Screams and cries filled the air as people kept falling.
Princess Sara herself had her arm slashed by a puppet's claws. Blood streamed from the wound as several guards who were still loyal desperately dragged her to the rear.
"Damn it! These things again!"
Naruto's eyes went red at the sight.
He forced out the last scraps of chakra in his body, formed a dim, wildly unstable Rasengan, and charged at a rampaging stitched-together puppet with a furious roar.
But with his chakra nearly gone and his impatience getting the better of him, the puppet deflected his Rasengan with its hard arm. The blast only left a scorched patch on its body.
The puppet struck back, slamming Naruto square in the chest and sending him flying into a wall. He coughed up a mouthful of blood. His chakra was completely exhausted, and he barely had the strength to stand.
"Naruto!" Sara cried, all the color draining from her face.
Elsewhere, Uchiha Makoto, Kakashi, and Harada Yuichi were tied down by Mukade and several newly summoned, enhanced puppets.
These new puppets had tougher shells and greater strength, and could even fire small chakra beams. They were extremely difficult to deal with.
"Kakashi, Yuichi!"
While driving a puppet back with his modified Fire Release, Uchiha Makoto spoke rapidly. "Something's wrong! Mukade's control over the Dragon Vein runs deeper than we expected. These puppets are far stronger than they should be! This mission is already beyond what three chunin like us can handle!"
His words were half true and half false.
The truth was that taking on Mukade and his puppet army head-on with just the three of them, while he was empowered by the Dragon Vein, really would be difficult and extremely risky.
The lie was... he actually still had plenty of