Chapter 315: Mr. Gate
Back to Kyosuke. Just as he expected, another cloaked puppet was silently descending from the sky, clearly aiming to rescue the woman held at swordpoint.
However, despite the Human Puppet's formidable strength and its ability to move freely without chakra threads, it couldn't hide its killing intent—at least, not from Kyosuke's heightened senses.
Just as Kyosuke was about to feign ignorance and launch a surprise attack on the descending puppet, the Human Puppet in front of him suddenly moved.
Through the clarity of his Sharingan, Kyosuke saw the puppet's "core" rapidly absorb massive amounts of energy from the air, converting it into chakra stored within its body.
He was all too familiar with this process. It was the gathering of natural energy. This discovery startled Kyosuke once again.
...Is this puppet master a transmigrator too? Remote control is one thing, but 'solar charging'? Really? Kyosuke complained internally, speechless.
Jokes aside, facing an enemy capable of using Senjutsu (Sage Arts) was no laughing matter. He didn't dare to be careless.
His Mangekyo Sharingan flared, and violet-red Susanoo ribs instantly enveloped both him and the woman.
Kyosuke had a plan. If the enemy unleashed a powerful Senjutsu attack, he would simply thrust the woman into its path. He wanted to see if they would still attack so recklessly then.
Seemingly oblivious to Kyosuke's intent, the cloaked figure in front of him converted all the gathered natural energy into Senjutsu chakra. Following the hand seals made by the puppet master remotely, a beam of deep purple laser light shot out at incredible speed.
"Sage Art: Storm Release Light Fang!"
The highly penetrative Senjutsu beam sliced clean through the Susanoo ribs. At the same time, the woman, who had been feigning severe injury, seized the moment Kyosuke was distracted to launch a counterattack.
Powerful chakra surged from her body. With exceptional control, she executed the Hyuga clan's absolute defense without needing to spin.
"Rotation!"
Ignoring the damage she caused, the woman leaped into the air and was caught by the flying Human Puppet. Without looking back, they flew off into the distance.
The heavily injured woman had no desire to face Kyosuke again. Fear gripped her heart so tightly she didn't even dare to leave a parting threat before fleeing in panic.
Behind her, Kyosuke naturally wasn't harmed by a mere Rotation. The woman's successful escape was entirely intentional on his part. Otherwise, a single Flying Thunder God jump to her side would have left her with no chance of survival.
However, Kyosuke didn't want to kill her so easily. Neither she nor the Human Puppet—which likely wasn't the master's true body—had appeared in the original story. Yet their strength was formidable; only a handful of ninja in the entire shinobi world could defeat them.
If he killed her now, who knew if there were others behind them? If they belonged to some mysterious organization, Kyosuke couldn't rest easy until he rooted them all out.
That was the reason he had temporarily spared the woman who had hurt his disciples.
Seeing his companion escape, the cloaked puppet didn't retreat. Instead, it continued to engage Kyosuke, fighting relentlessly.
This confirmed Kyosuke's suspicion: it definitely wasn't the puppet master's main body.
Perhaps due to the earlier use of Senjutsu, this puppet's combat ability was much lower than Kyosuke had anticipated. In a short time, the sharp Kusanagi Sword had severed all its limbs, leaving only the "core" intact.
Just as Kyosuke was about to retrieve the core to study it back at his base, he noticed the energy inside it turning violently unstable.
"Not good!"
Realizing the danger, Kyosuke clapped his hands together. A wooden dome with a demon face rose from the ground, encasing the puppet's core.
"Wood Release: Wood Expulsion Jutsu!"
Boom!
The wooden dome shook violently once, then fell silent.
"Sigh." Kyosuke sighed with regret, then turned and walked toward his three students.
Watching Kyosuke approach, Shisui spoke before his teacher could. "I can take them back. Investigating the enemy's origins is more important. Please don't worry about us, Sensei."
"Oh?" Kyosuke looked at Shisui with a smile. "How did you know I let them go to investigate their origins?"
"It's simple." Shisui didn't mention he had guessed Kyosuke placed a marker. Instead, he expressed his conviction in one sentence. "With Sensei's strength, even with us and the townspeople as burdens, you wouldn't have let the enemy escape so easily."
"Because no one is stronger than Sensei." After today's battle, Shisui's belief was firmer than ever.
A few streets away, at the hot spring.
The heavily injured woman was brought into the room.
Crawling out of the puppet's grasp in a sorry state, she addressed the puppet master, who sat with his eyes closed in concentration. "I am sorry, Mr. Gate (Mon-sensei). I was careless."
The puppet master, known as Mr. Gate, opened his eyes. He glanced briefly at her condition, then twitched a finger. A Human Puppet capable of medical ninjutsu walked out from an inner room.
Human Puppets were the pinnacle of puppetry, yet Mr. Gate had created so many in just a few days. This spoke volumes about his mastery of the art... and the murderous nature of these three individuals.
As the woman lay on the floor, silently accepting treatment from the medical puppet, the door suddenly opened from the outside.
Toneri Otsutsuki stumbled in, carrying a pile of daily necessities. As if venting his anger, he threw the items down in front of the three.
Just as he was about to complain, the countless wounds on the woman's body choked the words back down his throat.
"W-what happened?" Toneri asked, eyes wide with shock.
In his mind, this hateful woman possessed strength even greater than his father's. Though he loathed her, he had to admit she was powerful. But now...
"I was only gone for less than an hour. What happened? Did the three of them fight among themselves?" Various chaotic thoughts raced through Toneri's mind, but none seemed convincing.
Seeing no one answering him, the stifled Toneri slammed the door and stormed out, intending to gather the intelligence Mr. Gate had requested.
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