"Not good!"
The tall Sunagakure ninja's expression changed drastically. He hurriedly raised a hand, gathering a sand shield around himself. "Sand Release: Sand Wall Defense!"
A thick sand wall instantly formed before him, but the gale sweeping toward him was far stronger than he had anticipated. The sand wall lasted only half a second before shattering with a bang, and the remaining wind pressure slammed viciously into his body.
Pfft!
The tall Sunagakure ninja staggered back several steps. His blood and chakra churned in his chest, and he could not help letting out a muffled groan. A trace of blood seeped from the corner of his mouth, while the chakra fluctuations around him became noticeably disordered.
"Captain!"
The puppet master ninja on the left panicked at the sight. He wanted to break away and support him, but Aoba's Shadow Clone Technique had him tightly pinned down, leaving him no way to escape. He could only roar, "Hold steady! We'll restrain him together and exhaust his chakra!"
The projectile ninja in the smoke on the right had already figured out the clone's rhythm. Using the smoke as cover, he silently circled behind it and called out coldly, "It's over!"
Several poisoned shuriken flew soundlessly from the smoke, coming from extremely tricky angles and targeting the Shadow Clone's blind spot from behind. They were so fast that only afterimages remained.
But Aoba's Shadow Clone had long since seen through everything with the original body's Sharingan-based prediction. It suddenly twisted aside, flawlessly avoiding every projectile. At the same time, it gathered wind blades with a backhand motion and swept them precisely into the depths of the smoke. "I already predicted this. Your sneak attack is meaningless."
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Dense wind blades pierced through the thick smoke and struck the projectile ninja's protective