The three Genin saw their teacher suddenly stop ahead and quickly halted as well.
Just as one of them was about to speak, he suddenly felt the ground beneath his feet rise!
He looked down and saw three Gecko-type Puppets!
It's the teacher's puppets.
Terrifying sounds of something cutting through the air surrounded them as earthen spears burst from the ground, emerging from the sand to stab at the group.
Side panels extended from the flanks of the Gecko-type Puppets, protecting the three Genin.
Tade jumped high into the air, dodging the Earth-Style Rising Spears.
He looked at his subordinates, his heart filled with shock.
The side panels of the three Gecko puppets had been completely pierced through by the Earth Release: Earth-Style Rising Spears.
The three Sunagakure Genin were pierced in different parts of their bodies by the earthen spears. Thanks to the Gecko puppets' blocking, none were in life-threatening danger.
Who possessed such powerful Earth Release ninjutsu?
Iwa-nin?
Tade, still in mid-air, took out a scroll, unfurled it, and unsealed three puppets of different forms.
A fat puppet holding a shield, a thin puppet with circular saw blades for both hands, and a two-headed puppet with four arms.
A figure charged from the distance.
There were few obstructions in the desert, so by the time Yōkō charged over, the Sunagakure Jōnin Tade had ample time to react.
The three puppets rushed towards Yōkō from different directions.
Yōkō thought to himself, controlling three powerful puppets simultaneously was indeed impressive skill.
The saw blade accurately struck Yōkō's throat, and Tade felt a surge of joy inwardly.
The saw blade spun at high speed, ready to cut, but the next moment, it shattered completely.
Tade saw the reddish-copper glow at the throat now.
"Copper Fox!"
Tade's heart sank with bitterness.
During the Second Great Shinobi War, the primary bane of Sunagakure puppeteers was Konoha's White Fang, whose blade aura could slice through any puppet.
The second greatest bane was Konoha Anbu's Copper Fox.
With all physical attacks being ineffective, puppets became useless.
Tade quickly manipulated the fat and thin puppets to retreat.
The Two-Headed Puppet advanced, its two heads spewing different colored poisonous smokes.
Red and purple poisonous smokes appeared exceptionally dark in the night.
If physical attacks were useless, then use poison smoke.
However, Copper Fox burrowed into the ground.
Tade was stunned; the poison smoke was also ineffective.
He quickly jumped up. The fat puppet rushed under his feet and slammed its shield onto the ground.
With a loud clang, the thick shield shattered.
Copper Fox's palms showed a reddish-copper color, incredibly hard; the iron shield was no match.
Just like that, Copper Fox crashed into the fat puppet's embrace.
The hidden weapons inside the fat puppet's large frame thrust out simultaneously. However, they couldn't penetrate the defense; these poison needles and kunai were utterly ineffective, at most tearing his clothes.
Tade watched as Copper Fox's hands tore the fat puppet apart.
Tearing puppets apart by hand...
Components from inside the fat puppet spilled all over the ground.
The thin puppet quickly moved in to cover.
However, Copper Fox once again performed the feat of tearing a puppet apart barehanded.
He stopped the saw blade with one hand; the high-speed rotating blade was completely useless against Copper Fox's iron grip.
Yōkō ripped off the thin puppet's arm, kicked the puppet away, and charged right up to Tade.
He punched Tade in the chest, and Yōkō's expression changed.
This feeling...
Tade's chest was shattered, but inside wasn't flesh and blood, but various mechanisms.
The other mechanisms like kunai and poison needles were useless, but a steel cable shot out from his chest.
The steel cable tightly bound Yōkō's arm and shoulder.
More and more steel cables appeared, tying Yōkō up securely.
It was at this moment that Yōkō noticed Tade's abnormality.
Tade had a heart in his chest cavity, but organs like lungs and liver were empty, replaced by mechanisms.
Had Tade modified himself? Or had he replaced parts of his internal organs with puppetry after a severe injury?
Such exquisite puppetry skills, worthy of an elite puppeteer, already possessing a fraction of Sasori's peak strength.
The Two-Headed Puppet appeared behind Yōkō, its two heads bumping against his shoulders.
Two puffs of poison smoke emerged.
Tade was astonished; Copper Fox was inhaling the poison smoke deeply? Was Copper Fox going to be poisoned to death like this?
[Monitoring host death. Mochizuki's Arc system activating...]
--
Yōkō's vision shifted, returning to the previous full moon night.
Inspection successful; Tade's strength was considerable, truly at the Elite Jōnin level.
An ordinary ninja facing Tade would be worn down and killed by his endless stream of methods.
This time, he must kill Tade, leaving no future troubles.
[Mochizuki's Arc activated!
Host has only one resurrection opportunity per month, reviving on the previous full moon night upon death.
Rewarding one lottery chance...]
Yōkō chose the Elite Jōnin-level Chakra Reserve. His chakra reserve reached 3.4 times the Elite Jōnin level.
The feeling of increasing chakra reserve was truly comfortable.
Replaying the events once more, Yōkō and Nara Umeka arrived outside the Land of Wind's capital.
Yōkō said: "I'll go set the ambush. You stay back here and don't wander off."
Nara Umeka watched Fox leave, using Earth Release to lurk beneath the sand.
And then...
For the entire night, that patch of sand remained completely motionless.
Nara Umeka found it hard to imagine that the Anbu's top expert, in order to complete a mission, could lurk underground for hours without moving a muscle.
The wind blew for hours, smoothing the sand over his hiding spot until it was identical to the surroundings. No one could possibly discover a Konoha Anbu member hidden beneath the sand.
Tade, accompanied by three Genin, left the Land of Wind's capital.
Tade led in front, with the three Genin following behind, traveling across the desert.
"When traveling through the desert at night, always pay attention to the starry sky. We can use the stars to determine our direction."
Tade pointed at the night sky for the three Genin, identifying different stars.
Navigating using the stars in the endless desert at night was a required skill for Sunagakure ninja.
At that moment, an Earth-Style Wall suddenly erupted from the ground.
This earth wall was over ten meters high and dozens of meters long, separating Tade from the three Genin.
Who could have imagined a ninja was hidden underground!
Yōkō burst from the earth, using the Self-Cursing Body Binding Seal.
The curse marks began crawling upwards from the tops of Tade's feet.
Tade was shocked inwardly, but before his hands were locked, his fingers twitched slightly.
Yōkō charged at Tade.
He focused on Tade's right chest, where the lung was long gone, replaced by puppet mechanisms.
Tade wasn't panicked inwardly; he had few weaknesses, only his head and heart. Even if ambushed, he wouldn't die.
His slight finger movement just now had connected the mechanisms in his chest cavity.
Waiting for the enemy to get closer, Tade exerted force secretly.
A steel cable shot out from his right chest, intending to bind the enemy.
However, astonishment appeared in Tade's eyes!
The enemy, as if knowing his moves, adeptly dropped his shoulder and dodged the steel cable!
The enemy's right hand, holding a kunai, stabbed into Tade's heart.
Why did the enemy seem to know all his intelligence?
This was Yōkō's second battle with Tade; everything was within Yōkō's expectations.
After Tade was completely dead, Yōkō hoisted his corpse onto his shoulder and ran north.
Nara Umeka quickly followed.
She glanced back at the three pursuing Genin and asked: "Should we ruthlessly eliminate the witnesses now?"
Yōkō said: "No need. I only used one Earth Release and one kunai thrust. Who could tell it was Konoha's Copper Fox who killed him?
Leaving these three Genin alive, guiding them towards the Land of Earth's direction, making them mistakenly think it was Iwa-nin who did it – that's how we misdirect the blame.
To avoid proportional retaliation from Sunagakure against Konoha, these three Sunagakure Genin are somewhat useful."
Nara Umeka's eyes flickered.
So, Anbu's Copper Fox certainly wasn't sparing the Genin out of soft-heartedness.
***
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(End of Chapter)