The Human Puppet technique was originally invented by the first generation of Sunagakure ninja, likely as a counter to the Second Hokage's Edo Tensei. The principle was to create puppets from the bodies of shinobi. The stronger the ninja was in life, the more powerful the resulting human puppet, capable of wielding between eighty to one hundred and twenty percent of the deceased's original power. After death, the body could be outfitted with numerous mechanisms, and vital points that were weaknesses in life became irrelevant in puppet form.
Later, due to the abuse of this technique—with living civilians and ninja being captured and turned into human puppets—Sunagakure deemed it an affront to nature and had it sealed away. But in reality, no matter how unnatural a ninjutsu was, they would always preserve it. As it happened, the scrolls detailing the creation of human puppets were kept in Chiyo's home. Her grandson, Sasori, later learned the technique and used it to secretly assassinate their own Kazekage.
Now, as the son of the Kazekage, Kankuro wasn't using human puppets, but the puppets he did possess were, of course, of the highest quality.
His puppet, Crow, opened its mouth and fired a volley of poison needles at Kimimaro. However, Kimimaro easily deflected them with the Water Breathing: Twisting Whirlpool. A variety of other hidden weapons, kunai, and shuriken followed, and he blocked them all.
Seizing an opportunity, Kimimaro used a piercing attack from his Water Breathing style, the Seventh Form: Drop Ripple Thrust, and lunged directly at Kankuro.
However, in the seemingly empty desert, a puppet master is never without tricks. No puppet master would expose their true body to an enemy during a fight. If they appeared to be exposed, it was almost always a trap.
Splat!
"Hm!? No blood?" As Kimimaro's sword pierced Kankuro's body, he realized something was wrong. It didn't feel like he had stabbed through flesh and blood. As he sensed the danger and tried to pull his sword back, the Kankuro before him smiled, and the makeup on his face fell away.
"It's not him! It's a puppet!" Kimimaro realized in alarm, but it was too late.
The next second, the "Kankuro" he had stabbed transformed into a puppet, "swallowing" him whole as he drew near.
Clank! Clank!
The puppet's mechanisms activated, trapping Kimimaro securely. At the same time, all its hidden weapons stabbed inward. Just then, a figure leaped out from behind a nearby dune. It was the real Kankuro.
He had brought two puppets with him. His real body had been hiding underground, approaching stealthily, while one puppet engaged Kimimaro and the other disguised itself as him, setting a trap. The trap puppet was incredibly durable, designed so that even a jonin couldn't escape once caught.
"Got one! Huh?! Where's the woman? She's gone?"
Kankuro was a bit confused. When he had first approached, he was sure there were two people: one was a normal person with no chakra, and the other was this swordsman. His plan had been to capture the ninja first and then deal with the woman. But now, she was nowhere to be found. He scanned the area. On the open desert with no obstacles, the woman had simply vanished.
In reality...
Yukihime was lying flat on the ground, her body curled up, completely still. If you weren't looking closely, you would mistake her for just another rock. The burlap-colored cloth of the Land of Wind covering her was the perfect camouflage. And at that moment, she had entered a state of merging with nature. Even Uchiha Nagi with his Mangekyo Sharingan couldn't sense Yukihime, let alone Kankuro. Right now, Yukihime felt like a rock or a plant, without any presence. Her stealth was in no way inferior to White Zetsu's.
At that moment, the sound of banging from inside the puppet suddenly stopped. A low voice spoke from within:
"Dance of the Seedling Fern."
From inside the incredibly sturdy puppet, hard, white bones began to grow, forcing it apart from within until it burst.
BOOM!
With a brilliant explosion, the durable puppet that Kankuro had been so proud of was shattered from the inside out.
"How is that possible? How could he break the puppet from within...?" Kankuro stared in disbelief, not just heartbroken over his puppet, but more importantly, shocked. This puppet was so strong that even a jonin specializing in taijutsu might not have been able to break out of it. As the son of the Kazekage, he naturally had the best puppets.
Kimimaro slowly walked out from the wreckage, his entire body covered in bone spikes.
The Dance of the Seedling Fern was a unique kekkei genkai of the Kaguya clan, and it didn't necessarily require the user to be underground. That would just be silly. Of course, the current Kimimaro was not yet an adult and couldn't match the map-covering power he would display in his future fight with Gaara. His Dance of the Seedling Fern now only covered a radius of about ten meters. But that was more than enough to burst the puppet and escape with ease.
"I'm sorry, Sensei. I used the Shikotsumyaku again. I'm so useless..."
Kimimaro walked out from the thicket of bone spikes, annoyed with himself. His clothes were a bit torn, but he was completely unharmed. The sharp blades inside the puppet had all been blocked by his Shikotsumyaku-covered skin. That was the confidence that came with a maxed-out physical defense. As for the poison coating the blades, it was useless if it couldn't even pierce his skin.
Kimimaro raised his bone sword and charged at Kankuro again. Realizing his opponent was more trouble than he'd expected, Kankuro gestured with his hand, and his Crow puppet quickly flew in front of him to protect his real body. He then threw a smoke bomb. White smoke enveloped him, and he used an earth-style jutsu to once again hide in the sand beneath. As a ninja from the Land of Wind, it would be embarrassing not to know any Earth Release.
Kimimaro fired several Ten-Finger Drilling Bullets, but they missed Kankuro, hitting the Crow puppet instead. By the time he reached the smoke, Kankuro was long gone, hidden away. He then began remotely controlling the Crow to fight Kimimaro once more.
"Cough, cough..." Suddenly, Kimimaro started coughing.
"No... I'm poisoned? It was the smoke just now!"
His lack of experience was showing again. He didn't understand that a ninja needs to be cautious to survive. Kimimaro never imagined that the seemingly ordinary smoke was actually poisonous. And the Breathing Styles he used were particularly vulnerable to things like poison gas.
Kimimaro bit his tongue, trying to stay conscious, but his body wouldn't obey, and he collapsed.
Is he faking it? I should test him, just to be safe.
Hiding in the sand, Kankuro didn't immediately believe that Kimimaro was poisoned. He had his Crow puppet throw several poison-coated kunai at him.
Just then, a slender figure leaped out from nowhere, throwing herself in front of Kimimaro to block the kunai.
"Ahhh!" Yukihime squeezed her eyes shut, waiting for death.
However, the expected pain never came.
"What are you 'ahhh'-ing about? You should have just stayed hidden. Kimimaro isn't that weak."
Yukihime opened her eyes to see the man with the red eyes standing in front of her.
"Nagi-san!" she cried out with joy.
Uchiha Nagi was holding a small kid in his hand. It was the defeated Gaara. After Shukaku had been beaten into submission, it had retreated back into his body. And Gaara, who hadn't had a good night's sleep in a long time, was now sleeping like a log, even snoring.
The kunai thrown by the Crow were blocked by Nagi using Gaara as a shield. As expected, the sand in his gourd automatically formed a sand shield and stopped them. This was the result of his automatic defense, working even while he was completely unconscious.
Uchiha Nagi watched with a click of his tongue. A ninja's chakra truly was a marvelous thing. Before Gaara's mother died, the chakra she left him had automatically formed an absolute defense that protected him at all times. To say it was love protecting him was a bit of a stretch; it was the chakra. It was just like the chakra Minato and Kushina had left inside Naruto. Sometimes, chakra could not only speak and interact like the original person but also inherit their will and pass it down through generations. Take Indra and Asura, for example. Their chakra carried their will, causing them to reincarnate and fight for generations. Gaara's mother had also infused her will to protect her child into her chakra and poured it into Gaara's body to protect him always.
"Hey, kid. How long are you going to hide? Huh?" Uchiha Nagi looked towards where Kankuro was hiding.
Puppet masters feared eye-based kekkei genkai the most. Their invisible chakra threads were as clear as day to Nagi's eyes.
Knowing he was no match, Kankuro reluctantly jumped out from the sand. He had seen the entire fight with Shukaku. It was a battle of gods. A single slap from that thing could kill ten of him. It was like when Kakashi had faced the injured Orochimaru; the aura unintentionally released by the truly powerful could paralyze them with fear.
Gulp.
"Wh-what do you want? We're shinobi from Sunagakure! If anything happens to us, the Kazekage won't let you get away with it!" Kankuro swallowed hard, hoping the Kazekage's name still held some weight. But this guy had just defeated Shukaku. He probably wasn't afraid of the Sand Village or the Kazekage.
"Hey, kid. I'm taking your jinchuriki for a while. I'll give him back later." Uchiha Nagi forcefully slapped Gaara on the butt.
"Ah! No! Gaara is the village's jinchuriki! You can't take him!" Kankuro shook his head instinctively.
"Hmph. Do you think I'm asking for your opinion?" Uchiha Nagi sneered. "I, Uchiha Nagi, have no need to consult others when I act. If you have a problem, tell your Kazekage to come and get him from me himself."
"But..."
"No 'buts.' If you don't wake up now, that guy named Baki might actually die."
"Wake up?"
Kankuro's head spun. After a moment of dizziness, he found himself standing alone in the desert. The others were gone. He didn't know when Uchiha Nagi had left.
It was those eyes... those red eyes... Kankuro thought, a wave of fear washing over him. He had only accidentally glanced at the Sharingan and had been caught. So that's the Sharingan. What a terrifying and evil eye. Right, Baki!
Without another thought, Kankuro ran towards where Baki was, hoping he wasn't dead.
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