The team leader, looking anxious, asked Kōki, "Kid, what did you say? You know where Sasori is?"
"That's right, not only Sasori, I even know about your Third Kazekage." Faced with Sunagakure's question, Kōki didn't hide anything, and even revealed an even bigger secret.
This shocked the three Sunagakure members even more. They had already thought it was remarkable that the Konoha Konoha knew about Sasori, but now he even knew about their missing Third Kazekage.
"What are you talking about? You know the Third? Kid, you're not kidding, are you?"
It's no wonder they had such questions; the news that Kōki revealed was truly enormous.
They simply couldn't believe that a Konoha Ninja could know so much. They couldn't help but suspect that either Kōki was using rhetoric to confuse them, or that there really was an unknown secret behind Kōki. However, they were subtly inclined to believe the first possibility, since Kōki didn't seem like someone who knew so much.
"Like I said before, if you defeat me, I can tell you anything you want to know." Kōki didn't directly answer the Sunagakure's question, reiterating his previous statement: only by defeating him would you be qualified to know everything.
These words only confirmed the suspicions of the three Sunagakure members. They believed that Kōki's previous words were definitely meant to unsettle them; otherwise, why wouldn't he have dared to reveal even the slightest useful information?
The three from Sunagakure breathed a sigh of relief, but at the same time, a surge of anger rose within them. They felt ashamed that they had been tricked by Kōki, especially since they had almost actually believed him.
"Kid, you'll learn the price for playing us for fools soon enough." The puppeteer captain, having finally realized what was happening, could no longer maintain his initial composure and said to Kōki through gritted teeth. His other two teammates beside him were also itching for a fight; they couldn't wait to teach Kōki.
Kōki, however, found it rather strange; he didn't understand what Sunagakure's nonsensical words meant.
However, upon seeing the three Sunagakure puppets preparing to attack, he didn't ask any questions but instead assumed a defensive stance against their attack.
The atmosphere between the two sides became increasingly tense.
The next second, the burly puppeteer among the three Sunagakure members made the first move. With a flick of his wrists, three puppets jumped out from behind him: a white-haired, red-faced puppet; a black-haired, white-faced puppet; and finally, a red-haired female puppet wielding two swords.
The three puppets charged towards Kōki one after another.
The first thing to approach Kōki was a red-haired female puppet wielding two swords, which she swung at Kōki.
Faced with this fierce attack, Kōki lightly touched the ground with his toes and jumped away.
However, after he jumped, a black-haired, white-faced puppet with a red-faced puppet attached to its hand had been waiting not far away. Upon seeing Kōki jump, it immediately stretched out its arm and flung the red-faced puppet toward Kōki.
The red-faced puppet in its hand was no ordinary weapon either; a rapidly spinning fan-shaped blade appeared at the neck of the red-faced puppet. With a swing of the white-faced puppet, it slashed towards Kōki in mid-air.
"So this is the Chikamatsu Ten Puppets ' offensive puppet? As expected, it's incredibly powerful, with one mechanism after another."
Even though he had been outmaneuvered by the enemy, Kōki couldn't help but admire the scene before him.
"Kid, no matter how much you praise me, I won't let you go. I'll cut off your limbs in a moment." The burly puppeteer who controlled the puppets didn't take Kōki's praise seriously. Instead, he felt that Kōki was looking down on him and just wanted to teach Kōki a lesson.
On the other hand, even though he was facing a crisis, Kōki remained calm; he had already shown signs of finding a way to break the deadlock.
Therefore, as the red-faced puppet approached, Kōki Hand Seals, and with a "bang," an identical copy of himself appeared on his right. Then, the clone on the right grabbed the original body and pulled hard, thus dodging the red-faced puppet's attack.
After landing safely, Kōki didn't waste any time and immediately rushed towards the burly puppeteer's location. He was so fast that the puppeteer didn't even have time to react.
Seeing that Kōki was about to approach him, the burly man remained completely calm. His teammates were no pushovers.
As expected, the leader of the three-person team, controlling the blue-faced puppet and the horse-faced puppet, stood out. Under his control, the horse-faced puppet stretched out its hands, which then quickly extended. Sharp blades appeared on the upper and lower parts of the extended arms, forming a narrow passage that enveloped Kōki in mid-air, reducing Kōki's room to dodge.
The blue-faced puppet then extended five flexible steel ropes from its head and bound Kōki.
For a moment, faced with an inescapable blockade, Kōki was helpless and was tightly bound by five steel ropes.
"Well done, Nagi. You brat, now let's see where you run."
The burly puppeteer smiled with delight upon seeing his teammate successfully restrain Kōki, and began to gesticulate wildly with his fingers.
Under his control, the three highly aggressive puppets charged towards the bound Kōki.
But as soon as they got close, Kōki suddenly vanished with a "bang," turning into a wooden stake.
This caused the puppeteer named Nagi's expression to change, and she shouted, "Oh no!"
Just after he shouted, Kōki suddenly appeared behind the burly puppeteer and raised his fist to smash it down on the burly man.
It turned out that Kōki, who had been bound by the blue-faced puppet, had already escaped his restraints using the Substitution Technique. However, he did not immediately reveal himself. Instead, after seeing the strong puppeteer's weakness, he came to his back, preparing to deliver a fatal blow.
However, Kōki's thinking was too simplistic, or rather, he underestimated the trio's teamwork. Although his plan was good, the enemy was a trio, and after the other two made a mistake, there was also someone specifically protecting the puppeteer, so the remaining puppeteer made his move.
Upon seeing Kōki's actions, the last female puppeteer immediately waved her right hand, controlling a bull-headed puppet that swiftly arrived beside Kōki and delivered a powerful punch to Kōki.
Fortunately Kōki did not give up his vigilance against the last puppeteer. After noticing her movements, he immediately withdrew his fist that was attacking the burly puppeteer, twisted his body, and crossed his hands in front of his chest to block the bull-headed puppet's heavy blow.
Although he successfully blocked the attack, he was still sent flying.
"That was close, thank you so much, Saki," the burly puppeteer who had almost been attacked by Kōki said to his teammate with lingering fear.
" Raizo, you're always so careless. When we get back, I'll definitely give you a good talking-to by Lady Chiyo." The female puppeteer, Saki, looked very dissatisfied. She had cleaned up Raizo's messes countless times, but Raizo never learned his lesson. Now, he was making such a mistake on the battlefield, which gave her a terrible headache. She couldn't help but want to complain to Chiyo.
Upon hearing that Saki wanted to complain to Chiyo, the burly puppeteer called Raizo immediately apologized, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, Saki, you must forgive me. I'll definitely change next time."
"You said the same thing last time, and the time before that too." Saki didn't believe Raizo's assurances at all. She had heard such words more than ten times. This time, she was determined to tell Chiyo no matter what.
" Saki, there's no need for that, is there? I just misbehaved for a moment, I'll be fine in a second..."