First Intimate Contact with the Puppeteer

Clang! Clang! Clang!

The sound of ninja blades colliding rang out in quick succession, accompanied by sparks flying into the air.

"Thinking that because I'm young, you can all bully me just because of the difference in our builds, huh?"

Dodging two rapidly descending slashes once more, Sen Chisato had a rough grasp of this Sand Ninja's strength. The moment the Sand Ninja swung his blade down again, he blocked with his own short sword and kicked out mid-jump.

Clang!

Bang!

The Sand Ninja was sent flying instantly, slamming hard into a half-collapsed mud wall, causing it to crumble completely.

Before the enemy could even land, the short sword in Sen Chisato's hand was already thrown, piercing the throat of the Sand Ninja as he struggled to rise.

Pfft!

The Sand Ninja's eyes widened, and he slowly slumped to the ground.

"What's the point of fighting so desperately?"

With a snort of derision, Sen Chisato landed. At that very instant, two hands suddenly erupted from the ground, grabbing his ankles and dragging him down.

Earth Style: Headhunter Jutsu!

Sen Chisato was buried into the earth, leaving only his head exposed. The surrounding soil, influenced by chakra, wrapped tightly around him; the more he struggled, the tighter the restraint became.

"It's over, brat!"

Kawatani Mori, who had been preparing for a long time and had finally succeeded, emerged from the ground and grinned hideously while brandishing his blade.

"You know, this technique is actually pretty great. I've always wanted it; I didn't expect to run into you."

Sen Chisato showed no fear. As he spoke, he twisted his head from side to side, as if testing the restraint of the technique.

"Stop struggling! If you want to blame someone, blame your own bad luck!"

Kawatani Mori raised his ninja blade. He didn't understand what the brat was talking about—he assumed it was an expression of admiration and fear—but he only wanted to kill him now and flee.

"You think you can kill me?" Sen Chisato sneered, his face full of mockery.

"Don't get cocky!" Kawatani Mori's face twisted, and his blade swung down rapidly.

Pfft!

Bang!

A puff of smoke erupted. Kawatani Mori's pupils contracted, and a bead of cold sweat rolled down his temple.

"Shadow Clone!"

"Correct."

Before he could retreat, Sen Chisato appeared quietly behind him and ran him through with a single strike.

Feeling the tearing pain in his chest, Kawatani Mori slowly looked down. "When..."

"While you were hiding behind that mud wall. Honestly, using your comrade as bait—that's truly 'ninja-like' of you."

As he pulled his blade from Kawatani Mori's body, Sen Chisato didn't hold back his sarcastic remarks.

Once the enemy fell, Sen Chisato suddenly thought of something. "Wait, I'm a 'ninja' too, so I guess that's fine."

He didn't seem to have the right to mock others, considering he had been thinking about how to handle funeral arrangements for his own "comrades" all along.

He flicked his blade to clear the blood, but just as he prepared to sheath it, an explosion rang out behind him.

Boom!

The ground shook slightly, followed immediately by the voice of Sarutobi Hakuba.

"Chisato, look out!"

Accompanied by the sound of something tearing through the air, a sense of crisis washed over him, making the hair on Sen Chisato's arms stand on end.

Without a moment's hesitation, Sen Chisato leaped into the air, spinning as he quickly formed hand seals: "Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!"

A gale swept out from his mouth in a fan shape, the powerful wind pressure blocking all incoming attacks.

This was a C-rank jutsu, but in Sen Chisato's hands, its power far exceeded the norm.

Taking advantage of this, Sen Chisato quickly widened the distance, retreating continuously the moment he landed.

Only then did he see what the sudden attack actually was—

A puppet!

Rukawa Oguri, who was controlling the puppet, turned his head to look at the corpse not far away, his expression grim.

He had finally managed to shake off that Konoha Jonin, and he had assumed Kawatani Mori and the others would be able to escape, or at least tear open the encirclement to create an opening for him. He never expected that a Jonin and a Chunin would actually be dead.

Regardless, the opponent was just a brat. Kawatani Mori was a full-fledged Jonin—even if he had only been promoted due to his Perception Technique and was relatively weak in combat, this was still inexcusable.

Hearing footsteps behind him, Rukawa Oguri didn't have time to think too much and controlled the puppet to charge toward Sen Chisato.

Seeing this, Sen Chisato drew his blade again, his face filled with speechlessness as he muttered, "Hey, hey, hey! Your comrades have already been taken out by me; why do you keep targeting me? That's going too far."

"Don't get cocky, brat! I'm not like them!" His fingers twitched constantly, and accompanied by a rhythmic "click-clack" sound, the puppet rapidly closed in on Sen Chisato.

"So fast!"

Sen Chisato exclaimed, swinging his short blade with all his might at the puppet's head.

Crack!

The puppet was knocked back by the blow, but Sen Chisato frowned.

Not only was it fast, it was tough!

His strike hadn't even left a mark on the puppet's body.

Watching the puppet charge again, Sen Chisato put some distance between them and shouted to Sarutobi Hakuba, who was rushing over from afar, "How are you even a captain if you can't handle one person, Uncle Hakuba?"

"My apologies, my apologies, but this guy is truly difficult to deal with. Don't be careless," Sarutobi Hakuba replied, looking quite embarrassed.

On the other side, Maruboshi Kosuke and Hyuga Hihi had also arrived.

Rukawa Oguri's expression turned even uglier.

This was bad!

With four people here, there was no way he could escape.

I must capture a hostage! He kept his eyes fixed on Sen Chisato.

This brat was troublesome; his speed was too high, and the puppet couldn't keep up at all.

Realizing this, Rukawa Oguri decisively changed his tactics.

Hyuga Hihi, whose Byakugan was active, had the sharpest focus and was the first to notice the change in the puppet.

"Sen Chisato, watch out for the puppet! Run!"

Click!

The sound of a mechanism echoed as the puppet's mouth suddenly opened, and countless Senbon shot out toward Sen Chisato like raindrops.

Sen Chisato didn't try to deflect them with his short blade—that would look cool, but it was a good way to die—so he quickly formed hand seals and slammed his hands onto the ground: "Earth Style: Earth Wall!"

Thud, thud, thud!

The Senbon embedded themselves into the earthen wall, some sinking in up to their bases. The needles shimmered with a dark, oily light; they were clearly coated in poison. If even one struck, the toxin would erupt instantly and claim a life.

Earth and stone flew as a layer of the wall was stripped away, but the wall's thickness exceeded Rukawa Oguri's expectations. "It didn't destroy it?"

Looking at the wall, which was twice as thick as a standard Earth Wall, sweat began to pour down Rukawa Oguri's face.

He flicked his fingers, and the puppet's limbs instantly detached and elongated, connected by wires that whipped around both sides of the wall, intending to bind Sen Chisato.

No, not just bind him.

Shing!

The puppet's limbs underwent mechanical shifts, with steel saws and large blades emerging, gleaming with a sinister, cold light.

Clearly, the guy intended to tear Sen Chisato to shreds along with the wall!

Seeing the weapons flying in from both sides out of the corner of his eye, he knew it was too late to form hand seals. His short blade couldn't possibly block them, and jumping over the top was too dangerous.

Tsk, I still know too little about puppet masters.

He was familiar with conventional ninja and had plenty of experience dealing with them, but this was his first time encountering a puppet master.

However, he wasn't without a countermeasure; he still had one card left to play.

He brought his hands together, ready to call out his technique, but someone else acted faster.

"Earth Style: Swamp of the Underworld!"

"Water Style: Water Dragon Jutsu!"

"Eight Trigrams: Palm Rotation!"