One puppet after another charged toward Chiya.
He didn’t even seem to notice them.
“Yomi no Higan!”
Chiya’s Mangekyō Sharingan slowly rotated.
His gaze locked onto Ebizō and the group of puppet masters in the distance.
The six-petaled spider lily bloomed eerily within his crimson eyes.
Under the domain of Yomi no Higan, Ebizō and the surrounding puppet masters rapidly withered.
The puppets that had already reached Chiya suddenly lost their controllers.
Without anyone manipulating them, they collapsed to the ground like piles of scrap metal.
Wooden limbs and mechanical parts scattered across the sand.
Blood flowed from Chiya’s bloodshot eye.
It streamed down his cheek and dripped onto the ground.
His expression remained cold.
His remaining Mangekyō Sharingan carefully scanned the battlefield.
Something had caught his attention.
His Sharingan had detected something strange just now.
Ebizō had anticipated his attack.
The Ebizō he had targeted earlier had not been the real one.
Whoosh!
A sharp sound suddenly tore through the air.
Chiya instantly jumped to his left.
A blade glowing with a ghostly blue light passed within inches of his neck.
The force of the passing blade stung his skin.
It was a humanoid puppet.
Unlike the crude constructs used by ordinary puppet masters, this puppet was completely black.
Precise chakra-conducting mechanisms were embedded within its joints.
Its movements were almost indistinguishable from those of a living human.
Sharp blades extended from both of its arms.
A sinister blue poison coated their edges.
This puppet…
Is it Ebizō’s trump card?
Chiya closed the eye that had just used Yomi no Higan.
Then he activated the Body Flicker Technique.
He rapidly retreated.
But the puppet followed him like a shadow.
Its blades slashed repeatedly.
Chiya was forced to dodge again and again.
His remaining Mangekyō Sharingan narrowed slightly.
His gaze locked onto the puppet.
There.
Thin blue chakra threads appeared within his vision.
His Sharingan captured them clearly.
Chiya followed the threads.
He immediately identified the location where Ebizō was most likely hiding.
BOOM!!!
Just as Chiya was considering how to temporarily suppress the puppet and then attack Ebizō’s position—
A golden figure suddenly crashed into the battlefield like a cannonball.
A fist wrapped in terrifying superhuman strength slammed into the puppet’s chest.
“Get away!”
Tsunade roared.
The sophisticated puppet was sent flying.
It crashed heavily into a sand dune, sending a cloud of sand into the air.
Chiya froze for a moment.
Then he turned toward Tsunade.
She was breathing slightly heavily.
Blood stained her pale cheek.
Yet her eyes were astonishingly sharp.
Her fist remained extended from the punch.
Chakra still churned faintly around her knuckles.
“Don’t push yourself.”
Chiya knew she had already reached her limit.
His voice was low.
Tsunade shook her head.
Her eyes fell upon his Mangekyō Sharingan.
Her expression became complicated.
“Your eyes…”
Chiya was silent for a moment.
Then he smiled.
“I’m fine.”
“That eye is a little tired, so I’m letting it rest.”
“I’ll tell you everything else after we drive them away.”
Tsunade nodded seriously.
Her gaze returned to the puppet slowly crawling out of the sand.
Its chest was deeply dented.
Yet it was still moving.
Its joints produced an unpleasant grinding sound.
“This thing…”
“It’s not an ordinary puppet.”
“That old fox Ebizō probably brought out everything he had hidden away.”
Chiya nodded.
His Sharingan rotated slightly.
“Its core isn’t in the chest.”
“It’s in the head.”
A smile appeared at the corner of Tsunade’s mouth.
She looked at Chiya in surprise.
“Then I’ll tear it apart.”
Before she finished speaking, she charged again.
Her superhuman strength erupted.
The sand beneath her feet exploded.
Spiderweb-like cracks spread across the ground.
The puppet rapidly retreated.
Its arm blades crossed defensively.
A mechanism on its shoulder opened.
Senbon attached to explosive tags shot out.
A flash of fire erupted.
BOOM!
The explosion rocked the battlefield.
Tsunade used the Body Flicker Technique to evade the blast and circled around the puppet.
Then—
Her leg swept across.
CRACK!
The puppet’s left arm was shattered.
At the exact same moment, Chiya disappeared.
His figure flashed through the battlefield.
He headed toward the distant location of the chakra threads.
The surrounding scenery rapidly blurred behind him.
Then—
Behind a massive rock, Chiya finally saw a figure.
Found you.
So it really is Ebizō.
The Mangekyō Sharingan he had closed earlier opened once again.
His gaze immediately locked onto Ebizō.
The blood vessels around his eye had become even more pronounced.
Warm blood surged from the corner of his eye and streamed down his cheek.
“Yomi no Higan!”
The invisible force was concentrated entirely toward Ebizō.
Ebizō’s eyes widened.
“Damn it!”
He suddenly felt as though his entire body were being restrained by an overwhelming force.
His consciousness began to blur.
His skin instantly shriveled.
It turned dark and lifeless.
In the blink of an eye, his life force was completely drained.
His body collapsed heavily onto the sand.
At the same moment—
Tsunade’s fist smashed into the puppet’s head.
BOOM!
Its head exploded.
The core mechanism inside was exposed.
It flashed with dangerous chakra.
“It’s over.”
Tsunade spoke coldly.
She raised her fist again.
Crack.
The puppet’s core suddenly fractured on its own.
A cloud of purple poisonous mist erupted.
“Tsunade!”
“Get back!”
Chiya’s heart jumped.
He shouted sharply.
But it was already too late.
The poison cloud was about to engulf Tsunade.
Chiya had no time to worry about the additional strain on his ocular power.
His other Mangekyō Sharingan activated.
“Causality Reincarnation!”
The poisonous mist suddenly disappeared.
Tsunade stood frozen in place.
“What…?”
Then—
“AAAHHH!”
Terrified screams suddenly came from the distance.
Tsunade turned toward the sound.
Near the most densely packed group of Sand shinobi—
Purple poisonous mist suddenly appeared.
It spread like acid.
Several shinobi were instantly burned and corroded.
Wherever the poison cloud spread, the sand hissed as deep corrosive pits formed in the ground.
The Sand shinobi reacted too late.
They hurriedly formed hand seals.
“Wind Release: Violent Wind Palm!”
The powerful gust scattered the poisonous mist.
But the damage had already been done.
Bodies lay scattered across the battlefield.
A combat unit of twenty or thirty shinobi had been wiped out in an instant.
Chiya returned to Tsunade’s side.
“That man is dead.”
Tsunade’s eyes lifted when she heard his voice.
Then she noticed the blood covering Chiya’s face.
Her heart tightened.
“You…”
Before she could finish, Chiya reached out and gently rubbed her head.
“The wounded and the medical ninja still need you.”
After saying that, Chiya looked toward the remaining Sand shinobi.
He formed a hand seal.
His figure disappeared.
When he appeared again—
He was already in the middle of the Sand formation.
“It’s that Uchiha!”
His sudden appearance caused the surrounding shinobi to immediately raise their kunai and shuriken.
Before they could attack—
Chiya’s gaze swept across them.
The six-petaled blood-red spider lily in his Mangekyō Sharingan bloomed brilliantly.
“Yomi no Higan!”
An invisible wave spread outward from Chiya.
A cold, terrifying force seemed to seize the throats of everyone caught within it.
Nearly a hundred Sand shinobi had no time to react.
An icy chill seeped into their bones.
Their skin rapidly dried and cracked.
Their muscles shriveled.
Their life force was forcibly extracted by an invisible hand.
“Thud.”
“Thud.”
“Thud.”
Wave after wave of shinobi collapsed.
Chiya stood at the center of the battlefield.
The six-petaled spider lily in his Mangekyō Sharingan slowly rotated.
His blood-red eyes looked like the flames of hell.
In an instant—
More than half of the Sand forces on the battlefield had been eliminated.
A difficult gulp could be heard.
A Sand Jōnin’s hand trembled as he gripped his kunai.
Cold sweat covered his forehead.
The horrifying scene before them had completely shattered their understanding of ninjutsu.
And with it came an overwhelming fear of the unknown.
“Impossible…”
He stared at Uchiha Chiya with wide eyes.
“How could a technique on this scale possibly…?”