The puppeteer glanced at Deidara and gave a disdainful snort.
"Anyone can come at me. I couldn't fight both of you alone yesterday, but one-on-one, I'm not afraid of either of you."
"Big talk. Before we start, tell me your name. I don't fight nobodies," Deidara said.
"Mo Xie," the puppeteer gave his name.
"My name is Deidara. Remember it, because you're about to fall before my art!" Deidara reached both hands into his clay pouches and pulled out handfuls of Explosive Clay, which the mouths in his palms devoured.
"Take this! C1 Spider!"
A dense swarm of tiny Clay Spiders scurried toward Mo Xie.
Mo Xie snorted and flung an iron sphere the size of a basketball from his sleeve.
The sphere landed with a click and instantly unfolded into a humanoid puppet.
The puppet was crude, with only simple limbs, a torso, and a head.
Mo Xie gathered spiritual energy at his fingertips, then drew it out into fine threads that attached themselves to the puppet.
The moment the threads connected, the puppet came "alive"!
This was how puppeteers controlled their puppets, using their own spiritual energy as a bridge.
"Puppet Technique!"
Under Mo Xie's control, the puppet broke into a run. Two sharp blades emerged from its hands as it charged at the Clay Spiders.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The puppet's blades struck the Clay Spiders with pinpoint accuracy.
Then, a second later, all the Clay Spiders exploded, blasting Mo Xie's puppet into the air. It flipped a full three hundred and sixty degrees before falling back to the ground, where it broke apart.
"Your puppet doesn't stand a chance against my art!"
"Keep experiencing my art!" Deidara created dozens more Clay Spiders and launched another attack.
Despite losing a puppet to the explosion, Mo Xie showed no