In that split second between life and death, the Sunagakure ninja seemed to glimpse his own demise.
His eyes widened, but he stopped struggling. Yuhi Shinku raised the kunai in his hand, ready to end his life.
Whoosh!
At the critical moment, something cut through the air behind Yuhi Shinku.
Got him. The only one who could have launched a sneak attack now was Sunagakure's jonin.
A humanoid puppet tore through the air so fast that even a jonin would struggle to dodge it. Yuhi Shinku, a jonin who specialized in genjutsu, was no exception.
The instant he sensed something wrong, he twisted with all his strength to evade the attack from behind. But against a prepared Sunagakure elite jonin and his speed-focused puppet, he was still too slow.
The puppet's blades were exceptionally sharp and coated with poison. Even a slight scratch would be enough. Unless the victim was a master healer as skilled at neutralizing poisons as Tsunade, they could only rely on willpower and endurance to keep fighting.
And then the poisoned ninja would have to contend with worsening toxins, a steadily declining condition, and an unrelenting barrage of poisoned weapons.
Yuhi Shinku failed to dodge. The puppet's poisoned blade swept across his abdomen, infecting him and leaving a deep wound.
The Sunagakure elite jonin's lips curled upward. So this was Konoha's famous genjutsu jonin? He wasn't much. He'd failed to dodge my ambush, and now his career as a ninja was over.
But before the Sunagakure elite jonin's smile could fully spread, it froze.
With a pop, Yuhi Shinku, whom he had just struck, burst apart and left a cloud of white smoke behind.
A shadow clone? How could it be a shadow clone? I watched Yuhi Shinku from the moment he appeared. What was going on?
The Sunagakure jonin's thoughts raced. He was certain Yuhi Shinku had never created a clone under his watch.
Was it genjutsu? Even less likely. How could he have targeted me with genjutsu when I was hidden?
As his mind raced, a terrible possibility occurred to the elite jonin.
"No! Get out of here, now!" he roared. Abandoning his teammates, he used the Body Flicker Technique to escape the inn through the hole the ninjutsu had blasted in its wall.
Unfortunately, he had realized it far too late.
"Got you."
Yuhi Shinku, who had somehow appeared outside, formed the Tiger seal with one hand. A glint of delight entered his eyes. At his feet, the Konoha spy from earlier lay sprawled helplessly.
At the pulse of his chakra, the trap he had prepared in advance sprang into action.
Boom! Boom! Boom! A string of explosions erupted inside Yuhi Shinku's room.
Explosive Tags. Yuhi Shinku had set an Explosive Tag trap in the room before the Sunagakure ninja arrived.
Once he confirmed that the Sunagakure elite jonin was there in person, he detonated the trap using the chakra he had attached to the tags beforehand.
Yuhi Shinku watched the explosions tear through the inn, then glanced at the spy by his feet. His eyes lowered. In truth, he could have detonated the trap before the man destroyed his shadow clone. It would have been more effective, but the spy who claimed to possess vital intelligence would have had little chance of surviving the blast.
Besides, the spy was the person his squad had been sent to meet. That was why Yuhi Shinku had chosen to take the risk.
He did not linger on the spy or ask about the intelligence. If the man had wanted to reveal it, he could have done so while shouting earlier.
Ignoring the spy's schemes, Yuhi Shinku studied the inn that had just taken the full force of the Explosive Tags.
"Tch. Still alive? What a waste of the trap I went to such trouble to prepare for you." Sensing a surge of chakra, Yuhi Shinku gave what sounded like a helpless sigh.
Indeed, the Sunagakure elite jonin had survived the Explosive Tag trap. He looked battered, but there was not a scratch on his body.
His expression, however, was far from pleasant.
He himself had survived unscathed, but his puppets...
During the explosions, he had used three puppets in succession to shield himself.
Those three puppets were valuable, but they were only ordinary models.
What truly pained him was the puppet he had used to ambush Yuhi Shinku's shadow clone. He had not had time to retrieve it.
Its cost was beside the point. More importantly, it was his strongest trump card.
As everyone knew, most of a puppet master's fighting strength depended on the power of his puppets. Unfortunately for this Sunagakure ninja, that destroyed puppet was a major reason he had become an elite jonin.
"Damn Konoha ninja. Damn you, Yuhi Shinku. I'll never forgive you."
Two more puppets appeared beside the Sunagakure jonin. He sent them straight at Yuhi Shinku.
Meanwhile, two figures lurked furtively in the shadows of a corner. Neither noticed the three smaller figures quietly creeping up behind them.
Genjutsu: Hell Viewing Clone.
Genjutsu: Triple Cherry Blossom.
On the other side, the Konoha and Sunagakure jonin began their final showdown.
The clash between genjutsu and puppets was not as spectacular as one might imagine.
Puppets were lifeless objects, completely unaffected by genjutsu. To win, Yuhi Shinku had to get close to the puppet master himself. Only then could he use his specialty to secure victory in one stroke.
But the Sunagakure puppet master was no fool. He would never give Yuhi Shinku such an opening easily.
So as their standoff continued, both men waited. For what? For their teammates to launch a sneak attack, of course.
The elite jonin had been the primary target of the Explosive Tag trap. His two teammates had suffered injuries of varying severity, but they had survived the edge of the blast.
As for the other man, he had already fallen under Yuhi Shinku's genjutsu. If Yuhi Shinku still let him survive, he might as well give up his jonin title.
Under cover of night, the two Sunagakure ninja concealed their presence in the shadows of a corner and watched the jonin's battle. The moment an opening appeared, they would strike like rattlesnakes hidden in the sand, dealing the enemy a heavy blow and creating the perfect opportunity for their captain.
Before you continue