The crisp sound of the crawler tracks crushing stone slabs stopped abruptly.
The Golden Tank, which was built with a lot of money, was like a wild boar that ran into a dead end. The engine gave off a dull asthma, and the black smoke from the exhaust pipe quickly accumulated in the narrow corridor, making people choke and unable to open their eyes.
"Stuck? The suspension system I bought for fifty million taels is stuck?!"
In the cockpit, Colonel Ka slapped the dashboard frantically, with anger towards ancient architecture written all over his greasy face, "Money back! Heavy vehicles were not considered at all on this broken road!"
The stone walls on both sides clung to the car body like a vise, and the tracks were idling, creating dazzling sparks, but it was impossible to move forward.
The dead silence that had been suppressed by the firepower was suddenly broken.
"Zi--Zi--"
The ear-piercing friction sound came from all directions, denser and more urgent than before. In the darkness, countless purple lights lit up, like a group of deep-sea piranhas smelling the smell of blood.
"Up there! They're up there!"
A sharp-eyed female bodyguard screamed, raised the muzzle of her gun, and wildly pulled the trigger at the ceiling.
The bullets hit the stone wall and sparks flew everywhere, but they could not stop the bronze monsters at all. These puppets hung upside down on the top wall like geckos, with black glue secreted from their joints, ignoring gravity and walking on flat ground.
"Boom!"
There was a loud noise, and the tank's roof was hit hard by a heavy object.
Then came the second and third sounds.
"They are dismantling the car!" The co-pilot looked at the picture in the periscope, his face turned pale with fear, "Colonel, the armor plate is deforming! These ghosts are too strong!"
Colonel Ka huddled in the leather seat, listening to the chisel sound coming from above his head, which was like a reminder. The gold armor he spent a lot of money to build now became the Iron Coffin material that trapped him to death.
"Fire! Blow them down!" Colonel Ka roared hysterically.
"The distance is too close! If the cannon is fired, the corridor will collapse and we will all be buried here!"
Before he finished speaking, a sharp bronze claw pierced the side observation window. The bulletproof glass shattered like candy flakes, purple-black mist poured in along the breach, and the temperature inside the car instantly dropped to freezing point.
"Ah--!"
The bodyguard closest to the window was entangled in the mist. Before he could struggle, the sharp claw hooked his collar and was dragged out from the opening that was only the size of a palm.
The screams echoed in the corridor for half a second, and then were cut off by the sound of broken bones.
Colonel Ka looked at the hole that was still bleeding, and his whole body was trembling. He kicked the bottom of the car hard and escaped Gate of Life, rolling and crawling out.
The bottom of the car was full of oil and gravel. Colonel Ka crawled out in embarrassment, just in time to see a few puppets frantically tearing at the tank tracks, trying to completely dismantle the iron lump.
"Stop watching the show!"
Colonel Ka grabbed the gold gun with peeling paint and roared at the ninjas who were waiting behind him, with a cry in his voice, "If I die, none of you will be able to get the final payment of this tank! Use your tricks quickly!"
No response.
Hiruzen Sarutobi, who was standing at the front of the team, slowly spit out the pipe in his mouth.
The old man's movements were very slow, as slow as if he was doing morning exercises. He unbuttoned the large Hokage Robe button and flicked it casually, and the robe that symbolized Hokage's majesty fluttered lightly in the dust.
Underneath Hokage Robe is a black tight-fitting combat uniform.
Without the cover of his long robe and long sleeves, the old man's strong body was exposed. Although his skin was loose and covered with age spots, the tight muscle lines were still clearly visible, like a fully drawn stiff bow.
Hiruzen walked to the side of the tank. There was a solid steel pipe holding the spare track. It was about the thickness of a wrist and full of rust.
He stretched out his skinny palm and held one end of the steel pipe.
"Drink!"
A low growl.
There was a sharp "collapse" sound, and the rivets at the joints of the steel pipes flew away, and the solid steel pipe was torn off by his physical strength.
Hiruzen weighed the steel pipe in his hand, and his eyes instantly turned cold. At that moment, he was no longer a kind old grandfather, but the "ninjutsu professor" who fought in the cruel battlefields of World War II and Third Shinobi World War.
"Ho--"
A puppet discovered a new prey, gave up eating the tank, kicked off its hind legs, and rushed towards Hiruzen with a fishy wind.
Speed is extremely fast.
Colonel Ka subconsciously closed his eyes. It's over, this old man is going to feel cold.
There is no light and shadow of ninjutsu, no fluctuation of chakra.
There was only a loud "dang" sound.
Hiruzen did not retreat but advanced. The steel pipe in his hand did not wave in any fancy way, but like a poisonous snake spitting a message, it hit the path of the puppet.
The top of the steel pipe pierced the gap in the puppet's armor on its right shoulder.
That is an extremely small structural blind spot.
Hiruzen flicked his wrist, exerted force on his waist and abdomen, and used the principle of leverage to explode instantly.
"Crack!"
With the crisp sound of the gears breaking, the bronze puppet, which weighed hundreds of kilograms, lost its balance in mid-air. Its entire right arm was forcefully pried off by the seemingly light "Bone Dislocation"!
Black oil splashes.
Hiruzen turned sideways to avoid the filth, then turned around and swept across.
The steel pipe made a loud sound as it hit the puppet's knee joint in the opposite direction.
There was another "click" sound.
The killing machine fell to its knees, losing the ability to move and could only twitch wildly on the ground.
The whole place was so quiet that only breathing could be heard.
Colonel Ka opened his mouth wide and his jaw almost dropped to the ground. He had seen gunfire and ninjutsu fighting, but he had never seen an old man take a broken iron pipe and dismantle this monster like a toy.
"The joint joints are made of soft copper, and the drive shaft is three inches under the armpit."
Hiruzen's voice was terrifyingly steady, as if he was giving an anatomy lesson to students, "No need for chakra, as long as the balance is destroyed, they are just a pile of scrap metal."
On the other side, three puppets tried to bypass the front and sneak attack Kankuro and others who were protected in the middle.
A dark red figure blocked the front.
Gaara was carrying a huge gourd on his back, and his usually indifferent face now revealed a fierceness.
Having lost the ability to control sand, the gourd filled with high-density mineral sand was now as heavy as a mountain. But he did not untie it and instead used it as a weapon.
Gaara exerts force on his waist, grabs the gourd strap with both hands, and his whole body spins like a top.
"Get away!"
The gourd weighing hundreds of kilograms roared out by centrifugal force.
"Bang!"
There was a muffled sound, like a drum beating.
The puppet at the front was directly smashed into the wall by this "meteor hammer". The bronze breastplate was dented on the spot, and the purple eyeballs were knocked out.
This young Kazekage used the most primitive violence to prove the gold content of Kage Level.
"Don't be in a daze! Take action!"
Hiruzen roared loudly, the steel pipe in his hand danced into a black shadow, and once again smashed the cervical vertebrae of a puppet.
Under his leadership, the surviving Konoha ANBU and Sand Ninja woke up from a dream.
They picked up scrap metal or tank fragments on the ground one after another. Instead of blindly chopping, they followed Hiruzen's example and "physically dismantled" the joints.
What was originally a one-sided massacre turned into a methodical positional counterattack.
In the corridor, there was the sound of metal hitting and bones breaking.
Colonel Ka slumped on the ground, watching these ninjas who had lost their "magic" slaughtering mechanical monsters in the most brutal way, feeling like their world was shattered.
A puppet that had slipped through the net suddenly emerged from under the car. It was missing a leg and crawled on the ground, its sharp claws piercing Colonel Ka's throat.
Colonel Ka was so scared that he was so stiff that he didn't even have the strength to pull the trigger.
"My life is at an end..."
At the critical moment.
A foot wearing a black combat boot stepped heavily on the puppet's head.
"Bang!"
The puppet's chin hit the stone floor, sparks flying everywhere.
The figure of Hiruzen appeared like a ghost. The steel pipe in his hand was accurately stuck between the puppet's open upper and lower jaws, and then he kicked the core of the puppet's chest violently.
"Broken!"
A low drink.
The steel pipe penetrated the center of the puppet's head and came out from the back of the head. Black engine oil sprayed Colonel Ka's face.
The purple light in the puppet's eyes lit up twice and then went out completely.
Hiruzen looked down at the frightened arms dealer, then pulled out the steel pipe and brought out a string of viscous liquid.
"Sometimes, experience is more reliable than caliber." The old man said, wiping the oil on his face.
The battle ended quickly.
The corridor was filled with the remains of puppets that had been dismantled into parts. The purple-black mist lost its carrier and began to slowly dissipate.
Hiruzen threw away the bent and deformed steel pipe, squatted down, and picked up a core gear that was still rotating slightly from the remains of the puppet that almost killed Colonel Ka.
He looked carefully through the light of the tank's searchlight.
The gear is a special alloy with densely engraved micro-runes on it.
Hiruzen's eyes suddenly condensed.
The meshing method of this gear, and the imprinting logic of the internal runes...
It looks so familiar.
Sixty years ago, in Second Hokage Tobirama Senju's laboratory, he saw an abandoned sketch. The project named "Fully Automatic Siege Puppet" was stopped by First Hokage because it was costly and could easily get out of control.
The part in front of me is simply a physical version of that sketch.
"Teacher Tobirama..."
Hiruzen's fingers gently rubbed an inconspicuous mark on the edge of the gear - it was the family emblem of the Senju Clan, but it was deliberately worn in half, looking like a mutilated Uzumaki.
"How much of your 'dark history' is hidden in various places in the world?"
Hiruzen silently put the gear in his arms and looked up into the deep dark corridor.
There seems to be something calling.
"Team up!"
Hiruzen stood up and his voice returned to a cold tone, "Check the equipment and lift the wounded onto the Colonel Ka truck. Let's keep going."
Colonel Ka wiped a handful of engine oil on his face, looked at the back, and swallowed.
"Damn, this old man is tougher than my tank..." He muttered, but this time he didn't dare to mention more money.