Chapter 88: Rampaging Chiyo, The Demi-God's Rival's Strength
"Chiyo, I deeply regret Ebizo's sacrifice. If only I could freely leave Sunagakure, I definitely wouldn't have let him personally take such risks. However, the dead cannot return. You mustn't let hatred cloud your judgment."
The Third Kazekage received intelligence from the border base and immediately activated the chakra television, usually reserved for remote conversations with the daimyo, to comfort Chiyo face-to-face.
"Kazekage-sama, I'm currently extremely calm." Chiyo stated coldly. "If hatred had clouded my judgment, I'd have already acted independently to ally with Hanzo and attack Fire Country."
The Third Kazekage didn't mind Chiyo's disrespectful words. This pair of siblings plus Chiyo's son and daughter-in-law represented Sunagakure's dominant faction among the leadership circle.
Chiyo, who excelled at puppet techniques, poison arts, and medical ninjutsu, possessed even greater renown in Sunagakure than Tsunade's future reputation as a medical saint. She commanded countless followers.
Like Kirigakure's Master Elder, though merely Kazekage Advisor, Chiyo stood as the Kazekage's equal.
If Chiyo harbored even slight ambition, the Third Kazekage's position wouldn't have fallen to him.
Fortunately, their entire family were Wind Shadow faction loyalists.
Seeing Chiyo hadn't lost her rationality, the Third Kazekage breathed a sigh of relief before asking: "Then why do you want Bunpuku guarding the border base?"
"I want to break the current situation." Chiyo stated cruel reality. "We've lost this war's probing phase."
"My brother's death temporarily severed all our operative contacts. Our external intelligence network is completely paralyzed."
"Without intelligence support, having reconnaissance squads and ANBU infiltrate enemy nations is far too dangerous. It only creates more opportunities for enemy nations."
"Once we fall behind during the probing phase, it's equivalent to exposing weaknesses to enemies, only making us increasingly passive."
"We now have only one choice. Break this situation's balance, forcing them into the next phase."
"Our grudge with Amegakure isn't deep. Everything resulted from Hanzo's surprise attacks. From beginning to end, facing Hanzo's invasion, we've only defended passively. Now we'll retreat one more step. I'm transferring frontlines to face Konoha."
"If Hanzo still acts tactlessly and attacks us, have Bunpuku participate."
At this point, Chiyo's eyes filled with killing intent: "I'll focus attention on Konoha's frontline, making them pay a painful price for this scheme."
Though Chiyo's purpose was revenge, her words made excellent sense to the Third Kazekage.
Unless Wind Country declared withdrawal, having lost their intelligence organization made them blind.
More fatally, everyone knew this.
If they withdrew under such circumstances, they'd be cowardly blind people, possibly attracting even more wolves.
Their already unbalanced economy would only worsen.
They had nowhere left to retreat.
Now with Konoha's forces divided by Rain Country and Earth Country, a once-in-a-millennium opportunity, the Third Kazekage equally refused to surrender.
So the Third Kazekage decisively spoke: "Good. I'll immediately order Bunpuku to the border base. That frontline facing Konoha is in your hands. Act freely. Even if something happens at the border base, I'll personally take action."
"Understood."
Obtaining the Third Kazekage's agreement, Chiyo immediately acted.
She didn't even wait for Bunpuku to reach the border base before transferring command authority to her deputy team, then leading a batch of powerful elite forces toward the frontline where River Country and Rain Country met, reuniting with her son and daughter-in-law.
A Kage-level powerhouse plus a batch of elite forces arriving not only caused this defensive line's strength to surge instantly but also disrupted Sakumo Hatake's rhythm.
During these four months' probing period, both Sakumo Hatake and Chiyo's son and daughter-in-law had preliminarily understood each other's force scales plus some elite forces' specializations.
When supporting reconnaissance squads and ANBU, they'd briefly clashed many times, knowing each other's strengths and weaknesses.
Both sides merely needed timing to deliver fatal blows.
Now Chiyo's arrival transformed Sakumo's opponent from an elite jonin and jonin married couple into a Kage-level powerhouse who could contend with Hanzo of the Salamander.
Moreover, Chiyo hadn't come to garrison the frontline and boost morale. She arrived as a revenger.
Intending to break the current situation, after simply reviewing reconnaissance squad and ANBU-gathered intelligence, she personally led combat forces launching surprise attacks on White Fang's frontline.
Though predicting Ebizo's death news spreading might cause the war situation to change, Sakumo never imagined Chiyo would so decisively transfer frontlines.
Wasn't she afraid leaving the border base would give Hanzo opportunities to surprise-attack Wind Country again?
Yet now facing surprise attack was White Fang's frontline.
Lacking this intelligence, White Fang's frontline was caught completely off-guard.
Sakumo also experienced Kage-level powerhouses' might for the first time!
Sakumo, who excelled at Lightning Release nature transformation and ninjutsu, should naturally counter puppet masters. As long as bypassing their puppets, he could easily eliminate puppet masters who, while controlling puppets even without standing still, suffered weakened movement speed and reaction abilities.
Even Chiyo's son and daughter-in-law, the married couple who could coordinate puppet control making taijutsu and ninjutsu specialists struggle to close in, possessed such weaknesses in Sakumo's eyes.
Only Chiyo differed completely from those puppet masters.
Her taijutsu was extremely powerful. Speed and reaction abilities could match Sakumo's Lightning Release speed. Completely unlike a woman in her fifties or a puppet master.
Moreover, her puppet techniques reached pinnacle mastery.
The Chikamatsu Collection of Ten Puppets created by the puppet master founder was Chiyo's strongest method for dominating the shinobi world, praised as "one machine worth a thousand." More powerful than a ninja squad composed of ten elite forces.
One of Chiyo's famous battles involved using these ten puppets to capture a castle.
These puppets' materials were extraordinary. Without finding their weaknesses, even Lightning Release nature transformation-covered slashes couldn't shatter such puppets.
These puppets could also execute combination techniques resembling compound ninjutsu, threatening even Sakumo fatally.
He wasn't fighting one-on-one but alone against a batch of telepathically connected elite forces, even ace combatants, seemingly sharing one brain.
Chiyo had also modified her hands into puppet hands, not only controlling the Chikamatsu Collection better but installing puppet mechanisms that could convert her chakra into shields defending against everything.
Sakumo barely bypassed all puppets, finding one of Chiyo's openings and delivering a fatal strike, only for the shield to easily block it.
Had his speed not been astonishing, he'd nearly been poisoned by Chiyo's poison arts similarly installed in puppet hands.
Like Hanzo and Yoru, belonging to the assassin type, Sakumo instantly realized he couldn't match Chiyo.
Simultaneously, he finally understood why this woman became Hanzo of the Salamander's rival.
He unhesitatingly led combat forces scattering in retreat.
Even so, many Konoha ninja accidentally suffered puppet master squad puppet injuries and died from Chiyo's manufactured deadly poison.
Not the salamander's wide-area poison smoke, but poison coating weapons and projectiles. Equally fatal upon contact.
Facing such deadly poison, Sakumo was helpless, only able to request village support.
The rampaging Chiyo also stole Yoru's spotlight, becoming the battlefield's most prominent figure.
After many years, this woman again made the shinobi world experience puppet masters' might.
Weak puppet masters indeed possessed numerous flaws. Meeting attribute-countering opponents made them vulnerable existences.
Powerful puppet masters possessed almost no weaknesses. One person equaling an army.
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