Capture the Flag

Hmm, these three brats were really quite skilled. They had actually forced her to use four puppets! Akasuna Hideki clicked her tongue inwardly. This was already close to her limit.

Hidan was still locked in a struggle with "White Impermanence," but White Impermanence no longer looked as imposing as before. Its hat had been knocked off, its white robes were tattered, the mourning staff in its hand had been reduced to half a length, and it was covered in wounds.

"Black Impermanence" was not doing much better. Its clothes had been completely corroded away by Fanzhizhang's Boil Release, exposing the wooden structure beneath. The soul-hooking chain in its hand had also lost its metallic sheen. It would probably need to be polished again after this fight.

"Horse Face," on the other hand, had not suffered much damage. It was still tightly bound beside the flagpole by the Blue Crystal Coiling Dragon, and Wuzhong Pheobe clearly had no intention of releasing it anytime soon. After all, the fewer puppets involved in the fight, the more advantageous it was for their flag-capturing team. She had no idea what material that blue crystal was made from, but Horse Face could not break free at all.

The puppet confronting Wuzhong Pheobe was "Ox Head," one of Akasuna Hideki's combat puppets that specialized in offense. Faced with Pheobe's Crystal Release attacks, Ox Head met them head-on, raising its horns without the slightest hesitation. For now, the two sides were evenly matched.

Akasuna Hideki took out her last remaining scroll and considered whether to use her final two puppets. A puppeteer's strength was judged by the number of puppets they could control. The strongest puppeteer in the village was Akasuna Hideki's grandmother—Chiyo—who could control ten puppets. Second was her husband, Akasuna Guimu, who could control eight. Akasuna Hideki ranked third and could control six. But the question was, did she really need to use the Six-Finger Technique against three children who had just graduated from the Ninja Academy?

The performance of these three children had already satisfied her greatly. She even felt that they were nearly at Chunin level. What they lacked was only real combat experience and technique. Given time, all three would surely become great talents!

Thinking of this, Akasuna Hideki put the last scroll back into her clothes. She silently made up her mind. Just four. If they could win, then they would pass!

At that moment, the evenly matched battle changed. The one who broke the deadlock was Hidan.

He leaped back repeatedly to leave the battle circle, tossed the Triple-Bladed Scythe aside, and pulled out two Damascus Steel knuckle dusters from his pocket. (As the Kazekage's disciple, he naturally picked the best equipment.) As he slowly put them on, he said,

"Teacher Akasuna Hideki, I'm sorry. The sun's about to set, and I still have to go home for dinner. Forgive me. Eight Gates, First Gate, Gate of Opening—open!"

"Gate of Healing—open!"

"Gate of Life—open!"

"Gate of Pain—open!"

When they looked at Hidan again after he opened four gates in succession, his face was flushed red, his eyes flashed like lightning, and chakra surged wildly around his entire body.

"Ah!" Hidan shouted. His speed became too fast for the naked eye to follow. His fists pounded "White Impermanence" like hailstones! At first, White Impermanence could still raise its arms to block, but before long, its arms were shattered.

Hidan's movements could not be seen, only a blur of afterimages. Yet they could hear the rapid chopping sounds like rain striking leaves. In the blink of an eye, White Impermanence, made of hard wood, was dismantled into pieces at a visible speed.

Before Akasuna Hideki could even react, Hidan flashed to the flagpole and delivered a sweeping kick.

"Crack!" The ten-meter-tall flagpole fell in response.

Hidan struggled to tear down the flag, waved it at Akasuna Hideki, then collapsed headfirst.

Without a word, Wuzhong Pheobe rushed forward to check on him and immediately cast Palm Healing Jutsu on Hidan's chest.

"He's fine. It's just the backlash from the technique. He's only exhausted." (After all, Hidan was still young and not nearly as monstrous as he would be later. Passing out for a while was perfectly normal.)

Only then did Akasuna Hideki feel relieved after hearing Pheobe's explanation.

Before long, Hidan slowly woke up. Holding the red flag in his hand, he smugly showed it off to everyone.

"You really are reckless, kid. You opened four gates the moment you started fighting. It would be strange if you didn't pass out." Having participated in the Triumphant Valley Ambush, Hideki naturally knew Mike Dai.

She then looked at the ruined "White Impermanence" and said helplessly, "It was beaten into scrap. Forget it, I'll pick out some useful parts and put together another one when I get back."

As she spoke, she took out a scroll. "Poof!" "Poof!" Two bursts of white smoke appeared, revealing two combat puppets more than three meters tall. One wore golden helmet and armor, held a mountain-splitting axe, and had the words "Sun Patrol Deity" written across its chest. The other wore silver helmet and armor, held a demon-subduing vajra, and had the words "Night Patrol Deity" written across its chest.

Night Patrol Deity walked up to Horse Face and struck the coiling dragon wrapped around its body with its vajra. In an instant, the crystal dragon turned to powder.

Sun Patrol Deity gathered the remains of White Impermanence, bit by bit placing them into a blank scroll.

Clearly, these two puppets looked stronger than the previous four in both offense and defense. Only then did Hidan and the other two understand that Akasuna Hideki had held back during the earlier battle. If all six puppets had attacked together, the three of them would undoubtedly have lost.

"All right, to celebrate the three of you officially becoming ninjas, I've decided to treat everyone to hot pot!"

"Awesome!"

"It wasn't easy, wasn't easy. How did you manage to catch him?" Keiko looked through the one-way glass at White Zetsu, who was stuffed inside a leather sack and suspended in midair, and praised them from the bottom of his heart.

"This is the treasure of our Ken'en Mound—Leather Wonton. If I hadn't happened to carry it with me, he would have escaped long ago. But once someone is trapped by this treasure of mine, no matter how extraordinary their abilities are, they can't get away." Buck spoke proudly.

"Oh, what a fine treasure, what a fine treasure. There'll be plenty of chicken-blood tofu for you later." Keiko repeatedly gave Buck a thumbs-up. After hearing Tsunade's description, Keiko had been deeply frightened. Fortunately, before leaving, he had secretly asked Buck to protect Nawaki and Tsunade. Otherwise, who knew what the outcome would have been?

"So what should we do with this guy?" Tsunade looked at White Zetsu with barely concealed excitement.

"What, you want to slice him up again? No rush, no rush. I'll interrogate him first." Keiko said.

"There's something else." Keiko took out a small notebook.

"Take a look. Is this Madara Uchiha's handwriting?"

"I've never seen Madara Uchiha's handwriting. If we want to verify it, we'll have to return to Konoha's archives." Tsunade took the notebook and looked through it. Then she suddenly realized something.

"You saw him! He really is still alive!"

"I saw him. He looked so old he barely seemed human, but it was definitely him. If it weren't for this thing, I probably would have fallen under his genjutsu and become a walking corpse." Keiko tugged at his Tiger-Gall Jade pendant.

"Let me have a look," Buck said.

Keiko quickly removed it and handed it over.

Buck carefully examined the jade pendant in his hand, then suddenly said,

"What a domineering genjutsu! Even the formation personally set up by the Great Immortal has been loosened. I need to take it back for the Great Immortal to repair, or it'll shatter next time."

"Much obliged, much obliged. When you leave, remember to take the two chickens from my villa's kitchen. They're Dawn-Crowing Golden Roosters I specially bought from the Land of Rain, meant as a tribute for my godfather. You can't buy them anywhere else." Keiko said politely.

"At least you know how to behave." Buck turned and left.

"This is impossible... During the Battle of the Valley of the End, my grandfather clearly..." Tsunade murmured.

"Dear, in the world of ninjas, nothing is impossible. The reason you think it's impossible is because you know too little." Keiko said, putting an arm around Tsunade's shoulders.