Battle Against the Puppet Master

After a fierce battle, the already battered rescue team was completely wiped out, with only Fugaku desperately carrying Nagisa to escape.

Of course, the Sand Ninja also suffered significant losses.

Three of the seven powerful Jonin were killed by the rescue team in a desperate fight.

The remaining four were all injured.

But even these four were still more than Kyosuke and the others could handle at this point.

So, running away was the best option.

However, after running for more than ten minutes, Fugaku suddenly stopped.

Seeing him stop, Kyosuke and Ikezi had no choice but to stop as well, looking at him with questioning eyes.

Fugaku looked at Kyosuke with deep eyes, then turned to take a deep look at Ikezi, and then said with his usual expression, "We can't escape. I'll stay behind to hold off the enemy. Ikezi, you protect Kyosuke and leave here."

"No way."

"I'm not leaving."

Kyosuke and Ikezi spoke almost simultaneously.

Kyosuke struggled in his heart for a moment, then looked at Fugaku, who was reluctant but still insisted on holding the rear, and asked, "Fugaku-aniki, in your current condition, can you hold off two people?"

Fugaku nodded silently, indicating that he could.

Then Kyosuke asked Uchiha Ikezi, "Ikezi-nee, can you hold off one Jonin?"

"Although my strength is not as strong as Fugaku's, holding off one person is not a problem," Ikezi replied without hesitation.

"Okay, in a moment we..." Kyosuke began to explain his battle plan.

Just as he was getting into it, he was unexpectedly interrupted by Fugaku.

"When did I say..."

"We won't leave."

"..." Fugaku stared at him for a while, then motioned for him to continue.

Soon, Kyosuke's battle plan was explained, and all that was left was the actual test.

"I will definitely not let anything happen to you two, absolutely not," Fugaku looked at them with a warm smile, while secretly vowing in his heart.

"Captain, the people are up ahead," a Sand Ninja with a mask on his face and a humanoid puppet on his back suddenly said while running rapidly.

The captain nodded and gestured to his subordinates.

Immediately, the remaining four changed their formation and accelerated towards the fleeing enemies.

Although doing so might make them vulnerable to unexpected attacks, it was better than dragging on. Who knew if this was the only Konoha rescue team? What if another one came?

Therefore, the captain, who was already a little impatient, gave such an order.

Because if he couldn't bring back the Uchiha Clan's direct bloodline little girl, he would face extremely severe punishment. After all, the casualties of this operation were too severe.

He wouldn't be executed directly, but the best outcome would be to go underground and become a ninja in the shadows.

Only in this way could he avoid being held accountable by Konoha.

However, he, who had already started a family, didn't want such a thing to happen.

Soon, the Sand Ninja caught up with the few people who were fleeing in a panic.

The Jonin of the Uchiha Clan at the head of the group, seeing them catch up, had no choice but to choose to hold the rear alone.

The remaining female ninja and a child prepared to continue their escape.

Seeing this situation, the captain of the Sand Ninja squad gestured to the others again, and then attacked Fugaku together with one of them.

The other two detoured slightly and rushed towards the final target.

Although Fugaku tried his best to stop them, he was entangled by the other two Jonin and failed to stop them.

"Surrender, my subordinates will bring back the target soon. Your mission has failed," the Sand Ninja captain tried to use words to distract Fugaku while continuing his fierce attack.

But with Fugaku's strength having completely reached the elite Jonin level, even if he was seriously injured at this time, the two of them couldn't take him down for a while.

"My mission is complete. It's up to you next, Kyosuke," Fugaku silently prayed in his heart.

"Heh, did you think you'd be fine if you split up and ran away?" the Sand Ninja Puppet Master said with a mocking expression.

Then, he and his companion chased after them in different directions.

Although they weren't unaware of the problem, what kind of waves could a child and a female ninja who had barely saved their lives stir up?

The sound coming from behind made Kyosuke, who was "fleeing in desperation," even more nervous.

Forcefully lifting the "Nagisa" he was holding in his arms, Kyosuke plunged into a dense forest.

The Sand Ninja Puppet Master was chasing after him.

The Puppet Master smiled when he saw Kyosuke's appearance, and secretly said in his heart, "I'll see what tricks you're up to."

Then, he followed into the dense forest.

The moment the Puppet Master stepped into the dense forest, a dense barrage of kunai shot towards it.

It turned out Kyosuke had already set a trap here, just waiting for the enemy to take the bait.

And the scenes from before were all performances to guide the enemy into the trap.

Not only him, but Fugaku's "forceful obstruction" was also a pre-arranged act, all for the sake of successfully changing the enemy's formation.

In the hope of making the Puppet Master pursue Kyosuke with the greatest probability.

Faced with the frantically attacking hidden weapons, the Puppet Master dodged expressionlessly, and in the end, it successfully avoided all the traps Kyosuke had set.

However, Kyosuke's painstakingly laid out attack was not over yet.

The moment the Puppet Master stopped moving, the ground beneath its feet suddenly cracked open.

A snake more than 2 meters long suddenly burst out from the ground, binding it tightly.

It turned out that all of Kyosuke's previous traps were for the purpose of luring this Sand Ninja to the summoned creature buried underground in advance.

Finally, Kyosuke succeeded.

Because the Sand Ninja's body was tightly bound by the snake, let alone forming hand seals to counterattack, it couldn't even move its hand.

Just when the battle seemed to be over, things took a sudden turn.

Because the skin on the Sand Ninja's face was peeling off like old wall plaster.

Then "it" suddenly released spikes of varying sizes from its body, piercing the snake in an instant.

Accompanied by a sudden burst of white smoke, the snake disappeared with a "poof."

Apparently, it had automatically teleported back to Ryūchi Cave due to severe injuries.

As for the "Sand Ninja," it was not the real one at all, but a remotely controlled puppet.

At this time, the Puppet Master itself was hiding on a giant tree hundreds of meters away, chuckling coldly.

But it didn't notice that not far behind it, an ordinary little snake was flicking its tongue, coldly watching it.