"Boom—!"
"..."
Even without the control abilities of Yin Release, with the support of Fire Control and Lightning Manipulation, Uchiha Mo barely managed to use Dark Release: Red Scorch with his feet! Although it was less powerful than when he used his hands, Dark Release's characteristics perfectly made up for that!
At the same time, dense black light instantly ignited along Futsunomitama's gleaming blade!
Chiyo was battle-hardened and exceptionally familiar with a puppet master's weaknesses, so she kept a close watch on her chakra threads. The puppets had not swarmed him all at once because their positions had to account for one another's backs.
Mo suddenly bent sharply at the waist. The next moment, the ox-headed puppet's heavy fist struck empty air again, grazing his clothes. Yet just as he prepared to rise and counterattack, the several puppets maintained their formation and began retreating at high speed.
Mo frowned slightly and rose to look. The chakra threads in Chiyo's hands had already been stretched nearly a hundred meters. Though she could extend them farther with her strength, the longer they were, the easier they would be to cut, especially on a chaotic battlefield.
"You think you can leave without leaving your life behind?"
Uchiha Mo raised his ninja blade, pushed off the ground, and rapidly chased after Chiyo!
On the other side, Orochimaru stared at the retreating Sand Ninja and gave the order as well. "Pursue!"
If they withdrew without forcing the Sand Ninja out of the Land of Fire, then this battle would have been meaningless. Naturally, Orochimaru understood that.
In the original timeline, the Battle of Kikyo Pass had created many war orphans. Those children were very likely the result of the Sand Ninja destroying and plundering villages within the Land of Fire during their retreat.
Chapter 79: Biting at Their Heels
Across the flat plains, the Sand Ninja raced ahead at full speed, while the Hidden Leaf ninja clung tightly to their tails behind them.
Mo watched Chiyo steadily pull farther ahead within the Sand Ninja forces and frowned slightly. He held Futsunomitama in a reverse grip between two fingers, then raised both hands and formed a cross-shaped hand seal before his chest.
"Shadow Clone Technique."
"Bang!"
Smoke burst open, and a shadow clone appeared beside Mo.
Without exchanging a word, the two slowed down at the same time. The shadow clone shifted his footing slightly, stopped behind Mo's original body, and crossed his arms before him. Mo then leaped into the air, bending his knees slightly.
"Bang!"
Mo planted both feet on the shadow clone's crossed arms and kicked hard. With a thunderous blast, the immense force sent his body soaring into the air above the Sand Ninja like a cannonball!
Having completed its mission, the shadow clone exploded into white smoke. Mo, meanwhile, gripped Futsunomitama tightly as he stared at the Sand Ninja below.
Holding his breath and focusing, chakra surged as dense black light swiftly flooded the gleaming blade!
"Boom!"
Mo crashed down into the center of the Sand Ninja force, sending both people and dust flying. His expression tightened as he swung Futsunomitama fiercely.
"Red Scorch: Severing Void Wave!"
A disk of pitch-black flames, crackling with violent arcs of electricity, instantly exploded outward with Mo at its center!
"Splurt—!"
The dust was instantly blown away by powerful chakra. The black disk burst open, slicing countless Sand Ninja and puppets cleanly in half. Before blood could even splash, it evaporated in the heat. Amid the chaotic, shrill screams, white flames suddenly ignited from the severed wounds of the Sand Ninja and puppets.
Then...
"Boom—!"
Within nearly ten meters around Mo, a raging inferno suddenly erupted!
The white flames instantly surged several meters high, then completed the entire burning process and went out in the blink of an eye. The screams abruptly ceased, leaving behind nothing but ash scattered across the ground...
Mo slowly sheathed his blade and stood up. Standing in the open space amid the Sand Ninja, he exhaled slowly, his sharp eyes falling upon the surrounding crowd.
The Sand Ninja halted, each of them slowly backing away as panic appeared on their pale faces.
"T-Too terrifying! The Blood Ninja..."
"W-What kind of Fire Release is that?! White flames... They turned people to ash in an instant!"
On the other side, everyone erupted with excitement. Seeing this, the Uchiha Clan members laughed and shouted:
"Beautifully done, Mo!"
"Did you see that? This is the greatest genius of our Uchiha Clan!"
"Mo! Hold them back! We'll be there to help you soon—we'll leave none of these sand bugs alive!"
Mo silently stared at the Sand Ninja before him. Neither the enemies' fear nor his clansmen's praise showed the slightest change in his expression.
"Sigh—"
Amid an elderly sigh, Chiyo slowly emerged from the crowd. She stared at the youth before her, her expression turning grave.
"The First Heavy Puppet Unit will stay behind with this old woman to cover the retreat. Everyone else, continue withdrawing!"
The aged flower of the Sand Ninja understood that unless they paid a greater price, it would be difficult to leave today. To preserve as much of the village's remaining strength as possible, she had no choice but to personally stay behind and cover the retreat.
Chiyo held extremely high prestige among the Sand Ninja. Thus, the moment her words fell, the originally panicked Sand Ninja force completed its adjustment in an instant.
A group of ninja with similar painted patterns on their faces quickly separated from the main force and moved to the rear, while the remaining Sand Ninja continued fleeing into the distance at full speed.
Uchiha Mo stared at Chiyo before him, paying no attention whatsoever to the fleeing Sand Ninja.
Meanwhile, because of Mo's actions, the Uchiha Clan accelerated and reached the front of the formation. Fugaku glanced back at Orochimaru, then gave a loud order.
"Uchiha, stay and assist Mo!"
Orochimaru immediately added, "The rest of you, continue the pursuit with me!"
"Yes!" ×n
Once the two orders had been given, the Hidden Leaf forces split apart in an orderly fashion. The Uchiha Clan, following Fugaku's lead, took the initiative to face the Sand Ninja rear guard, while Orochimaru led the remaining ninja around from the other side and continued chasing the main Sand Ninja force.
"Boom—"
Amid a dull explosion of burning, Futsunomitama was once again saturated in dense black light.
"Hidden Leaf truly is lucky... Its geniuses are as numerous as the sand in the desert..."
Chiyo once again took out the summoning scroll for the "Chikamatsu Ten Puppets"... no, it should now be called the Chikamatsu Nine Puppets. Looking at the cold-faced youth before her, she could not help but sigh over Hidden Leaf's good fortune.
"Lucky?"
Mo gave a mocking smile, and his figure vanished from the spot with a swish.
When he reappeared, Mo was already before Chiyo. He gripped his ninja blade and slashed fiercely toward her head!
The blade whistled down. Chiyo abruptly raised her right hand, and a blue chakra shield immediately formed over it, tightly protecting her behind it.
"Puppet Technique: Mechanical Light Shield Block!"
Chiyo's right hand had been converted into a puppet, allowing her to use this defensive technique exclusive to puppets.
At the same time, Chiyo's left hand trembled. A puppet wearing a pale blue one-eyed mask suddenly rose above the shield. It opened the mechanism in its mouth toward Uchiha Mo, revealing a black cannon barrel within, and rapidly began gathering energy.
"Buzz—!"
"Scrreeech—!"
Futsunomitama struck the shield with a piercing sound. The blue chakra light shield trembled continuously, but it still did not break. At that moment, the puppet's chakra cannon had finished charging, and several other white puppets emerged one after another from the summoning scroll.
Mo frowned and abruptly raised his left hand toward the puppet gathering dense white light in midair. Dazzling lightning instantly erupted.
"Shriek—!"
"Splurt—!"
The black light was incomparably swift, piercing through the puppet's head from its cannon barrel almost at the very instant before the mouth cannon fired!
"Whoosh!"
Before he could think further, a fierce gust suddenly came from beside him. Mo instantly withdrew his technique, braced with his foot, and leaped backward. The next moment, a pair of black fists smashed a shallow crater into the spot where he had just stood!
"Boom—!"
Another puppet had been scrapped. Chiyo looked darkly at the youth standing not far before her.
The puppets damaged by his techniques would instantly burn to ash. Even if Chiyo wished to repair them later, it would be useless. In other words, two peak puppets crafted by Monzaemon, the founder of puppet masters, had now been completely destroyed...
"I already knew this brat's techniques were strange. I didn't expect him to launch such attacks without relying on his ninja blade... What a troublesome ability..."
Mo landed and steadied himself, looking at Chiyo. A trace of impatience had already appeared on his calm face.
"Enough, old woman. I'm starting to get tired of this game."
Chapter 80: The Withering Flower of Shinobi! Uchiha's Dream
As soon as he finished speaking, Mo formed another cross-shaped seal before him.
Then...
"Bang!"
"Bang!"
"Bang!"
Three shadow clones appeared behind Mo amid bursting smoke.
Chiyo had clearly studied how to deal with powerful swordsmen. The positions of the puppets she controlled were exceptionally deliberate. Though they seemed scattered, the chakra threads behind every puppet were actually within one another's defensive range.
Although Mo had destroyed two of Chiyo's puppets with Dark Release's formidable properties and his exquisite swordsmanship, if this deadlock continued, there was no telling how long they would be entangled in battle.
Mo hated this kind of fight, so even if he had to use shadow clones—which he rarely used in frontal combat—he intended to end this quickly.
"This is bad..."
Chiyo frowned slightly. With her superb puppet control, she could make multiple puppets watch over one another, thereby avoiding the restraint that swordsmanship specialists posed to puppet masters. But if the number of opponents increased, then this tactic would clearly fall short.
"Go!"
At the command, the four Uchiha Mos all drew their straight blades and charged out!
Chiyo's fingers trembled as she sent out eight puppets despite herself. At the same time, she extended a chakra thread from her index finger and hooked it lightly, pulling another summoning scroll from her Ninja Tool Pouch.
"Bang!"
The scroll unfolded, and a male puppet with orange hair and a female puppet with brown hair were suddenly summoned.
Although two puppets from the Chikamatsu Ten Puppets had been destroyed, that had also freed up two of Chiyo's fingers.
On the other side, the Ox-Heaven Guardian Puppet and the Blue-Faced Steel Cable Puppet took the initiative to target Uchiha Mo's original body.
Mo rushed in close. The Ox-Heaven Puppet neither dodged nor evaded, instead thrusting both hands toward Mo. Its hands rapidly transformed and extended in midair. In an instant, its arms became a cage of white metal bones, tightly enclosing Mo within.
Then, the puppet opened its mouth toward the cage inside, revealing four cannon barrels within!
At the same time, the Blue-Faced Puppet instantly spat out massive amounts of steel cable at Mo's side. Whistling through the air, the cables rapidly slipped through the gaps in the cage and wrapped around Mo's body!
"Red Scorch: Severing Void Wave!"
Mo calmly spoke a few words. The disk of inky sword aura instantly exploded outward!
"Splurt—!"
"Splurt—!"
Fragments scattered everywhere! The Ox-Heaven Puppet was instantly sliced apart. As white flames ignited over its body, they also fiercely spread along the steel cables of the Blue-Faced Puppet that had been severed!
Mo reversed his blade into a backhand grip and continued charging forward!
However, before he could take two steps, a strange mechanical sound of turning gears suddenly rang out. Immediately after, several steel wires tightened less than half a meter in front of Mo!
"Puppet Manipulation: One Mind, One Body!"
Only then did Mo notice that two puppets had appeared at his sides at some unknown time. Since their wires had been drawn out long and left drooping on the ground, Mo, who had been focused on the battle before him, had failed to notice them.
Only when Mo began charging forward, with his vision obscured by puppet fragments, did they suddenly reveal their killing intent.
The steel wires gleamed coldly and looked exceptionally sharp. They had already reached within inches of Mo's neck! He could even faintly see the white currents of air being sliced apart around the wires!
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