Shisui's Change, Battle Against Chiyo! / Retreat, Pursuit!

Unlocked New Ability: No Trace]

"Thud!"

Mo landed steadily. Rising to his feet, he glanced at Ebizo, who was about to turn to ash, then spoke expressionlessly:

"Kill one first."

(Reference for the feasibility of combining chakra-infused shuriken with Shadow Clones)

Shisui's Change, Battle Against Chiyo!

The Shuriken Shadow Clone Technique had originally been an A-rank ninjutsu created by the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi. Yet for some reason, the ninjutsu scroll Setsuna had given Mo clearly recorded this technique.

During his previous training, Mo had successfully learned it as well. However, as his combat style gradually took shape, ninja tools had become less and less useful to him.

But after combining Ebizo's "Wind Release: Shuriken" with a Flame Release version of Scorch Release shuriken, Mo had developed some new ideas about this technique.

However, this was still a battlefield. Mo could only set the matter aside for now. After sweeping his gaze across the battle, he turned and charged toward Chiyo!

"Shisui, I really have you to thank. Otherwise, I might have spent the rest of my life crippled." Uchiha Kazuya let out a long breath and thanked him somewhat embarrassedly.

Shisui had no mind to respond. Gripping his short sword tightly, he leaped up and dodged the downward chop of the heavy puppet's great blade. Then, he swung out a streak of flame, severing the chakra threads behind the puppet.

The puppet immediately lost strength and fell. Shisui landed on its shoulder, drove his blade into the back of its neck, and erupted Lightning Release chakra from the blade, completely destroying its internal structure.

The puppet twitched twice before breaking down completely. Only then did Shisui steady himself, turn back, and smile.

"Kazuya, it's good that you're alright."

Just now, Kazuya had been surrounded by two puppets and nearly been cleaved to death by the heavy puppet after one careless mistake. At the critical moment, Shisui had used the Body Flicker Technique to rescue Kazuya, preventing him from being injured.

As soon as he finished speaking, Shisui flickered toward the Sand Ninja attempting to take out another puppet.

Watching Shisui's back, Kazuya was momentarily dazed.

"Geniuses alike, those two brothers and that..."

"They really are too similar..."

Shisui was only seven years old now, yet the strength he displayed already rivaled that of a Special Jonin. More importantly, his combat instincts were exceptionally sharp. On Kikyo Mountain, hardly anyone could surpass his record.

Shisui moved through the battlefield like this, ensuring his own safety while also helping many clansmen, greatly reducing the Uchiha Clan's losses.

Even without Mo deliberately guiding him, Shisui had still inevitably become vastly different from his original self.

After all, the education that influenced children most was example!

Under the subtle influence of Uchiha Mo as his example, Shisui had become more concerned with the clan, more concerned with his clansmen, and more understanding of the Uchiha Clan than in the original timeline. Even though he still felt that many clansmen were too extreme and arrogant in their thinking, compared to his own older brother, those flaws seemed like nothing...

And if an older brother who appeared so cold was actually a warm-hearted person, then how cold could these clansmen really be?

"Thank you, Shisui."

"You really saved my life. Thanks, Shisui."

"Hehe~ Shisui, my girl this year also..."

"Shisui really isn't any worse than Mo was back then."

"..."

After receiving the gratitude of so many clansmen, Shisui became even more certain of his thoughts.

The Uchiha Clan was a clan filled with love. But love taken to its extreme was too soft and needed a shell to protect it. So the clansmen were merely somewhat wary of outsiders. Others simply did not understand the Uchiha Clan; there was nothing wrong with the Uchiha Clan itself!

On the other side, Fugaku was also slaughtering enemies frantically, striving to earn more merit for the Uchiha Clan.

Although Fugaku still held some unnecessary expectations toward Konoha and the Third Hokage, he was not foolish enough to bring the entire clan's strength to the battlefield and risk their lives against the Sand Ninja.

Excluding forces like the elders, who would basically never be deployed, the Uchiha Clan had a total of twenty-four Jonin within its ranks.

It might not have sounded like much, but it was actually an extremely terrifying number! At least in the current Ninja World, no ninja clan could compare to this force.

And every one of those twenty-four possessed a Three-Tomoe Sharingan. The legend of the Sharingan's superiority in one-on-one combat had been built by generations of Uchiha Jonin!

Besides that, the Uchiha Clan had six Special Jonin. They were all Uchiha who could skillfully wield the Two-Tomoe Sharingan. Whether they could become true Jonin depended only on whether they could awaken the Three-Tomoe Sharingan.

For this operation, Fugaku had brought four Jonin and three Special Jonin. The rest were Chunin, but with Fugaku himself and Uchiha Mo included, the number of Jonin reached six.

Originally, the troops Konoha had left behind should have been at a huge disadvantage against Hidden Sand's elite puppet forces. Yet because of the Uchiha Clan's additional strength, that gap had been forcibly erased.

The battle gradually reached a stalemate, until Mo entered the fight on the other side!

"Brother!"

Chiyo forced Orochimaru back and let out a mournful cry.

"Hehe~" Orochimaru let out a sinister laugh in his hoarse voice.

"Don't rush, Chiyo. You'll be going down to accompany him soon enough."

In terms of raw strength, Orochimaru was undoubtedly much stronger than Chiyo at this point. However, because of the nature of puppet masters, ordinary ninja found it difficult to pose a fatal threat to them. That was why, in the original timeline, Chiyo had been able to tenaciously survive from the Second Shinobi World War until she chose to give up her life.

Moreover, the Sand Ninja were skilled in poison, and the poison on Chiyo's puppets was exceptionally potent. Many powerful people had suffered at her hands.

But powerful swordsmen like Uchiha Mo were different. During the Second Shinobi World War, Hatake Sakumo had relied on his superb swordsmanship to establish himself as the nemesis of puppet masters.

"Damn it!"

Chiyo frowned. Though grief filled her heart, she had no choice but to reconsider the battle.

Ebizo was dead. If she were surrounded by that Blood Ninja brat and Orochimaru, she would likely be defeated before long as well. At that point, even if the puppet army held the advantage, it would be useless... Not to mention that due to the Uchiha Clan's unexpected participation, the army's advantage on the main front was no longer so obvious.

It seemed the Sand Ninja could only retreat now...

Should they retreat...

"Orochimaru! Get lost! Stop getting in the way here!"

At that moment, accompanied by a low shout, Uchiha Mo, dressed in a black high-collared robe, wore a cold expression as he gripped Futsunomitama. He dived past Orochimaru at high speed and charged straight at Chiyo.

"Hehe~ Mo-kun is as impatient as ever..."

Orochimaru chuckled softly and actually withdrew to the side. However, he did not join the battle elsewhere, merely standing at the edge to watch.

"Damn Uchiha brat! I'll make you pay for my brother's life!"

Seeing this, Chiyo no longer hesitated over the battle situation and shouted in rage filled with hatred. Her fingers flicked, and a white puppet suddenly produced a stone-like object from nowhere and hurled it fiercely at Mo!

Retreat, Pursuit!

The stone was incredibly fast, reaching Mo in almost an instant.

Then, it rapidly expanded and changed shape in an instant.

"Sealing Technique: Lion Roar!"

A massive puppet lion head opened its fanged maw and lunged savagely at Uchiha Mo!

This was a sealing technique. The fangs could not only inflict devastating piercing damage, but once the lion head bit someone, the chakra within their body would be completely sealed in an instant!

In the original timeline, Sasori had suffered from this move.

"Cheap trick."

Mo continued charging forward while raising his right hand before his chest, aiming the tip of the reverse-gripped Futsunomitama at the lion-headed puppet.

"Red Scorch: Dark Release: Spear of Radiance!"

"Screech—!"

Amid a clear eagle cry, the dense black radiance attached to Futsunomitama surged wildly!

"Pfft!"

A black spear of light suddenly pierced through the lion puppet's mouth. Mo clenched the hilt in his right hand and pulled sharply outward.

"Rip—"

The lion-headed puppet was instantly cut apart, its intricate internal mechanisms ruined. At the same time, white flames suddenly ignited from the break before flaring up violently.

"Whoosh—!"

The flames erupted, reducing the puppet to ashes in an instant.

Mo flicked his long blade, shifting from a reverse grip to a standard grip. Without slowing down, he aimed directly for Chiyo!

Chiyo frowned gravely. With a flick of both hands, seven intact white puppets and three damaged puppets swarmed toward Uchiha Mo at once.

At the same time, Chiyo spread her hands, and more than a dozen kunai linked by chakra threads floated before her.

"Manipulating Attack Blades!"

With a loud shout, the threads detached, and the kunai shot out explosively!

At the same time, Chiyo glanced at Orochimaru. Her index and middle fingers trembled slightly, and four puppets that had originally been charging toward Uchiha Mo abruptly changed direction and raced toward Orochimaru.

Then, while extending the lengths of her chakra threads, Chiyo retreated sharply and shouted:

"Sand Ninja! Retreat!"

After calmly issuing the order, she controlled the distance between them while moving toward the main force of the puppet army.

Although Ebizo's death pained Chiyo deeply, from the very beginning, she had never intended to fight Uchiha Mo to the death. The fury she displayed had only been meant to mislead the enemy.

Chiyo had lived in the Ninja World for many years and had participated in both previous world wars. Because of that, she understood more rationally than anyone that the Sand Ninja would find it difficult to gain any advantage against Konoha now.

Perhaps she had hesitated at first, vaguely feeling that they could take a risk. But after her first exchange with Uchiha Mo, Chiyo immediately changed her mind.

Under these circumstances, even if they achieved a miserable victory, their remaining forces would find it difficult to form an effective threatening force outside Konoha as originally planned, allowing them to negotiate benefits with the Third Hokage.

Since that was the case, preserving their strength was the best choice, even if that choice made this operation seem so anticlimactic, even absurd...

Damn it! I never expected the Uchiha Clan to be capable of this! They actually didn't remain behind to guard the village and instead followed a bunch of rabble to intercept us...

Chiyo cursed inwardly. She glanced back and saw that the battle lines between the Sand Ninja and Konoha were slowly separating. Only then did she let out a breath of relief.

On the other side, Uchiha Mo used Futsunomitama to deal with the incoming kunai, and eight white puppets immediately swarmed him.

Mo looked up at a bull-headed guard puppet directly ahead of him. Its fists seemed to be imbued with a special kind of chakra, and their impact was extremely powerful.

At the same time, a female puppet wielding Twin Blades and a blue-faced puppet capable of spewing steel cables to pierce and bind enemies charged in from the sides.

Mo's eyes shifted. He sidestepped a heavy straight punch from the bull-headed puppet, then took the opportunity to grab its arm with his right hand. Using the strength of his palm against the puppet's arm, he spun through the air, dodging the great blade slashing in from the side while positioning himself above the bull-headed puppet.

"Whoosh!"

With a flick of his arm, Futsunomitama slashed toward the chakra threads behind the bull-headed puppet. But the blue-faced puppet, which had long been waiting nearby, seized the moment and spat out a steel cable!

"Clang!"

The steel cable struck Mo's blade head-on, sparks flying everywhere!

The cable was instantly knocked away, while Mo's arm was jolted slightly upward. At that moment, a fierce gust of wind struck toward the side of his face again! It was the female puppet's other great blade!

"Hmph!"

Mo snorted. His right hand, which was braced against the puppet's arm, twisted, and his body turned. The great blade grazed past Mo's face and stabbed into empty air. Mo then flipped over and dropped backward, smashing his heel fiercely into the female puppet's head!

"Bang!"

Under the tremendous force, the female puppet slammed headfirst into the ground, and its entire head exploded into fragments!

Unfortunately, as the pinnacle of traditional puppetry, the Chikamatsu Ten Puppets could still fight effectively so long as their core areas were undamaged, even if parts of them were missing.

For example, the Three Treasures Puppet that Shisui had blasted away with Fire Release earlier still retained some combat strength because the core in its mouth had not been damaged.

The female puppet twitched as it tried to rise and continue fighting, but at that moment...

White flames suddenly lit up from the break in its neck, then instantly surged upward!