Tayuya stood far away among the trees.
She held a flute in her hands, playing a lingering melody.
Under the influence of her flute, the "Three Demons" puppets Tayuya had summoned were extremely ferocious.
One puppet wore a long robe and floated in the air, moving extremely fast. The long staff in its hand had even returned to the form of a "wheel."
It hovered around Shikamaru, handling the frontal attacks.
With its advantage in speed, it suppressed Shikamaru so thoroughly that he was miserable.
Another puppet also wore a long robe. It had an exceptionally burly build and held a wooden hammer.
It moved very slowly, but its strength was immense. Every swing of its hammer smashed the surrounding vegetation to pulp.
The puppet holding the wooden hammer even "knew" how to coordinate with the staff-wielding puppet.
The staff-wielding puppet kept him engaged head-on, while the hammer-wielding puppet lurked to one side, sneaking in a blow during gaps in the attacks.
Every hammer strike was timed with extraordinary precision.
Each came exactly when the staff-wielding puppet had Shikamaru scrambling.
The sudden heavy blow terrified Shikamaru to his core.
If he only had to contend with these two puppets, that would have been one thing.
But Tayuya had summoned three.
At the edge of the battlefield, another strange puppet floated in the air.
Of the three puppets, it was the only one with its face exposed.
Its face was pale and expressionless, no different from a corpse's.
This puppet with its "face exposed" kept its neck tilted back, facing the sky.
Its method of attack was extremely unusual.
Every time the puppet opened its mouth, a nearly solid ball of light drifted out.
The ball of light swayed as it floated toward Shikamaru, then exploded once it was near him.