Three days later, at the border of the Land of Rain.
The environment was as gloomy and damp as ever. The unending drizzle seemed eternal, soaking the already muddy ground until it became a dark-brown mire.
The air was thick with the rusty stench of blood. The earthy smell mingled with the nauseating odor of some unknown, rotting plant.
Raindrops struck the ninjas' Forehead Protectors and cold Kunai, making a monotonous, oppressive sound.
Led by Tsunade, one of the Konoha Sannin, an elite squad on its way to reinforce the Sunagakure battlefield was moving at incredible speed through the low-lying woods.
Their destination was the Sunagakure battlefield ahead, where the fighting was deadlocked and Konoha Ninja were suffering from the deadly poison Chiyo had developed.
Tsunade's blonde ponytail swayed in the rain. Behind her followed Dan Katō, the last elite Jōnin of the Kato Clan, who was skilled in Sensory Ninjutsu and the soul secret technique, Spirit Transformation Technique, along with several experienced Konoha Special Jōnin.
"Jōnin Katō, check our surroundings. I have a bad feeling about this."
Tsunade's voice cut through the rain, heavy with solemn authority that brooked no argument.
Dan Katō formed the Tiger Seal and closed his eyes. His invisible chakra perception spread outward like ripples from a pebble dropped into a still lake.
A moment later, his eyes flew open and his pupils contracted.
"Lady Tsunade! At the nine o'clock direction, a hundred and fifty meters away! There are a large number of unusual chakra signatures. They're Sunagakure Ninja! At least twenty of them!"
"Damn it! Take cover! An attack is coming!"
His warning rang out like thunder in the night, but just as sound could never outrun light, he was still a step too late!
"Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!"
"Secret Technique: Manipulated Tools: Poison Needle Senbon!"
"Ninja Art: Sand Shower Barrage!"
"..."
Before Dan Katō had finished speaking, several fierce attacks erupted.
A violent gale swept up mud and sheets of water, blocking the Konoha Ninja's vision. A dense rain of poisoned Senbon and sand projectiles ripped through the air with sharp whistles.
The attacks pierced the rain and shattered the trees between the two sides, hurtling toward Tsunade and the others like cannonballs.
"Spread out! Take out the puppeteers first!"
Tsunade barked, instantly entering battle mode.
She threw a punch. Her Super Strength, wrapped in savage chakra, slammed into the ground and raised a wall of water and mud, blocking most of Sunagakure's first wave of attacks.
The other members of the Konoha elite squad reacted quickly as well, each using their own methods to block or dodge the remaining attacks.
But with the advantage of surprise, Sunagakure's carefully planned ambush was naturally not going to be that simple.
Seeing the Konoha formation thrown into disarray, more than a dozen figures immediately split up the battlefield. A mass of puppets surrounded Tsunade, precisely severing her connection with the other Konoha Ninja.
The puppets came in all shapes and sizes, but the weapons on their joints all glimmered with a dark purple sheen. They were poisoned!
Outnumbered, the Konoha Ninja soon fell into a disadvantage. Many were wounded, and though no one had been lost yet, the situation was far from hopeful.
Suddenly, a white puppet with feminine features and a pair of swords rushed toward Dan Katō, who was locked in combat with a Sunagakure Ninja using a secret sand-controlling technique.
"Puppet Technique: Assault!"
"That's... Granny Chiyo! Katō, watch out!"
Tsunade caught sight of the scene and was frantic with worry. She tried to turn back and help, but more than a dozen puppets controlled by several Sunagakure elite Jōnin held her fast.
Her opponents avoided a direct clash with Tsunade. They relied on their puppets' poison and a vast array of poisoned ninja tools to block her path, all to buy time.
Facing the white puppet charging at him, Dan Katō moved nimbly, dodging and weaving. The Kunai in his hand flashed coldly as he precisely parried the puppet's powerful twin-blade strikes.
He wasn't particularly skilled at Taijutsu. His specialty, Spirit Transformation Technique, was powerful, but in a close-quarters encounter—or an ambush requiring split-second reactions amid a chaotic battle—he had no chance to use it.
As he dodged, he tried to draw fire away from Tsunade and ease the pressure on her. But in the next moment, the Kunai that had parried several of the white puppet's strikes finally gave way under the strain, chakra reinforcement notwithstanding. The blade cleaved it in two—and cut Dan Katō in half as well!
"Pfft!"
There was no sound of a blade biting into flesh. Only two chunks of deadwood fell on either side of the long sword.
"Substitution Technique. I made it!"
Just as Dan Katō was congratulating himself on dodging the fatal blow, a severed puppet arm suddenly moved.
"Secret Technique: Limb Tip Bayonet!"
The enemy's voice was mixed with the wind, rain, and the explosions of ninjutsu, but it boomed in Dan Katō's ears like thunder.
Tsunade and the others whipped around, their eyes wide with horror.
A sharp spike, smeared with purple-black liquid and glinting with a metallic sheen, shot from the end of a puppet arm. Moving far faster than the puppet had before, it lunged like a beast released from its cage. In the instant after Dan Katō had used the Substitution Technique and thought he'd escaped with his life, it plunged precisely and viciously into his abdomen!
Time seemed to freeze.
Dan Katō's body stiffened. His eyes filled with disbelief as he stared down at his abdomen and the spike buried deep inside him. Purple-black blood seeped from the wound, tainted by poison, and the skin around it was already turning gray.
The adrenaline flooding his body quickly suppressed the pain, but numbness washed over him like a tide, robbing him of all strength.
"Pfft!"
Dan Katō couldn't stop himself from spitting out blood. His body staggered out of his control, as if he might collapse at any moment.
"Katō!"
Tsunade let out an enraged roar. Her chakra burst forth violently, and her Super Strength Fist, combined with Uzumaki Style Taijutsu, unleashed destructive force that pulverized every puppet hemming her in. The puppets' shattering was clearly audible.
She rushed toward Dan Katō without a thought for her own safety.
But Sunagakure's attack did not stop. Granny Chiyo, controlling the two puppets Crow and Sanshōuo, flashed a cruelly triumphant look and sharply curled her fingers.
"Click, click!"
"Secret Technique: Crisis at a Hair's Breadth!"
The three puppet arms and two puppet legs scattered across the area also shot out poisoned spikes, just like the first puppet arm. Then they stabbed into Dan Katō!
His body was like a kite with its strings cut. The force of the five spikes sent him toppling backward, and purple-black poisoned blood poured out.
"No!"
Tsunade reached Dan Katō and pulled the puppet limbs from his body one by one, crushing them. After injecting him with a general-purpose antidote, she began treating his wounds with the Mystical Palm Technique.
"Hmph. He's so badly injured that even the Sage of Six Paths couldn't save him! We've accomplished our mission. Let's retreat!"
Granny Chiyo sneered, then ordered the Sunagakure Ninja to withdraw.
The other Konoha Ninja quickly formed a circle with their backs to Tsunade and Dan Katō, remaining alert in case Sunagakure returned.
Tsunade knelt in the mud, pressing both hands at once against Dan Katō's heavily bleeding wound. Brilliant green medical chakra, brimming with vitality, lit up at once, like a firefly in the darkness, and surged desperately toward the mortal wound!
Additional notes:
After Spirit Transformation Technique is successfully performed, puppeteers with only physical attacks have no way to hit the spirit. The user's body is also somewhere the puppeteer can't see.
Puppeteers need to focus on controlling their puppets. Even the slightest distraction can make a puppet go out of control and expose a fatal opening. The technique is practically tailor-made to counter puppeteers.
That's why this Sunagakure ambush was aimed at Dan Katō from the start.
And then there's Granny Chiyo using the Crow puppet.
In the original story, Sasori showed extraordinary talent for puppetry after his parents died, and developed Crow and Black Ant as a child. So I've given Crow to Granny Chiyo here.
As for Kankuro's Crisis at a Hair's Breadth... isn't that a standard puppet technique for the Crow puppet?
Before you continue