: The Battle of the Puppet Shukaku!

Chapter 124: The Battle of the Puppet Shukaku!

The puppet moved.

Its front paws slammed down on the ground, causing the entire hall to tremble.

The next second, a large amount of sand surged up from the ground, turning into a sand flow with an astonishing speed, spreading towards Tsunade's feet like a living thing.

The sound of the churning sand was fine and rapid, like millions of insects crawling at the same time.

"Magnetic Release!" Kakashi's pupils contracted, and he unconsciously tightened his grip on the short sword in his hand.

It even replicated this ability! This puppet not only imitated the appearance of the One-Tailed Beast, but also perfectly reproduced the Magnet Release Kekkei Genkai unique to Sunagakure.

Tsunade leaped into the air, dodging the sand current beneath her feet.

The sand missed its target, gathering into a ball on the ground. It quickly contracted and coalesced, transforming into a sand hand that fiercely grabbed at Tsunade in the air.

With fingers spread wide, grains of sand fall between them, yet the air still carries a suffocating sense of oppression.

Tsunade twisted her body forcefully in mid-air, her right fist brimming with monstrous power, and slammed it towards the sand hand.

The moment the fist collided with the sand hand, a muffled explosion was heard, sand and gravel flew everywhere, and the hand was scattered into a cloud of yellow mist, with fine sand falling like rain.

As soon as Tsunade landed and her feet were firmly planted, even more sand surged in from all directions, like a giant net that was being pulled in.

Her gaze swept around, her brows furrowed. The amount of sand from this puppet seemed endless, one wave after another, giving her no chance to catch her breath.

Kakashi didn't stand still. He flashed and, using the cover of the sandstorm, silently circled around to the side and rear of the puppet.

The short knife was thrust out, the blade sinking into the sand, but the sensation was not like piercing loose gravel; the blade was stuck in it, as if it were being bitten by something.

Immediately afterwards, the tip of the knife touched a hard object, causing him to pause slightly.

Making a decision in an instant, he poured chakra into the blade without hesitation, and lightning-attribute electricity exploded on the blade, bursting out a dazzling blue-white light.

The laser disc player scattered the surrounding sand and gravel, revealing the true face beneath the sand layer.

The pale white bones, thick and hard, support the puppet's enormous form.

The blade scraped across the skeleton, making a grating, screeching sound, like fingernails scraping a blackboard, making one's teeth ache.

The puppet sensed his presence, its enormous head suddenly twisting around, and the red light in its eye sockets intensified.

It opened its mouth wide, and the airflow gathered wildly deep in its throat, swirling and compressing, emitting a sharp whistling sound.

Wind Release: Sky Bullet Training!

Kakashi drew his sword without hesitation and retreated, rolling backward.

Almost at the same instant he left, a compressed air blast grazed past him, whistling through the air, and slammed into the wall behind him.

A large hole was blown open in the wall, flying debris and filling the air with smoke and dust, causing the entire passage to tremble.

"This is Wind Release—is someone controlling it from behind?!" Shizune exclaimed, her arms around Ton-Ton tightening involuntarily.

Tun Tun made a "poof poof" sound and buried her head in Shizune's arms.

"It's hard to say whether anyone is controlling what that guy made!" Tsunade gritted her teeth, her eyes fixed on the puppet.

She didn't believe that man would just leave something so important here to be destroyed.

It's either a trap or a test.

Regardless of the reason, she had no choice but to keep fighting.

She charged at the puppet's front again, leaping high into the air, her right fist brimming with monstrous power, and smashed it into the puppet's head.

The wind howled as the punches struck; the sheer power was so simple and unpretentious, just pure numerical values.

The puppet reacted extremely quickly, with sand particles swirling and coalescing on its body surface.

It transformed into a shield for the crane, standing before it to defend against the attack.

Tsunade's fist slammed into the sand shield with a loud bang, sending sand flying. The sand shield was blasted into a deep crater, and cracks spread outwards, but it did not shatter.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, the puppet swung its forepaws, and a huge sand palm slammed towards Tsunade, the palm wind pressing down on her face.

Tsunade had no time to dodge and could only cross her arms to block.

The sand palm struck her, producing a muffled thud, and the immense force sent her flying.

She did two somersaults in the air, barely managing to land, her feet leaving two long trails on the ground.

Several red marks were left on her arm, but they quickly faded away thanks to her strong physique.

The power of the Yin Seal circulated within the body, instantly repairing minor injuries.

"It has an internal skeleton!" Kakashi shouted as he circled back from the side. "The sand layer is just a protective layer; breaking the skeleton should render it immobile!"

No sooner had he finished speaking than hurried footsteps sounded from the entrance.

Five figures rapidly approached from the end of the corridor; it was the Root Squad.

The leader was wearing a mask, and the eyes beneath the mask were cold and sharp.

Behind him followed Uchiha Shisui, his three-tomoe Sharingan slowly rotating in the darkness, its crimson light quickly locking onto the battlefield.

"Anbu? No—it's Danzo's Root gang?" Tsunade frowned, her tone tinged with displeasure. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm under orders to investigate." Crane's voice came from behind the mask, calm and indifferent, devoid of any emotion. "Now, let's deal with this thing first."

Tsunade snorted but did not refuse. Having more helpers was always better than fighting alone, even if these helpers came from Root, which she distrusted the most.

Shisui had already made his move. His figure was like a black lightning bolt, weaving through the sand and dust, his Sharingan locking onto the puppet's every movement.

The fast-moving sand seemed to slow down in his vision, like a scene in slow motion.

He noticed that the sand layer on the puppet's body was not evenly distributed. Below the abdomen, the sand grains moved slightly slower, as if something was moving inside, affecting the distribution of the sand grains.

"There seems to be something moving inside its abdomen," Shisui said calmly as he ran. "We can try attacking that spot!"

He frowned, not immediately adopting the suggestion, but quickly made a judgment: "First, restrict the opponent's movements!"

The Root ninjas attacked simultaneously, with two of them restraining the puppet's forepaws from the left, while kunai and shuriken rained down on the puppet's joints.

The two attacked the puppet's hind legs from the right, the light of ninjutsu flashing in the darkness, striking the puppet's limbs repeatedly.

The sand shield blocked most of the attacks, and sand flew everywhere, but the continuous impacts clearly distracted the puppet.

Its head swayed from side to side, trying to lock onto all the enemies, but it couldn't manage to do so.

Kakashi seized the opportunity and once again circled behind the puppet.

This time, instead of stabbing the body, he plunged the dagger deep into the base of the puppet's tail.

The thick, powerful tail is an important part of the puppet's balance. Cutting the skeleton at the connection point should make it lose its stability.

The blade sliced ​​into the sand and struck the internal skeleton.

The bone was harder than expected; the blade only left a shallow white mark on its surface.

Kakashi gritted his teeth and exerted his strength, preparing to try to use the power of the Lightning Blade to forcibly cut it off.

Suddenly, the tail lashed out, transforming into a black whip-like shadow that lashed towards him with a whistling sound.

Kakashi's pupils contracted sharply, lightning appeared on his body, and the electric current stimulated his muscles, instantly boosting his reaction speed to a new level.

He suddenly lowered his head, his tail brushing against his hair, the resulting gust of air stinging his cheek.

Kakashi took a few steps back, still somewhat shaken, while Ziguang stared intently at the still-swishing tail, seemingly unaware of anything amiss with his body.

The puppet let out an angry roar, the sound echoing throughout the hall, making everyone's eardrums throb.

Its body spun violently again, its tail sweeping across the entire area, forcing Kakashi and several Root ninjas back simultaneously.

The sand on the ground surged wildly, transforming into countless sand spears that pierced at everyone present from all angles, densely packed and impossible to avoid.

"Scatter!" the order was given.

The crowd scattered and dodged. Shisui flipped in the air, dodging two sand spears that pierced from his side. He tapped his toes on the wall and used the momentum to launch himself to the other side.

His Mangekyou Sharingan quietly activated, and the pattern of the shuriken slowly rotated on the scarlet background.

His gaze pierced through the sand, through the skeleton, and through the surging chakra within the puppet, vaguely catching a glimpse of the moving light inside.

"We've found the core!" Shisui said in a low voice, a rare hint of excitement in his voice.

Inside the puppet's chest cavity, a crimson light was slowly moving—that was the puppet's core.

Unlike ordinary puppets that are fixed in one place, it moves constantly in the gaps between the skeletons, as agile as a slippery eel, deliberately avoiding external attacks.

"The core is in the chest cavity, and it's moving to the right!" Shisui shouted.

Tsunade immediately understood. She sprang up and charged towards the right side of the puppet like a cannonball, leaving two shallow dents in the stone slab beneath her feet.

His right fist was brimming with monstrous power, and the pale blue chakra glowed like a burning flame.

The puppet instinctively condensed a sand shield, and a thick layer of sand rapidly accumulated on its right side.

At the same time, the core suddenly changed direction and moved to the left, but Zhishui had already predicted its trajectory.

His Mangekyou Sharingan can not only see the location of the core, but also predict its landing point in the next second based on its movement speed and frequency.

"Left side!" Shisui shouted again.

Tsunade's fist abruptly changed direction mid-air, and her right shoulder suddenly sank.

He twisted his body at an almost impossible angle and slammed his fist into the puppet's left chest.

The powerful punch pierced through the thin layer of sand, where the sand shield had not yet fully solidified, and struck the internal skeleton.

The sound of the skeleton breaking was clearly audible, like withered branches snapping and cracking together.

The puppet's body shuddered violently, a large crater appeared in its chest cavity, and the core's movement speed slowed down significantly, as if it were stuck between the shattered skeleton.

"Now!" the order was given.

The three Root ninjas simultaneously formed hand seals and slammed their hands onto the ground.

The rocks on the ground began to writhe as if they were alive, climbing up and covering the puppet's limbs, firmly fixing it in place.

The puppet struggled a few times, and cracks appeared on the rock, but it could still hold on for the time being.

Kakashi cut in from the other side, his short sword now imbued with the Lightning Blade.

Blue-white electricity leaped and hissed on the blade, transforming the entire knife into a blade of light, its dazzling brilliance illuminating half the hall.

He waved his blade through the air, creating several streaks of light, the blade aimed directly at the crack in the puppet's left chest cavity that Tsunade had smashed open.