"I'll make everyone here my puppets!" Sasori, who woke up from Obito's genjutsu, looked very unhappy and said coldly: "Everyone dies!"
For someone as obsessed with perfection as Sasori, being pinned down by an Uchiha brat was the height of humiliation.
Ignoring his grandmother's earlier warnings about not revealing his full abilities during the exam, Sasori decided that the time had come to kill.
He had never suffered such a humiliating defeat in Sunagakure. Sasori was on the verge of emotional collapse.
With a determined movement, Sasori extended his fingers, manipulating an intricate network of chakra threads. Unfolding a scroll, he summoned ten terrifying-looking puppets, unleashing an indiscriminate attack on everyone present.
The puppet army, armed to the teeth with poisons, flames and all manner of dangerous ninja tools, launched a lethal offensive.
In Sasori's hands, puppetry had reached its pinnacle: he alone was worth an entire army.
"Definitely all the villages are hiding their true strength!" Omoi commented, as he desperately ran alongside his team, dodging the puppets' attacks.
Omoi had always thought that Iwagakure and Kumogakure were the most brazen, sending only veteran jonin and future elite talents to the exam, not including a single genin.
Even Konoha had played dirty, sending out teams full of experienced shinobi and avoiding direct confrontations, depriving them of opportunities to measure their strength.
Except for the team of Uchiha Obito and Might Duy, the other Root actors exchanged their scrolls in a shameless manner. Some of them gave up on the competition outright, while others hurried through the Forest of Death, leaving the stage to Obito for his personal show.
But no matter whether it was an internal struggle among the top leaders or something else, at least a young genius was sent out.
As a result, Suna directly sent a combat force close to Kage level to participate in the Chunin Exam, which was too...
The team members of Iwagakure and Kumogakure were all beaten by Sasori and fled in panic, extremely embarrassed.
On the other hand, Duy and Obito Uchiha added a humorous touch to the scene.
Duy carried Obito under his arm, ignoring his cries of wanting to face Sasori in a decisive battle. With a cheerful smile on his face, he ran with enthusiasm while shouting about youth.
In terms of speed, Duy, who has undergone hard training, is first class. And although he is honest, he is not stupid.
Although Kazuki didn't say what he was planning, Duy could guess it intuitively, so in a situation where all sides were testing everyone's strength, he wouldn't easily reveal his trump card.
Seeing Duy holding Obito in his hand and deftly dodging his puppets' attacks, Sasori grew increasingly angry.
With a serious look, Sasori manipulated the chakra threads with both hands, abandoning his hunt for the Kumo and Iwa shinobi.
Under his meticulous control, his puppets began to move strategically, forming a net that slowly blocked Duy and Obito's retreat.
"Duy-san!" Obito exclaimed seriously as he scanned the situation with his Sharingan. "We're going to have to fight that red-haired guy. His intention to kill us is clear."
"I'll try using my eye power to control him." Obito suggested. "In the meantime, use your taijutsu to try to finish him off directly."
Duy nodded, his expression somewhat solemn.
If he could help it, he did not want to reveal the Eight Gates. To him, this technique was a protective art reserved for those he deemed worthy of being defended. Obito was not on that list.
"Your Sharingan and your body will be perfect molds for my puppets." Sasori said coldly as his puppets surrounded the two. "I will kill them carefully and turn their corpses into an eternal art. You should be grateful!"
Obito frowned and muttered: "Is this guy crazy?"
Duy nodded in agreement. He often saw and heard this kind of crazy energy and incomprehensible riddles when he went to the root to practice, and he was not unfamiliar with it.
"Obito-kun, when an enemy talks to himself about strange and incomprehensible things, you must be careful." Duy kindly explained. "Because those people are very powerful and difficult to deal with."
Obito glanced at Duy speechlessly. 'Do you say weird things all the time too, old man? Does that mean you're strong too?'
Just as Sasori was about to attack and Duy was hesitating whether to use the Eight Gates, a towering slash cut through the forest. The blast cut through trees and broke the chakra threads connecting the puppets, heading straight for Sasori with fury.
Sasori looked at the energy blade in shock and fury, and an expression of absolute hatred covered his face.
This technique can only be launched by that bastard Hatake Sakumo!
Sasori had thoroughly researched information about Sakumo. Although he had never met him in person, he knew his techniques very well.
"Hatake Sakumo, I finally found you!"
From between the trees appeared Kazuki, calmly holding Muramasa. He smiled and said: "Suna ninja, you have mistaken me. My name is Uchiha Kazuki, I am the examiner of this test."
Kazuki continued in a calm voice: "Your power has far surpassed the limits of an average genin. For the safety of the participants, I declare this test suspended."
Sasori looked at him with eyes full of madness. "You can't fool me! You're related to Hatake Sakumo. I know that sword technique all too well."
His expression twisted with fury as he shouted: "Anyone related to that damn bastard deserves to die!"
Sasori mobilized his chakra furiously.
[Detected intense feeling of hostility from Sasori towards the host. Target Sasori has been linked!]
In one movement, Sasori released thick threads of chakra that connected with his puppets.
The hatred accumulated over the years burned in his heart, fueling a frenzied excitement that pushed his combat state to the limit.
With movements that looked like a macabre dance, his hands threw several scrolls into the air, summoning even more puppets.
Although a human only has ten fingers, Sasori, with his unique secret technique, had surpassed those limits, simultaneously controlling more than ten puppets.
Dozens of puppets, guided with astonishing precision and timing, advanced with the oppressive force of an army of hundreds.
On one side of the battlefield, Obito and Duy watched with tense expressions.
"I still underestimated the youth of other villages. I will do 10,000 squats tonight as penance!" Duy clenched his fists tightly. "If I hesitate even now, how will I be able to protect Kazuki-sama's back in times of danger?"
Obito, surprised, muttered to himself: "Is this redhead so strong? I thought he was just a nobody…" He gulped and added: "If it weren't for Kazuki's presence, this guy could have gotten us into serious trouble with that sudden burst of power…"
Although Obito had received rigorous training from Setsuna and had worked hard to hone his skills, he still did not have the means to confront a combat technique like Sasori's, which had evolved into an ultimate art of war.
"It does look impressive though…" Kazuki, eyes narrowed, looked at the ferocious-looking puppets and raised a hand.
"Water Release: Water Formation Wall!"
A wall of high-pressure water rose out of nowhere, easily blocking the barrage of poison projectiles fired by the puppets.
Sasori narrowed his eyes, and with a quick movement, his puppets changed stances. They wielded longswords, saws, and other deadly weapons, lunging at Kazuki from all directions.
Kazuki shook his head and passed through the encirclement of puppets like lightning.
Sasori pulled hard on the chakra strings, trying to stop him, but compared to Kazuki's speed, the puppets, which already had a slight delay in their movements, seemed even more clumsy.
Kazuki's Sharingan spun in his eyes, giving him dynamic vision that slowed the puppets' movements before his gaze. With his sword, he cut through the chakra threads with surgical precision as he moved forward.
In an instant, Kazuki arrived next to Sasori, placing his sword against the latter's neck.
Behind Kazuki, the puppets, who moments before had been a terrifying army, fell to the ground.
Sasori looked at Kazuki in disbelief.
His art, which he considered supreme, now seemed like a joke in the face of this man's attack. His technique showed obvious flaws under Kazuki's pressure.
At that moment, Sasori realized that Kazuki was not related to Hatake Sakumo. Although his kenjutsu resembled the White Fang, Kazuki's intensity and skill were completely different from what Chiyo had described to him.
However, this understanding only ignited an even deeper anger in Sasori.
It was a combination of two things: hatred for his parents' killer and mockery of the life path he had chosen. Neither of them was something he could tolerate.
Sasori couldn't stand his puppetry being treated like a game and so easily dismantled by Kazuki.
[From the target Sasori you have obtained: Puppet Master Jutsu!]
"You bastard!"
Although he was trapped by Muramasa's blade on his neck, Sasori continued trying, regardless of his life or death, to connect with his puppets.
Kazuki smiled. With a swift movement, Muramasa's sharp blade grazed Sasori's wrist. Then, with a kick, he sent him flying to the side.
"Attacking a Konoha examiner should be punishable by death. But today is the day of the signing of the peace treaty..." With a calm tone, Kazuki continued: "This time, I forgive you. There won't be a second chance."
From the bottom of a nearby crater, Sasori, with great effort, raised his head as he spat out large mouthfuls of blood. His eyes, filled with fury, stared at his mutilated hand.
For a puppet master, losing his hands meant the end.
Kazuki turned around and, with his gaze fixed on Sasori, asked: "Do you have anything else to say?"
Sasori opened his mouth to retort, but a chill ran through his mind. He slowly lowered his gaze.
This was no time for bravery. As long as he survived, anything was possible.
He still had a human body, and he was afraid of an assassin with such mobility that could directly attack his body. That was the weakness that all puppet masters had to face.
But what if he turned his body into a puppet, impenetrable and resilient? In that case, what would there be to fear?
Not only Kazuki, but even Sakumo would be unable to match him. He could break free from the natural disadvantage between puppet masters and assassins, becoming a supreme master of the eternal art.
Besides, now that he had lost his hand, not even Chiyo could stop him.
Everything fit together perfectly.
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