Amada stared at the ranks of puppets arrayed in the distance, but his thoughts had drifted to the unexpected blond boy.
His explanation to Kakashi about parallel timelines had been nothing more than the safest thing to say.
The truth was, there was far too much to learn from Naruto, this "visitor from the future"—
Even if the timelines weren't exactly the same, information about the Shinobi World's future was still immensely valuable.
I need to find a chance to talk to Naruto alone...
Amada mused to himself, glancing at Minato from the corner of his eye.
Minato was focused entirely on observing the enemy.
Ahead, hundreds of puppets formed a tight defensive formation, creating a chilling line of defense around the palace.
More unsettling still, there was no sign of Chakra Threads controlling their movements,
as though some unknown force had granted them the ability to act on their own.
"Sunagakure has this kind of technology?"
Amada was a little shaken.
Minato made a hand signal, and the three of them hid themselves, intending to observe the situation first.
After watching for some time, the three of them silently withdrew from their observation point.
Back at their temporary hideout, Minato knelt on the sand and used his finger to sketch the defenses they had just scouted.
"Things are trickier than I expected." Minato kept his voice very low.
"These puppets are already beyond the usual limits. Sara may well be right—Anrokuzan has harnessed the power of the Dragon Vein."
Kakashi added,
"A direct assault would be unwise. We need to cause a big enough disturbance to draw all the puppets away from the central area."
Amada spoke up.
"Instead of trying to deal with these puppets, we should strike at the source. If we can cut off the Dragon