The battles between puppeteers typically start with both sides pulling back to create distance, and this time was no different. Both Termite and Little Boy simultaneously opened their mouths, unleashing a torrential rain of senbon toward the two Konoha ninja.
"Konoha-Style Sword Art: Whirlwind!"
The Konoha ninja wielding a blade swung his sword in a tight, impenetrable pattern, precisely blocking most of the senbon aimed at the two of them.
Even when struck, the hits landed on non-critical areas that didn't affect his combat abilities.
Without a Sharingan or exceptionally keen dynamic vision, this was the best he could manage.
"This is troublesome. Puppeteers love coating their weapons with poison," the middle-aged ninja reminded, tossing out a few kunai in an attempt to disrupt the attack.
"No worries. I still have a few antidote pills made according to Lady Tsunade's formula. They're enough to suppress most toxins," the sword-wielding ninja replied calmly, swallowing an antidote pill he had kept in his mouth since the start of the battle.
"Black Secret Technique: Hand Dance."
Sasori tugged on his chakra threads, activating the mechanism on the Termite puppet.
Its six puppet arms extended outward section by section with a mechanical clatter, resembling an octopus. At the tips, sharp conical spikes lashed out, engaging the sword-wielding ninja in fierce combat.
It was clear that after retrieving this puppet from the exam, Sasori had made significant modifications, greatly enhancing its performance and power.
Hardy's Little Boy puppet, on the other hand, was less flashy—one hand was a mechanical claw, the other a spiral saw blade, both moving at high speed.
This B-rank puppet's abilities were all focused on agility. When the puppeteer could bring out its full potential, its speed combined with decent offensive power was enough to threaten a fair number of chunin-level ninja.
The two puppets working in tandem were able to suppress the sword-wielding Konoha ninja.
But the sword-wielding Konoha ninja had backup.
He took down the summoning scroll from his back and instantly released hundreds of shuriken, scattering them like a blossoming flower in all directions.
Termite's six arms froze mid-action.
Upon closer inspection, each shuriken was attached to a nearly invisible steel wire, tightly binding the Termite puppet and restricting its movements.
Little Boy, being faster and smaller, managed to avoid most of the wires, and those it did encounter were mostly severed by its two spinning weapons.
"It's not over yet!"
The middle-aged ninja clenched several steel wires in his teeth, forming hand seals with both hands.
Snake—Dragon—Rabbit—Tiger!
"Fire Style: Dragon Fire Technique!"
A thick stream of fire erupted from the middle-aged ninja's mouth, following the oil previously smeared on the steel wires and spreading rapidly.
Hardy yanked the chakra threads, trying to have Little Boy cut the wires and rescue Termite, but their opponents were clearly prepared.
"Now!"
The sword-wielding ninja stabbed his blade into the ground and also performed a ninjutsu.
"Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!"
A fierce gust of wind fueled the flames, making them burn even hotter.
Sasori and Hardy hurriedly retracted their puppets.
The Termite puppet was likely destroyed, while Little Boy, thanks to its speed, suffered only minor damage to a few components.
"Black Secret Technique: Full Shield."
Sasori quickly manipulated the Salamander puppet to deploy its defenses, casting an anxious glance at Hardy.
"Watch yourself," Hardy said calmly, giving Sasori a word of caution as he prepared to engage in close combat.
Inside the Formentor puppet, the hand mechanisms, under the control of chakra threads, began to operate the piston cylinders, compressing air.
"Konoha-Style Sword Art: Crescent Dance!"
Wind-natured chakra enveloped the ninja's sword, forming a blade of energy nearly a meter long. He circled around the Salamander's defenses, attempting to decapitate Sasori and Hardy in a single strike.
Not far away, Jianye and Kana had already raised their hands, ready to assist.
"Black Secret Technique: Pneumatic Fist!"
The massive, burly Formentor puppet spun around and threw a punch.
With both chakra and pneumatic power driving it, the force of the punch was enough to shatter metal and stone.
The sword's energy dissipated, the blade shattered, and the sword-wielding ninja's body was sent flying like a broken rag doll.
"One down," Hardy remarked.
The mighty, imposing figure of the Formentor puppet turned and began striding toward the middle-aged ninja.
"One left!"
The improved Formentor puppet was a B-rank puppet in its normal state, but when Hardy personally piloted it from within, it could achieve B+ combat power—two tiers higher than Little Boy.
This meant it could defeat most chunin-level opponents.
Despair appeared on the middle-aged ninja's face.
Within the chunin ranks, his abilities were already considered quite good. Though his talent was average, he had steadily climbed the ranks since graduating as a genin, surviving thanks to his cautious style and accumulating over twenty years of battle merit, which he used to learn some ninjutsu.
Even though his aptitude was limited and he couldn't master any jutsu above B-rank, through diligence and effort...
He had mastered multiple Fire Release jutsu, with an exceptionally solid foundation—he could truly be called an elite ninja. Otherwise, he would never have been chosen for such a mission.
But precisely because of his wealth of experience, he knew that in this situation, there was no chance of survival.
"Black Secret Technique: Human Puppet Manipulation."
Excited, Sasori controlled the nearly destroyed White Ant puppet, breaking it apart to block any possible escape routes for the middle-aged ninja.
Even though, in truth, there was no way for him to escape.
The middle-aged ninja still put up a desperate resistance, struggling to find a way out.
For a moment, even with Hardy wearing the Formentor Puppet, he couldn't finish him off—there was no helping it. Although the Formentor Puppet was much more agile than the Black Gold, that was only relative.
Ninjas specialized in speed and offense; there was no such thing as a slow ninja. In this case, speed actually became the Formentor Puppet's weakness.
After all, the Formentor Puppet was designed to be worn by Hardy as armor to protect himself.
What's more, Hardy wasn't limited to controlling just one puppet.
The agility of the Little Boy Puppet perfectly complemented the Formentor Puppet's shortcomings.
With Sasori's assistance, the death of this Konoha ninja was only a matter of time.
"Amazing… As expected of members of the Puppet Corps."
Kana looked at Hardy and Sasori with an expression of awe.
The older one definitely had the strength to defeat most chunin, while the younger one was absolutely top-tier among genin—most ordinary chunin likely wouldn't be able to take him down either.
These two kids looked to be only about ten years old, right?
What surprised Mitsuba even more was Hardy.
Sasori's progress was within Mitsuba's expectations, but Hardy's current combat ability truly caught him off guard.
"There's no point in letting this drag on. Brother Kana, let's take care of the rest of them together."
After observing for a few seconds, Mitsuba turned to Kana and said.
"Alright."
Kana nodded slightly, forming hand seals and preparing to act.
Just then, a sudden change occurred.