Hearing Pakura's question, Shin Uchiha glanced helplessly at Sasuke Uchiha nearby, then explained:
"Sasuke was still a little too impatient. That guy controlling the puppets was about to escape, and he didn't even notice."
After saying this, Shin Uchiha didn't wait for Pakura's response. A kunai had appeared in his hand at some point. Lightning flashed across it, and he hurled it at tremendous speed.
Shhk!
With a sharp sound, the kunai left a streak of light across the sky before burying itself deep in the ground.
At the same time, all the puppets surrounding Sasuke suddenly froze as though immobilized by a jutsu. Even Sasori's body stopped moving, and the two fanlike wheels of blades behind him stopped spinning.
Hm?
Startled by the sudden change, Sasuke immediately stopped attacking and raised his sword into a defensive stance, his eyes fixed on the puppets around him.
Clatter, clatter!
Just then, the hundreds of puppets surrounding Sasuke seemed to lose their power. Those in the air fell straight to the ground, while those already on the ground seemed to fall apart, collapsing like broken dolls with no one left to tend to them.
"This..."
By now, Sasuke understood that something must have happened to Sasori, who was controlling the puppets. Otherwise, this would never have happened.
Having realized something was wrong, Sasuke Uchiha fixed his gaze on Sasori nearby.
But just as Sasuke Uchiha noticed something amiss, a distinctly exasperated voice reached his ears:
"All right, stop looking. That Sasori is just a puppet too. His real core escaped while you weren't paying attention. I pierced it and pinned it to the ground."
Following his teacher's gesture, Sasuke Uchiha spotted the kunai buried deep in the ground and walked over to pull it out.
Along with it, Sasuke Uchiha pulled out