Konan's final act of wrapping the Steam Impurities Explosion with her paper shuriken consumed an immense amount of Chakra; the paper shuriken at that moment was completely different from her previous ones, and that single move alone depleted nearly a third of her Chakra. After fighting for so long beforehand, how much Chakra could she possibly have left? Sealing tags were more than enough.
After tying Konan's hands and feet, Ino sensed her surroundings. Obito, Pain, and others shouldn't be here, but it was better to be safe. She created four Shadow Clones, instructing them to form a Four Violet Flames Formation, encircling a small area. Afterwards, her main body sat on Konan to rest.
"Damn it! Baihu was captured?" Deidara cared deeply for his adopted sister, glancing over in her direction periodically.
The moment the Four Violet Flames Formation rose, he knew something was wrong.
The only female member of their organization had likely been defeated, which was truly embarrassing.
"Sasori-sama? What about us?"
Sasori, who was controlling the Puppet Mastery, had a limited view, but the Four Violet Flames Formation was visible. Ino setting up this sealing formation was also intended to apply psychological pressure on them.
Your comrade is already done for, aren't you going to run?
"What's the rush?" Sasori-sama showed no sign of panic, calmly watching the Konoha Ninja engage in a deadly battle with his Human Puppets, as relaxed as if he were watching an ordinary stage play.
First, it was Kakashi, now it was Asuma. He directed his hundred-plus Human Puppets to attack, defend, or retreat, striking from both sides, flanking from front and back. When two, three, five, or ten Human Puppets surrounded a Ninja, with enemies on all sides, no one could withstand it.
Ino watched from afar. She had also secretly practiced Puppet Manipulation for a few days and understood the art.
Outsiders could only see the difficulty of the manipulation, but Ino saw that Sasori had an enormous amount of Chakra. This guy was left with only a flesh core, yet he still had so much Chakra!
Human Puppets were somewhat like Kimimaro planted in the ground; their own cells hadn't completely died, and they had Chakra within their bodies. However, to control them, using Chakra strings also required the main body's Chakra.
Sasori simultaneously controlling over a hundred Human Puppets was like creating over a hundred Shadow Clones at once. This guy's own Chakra reserves were also terrifyingly vast.
Ino had taken down Konan, and Kakashi and Sasuke were gaining the upper hand against Deidara.
Asuma sought no merit, only to avoid mistakes, and he responded calmly, focusing primarily on defense at this time.
Two Human Puppets, one from the left and one from the right, extended their arms, their palms revealing gleaming blades that stabbed towards his chest.
His tall physique was extremely agile, dodging left and right. His Chakra Blade glowed with a faint blue light; its Wind Release Chakra cut through Human Puppets like tofu.
He sidestepped, avoiding the blade, then swung his arm outwards, severing the puppet's neck with a single slash, and then kicked another puppet away.
Shiranui Genma and Namikaze Raidō's cooperation was extremely skilled. They followed Asuma closely, and in less than ten seconds, four or five Human Puppets had fallen before the three of them.
But with a thought from Sasori, the defeated Human Puppets, connected by Chakra strings, rose again.
After familiarizing themselves with Asuma, Shiranui Genma, and Namikaze Raidō's techniques, these Human Puppets, still somewhat resembling living people, shook their heads and used extremely precise coordination to block the three of them.
The Human Puppet in the first column of the third row on the left stabbed Asuma's right shoulder, while the Human Puppet in the seventh column of the fifth row on the right retreated half a meter to spray poison needles at Shiranui Genma.
Sasori was like an extremely precise computer, his mind divided into over a hundred parts, yet he controlled everything in an orderly manner, as if his puppets were extensions of his own limbs.
In his previous life, this would have been a quintessential micro-management master!
"How can this be? Aren't these just puppets?" Namikaze Raidō parried with his Kunai held in reverse, struggling to withstand the combined attack of two Human Puppets, looking quite disheveled.
He hadn't felt them to be particularly strong when he fought those Human Puppets before, but in the blink of an eye, they seemed to have grown stronger as the Human Puppets "died and revived"?
Shiranui Genma was the captain of the "Genma Squad" and had more combat experience. He was still able to maintain his attack rhythm under the siege of five or six Human Puppets. At this moment, he reminded his teammates: "These are Sunagakure's puppets. The opponent's control technique is extremely skillful, and they have also seen through the weaknesses of our techniques in the previous battles."
"Seen through? Is it some kind of Bloodline Limit?" Namikaze Raidō immediately thought of the Sharingan.
Shiranui Genma didn't think so: "This guy was a genius Puppet Master back then. His combat talent is unparalleled. He must have analyzed it through his own intelligence."
Fighting with over a hundred Human Puppets at the same time, while also analyzing their taijutsu and Ninjutsu weaknesses, and then defeating them through Human Puppet manipulation—could anyone truly achieve such a feat through their own intelligence?
Shiranui Genma exhaled a deep breath: "Think of the Fourth Hokage. This guy in front of us and the Fourth Hokage are both the same type of Ninja."
Asuma bore the greatest pressure, with over twenty Human Puppets stabbing him with various blades. Looking at the greenish-yellow and grayish colors, one could tell the toxins on them must be incredibly potent.
Ino, from a distance, was also pondering how she should fight Sasori.
Using poison? This option was immediately rejected. Sasori had transformed his entire body into a Human Puppet, with only that oddly shaped regeneration core being flesh. Would such a piece of flesh still be affected by poison? All her various poison-based attack methods were rendered useless.
If Flower Release didn't have those sensory-confusing abilities and pollen that triggered a host of complications, relying solely on vines, its actual lethality would be very low.
Even if she used Flower Release, Sasori had the Third Kazekage he could use; with a gust of wind, poof, all the pollen would be gone.
Ino felt a headache coming on; Sasori was a strong counter to her.
Not only did Sasori have a massive amount of Chakra, but his "Nin," "Ken," "Soku," and "In" were all at extremely high levels.
Namikaze Raidō, who had long served as a guard for the Third Hokage and Fourth Hokage, had now become the weakest link. As he became the primary target, he was hit three times by Sasori's poisoned Kunai from Human Puppets within three seconds.
Sasori also sprayed poison needles and barbs at the Ninja surrounding Deidara on the other side. Under the combined attack of Kakashi and Sasuke's Lightning Release combo, and a group of Konoha Ninja, Deidara was struggling, clearly on the verge of collapsing.
To protect Naruto, the samurai with the sword was struck by over a dozen poison needles in his back.
Gekkō Hayate, to protect Yūgao Uzuki, acted like a dead man, using his sword to slash at the poison needles. As a result, his shoulders, chest, abdomen, and arms were hit by seven or eight poison needles in quick succession. Shino Aburame, who was very close to him, also took two poison needles.
"Retreat!"
As Sasori sprayed poison needles, Deidara also threw countless clay spiders, forcing back the Konoha Ninja. They also attempted to rescue Konan, who was trapped by the Four Red Yang Formation, but were desperately blocked by Kakashi and Asuma. Seeing that there was truly no opportunity, they could only escape the battlefield on Deidara's giant clay bird.
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