After summoning the Chikamatsu Ten, the masterpiece of Bunkaemon, the progenitor of puppeteers, Chiyo thought she would have the upper hand.
After all, these were the most powerful puppets in the ninja world, and there were so many of them; often, numbers were an advantage. But Chiyo was quickly shocked by the hundreds of red-robed puppets summoned by Sasori.
Chiyo frowned as she looked at the densely packed puppets before her, the exact number of which she couldn't count, and pondered repeatedly in her mind.
How is it possible for one person to control hundreds of puppets?
A puppeteer's control of a puppet isn't simply a matter of dragging it to its designated spot. The puppet's spatial position, movement speed and trajectory, attack force, and the weapons and mechanisms used all require meticulous planning.
Even with only two or three puppets, if the puppeteer isn't skilled, the puppets might collide with each other due to route conflicts. Let alone the sheer number of puppets Scorpion created—how can their movement and attacks be strategically configured?
If they attack indiscriminately, these puppets are very likely to injure themselves. After all, Chiyo has seen plenty of novice puppeteers who have injured themselves while trying to control more than two puppets.
After mentally simulating how to control so many puppets, Chiyo felt a throbbing pain in her temples. She couldn't help but wonder if human puppets were really that powerful, not only able to retain their bloodline limits but also able to evolve her mental abilities to this extent.
If that could be achieved, wouldn't that be the true direction for the development of puppetry?
"Puppets aren't useful just because there are many of them!"
Regardless of the circumstances, we must not lose face.
Chiyo forced herself to suppress her inner thoughts and said blankly, "Besides, what's the point of turning yourself into a cold puppet? You can't even guarantee your perception of the outside world."
"Heh, let's prove everything through battle."
Without saying a word to Chiyo, Scorpion directly controlled a group of red-robed puppets to rush over.
Chiyo also stopped talking and focused on the battle. She left her parents' two puppets to protect her, and the Chikamatsu Ten worked together to launch an attack on Sasori.
After the battle, Chiyo's chaotic mind calmed down considerably. Although there were many of these red-robed puppets, their quality was far inferior. While they might be considered rare gems for ordinary puppeteers, they were rather lacking for skilled puppeteers like Chiyo and Sasori.
Moreover, although there are more than two hundred puppets, Scorpion can only effectively control a portion of them at the same time, about sixty or seventy.
The puppets following behind were stiff and slow-reacting, just like the Sand Ninja shouting and yelling outside. What's more, only the front part of these puppets could fully exert their power; often, one would be destroyed by the Ten Guards before the rear could fill the gap.
Even so, the numerical advantage still put Chiyo in grave danger. Several of her ten guards were destroyed, and even her parents' two puppets, who went up to fill in, were severely injured and fell to the ground.
Seeing that Elder Chiyo was in critical condition, the Sand Ninja on the periphery stopped shouting and instead started firing crossbows at Sasori. Some Sand Ninja also used shuriken to attack the puppet by attaching explosive tags, which relieved the pressure on Chiyo.
"Annoying guy!"
Enraged by the harassment from the Sand Ninja, Sasori took out another scroll, then extended the cannon barrels from his palms and sprayed out high-temperature fire streams.
The scorching flames burned the heavens and the earth. Even standing a hundred meters away, the masked warriors could feel the agonizing heat. The crossbow bolts and shurikens that were fired turned into molten iron and fell to the ground.
As for the detonating tags, they only burned or exploded on the way, raising the temperature of the flames to another level, but had no effect on the scorpion itself.
"Three Treasures Absorb Collapse"
Taking advantage of the moment when Sasori's attention was drawn to the Sand Ninja, Chiyo manipulated three white-robed puppets to stand together in a triangular formation. Then, the puppets opened their mouths, revealing the characters "Buddha," "Dharma," and "Sangha" pasted inside.
The next moment, the mechanism was activated, and a powerful tornado appeared out of nowhere in front of them. The force of this wind was so great that it could swallow mountains, and the red-robed puppets were powerless to resist it.
In an instant, dozens of puppets were swept up by the hurricane, and then these puppets shattered under the pressure of the violent wind, spewing out a large number of puppet fragments behind only three puppets.
"Severe erosion and flow"
Enraged by the large number of puppets that had been wiped out, Sasori took out another scroll and opened it while manipulating the puppets to fill in the gaps in the attack. Then, a terrifying high-pressure water jet shot out from the cannon in his palm. The water was indestructible wherever it passed, and half of the Chikamatsu Ten were instantly wiped out.
"ah!"
Perhaps still mindful of the bond between grandmother and grandson, Sasori's water attack somehow avoided Granny Chiyo and the fallen puppet parents. However, the crossbowmen on the outer perimeter were affected by the water attack, losing over twenty ninjas and most of the crossbowmen in an instant.
"Now we can focus on the battle!"
Seeing that the crossbow bolts had been destroyed, Sasori stopped attacking the outer Sand Ninja. He manipulated his body to launch several weapons that gleamed with a cold light, and got up to walk towards Elder Chiyo.
Chiyo could only control five puppets at this moment, and they were all somewhat broken and tattered. Seeing that Sasori was about to attack, she couldn't help but take a few steps back.
"Grandma Chiyo, your time is almost up!"
Scorpion saw Chiyo's predicament and rushed towards her, as if he felt uncomfortable killing Chiyo with a puppet and had to do it himself.
"Wind Release: Great Scythe Itachi"
Just as the massive attacks of puppets and scorpions were about to overwhelm Chiyo, Temari flew back from outside on her Three-Star Fan. Under her control, a violent whirlwind carrying invisible blades swept in.
The whirlwind was extremely fast, and as it swirled and danced, it swept a large number of puppets into the air. Then, the invisible blade energy within the storm slicing the puppets to pieces with incredible sharpness. In an instant, more than half of the puppets in front of Elder Chiyo were cleared away.
Even the scorpion itself was blown backward dozens of meters by this violent wind, and Chiyo's crisis was instantly relieved.
Seeing this, Chiyo breathed a sigh of relief, but her eyes held both relief and a hint of regret.
"Phew, Temari, thank goodness for your Wind Release support. Just retreat a little and attack with ninjutsu. There are too many poison needles and poison sand around here, be careful. Also, how's the Third Hokage's puppet?"
Upon hearing Chiyo's words, Temari quickly manipulated her Three Star Fan to fly outwards a short distance, then used Wind Release to clear an open space before landing.
"The third generation's puppet body has been taken control, and Master Maki is leading people to seal him away."
Temari's expression remained somewhat solemn as she spoke. As expected of the strongest Kazekage, even uncontrolled puppets were extremely difficult to deal with.
If it weren't for the fact that Konoha has provided a lot of sealing technique materials in recent years, which has greatly improved Sunagakure's sealing techniques, it would probably be difficult to deal with the Third Kazekage's human puppet for a while.
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