For someone like Sasori, a genius, failing to finish him off in one blow and giving him a second chance means the battle itself becomes a source of invaluable strength—extremely effective training, in fact.
"Neji, look for the chakra threads. See if you can trace them back to their source," Mizuki instructed. For a puppet master, the chakra threads used to control puppets are an extremely important element. If they're not well hidden, enemies can easily follow them directly back to the user's original body for elimination.
"No luck. I can't find anything meaningful..." Neji Hyuga shook his head.
"What do you mean? You should at least be able to see the chakra threads, right?"
"I *can* see them, but tracing back to the source is difficult." As long as the distance isn't too far, the Byakugan's sensitivity to chakra makes locating chakra threads fairly straightforward. "But there's a problem—there's a lot of deception going on, so I can't tell which one is real."
"I see..." Mizuki felt slightly disappointed but had expected this outcome. After all, Red Sand of the Desert had clearly prepared for this kind of tactic; it only made sense he wouldn't make such a basic mistake. The chakra threads Puppet Masters used to control their puppets weren't difficult to manipulate, and there were many practical precision techniques even Mizuki himself was familiar with—for example, breaking off the chakra thread temporarily then reconnecting it later. Mizuki had mastered this technique thoroughly. Someone of Red Sand's caliber surely wouldn't overlook such a basic technique rooted in chakra control. These methods alone wouldn't be enough to locate Red Sand of the Desert's original body.
Mizuki cast a glance past Neji and briefly considered Shino Aburame before ultimately deciding not to let him try.
"If the Byakugan couldn't pinpoint it, then it'll be even harder for bugs. Although insects have good chakra sensing abilities, they lack intelligence and can't distinguish precise details."
Mizuki was facing a truly vexing problem. In the past, his lack of strength meant he often stayed behind the scenes, arranging strategies and making deliberate use of intelligence advantages to specifically target enemies' weaknesses, frequently allowing him to fight opponents stronger than himself effectively. However, this time, despite being in a rare position where his power wasn't overwhelmingly inferior, he was the one being targeted precisely by the enemy.
"Hinata Neji, Shino Aburame, and Aoba Yamashiro are hardly unknowns. With Yura acting as an inside informant, it's understandable that Red Sand changed his tactics accordingly. But why go to such extreme caution? It seems that the fake Rinnegan from last time left too strong an impression on him, leading him to overestimate my actual strength..."
A single subtle change led to a ripple effect, slowly eating away at Mizuki's edge in intelligence. As he slowly stepped out from behind the curtain into direct confrontation, situations began arising where he himself was being tactically countered. Mizuki knew very well this time around wasn't a deliberate setup from Red Sand, just the result of the other's excessive caution and prudence hitting directly at Mizuki's weak spot—an outcome Mizuki feared most.
If he drops Sage Mode, Mizuki's sensory abilities will improve significantly. Although this won't necessarily give him a much better chance of spotting Red Sand of the Desert's real body, it'll definitely help avoid a lot of traps. But once he does that, Mizuki won't be in a good position to fight. Without the boost from Sage Mode and relying solely on his own strength, facing the Third Kazekage's human puppet leaves almost no chance of victory.
"Mizuki, what should we do?" Aoba Yamashiro also notices their current predicament. "Should we move closer to the Suna ninja?"
Upon hearing Aoba's suggestion, Mizuki glances toward where the Suna ninja are fighting. Kakuzu and Hidan have already started clashing with them but are still in the probing phase. Cautious Baki is commanding Maki and Yura to resist Hidan's aggressive attacks. Facing Hidan's brutal and unpredictable assaults, Baki doesn't dare make a reckless move. Meanwhile, another powerful enemy—Kakuzu—appears to be observing the situation, though whether he's trying to figure things out or not remains unclear. But his frequent piercing stares toward Mizuki's position feel deeply unsettling.
"Not yet," Mizuki rejects Aoba's suggestion. Kakuzu and Hidan aren't necessarily easier opponents than Red Sand of the Desert. Right now, Mizuki would rather face Sasori than deal with Hidan and Kakuzu immediately.
Kakuzu is just too hard to kill and has massive destructive power. Hidan poses an extreme threat to anyone who doesn't know his capabilities. Mizuki might not be able to protect his three temporary subordinates properly, and considering Yura's hidden motives, aligning with them for now seems even riskier.
"Then what should we do?" They're hidden in the dark, and we're wide open. Countering effectively becomes extremely difficult.
Mizuki himself doesn't really know how to answer that. Continuing this stalemate with Red Sand of the Desert is clearly the worst scenario. Why are substitution and shadow clones such game-changers? A single solid clone can turn the tide in ways most people can't even imagine. Take Mizuki's Artificial Jinchuriki ability—if not for that, achieving his current level would've been exponentially harder. And then there's someone like Red Sand of the Desert, who uses specialized puppet techniques to create physical clones—his greatest strengths being realism and indistinguishability. Especially the latter makes him truly formidable. Sure, those puppets aren't as strong as the real one, but they're still way tougher than your average ninja. Each time Red Sand attacks, Mizuki must go all-out—since distinguishing the true original proves impossible, every single clone must be treated with utmost caution to avoid a surprise ambush from the real one hiding among them.
Mizuki used to love pulling these kinds of mind games—messing with enemies using fake illusions and traps. Never thought he'd be the one getting played like this.
"We can't afford to delay thinking of a solution," Mizuki tells Aoba. "Soon, I want you to use your summoned crow puppet alongside Shino's bugs to coordinate with Neji's Byakugan. Follow the chakra threads to check anything that looks off."
In the current situation, it's their only shot—and honestly, it's kind of a long shot.
However, this was just a stopgap measure. Mizuki's Sage Mode wasn't something as common as roadside cabbage—it wasn't easy to maintain. The massive chakra consumption alone was a heavy burden. Even with the massive reserves provided by Breath-Sealing Art, it still fell short compared to a Jinchuriki's enormous chakra stores. If he couldn't keep it up, then with Konoha's current state, there was no way they could outlast Red Sand of the Desert.
At the same time Mizuki found himself in trouble, Sunagakure also fell into bitter combat.
["An immortal body, huh? Didn't expect something this monstrous. No wonder he hangs around with someone like Sasori. Definitely all monsters—and…"]
Baki looked worriedly at Kakuzu, who stood motionless nearby. Except for the moment when he first displayed his tremendous power after being attacked by Suna ninja, he hadn't taken any further action.
["So he's mastered nature transformation for Earth Attribute? This level of earth-ninjutsu—that's seriously scary."]
Even without revealing Earth Grudge Fear's characteristics, Kakuzu already had more than enough power through elemental jutsu alone to crush most shinobi. Though right now he seemed indifferent to helping his allies and instead appeared more interested in the battle happening on Konoha's side, leaving Baki puzzled.
Still, despite their current advantage of three against one, Hidan's scorched-earth fighting style—going full kamikaze with no regard for his own safety—left Baki struggling to find an effective counter. He'd hit Hidan multiple times—even landed a couple of blows to vital areas—but the man showed no reaction whatsoever, instead growing fiercer, almost craving pain like some kind of madman. His mind clearly wasn't right.
["Completely unpredictable behavior patterns? This is gonna be tough."]
For Jonin like Baki, who specialized in strategy, the problem wasn't about facing strong enemies—it was dealing with opponents who acted irrationally and couldn't be predicted. Those were the most hated kinds of adversaries.
"Maki, use a sealing technique already—we can't keep this up! If it drags on, we'll get worn down!" Although winning against Hidan while outnumbering him three-to-one was still possible, if they couldn't kill him or even disable him from fighting, continuing would be pointless—especially considering the looming presence of Kakuzu watching them closely.
"I understand. Yura, you restrain the enemy's weapon—it's hard to focus with that Triple-Bladed Scythe getting in the way…"
"Sure thing, just hurry up—we can't hold out much longer."
"I'll jump in too," Baki said, feeling a bit more at ease when he saw Kakuzu had no intention of helping. He shifted his focus entirely to fighting Hidan.
Truth is, Hidan's skills weren't all that impressive—he relied entirely on that horrifying immortality and that twisted Death under Pledge jutsu. In terms of actual ability, he wasn't proficient in ninjutsu or genjutsu, barely average in taijutsu, and extremely slow for a ninja of his caliber. So in a straight-up fight without those special abilities, Hidan wouldn't stand a chance against three Jonin.
"You sure you don't want my help on this, Hidan?"
"One of the nearby spectators, Kakuzu, stopped watching Mizuki's fight with Sasori of the Red Sand and looked at Hidan instead.
"I'll handle it myself."
"Fine. Just hurry up. We've got plans later." Kakuzu was always annoyed by Hidan's procrastination, but since he hadn't found a normal way to kill him yet, he had no choice but to tolerate Hidan's disrespectful remarks.
While Konoha and Suna were both in trouble, Iwagakure still chose to stay out of it and quietly observe how things developed.
"Does it feel like Iwagakure is being looked down on?" Young Kurotsuchi felt uneasy. Two waves of enemies had completely ignored their presence despite the important person they needed to protect—Deidara—and attacked the other two villages instead. Well, actually, the reason wasn't hard to figure out; judging from the obvious or hidden strength shown by Konoha and Sunagakure, they definitely deserved enemy attention. But ignoring Iwagakure completely was embarrassing, especially for people who held their village in such high regard.
"Mmm," Akatsuchi muttered, eyes fixed on the battles around them. "This might be better for us. Since the enemy is so powerful, we can avoid unnecessary casualties."
Aside from Akatsuchi and Kurotsuchi, individual Iwagakure ninja weren't especially strong. However, thanks to Iwagakure's tight unity and [Combined Attack Jutsu], they could make full use of their numbers, making them quite effective during ninja wars. Still, these tactics weren't necessarily effective against top-level experts and might even result in heavy friendly losses. For Iwagakure, this already exceeded what numbers alone could change—the gap in quality was simply too large for quantity to matter much anymore. Right now, only Akatsuchi and Kurotsuchi were capable of direct combat; others could offer at best auxiliary support.
"But can we just keep watching like this?" Kurotsuchi was clearly anxious about the current situation. If they couldn't drive the attackers off, their chances of getting Deidara home safe would drop even more. If they couldn't protect him properly, letting him get captured would be worse than killing him themselves. When he first defected, he wasn't targeted by assassins—mostly because he didn't cause much damage and no one knew much about him. But now things were different—Deidara had become an S-ranked rogue ninja who joined a dangerous ninja organization and started attacking other villages.
Under these circumstances, showing excessive mercy due to past connections would provoke resentment among many—including Konoha.
Iwagakure has tailed beasts too—more than just one. According to intelligence from Konoha, it's only a matter of time before Akatsuki turns its sights on Iwagakure as well. So is it really wise to hand someone as strong as Deidara over to the enemy? Even if, in the end, Iwagakure decides to show mercy out of old sentimentality and lets Deidara go, there's no way Konoha's Jonin ranks or our allied village Sunagakure would ever accept that.
"Uh… let me think," Kurotsuchi said. Her words actually made sense. Although three enemies had already appeared, that didn't necessarily mean there weren't more hiding in the shadows. Perhaps these current enemies were just bait.
"Move closer toward Konoha…" After a short while, Akatsuchi finally made his decision.
"What? That makes absolutely no sense! Obviously we should form an alliance with Sunagakure—they're much stronger."
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