Deception Jutsu

"Rock Wolf, watch out, reinforce the defense!"

The Sand Hidden Jonin immediately spotted the iron balls, steel hammers, and other heavy tools. At that moment, these heavy tools were descending with the force of an avalanche, crashing down toward the Earth Flow Wall.

Rumble...

A series of heavy tools slammed in. The Earth Flow Wall, with its formidable defensive power, began to crack under the relentless pounding.

"Not good!"

The relentless heavy impacts finally broke through the defense, leaving the bald Chunin and the two puppeteers directly exposed to the residual force of Tool Manipulation: Heavenly Blade Chaos.

True to his nature as a battle-hardened veteran, the Special Jonin puppeteer reacted with lightning speed and had a backup plan. He pulled a small Sealing Scroll from his chest, quickly unsealed it, and unleashed a spare puppet.

The spare puppet positioned itself just in front of the three, attempting to block the heavy tools' brutal strike.

But with a crack.

The spare puppet shattered on the spot, reduced to a pile of fragmented parts.

The residual force of Tool Manipulation: Heavenly Blade Chaos remained terrifying. A torrent of various tools, undiminished in momentum, hurtled toward the three behind the crumbling earth wall.

However, thanks to the brief buffer bought by the spare puppet's destruction, the Special Jonin puppeteer not only avoided being crushed to death by the heavy tools but also gained a short window to support his teammates.

The Special Jonin puppeteer extended his ten fingers, and from their tips flew strands of Chakra Thread. These threads spun and danced, deflecting and parrying the incoming medium and small tools.

At the same time, two threads coiled around the waists of his two colleagues in front, pulling them away from the lethal rain of heavy tools.

After the metal frenzy, the entire battlefield bristled with countless metal tools of all shapes and sizes, gleaming with a sinister light that chilled the heart.

"Huff, huff..."

The Special Jonin puppeteer gasped for breath. The sudden burst of Chakra Thread defense and the rescue of his two comrades had drained a significant amount of his stamina.

The bald Chunin, just saved, was also panting heavily. Having cast the B-rank Earth Release: Earth Flow Wall twice in quick succession, the strain on his Chunin-level chakra reserves was considerable.

"My puppet... damn it!"

The Special Jonin puppeteer glared at the scattered puppet fragments on the ground, seething with rage. Puppets were costly to produce, and that hidden spare puppet had been smashed by these accursed Konoha ninja.

That spare puppet was something he had scrimped and saved for, piece by piece. Now it was gone.

How could he not be furious? He wanted to devour these Konoha ninja, to eat their flesh and drink their blood!

"Found you!"

The Sand Jonin pointed his blade. Clearly, their earlier charge at the monkey-faced Konoha Chunin had been a feint. Their real tactical goal was to pinpoint the location of this so-called Tool Manipulation master.

"Damn Konoha ninja, die!"

The Special Jonin puppeteer channeled his grief and rage into power. His hands flew through hand signs at a rate of four per second: Boar—Hare—Rat—Ox—Tiger—Snake.

"Wind Release: Wind Blade Technique."

In an instant.

Blades of pale blue vacuum energy turned into deadly scythes, slicing through the air.

Where the vacuum blades passed, every tree on the battlefield was severed cleanly. The rings on the cut ends were starkly visible, as if polished by a Sand Hidden craftsman into a wooden sculpture.

Under the perception of the Sonic Radar Technique, every move of the Sand ninja was laid bare. Umino Sasuke still held the rhythm of the entire battlefield.

Sasuke's expression remained unchanged, but he suddenly pressed down on Tejudo's head. A vacuum blade just then sliced through a giant tree in front of them, grazing over Tejudo's scalp.

Glancing sideways, the tree's cut surface was level with his line of sight. A smooth, giant tree table appeared before him, its rings of annual growth clearly visible.

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

Tejudo patted his pounding little heart, clearly shaken.

"Huh? Kikaichū."

Sasuke had planned to lead Tejudo and the other two little ones in a strategic retreat, but he spotted the presence of the Aburame clan's Kikaichū on the battlefield.

Maruboshi Kosuke's Mobile Patrol Unit had finally entered his Sonic Radar's perception range, less than three kilometers away now.

"Looks like I need to stall a little longer."

Sasuke stopped in his tracks, formed the Tiger hand sign, and activated the Transformation Jutsu.

After the transformation, his entire appearance changed. The dark green Chunin vest became a highly distinctive Uchiha Jonin vest, especially the fan-shaped clan crest resembling a ping-pong paddle, which stood out prominently.

In his eyes appeared the Uchiha clan's unique Three-Tomoe Sharingan. However, upon closer inspection, it was fundamentally different from a real Three-Tomoe Sharingan.

The tomoe in his eyes were slightly dull, like sticker decals pressed onto the surface—all show, no substance.

Sasuke then concentrated chakra in the eye meridians, causing a blood-red shimmer to flow through his eyes. This bore a striking resemblance to the chakra surge characteristic of an activated Sharingan.

With this, fooling these Sand ninja should be more than enough.

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

Umino Sasuke suddenly leaped into the air, landing on the cut surface of the giant tree ahead, deliberately revealing himself with a wildly arrogant expression, as if the Konoha Asura had been reborn.

"Not good! That's an Uchiha Jonin."

"It's over, we don't have any chance at all. Forget about snatching back the intel—even escaping alive is a long shot."

"No wonder he had such terrifying Tool Manipulation skills. Turns out he's no master of tools, but an Uchiha Jonin."

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

These Sand Ninja braced themselves as if facing a great enemy, their hearts shaken. Seeing Umino Sasuke's attire and the Three-Tomoe Sharingan in his eyes, especially that uniquely Uchiha air of solitary arrogance, only piled on the pressure.

Not a single one of them doubted that what stood before them was merely a bluff propped up by a Transformation Jutsu—not even the Sand Hidden Jonin, who believed utterly in what he saw.

These Sand Ninja nearly broke down collectively. The very scenario they least wanted to see had come to pass.

The might of an Uchiha Jonin was recognized throughout the ninja world.

Especially those who had awakened the Three-Tomoe Sharingan—almost every one of them was an Elite Jonin, some even brushing against the threshold of Kage-level.

Moreover, Uchiha ninja were typically adept in ninjutsu, taijutsu, and genjutsu alike, with almost no weaknesses, often mastering all three.

The Will of Wind that the Sand Ninja had just erupted with was directly suppressed under this oppressive Uchiha aura.

"Mmph mmph..."

Tejudo, hiding behind the giant tree's table-like surface, covered his mouth and nose, forcing himself not to laugh, so as not to ruin the Captain's bluffing act.

The Captain's bluffing was simply too formidable—he had completely fooled all these Sand Ninja. Even an A-rank genjutsu probably couldn't achieve such an effect, could it?