manipulated the [Shadow Creature] to approach the battlefield where the puppet troops were fighting.

And just then...

Suddenly, another squad of metal puppets flew out from the high-rise buildings of Loulan Kingdom.

The lead puppet was clearly superior to the other metal puppets in both size and "equipment".

Under the watchful eyes of the Konoha group, the entity that appeared to be the puppet leader took out a special scroll from the puppet's body and tossed it remotely to a cloaked puppet controlled by Sasori of the Red Sand.

After obtaining the scroll, Sasori of the Red Sand did not hesitate at all. He immediately put away the nearly one hundred cloaked puppets and took out a special puppet with a hunched body from the sealed scroll.

The Crimson Sand Scorpion burrowed into the strange, short puppet and turned to walk towards the border of Loulan.

After Sasori of the Red Sand turned and left, the metal puppet army also retreated.

"Is it an improper transaction?"

Nara Rinka watched Sasori's retreating figure, his eyes narrowing slightly, and gave a gesture to Minato Namikaze and Shisui Uchiha.

The two exchanged a glance, silently took out a mask from their ninja tool bag and put it on, then almost simultaneously teleported away from the shadow creature's back.

Two blurry black figures moved silently among the skyscrapers of Loulan Kingdom, tracking the retreating metal puppet army, especially the peculiar puppet leader.

Meanwhile, Nara Rinka, along with Tsunade, pursued Sasori of the Red Sand.

(End of this chapter)