On the battlefield, Yan Uchiha's slaying of an enemy Jonin drew some attention, but nothing more than that.
In such large-scale ninja wars, Jonin could only be considered as significant fighters, but not decisive figures capable of turning the tide of war.
The true deciding factor between both sides lay solely in battles fought at the commander level.
The valley where the two sides clashed was long and narrow. While the distance between its two sides wasn't particularly wide, its length provided ample space for battle.
This kind of terrain had no effect on Konoha's ninjas, but it presented certain limitations for Sunagakure's Puppet Brigade.
During their last official confrontation, the Puppet forces achieved unexpected effectiveness primarily because of Chiyo's deadly toxin, combined with Konoha's lack of preparedness against puppets.
Even after realizing this, Konoha had already fallen into disarray.
However, this time was different. The mutual coordination between the Hyuga and Aburame clans completely neutralized the advantages of puppet techniques. At the start of the battle, their overwhelming numbers gave the Puppet Division an initial edge.
As the fight wore on though, the limitations of this terrain began to show.
Within this cramped environment, during large-scale combat, each ninja's battle zone became extremely close to others, forcing both Hidden Village forces into relatively concentrated clusters.
Plus, surprise attacks that relied on a puppet's physical strength needed room to move — and that space kept shrinking.
At this point, if the Hyuga and Aburame clans deliberately targeted them, at least half of the Puppet Division's strengths disappeared.
What little remained of their original three or four strengths was effectively countered by the Byakugan's perception and the Aburame's Bug-Controlling Techniques, flipping the battlefield balance entirely in the opposite direction.
Of course, the battlefield where commanders clashed remained surprisingly spacious as expected.
Neither side wanted their commanders' battle to spill over into the ranks of their own ninja.
"Clang! Clang! Clang!"
Hiashi Hyuga stood there with his Byakugan fully activated. Seven puppet-like shadows circled around him like wraiths. Scattered across the battlefield surrounding him were numerous broken puppet parts—remnants from puppets he'd destroyed.
Kouhi from Sunagakure maintained a distance of nearly ten meters from Hiashi throughout their fight.
Everyone knows the Hyuga House excels in Taijutsu, while close-quarters combat remains a weakness for puppet masters.
Therefore, naturally, Kouhi chose to attack from range to exploit his strength while countering his opponent's shortcoming.
Even the powerful Gentle Fist had no way to close the gap when fighting from mid-range — its user could only watch helplessly.
But facing the head of the Hyuga clan, Kouhi pushed his Puppet Technique to its absolute limit.
With left and right hands manipulating three or four puppet threads respectively, he controlled seven puppets simultaneously — each one fighting like an elite ninja, surrounding and attacking Hiashi.
Because they were operated by a single person, these seven puppets proved even more effective than seven humans working together.
Clearly, although Kouhi's Puppet Mastery might not surpass Chiyo's, it certainly came very close.
In Sunagakure's history, very few puppet masters have ever been able to control seven puppets all at once.
Given enough time, Kouhi might eventually reach Chiyo's level.
These two were evenly matched — neither could gain an advantage over the other.
...
"Boom!"
Compared to Hiashi Hyuga's battlefield, Hatake Sakumo's battlefield continuously echoed with thunderous crashes.
The punches and kicks from this several-meter-tall metallic puppet created effects no weaker than ninjutsu. Its defense was nearly impervious — so solid that even Sakumo Hatake struggled to make a dent.
His chakra blade, crackling with lightning chakra, only left shallow scratches on the puppet's surface.
Though the special material of this metallic puppet could disperse the power of ninjutsu techniques, Sakumo Hatake was no weakling either — he was incredibly strong. His chakra blade was also extremely sharp — yet it could only inflict this level of damage on the puppet...
This towering metallic puppet standing several meters tall was currently controlled solely by Liufei.
She was hidden inside the puppet, completely enclosed within it.
Sakumo Hatake had previously tried using his speed to locate Liufei directly and defeat the puppet master first-hand — after all, no matter how strong a puppet was, it remained just a large weapon.
But he failed.
He'd even considered asking Hiashi Hyuga to use the Byakugan to analyze this puppet's internal structure, however, there seemed to be protective seals within the puppet preventing such scrutiny. Considering Sunagakure's standards, this was quite remarkable.
According to Sakumo's estimation, for Sunagakure to create such a puppet would require not just Chiyo's masterful craftsmanship but also years, perhaps even decades, of effort.
Therefore, what Hatake Sakumo faced now wasn't merely a powerful puppet master, but rather the culmination of efforts from Chiyo and many other Suna puppet masters over ten plus years.
Thankfully, while this metallic puppet had astonishing defensive capabilities, its offensive abilities relied solely on physical strikes through sheer size.
Against ordinary ninja, it definitely posed immense lethal threat.
But against Hatake Sakumo, it was nothing more than an indestructible moving iron shell.
Thankfully it didn't possess the same aggressive versatility as the Chikamatsu Collection. Otherwise, even if it were Hatake Sakumo, or someone as formidable as the Third Hokage or Hanzo, they'd certainly have headaches dealing with it.
Yet despite saying so, even if Sunagakure actually succeeded in developing such puppets, even a puppet master like Chiyo probably couldn't fully unleash their potential.
Puppet masters reaching this level might only refer to one individual: the original pioneer puppet master, Monzayemon...
...
A mountain path stretching hundreds of meters lay devastated, cracked ground strewn with massive boulders, cliffsides looking collapsed, even trees stripped of leaves had been blown down.
Undoubtedly, this scene bore Tsunade's monstrous strength signature.
Each of her punches and kicks packed power equivalent to C-rank ninjutsu, or even stronger. While most ninjutsu techniques contained elemental attributes, Tsunade's pure physical attacks focused purely on destruction.
As one of the Third's disciples, she naturally knew many ninjutsu techniques, but like any ninja, she had developed her own unique fighting style.
Minato fought with speed, whereas Tsunade wielded raw power as her weapon.
Her fighting style often put her at a disadvantage against most ninja. After all, no matter how much strength she had, Tsunade was still just a normal human. If her opponents kept their distance and used ninjutsu to attack, they could gain the upper hand.
But for puppet masters, Tsunade was the most terrifying nemesis.
Because aside from Liufei's Metallic Puppet, no other puppet could survive a single punch from Tsunade.
With Orochimaru backing her up, even Chiyo—who controlled the Chikamatsu Collection of puppets—didn't dare take things lightly at this point.
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