Deception Jutsu

"Rock Wolf, be careful! Reinforce the defenses!"

The Hidden Sand Jonin immediately noticed the heavy bladed tools—iron balls, steel hammers, and the like. At that moment, those heavy weapons came crashing down upon the Earth Flow Wall with the force of Mount Tai bearing down.

Rumble...

A succession of heavy bladed tools slammed into it. The immensely durable Earth Flow Wall actually began to crack under the repeated impacts.

"Not good!"

The continuous barrage of heavy weapons finally shattered the defense. The Bald Chunin and the two Puppet Masters were directly exposed to the lingering force of Tool Manipulation: Heavenly Blade Chaos.

Worthy of being a battle-hardened veteran, that Special Jonin Puppet Master reacted with extraordinary speed and even had a contingency prepared.

He pulled a small Sealing Scroll from his robes and quickly unsealed it, releasing a spare Puppet.

The spare Puppet landed directly in front of the three of them, attempting to block the devastating strike of the heavy bladed tools.

Then came a sharp crack.

The spare Puppet was smashed to pieces on the spot, reduced to a heap of scattered parts.

The lingering force of Tool Manipulation: Heavenly Blade Chaos remained terrifying. A mass of bladed tools of every kind continued forward without losing momentum, hurtling toward the three behind the ruined earth wall.

However, at the cost of the spare Puppet's destruction, the brief buffer it bought allowed the Special Jonin Puppet Master to avoid being crushed to death by those heavy weapons.

It also bought him a short moment to support his teammates.

The Special Jonin Puppet Master extended all ten fingers, and Chakra Threads shot out from his fingertips.

The Chakra Threads spun and danced continuously, deflecting the incoming small and medium-sized bladed tools.

At the same time, two Chakra Threads wrapped around the waists of the two colleagues before him, dragging them away from the path of the heavy weapons.

After the metal storm passed, the entire battlefield was littered with all kinds of metal blades, glinting with a cold, eerie light that made one shudder at the sight.

"Pant, pant, pant..."

The Special Jonin Puppet Master panted heavily. Clearly, his sudden use of Chakra Threads for defense, along with saving his two teammates, had drained a considerable amount of stamina.

The Bald Chunin who had just been rescued was panting heavily as well. He had used the B-rank Earth Release: Earth Flow Wall twice in a row, and with a Chunin's chakra reserves, the burden had certainly been immense.

"My Puppet... damn it!"

The Special Jonin Puppet Master stared furiously at the Puppet fragments scattered across the ground.

Puppets were extremely costly to make, yet this spare Puppet he had hidden away had been smashed apart by those damned Konoha Ninja.

He had scrimped and saved bit by bit to afford that spare Puppet, and now it was gone just like that.

How could he not be furious? He wanted nothing more than to devour those Konoha Ninja, eat their flesh, and drink their blood!

"Found you!"

The Hidden Sand Jonin pointed his blade forward. Clearly, their charge toward the monkey-faced Konoha Chunin had only been a feint. Their true tactical objective had been to confirm the exact location of this so-called Tool Manipulation master.

"Damn Konoha Ninja, die!"

The Special Jonin Puppet Master turned his grief and fury into strength. His hands rapidly formed seals at a rate of four per second: Tiger—Rabbit—Snake—Horse—Ram.

"Wind Release: Wind Blade Technique."

In an instant.

Strands of pale blue-white vacuum blades became deadly scythes as they sliced through the air.

Wherever the vacuum blades passed, every tree across the battlefield was severed. The growth rings on the cut surfaces were visible down to the finest detail, like cross-sections of wooden carvings meticulously polished by Hidden Sand craftsmen.

Yet under the perception of the Sonic Radar Technique, every movement of the Hidden Sand ninja was laid bare. Umino Sasuke still controlled the rhythm of the entire battlefield.

Umino Sasuke's expression did not change. He suddenly pressed Tejudo's head down hard, just as a vacuum blade cut through the giant tree in front of them and swept over his head.

Glancing sideways, Tejudo saw that the cut surface of the giant tree was perfectly level with his line of sight. A smooth, enormous round wooden table appeared before his eyes, its rings clearly visible.

"Whew... that was too close. I almost became a headless ghost."

Tejudo patted his pounding little heart. He had clearly been badly frightened.

"Hm? Kikaichū."

Umino Sasuke had originally intended to lead Tejudo and the other three kids in a strategic retreat, but he discovered the presence of the Aburame Clan's Kikaichū on the battlefield.

Maruboshi Kosuke's Mobile Patrol Unit had finally entered the range of his Sonic Radar. They were now less than three kilometers away.

"Looks like I'll have to stall for a little longer."

Umino Sasuke stopped walking and formed the Ram seal with both hands, casting the Transformation Jutsu.

After the Transformation Jutsu, his entire appearance changed drastically. The dark green Chunin flak jacket on his body became a highly distinctive Uchiha Jonin flak jacket. The fan-shaped clan crest, resembling a ping-pong paddle, was particularly eye-catching.

The Uchiha Clan's distinctive Three-Tomoe Sharingan also appeared in his eyes. However, upon closer inspection, it was fundamentally different from a real Three-Tomoe Sharingan.

The three tomoe in his eyes looked somewhat dull, like printed tomoe decals. They had a superficial appearance but lacked substance.

Umino Sasuke then concentrated chakra into the meridians around his eyes, causing bloody streams of light to appear within them. This bore an astonishing resemblance to the chakra fluctuations of an activated Sharingan.

That should be enough to fool these Hidden Sand ninja.

"Hidden Sand ninja, do you want to dance too?"

Umino Sasuke suddenly leaped onto the cut surface of the giant tree before him, deliberately revealing himself. His expression was wildly arrogant, as though the Konoha Asura had returned to life.

"Not good! An Uchiha Jonin!"

"It's over. We don't have any chance at all now. Forget taking back the intelligence—we'll be lucky if we can escape alive."

"No wonder his Tool Manipulation ability was so terrifying. He isn't some Tool Manipulation master at all—he's an Uchiha Jonin!"

"A Three-Tomoe Sharingan... could this Uchiha be an Elite Jonin?"

The Hidden Sand ninja faced a formidable enemy, their hearts shaken to the core. Seeing Umino Sasuke's attire and the Three-Tomoe Sharingan in his eyes—especially that uniquely Uchiha aloof and arrogant bearing—made the pressure on them multiply.

Not a single one of them suspected that this was merely a bluff maintained by the Transformation Jutsu. Even the Hidden Sand Jonin was no exception, completely convinced by what he saw.

The Hidden Sand ninja nearly suffered a collective breakdown. The situation they least wanted to see had actually happened.

The strength of an Uchiha Jonin was universally acknowledged throughout the Shinobi World.

Especially those who had awakened the Three-Tomoe Sharingan—almost every one of them was an Elite Jonin, and some might even have touched the threshold of Kage-level strength.

Moreover, Uchiha ninja generally possessed ninjutsu, taijutsu, and genjutsu alike. They had almost no weaknesses and were proficient in nearly everything.

The Will of Wind the Hidden Sand ninja had just displayed was directly suppressed beneath this wildly arrogant Uchiha pressure.

"Pfft, pfft, pfft..."

Behind the giant tree table, Tejudo covered his mouth and nose, desperately holding back his laughter so he would not ruin the Captain's Deception Jutsu.

The Captain's Deception Jutsu was truly incredible. He had actually fooled every one of those Hidden Sand ninja. Even an A-rank genjutsu probably would not have achieved such an effect, right?