But that brief hesitation made him miss the best moment to control his puppets. Kawaki Aoba's Great Fireball had already struck the right puppet's elbow joint, and the gears instantly melted under the intense heat. The short blade fell to the ground with a clang.
"Everyone, attack together! His puppets are finished!"
Kawaki Aoba shouted to his companions behind him.
Two Konoha ninja were with him: Uchiha Rin, who specialized in Water Release, and Akimichi Choji, who excelled in taijutsu.
Uchiha Rin clasped her hands together, "
Blue water gathered before her into the form of a massive dragon and charged at the puppet in the center. The force of the torrent knocked the puppet to the ground, making its already sluggish movements even stiffer.
Akimichi Choji took a deep breath, and his body instantly expanded into a sphere as he rammed toward the puppet on the left. "
Human Bullet Tank!"
The puppet slid several meters across the ground from the impact before crashing into a metal support with a dull boom and completely falling apart.
The Sunagakure jonin's expression grew increasingly ugly as he watched his puppets being destroyed one after another.
Gritting his teeth, he pulled a kunai from his ninja tool pouch and threw it at Kawaki Aoba. At the same time, his left hand secretly formed seals, attempting to unleash an Earth Release ninjutsu.
Kawaki Aoba twisted aside to evade the kunai. Catching sight of the man's movements from the corner of his eye, he immediately warned, "Watch out for his Earth Release!"
The moment he finished speaking, the ground beneath the Sunagakure jonin suddenly bulged upward, and several earthen spikes shot toward them.
Uchiha Rin reacted swiftly and formed hand seals. "
Water Release: Water Wall!"
A blue wall of water rose before them.