Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!
Uchiha Ran endured the dizziness brought on by the poison and swiftly formed hand seals, blasting a fierce gust of wind toward the rolling toxic mist!
Whoosh—!
The gale temporarily dispersed the poison mist before him, opening up a narrow passage.
But it also blew the mist across a wider area, affecting even more Sand ninja. Chahachiro clearly did not care—could a poison user really poison himself to death?
However, the Black Ant Puppet's toxic mist was continuously spraying out! The gap that had just been cleared was immediately filled by fresh poison mist!
"Annoying fly!"
"Hmph!"
Chahachiro snorted coldly, his fingers dancing.
Taking advantage of the instant Uchiha Ran was distracted by the toxic mist, the Salamander Puppet had already charged within striking distance!
Its enormous pincers shrieked as they tore through the air, viciously snapping toward Uchiha Ran's waist!
At the same time, its venom-coated tail hook shot out like a venomous dragon, silently stabbing toward the back of his neck from another tricky angle! Attacked from both sides and continually hampered by poison mist, he faced certain death!
"Captain!" The distant Chunin cried out, but they were tied down by the poison mist and the other Sand ninja, unable to come to his aid in time.
"Hmph, don't underestimate an Uchiha. Your secrets are all in my eyes!"
Fire Release: Phoenix Flower Claw Crimson!
Puff! Puff! Puff!
Several compressed fireballs, scorching like magma and shaped like phoenix flower seeds, shot from Uchiha Ran's mouth!
Not only were these fireballs astonishingly fast, but under the Sharingan's precise control, they traced exceptionally tricky trajectories, weaving around wreckage and flames in their way as they flew straight at the puppeteer behind cover!
"What?!"
The Jonin puppeteer was utterly shocked. He had clearly not expected Uchiha Ran to lock onto him so accurately amid such a chaotic battlefield, nor to unleash ninjutsu so quickly! He hurriedly controlled the Scorpion Puppet to return and block the attack.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The compressed fireballs slammed into the Scorpion Puppet's hard shell and exploded violently!
Though they failed to completely destroy the puppet, the enormous impact blasted it backward again and again, while the explosions disrupted its control connections into disarray.
"Now!"
Uchiha Ran moved as his thoughts commanded. With a Body Flicker Technique, he vanished from the spot, and almost the instant the blast's smoke rose, he appeared ghostlike at the side of the puppet!
Lightning Release: Chidori!!!
Bzzzz—!!!!
The piercing chorus of a thousand birds rang across the battlefield once more! Wild blue lightning instantly enveloped Uchiha Ran's right hand!
This time, Chidori's glow was even more dazzling, its arcs of electricity even more violent! He forcefully used Lightning Release chakra to stimulate his body, temporarily suppressing the poison eating away at him from multiple wounds and gaining a momentary burst of power!
Faced with the enormous pincers swinging toward him, he advanced rather than retreating. His body suddenly dipped low, narrowly allowing the pincers to sweep past the top of his head!
At the same time, the Chidori in his right hand surged forward with unflinching resolve. Instead of striking the pincers or the tail hook, it stabbed like a precise scalpel into the core node between the Salamander Puppet's chest and abdomen, laid completely bare by the Sharingan!
He was as fast as a bolt of blue lightning ripping through the night sky!
"What?!"
Kankuro's pupils contracted sharply. He had never expected Uchiha Ran, even while poisoned, to find Ibuse's weakest point so precisely and launch such a savage counterattack!
He hurriedly controlled Ibuse to defend itself, but it was already too late!
Squelch—boom!!!
Chidori's sharp lightning blade, carrying unmatched penetrating force and violent Lightning Release chakra, pierced through the Salamander Puppet's thick defensive shell without the slightest resistance!
It struck precisely at the core made of intricate chakra runes and special metal!
Blinding lightning erupted from within! The Salamander Puppet's huge body suddenly froze, followed by a series of violent explosions and the anguished screech of twisting metal from inside!
Smoke and sparks burst from its joints. The entire puppet shook violently, as though its soul had been torn away, before crashing to the ground. Its pincers and tail hook drooped limply, and it completely lost its ability to fight!
That deadly tail hook had been less than an inch from the back of Uchiha Ran's neck!
"My Ibuse!!"
Chahachiro let out a roar of anguish and rage, his face instantly turning livid.
Ibuse was one of his proudest puppets, a work by the genius puppeteer Sasori of the Red Sands, yet it had been destroyed by a single strike from his opponent!
Uchiha Ran had also reached his limit! After an entire battle, forcibly unleashing Chidori to suppress the poison, and precisely destroying Ibuse's core, he had expended an enormous amount of energy.
The poison in the wounds on his left shoulder, arm, and calf erupted together. Intense numbness and dizziness washed over him like a tide, and his vision repeatedly darkened.
He dropped to one knee, supporting himself with a kunai as he panted heavily. The Chidori lightning on his right hand flickered on and off.
"You damned brat! I'll turn you into a new puppet!"
Chahachiro was completely enraged, murder overflowing from his eyes!
No longer holding back, he rapidly formed hand seals with both hands and controlled his only remaining Black Ant Puppet, aiming every toxic mist nozzle at the visibly weakening Uchiha Ran!
At the same time, the bandages around the huge scroll on his back began to loosen, as if he were about to summon a new puppet!
Unfortunately, his talent was limited. At present, he could only control two puppets, unlike Kankuro, who would later become a Jonin and have no trouble directly controlling three.
Puppet Performance: Black Secret Technique—!
At that critical moment!
Wind Release: Vacuum Great Sphere!
Fire Release: Flame Bullet!
Several powerful Wind Release and Fire Release ninjutsu howled in from the side!
Their targets were the Black Ant Puppet and Chahachiro himself! Uchiha Ran's Chunin subordinates had finally broken through the poison mist and the Sand ninja tangling them up, rushing over to support their captain!
Boom! Boom!
The wind fed the flames as massive fireballs crashed into the Black Ant Puppet. Though they did not completely destroy it, they blasted it backward repeatedly and interrupted its poison mist spray.
The Vacuum Great Sphere forced Chahachiro in the distance to stop controlling his puppet and dodge in a sorry state.
"Captain! Lord Orochimaru has already sent the retreat signal!"
Several Chunin fearlessly stood in front of Uchiha Ran, using their bodies and ninja tools to form a fragile line of defense.
It was not just that Uchiha Ran's performance had earned their recognition. He had nearly wiped out the enemy's puppet force by himself. He truly deserved to be a captain—he was too cool.
And more importantly—they had heard that he was Lord Orochimaru's prospective disciple.
Lord Orochimaru would never take a liking to them, but if they could cling to this new powerful backer, then their future prospects—
They wanted to improve too!
Chahachiro looked at the protected Uchiha Ran, then at the destroyed Ibuse and the stalled Black Ant. His face was so dark it seemed ready to drip water.
He knew that he had lost the best opportunity for a surprise attack. With the enemy now on guard and reinforcements present, killing that brat with the strange Sharingan and powerful Lightning Release had become extremely difficult. He might even end up surrounded by even more enemy ninja.
And his Crow Puppet was not yet fully mastered. Its offense was high but its defense was low, making it unsuitable for this kind of battlefield.
Before you continue