Transformed into Sasori, Kaito raised his hands before his chest, the Chakra threads extending from his fingertips like spider silk, entangling the corpses.
Under Runtu's assault, the samurai who had arrived on the scene didn't even get a chance to strike—just a flash of cold light, and they fell to the ground, filled with hatred and regret.
With each fallen corpse, Kaito used the same method, binding them with Chakra threads, lifting them up, and turning them into human puppets that slowly advanced forward.
Forget whether their combat power had improved—just the sight of over thirty blood-soaked corpses walking down the street was enough.
The visual impact was unprecedented.
The puppeteer's technique involved condensing Chakra into threads to manipulate puppets or targets like marionettes.
For Kaito, condensing Chakra into threads wasn't particularly difficult—it only required precise Chakra control.
Manipulating puppets to fight? That was too hard.
But making corpses stand up and move like mindless zombies, just for show? That wasn't as difficult as one might think.
If a puppeteer used Chakra threads to control every joint and part of a puppet to make it move,
Kaito simply wrapped the Chakra threads around the corpses and forced them to move—brutally.
The principle was simple: brute force could make anything fly.
Though it wasn't particularly useful, the sheer spectacle was enough to convincingly impersonate Sasori.
The blood-stained streets left deep red footprints with every step Kaito took.
Paired with the young man's emotionless expression, the scene was like a living hell—as if a demon had descended upon the world.
To outsiders, this red-haired youth seemed capable of slaughtering the entire city without breaking a sweat.
Their only hope now rested on the mighty Mifune, praying he would come to punish this demon.
The samurai watched helplessly as their comrades died, only to be resurrected as puppets and forced to march toward them step by step. Their courage shattered, their will broken.
They dropped their weapons, crying out for their mothers as they fled in all directions.
"The Land of Iron will not tolerate your kind running rampant—!"
A furious roar echoed from the distance. The fleeing samurai stopped to look—everyone knew Mifune had arrived.
The sound of slicing air reached Kaito's ears. He frowned slightly, then immediately withdrew the Chakra threads from the corpses.
Swish!
A blade cut through the air, aiming straight for Kaito's neck.
Mifune's Iaido, combined with the Body Flicker Technique, made it nearly impossible for even a shinobi to evade.
Yet, in the next instant, the clang of metal rang out, sparks flying between the two.
Runtu blocked the strike with his claws. Mifune frowned, sighing inwardly.
As expected of an S-rank missing-nin from Sunagakure—not so easy to deal with.
This was going to be troublesome...Missing his strike, Mifune leaped back to avoid being entangled by the opponent's puppets.
When Kaito saw Runtu, he suddenly felt a wave of relief.
If Runtu hadn't blocked that attack just now, he would have had to resort to some means of escaping the puppeteer.
And someone like Mifune, who had experienced war, undoubtedly had broader insight than the previous samurai.
That was why, the moment he sensed Mifune's arrival, he immediately dismissed those "showpieces."
He didn't want to be exposed for his crude puppetry.
"May I ask, sir—"
"Are you trying to start a war?"
Mifune's face darkened, his gaze sharp as an unsheathed blade. His peripheral vision caught sight of the long-dead samurai on either side, and an overwhelming killing intent surged through him.
He had already sent someone to notify the shinobi of Sunagakure. The best way to deal with a rogue ninja like this was to leave it to the village's own people.
For now, his task was to extract as much information as possible from the opponent's words and prevent any further atrocities here.
"Hah, war?"
"You think you're worthy of discussing it with me?"
Runtu tilted his head slightly, glancing back at his master before lowering his gaze to his own claw, now chipped from the slash.
Even someone as dim-witted as him could tell his master was putting on quite the act.
Kaito grinned, his expression dripping with disdain. "I originally thought Mifune of the Land of Iron might make a fine addition to my new collection."
"But now it seems..."
"What a waste of materials."
As he spoke, he deliberately glanced at the corpses strewn on either side and muttered loud enough for Mifune to hear:
"Still, the Kage of each village are far more interesting..."
The blatant provocation didn't provoke Mifune into attacking recklessly. Instead, it made him even calmer.
Village? Kage?
Could it be...!?
Was this man planning to turn them all into human puppets!?
Realizing the implication behind those words, even Mifune couldn't help but pale in shock.
He had never encountered someone so vile—someone who treated life as a joke and referred to human puppets as "works of art."
This was utterly terrifying!
Now both horrified and furious, Mifune tightened his grip on his sword. "No matter what you intend to do..."
"If you threaten the peace..."
"I will stop you, even if it costs me my life!"
Hearing this, Kaito signaled for Runtu to leap onto his shoulder. Then, as he turned his gaze back to Mifune, a strange expression flickered across his face.
After hesitating for three seconds, he took a deep breath and called out to Mifune in a low voice:
"What the hell are you barking about?"
The moment the words left his mouth, Mifune vanished in an instant, his blade flashing forward with terrifying speed.
But when he reappeared, the man was already gone.
"Damn it...!"
Mifune clenched his sword hilt. "We must stop this monster at all costs!"
Muttering to himself, he immediately summoned his subordinates.
"Spread word of today's incident... to every village."
"And one more thing."
"Post a bounty on Akasuna no Sasori at the exchange! A creature like this cannot be allowed to live—he's far too dangerous!"
The samurai beside him bowed and prepared to leave, but Mifune called him back.
"Ah... one more mission to issue to all villages."
Mifune narrowed his eyes, thinking for a moment before speaking slowly:
"Investigate the Akatsuki Organization—S-rank!"
Just as the Land of Iron began disseminating intelligence and issuing missions to the other villages, the man at the center of it all—Uchiha Kaito—was only just waking from his slumber.Last night, he stayed up all night practicing Cultivation of Immortality and even caused a commotion in the Land of Iron. After teleporting outside the country using the stray dogs around, he hastily found a cave to sleep in.
"Haah—"
Kaito yawned, opened the system, and summoned his status page.
[Cultivation: Qi Refining Stage (1.1%)]
The progress was excruciatingly slow. After a full day and night of effort, he had barely made any headway.
The good news was that he had now found the correct cultivation method.
All-night cultivation yielded the fastest progress, and the difficulty was surprisingly simple.
If he pulled all-nighters for a hundred days straight, he could successfully break through to the Foundation Establishment Stage.
But...
The bad news was...
If he kept this up, he was afraid he might drop dead from exhaustion before reaching Foundation Establishment, instantly becoming a ghost cultivator.
As for the changes after advancing to the Qi Refining Stage...
Aside from discovering a swirling energy in his dantian and his perception range expanding to 1 kilometer, Kaito didn't notice much difference.
That spiritual energy... for now, he had no idea how to use it.
Ninjutsu techniques clearly couldn't harness this energy. He figured he'd probably need some kind of cultivation manual to unleash its power.
The enhanced perception, however, was quite useful. The so-called 1-kilometer detection range included underground as well.
If any White Zetsu appeared to spy on him, he could detect their presence immediately.
This was also why he dared to act recklessly in the Land of Iron.
"Wait a minute..."
"I remember there was this thing..."
Kaito muttered to himself as he opened his [Backpack]. Seeing the beginner's gift box lying in one of the slots, his excitement began to surge.
Now was the moment to test his luck. He even fetched water to wash his hands thoroughly several times before shouting:
"Come on! System, show me your limits!"
---------------------------------
Hey there's 50 chapter ahead here : patreon. com/Pain1231
Dont forget to remove the space okay!