The white smoke from the Summoning Technique slowly dispersed within the black smoke of Hiruko's burning wreckage.
Two human puppets draped in simple cloaks appeared beside Sasori of the Red Sand.
One puppet had a short topknot. Its puppet-modified face was dignified and cold, and traces of black iron sand circled around it.
Just one glance was enough to tell that it was completely different from other puppets.
The difference in danger level was from another dimension entirely.
The other puppet's face was much more lifelike.
One could almost still see what it had looked like when it was human.
Its face was despairing and hollow.
Cold air that should not exist in this season surrounded its body.
Even someone who did not know it could still sense a bone-piercing coldness and sorrow from that puppet's face.
Whether it was fortunate or unfortunate, Shisui Uchiha just so happened to recognize both of those faces.
"The Third Kazekage… Aoba Mizunotsuki…"
Looking at these two human puppets, which not only bore appearances strikingly similar to when they had been alive, but also seemed to have inherited the Kekkei Genkai they possessed in life, Shisui Uchiha then looked toward Sasori of the Red Sand, who was expressionless and had likewise transformed himself into a puppet.
With a voice that trembled faintly as he tried to suppress his emotions like a volcano on the verge of eruption, he asked, "You turned them, and yourself… into puppets, Sasori of the Red Sand?"
"Is that not…"
Sasori of the Red Sand waved his left hand.
The iron sand beside the Third Kazekage puppet swiftly condensed and combined into countless fine needles, then shot violently toward Shisui Uchiha.
"…obvious?"
Magnet Release: Iron Sand Drizzle!
The iron sand needles empowered by Magnet Release erupted with speed far surpassing ordinary hidden weapons fired by mechanisms.
Even though Shisui Uchiha had activated his three-tomoe Sharingan and greatly strengthened his dynamic vision, he was still forced into an extremely difficult position by the iron sand needles, which spread everywhere like spilled mercury, leaving no gaps or openings.
He could not even find a chance to counterattack.
"Ice Release: Ice Rock Dome of Nothingness!"
The Third Kazekage puppet had just suppressed Shisui Uchiha's movement when Sasori of the Red Sand immediately activated Aoba Mizunotsuki's human puppet.
The moisture in the air abruptly froze into ice, blocking Shisui Uchiha's dodging route without warning.
The accompanying ice mist caused the caught-off-guard Shisui Uchiha's speed to drop by one level.
Then the Third Kazekage puppet's Iron Sand Drizzle chased after him in perfect time.
Ding, ding, clang, clang—
The poison-coated iron sand needles continuously struck Shisui Uchiha's body like a violent storm.
But the sound they produced was more like they were shooting into an extremely thick iron plate.
Sasori of the Red Sand's gaze focused.
He commanded the Third Kazekage puppet to change techniques, gathering the dense needles into a massive triangular cone and shooting it again toward Shisui Uchiha, who had been suppressed.
Boom!
A deafening crash and shattered earth were born together with scattered smoke and dust.
But the caster did not obtain the result he wanted.
Because in the sky above, Shisui Uchiha, who had transformed into his Yatagarasu form through the second stage of the Cursed Seal of Heaven, had already broken through the dust.
He flapped wings as hard as steel and dove toward Sasori of the Red Sand.
"Ice Release: Demonic Mirroring Ice Crystals."
Sasori of the Red Sand calmly commanded Aoba Mizunotsuki's human puppet to create mirror after mirror of ice in front of him.
Then he made it leap into one.
While rapidly shuttling and flashing through the continuously extending ice mirrors, it fired shuriken and kunai made from ice crystals toward Shisui Uchiha, who was soaring through the sky.
At the same time, the Third Kazekage puppet spat an enormous amount of iron sand from its mouth and activated its strongest ninjutsu.
Magnet Release: Iron Sand World Method.
A massive quantity of iron sand gathered in the sky, forming a huge barrier.
Then, with astonishing speed, it grew and spread downward.
Like tree roots whose growth process had been accelerated countless times, they pierced toward Shisui Uchiha's body with no pattern whatsoever.
On one side were glittering, translucent ice crystals radiating cold air as they fired in volleys.
On the other was endless black iron sand thorns pressing down like storm clouds threatening to crush a city.
Under the pincer attack of these two Kekkei Genkai, Shisui Uchiha, who had spread his wings and taken flight, was like a lone seabird enveloped in a raging storm.
He could only do everything he could to dodge with great difficulty inside this irresistible, disaster-like area.
If he made even a single mistake, the black and white storm would immediately catch up and bury him here.
Yet the more dangerous and difficult the situation became, the calmer and more rational Shisui Uchiha's thoughts became.
His eyes clearly reflected the origin and trajectory of every icicle.
They displayed the extension path of every iron sand spike.
The flapping of his wings grew increasingly light.
His body's perception also became increasingly sharp.
Even the natural energy that had previously only been drawn over by the power of the Cursed Seal of Heaven, but had been completely impossible for him to use, now no longer seemed so violent in his eyes.
Shisui Uchiha could even feel that the eyes in his sockets were undergoing a very subtle change.
It felt like they were about to take his current emotions as fuel and step toward a more powerful direction.
"If Senior Aoba Mizunotsuki were replaced by family or friends who were closer to me, perhaps in the next moment, I would obtain a pair of Mangekyo Sharingan catalyzed by anger and sorrow."
Shisui Uchiha looked at the human puppet that was jumping from an ice mirror on the side to the ice mirror in front of him.
In his heart, he silently apologized to Aoba Mizunotsuki.
Then the Yatagarasu wrapped in flames suddenly accelerated in the sky.
With unimaginable speed, he knocked Aoba Mizunotsuki's human puppet away just before it could enter the next ice mirror.
The third hand of the Yatagarasu then formed the Tiger seal, the seal representing Fire Release, with a speed too fast to clearly see.
"Fire Release: Great Dragon Fire Technique!"
A massive fire dragon flew from Shisui Uchiha's chest-swollen mouth and sprayed toward Aoba Mizunotsuki's human puppet, which was spinning backward through the air.
However, because Aoba Mizunotsuki was essentially already a human puppet rather than a shinobi, even under the condition where its body had lost control, it still responded to Shisui Uchiha's fire dragon.
Ice Release: Blizzard!
A bitterly cold wind mixed with fine ice fragments abruptly blew forth, weakening the fire dragon of the Great Dragon Fire Technique at astonishing speed.
The diminished fire dragon slammed into Aoba Mizunotsuki, who had created a protective ice shield around itself.
It only stirred up a burst of scalding steam that rapidly rose and spread.
It failed to complete a fatal blow.
But that strike was already enough for Shisui Uchiha to break the pincer attack of the two human puppets and use the cover of steam to regroup.
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