A fierce clash broke out swiftly, over a hundred Konoha shinobi engaged more than two hundred shinobi from Sunagakure.
At the vanguard stood Veigar, who was immediately besieged from both flanks by two elite Special Jōnin of the Sand Village: Ryōsuke Kutsui and Hiroshi Uchimura.
Shikuro moved to confront Masaka, while the other jōnin each found their own opponents. Only Shinji Hyuga was halted, not by an enemy, but by one of Veigar's Shadow Clones.
As the two Sand shinobi closed in with killing intent, Veigar didn't hesitate. He drew his blade and charged straight into the fray.
"Kill."
With that quiet utterance in his heart, Veigar struck with lethal intent.
Ittō-ryū: Shunshin Iai Slash.
Recognizing the deadly strike, Hiroshi, also a master of the blade, stepped in to intercept, placing himself in front of Ryōsuke, the target of Veigar's attack.
Clang!
Steel rang as blades collided. Hiroshi successfully blocked Veigar's strike.
Meanwhile, behind him, Ryōsuke began weaving hand signs.
"Earth Release: Earth Dragon Bullet Jutsu!"
As Veigar contended with both Ryōsuke and Hiroshi, Shinji heard a voice from Veigar's clone:
"Shinji, I need you to hold off for now."
Shinji frowned, puzzled. Every additional combatant increased their chances of victory, why stop him?
Before he could speak, the clone explained:
"I need you to use your Byakugan. Locate every puppet master hidden among the Suna shinobi, and report their positions to me."
"I have a way to deal with them."
Puppet masters, though poor in close combat and with glaring weaknesses, were considered the pride of Sunagakure's military, its ultimate force.
Why?
Because on a chaotic battlefield, their advantage was overwhelming.
The puppets they controlled had no sense of pain, no fear of death. And in the chaos of war, where battles are never one-on-one, their effectiveness multiplied. Those who had faced them knew all too well the devastation they could cause.
Hearing that Veigar had a solution, Shinji's eyes glinted with resolve.
"Understood."
He positioned himself between two of Veigar's clones, activating his Byakugan and sweeping the battlefield for the hidden puppet masters.
"Wind Release: Blade of Wind!"
"Agh!"
Blood sprayed. A Konoha shinobi fell, slain by a Sand ninja, who himself barely had time to feel relief before a second Konoha shinobi stabbed him through the heart.
"Die!"
The roar, the bloodthirst, the killing intent, there was no time to mourn on this battlefield soaked in crimson.
Wind Release: Pressure Damage.
Masaka, battling Shikuro, unleashed a powerful technique, forcing his opponent back. He quickly surveyed the battlefield.
"Kill!"
"The Konoha shinobi will all fall before us!"
His shouting lifted the morale of the Sand forces. Energized, their assault intensified.
"Kill!"
"Aaaaah!"
The screams were relentless. The Konoha shinobi began to falter under the tide of Sand's resurgence.
Shikuro, commanding the Konoha forces, looked increasingly grim. He could see the casualties mounting, almost all Konoha. The Sand's losses were minimal.
The reason? Dozens of fearless, deathless puppets cutting down his comrades without hesitation.
"Damn it…"
Locked in his own duel, Shikuro's mind raced for a solution.
Elsewhere, Shinji Hyuga had finished his scan. Over fifty puppet masters, dispersed into three clusters, all positioned behind the Sand front lines.
"These are all the puppet masters' positions."
As soon as he spoke, one of Veigar's clones drew four kunai. With a practiced flick, he launched them, one into the sky, another toward the puppet masters' positions.
Simultaneously, the second clone turned to Shinji and said:
"You've done well. Leave the rest to me."
Before Shinji could react, both clones vanished. At the same moment, the real Veigar also disappeared from the battlefield, disengaging from Hiroshi and Ryōsuke.
Caught off guard, the two elite jōnin scanned around frantically, trying to locate Veigar.
Then they noticed Shinji's gaze, fixed upward.
They looked to the sky, and there he was: Veigar and his two clones, suspended above them.
Their eyes widened with horror.
"Look out! He's above us!"
Meanwhile, the puppet masters, safely behind enemy lines, barely noticed the kunai that landed nearby. They assumed it was just errant battlefield debris.
They had no idea they were marked for death.
The entire battlefield heard Hiroshi and Ryōsuke's warning and turned skyward.
Wind Release: Rasenshuriken.
From above, three massive Rasenshuriken, imbued with wind chakra, spiraled down, launched by Veigar and his clones.
Flying Raijin: Directed Thunder.
In an instant, all three Rasenshuriken blinked out of sight, and reappeared directly within the puppet master formations.
BOOM!
BOOM!
BOOM!
The earth shook.
Over fifty puppet masters were obliterated in synchronized explosions, consumed by wind chakra-infused devastation.
"AAAAAGH!"
"AAHHH!"
"AUGH, AAAAAH!!"
The sound of explosions and the shrieks of dying puppet masters drowned out the battlefield's war cries. Blood and fire melded into a hellish chorus.
The Sand shinobi whipped their heads around, eyes wide in disbelief. Their puppet master comrades were gone, annihilated in an instant.
Only now did Shinji truly understand how Veigar intended to eliminate the Sand's puppet corps.
Disbelief flickered in his eyes as he watched the carnage unfold.
In the sky, Veigar's clones vanished, chakra spent.
And the real Veigar, drained from the massive chakra expenditure, began a slow, spiraling descent to the ground.
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