Naruto : Minato back to the past

"In the Sand Village, not many people possess this type of puppet and skill," Hatake Sakumo noted after receiving the information about the defensive puppet from Hyuga Tenki. The ability to coordinate with dozens of puppeteers indicated that the leader must have a very high level of puppetry mastery. In the current Sand Village, besides Chiyo, only Saburo and Sunae—Chiyo's son and daughter-in-law—had such expertise.

"The one who used the defensive puppet earlier was obviously Sunae. It's said that one of them excels in offensive puppetry while the other specializes in defense. Together, they're strong enough to rival Chiyo, who uses the Chikamatsu Ten Puppets," Orochimaru said with a frown. The Chikamatsu Ten Puppets were masterpieces created by the first-generation puppeteer Monzaemon, known for their offensive and defensive capabilities. Saburo and Sunae could reach a similar level through their cooperation.

"The strength of either of these two is not inferior to the four of us," Orochimaru continued. "To prevent them from forming their collaborative attack, Sakumo and I will take them on!" Hyuga Tenki added with a faint smile before rushing toward the Sand Village formation.

A Sand Shinobi, seeing Hyuga Tenki charging, raised his long sword in defense.

"Bang!"

Hyuga Tenki merely raised his palm and struck forward. The space seemed to tremble with the impact. The Jonin facing him was hit hard, spitting blood from his mouth as he was flung backward. Even the long sword in his hand was shattered.

"Gentle Fist!"

In the Sand Shinobi army, the ninja's pupils shrank in shock. Hyuga Tenki had used the Eight Trigrams Palm to find the Jonin's weak spot, killing him instantly with a single blow!

"Do you want to separate the two of us?" Saburo instantly understood Hyuga Tenki's intention. Two scrolls appeared in his hands.

"Bang! Bang!"

Four puppets materialized behind Saburo, and with a flick of his fingers, they began to move.

Swish, swish, swish!

The four puppets moved so quickly that they surrounded Hyuga Tenki before he could react.

"Kachak!"

The puppets' bodies were equipped with mechanisms—steel cables and sharp blades that covered their frames like a net.

"Revolving Heaven!"

Hyuga Tenki stood his ground and began spinning rapidly. A protective chakra shield formed around him, sending the steel cables and sharp blades flying away.

Meanwhile, Sakumo had reached Sunae, but standing in his path was a massive steel puppet, even larger than the one she had used earlier.

"Chichi!"

Sakumo slashed at the puppet with his tanto, but the lightning chakra from his blade was absorbed by the puppet, which then visibly conducted the electricity across its surface.

"This isn't ordinary steel!" Sakumo exclaimed. This material could conduct lightning chakra, similar to the chakra sword he wielded. The value of such a steel puppet was immense. Materials capable of conducting chakra were incredibly rare—enough to make a short sword like his was a feat, let alone constructing an enormous steel puppet.

However, given Sunae's status, it was understandable that she had access to the resources needed to create such a puppet.

As Hyuga Tenki and Hatake Sakumo engaged in battle with Saburo and Sunae, Tsunade, who had charged ahead first, was already fighting Chiyo. Chiyo had not yet used the Chikamatsu Ten Puppets. After Sakumo had damaged them in a previous encounter, even though they had been repaired, Chiyo was reluctant to use them so easily.

"Boom!"

However, when one of Chiyo's puppets clashed with Tsunade, it was obliterated with a single punch. Chiyo instinctively glanced at the nearby gully, nearly a hundred meters long, sweat dripping down her face. No matter how powerful a puppet was, it couldn't withstand a blow from someone with Tsunade's brute strength.

Tsunade's price for destroying Chiyo's puppet, however, was the complete abandonment of her own defense. Chiyo's remaining puppets fired various ninja tools and hidden weapons at her, but Tsunade didn't even flinch—her focus was solely on Chiyo.

"Hiss, hiss, hiss!"

At that moment, the sound of snakes hissing filled the air as Tsunade was suddenly enveloped by several "snake walls," which looked incredibly intimidating. The ninja tools struck the snakes, killing them, but they couldn't touch Tsunade at all. There was no doubt that this was Orochimaru's doing.

Hyuga Tenki and Hatake Sakumo were both ninjas who specialized in taijutsu, especially the former, as the head of the Hyuga clan. In addition to their Byakugan, the Hyuga clan was renowned for their unique Gentle Fist, one of the strongest taijutsu styles in the ninja world.

Most taijutsu specialists excel in speed, but for puppeteers, close combat was the most dangerous scenario. Sakumo and Hyuga Tenki were the perfect pair to dismantle the Saburo-Sunae duo.

As the battlefield erupted into chaos, the swift actions of these fighters forced the surrounding ninjas to spread out and open new battle circles. The ninjas on the outermost edge were the first to engage.

Among the Konoha forces, besides Tsunade and the others, the first to reach the enemy camp was undoubtedly Minato.

"You've got yellow hair and use the Body Flicker Jutsu. You must be the Konoha kid Elder Chiyo mentioned, right?" a Sand Ninja in the enemy camp remarked, which caught Minato off guard.

"Elder Chiyo actually warned us to beware of such a kid? What a joke!" the Sand Ninja scoffed, his face showing clear disdain, clearly not taking Chiyo's warning seriously. After all, Minato looked weak in every way to him.

"Minato's speed is incredible!" Suki, Mikoto, and others who hadn't yet engaged in battle exclaimed as they witnessed Minato's swiftness.

At the start of the battle, Minato's figure had already disappeared from their side. His speed was too fast to follow.

Mikoto glanced sideways and noticed Uchiha Yoruki, who had been silent, also charging forward with remarkable speed. What surprised her most were Yoruki's blood-red pupils.

"Sharingan!?" She hadn't expected that in just a few months, Uchiha Yoruki had already awakened the Sharingan.

The Sand Ninja continued to look at Minato with disdain, forming two hand seals. A strong wind gathered around his fists as he suddenly lunged at Minato.

"Kid, go to hell!" he laughed maniacally.

Minato didn't dodge. Instead, he calmly extended his right palm toward the Sand Ninja. To the Sand Ninja, Minato seemed to be asking for his own death.

"I think it would be better if you listened to your superiors' orders," Minato said indifferently when their fists were less than 30 centimeters apart. A blue chakra sphere suddenly appeared in his palm.

Minato exerted force and met the attack head-on.

"Rasengan!"

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