Realizing this, Uchiha Yujin knew he could not afford to delay any longer.
He stomped heavily on the ground.
With each step, invisible whirlwinds seemed to form beneath his feet, violently spinning the rainwater around him.
His figure flickered in and out of focus, like a phantom moving between reality and illusion.
Under Sasori's tightly locked gaze, Uchiha Yujin unleashed one of the Six Powers—Shave.
In an instant, his body turned into a black streak of lightning.
His speed surged explosively, leaving behind blurred afterimages as he rapidly closed the distance to Sasori.
As a puppet master, Sasori naturally understood what Uchiha Yujin intended to do.
While continuing to control the Third Kazekage puppet's Magnet Release to attack Uchiha Yujin, he raised one hand.
The wooden stopper in his palm was activated and slowly fell away.
From within, a pitch-black metal tube emerged.
"Scroll Technique: Flame Prison Array," Sasori said coldly.
In the next second, scorching heat roared outward.
Wherever it passed, rainwater instantly evaporated, and the air twisted violently from the intense heat.
The flames erupted forward in a stream stretching over a hundred meters, forcing Uchiha Yujin to change his movement trajectory.
While smashing away the three Magnet Release constructs, he dodged the terrifying heat of the Flame Prison Array.
During this perilous exchange, several stray streams of fire swept wildly toward the sand–iron triangular pyramid in midair.
But soon, they changed direction once more and continued their relentless pursuit of Uchiha Yujin.
Uchiha Yujin caught everything from the corner of his eye.
When the high-temperature flames touched the cold, hard iron sand, the sand iron could not withstand the heat at all.
Its surface slowly began to melt, with drops of scorching liquid metal seeping out.
They glowed with an orange-red light, slid down the contours of the iron sand, and dripped into the pooled water below.
A sharp sizzling sound rang out.
In an instant, thick white steam surged upward and spread everywhere.
To melt Magnet Release metal this easily, the temperature of these flames was far beyond his understanding of Fire Release.
This was far hotter than the Great Fireball Jutsu.
The raging flames chased him without mercy.
Uchiha Yujin moved swiftly, dodging left and right as tongues of fire licked at him wildly.
He was completely clear-headed.
Sasori's body was a modified puppet.
Even if he maintained this kind of high-intensity flame attack for a long time, there was no chance he would run out of stamina.
Thinking of this, Uchiha Yujin made a decisive decision.
He quickly pulled a kunai from his ninja pouch.
Immediately after, he infused it with Lightning Release chakra.
In an instant, the once ordinary kunai seemed to awaken, like a weapon blessed by thunder.
Brilliant blue chakra light burst out from its entire body.
Unfortunately, all Yujins could only coat the feathers of their Kagune—something that was part of their own bodies—with Armament Haki.
Now that he no longer had his Kagune, Uchiha Yujin could only throw an ordinary Lightning Kunai at Sasori.
The kunai shot forward with a sharp whistling sound, wrapped in blue lightning as it flew straight toward him.
Sasori's expression did not change at all.
Calm and composed, he continued controlling the Flame Prison Array, attempting to block and incinerate the incoming kunai with fire.
The flames grew even hotter, as if they were about to ignite the very air.
Sasori thought the kunai would be burned to ashes under such heat.
But to his surprise, the blue chakra light did not weaken in the slightest.
Instead, it rapidly closed the distance between them.
Sasori's heart sank.
Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed the Hiruko puppet that had earlier been split open by Kakashi's blade.
Without hesitation, his ten fingers moved rapidly.
Chakra threads shot out from his fingertips in an instant, precisely wrapping around the shattered remains of Hiruko.
He then controlled the puppet and made it leap into the air.
It positioned itself firmly in front of him.
Crack.
With a sharp sound, the Lightning Kunai slammed straight into Hiruko's body.
The kunai was firmly stuck in the puppet's hard shell and could no longer move forward.
Seeing this, Uchiha Yujin felt a twinge of regret.
If what he held now were Lightning Feathers strengthened with Armament Haki, this careless guy would probably have had one arm blown apart on the spot.
Taking advantage of Sasori being stalled, Uchiha Yujin began forming hand seals at extreme speed.
In just a few breaths, he completed thirty hand seals in one continuous flow.
On the other side, Sasori violently threw aside the Hiruko body that had been pinned by the Lightning Kunai.
His gaze turned icy as he once again activated the Flame Prison Array without hesitation.
In the next instant, scorching heat mixed with howling wind surged forward once more.
At the same time, under Magnet Release control, a triangular cone, a cylinder, and a rectangular block adjusted their positions in midair.
From three vicious angles, they charged toward Uchiha Yujin together with the raging flames.
At that moment, time itself seemed to slow down dramatically.
Raindrops hung motionless in the air.
Only Uchiha Yujin's Sharingan was unaffected.
His blood-red eyes spun rapidly within the curtain of rain, clearly reflecting the deadly attacks rushing toward him.
Every trace of danger was captured with absolute precision.
As the final seal perfectly formed at his fingertips, the azure-blue mask of the Earth Grudge on his shoulder trembled slightly.
Then, slowly, a dense ball of chakra poured from the mask's mouth.
Almost at the same moment, Uchiha Yujin's chakra erupted as well.
The two forces of chakra converged rapidly.
In the moment when Sasori almost succeeded, a cold, cruel smile tugged at the corners of his mouth.
Uchiha Yujin, whose counterattack had been brewing for a long time, unleashed it with a tremendous roar.
"Combined Ninjutsu!"
"Water Release: Crimson Water Dragon!"
A colossal water dragon burst forth with a deafening roar.
With unstoppable force, it surged straight toward the blazing inferno.
In an instant, the fire and water chakra collided violently, and plumes of white smoke turned the area into a steaming outdoor hot spring, the temperature soaring to extreme levels.
The flames of the Flame Prison Array, once fierce, faltered under the onslaught of the water dragon.
The raging fire gradually weakened, shrinking under the pressure.
Seizing the advantage, the water dragon lunged forward, its gaping maw filled with endless steam and power, charging straight at Sasori, who was controlling the Third Kazekage Puppet.
In desperation, Sasori's hands moved rapidly, urgently directing the Third Kazekage Puppet to defend.
In an instant, the puppet's body surged with magnetic sand, releasing the "Magnet Release: Iron Sand World Technique!"
Countless sharp iron sand projectiles shot toward the water dragon like lethal arrows.
The impact erupted with a cacophony of clashing forces.
Under this overwhelming assault, the water dragon could not hold and was violently torn apart, scattering into countless droplets.
Even so, the fragments of water, still carrying residual force, slammed into Sasori.
His body wavered, nearly sent flying, leaving deep prints in the muddy ground beneath his feet.
At that moment, Uchiha Yujin seized the fleeting opportunity, flashing forward in a blur.
He raised his right fist high.
Tensed muscles packed with earth-shattering power, his punch drove straight toward Sasori without hesitation.
A crisp "crack!" echoed.
In Uchiha Yujin's eyes, filled with regret and determination, the chest of the Third Kazekage Puppet exploded, fragments scattering, iron sand components strewn across the ground.
Sasori took advantage of the moment, forming a Shadow Clone Technique seal, turning into a wooden log.
Uchiha Yujin's fist met nothing but air.
Meanwhile, Sasori appeared at a distance, without hesitation, drawing the next scroll from his back.
He slammed it onto the ground, and in the blink of an eye, countless red puppets flooded the forest, occupying every inch of it.
This was…
The ultimate power capable of annihilating a nation.
The Red Secret Technique: Performance of a Hundred Puppets!
Uchiha Yujin gazed at the sea of red above him.
With his Observation Haki fully activated, he sensed everything around him.
"Everyone has left… that's good."
He locked eyes with Sasori of the Red Sand, then slammed his foot down hard onto the Third Kazekage's puppet!
Crack!
The parts were crushed for a second time.
This time… they were shattered beyond repair.
It was impossible to fix.
Sasori's expression twisted in anger, but the fury quickly faded.
His Performance of a Hundred Puppets was nearly unmatched in the world.
Even Konan, who once conquered him through sheer strength, could not survive this technique.
This was an absolute secret art, nearly impossible to counter!
Sasori now regarded Uchiha Yujin as… The greatest puppet material, surpassing even the Third Kazekage.
It was a masterpiece of unparalleled artistry.
"Eternal life, imperishable… that is art!"
"Become my puppet!"
In the next moment, hundreds of puppets descended instantly.
Uchiha Yujin bit his finger, letting blood trickle down.
Then, with a sharp strike, he slammed his hand onto the ground.
"First Layer: Rashomon!"
A colossal gate, hundreds of meters high and wide, shaped like a terrifying demon face, rose to block the oncoming puppets of the Performance of a Hundred Puppets.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The puppets swung their weapons wildly, assaulting the gate.
Before long, they tore a huge hole through it.
But when they looked through the gap… Uchiha Yujin was nowhere to be seen.
****
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