Sasori quickly withdrew the three puppets. They were all covered in corrosive marks, and their outer shells were somewhat marred.
Ornaments like hair had even melted directly.
"What a powerful ninjutsu. What exactly is this?"
Sasori wasn't angry; he was just curious about this ninjutsu. He had never seen such a ninjutsu before.
However, relying solely on this one move to defeat him was still a bit too soon.
"Secret Red Technique - Scattering Snow!"
The three puppets raised their hands, and a pipe-like device emerged from them.
Then, a fierce wind blew out from it, instantly dispersing the Boil Release steam.
But with the steam dispersed, Yahiko was nowhere to be seen.
And just then, Sasori suddenly broke out in a cold sweat! He immediately turned and swiftly retreated backward.
The next second, Yahiko, kunai in hand, landed where Sasori had just been.
After Sasori dodged the attack, he violently waved his hand. The two puppets he controlled with his left hand swiftly spewed chain-like projectiles from their mouths, attempting to restrain Yahiko directly.
But Yahiko immediately discarded his kunai, dodged with a sidestep, and then began to continuously run around the training ground.
Although the puppets' chains were very long, they weren't enough to cover the training ground, and Yahiko easily dodged them.
After several exchanges, Sasori was clearly at a disadvantage, but only because the puppets weren't as agile.
Both sides were still evenly matched; it would likely take some more time to determine a winner.
Torifu and the Kazekage stood outside the training ground, watching their disciples battle, nodding occasionally. It seemed they highly approved of their strength.
"Yahiko's skill is excellent," the Kazekage said. "He knows that the core body of a puppeteer is very weak, and he's constantly looking for an opportunity to break through. Unfortunately, Sasori hasn't given him the chance. This battle seems destined to remain a stalemate."
Hearing this, Torifu smiled faintly. "The Kazekage is right, but the outcome of a battle is often decided in an instant. I, however, believe the winner will be decided very soon."
The Kazekage didn't say anything. He didn't know what Torifu's basis was. Could Yahiko still have some trump card he hadn't used?
But this was just a simple sparring match. The real battle hadn't even taken place yet; revealing a trump card at this point wouldn't be a good choice, would it?
In the arena, Sasori controlled two puppets, constantly interfering with and attacking Yahiko. The remaining two puppets constantly guarded him to prevent Yahiko from launching a surprise attack.
Confident puppeteers generally wouldn't use such tactics. It seemed Sasori was under a lot of pressure fighting Yahiko.
Yahiko tried several times. Even if he broke through the interference of the front puppets, he couldn't break through the puppets guarding Sasori.
If he wanted to win, he would have to reveal a bit more. Although this was just a simple sparring match, he didn't want to lose in front of his Master.
He stopped circling the puppets and stood in a corner of the arena, rapidly forming hand signs.
Seeing this, Sasori's face broke into a smile. He believed his strategy had worked, causing a flaw in Yahiko's mental state, which was why he was so openly forming hand signs.
But to be safe, he still didn't send out all his puppets. Instead, he kept puppets in front of him to guard against any Body Flicker-like techniques from Yahiko.
Soon, the puppets reached Yahiko, and Yahiko's ninjutsu was also complete. He spewed a large volume of water from his mouth, washing over the puppets in front of him.
This ninjutsu was quite powerful. Sasori's puppets could no longer advance and were even pushed back several meters by the water current.
But Sasori's smile didn't falter. A ninjutsu like this wasn't something a ninja their age could typically unleash. Even if Yahiko was exceptionally gifted, the chakra consumption must be immense.
Sasori himself hadn't used many ninjutsu from beginning to end. His chakra was abundant, and he could definitely last until Yahiko's chakra ran out.
Sure enough, just as Sasori had predicted, the water flow's effect gradually weakened, and Yahiko's face revealed an expression of slight panic and annoyance.
Victory was close. Sasori immediately had his puppets spew chains to entangle Yahiko.
But just as the chains landed on Yahiko, his entire body turned into a stream of water and fell to the ground.
And a kunai, unbeknownst to him, was pressed against Sasori's throat.
"You lost."
Sasori looked at the kunai at his throat, his face full of disbelief. "This... how is this possible? How did you get here?"
Yahiko smiled and retracted the kunai. "I can't tell you that."
Then, Yahiko walked towards Torifu, while Sasori, feeling somewhat annoyed, put his kunai away.
His annoyance didn't disappear; it merely shifted to his face.
At this moment, the Kazekage couldn't help but praise, "Yahiko, I must say this battle was incredibly exciting. Sasori has no reason to feel wronged losing to you."
Sasori, meanwhile, asked with a confused expression, "Master, what exactly happened?"
The Kazekage glanced at Torifu, implicitly asking if he could tell. After all, this was someone else's disciple's combined tactical move; it wouldn't be good if he directly exposed it.
Torifu, however, felt it was fine and nodded.
Only then did the Kazekage confidently say, "Actually, it wasn't some high-level ninjutsu. It was just a simple Body Replacement Jutsu."
"Body Replacement Jutsu?" Sasori was a bit confused. Even if he had been careless, he couldn't possibly have been defeated by a Body Replacement Jutsu, could he? This was the most basic ninjutsu! How embarrassing would that be if word got out!
"Did you think Yahiko was running in circles because you forced him to? Actually, during his movements, he secretly left a small puddle of water behind you."
"Then he stopped precisely at the diagonal spot from you and brazenly unleashed ninjutsu, making your attention entirely focused on him. With many puppets in front of you, your line of sight was obstructed, and you missed one of Yahiko's hand signs."
"That was a hand sign for a clone. He released a clone in the puddle behind you and used the Body Replacement Jutsu. That's why your puppets only grabbed a puddle of water."
"This..." Sasori listened with an open mouth as his Master explained everything. He hadn't noticed any of these details at all.
His entire focus had been on Yahiko.
Then the Kazekage continued with a smile, "Yahiko's brilliance lay in this. This technique is actually very easy to spot. He suppressed you too aggressively in the early stages, so when you counterattacked, you were sure to develop an impatient mindset."
"And his final expressions of unwillingness and annoyance were also faked to mislead you, to prevent you from paying attention to what was behind you."
Yahiko shook his head at this. He had improvised this and hadn't expected it to work so well.
Yahiko believed Sasori was Sunagakure's most talented puppeteer. Even if he was modest, he surely held arrogance in his heart, which was why he used this trick.
Sasori, having heard his Master explain all this, looked at Yahiko with a trace of wariness in his eyes.
This guy looked honest and shy, like a righteous person, but how could he be so devious in battle? He even played emotional games!