"I'll kill you!"
Ebizō abandoned Might Dai and turned his fury onto the two armored puppets, unleashing a relentless barrage of attacks.
Unfortunately for him, these puppets were modified versions of his own Mirror Matrix Puppets, boasting extreme durability. His assaults barely left a scratch.
In fact, he nearly lost one of his own puppets to a three-meter greatsword swung by one of the armored constructs.
With Ebizō occupied, Umino Yoru took the opportunity to ambush the remaining Sand shinobi hidden in the mist. His priority? Eliminating those attempting to disperse the fog with ninjutsu.
Under the disruptive effects of infrasonic pulses, none could successfully cast a technique.
Forced to rely on taijutsu or puppetry, the Sand shinobi stood little chance against the eight armored puppets. Only a few elite taijutsu specialists could hold their own—and even then, they were limited to dodging, unable to breach the puppets' defenses.
The ninjutsu specialists, stripped of their techniques, were even worse off.
As for the Sand puppeteers? Their situation was dire.
Most had lost their spare puppets in the flood, and those they salvaged were heavily damaged. Against armored puppets controlled by shadow clones—who could even hijack their puppets using Red Secret Technique chakra strings—they were hopelessly outmatched.
Within minutes, the puppeteers fell one after another.
And Yoru had ten of these monstrous constructs.
Though their combat style was straightforward—overwhelming physical force and defense—paired with infrasonic disruption, they turned the battlefield into a slaughterhouse.
If not for the Sand shinobi's proficiency in Body Flicker, they would've been wiped out already.
Screams echoed through the mist as Yoru, empowered by Yellow Curry Pills, struck with lethal precision.
One taijutsu specialist barely dodged a puppet's greatsword—
"Wind Breathing · Second Form: Water Blade Slash!"
A flash of steel.
A near-invisible line appeared across the man's neck.
Then—blood erupted.
By using the puppets to disrupt enemy movements, Yoru's ambush tactics proved devastating. Few could withstand his Water Blade Slash—unless their weapons were forged from chakra metal, both blade and wielder would be cleanly severed.
Since learning this technique from Tobirama Senju, Yoru had integrated it seamlessly into his combat style.
The downside? Heavy chakra consumption.
Luckily, most enemies fell to simpler methods—a single Water Body Flicker and a Severing Slash were often enough.
By the time Ebizō realized what was happening, his twenty-strong squad had been reduced to a handful.
He disengaged from Might Dai and the two puppets, locating a few surviving puppeteers.
"Chizuki, stay close! Don't fall behind!"
He led them toward another group—only for disaster to strike.
"Rain of Needles!"
"Puppetry Technique: Wild Windmill!"
"Rain of Needles!"
"Spiral Piercing Wave!"
The four "survivors" were actually Yoru's shadow clones in disguise.
Though caught off guard, Ebizō remained calm. His fingers wove chakra strings into a defensive net, blocking the attacks—
"Not good!"
The Spiral Piercing Wave, a wind-natured technique fired from a single finger, tore through his defenses.
He twisted aside at the last second—but the attack still gouged through his shoulder, narrowly missing his heart.
"Chaotic Wind Slash!"
The two armored puppets seized the opening, their greatswords spinning like deadly windmills, forcing Ebizō to block head-on.
Using taijutsu deflection techniques, he managed to redirect the strikes—but his defending puppet was left in ruins.
Then—
"MORNING PEACOCK!"
Might Dai's fists became a blur of fire, each strike igniting the air as they hammered into Ebizō.
The flames painted the sky in hues of dawn—radiant as a peacock's tail.
When the inferno cleared, Ebizō lay in the scorched earth, coughing up blood and viscera, his armor shattered.
He had survived—barely.
"Wind Breathing · Second Form: Water Blade Slash!"
Yoru lunged for the kill—
CLANG!
Ebizō's left arm blocked the slash, while his right armor plates morphed into a blade, slicing toward Yoru's path.
Only ultrasonic radar saved him—a last-second twist left nothing but a severed lock of hair in the weapon's wake.
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