"Ah!"
Amid Raidō's repeated roars, the Lightning Dragon and a golden dragon clashed fiercely once more.
But this time, with Raidō controlling the Lightning Dragon himself, it was several times more agile and powerful than before!
Souya furrowed his brow slightly. This formidable foe, who was a master of Lightning Release, was clearly giving him trouble.
Souya turned to look toward the battlefield where Sasori was fighting.
He saw Sasori's two puppets locked in close combat with Suikazan Fuguki and Juzō Biwa.
To Souya's surprise, Sasori's puppets seemed to be forged from solid steel. When Juzō Biwa's Kubikiribōchō struck them, it left no mark at all—instead, the blade rang against them with a series of metallic clangs.
"This should be Earth Release: Earth Spear..." Sasori had told him earlier that he'd made puppets from the corpses of several Iwagakure jōnin. After using the Earth Spear Technique, the puppets charged forward fearlessly, as if nothing could stop them.
That gave Juzō Biwa and Suikazan Fuguki quite a headache.
At one point, Juzō Biwa tried to conceal himself with the Hidden Mist Technique, hoping to make use of his superb assassination skills. But Sasori easily dispelled the mist with a gust of wind whipped up by Wind Release: Great Breakthrough.
After exchanging a few blows with the puppet, Suikazan Fuguki seized his chance and swung Samehada at its back. He knew that Puppet Masters controlled their puppets using Chakra Threads.
Ordinary people had no way to deal with these Chakra Threads, but Samehada's ability to devour Chakra made it a perfect counter to puppeteers. Once the threads were severed, the puppets would instantly become nothing more than piles of junk.
Suikazan Fuguki succeeded. After he cut the Chakra Threads, the puppet in front of him dropped out of the air as if it had suddenly powered down.
But before he could laugh in triumph, another puppet shaped like an ant suddenly burst out of the ground beneath his feet. It had a pair of red, demon-like horns and six arms. Its large belly gaped open, cold light glinting on either side. The Black Ant Puppet spread its arms as if to embrace him, trying to stuff Suikazan Fuguki inside its belly.
Suikazan Fuguki reacted swiftly. He gripped Samehada, the muscles in his arm bulging. As if sensing its master's anger, the spikes on Samehada stood on end, like sharp metallic thorns. Then he slammed it down hard on the Black Ant Puppet.
Thud!
The Black Ant Puppet, struck by Samehada, was riddled with holes and sent flying several meters away, kicking up clouds of dust as it hit the ground.
Once he'd recovered, Suikazan Fuguki stuck Samehada into the ground and formed Hand Seals.
"Water Release: Water Wave!"
A thick stream of water appeared in front of him, spinning upward like a tornado. It then spread like a waterfall and surged downward toward his opponent, like a rushing river charging at Sasori.
Fortunately, Sasori still had a puppet that was also skilled in Earth Release. His expression remained indifferent, without a trace of worry. He moved his hands again, and the Chakra Thread connecting him to the puppet in front of him suddenly grew much thicker.
Clearly, Sasori was pouring more Chakra into the puppet.
"Earth Release: Earth-Style Wall!"
Faced with this wide-area Water Release technique, Sasori had evidently made the same choice Souya had made before.
Rumble!
A broad, cone-shaped earthen wall rose from the ground, shielding Sasori and his puppet. The surging river battered the wall in vain, then flowed away on either side.
Looking closely, one could see that Sasori's fingers were still twitching slightly.
The puppet in front of Suikazan Fuguki, which had been lying in a limp heap, suddenly moved like a lurking viper and bared its sharp fangs.
Suikazan Fuguki's face changed. He clearly couldn't understand how the puppet, its Chakra Threads severed, could move again.
He could only dodge to the side and retreat. He didn't even have time to pull Samehada from the ground.
Whoosh!
The puppet's shining blade left a flash of light in the air, but Suikazan Fuguki narrowly dodged the strike.
But the next moment, something else happened that he hadn't expected.
With a creak, the wooden puppet's blank face suddenly split open. Its mouth stretched from its eyes down to its neck, and a metal tube extended from where its mouth had been. A thick, sickly green liquid sprayed out of it.
In the rush, the orange hair on Suikazan Fuguki's back shot up, gathering around his body into a dense ball of hair.
"Ah!"
Suikazan Fuguki let out a piercing scream.
Several clouds of green smoke rose from his chest, accompanied by a continuous sizzling sound. The lower half of the orange hairball had vanished, leaving only the part above his neck.
The flesh exposed beneath the missing hair melted away like snow in a blazing fire. In the blink of an eye, his pale ribs were exposed to the air.
His living organs could still be seen beating inside him. The dark red organs slowly began to turn a pale green.
After the earthen wall crumbled, Sasori stood atop the flowing water and gave an almost imperceptible twitch of his lips. He seemed to be lamenting how thick this man's layer of fat was. Otherwise, that dose of poison would have killed him by now.
"Haah! Haah!"
Suikazan Fuguki's eyes were bloodshot. The intense pain nearly overwhelmed his reason, and he gasped for breath, but his extraordinary constitution and tenacious vitality kept him alive.
He raised a hand, and Samehada, several meters away, suddenly seemed to come to life. It swam like a nimble fish until it reached his side.
Suikazan Fuguki grabbed Samehada, and something astonishing happened. Samehada turned into a fluid, almost weightless substance and slowly seeped into his body.
His body underwent a dramatic transformation. His head gradually thrust forward and flattened out at the sides until he looked just like a human-shaped shark!
After Samehada merged with his body, faint white smoke rose from the horrific wound on his chest, and it began to heal at an astonishing speed. In the blink of an eye, the area was covered again by shimmering blue fish skin.
Suikazan Fuguki touched the spot where the wound had been, murder in his eyes.
"Brat!" he roared.
With his delicate features and slight build, Sasori looked every bit the handsome young man.
Suikazan Fuguki's hands moved rapidly, forming one Hand Seal after another.
Sasori naturally couldn't let him keep forming Hand Seals. Just as he sent his puppet to attack—
Clang!
Seeing that Suikazan Fuguki had already used his trump card, Juzō Biwa hurried over to help.
He raised Kubikiribōchō to block, deflecting the puppet's strike.
"Water Release: Great Waterfall Technique!"
Before you continue