"Zzz~ Boom!"
The Lightning Spear was thrown by Shin'un, streaking across the dark clouds of the Land of Rain like a shooting star, successfully striking the Valkyrie Puppet was flying in mid-air like a target.
The lightning spear, possessing extreme penetrating power, shone brightly, instantly piercing through the steel armor on its surface and deeply embedding itself into the Valkyrie Puppet's body.
"Waaah~"
Visibly, after being struck, the Valkyrie Puppet became somewhat unsteady in mid-air, swaying as if it had lost its balance.
Seeing this, Shin'un on the ground lit up. He mobilized his Chakra and countless electric currents burst from his palms, preparing to use Lightning Release: Lightning Chain Prison to trap the creature once it fell to a certain height.
Unfortunately, thanks to a series of erratic hand movements by Chiyo inside the Valkyrie Puppet, the Valkyrie Puppet miraculously regained its balance.
Immediately afterwards, the four oval-shaped Wind Release version of "jet engines" on the back of the Valkyrie Puppet suddenly increased their power, causing the entire puppet to rise rapidly.
"You reacted pretty quickly..."
Seeing that the Valkyrie Puppet was about to leave his attack range, Shin'un had no choice but to dissipate the Lightning Release: Lightning Chain Prison he originally wanted to use, and instead quickly used Lightning Release: Lightning Spear, and then threw it out with all his might.
Unfortunately, luck wasn't on their side this time. The swiftly flying Lightning Spear missed the rapidly ascending Valkyrie Puppet, passing right beneath it and disappearing into the air.
"Unfortunately, we couldn't stop it."
Seeing the Valkyrie Puppet dodge his thrown Lightning Spear and fly unharmed towards Orochimaru's battlefield in the distance, Shin'un shook his head regretfully.
Standing up straight, watching the Valkyrie Puppet's graceful figure soaring through the air, Shin'un curled his lip and suddenly said with a hint of envy:
"Hmph! I'll develop a Lightning Release that allows people to fly sooner or later!"
After saying that, Shin'un returned to reality and obediently used his Lightning Body Flicker technique to run towards the distant battlefield on his own two legs.
Very close to the Sand Ninja camp, thousands of Konoha Ninja and Sand Ninja were engaged in battle.
On the battlefield, shouts of battle and the sounds of blades piercing flesh rang out simultaneously, and the Chakra fluctuations of countless escape techniques were displayed at the same time. Every moment, ninjas died tragically in different ways.
Aside from the enormous pillar of lightning that connected to the thunderclouds in the distance, the most conspicuous and eye-catching things on the battlefield were the several colossal objects on the outer edge of the battlefield.
These are several giant puppets belonging to the Sand Ninja, and Orochimaru's giant summoning beast, Manda.
However, although they can all be called behemoths, there are some subtle differences between them.
For example, although Manda was alone, he seemed to handle the attack from several Sand Ninja puppets with ease, and even deliberately reduced his strength, enjoying the feeling of whipping the giant puppets.
While the giant puppets of the Sand Ninja surrounded Manda, their sharp longswords, which should have been invincible, could only cut through the outer layer of Manda's thick skin.
If a large-scale Wind Release attack were used against Manda, it could indeed cause some damage.
However, unless subjected to continuous, large-scale Wind Release attacks, it would be impossible to kill a giant summoning beast like Manda.
The problem is that a puppeteer who controls a giant puppet obviously cannot have the Chakra reserves to continuously unleash large-scale Wind Release attacks.
Therefore, the puppeteers in the several giant puppets unanimously chose the same combat strategy.
That is... stalling for time!
The puppeteers were waiting, waiting for their village's trump card, the fortress-type puppets, to arrive and unleash a massive Wind Release bombardment on Manda!
However, while they wanted to wait, Orochimaru, who was atop Manda's head, was unwilling to.
" Manda, stop wasting time and take them out as soon as possible. We need reinforcements for the battlefield."
Orochimaru squatted on Manda, his face dark as he spoke.
"Ah~ ah, I know, I know."
Hearing Orochimaru's words, Manda clearly didn't take them to heart and continued whipping the giant puppets in front of him.
"Oh, and don't forget, you're going to find me a hundred humans to eat later."
Upon hearing this, Orochimaru's lips twitched, and he immediately said:
"Don't joke around, how could I possibly find you a hundred humans to eat?"
"I'd be lucky to get you a few pigs for a treat."
Upon hearing Orochimaru's words, Manda gave a remarkably human-like smirk, but ultimately said nothing and continued whipping the giant puppets in front of him.
Seeing this, Orochimaru shook his head helplessly, feeling somewhat resigned to Manda's attitude.
After all, Manda is different from the summoning beasts that other ninjas raise from childhood, and given Manda's wicked nature, Orochimaru's words don't have much binding force on it.
Thinking of this, Orochimaru sighed helplessly and suddenly began to envy Tsunade's giant Katsuyu and Jiraiya's giant Toad.
"Forget it, as long as Manda can hold off these giant puppets, it will already be a great help to the battlefield."
Orochimaru turned his head and looked at the location of the fortress-like puppet in the distance.
Visible to the naked eye, there was a huge pillar of lightning connecting to the dark clouds in the sky. The part of the top that touched the clouds spread out and turned into strands of electricity that gathered into the lightning in the thundercloud.
Three minutes have passed...
Orochimaru narrowed his eyes slightly, pondering to himself.
"Hopefully everything goes smoothly and Shin'un can successfully destroy the fortress-type puppet."
"Boom!"
Suddenly, just as this thought flashed through Orochimaru's mind, a series of thunderclaps sounded, followed by a bright flash that could illuminate the entire battlefield.
The entire battlefield seemed to pause for a moment, before the sounds of fighting, which had been drowned out by the thunder, began to emerge.
"Oh, so it's finally starting?"
Seeing that Shin'un's long-prepared Lightning Release was finally unleashed, Orochimaru stood up expectantly and looked towards the fortress-like puppet that was now enveloped in a sea of lightning.
"Even with the aid of natural lightning, the power of this Lightning Release technique is truly astonishing."
Orochimaru shook his head and said with a smile:
"Currently, Shin'un's mastery of Lightning Release is probably unmatched in the entire Shinobi World."
A dozen seconds passed in the blink of an eye, and the vast pool of lightning in the distance gradually disappeared, revealing the battered fortress-like puppet within.
Orochimaru, who had been watching closely, immediately saw the pitiful sight of the fortress-like puppet, half of its body melted away.
"Well done."
Seeing this, Orochimaru couldn't help but smile, withdrawing his gaze from the distance and turning back to the fortress-like puppets in front of him, pondering to himself.
"The fortress-like golem has been completely destroyed."
"In this way, there is hope for achieving a complete victory for the Sand Ninja front in a short period of time."
"..."
"Waaaaah~~~~"
Just as Orochimaru was pondering how to achieve victory more quickly, a sudden surge of Chakra emanating from the direction of the fortress-like puppet in the distance caught his attention.
Turning his head, the first thing that caught Orochimaru's eye made him frown slightly.
"What kind of puppet is this? It can even fly!"
A giant puppet, exquisitely crafted and even more human-like in appearance, wielding a massive wind blade, was rapidly flying towards them.
"What is this thing? Why is it so fancy?"
Manda also noticed the Valkyrie Puppet rapidly flying towards them from the sky.
Manda was initially cautious, but after comparing the size difference between the two, Manda became arrogant again.
Seeing the giant puppet flying straight towards it, Manda fiercely swung its tail with all its might, and with a whistling sound as it swept through the air, it swiftly flung towards the Valkyrie Puppet in mid-air.
"Damn it, Manda, stop right there!"
Orochimaru tried to stop Manda's hasty attack, but it was too late.
The Valkyrie Puppet, flying in mid-air, nimbly spun around and dodged the whip's strike, which was extremely slow to strike her, by brushing against the Manda's tail.
Incidentally, the Valkyrie Puppet wielded her wind-wielding longsword, slicing through the tail of the Manda before her without hesitation, cutting it in half, leaving only some flesh and skin barely holding the tail together.
"Hiss!!!"
Intense pain surged through the area, causing the Manda to roar in pain.
After Manda gradually adapted to the pain, he immediately said to Orochimaru above his head:
Orochimaru, I don't want the pig anymore. Call me again next time.
After saying that, Manda turned into smoke with a "bang" and disappeared, leaving Orochimaru, who had lost his footing and looked bewildered, in freefall.