The Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist were indeed powerful. Fuguki and Jinpachi destroyed dozens of knight puppets in an instant.
But they faced numbers that blotted out the field of vision; a mere few dozen were insignificant.
Moreover, aside from them and a few team leader-level figures, most Kirigakure's Shinobi couldn't threaten the knight puppets.
Whether among the Five Great Shinobi Villages or other small and medium-sized villages, most Shinobi only knew how to use kunai, shuriken, explosive tags, and Taijutsu to kill enemies.
Against the steel-bodied puppets, aside from explosive tags and large weapons, their other methods posed no threat.
If the enemies were conventional puppeteers, they could bypass the puppets to kill the puppeteer or sever the chakra threads. But facing autonomous puppets, they could only choose to confront the puppets head-on.
Additionally, the knight puppets could fly and relied on mechanical force. Their mobility and strength far surpassed those of ordinary Shinobi.
Not to mention, the numbers of the two sides were not on the same scale. The Kirigakure's Shinobi could only resist with difficulty.
However, although the battle situation was overwhelmingly one-sided, the losses among the knight puppets were several times greater than the enemy's.
Although puppets held an overwhelming advantage against ordinary Shinobi, they also had an overwhelming disadvantage against elite Shinobi.
Artificial souls paired with mechanical bodies, while possessing sturdier defense and greater strength than humans, lacked human sensory organs for transmitting information and lacked brains responsible for receiving and transmitting information… although Ryuji had created sophisticated instruments with similar effects, compared to the human body's most complex and compatible information reception system, they were still insignificant.
This resulted in a situation where, despite being able to fly and having high speed, they appeared clumsy, often failing to turn in time, being toyed with and colliding due to enemy maneuvers.
Coupled with elite Shinobi generally mastering powerful Ninjutsu sufficient to damage the puppets, killing one elite Chunin came at the cost of several puppets. To kill a Tokubetsu Jonin or Jonin required dozens.
Precisely because of this situation, the Kirigakure's Shinobi, even in an absolutely disadvantageous position, struggled to hold on.
As long as they held out until the squad leaders destroyed all the puppets, they could achieve victory.
But.
Just as the number of puppets dwindled, and the sky's view opened up, several purple lightning bolts struck down.
Everyone felt the immense Chakra contained within that lightning.
At first, they thought this was the enemy's attack method.
But when the lightning struck, no one was hit.
The purple lightning struck the sea, spreading outward. The wreckage of destroyed puppets that had fallen into the sea visibly recovered at a rapid pace. Within seconds, intact knight puppets surged out of the sea, attacking the enemy again.
"What? They recovered!?"
"The puppets we destroyed at heavy cost are just restored like that!"
"I almost exhausted my Chakra to destroy one puppet, and now they're all restored. How are we supposed to fight?"
"There's no chance of winning!"
Facing the suddenly resurrected puppets, the Kirigakure's Shinobi who were already struggling to hold on fell into despair. The already unfavorable battle situation instantly turned completely one-sided.
Fuguki swung Samehada, smashing two attacking puppets, then shouted to Yagura, "We have to catch the person controlling them from behind!"
"Of course I know that!"
Yagura replied while swinging his coral staff. "The key is, the enemies are all in the sky. We can't fly; how do we catch the controller behind them?"
"Shoot that thing down!" Jinpachi roared, sweeping his explosive blade, triggering a series of explosions, clearing out a blank area.
Yagura understood Jinpachi's meaning but still confirmed, "You mean?"
"Let the Three-Tails and Six-Tails handle it. That's why they exist, for situations like this!"
Hearing this, Yagura frowned.
The Three-Tails and Six-Tails Jinpachi referred to were the two Jinchuriki of Kirigakure.
The Third Mizukage personally leading the charge, all Seven Ninja Swordsmen deployed, six thousand elites... Kirigakure sending such a lineup naturally wasn't just to destroy the Land of Whirlpools.
If it were only to destroy the Land of Whirlpools, there was no need for such a lineup; not even half would be required.
Their true objective was to attack Konoha. Destroying the Land of Whirlpools was just incidental, eliminating Konoha's ally in advance to prevent Uzushiogakure from attacking from behind once the war started.
To avoid Konoha detecting Kirigakure's plans early, battlefield nuclear weapons like the Six-Tails and Three-Tails Jinchuriki were naturally hidden within the army, traveling along.
If they were used against the Mechanical City now, then...
Whoosh whoosh whoosh!!!
Before Yagura could think further, several more puppets attacked from the horizon.
"Coral Palm!"
Yagura leaped up, hands striking left and right continuously, passing through several puppets.
The parts of the puppets he struck turned into coral and rapidly grew, soon engulfing the entire bodies and shattering into debris.
He glanced over the battlefield; everywhere, Kirigakure's Shinobi were being slaughtered.
"Retreat!"
Yagura gave the order. Everyone began withdrawing toward the island.
Whether the Three-Tails or Six-Tails, they were with the army accompanying the Third Mizukage. Even if they intended to use the Jinchuriki's power, they needed to notify him in advance and request support.
But regardless of whether they could smoothly send someone to notify the Mizukage, even if successful, given the enemy's firepower, by the time the message went and returned, it would be too late.
Better to retreat directly and regroup with the Mizukage's main force.
Moreover, the Mechanical City was so huge; the Mizukage attacking Uzushiogakure on the island must have noticed it and likely already sent reinforcements.
Regrouping now would save the most time.
…
Mechanical City.
Temporary meeting room.
Ryuji, Ebizo, Aka, Gin, Kuro, Kana, Iwata, Tsuchiya, and the others were all present.
The messenger reported, "Ryuji-sama, the enemy has withdrawn to the island."
Ryuji pondered slightly. "How is the situation at Uzushiogakure?"
"The commotion has lessened."
"Lessened, huh..." Ryuji thought to himself. "Not sure if Kirigakure breached Uzushiogakure or stopped the attack after seeing us arrive. But no matter what, our objective is only one: pursue!"
"Yes!"
As the order was issued, the Mechanical City began flying toward the interior of the island, with the accompanying puppet army escorting them.
Shinobi's speed was fast, but their normal travel speed (non-combat speed) wasn't as fast as one might imagine.
The reason Shinobi could reach destinations in unimaginably short times was their ability to ignore terrain and travel in straight lines.
But the Mechanical City flew in the sky all the time, even more capable of ignoring terrain than Shinobi.
Therefore, even though the Kirigakure's forces escaped first, they were soon caught up by the Mechanical City.
Looking at the shadow constantly looming over the sky, including Yagura, every Kirigakure's Shinobi felt a shadow cast over their hearts.