Watching one puppet after another charge toward him, Chiya seemed not to notice them at all.
"The Far Shore of the Yellow Springs!"
Chiya's Mangekyō Sharingan turned slowly. His gaze locked onto Ebizo and the other puppet masters in the distance.
The six-petal spider lily pattern bloomed strangely in his crimson pupils.
Under the domain of the Far Shore of the Yellow Springs, Ebizo and the other puppet masters felt their bodies rapidly wither.
The puppets that had reached Chiya's position, having lost control from their users, fell to the ground like scrap metal, scattering into pieces.
The deep red flowing from Chiya's bloodshot eyes ran down his cheeks and dripped to the ground.
His expression was cold. His Mangekyō Sharingan swept the surroundings with vigilance.
Just now, his Mangekyō Sharingan had caught something unusual.
Ebizo had anticipated the attack long before. The Ebizo from moments ago was not the real one.
Whoosh!
A sharp sound of something cutting through the air suddenly struck from nearby!
Chiya leaped hard to the left. A faint blue blade edge passed so close it nearly grazed his neck, and the force of wind it carried stung his skin.
It was a humanoid puppet.
Unlike the crude constructions of ordinary puppet masters, this puppet was entirely jet black. Precision chakra-conducting devices were fitted at every joint, and it moved with the same fluidity as a real person.
Its two arms shot out sharp blades, their edges glowing with a faint blue poisonous light. It had clearly been coated in a lethal toxin.
'This puppet... is Ebizo's trump card?'
Chiya closed the eye he had just used for the Far Shore of the Yellow Springs and activated the Body Flicker Technique.
He retreated rapidly, but the puppet followed like a shadow.
Its blade strikes came in relentless succession, forcing him to dodge again and again.
The eye of Chiya's Mangekyō Sharingan that was still open narrowed slightly.
His gaze fixed on the puppet, and the Sharingan caught the faint blue chakra threads.
Following the threads, Chiya instantly locked onto the likely hiding spot.
BOOM!
Just as Chiya was working out how to suppress the puppet temporarily and strike at Ebizo's position, a golden figure crashed into the battlefield like a cannonball.
A fist wrapped in terrifying monstrous force drove hard into the chest of the puppet in front of Chiya.
"Get out of the way!"
At Tsunade's furious shout, the precision puppet was sent flying backward and slammed heavily into a sand dune, sending yellow sand bursting in every direction.
Chiya paused, then turned to look at Tsunade beside him.
She was breathing slightly hard. Her pale cheeks were streaked with blood, but her eyes were sharp beyond measure.
Her fist was still held in its follow-through position, chakra seething faintly between her knuckles.
"Do not push yourself."
Chiya knew she had already reached her limit. His voice was low.
Tsunade shook her head. Her gaze fell to his eyes, her expression complicated.
"Your eyes..."
Chiya was quiet for a moment, then gave a light laugh.
"It is fine. That one is a little tired, so I am giving it a rest. The rest, I will tell you after we drive them off!"
Tsunade gave a firm nod, and her gaze returned to the puppet that was slowly climbing out of the sand pile.
Its chest was caved in, but it was still moving. Its joints produced a grating sound that set the teeth on edge.
"This thing... is not an ordinary puppet."
"That old fox Ebizo must have brought out everything he had stored away."
Chiya nodded. His Sharingan rotated slightly.
"Its core is not in the chest. It is in the head."
Tsunade's mouth curved upward. She shot a surprised glance at Chiya.
"Then I will tear it apart!"
Before the words were even finished, she had charged forward again. Her monstrous force erupted. The sandy ground beneath her feet cracked outward like a spider web.
The puppet quickly fell back. Its arm blades crossed to block, and a switch on its shoulder opened.
Senbon wrapped in explosive tags shot out from inside.
A flash of fire.
A violent explosion rang out.
Tsunade flickered away from the blast and closed in on the puppet from a different angle.
A sweeping kick struck sideways and shattered its left arm completely!
At the same moment Tsunade made her move, Chiya flickered and vanished.
Chiya's figure darted forward, heading into the distance.
The surroundings rushed past rapidly. Behind a large rock ahead, a figure finally came into view.
'Found him!'
'Just as expected. It is that old man Ebizo!'
The Mangekyō Sharingan eye Chiya had closed opened again in an instant and locked onto him. The bloodshot lines in his eye deepened further.
Warm blood welled up and ran down his cheek.
"The Far Shore of the Yellow Springs!"
The invisible pulse was directed by Chiya straight at Ebizo.
Ebizo's eyes went wide as he stared at Chiya.
"Damn it!"
In that moment, he felt his entire body seized by an overwhelming force, and then his consciousness grew dim.
His skin shriveled instantly and turned dark.
He was drained dry in the blink of an eye, and he collapsed heavily, without a trace of life.
At the same time.
Tsunade's fist blew the puppet's head apart. The core device was exposed to the air, flickering with dangerous chakra light.
"It is over."
Tsunade said coldly, raising her fist once more.
Crack!
The puppet's core suddenly shattered on its own. A burst of purple poisonous mist exploded outward!
"Tsunade! Get back!"
Chiya spun around sharply. His heart lurched. He called out in a sharp voice.
The warning came, but it was clearly a little too late.
Watching the poisonous mist about to swallow Tsunade, Chiya gave no thought to the drain on his ocular power. His other eye's ocular jutsu activated instantly.
"Cycle of Cause and Effect!"
The poisonous mist vanished.
Tsunade stood where she was, stunned.
"Aaargh!"
Screams from Suna-nin rang out in the distance.
Tsunade turned to look.
The purple poisonous mist had appeared right in the middle of the most densely packed group of Suna-nin nearby.
Like acid, it instantly began corroding several ninja at once.
Wherever the mist spread, the sandy ground was eaten away with a sizzling sound, leaving pitted holes.
The Suna-nin who were slow to react began rapidly forming seals.
"Wind Release, Gale Palm!"
The Wind Release scattered the mist, but those who had been caught were left in a terrible state.
A combat squad of twenty to thirty was gone just like that.
Chiya returned to Tsunade's side.
"That man is dead!"
Tsunade heard his voice and raised her eyes to meet his gaze.
Then she saw the blood on Chiya's face and felt a pang inside.
"You..."
Before she could finish, Chiya reached out and ruffled her head, cutting off her words.
"Those wounded and the medical ninja still need you."
Chiya said this, then looked toward the remaining Suna-nin.
He formed seals and his figure vanished.
When he appeared again, he had already charged into the middle of the Suna-nin crowd.
"It is that Uchiha!"
His sudden appearance immediately drew kunai and shuriken from everyone, all aimed at Chiya.
Before they could make a move, Uchiha Chiya's gaze swept across them.
The six-petal crimson spider lily pattern blazed like a rose in full bloom.
"The Far Shore of the Yellow Springs!"
The invisible pulse spread outward with Chiya at its center.
Cold... Terrifying....
A suffocating force, as if something had seized the throats of their lives.
Nearly a hundred Suna-nin had no time to react before a bone-deep cold seeped up from within them.
Their skin withered and cracked at a visible rate. Their muscles shrank. Their life force was torn away as if by an invisible hand.
Thud!
Thud!
Ninja fell in swathes.
Chiya stood at the center of the battlefield. The six-petal spider lily in his Mangekyō Sharingan rotated slowly, his eyes a deep crimson like the fires of the underworld.
In moments, more than half the ninja on the Suna-nin side of the battlefield were gone.
A jonin's hand trembled around his kunai. Cold sweat ran down his forehead.
The bizarre and terrifying scene before them.
Every moment of it shattered their understanding of ninjutsu and filled them with a dread of the unknown.
"Impossible..."
He stared at Uchiha Chiya, his eyes wide.
"A jutsu of this scale... how could this be possible..."