White flashes streaked through the cave as Jun Ma Lu moved like a phantom among Sasori's puppets. In only a few breaths, more than a dozen puppets had already been destroyed.
Naturally, Jun Ma Lu had no intention of wasting time fighting puppets endlessly. While destroying the Human Puppets around him, he continuously closed the distance toward Sasori.
Sasori quickly retreated while manipulating the puppet army to surround Jun Ma Lu from every direction.
"You want to attack me directly?" Sasori sneered.
But Jun Ma Lu's expression remained cold.
Although Sasori controlled hundreds of puppets at once, keeping up with Jun Ma Lu's speed required immense concentration. Jun Ma Lu's attacks were too fast and too direct.
His eyes locked onto Sasori.
"Dance of the Seedling Fern!"
Boom!
In an instant, massive bone spikes erupted violently from the ground throughout the cave.
The entire battlefield transformed into a forest of white bones.
Countless Human Puppets were pierced apart immediately.
Even Sasori failed to fully evade the sudden attack.
A giant bone spike pierced straight through his puppet body and destroyed the cylindrical core hidden within his chest.
Crack.
The core shattered.
Sasori's movements instantly stopped.
A genius puppet master of the Akatsuki had fallen.
---
After leaving the cave, Jun Ma Lu saw an unexpected scene.
Gaara, who had originally died after the extraction of Shukaku, was breathing once again.
Nearby, Naruto, Sakura, and the others wore shocked expressions.
"Finished," Jun Ma Lu said calmly as he approached.
Gaara slowly raised his head after hearing the voice.
"You…?"
He looked at Jun Ma Lu with surprise.
Jun Ma Lu nodded slightly.
"It's been a long time, Kazekage-sama."
Gaara remained silent for a moment before sighing softly.
"So Chen Xing really saved you back then…"
Jun Ma Lu glanced toward Chiyo, whose chakra and life force had almost completely disappeared.
"What happened?"
Smeir answered quietly, "Lady Chiyo used the Reanimation Jutsu to exchange her life for Gaara's."
Jun Ma Lu nodded in understanding.
He then looked around and noticed Kakashi, Might Guy, and Hinata were missing.
"Where are Kakashi and the others?"
Smeir replied, "They went after Deidara. But according to Karin's perception, there's another powerful enemy nearby."
Jun Ma Lu's expression immediately changed.
Without another word, he vanished instantly.
Because Hinata was with the group, Jun Ma Lu did not dare waste any time.
---
Several kilometers away, deep within the forest—
Deidara stood on a giant tree branch, his Akatsuki cloak torn in several places after fighting Kakashi and Might Guy.
Beside him stood a masked man wearing a spiral-pattern mask.
It was Uchiha Obito.
Kakashi's expression darkened the moment he saw the mask.
He would never forget the man who had stolen his Sharingan years ago.
The atmosphere immediately became tense.
"Who are you?" Kakashi asked coldly.
Without the burden of the Sharingan draining his chakra, Kakashi's strength had grown steadily over the past three years. He had already entered the Kage level.
Obito ignored Kakashi completely.
Instead, his gaze settled on Hinata.
"So she's the fiancée of the Peacock King…" Obito said quietly. "Capturing her might be useful against him."
Deidara frowned immediately.
"Tch… using a woman as a hostage? That's pretty low, even for you."
Although Deidara cooperated with Obito, he clearly disapproved of such methods.
The moment Kakashi and Guy heard Obito's words, killing intent erupted from both of them.
Kakashi gripped his chakra blade tightly and charged forward without hesitation.
But as the blade passed through Obito's body, it struck nothing but air.
Kakashi's pupils shrank.
"What kind of ability is this…?"
Nearby, Hinata activated her Byakugan, carefully observing Obito's strange space-time technique.