The three Root swordsmanship ninja had been guarding Yamanaka Fū,
constantly harassing Pakura with Shuriken and Kunai.
When had they ever seen anything like this?
This was no ninja Body Flicker Technique, a short-distance burst of speed.
This was a charge powered by sheer physical speed!
They couldn't dodge!
A Root ninja instinctively raised his blade in front of him,
intending to take his attacker down with him.
Root ninja didn't even care about their own lives!
But times had changed!
Boom!
The Mountain God Prototype Mecha Sasori controlled had greater momentum.
The shattered Ninja Blade went flying,
and he used the curved blades on its head to smash straight through the desperate Root ninja before him!
Mukai's Zealot Mecha wasn't quite as powerful, but it was still enough to knock his opponent aside.
The Zealot Mecha was more agile, though,
boosted by compressed Wind Release spraying from its nozzles.
As Mukai knocked his opponent aside, he charged straight after him without slowing down!
His right arm blade struck!
Bang!
The Root ninja before him vanished in a puff of smoke, leaving a piece of wood split in two.
Substitution Technique!
The Root ninja clutched his chest where he'd been hit, still shaken.
Luckily, he had used the Substitution Technique in time.
Otherwise, that strange puppet would have sliced him in two.
According to the intelligence, one of these two kids was a puppet master and the other a ninjutsu user!
They were battle-hardened Root ninja who had killed who knew how many Chunin and Jonin.
Since when had a Chunin and a Genin beaten them this badly?
Yamanaka Fū used the Body Flicker Technique to dodge backward out of the charge's path, casually throwing the Mind Body Switch Puppet in his hand
straight at the towering, formidable Mountain God Prototype Mecha.
"Kill the big one first!"
In Yamanaka Fū's usual arrangement, he would catch an opponent off guard and take control with the Mind Body Switch Puppet,
then his longtime partner Aburame Torune would close in and finish the target with his nanoscale poisonous insects.
Though Aburame Torune wasn't there to back him up now, the swordsmanship ninja reacted quickly, thrusting his Ninja Blade straight at it.
A Sand ninja's puppet couldn't withstand their sharp blades!
Pakura had been pinned down by Water Release Ninjutsu, while Kunai, Shuriken, and sword strikes that came from nowhere had kept catching her off guard.
She had long since been stretched to her limit.
If nothing unexpected happened, they only had to wait for her Chakra to run out.
Then death would be all that awaited her.
The Root and Amegakure ninja who had set the trap thought so too.
Neither side had paid Mukai or Sasori any mind.
Sasori was a bit of a genius, while the other was an obscure Genin.
On the battlefield, they would be nothing more than cannon fodder.
No one had expected these two unremarkable youngsters to suddenly upset the balance on the battlefield!
In a single charge, they killed one Root ninja
and tied down the rest!
When Mukai saw Yamanaka Fū, he and Sasori divided up their tasks.
Sasori charged at Yamanaka Fū to crush the Yamanaka Clan's secret techniques with the mecha's heavy armor, which left no openings!
Whether it was the contact-based Mind Body Switch Puppet Technique
or the aimed Mind Body Switch Technique, neither could do anything to the Mountain God Mecha!
When Yamanaka Fū realized his technique had failed, he immediately threw down a smoke bomb and fled with the Body Flicker Technique.
The swordsmanship ninja working with him was still foolishly gripping his blade in both hands,
trying to stab the behemoth before him with his Ninja Blade.
With a crack, the razor-sharp Ninja Blade, which killed quickly,
inevitably broke against an iron shell as thick as a knuckle.
He was still stunned by his failed strike when-boom!
Two steel fists, each as big as a head, slammed together.
Before the Mountain God Mecha, the swordsmanship ninja's body was as fragile as a tomato!
The Root ninja who had just used the Substitution Technique to evade Mukai's attack had yet to notice Yamanaka Fū's escape.
He was about to open up some distance and throw a Kunai wrapped with an Explosive Tag, hoping to force Mukai back in his Zealot Mecha.
But opening up that distance was the most fatal thing he could have done.
Mukai was a ninjutsu user!
"Wind Release-Wind Blade Slash!"
As the Root swordsmanship ninja opened up the distance, Mukai had already formed his hand seals and spat a standard wind blade from his mouth.
At the same time, he lowered his body, storing up spring force in his reverse-jointed legs.
As the invisible wind blade shot out, Mukai finished storing up force and preparing his jet propulsion.
Whoosh!
He burst forward faster than the Body Flicker Technique, sweeping toward the direction in which the swordsmanship ninja was dodging.
There was no time to prepare a substitution!
In that lightning-quick moment, the Root ninja only had time to dodge the Wind Blade Slash
and thrust his Ninja Blade forward, hoping to drive back the charging Mukai.
This is the Genin from the intelligence?
And the dead-last kind of Genin who barely graduated?
Which bastard provided that intelligence?
Mukai held his left-hand shield in front of his chest and thrust forward with his right arm blade, lightning flashing around it!
A million volts! Two milliamps, pulse discharge.
A blue-white arc of electricity half a meter long extended straight from Mukai's thrusting arm blade.
Such a small current was naturally not lethal.
All Mukai needed was to break down half a meter of air
and use the current's paralyzing effect!
The Root ninja had only just managed to dodge the Wind Blade Slash. His Ninja Blade was still reaching out as he howled, but before it could touch Mukai,
the high-voltage arc paralyzed him on the spot.
Then the cold blade struck him squarely in the face.
His cat mask shattered, and red and white splattered everywhere.
This isn't a personal grudge.
Mukai had repeated those words to himself throughout the entire fight.
As Mukai and Sasori entered the battlefield wearing their newly made mecha,
the whole situation had turned around!
Mukai pulled his arm blade out of the Root ninja's blasted head,
lifted his faceplate, and threw up.
How lame!
Killing someone for the first time didn't feel good.
Sasori had hammered his opponent to death. Seeing Mukai throwing up beside him,
he jumped over to protect him, though the voice that came from inside the mecha was mocking:
"Oh, the oh-so-smug Mukai, was that your first kill?
I thought there was nothing you couldn't do!"
Mukai only felt a little better after throwing up. He wasn't in the mood to trade barbs with Sasori and said,
"Quit being so snide and go help Teacher Pakura!"
Before Sasori could reply, Pakura's voice rang out:
"Looks like I've been underestimated!
I'm Pakura, a Scorch Release user!"
Mukai looked up at her voice and saw a sight he would never forget.
Without the Root ninja interfering, a mere four Rain Ninja
were no match for Pakura!
Their combined Water Release had now been pressed back around the four of them by Pakura's blazing fireballs.
Steaming white vapor filled the entire valley,
and the Root ninja's screams had made them too afraid to do anything but huddle together,
using their combined Water Release Ninjutsu to resist Pakura's Scorch Release.
The white mist and their own Water Formation Wall both created blind spots.
More than a dozen orange-red Extremely Steaming Murder fireballs hovered around them like a cat toying with mice.
Whenever they unleashed a Water Dragon Bullet, at least two Extremely Steaming Murder fireballs would swoop down on it.
The Kekkei Genkai that fused Wind and Fire Release gave the Extremely Steaming Murder fireballs a highly efficient ability to draw out moisture.
Not only that, but while maintaining the Extremely Steaming Murder fireballs, Pakura had already formed her hand seals:
"Scorch Release-Fox Fire Technique!"