"Sssss-!"
The sizzling erupted louder and lasted longer than before! The dark red net of fire clung to the three puppets and their invisible Chakra Threads like a disease eating into their bones!
"Urgh!" The Jonin puppeteer grunted, his face turning deathly pale.
He felt as though his fingers had been pressed against red-hot irons, waves of searing pain piercing him to the core!
The feedback through his Chakra Threads no longer gave him effortless control, but violent, sustained energy interference and erosion!
The three advanced puppets instantly became stiff and sluggish, as though trapped in an invisible mire!
The Hummingbird's flight became erratic, its poisoned needles firing aimlessly; the Grim Reaper's scythe swung heavily and slowly; the Pangolin had only burrowed halfway underground when its failing controls left it stuck.
"Now!" A fierce gleam flashed in Shinji's eyes. How could he let such an opening slip away?
Chakra erupted beneath his feet, blasting a small crater into the sand. He shot forward like an arrow loosed from a bow, plunging straight through the dark red net of fire before it had fully dissipated, aiming directly for the Jonin puppeteer whose loss of control had shaken his mind and left him wide open!
"Uchiha Style: Sword Leap Flame!"
The Blazing Inferno hummed excitedly, its blade instantly enveloped in intensely compressed crimson chakra. Shinji and his sword became one, transforming into a roaring, destructive dragon of red flame!
His speed, strength, and momentum reached their peak in that instant!
The Jonin puppeteer's pupils contracted sharply as the shadow of death engulfed him.
He desperately tried to recall his puppets to defend him, but under the Flame Net's severe interference, their response was far more than a beat too slow!
In his haste, he could barely raise a kunai, trying to block