Saving the Uchiha clan starts with becoming the clan leader.

[Chapter 228. The Puppet Master's Battle]

The poisoned blade gleamed with a purple light.

The four-armed, two-headed puppet has a ferocious appearance!

Having never dealt with a puppeteer before, Itachi Uchiha cautiously chose to temporarily avoid the attack given the unfamiliar style of combat. Kakashi had specifically warned him to be careful of the puppeteer's deadly poison, so he naturally wouldn't easily approach the puppet whose body was mostly covered by a dark red robe.

Heaven knows what mechanisms were hidden inside the puppet's body beneath that robe.

In fact,

The mechanism may not be hidden in an unseen place.

Just as Itachi Uchiha was preparing to form hand seals to dodge the puppet's pounce, the puppet suddenly opened its mouth, and a spray of senbon needles, also shimmering with purple light, shot out from its dark mouth, like a sudden downpour from a clear sky, catching everyone off guard.

"Ta-da!!!"

The shodachi almost left a trail of afterimages as it flew through the air.

All the poisoned senbon needles were cut down by Itachi Uchiha in that instant. His three-tomoe Sharingan gave him dynamic vision that was unimaginable to outsiders, allowing him to capture the flight trajectory of the senbon needles. His Uchiha-style swordsmanship, which he practiced diligently every day without ever slacking off, gave him the skills to deal with them.

The two combined,

At the critical moment, all the senbon were shot down.

Aside from a few specks of purple venom on the blade of his short sword, Itachi Uchiha was unharmed. He knocked down the senbon needles and used his left hand to quickly form hand seals, also employing the Substitution Jutsu to avoid the puppet's embrace.

"This speed... truly befits a genius of the Uchiha clan!"

Scorpion stood behind the stone platform, manipulating the puppet to launch an attack. He witnessed Kakashi and Itachi's reactions firsthand, and then became certain that the information he had gleaned from the memories of those corpses was true. Itachi Uchiha was not just a pretty but useless figurehead promoted by the Uchiha clan, but a genuine genius.

But that's even better; the more precious the materials, the more powerful the puppet will be!

"Whoosh!!"

The attack came from above.

Three shuriken, gleaming in the cold light, flew toward Scorpion's head and shoulders respectively.

Just as Sasori was launching his attack on Itachi, Kakashi, who had dodged the first wave of attacks, used Earth Release to sneak into the mountain and arrived directly above where Sasori was standing. He silently poked his upper body out of the rock and threw the shuriken he was holding at Sasori.

As everyone knows,

The puppeteers' weakness is their true form.

No matter how powerful the puppets are, as long as you find the puppeteers' true bodies and kill their weak original forms, then even the most powerful puppets will be useless. Kakashi himself didn't have much contact with the puppeteers of Sunagakure, but his father was a nightmare that the Sunagakure people couldn't shake off. The notes left behind by Konoha's White Fang contained his insights on how to deal with the puppeteers of Sunagakure.

only--

Times have changed!

The puppeteers that Konoha's White Fang encountered and Sasori of the Red Sand are two completely different concepts.

The shuriken struck Kakashi's intended target precisely, but contrary to his expectations, he didn't see any splatter of blood. Instead, he heard a crisp, metallic clanging sound as all three shuriken were deflected, causing no visible damage to Sasori.

"Is this... Earth Release: Hardening Technique? Or Lightning Release: Body Tempering Technique?"

A question arose in my mind.

To put it bluntly, ninjas are mostly characterized by high attack, high agility, low defense, and low health. Their attacks are enough to change the terrain of an area, but they can also be easily killed by a shuriken or a kunai.

Puppet masters are the most fragile group. They devote the vast majority of their energy to the creation, manipulation, and synthesis of puppets, leaving them with little time to train their bodies. To put it bluntly, many Jonin-level puppet masters' taijutsu (physical skills) do not even reach the standard level of Jonin.

but,

Kakashi was not disappointed despite his failure.

He hadn't forgotten that Sasori of the Red Sand was a ruthless man who had killed the Third Kazekage. It would be even more frightening if such a person were so easily dealt with, because that situation often meant an even bigger trap. It seemed that the attack just now had no effect on Sasori of the Red Sand, but it had revealed that the opponent had some kind of quite powerful defensive technique, which was a gain in itself.

Ordinary shuriken had no effect.

Next time, try using explosive tags or ninjutsu attacks. As for now... the most urgent task is to dodge Sasori's counterattack.

The exchanges between masters are extremely fast, so fast that the offense and defense seem to be happening simultaneously. When Kakashi tried to sneak attack Sasori, he was essentially revealing his location. Sasori flicked his finger, and another puppet wearing a dark red robe, which had been lying in ambush nearby, leaped up from the ground and appeared in Kakashi's field of vision.

Unlike the previous puppet,

This puppet looked more like a human, without an extra head or arms. Controlled by chakra threads, it hovered in mid-air, looking up at Kakashi, who was perched atop the rocky dome. Then, with a "click," it opened its mouth.

Kakashi's Sharingan saw chakra flowing within the puppet's body and converging towards its throat.

It's a human puppet!

This is no ordinary puppet!

In that instant, Kakashi realized the difference in this puppet, and a chill ran down his spine. His intuition told him that danger was imminent!

Earth Release: Rock Cannon

The puppet spat out a rock that was initially only the size of a peach pit, but instantly grew to the size of a coconut. Not only was it as fast as a cannonball, but its destructive power was also worthy of the name 'Rock Iron Cannon'.

The flying rocks crashed into the cave's dome with a thunderous roar, billowing dust and raining down pebbles. Spiderweb-like cracks appeared on the rocky dome above, but the cave did not collapse. This cave was personally created by Scorpion using earth-escape techniques with his puppets, and it had been reinforced, so it wouldn't collapse so easily.

"Cough cough—!"

Coughing sounds echoed at the entrance to the cave.

Kakashi, covered in dust and dirt, retreated to his original position. He appeared to be unharmed, seemingly having escaped Sasori's counterattack unscathed. However, his rapid and violent coughing, along with his tightly furrowed brows that could trap a mosquito, proved that he was not as unharmed as he appeared.

Although he used Earth Release: Earth Release to escape at top speed, he still couldn't completely avoid the impact of the Rock Iron Cannon. The impact, weakened by the layers of outer rock, still put an excessive strain on Kakashi's body. The metallic taste in his throat was blood, even without spitting it out.

With extraordinary willpower, he endured the pain, because he didn't even have time to cough up blood.

The battles between ninjas are not turn-based games. It's not a matter of you making a move before I can make one. The essence of ninja battles lies in never giving up when you have the upper hand. The puppet using Earth Release technique pounced and chased after them, and another rock cannon shot out from its mouth, which was as wide open as a black hole.

This attack method looks very monotonous.

But as the saying goes, one trick is all you need to succeed.

I don't mind if it's monotonous, as long as it works.

This move, [Rock Iron Cannon], is quite impressive in both attack speed and destructive power. Most importantly, it doesn't consume much chakra, forcing Kakashi to dodge desperately. Due to his physical discomfort, his movement speed slowed down, and for a moment he was suppressed by a puppet.

Kakashi was incredibly frustrated!

This is fucking...

That's so unreasonable! Good heavens, do puppets not even need hand seals to release ninjutsu? I was just a tiny bit slower, and now I'm having chest pains just from breathing. I hope it's not a broken rib puncturing my lung, but it shouldn't be that serious. At least for now it's just chest pain and I feel like I'm going to vomit blood... I feel like I can still hold on.

but,

This can't go on forever!

Injuries only get worse the longer you leave them, rather than healing on their own over time... except for a small cut on your hand!

Especially when he caught a glimpse out of the corner of his eye that both Itachi Uchiha and Kimimaro Kaguya were being entangled by puppets, while Sasori, standing behind the stone platform, remained motionless, he immediately felt the urge to retreat.

He was simultaneously manipulating three puppets with an air of ease, clearly not using his full strength!

The skill with which this puppet was manipulated was truly admirable.

According to Kakashi's knowledge from his father's notes, a puppeteer in Sunagakure is generally considered a qualified genin if they can control one puppet, a chunin-level fighter if they can control two puppets simultaneously, and a jonin-level fighter if they can control three or more puppets. Moreover, the more puppets a puppeteer can control, the more powerful they are.

Like the famous Chiyo of Sunagakure, who is said to be able to control ten puppets at the same time in battle.

Kakashi didn't know Sasori's limit, but he couldn't test it in his current state. He didn't need much; just doubling the number would be enough to keep all six puppets here. Because of his internal injuries, Kakashi was struggling to deal with even one puppet.

As a pure taijutsu ninja, Kimimaro found it extremely difficult to fight against a puppeteer who liked to poison all his weapons. He was forced to fight with great restraint because he couldn't recycle the poisoned bones back into his body. Instead, he had to constantly consume chakra to generate new bones, which put immense pressure on Kimimaro, whose body was not yet fully developed.

The only one who was relatively relaxed was Uchiha Itachi.

Although his body hadn't fully matured, he was still a bit older than Kimimaro, and his fighting style was more energy-efficient. His three-tomoe Sharingan gave him amazing insight, and unlike Kakashi, he wasn't unable to freely switch his Sharingan on and off.

However, Itachi Uchiha was also very troubled.

His favorite genjutsu was ineffective against these puppets. Although his ninjutsu and taijutsu skills were no less than his genjutsu prowess, he still preferred to use genjutsu to control his opponents, as it was much easier and less strenuous than engaging in direct ninjutsu and taijutsu.

"A puppeteer, huh!"

Itachi Uchiha sighed softly.

Illusions are ineffective against puppets, but Sasori of the Red Sand, who controls the puppets, is outside the range of his illusions. This frustrating situation he encountered for the first time made him realize how annoying powerful puppeteers are. He has not yet awakened his Mangekyou Sharingan and has not mastered the extremely powerful attack technique 'Amaterasu'.

It would be very difficult to break through Sasori's puppet's defenses using only ordinary ninjutsu.

Recognizing this, Itachi Uchiha never wasted chakra by releasing ninjutsu easily. Instead, he used his superb Uchiha-style swordsmanship to fight the puppet attacking him, patiently searching for the key to break the deadlock.

just,

Before he could find a way to break the deadlock and turn the tide,

Kakashi, who had begun to consider retreating, gave the signal to retreat. Although Itachi Uchiha still wanted to experience the power of Sasori's puppets, Kakashi was the captain, and disobeying orders was not the choice of a qualified ninja. Retreat was the only option.

Unlike Itachi Uchiha, Kimimaro, fed up with the disgusting puppet, readily accepted the order to retreat. This kind of restrictive fighting was truly frustrating and unbearable.

However, the problem is that...

The situation is clearly not one where Kakashi and the others can simply retreat whenever they want. Sasori couldn't understand the signals Kakashi was sending, but he could tell that Kakashi and the others were getting closer to each other and trying to move further and further away from the cave. It was clear that they were trying to run away!

"Trying to escape?"

"Don't even think about it! We don't let prey that comes knocking on our door get away." Scorpion revealed a strange, insincere smile, and his ten fingers moved simultaneously. In an instant, seven more puppets dressed in dark red robes appeared beside him.

"Sharingan, Shikotsumyaku—how could I possibly let such precious materials go to waste!"

"Scorpion said softly."

The ten fingers danced in the air as if playing a piano.

The melodious and pleasant music was, of course, nonexistent. In reality, what appeared before Kakashi and his companions was an attack by ten puppets. Five of them were puppets in the conventional sense, fighting with various poisoned mechanisms, while the other five were all human puppets, skilled in using different ninjutsu, and possessing all five nature transformations of wind, lightning, water, fire, and earth.

Earth Release: Rock Cannon

Water Release: Water Chaos

[Lightning Escape - Earth Walk]

Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique

[Wind Release: Great Breakthrough]

Like a magic show performed by a circus on a holiday, the colorful attacks roared towards Kakashi and his friends like a flood bursting its banks. Wind Release and Fire Release even worked together, Lightning Release and Water Release complemented each other, and the remaining Earth Release techniques did not hinder the attacks of other ninjutsu at all.

"Earth Escape·Earth Flow Wall."

At this moment,