In this battle, Hanyu had no intention of showing off his unfathomably fast hand seals... It wasn't that he didn't want to; he couldn't. If this were only combat training, he could spend his chakra as freely as he liked. But when facing a ninja like Monzaemon, what difference was there between running out of chakra and dying?
On the grass, on the tree trunks, and in the crowns of the evergreens, ten puppets crouched or stood, arranged at varying distances and heights to guard Monzaemon... There were no more loyal bodyguards than puppets.
Monzaemon's fingers moved in quick succession, and the Chikamatsu Ten Puppets sprang into action under his command. Although he had been stunned for a second by the unexpected attack, he had reacted promptly.
Amid the puppets' dense, eerie clacking—a sound that pierced the ears—three of them charged straight at Hanyu. But Hanyu paid them no heed. His hands flew up and down, forming one seal after another, as he called softly to his teammate:
"Nara!"
At a time like this, Nara knew exactly what to do. The black shadow at his feet seemed to spring to life, transforming into a series of tendrils that stretched forward. It shot past Hanyu and connected to the three puppets' feet first.
The blades the three puppets had raised ground to a halt, and three of Monzaemon's fingers abruptly stopped moving. Clearly, he had realized he could no longer control those puppets.
Old men can't help losing chakra as they age, can they? Hanyu thought as he dashed past the three puppets.
Although the Nara Clan's Shadow Possession Technique was an exceptionally convenient jutsu with powerful restraining abilities, Nara Nagisa was still a young ninja. His technique was nowhere near that polished, and his chakra was hardly formidable. There was no way he could compete with Monzaemon for control of the puppets. Against a powerful ninja like Monzaemon, Nagisa's restraint should have been broken at once.
And yet, judging by his appearance alone, Monzaemon was already in his late seventies. No matter how ruthless he seemed, the truth was that he was just an old ninja still managing to fight for his village... How much chakra could he possibly have?
In truth, Monzaemon had long since become the kind of ninja who relied on experience rather than chakra in battle. His name carried weight and he was a serious threat, but his strength was no longer what it had once been. Even just five years earlier, he probably wouldn't have been put in a bind by someone of Nara Nagisa's mere Chunin-level strength.
If Nara had known the thoughts that had flashed through Hanyu's mind, he would have cursed him out on the spot. Easy for him to say. It wasn't that simple! At that moment, as he struggled to control the three puppets, Nara felt as if he were sitting on a volcano, unable to stay still. He was the one about to lose control.
Nara hadn't sensed that Monzaemon's chakra had weakened much with age. As he struggled to control the three puppets, he was also pinned in place, unable to support Hanyu any further.
Once he had passed the puppets, Hanyu had finished forming his hand seals. He drew in a deep breath, filling his lungs with fresh air, then exhaled sharply:
Fire Release: Fire Dragon Flame Bullet!
The blazing Fire Dragon Flame Bullet stood out vividly in the woods, now dim with dusk. A surging wave of heat spread outward from Hanyu, and the explosive flames shot toward Monzaemon more than ten meters away.
How could a flashy, unsubtle jutsu with immense power but mediocre speed possibly score a direct hit? Without a moment's hesitation, Monzaemon placed three other puppets in front of himself.
Boom!
The Fire Dragon Flame Bullet slammed into the three puppets and immediately scattered into sparks. That was all the effect such a powerful jutsu had achieved.
Puppets were a special kind of ninja tool. They were generally tested during construction for fire resistance, pressure resistance, abrasion resistance, load-bearing capacity, and performance in deserts, water, extreme heat, and freezing conditions. The Chikamatsu Ten Puppets, being among the finest puppets of all, would have been designed to meet even more demanding standards.
If they couldn't withstand Fire Release or Water Release, their uses would be far too limited. So Hanyu's Fire Release had caused little more than slight surface damage to the puppets.
But right after that, a shuriken trailing a transparent line slipped almost imperceptibly through the gap left by the three puppets. Using the dazzling light from the Fire Release as cover, it wrapped around one of Monzaemon's arms from an extremely tricky angle.
Hidden within the Fire Release was another Fire Release.
Fire Release: Dragon Fire Technique.
There was almost no delay between Hanyu's two Fire Release jutsu.
This was also an area-of-effect Fire Release jutsu, but unlike the Fire Dragon Flame Bullet, the Dragon Fire Technique required a line to guide it before it could be launched. In a sense, it was "guided."
The scorching wave of fire surged toward Monzaemon again. Having already been struck by the shuriken, he had no way to dodge the jutsu. And with the environment already heated by the Fire Dragon Flame Bullet, the C-rank Dragon Fire Technique displayed a spectacle and power far beyond its rank.
Then Monzaemon, hit by the Dragon Fire Technique, burst into fierce flames... And just like that, they had found someone beating up an old man.
Although the attack had hit, Hanyu frowned. Something didn't feel right. He had planned this combination himself, but the result was so spectacular that it was hard to believe... No matter how clever they were, parlor tricks were still just parlor tricks. How much effect could they really have on a ninja like Monzaemon? Hanyu was skeptical, and his little trick hadn't even been particularly clever.
The more immediate proof was that Monzaemon burned quietly, neither struggling nor crying out in the flames. He simply stood motionless.
The Chikamatsu Ten Puppets had all stopped moving, too.
Hanyu raised one hand to signal his teammates not to move. He kept his eyes fixed on the burning Monzaemon.
"Impressive. You managed to hit my decoy so quickly... But that only means you'll all have to die here today. I can't give you the chance to grow."
As a Sand Village ninja, that was the right attitude. Given the chance, a threat had to be eliminated while it was still in its infancy.
The flames of the Dragon Fire Technique gradually died down, but Monzaemon's voice hadn't come from there. Hanyu and the others snapped their gaze toward the treetop where they had first hidden. Another Monzaemon stood there.
No—Monzaemon had been standing there the whole time.
He lightly flicked his index finger. The finger of the figure that had just emerged from the flames moved in turn. Then one of the Chikamatsu Ten Puppets moved as well, taking an attacking stance.
Clearly, the Monzaemon Hanyu had just hit was another decoy—a puppet modeled after Monzaemon himself.
It wasn't unusual for puppet masters to modify their own bodies or make a puppet resembling themselves to use as a decoy. But controlling a puppet double of oneself, then using that puppet double to control a whole group of puppets, was unheard of. No wonder the Chikamatsu Ten Puppets' movements had seemed a little clumsy earlier. They were effectively being controlled by just one finger.
One finger controlling eleven puppets—what kind of control was that?
"Senior, you really are old, but still going strong..."
Hanyu's eyes finally darkened.
So much for fighting with everything he had. He'd just been playing around. Though hiding his real body so cautiously made sense—this way, Monzaemon would remain undefeated no matter what—but... he really was playing around.
For their first battle, Monzaemon was far too strong an opponent. Weren't they supposed to be feeding them easy monsters for experience?
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