This Round, Everyone's a Sneaky One!

In the blink of an eye between life and death, the Sunagakure ninja seemed to have already glimpsed his own demise.

His eyes widened, yet his body ceased its struggle, and Yuhi Shinku swung the kunai in his hand, ready to end his life.

Whoosh!

At the critical moment, a sound of air being torn apart rang out, originating from behind Yuhi Shinku.

"Got you." There was no one else who could jump out to ambush him at this moment but that Sunagakure jonin.

The humanoid puppet sliced through the air with such speed that even a jonin would find it difficult to dodge, and Yuhi Shinku, a jonin who specialized in genjutsu, was naturally no exception.

Although he had twisted his body with all his might the moment he sensed something was wrong, he was still too slow compared to a prepared Sunagakure elite jonin and a speed-type puppet.

The blades attached to the puppet were exceptionally sharp and coated in poison; even the slightest scratch meant that unless one was a medical expert proficient in detoxification like Tsunade, they would have to rely on their own willpower and constitution to keep fighting.

But by then, the poisoned ninja would face worsening toxins, a constantly declining state, and a relentless barrage of attacks from various poisoned weapons.

Yuhi Shinku did not dodge the ambush; the puppet's poisoned blade grazed his waist and abdomen, leaving a deep wound while simultaneously introducing the toxin.

The corner of the Sunagakure elite jonin's mouth curled up. Is this the famous genjutsu jonin of Konoha? He's nothing special; since he failed to dodge the ambush, his ninja career ends here.

However, before the Sunagakure elite jonin's smile could fully bloom, it suddenly froze.

With a pop, the Yuhi Shinku he had successfully ambushed exploded, leaving behind a cloud of white smoke.

A Shadow Clone Technique? How could it be a Shadow Clone? I've been staring at him ever since this Yuhi Shinku appeared! So what is going on?

The Sunagakure jonin's thoughts raced. He was certain that right under his nose, Yuhi Shinku had never created a clone.

Could it be genjutsu? That was even more impossible; how could he, hiding in the shadows, be targeted by genjutsu?

As these thoughts swirled, a terrible realization suddenly dawned on the elite jonin.

"Damn it, run! Get out of here!" With a roar, the elite jonin ignored his other teammates and immediately used the Body Flicker Technique, preparing to escape the inn through the hole blasted open by the earlier ninjutsu.

Unfortunately, it was far too late to react now.

"Got you."

Forming a single-handed seal, Yuhi Shinku, who had appeared outside at some unknown time, revealed a hint of joy in his eyes. At his feet lay the previously incapacitated Konoha spy.

Following the manipulation of chakra fluctuations, the trap he had set early on was triggered.

With a series of deafening roars, a continuous chain of explosions erupted within Yuhi Shinku's room.

It was Explosive Tags. Long before the Sunagakure ninjas arrived, Yuhi Shinku had set an Explosive Tag trap in the room.

Upon confirming that the Sunagakure elite jonin was indeed the real body, he detonated the trap using the chakra he had pre-attached to the tags.

Watching the explosions in the inn and glancing at the spy at his feet, Yuhi Shinku lowered his eyelids. In truth, the trap could have been detonated before that guy destroyed his Shadow Clone, which would have been more effective, but this spy, who claimed to possess vital intelligence, likely wouldn't have survived the aftermath of such an explosion.

Since this guy was the very person his squad was tasked to extract, Yuhi Shinku had chosen to take the risk.

He didn't linger on the spy, nor did he ask about the intelligence; if the guy had wanted to, he would have blurted it out while he was screaming earlier.

Ignoring the man's petty schemes, Yuhi Shinku observed the inn that had just endured the wave of explosions.

"Tsk, not dead? What a waste of the trap I meticulously prepared for you." Sensing a fluctuation of chakra, Yuhi Shinku sighed with feigned helplessness.

Indeed, despite being caught squarely by the Explosive Tag trap, the Sunagakure elite jonin was still alive. Though he looked quite disheveled, he hadn't sustained a single scratch.

However, while he was physically unharmed, his expression was far from pleasant.

The reason was simple: although he had survived unscathed, his puppet was...

Under the barrage of the Explosive Tags, he had used three puppets to shield himself, allowing him to survive intact.

While those three puppets were valuable, they were merely ordinary ones.

What pained him was the puppet he had been controlling to ambush Yuhi Shinku's Shadow Clone, which he hadn't had time to retrieve.

Setting aside the value of the puppet, the most important thing was that it had been his greatest trump card.

It is well known that a puppeteer's combat strength largely depends on the power of their puppets, and unfortunately, a large part of why this Sunagakure ninja had become an elite jonin was due to that destroyed puppet.

"Damn Konoha ninja, damn Yuhi Shinku, unforgivable!"

Two more puppets appeared by his side, and the Sunagakure jonin controlled them, charging straight at Yuhi Shinku.

In the corner, two figures lurked sneakily in the dark, but what they didn't notice was that three small figures were quietly creeping up behind them.

Genjutsu: Hell Viewing Clone.

Genjutsu: Triple Cherry Blossom.

Here, the two jonin from Konoha and Sunagakure began their final duel.

The clash between genjutsu and puppets was not as spectacular as one might imagine.

Puppets, being inanimate objects, were completely unaffected by genjutsu. To achieve victory, Yuhi Shinku had to find a way to get close to the puppeteer's real body; only then could he use his signature genjutsu to secure a win in one stroke.

The Sunagakure puppeteer was no fool and would never easily grant Yuhi Shinku such an opportunity.

Thus, in the stalemate, both were waiting—waiting for what? Naturally, for their teammates to launch an ambush.

The earlier Explosive Tag trap had targeted only the Sunagakure elite jonin, so his two teammates, though injured to varying degrees, had managed to survive the aftermath.

As for the other one, he had already fallen for Yuhi Shinku's genjutsu; if he had managed to survive that, Yuhi Shinku might as well hand in his jonin title.

Under the cover of night, the two Sunagakure ninjas concealed their presence, hiding in the shadows of the corners and watching the battlefield of the two jonin. Once they found an opening, they would strike like rattlesnakes hidden in the sand, dealing a heavy blow to the enemy and creating the most favorable opportunity for their captain.