Pretty Ordinary

"You really can't expect much from the Uchiha clan's upbringing."

Chiyo smiled faintly. "I heard some brat has been recklessly attacking Sunagakure's precious puppet masters."

"I was originally thinking my discipline of them had been too lax, but—"

Clang—!!!

A puppet draped in white robes gripped chains in both hands and blocked the descending blade, its demon mask nearly pressed against Kaminazuki's face.

Chiyo flicked her fingertips and stepped out from behind the White-Robed Puppet.

"Let your elder finish speaking..."

"Not only did you refuse to run, you actually took the initiative to attack me."

"Is that how Sarutobi Hiruzen teaches you?"

Screech—

The blade scraped out a shower of sparks. Kaminazuki said nothing and swung straight at Chiyo.

"Bastard! How dare you disrespect Lady Chiyo!"

Rasa slammed a hand against the ground. Gold Dust surged upward and crashed toward Kaminazuki like a tidal wave.

At the same time, several shadows struck at Rasa from the side. Shikaku had made his move.

"This is insane!!"

Shikaku shouted hoarsely. Reason told him he should not be worrying about Kaminazuki right now. Escaping and sending a signal as soon as possible was their only chance at survival.

He couldn't do it.

It made no sense. There was no basis for it. Yet a single thought surfaced in his mind...

Trust that bastard for once!

Entangled by the shadows, the Gold Dust failed to become an obstacle, and Chiyo did not need Rasa's support at all.

Boom—!!

Another towering Ox-Horn Puppet appeared, its iron-cast hands clamping down on Crimson Blade's edge.

Crimson Blade was a powerful ninja sword worthy of being called a "Kusanagi Sword." Against ordinary puppets before this, it had inflicted utterly crushing damage.

Yet it only left a faint white mark in this puppet's palm.

"A puppet master's strength depends on the number of puppets they can use."

"Of course, quality matters too."

The corner of Chiyo's mouth lifted as she slowly introduced them. "Masterpieces made by Monzaemon, the ancestor of puppet masters, who inherited and revolutionized the Second Kazekage's puppet techniques."

"White Secret Technique: Chikamatsu. To you, they should count as legendary existences."

"You're lucky. I just finished maintaining them and needed to let them move around a little. You weren't originally qualified to see them."

Kaminazuki curled his lips into a faint smile.

"Sorry, I've never heard of someone so insignificant."

Whoosh!!

Scarlet flames wound around Hizuki's blade, the blazing heat scorching the air.

"Old hag, use your shallow vision to witness a new legend!"

"Enjo!!"

In an instant, dazzling crimson light erupted from the blade, and raging waves of fire swept forth!

The puppet before him was instantly swallowed by flames. Its white robes turned to ash, while the metal framework beneath began glowing red-hot.

Chiyo's expression shifted slightly as she drifted backward, her chakra threads pulling the puppet from the sea of fire.

Chiyo frowned slightly as she watched the red sand touched by the flames crystallize.

"There was no sign of chakra being mobilized. Even if he can activate it instantly through mastery, this is far too abnormal. What is going on..."

Under normal circumstances, Fire Style was easy to detect. Nearly all Fire Style techniques were expelled from the mouth, with obvious fluctuations from gathering chakra.

Tap... tap...

Kaminazuki held his flaming blade, his Sharingan gazing coldly at Chiyo.

"Explaining it would be troublesome. Use your brain and think it through."

"How arrogant."

Chiyo gently shook her head and said calmly, "I had intended to let Rasa deal with you as his first trial on the battlefield. Since you're so eager..."

"I'll properly dote on you, then!"

Rip—

Chiyo spread her arms, and dozens of kunai with chakra threads attached to their ends shot out.

Puppet Technique: Striking Blade.

The chakra threads could be wound around an enemy once the kunai reached them, a sealing technique only high-level puppet masters could use.

Chiyo had no intention of killing Kaminazuki. It was not because she was kind; when the gap in strength between two opponents was too vast, capturing one alive yielded greater benefits than killing them.

A genius Uchiha brat—even if she could not take him back to breed, he could still be used later to exchange for Sunagakure shinobi captured by Konoha.

She had not come specifically for Kaminazuki. Just as Shikaku had said, it was highly unreasonable for someone of her level to appear here.

Chiyo had come to receive the agreed-upon "thing." Finding Kaminazuki had merely been along the way.

Kaminazuki clearly saw the chakra threads behind the kunai. Chiyo's chakra strength was on an entirely different level from other puppet masters, and he had no desire to get tangled up in them.

His toes tapped the ground, his body moving so fast it left an afterimage. He dodged the kunai while closing in on Chiyo.

A sword-focused Uchiha...

Sunagakure and Konoha had been enemies for years. Chiyo knew much about the Uchiha, Konoha's top-tier blades, guns, and cannons.

Every Three Tomoe Uchiha was a master of genjutsu. That was common knowledge in the Shinobi World.

Below Three Tomoe, most Uchiha focused on Fire Style ninjutsu, supplemented by thrown ninja tools and close-range sword combat.

A talented few specialized in genjutsu, their fighting styles tending toward the bizarre and flamboyant.

There were also Uchiha who specialized in swordsmanship. After all, the Sharingan's dynamic vision allowed its user to clearly capture an opponent's movements during high-speed motion, predict them, and counterattack. It gave them an enormous natural advantage.

Kaminazuki had never heard of Monzaemon, but Chiyo had heard of a similar legend among the Uchiha.

The Second Hokage Tobirama Senju's rival: Izuna Uchiha, an all-purpose close-combat shinobi whose Fire Style, swordsmanship, and ocular techniques formed a deadly whole.

When she had been young, the terror of the Senju brothers and the Uchiha brothers—or, more precisely, Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha—had overshadowed the entire Shinobi World.

None of the founding leaders of the great nations had been weak, yet no one had dared enter that battlefield in the Land of Fire.

Given the Uchiha's reputation, Chiyo did not let her guard down even against a brat like Kaminazuki.

Caution was an essential virtue for every elderly shinobi.

She did not allow Kaminazuki to approach, controlling two puppets to block him dozens of meters away.

Her ten fingers danced, chakra threads weaving an invisible grid through the air and gradually compressing the battlefield.

Meanwhile, on the other side.

"A technique that controls Gold Dust..."

Sweat beaded on Shikaku's forehead. Having guessed Rasa's identity, he probed, "Magnet Release?"

Rasa did not answer. A trace of impatience showed on his face as he controlled the Gold Dust into long spears and continuously attacked Shikaku.

They were around the same age, but the difference in their chakra reserves was obvious. Moreover, Rasa was a powerful Kekkei Genkai shinobi.

Logically, taking down Shikaku should have been easy.

Yet Rasa had been fooled repeatedly by the Clone Technique, the Substitution Technique, and various inexplicable applications of shadows, unable to inflict any substantial harm on Shikaku.

And besides...

Rasa looked at Shikaku, who kept gesturing at something with his hands, and snapped angrily, "You bastard... you dare lose focus while fighting me?!"

From the corner of his eye, Shikaku watched the battle between Chiyo and Kaminazuki, a bitter smile tugging at his lips.

"I don't want to either... but that guy needs me."

"Explaining it would be troublesome. Use your brain and think it through."

This was not Kaminazuki's usual trash talk to mock Chiyo. It was a code phrase the two of them had agreed on.

When Kaminazuki said those words, it meant they had encountered an enemy who was difficult to handle and needed Shikaku to devise a plan.

Kaminazuki had long since told Shikaku his own information. He would also take the initiative to gather intelligence on the enemy for Shikaku, who would formulate the countermeasures.

Shikaku's brain raced at full capacity. Chiyo's every minute movement flashed through his mind—the frequency of her fingertips, the tone of her voice...

Suddenly, he looked at Kaminazuki, who had been forced into a corner by the two puppets, and shouted.

"Done!!"

What was that brat shouting about...?

Chiyo did not understand, but she continued controlling her puppets to suppress Kaminazuki in an orderly manner. In her judgment, she would exhaust Kaminazuki's strength and capture him within a few minutes.

Suddenly—

Her expression changed drastically as vibrations ran through the chakra threads.

Crack, crack, crack—

A teeth-grating sound of shattering rang out. Chiyo's narrow eyes widened in utter shock.

Kaminazuki's slender fingers had gripped the Ox-Horn Puppet's iron fist—and actually squeezed the refined iron fist out of shape!

This...

This was one of the sturdiest puppets, entrusted with guard duty!

"That took too long... I was almost unable to keep acting."

Crash!!

Kaminazuki's arm erupted with immense force, yanking the Ox-Horn Puppet before him, then...

He brought his blade down!!

Without the slightest delay, he cut it cleanly in half at the waist!!!

—

Throwing aside the puppet's upper half, Kaminazuki turned his head toward Chiyo, a grim smile curling across his lips.

"I just heard... whose masterpiece was this again?"

"Pretty ordinary."