Earlier, when Minato suddenly vanished from Chiyo's sight and reappeared again, his chakra signature had diminished greatly.
Connecting this with the fact that Mitsuki's chakra presence had been gone for quite some time, it was obvious that Minato had used a Space–Time Ninjutsu to teleport Mitsuki back to the Konoha camp in the rear.
"Shimizu Mitsuki…"Chiyo murmured softly.
She prided herself on being a veteran who had weathered countless storms, but she had never encountered a shinobi quite like Mitsuki.
Other geniuses always grew gradually on the battlefield — like the young Minato in front of her, whose rise could at least be traced step by step.
But this Mitsuki… the moment he stepped onto the battlefield, he displayed overwhelming power.
And most crucial of all, he was a ninjutsu-type powerhouse!
In the shinobi world, it was widely recognized that ninjutsu specialists were the hardest to cultivate, yet once matured, they were the most unstoppable. This type of shinobi was born as an uncrowned king of the battlefield.
Of course, thinking too much was pointless now. The only choice was to seize this chance while Minato was in a weakened state and try to kill him.
In fact, Chiyo acted immediately. Three of the of ten puppets, each armed with different blades—a broadsword, a katana, and dual sabers—attacked Minato in perfect coordination, already forming a deadly encirclement.
"Boom!"
Gamaken swung his massive sasumata down upon the puppets surrounding Minato, but with a quick flick of Chiyo's fingers, one puppet slipped through under Gamaken's legs.
The strike landed on the ground instead, raising a cloud of smoke and dust.
Minato leapt nimbly, using Gamaken's weapon as leverage, and landed atop the giant toad's head.
His chakra reserves were dangerously low; it was safer to recover for a bit.
From his pouch, he pulled out two of the Akimichi Clan's latest high-quality Soldier Pills. Supposedly, they were ramen flavored.
Kushina had bought them for him. Normally, he swallowed soldier pills whole, but this time he chewed them deliberately.
(￣～￣)…They actually tasted pretty good!
Seeing the massive and awkward-looking toad in front of her, Chiyo frowned.
"A giant Summoning Beast… Jiraiya, you truly are something."
But Chiyo's specialty lay in anti-personnel combat; fighting massive summons wasn't her forte. With the giant toad guarding Minato, her plan to finish him off quickly had fallen apart.
Still, as the saying went: if you have your stratagem, I have my counter.
Chiyo immediately directed the six remaining puppets to dart across the battlefield, mercilessly harvesting the lives of ordinary Konoha shinobi.
Most ninja battles were dominated by taijutsu. Puppet techniques thrived against such opponents, because puppet bodies—being mechanisms—could move in ways no human body could.
Imagine striking what should be a blind spot, only for the puppet's head to twist 180 degrees, unleashing a rain of senbon from its mouth.
That Minato could, with depleted chakra, still keep up against Chiyo's puppets using pure taijutsu and reflexes, and even maneuver the battlefield toward Jiraiya's position—that alone spoke volumes of his ability.
What made things worse, Chiyo had coated the puppets' weapons in poison.
Any Konoha shinobi struck, even if the wound wasn't fatal, would feel the effects within seconds. Without time to administer antidotes, they were inevitably finished off by other Suna shinobi.
"Well then, Minato — how will you choose now?"
It was clear that Chiyo had placed him in a dilemma.
If Minato stayed atop the giant toad, she couldn't reach him. But it also meant Minato couldn't stop her puppets from massacring Konoha's forces.
This was exactly what worried him most.
On the battlefield beneath Gamaken's feet—
A puppet swung a massive blade down at the neck of a Konoha chunin who had just defeated a Suna shinobi.
"Chijin! Behind you!" A comrade shouted desperately.
But someone was faster.
A tri-pronged kunai whizzed past Chijin's back—
"Rasengan."
Minato slammed the spinning chakra sphere into the sword puppet.
Yet just as it was about to connect, Chiyo's lips curled into a smile.
"Finally, he's taken the bait."
Her fingers tapped rapidly in the air as if manipulating some delicate mechanism.
The puppet disassembled midair, its parts scattering.
Minato's Rasengan hit nothing, and he immediately realized the trap. He tried to use Flying Thunder God to escape, but his chakra was nearly gone.
The earlier teleportation and Rasengan had consumed almost everything he'd managed to refine.
"Damn it!"
As he cursed, the scattered puppet parts lit up with summoning formulas, glowing with blue chakra. From them, countless poisoned blades shot out, linked together by chakra threads.
With a harsh clatter, the pieces reassembled into a deadly cage, stabbing toward Minato like a storm of blades.
At the very last moment—
Chijin grabbed Minato's arm and yanked him clear of the deadly trap.
"Clang, clang, clang!"
The parts clashed together, reforming into the broadsword puppet.
"Damn you, Minato!"
Frustrated at the missed chance, Chiyo launched her other puppets forward again.
But Gamaken struck back, swinging his sasumata with surprising dexterity, fending off the puppets with relentless blows.
"Thanks, Gamaken."
"Though I'm clumsy, I'll do my best to protect you."
Chijin let out a long sigh of relief. If Minato had died saving him, even dying ten thousand times wouldn't absolve his guilt.
But danger always struck without warning.
A circular mechanism suddenly shot from the ground, transforming into a lion's head about a meter tall.
Its fangs clamped down, pinning Minato against a tree in an instant.
"Lion Closing Roar!"
Sealing formulas spread across the trunk, locking away the little chakra Minato still had.
"Damn it!"
Chijin rushed to help, but sealing techniques like this were beyond his comprehension. His incompetence was laid bare.
In the distance, Chiyo's expression finally eased. At last, some good news.
The puppet disassembly had been nothing but a feint to distract him. The true killing move had been the Lion Closing Roar hidden underground.
Originally, her plan was to let Minato escape with his Space–Time Ninjutsu after the puppet trap, then catch him off guard with the sealing technique.
Once sealed, even the Flying Thunder God would be useless.
But she hadn't expected Minato to re-enter battle with so little chakra.
No matter—it all ended the same.
"Chakra-Light Spear Assault!"
Chiyo directed her puppets forward, giving Minato no chance to breathe.
With his chakra sealed, Minato could do nothing. Though, under Kushina's guidance, he was an expert in fūinjutsu himself—
—as the saying went, "a physician cannot heal himself." Helping others dispel seals was one thing, but breaking free after being sealed first-hand? Even Kushina might struggle with that.