Shindai was openly provoking Mei Terumi, who stood there clenching her teeth in anger.
Sakura looked worried and said, "Won't this cause conflicts between our two ninja villages?"
Kakashi continued bandaging Sasuke's wounds as he replied, "No, because Konoha and Kirigakure aren't actually allies. We've always had a hostile relationship anyway, with frequent clashes along the border. And since Shindai didn't attack first, goading them into making the first move ensures we have the moral high ground. Alright, now if a fight breaks out, you all stay far away. This isn't something you can get involved in."
Kakashi walked over to stand beside Shindai, silently staring at Mei Terumi and the restless Mist Anbu behind her.
Shindai raised his hand, beckoning them mockingly. "What? Aren't you coming yet? You want me to invite you formally?"
Mei Terumi said coldly, "Shindai, Kakashi Hatake—we Mist Village are preparing to officially propose an alliance with Konoha. What you're doing could damage relations between our villages."
"Do Konoha and Kirigakure even have good relations right now? Besides, you yourself said 'preparing.' That means we're still technically enemies... Oh wait!" Shindai suddenly formed a hand seal. "Right! We're still enemies anyway, plus there are idiot Mist ninjas harassing the Land of Fire's borders. Why should I even bother provoking them? Why not just attack directly?"
After forming a series of hand seals, Shindai performed a summoning technique and called forth a massive scroll.
He then unfurled the scroll and pressed his palm at its center.
[Summoning Technique!]
[Puff! Puff! Puff!]
Several clouds of smoke appeared, each revealing numerous puppets.
The summoned puppets came in wildly different forms.
Some wielded cannons for arms, others had treads for legs. A few weren't even humanoid—some took the form of wild beasts.
Shindai sneered at Mei Terumi. "Just to show respect to you, the new Mizukage, I've decided to use my most powerful coordinated combat puppet cluster against you."
This was Kakashi's first time seeing these puppets. Curious, he asked, "When did you make all these?"
Shindai gave Kakashi a deadpan look. "You think I spent all day in the lab researching how to make puppets prettier?"
Four puppets spread out to occupy four directions. Four beams of light connected to the puppets, forming a square area.
Instantly, the weapons belonging to those within that square—including their ninja gear pouches—were pierced and pinned to the ground.
Two bird-like puppets flew into the air, automatically generating a magnetic field interacting with the square below to create a gravitational field.
The severely injured Zabuza and Raiga Kurosuki were forced into the ground once more.
Mei Terumi and the Mist Anbu weren't pressed to the ground, but they were still weighed down by this gravitational field as if carrying very heavy stones on their backs.
Kakashi asked in surprise, "Can these puppets use your Magnet Release?"
Shindai grinned proudly, "This is a ninja tech. These puppets are equipped with the latest automated combat system. Once they've acquired their targets, they'll automatically engage in combat. And as I just said, it's a coordinated attack group. Each individual puppet is actually quite weak—it's designed to operate as part of a coordinated puppet cluster. Just how powerful they can become? Even I'm not sure—this is the first time I've used them."
Mei Terumi and the Mist Anbu simultaneously formed hand seals and unleashed Water Release jutsu, aiming to destroy the puppets.
After all, if the gravity was coming from these puppets, destroying them should stop the effect.
Mei's guess wasn't wrong—but if things could be resolved that easily, there would be absolutely no meaning behind Shindai creating these puppets in the first place.
Two humanoid puppets countered Mei's Water Release techniques by using Earth Release jutsu.
When Mei unleashed a Fire Release jutsu, another pair of puppets countered with Water Release jutsu.
As they tried to escape from this square combat zone, several beast-like puppets rushed forward to engage them in close-range combat.
Meanwhile, other puppets continuously released compatible ninjutsu or laser attacks against Mei and her team.
Shindai and Kakashi stood watching the entire scene unfold like spectators.
Kakashi marveled, "Your coordinated combat puppet group seems pretty impressive!"
Shindai puffed out his chest proudly. "That's right! Now let's bring Kannazuki into the fight—let the real battle begin! Honestly, Kannazuki is the core of the entire coordinated combat puppet group!"
Activating Kannazuki's automated combat system, Shindai sent the puppet charging into the square combat zone.
Dealing with these puppets wasn't difficult for Mei Terumi by herself—but the Mist Anbu found it much harder.
One Mist Anbu had barely managed to block a beast puppet's bite when a sharp earth spear pierced through his left shoulder.
Due to the gravitational field, they couldn't effectively wield weapons—and even so, their movement speed had drastically slowed.
The moment they showed any sign of weakness, those beast puppets immediately zeroed in like predators sensing an opening. On top of that, they constantly had to defend and dodge various elemental ninjutsu attacks.
Right now, Mei Terumi felt deeply troubled. If she were fighting alone, things wouldn't be too bad—but needing to protect others made everything much more complicated.
Mei possessed two Kekkei Genkai abilities—Boil Release and Dissolve Release—but both were area-of-effect attacks, making it easy to accidentally harm her own allies. This caused her to fight hesitantly.
She'd fought puppet ninja many times during battles against Sunagakure's shinobi—but those puppets always felt average, never impressive.
Yet now, facing off against this former Sunagakure ninja who had defected and become a Konoha ninja—Shindai's puppet techniques proved surprisingly formidable.
What's wrong with Sunagakure's people? Losing talent like this makes no sense at all—they must've lost their marbles!
Now that Kannazuki had entered the battle, the fight became even more difficult for the Mist Anbu.
Mei Terumi destroyed two beast puppets and a humanoid puppet, but their parts automatically embedded onto Kannazuki's body, and the remaining puppets continued fighting alongside him.
Even with Mei protecting them, one Mist Anbu member still had his right arm ripped away by a beast puppet.
Naruto and the others could only stare in disbelief.
Then they thought about the puppets Shindai had given them… more pathetic than expected!
Kakashi, who had originally taken a fighting stance, relaxed immediately. There was no need for him to fight at all.
That guy Shindai always managed to throw them a curveball with whatever he came up with. And thinking from his perspective, how would he handle such tricks himself…? Well, better not to think too hard about it.
Kakashi asked, "Be honest—did you prepare any puppets specifically designed to counter me?"
Shindai looked at Kakashi with a mischievous smirk and said, "You guess~"
Kakashi's face instantly darkened. Based on his understanding of Shindai, whenever Shindai said "you guess," there was a nine-out-of-ten chance he had already prepared something specifically targeted at him.
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