The full moon hung high, and the wind-blown sand fell like rain.
Across the boundless desert, within the sky-piercing pale red barrier, the cold moonlight bore witness to a final clash. As Ren Uchiha's blade lunged forward with blinding speed, Ebizo burst through the white smoke of his summoning, brandishing two Wind Style: Vacuum Blades.
CLANG!
Ebizo used his own body to dead-lock Ren's Kusanagi blade!
Immediately following this, five puppets soared from behind him. Three brandished longswords, while two others thrust whirling four-bladed chakra rotors directly at Ren's face.
Ren's eyes narrowed. He kicked Ebizo away and retreated, his Kusanagi blade becoming a blur of steel as he parried the onslaught. He wove through the storm of blades with fluid grace, dancing between the flashes of cold metal.
With a sudden circular sweep—carving a lunar arc through the air—he knocked two of the puppets back. Seizing the opening, Ren forced his way through the formation and brought his blade down in a thunderous vertical strike aimed straight at Ebizo's head!
Ebizo used that split second to summon a white-robed female puppet wielding two massive cleavers, replacing the red-and-white masked puppet Ren had damaged.
His fingers twitched, manipulating chakra threads. The massive cleaver components detached from the puppet and locked onto Ebizo's own thick forearms.
"Human Puppet Style: Mechanical Twin Blades!"
Ebizo swung the oversized cleavers, meeting Ren's strike with a savage upward slash!
CLANG!
The impact was bone-shaking. The webbing between Ren's thumb and forefinger went numb, and he nearly lost his grip on the Kusanagi. Blue flames erupted from the hilts of Ebizo's cleavers, providing a jet-boosted horizontal push that sent Ren—despite his momentum—hurtling backward through the air.
The other puppets didn't miss a beat. They moved in for the kill while he was vulnerable.
Three puppets lunged forward, their blades aimed at Ren's heart just as he touched the ground. Ren felt a chill down his spine and performed a desperate roll to evade the thrusts. But as he tried to scramble to his feet, Ebizo was already airborne, descending with his massive cleavers for a decapitating blow.
Ren was forced to weave a one-handed 'Dragon' seal, unleashing a Wind Style: Gale Palm against the ground to blast himself backward, skidding to a shaky halt.
Ren's serpentine Sharingan narrowed in shock. He scanned the panting, pained Ebizo and his six puppets.
He recognized them, of course. This was the ultimate technique of the Second Kazekage: White Secret Technique: The Ten of Chikamatsu.
Among them were the cleaver-wielding female, the blue-masked puppet with the spiked cable, the red and white "rotor" puppets that combined into a chakra saw, the "Buddha-Dharma-Sangha" trio, the white-haired puppet with extending spiked arms and bombs, and the bull-headed defender for close-quarters guarding.
Unlike his sister Chiyo, who could manipulate all ten with suffocating precision and medical expertise, Ebizo seemed limited to five or six. However, the Forbidden Art: Dance of the Accompanying Puppets was a different beast entirely.
It turned the user into the sixth puppet. A Human Puppet.
The six danced as one, exponentially increasing Ebizo's close-range lethality.
And he wasn't done.
In the blink of an eye, Ebizo summoned the remaining puppets. Components flew out, piercing the old man's body in a spray of blood. He was literally bolting the puppet parts onto his own flesh.
He grew into a towering mechanical monstrosity. His left arm housed a massive cleaver; his right, a spinning chakra saw. His chest and abdomen became a frantic array of hidden compartments for cables and projectiles.
It gave Ren a bizarre sense of déjà vu, like watching a twisted, gore-filled version of Iron Man suiting up.
When the dust settled, the blood-soaked Ebizo—his body now an amalgam of human meat and puppet hardware—lifted his head. His face was a mask of agony and savagery as he locked eyes with Ren. He vomited a thick glob of blood and let out a manic grin.
"Brat, you think you're so tough?!"
"Come!"
"Today, I'll personally send you to meet Madara Uchiha!"
Blue flames erupted from Ebizo's back, the propulsion slamming him forward like a missile! A fist, carrying the force of a hurricane, hammered toward Ren. The four-bladed chakra saw on his right arm screamed as it bore down on Ren's face.
Ren's pupils constricted. At this speed, he only had time to raise his Kusanagi in a desperate block.
Zzzzzzt!
The chakra saw ground against the blade, throwing a fountain of sparks. Ebizo swung his left arm, and the cleaver pierced straight through Ren's abdomen. He hoisted the boy into the air and threw him with violent force.
Ebizo's fingers danced.
"Puppet Style: Three-Treasure Suction Crush!"
The 'Buddha', 'Dharma', and 'Sangha' puppets had already leaped behind Ren, forming a triangular formation. They wove the 'Tiger' seal and opened their mechanical maws.
A terrifying vacuum erupted, creating a violent tornado that pulled Ren into its center.
Ren, mid-air with a gaping hole in his stomach, felt his heart skip a beat as he was dragged toward the crushing core of the technique. The Three-Treasure Suction Crush worked like a blender; it compressed matter at the center and fired it out the back as dust. If he were caught in it, not even his Orochimaru-Style Substitute would save him.
Ren's scalp crawled. He spun mid-air, channeling chakra into his Kusanagi. He wove 'Snake' with his left hand and 'Dragon' with his right, exhaling a blast of wind.
He fused Wind Style: Vacuum Blade with Water Style: Water Fang, creating a Combined Art: Hurricane Vortex Sword!
The blue line of compressed energy shot from his blade into the heart of the vacuum. The opposing winds and high-pressure water exploded, physically clogging the "eye" of the suction.
The vacuum stalled. Ren prepared to flip and land, but Ebizo was already there.
Ebizo slammed into him at high speed. His left cleaver pierced through Ren's neck, and his hand clamped down like a vise on the boy's throat.
The old man's face was a mask of suicidal madness. He was driving Ren—and himself—directly into the heart of the re-activating Three-Treasure Suction Crush!
"Old man, what the hell are you doing?!" Ren gasped, his eyes wide with horror.
Wasn't this old man supposed to be a coward? Was he actually trying to take Ren with him to the grave? Ren hadn't expected Ebizo's final trump card to be this kind of sacrificial burst.
He knew how to deal with the speed—Ebizo didn't have a Sharingan to track his own movements, much like Kakashi with a primitive Chidori. As long as Ren didn't get hit by the suction, he would win.
But he truly hadn't expected the old fox to be this desperate. To choose a double suicide!
"Heh... heh..."
As they plummeted toward the center of the crush, Ebizo's eyes drifted to the side. His gaze was filled with deep dread.
There, a young man with blonde hair and a Konoha Flak Jacket had suddenly appeared. He was crouched, one hand gripping a kunai planted in the sand.
It was this man's arrival that had forced Ebizo's hand!
He looked back at Ren, the veins in his neck bulging as he tightened his grip on the boy's throat.
"Shut up!" he roared. "You absolute brat!"
"If it wasn't for you... if it wasn't for you! If it wasn't for you!"
Ebizo's wrinkled face contorted with insane fury. "I would never have ended up like this! Now, I'll give you exactly what you wanted!"
"Let's die together!"
A compartment on Ebizo's chest slid open. Controlled by his left hand, it belched out a thick purple cloud.
"Puppet Style: Poison Mist!"
Ren's eyes bulged as the toxin hit his face. His nervous system misfired instantly; he tried to move his arm, but his leg kicked instead. Even with his combat instincts, he needed a moment to recalibrate against such a potent neurotoxin.
But Ebizo only needed that one moment.
He hoisted Ren by the throat and leaped, throwing both of them into the heart of the suction! A horrific, ecstatic grin spread across the old man's face.
"Ren Uchiha! You are too dangerous for the Sand!"
"Even if I die, I will take this curse from the world!"
At that ultimate moment of crisis—
So fast the eye couldn't track it, a flash of yellow light streaked across the desert.
The young man with the radiant blonde hair and Konoha vest suddenly appeared between them. He smiled at Ren.
He raised his hand slightly, and the intricate patterns of the Four Symbols Seal expanded across his palm in an instant!
The howling winds died. The vacuum vanished.
Ren looked up to hear a clear, gentle voice:
"Am I late?"
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