Hatake Shoshige stood in the clearing, blade steady in his hand, surrounded on all sides by puppets.
In the next instant, a storm of shuriken and kunai rained from their bodies.
His figure blurred and vanished, the deadly hail pelting the earth where he'd stood, blanketing the ground in steel.
Instead of wasting time hacking apart puppets, Shoshige did the obvious White Fang thing—he sprinted straight for the puppet masters themselves.
But the wall of wooden monsters shifted in an instant, slamming together into a fortress of grinding joints and snapping jaws. His path closed.
If he charged headlong, he'd just be swallowed whole.
He pulled back, but the puppets pressed in, flooding from all directions—left, right, even above.
A black dome of death locked him inside.
At this scale, puppets weren't just weapons anymore—they were siege engines, an army that could level a country.
Another wave of ninja tools screamed down on him, dust exploding across the battlefield.
Wind roared from the puppets' mouths, blasting the haze away—
And revealed Shoshige already in their midst.
One swing. A puppet cleaved in half. Another step. A crescent slash severed the chakra strings, leaving a dozen husks collapsing into splinters.
But the Sand masters were relentless. Broken puppets snapped together again, patching gaps and hurling themselves back into the fray.
For all his speed, even Shoshige couldn't ignore numbers forever.
Wires lashed his legs, his arms. Puppets clamped down like wolves dragging prey into the dirt. One by one, they buried him beneath their sheer weight.
The red-haired commander's expression twisted. That's it? Impossible.
"Pull back!" he barked. "Reform defenses!"
The swarm retreated, leaving only smoke where their prize should have been.
A Shadow Clone.
The real Shoshige rose silently from the earth, less than a hundred meters away from the Sand operators.
For him, a hundred meters was nothing.
In a flash of white light, his crescent slash carved the gap, too fast to defend against. He was among the masters before they even knew he'd moved.
Screams split the air as his blade harvested lives like wheat.
"Don't underestimate us!" the redhead bellowed. "Combined ninjutsu—Explosive Release!"
A massive fireball detonated midair, engulfing Shoshige in a wave of roaring heat.
The puppet masters scrambled back, their creations snapping into formation at their side.
But when one of their number stumbled forward, something was wrong.
His blade swung once. Another body hit the dirt. Smoke peeled off his frame—
Shoshige. He'd slipped into their ranks before the blast even faded.
The slaughter began in earnest. Against a speed demon like White Fang, puppet masters were nothing but easy prey.
"WHITE FANG!!"
The red-haired commander's roar shook with fury. His hands blurred through seals."Puppetry: Giant Cage!"
Two monstrous ghost masks erupted from the earth, jaws yawning wide. They clamped shut with a thunderous boom, forming an iron demon's cage. Several puppet masters were trapped inside—along with Shoshige himself.
The White Fang only gripped his blade tighter. Blood dripped to the scorched floor.
Then he blurred into motion, turning into a white flash that tore through puppet after puppet, their husks scattering in useless pieces.
The red-haired master's lips peeled back in a hateful snarl."Konoha's White Fang—let's see you burn. Fire Style! Steam Furnace!"
The entire cage glowed red, heat shimmering, fire searing every inch. Screams rose from within as the air itself turned molten.
Another voice joined him—the flaxen-haired woman at his side."Fire Style! Mountain Blaze!"
The earth split, vomiting magma into the cage. Smoke thickened, choking, suffocating.
A ghost-faced puppet, resistant to heat, crawled inside to confirm the kill. Its master—red hair dripping with sweat—waited, waiting, waiting.
But unease knotted his chest.
Too late.
A hand burst from the ground and clamped his ankle.
"Earth Style: Headhunter Jutsu."
The red-haired commander was yanked into the dirt with a crunch.
The woman lunged to intercept, but Shoshige was already free, blade raised, his breathing steady and strange.
The world slowed. Every detail of her distorted expression etched into his vision.
"Thunder Breathing."
Lightning danced along his blade, white light sharpening into a killing edge.
The crescent moon slash tore through the red-haired man's throat, through the woman's body, through everything in its path.
Behind her, Shoshige straightened, blade dripping. Beads of blood hit the ground, hissing into steam under the sweltering heat.
The woman crumpled lifeless. The man's head spun into the air.
"WHITE FANG!!"
The cry came from the sky.
Ten white-cloaked figures streaked down toward the battlefield. One saw the carnage—the woman fallen, the commander's head rolling in the dirt—and his eyes tore open, bloodshot with rage.
"I'll kill you!" he howled.