The once peaceful and bustling Leaf Village was suddenly plunged into war, and chaos erupted throughout the central streets.
Both villagers and ninjas were caught off guard by the sudden attack from their supposed allies, the Sand Ninjas, as well as the Sound Ninjas who had infiltrated unnoticed.
While fighting back, they quickly dispersed according to the Leaf Village's safety manual, organizing villagers to evacuate to shelters.
Due to the lack of manpower, the Leaf side was quickly overwhelmed and fell into a disadvantage, giving the Sand and Sound Ninjas the illusion that the Leaf ninjas were nothing special.
Members of the Anbu and various ninja clans all mobilized.
Most of the former headed to the square to protect the Third Hokage, while the latter protected their clansmen and villagers, leading them to the shelters near Hokage Rock.
As a result, both the Hokage Building and the clan territories were left in their weakest state of defense and perception.
Pop—
A sound like a balloon popping echoed in a forest outside the village.
A massive cloud of white smoke had barely begun to spread before it was blown away by a gust of wind.
Three hundred and one puppets, clad in black cloaks with red clouds, appeared out of thin air.
Most of these puppets had their faces wrapped in white bandages, revealing only their foreheads and eyes, making it impossible to distinguish which puppets were purely made of materials and which were human puppets crafted from corpses, retaining their abilities from when they were alive.
Standing in front of these puppets was another figure wearing a black cloak.
If any member of the Akatsuki were here, they would undoubtedly call out "Leader."
Indeed, this figure was none other than Tendo Pain.
To be precise, it was Izayoi using the Transformation Technique to disguise himself as Tendo Pain.
The golden level of Chakra Control granted Izayoi immense mastery over his chakra, allowing him not only to fuse two or three Nature Transformations into a new one using the Super Hurricane Consecutive Spheres but also to perfect his Transformation Technique.
Unless a sensory ninja was powerful enough to recognize chakra fluctuations and had previously identified Izayoi's chakra, they would be unable to see through his Transformation Technique.
After summoning all the puppets stored in a large scroll, Izayoi wasted no time. With a single hand seal, he created three Shadow Clones with substantial chakra reserves, and then his main body vanished using the Body Flicker Technique.
Yes, the Izayoi who had transformed into Tendo Pain was the real one.
The Izayoi at the square was merely a Shadow Clone.
This was precisely why the Shadow Clone hadn't engaged in the childish ninja game with Gaara—its durability was too weak.
As soon as the three Shadow Clones appeared, they began to divide their tasks.
The first one formed a hand seal and used the Transformation Technique to also take on the appearance of Tendo Pain, then vanished using the Body Flicker Technique to act alone.
The second Shadow Clone also used the Transformation Technique, this time taking on the appearance of an ordinary person wearing sunglasses, and then flickered toward the Naka River.
Meanwhile, the power of the Tenseigan remotely activated the Chakra Cores of the three hundred puppets.
The puppets instantly came to life, dispersing into afterimages.
Only the small puppet, the three hundred and first one, which was different from the others, remained standing in place.
The small puppet's face was also wrapped in bandages, but its eyes were far more beautiful than those of other puppets. They were as clear and translucent as gemstones, with a red light flickering within.
This small puppet was none other than Ranmaru, who had been transformed into a Human Puppet.
The task of the third Shadow Clone was to protect Ranmaru while also supplying Chakra to Ranmaru's Chakra Core.
At this moment, Ranmaru's eyes were radiating a red light.
The three hundred puppets that had scattered suddenly found themselves surrounded by a red powder. Their bodies twisted slightly, like a Mirage, and then they vanished without a trace.
Even the Byakugan's penetrating vision couldn't detect their presence.
This was the natural enemy of the Byakugan—the Crimson Eye, which could use Chakra to create illusions and disrupt the enemy.
With the help of the Crimson Eye, two hundred of the puppets silently arrived at the central street, like Hayate Gekko using the Invisibility Release, and watched the three factions of ninjas engaged in battle.
The battle had already resulted in many casualties. Bodies lay strewn across the streets, rooftops, and even hidden corners of alleys. Some were already lifeless, while others were severely injured, unable to continue fighting and forced to hide.
These people hid well, and some clever individuals even used tools they carried to blend in with the surrounding buildings.
Unfortunately, in the face of the Tenseigan's long-range vision and penetrating gaze, they were all exposed.
Some of the puppets began to move.
Red powder appeared out of thin air, and the puppets' figures were revealed. They picked up the corpses of the fallen ninjas and then vanished once more.
Ninjas who inadvertently witnessed this scene thought their eyes were playing tricks on them, even suspecting they had fallen victim to a Genjutsu.
Before they could investigate further, they were forced to suppress their curiosity due to the enemy's attacks.
The puppets didn't spare any of the corpses, whether they were from the Leaf Village, the Sand Ninja, or the Sound Ninja.
As for the severely injured ninjas, except for those from the Leaf Village, the puppets approached and finished them off.
Thud—
The blades mounted on the puppets shot out, either piercing the ninjas' necks, stabbing into their chests and twisting, or decapitating them. However, they never damaged the heart.
To create a Human Puppet, the heart had to remain intact, as it was used to craft the Chakra Core.
"Nothing."
"Nothing."
"Still nothing…"
The Shadow Clone standing beside Ranmaru watched all of the puppets' actions with cold eyes, muttering emotionless words.
Clearly, the scene it had hoped to see had not appeared.
However, the Shadow Clone didn't lose heart. Instead, it raised its hand and made a gesture, whispering, "Initiate Plan B."
As if hearing its words, the Shadow Clone responsible for controlling the three hundred puppets, which had already arrived at the Naka River cave, immediately sent another batch of puppets to finish the job.
These puppets were all Human Puppets made from corpses, retaining the abilities they had in life.
Not only that, but the strength of these Human Puppets far exceeded what they had in life.
This was because the Chakra within them belonged to Izayoi, and they were controlled by Izayoi's Shadow Clones.
Although they didn't have the Yin-Yang Release: Black Receivers embedded in them and couldn't use the Tenseigan's abilities, Izayoi could still perform Ninja Techniques through the Human Puppets.
Thus, the Shadow Clones controlled the Human Puppets, dividing their tasks. Some were responsible for finishing off the injured ninja, while others no longer concealed themselves, revealing their forms and intervening in the battle.
In a flash of lightning, a Human Puppet appeared behind a Sound Ninja who was assisting a Sand Ninja. Its modified puppet arm extended a sharp blade, wrapped in Lightning Release Nature Transformation, piercing through the Sound Ninja's body from behind and twisting forcefully.
"So... so fast!"
The Sound Ninja, unaware of the existence of a fourth enemy, could only utter these words as the blade pierced his body before he fell silent.
"Who is that?"
"Is it the Anbu? No, the Anbu doesn't wear this kind of uniform. Who is this guy?!"
"Be careful, his Body Flicker Technique is incredibly fast, and his stealth abilities are strong."
As the suddenly appearing Human Puppet came into view, the nearby Leaf Ninja, Sand Ninja, and Sound Ninja all heightened their vigilance.
Whoosh—
After swiftly killing the Sound Ninja, the Human Puppet raised its hand, revealing a hollow in its palm, and condensed a dazzling golden light, firing a glowing projectile toward the Sand Ninja.
"It's one of ours, attack!"
Seeing this, a Leaf Ninja's eyes lit up, successfully deceived by the Human Puppet.
"Wind Release…"
Just as the Leaf Ninja began forming hand seals to unleash a Wind Release attack on the Sand Ninja, the Human Puppet suddenly appeared in front of him, similarly piercing his body with a blade.
Blood flowed from the wound, staining the clan emblem on his clothes.
The Shimura clan, known for their mastery of Wind Release.
After killing the Leaf Ninja, the Human Puppet suddenly froze in place, no longer moving.
Swish—
A cold glint flashed as a short blade severed the Human Puppet's head from its body.
Looking at the bloodless Human Puppet, the Special Jonin who had used the Leaf Style Swordsmanship to destroy it frowned and said, "Why would a puppet from the Hidden Sand Village kill one of our own?"
The loss of one Human Puppet didn't bother Izayoi's Shadow Clones in the slightest.
On the contrary, several Shadow Clones, including Izayoi himself, all wore expressions of joy.
Because… it dropped! From the perspective of Izayoi and his Shadow Clones, after the Human Puppet killed the Shimura clan ninja, a green beam of light flew out of his body and headed straight for Izayoi's true form.
A green Talent, when decomposed, would only yield a random two-digit amount of points, not even a fraction of what a Purple Trait could provide.
Yet Izayoi was overjoyed.
Because, given his current strength, the probability of dropping either low-level or high-level Talents was extremely slim.
How slim?
If luck wasn't on his side, even Elite Jonin like Momochi Zabuza and Kurosuki Raiga, or Kekkei Genkai users like Haku and Ranmaru, wouldn't drop a single low-level Talent.
Similarly, Izayoi hadn't dropped any Talents from Uchiha Sasuke or the Hyuga Sisters for a long time.
Since graduating, only Rock Lee had provided Izayoi with two blue Talents.
But now, after the Human Puppet killed an enemy, it suddenly dropped a green Talent for Izayoi.
This not only meant that defeating and killing enemies with the Human Puppet could also yield Talents for Izayoi.
If this wasn't the result of an extremely low probability trigger, then it meant Izayoi's speculation was correct. Even though his strength had reached the pinnacle, the Talent Attribute System still concealed mechanisms that could increase the drop rate! After all, even the levels of the Talents were something he had figured out on his own.
The mechanisms were naturally not limited to just a few.
When one door closes, another opens—as long as you dare to think and act!
To confirm whether this was indeed the result of an extremely low probability trigger, the Shadow Clone immediately took control of the Human Puppets on the street and began indiscriminately attacking the ninjas present.
Against the Sand Ninjas and Sound Ninjas, it was a merciless slaughter.
As for the Leaf Village ninjas, the Shadow Clone either found opportunities to knock them unconscious or sacrificed the Puppet to render them incapable of fighting. Then, it would make a move as if to kill them, giving the surrounding Leaf ninjas a chance to intervene and save their comrades.
After killing several Sand Ninjas and Sound Ninjas, Izayoi and his Shadow Clone once again saw a blue beam of light fly out from a Sand Ninja wearing a vest, heading straight toward Izayoi's main body.
The mechanism truly existed! Izayoi, who had transformed into Tendo Pain, couldn't help but let a smile creep onto his face.
Meanwhile, the Shadow Clone in the Naka River cave, taking advantage of the fact that Jiraiya hadn't yet noticed the Human Puppets, quickly noticed that the Puppets were all wearing Akatsuki uniforms. It swiftly controlled the strongest Human Puppets in the central street and, using the Crimson Eye's invisibility, made a discreet exit, directing all of them toward Izayoi's main body's location—the Root Organization!
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