Hatake Sakumo became famous during the Second Shinobi World War period, and its famous name "Konoha's White Fang" was forged by the blood and fear of Sunagakure Ninja.
This makes people wonder: How does a Ninja who is good at close-quarters Swordsmanship achieve such a great reputation and even make the enemies fearful when facing enemies like Sunagakure who are famous for using poison, controlling Puppet, and controlling sand, etc.?
There is only one answer.
Because Hatake Sakumo and Swordsmanship have reached a state of perfection that is almost "Tao".
His knife is not only a weapon for killing people, but also an extension of his body and will. It is his "solution" to deal with all enemies.
Faced with the Puppet army controlled by Puppet Master, which has complex joints, dense structures, and is full of poison, ordinary Ninja may be overwhelmed by it, fall into a war of attrition, or be poisoned.
But in the eyes of Sakumo, the structure, weaknesses, and nodes of energy flow of those precise Puppet seemed to be clearly visible.
He is like the master of Cook Ding Butchers an Ox recorded in Ancient Text. The direction of the blade is not to chop with brute force, but to cut into Puppet's most fragile and critical joint gaps with incomparable precision.
No matter how hard the shell of Puppet is, or how much poison it is coated with, once the joints are destroyed and the structure is disintegrated, no matter how sophisticated the mechanism is, it will instantly turn into a pile of scrap wood and iron.
Furthermore, when he attached his pure Chakra to the blade, the sharp blade could even directly cut off the Chakra Threads used by Puppet Master to control Puppet.
Once the silk thread is broken, no matter how powerful Puppet is, it is like a kite with broken string, losing control and being slaughtered by others.
For Puppet Master, which relies on silk thread control, this is simply a blow to the bottom of the cauldron.
And his Taijutsu, combined with his miraculous sword speed and body skills, brought the advantages of the "agile Ninja" to the extreme. Sunagakure's Puppet Master, poison masters, and even Magnet Release Ninja often need time to lay traps, prepare Ninjutsu or control Puppet.
But in front of Sakumo, "get rid of the opponent before he makes a move" is the normal state of battle.
His speed is too fast and his knife is too sharp. Often, just as the enemy sees a flash of silver light, a fatal chill reaches their throats.
At this moment, facing Sasori of the Red Sands who had transformed himself into Human Puppet, Sakumo quickly reviewed the known information in his mind.
The intelligence clearly pointed out: Scorpion has transformed most of his body into Puppet parts. The only thing that remains, as the core of life and consciousness, is the Core of Regeneration located in the chest, which contains his only remaining important organs and Chakra source.
In other words, Core of Regeneration is the real body of the Scorpion, and the rest is the Puppet shell that can be replaced and repaired.
Therefore, the fastest and most effective way to deal with Scorpion is not to destroy his extremely hard Puppet limbs that may even have self-destruction devices, but to accurately remove or destroy the Core of Regeneration on his chest.
Sakumo clenched the short knife in his hand, his eyes like the most precise ruler, measuring every detail of Scorpion and Third Kazekage Puppet's body.
Unfortunately, both Scorpion and Third Kazekage Puppet are wearing clothes, so there is no way to judge each other's weak points from their appearance.
The Chakra in his body began to flow according to a specific route, preparing for the upcoming blow that required extreme precision and speed.
After all, Scorpion is now Ninja of Konoha in name only.
Sakumo thought silently in his heart.
Despite the blood feud and despite the other party's active challenge, out of respect for his fellow villagers and possible future colleagues, he did not want to and could not actually kill a registered Ninja of Konoha with his own hands.
Even if the other party will be resurrected in Shinobi World.
His goal is to render him incompetent, not to kill him.
Seemingly aware of Sakumo's scrutinizing eyes with a clear purpose, and the calm and calm aura that seemed to have everything under control, the scorpion controlling Third Kazekage Human Puppet, Puppet's face that should have been expressionless actually moved slightly, as if showing a very faint smile with a hint of approval and provocation.
"Look at how confident you are."
Xie's voice came out through Puppet, still calm, but with a hint of playfulness.
"Have you already obtained detailed information about me?"
He wasn't surprised.
Konoha's White Fang, as the director of ANBU, is a master at combining intelligence analysis, tactical formulation and actual combat.
Know yourself and the enemy, and you can fight a hundred battles without danger. This is the most basic principle.
However, Scorpion's conversation immediately changed, and his smile seemed to become more obvious:
"What a pity..."
He controlled Third Kazekage Human Puppet and slowly assumed a peculiar posture that was both offensive and defensive. The Iron Sand behind him began to surge and deform restlessly.
"I have also studied you for a long, long time.
From your battle records, to your Swordsmanship habits, to your personality and decision-making model..."
Scorpion's voice had a rare and strange quality that was a mixture of researcher's fanaticism and calmness:
"Then let's see which one is better at converting intelligence into actual combat against the enemy..."
Third Kazekage Human Puppet Iron Sand all around him suddenly burst out.
Transformed into countless sharp Iron Sand spears and Iron Sand Drizzle, like a metal storm, with a density and power that far exceeded the previous guerrilla harassment, they headed towards Sakumo, covering their faces.
This is obviously a carefully calculated range suppression attack specifically targeting the high-speed and agile Ninja.
"It's still my intelligence, transformed into targeted tactics and Puppet transformation..."
At the same time, several hidden grids suddenly popped up on the elbows, knees, back and other positions of the Scorpion's body.
Dozens of Senbon, Poison Needles, and chains with barbed hooks were shot out from it.
These attacks were not scattered randomly, but blocked almost all angles and landing points where Sakumo could dodge at high speed.
"It can better determine the direction of this battle!"
Scorpion's words and attack arrived almost at the same time!
Not only did he possess the intelligence of Sakumo, he also carried out targeted transformation and tactical design on himself based on this intelligence.
He knew that Sakumo was good at getting close, was quick with his sword, and was good at finding weaknesses, so he used a wide range of Iron Sand attacks to limit its movement space, and used dense, covering hidden weapon attacks to force it to block or dodge at a cost, thereby creating a momentary flaw or freeze.
And that moment may be when his real killing move is launched.
What a pity.
Sakumo's eyes flashed coldly.
Faced with this sudden and highly targeted saturation attack, instead of retreating, he moved against the storm of metal and poison.
His body seemed to turn into a silver lightning, or like a sword light blending into the wind.
It is not a straight-line charge, but an extremely weird and counterintuitive zigzag trajectory, shuttling through the gaps between Iron Sand and Poison Needles in the sky.
The White Fang dagger in his hand danced until only afterimages were left.
"Ding ding ding ding--!!!"
The crisp and dense collision sounds were like heavy rain hitting a jade plate.
Most of the Poison Needles Senbon were accurately knocked away and knocked down by the light of the sword.
The Iron Sand fragments that really could not be completely avoided were cleverly blocked and removed by the blade with Chakra attached to it, preventing the forceful impact from consuming physical strength.
His speed seems to be faster than what was predicted in Scorpion's intelligence...
His sword skills are also more perfect than those recorded in the records.
Intelligence is important, but actual combat is always the only criterion for testing everything.
Hatake Sakumo, this White Fang who emerged from a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood, has long been integrated into his instincts with his ability to adapt to the situation and use information for his own purposes, going beyond simple deductions from paper data.
The first round of competition between intelligence and counter-intelligence, Sakumo took over!
But he knew that this was just the beginning.
Scorpio's preparation will never be so simple.
The real danger is probably yet to come.