Stealing the Puppet

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At that moment, only one thought remained in Naoki's mind: he was truly finished this time.

Against someone as experienced as Sasori, once the element of surprise was gone, landing another sneak attack would be nearly impossible. And in a fight against Sasori, even the smallest scratch meant poison and the loss of combat ability. Against an enemy on his level, how could Naoki possibly avoid every single injury?

So to Naoki, the failed surprise attack meant the outcome had already been decided.

In that flash of movement, the Third Kazekage human puppet drawn in by Revolving Will was caught by the throat and lifted in Naoki's hand. Without Magnet Release controlling it, the iron spears in the air collapsed one after another, turning back into black Iron Sand that scattered across the ground with a dry hiss.

Sasori stared from a distance at the Third Kazekage human puppet in Naoki's grasp. His expression was ugly. He was shocked, suspicious, and even faintly flustered.

Naoki was already panicking inside, but on the surface, he remained completely still. No emotion showed on his face.

For a moment, both of them stood silent in the wind and sand, each wary of the other.

The standoff made Naoki, whose confidence was mostly hollow, grow increasingly tense. Then he suddenly realized that the chakra inside his body was continuously flowing into the Third Kazekage human puppet in his hand.

Even with that sudden change, Naoki did not dare reveal anything on his face. He kept staring coldly at Sasori.

As more and more of his chakra poured into the puppet, Naoki's courage thinned. When he thought of how hard it had been to obtain the Tenseigan, only to die in his first battle after awakening it, bitterness and unwillingness filled his chest.

Clack, clack.

After roughly two-thirds of the chakra in his body flowed into the Third Kazekage human puppet, the puppet in Naoki's hand suddenly began twitching in a disorderly way.

As it twitched, the Iron Sand that had scattered across the ground after losing control began floating again.

Sasori's expression changed. He snapped, "Damn it. You can use puppet techniques? Who are you? Why were you meeting the Hidden Sand assassination squad here?"

'A Hidden Sand assassination squad?'

Naoki's heart tightened at Sasori's question.

The corpses beside Sasori earlier were actually members of a Hidden Sand assassination squad. That undoubtedly meant the Hidden Sand had also taken part in Konoha's purge. It also meant that every member of Konoha's leadership had tacitly approved it.

Forcing down the anger in his chest, Naoki pulled his attention back to the situation in front of him.

After the initial confusion, he now understood why he had suddenly activated the Third Kazekage human puppet.

According to his hazy memories from his previous life, the Tenseigan, like the Rinnegan, had a major ability: controlling puppets.

The Rinnegan controlled puppets through black receivers. The Six Paths of Pain were all puppets under Nagato's Rinnegan control. The Tenseigan controlled puppets by injecting Tenseigan chakra. Once enough Tenseigan chakra was infused, it could even activate a soul within the puppet, giving it a degree of intelligence and independent awareness.

In Naoki's memory, Toneri Otsutsuki had relied on such puppets to defeat Hiashi Hyuga, the Hyuga clan head who was close to Kage-level, without showing his real body. He had then slipped openly into Konoha and abducted Hanabi Hyuga.

Once Naoki understood that, he shifted a thought.

Without the use of chakra strings, the Third Kazekage human puppet slowly floated up at Naoki's command, guarding in front of him and taking an attacking posture against Sasori.

Only then did Naoki say lightly, "I have no interest in getting rid of a Hidden Sand missing-nin. We don't need to keep fighting."

Sasori's face darkened. "You stole my beloved collection. Do you really think I'll let you go?"

Even Sasori felt a faint wariness toward the mysterious methods Naoki had displayed, methods he had never seen before. In that moment, he already classified Naoki as a powerful opponent capable of threatening his life.

Naoki smiled. "This human puppet preserves most of the strength it had in life. I have to admit, when it comes to making puppets, you really are a genius."

The smile was not a pose. Naoki was genuinely happy, because now that he had the Third Kazekage human puppet, he had effectively gained the ability to fly. Whether he fought or left was now his decision.

The only reason he did not immediately leave the battlefield and instead continued exchanging scattered words with Sasori was that he needed time to figure out how to hide his identity and avoid Sasori's revenge later.

Being targeted by someone on Sasori's level was no small matter. One careless move, and Naoki could end up dying inexplicably, just like the Third Kazekage.

"You can control a puppet without chakra strings," Sasori said. "How?"

After a pause, he tilted his head and gave a sinister smile. "Never mind. Once I capture you, everything will become clear."

With that, Sasori took out a red scroll.

At Sasori's low shout, the scroll suddenly unfurled. Figure after figure flew out from within it and hovered around him.

All of them were puppets wearing red cloaks. There were ten in total, each with a different design. Some held knives, some held swords, and one carried an enormous shuriken on its back.

Sasori smiled. "Red Secret Technique: Performance of Ten Puppets!"

Looking at the scene before him, Naoki thought, 'Looks like Sasori hasn't mastered the Performance of a Hundred Puppets yet. Still, even ten puppets are more than enough trouble for me.'

With a rattling clatter, the ten red-cloaked puppets rushed toward Naoki.

Naoki frowned and raised his hand, using Revolving Will again.

After losing two-thirds of his chakra, he had almost no combat strength left. So the moment he repelled the ten red-cloaked puppets with Revolving Will, he immediately jumped onto the Third Kazekage human puppet.

In an instant, the Iron Sand turned into a pair of iron wings. The Third Kazekage human puppet carried Naoki toward Chuichi Mitsui's corpse in the distance.

Sasori, who had been blown back along with his puppets, cursed inwardly. 'Damn it. That move again!'

Revolving Will required no hand signs and could be used freely, which gave Sasori a real headache. But through that test, he keenly noticed that its effective range was only around fifteen meters, so he immediately changed strategy and controlled his puppets to launch long-range throwing attacks at Naoki.

Almost without needing Naoki's command, the Third Kazekage human puppet used Magnet Release on its own and blocked every incoming kunai and shuriken.

Sasori chased from behind, his face darkening. It felt as if his own masterpiece had struck him across the face.

Soon, under Sasori's control, the ten red-cloaked puppets changed all their thrown weapons to poisoned bone senbon.

Magnet Release could not control nonmetal, so the Third Kazekage human puppet shaped part of the Iron Sand into a half-sphere that guarded their rear completely.

Clink, clink, clink.

For a time, the sound of bone senbon striking the Iron Sand shell rang without end.

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