Monzaemon severed the Chakra Threads controlling his substitute puppet. Now that he'd been forced to reveal himself, the decoy had served its purpose. He spread his arms and finally began directly controlling the Chikamatsu Ten Puppets.
The puppets, whose movements had seemed stiff and sluggish, instantly became astonishingly nimble under Monzaemon's direct control. The ten pairs of hollow eyes fixed on Hanyu and the others sent a chill down their spines.
"Fall back. I'll hold them off." Hanyu took a deep breath. Realizing that this enemy was far beyond anything he could handle, he chose to retreat. He was a little disappointed that his first mission would end in failure, but he had no choice. Besides, the command center couldn't fault them for retreating... Konoha couldn't expect its Genin to take on a shinobi like Monzaemon.
Besides, Hanyu's team had been tasked with intercepting the enemy and relaying information. Strictly speaking, their mission couldn't be called a failure... after all, they had found Monzaemon.
"Hanyu, I don't think there's any point. You won't be able to hold him off for long," Nara Nagisa said. Hanyu's order was what a responsible captain should give, but it was pointless. There was no way their enemy would simply let them escape.
"Fall back!" Hanyu repeated firmly. Just as he brought his hands together to begin forming Hand Seals, the Chikamatsu Ten Puppets hurtled toward him at an almost unimaginable speed.
But no matter how fast these toys were, Hanyu still completed his first jutsu a step ahead of them... The extreme urgency forced him to form Hand Seals faster and faster, and once he finished the first jutsu, the rest followed in rapid succession without a pause.
Water Release: Water Formation Wall!
First, the semicircular wall of water swept the puppets charging straight at Hanyu aside. As they tried to circle around from either side, the Water Formation Wall collapsed in an instant, surging outward with an even greater volume of water and sweeping everything around it aside.
"Old man, do you think the ground beneath you is really so safe?"
As he thought this, Hanyu's hands never stopped moving.
Water Release: Exploding Water Colliding Wave!
In an instant, a vast expanse of water appeared in the forest. This time, Hanyu's jutsu was on a far greater scale than before. He could no longer afford to worry about conserving chakra, so, to put it dramatically, his jutsu had reversed the process of "the sea turning into mulberry fields."
But Hanyu kept forming Hand Seals until he completed his next jutsu—Water Release: Hidden Mist Technique.
The surging floodwaters had yet to settle when thick mist began rising from the surface. In moments, it completely concealed Hanyu and his teammates.
The Hidden Mist Technique was a signature Water Release Ninjutsu of the Mist Village, one of the Five Great Shinobi Villages. In truth, however, it wasn't particularly difficult or secret. It was little more than an ordinary Water Release technique... The real challenge lay in the Silent Killing Technique used in conjunction with it. Only when the two were combined could they bring out each other's full potential.
Hanyu obviously knew nothing about the Silent Killing Technique, but the Hidden Mist Technique was more than enough for him.
His eyes couldn't necessarily keep track of the puppeteer and all his puppets, but the Hidden Mist Technique changed things. First, a technique that blocked their vision greatly increased his teammates' chances of escape. Second, the mist was now filled with Hanyu's chakra. It extended his range of perception, allowing him to accurately track Monzaemon and all ten puppets, along with their movements.
"So that's how it is. The claim that you were a Fire Release specialist was just a ploy to distract me. You're clearly better at Water Release than Fire Release. It's commendable that you could make this decision under the circumstances, but... what good will it do you?" Monzaemon's voice came from the thick mist.
The Hidden Mist Technique had clearly worked; otherwise, why would their opponent waste time saying all that? What made Hanyu anxious, however, was that he could sense his teammates weren't leaving the battlefield. They were staying put in the mist.
But Hanyu couldn't worry about them now. He was undoubtedly the one in the greatest danger, and he was clearly the enemy's primary target.
Hanyu's breathing remained steady, but his mind was taut with tension. He had engaged all five senses. Suddenly, he swung a kick into the mist beside him, and a dark figure went flying.
He could sense the puppets' movements, and the distinctive sounds they made as they moved couldn't be concealed.
Hanyu had no time to deal with the puppet he'd kicked away. He spun around and raised his arm. With a clang, a pair of sharp, hooked claws struck his forearm guard.
Using words to distract an opponent was a trick Hanyu knew, but so did Monzaemon. Neither of them had managed to accomplish much with it.
The puppets dressed in white looked dashing from a distance, but up close they were downright ugly—so ugly that Hanyu couldn't help commenting, "If you're the greatest puppeteer, you should at least make your toys look like Rozen Maiden. Then at least I could indulge my sadistic side while doing this."
As he spoke, he twisted his forearm and used his guard to snap the puppet's claws. Then he planted a hand on its shoulder, used it to propel himself upward, and drove a knee into its neck.
With a crack, the puppet's head twisted around to face backward.
But Hanyu had attacked a puppet, not a person, so aside from making his knee hurt, the blow had no effect.
The puppet's body jerked upward, and its head snapped back into place.
Bladed crossbow mechanisms, flames, poison, and all sorts of devices emerged from every joint and part of its body. Then it lunged at Hanyu even more ferociously than before.
Hanyu simply wasn't built or fast enough to withstand it.
Fortunately, he didn't need to. He withdrew the chakra coating the soles of his feet, and sank beneath the water's surface... The last time he'd used the Exploding Water Colliding Wave, it had been to drown his enemies. This time, he was using it to drown himself.
The puppet's movements were indeed impossibly fast. It could even follow Hanyu underwater. But Hanyu refused to believe it could move as quickly under the immense pressure of deep water as it could on land.
What's more, once he was underwater, Hanyu's speed increased dramatically. With Water Release: Wave Riding Strike to aid him, he moved as gracefully as a fish.
The balance of power had shifted. Monzaemon could no longer do anything to him.
Perhaps Monzaemon could evaporate this entire body of water. But could he really do that... No, the real question was, did he have time?
After Hanyu and the others had stalled the enemy in battle, Konoha reinforcements finally arrived. They weren't particularly fast, but they had arrived just in time.
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