Shindai wasn't looking for a fight—he was trying to escape. But now Yamayama Taiseki had blocked his path with four walls of earth.
After being chased for so long by Yamayama Taiseki like a bad penny that wouldn't go away, even Shindai, normally as patient as clay, was starting to lose his temper.
Just as Yamayama Taiseki prepared to charge into the earthen wall and corner Shindai, Shindai angrily unrolled a scroll and placed one hand on it.
"Kuchiyose!"
A puff of smoke appeared, and Shindai's puppet Kannazuki materialized.
Obito's eyes widened. "This is a Summoning Jutsu? Can it summon actual people? And she's a total super-hot older sister too?!"
Kakashi narrowed his eyes at the scroll in Shindai's hands. "That scroll... seems like some kind of storage scroll."
Minato Namikaze examined Shindai's Kannazuki. "That's not human—it's a puppet."
Rin Nohara gasped in astonishment. "No way! Is that really a puppet?"
Minato recalled what Yamanaka Aoi had said after scanning Shindai's memories—that the puppets Shindai created seemed far superior to those of Sunagakure's puppet masters.
Yet Minato's first thought upon seeing Shindai's puppet Kannazuki was... his teacher Jiraiya would've *loved* this design.
Minato patted his forehead. What was he even thinking?
But honestly, Minato never held much respect for puppet techniques. In fact, nobody in Konoha truly valued them.
In Minato's view, puppet techniques had both low minimum and low maximum potential.
Low minimum because anyone who could manipulate chakra threads could directly control a puppet in battle.
And low maximum because the ninja's strength wasn't measured by their own abilities, but by how strong the puppet itself was.
If the puppet was powerful, then the ninja looked strong—only the puppet's strength mattered, not the user's.
If the puppet master lost their puppet, their combat effectiveness dropped dramatically.
The biggest weakness of puppetry lay in its reliance on chakra threads—once exposed, they were easy to disrupt.
Because of these limitations, few puppet masters ever rose to true combat prominence.
So even though Yamanaka Aoi had mentioned that the puppets Shindai created seemed far superior to those of Sunagakure's puppet masters, Minato wasn't particularly impressed. What he truly valued were Shindai's Magnet Release kekkei genkai and his magnetic-based ninjutsu.
Shindai concentrated his chakra. Ten chakra threads extended from his fingertips, latching onto Kannazuki.
He twitched his ring finger slightly.
Kannazuki opened her eyes. She drew a dull green, poison-coated kunai in her right hand.
Yamayama Taiseki formed hand seals and slammed both palms onto the ground.
[Earth Release: Earth Spike Spears!]
Countless jagged stone spikes erupted from the ground, hurtling toward Shindai.
Shindai manipulated Kannazuki. Kannazuki wrapped her left arm around Shindai and leapt onto a tree trunk, dodging the deadly spikes piercing upward from the earth.
Then Shindai swung his hand forcefully, and Kannazuki dashed forward with his katana drawn, speeding straight toward Yamayama Taiseki.
[Earth Release: Mud Ball!]
Yamayama Taiseki used chakra to condense into numerous earth bullets, firing them toward Kannazuki.
Under Shindai's control, Kannazuki moved with remarkable agility, dodging the earthen projectiles midair continuously.
In an instant, Kannazuki had closed in dangerously close to Yamayama Taiseki.
Kannazuki slashed his katana at Yamayama.
Yamayama pulled out a kunai and blocked the strike from Kannazuki's blade.
Inside, Kannazuki's body contained solid metal, granting him immense physical strength.
The sheer force sent Yamayama stumbling back several paces.
Shindai didn't give Yamayama even a moment to catch his breath. Controlling Kannazuki once more, he quickly advanced upon the retreating Yamayama and slashed downward again.
Yamayama blocked Kannazuki's blade using the kunai—again.
But suddenly, a sharp blade extended from Kannazuki's right toe. He lashed upward with a vicious kick aimed at Yamayama.
Startled, Yamayama barely leaned his head back in time—dangerously close escape.
While retreating step by step, Yamayama began forming hand seals, glancing toward Shindai, who stood atop a tree trunk manipulating Kannazuki not far away.
One fundamental rule when fighting Puppet Masters is that you don't need to go all-out against their puppets—as long as you capture the master, victory is secured. Puppets serve as their primary weapon, but Puppet Masters themselves rarely possess strong combat skills.
[Fire Release: Dragon Fire Technique!]
Yamayama wielded both Fire and Earth natured chakra. Though Earth Release was his specialty, he still knew a few Fire Release techniques.
After completing the seals, Yamayama exhaled a jet of flame, rapidly surging toward Shindai.
Instantly, Kannazuki opened his mouth, revealing a hidden channel from which a powerful jet of water erupted, intercepting Yamayama's flames.
This water jet originated from a ninjutsu scroll sealed inside Kannazuki.
However, this scroll-based Water Release wasn't particularly strong—it was quite ordinary, actually. It had been acquired by Shindai with assistance from the Third Kazekage, and such scrolls were limited in number.
It couldn't compare to Sasori's Scroll of Hellfire Maelstrom or Scroll of Corrosive Stream Impalement, nor could it last very long.
Now Kannazuki had already exhausted the water technique scroll inside him. Once again closing in on Yamayama rapidly, he swung his katana furiously.
At the same time, blades sprang from Kannazuki's joints, launching surprise attacks. A hatch also opened in the center of his chest, periodically firing kunai. All these tactics overwhelmed Yamayama, making it nearly impossible for him to defend.
Yamayama now was sweating profusely, clearly at a disadvantage and reduced to pure defense.
Obito stared in shock at Kannazuki's relentless offense, exclaiming, "Wow... what an amazing Puppet!"
Kakashi fixed his gaze firmly on Shindai, his eyes burning with intense battle intent.
Minato Namikaze smiled slightly and asked, "Hm, want to give it a shot?"
Kakashi nodded firmly.
"Then disguise yourself and don't get exposed."
"Thank you, sensei!"
Immediately, Kakashi used the Transformation Jutsu to disguise himself as a Rock ninja.
Kakashi then vanished from the spot using the Shifting Body Technique.
Minato Namikaze looked back at Shindai.
Shindai's Puppet Technique was indeed impressive, but what Minato really wanted to see was Shindai's Magnet Release ninjutsu.
While focusing on controlling Kannazuki, Shindai suddenly sensed several glints of light heading straight toward him.
Shindai narrowed his eyes and realized they were kunai reflecting moonlight.
He immediately leapt backward to dodge the kunai.
The moment after evading them, Kakashi's tanto slashed precisely where Shindai had stood moments ago.
If Shindai had dodged even slightly slower, he might have been hit.
Seeing yet another "Rock ninja," Shindai was genuinely startled just now.
Because of Kakashi's sudden attack, Shindai failed to control Kannazuki to attack Yamayama Taiseki right away, allowing Yamayama Taiseki some breathing room to create distance from Kannazuki.
Once he recovered, Shindai became furious.
"You guys just keep coming, huh? I'm not some damn thing you can grab whenever you feel like it! You bastards!"
He twitched his index finger slightly, and an opening opened on Kannazuki's smooth back. A large amount of iron sand poured out from within Kannazuki and floated into the air.
[Magnet Release: Iron Sand Drizzle]
After forming hand seals, Shindai manipulated the floating iron sand to fire outward in all directions at high speed.
Seeing the massive wave of iron sand scatter like shotgun pellets, both Yamayama Taiseki and Kakashi used Earth Release techniques to block the onslaught.
Shindai recalled Kannazuki to hover beside him while manipulating the iron sand to swirl around his own body.
Glaring furiously at Yamayama Taiseki and Kakashi, Shindai snarled,
"I'm not letting either of you off today!"
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