Chapter 159: Human Puppet
After the black-robed figure looked up in Ishiro's direction, he didn't immediately spot Ishiro's presence. However, perhaps a ninja's sense of danger was warning him, so he didn't hesitate and directly launched a probing attack.
Ishiro, however, promptly identified the newcomer: Sasori of the Red Sand.
"An old friend, huh."
Having captured Sasori of the Red Sand once before, Ishiro was quite familiar with him. Although the light was poor and Sasori of the Red Sand had applied some simple disguise, the red hair beneath the black-robed hood firmly caught Ishiro's attention.
At this moment, Sasori of the Red Sand had already swiftly taken out three puppets, and then dozens of poisoned steel needles shot towards Ishiro's direction all at once.
Because Ishiro was prepared, was at a distance, and Sasori of the Red Sand couldn't confirm Ishiro's exact position, he easily dodged them. However, it was precisely this movement from Ishiro that allowed Sasori of the Red Sand below to discover the flaw in his Camouflage Jutsu.
Then Ishiro heard a voice from below: "He can fly, can turn invisible, but the invisibility effect isn't that great. You're Ishiro of Iwagakure!"
Hearing this, Ishiro was somewhat surprised; he hadn't expected Sasori to identify him so easily.
On the other hand, Ishiro wasn't particularly surprised that these two pieces of information about him had been leaked. Ishiro had used these two abilities countless times; it was likely that any intelligence report concerning him would list these two ninjutsu first.
This was because both were ninjutsu convenient for sneak attacks, and what ninjas feared most was dying an obscure death before even having a chance to display their skills.
Few could ignore Ishiro's ninjutsu that allowed him to approach opponents silently.
"I didn't expect Sasori of the Red Sand to remember me," Ishiro said, deactivating his Camouflage Jutsu.
"Hmph, thanks to you back then, I was captured by you Iwagakure ninja. Today, it's time to repay that humiliation." Saying this, Sasori of the Red Sand took out a scroll.
Gently stroking the scroll, Sasori of the Red Sand said, "Let me show you my most perfect masterpiece. And then, you too will become part of my collection."
"It must be the Third Kazekage," Ishiro mused internally.
Indeed, the next moment, the Third Kazekage human puppet appeared before Ishiro. Then, the Third Kazekage human puppet manipulated Iron Sand to carry itself rapidly towards Ishiro.
Upon recognizing Sasori of the Red Sand, Ishiro knew this battle was unavoidable. For no other reason than the Third Kazekage could also fly.
Until Ishiro could confirm the speed of the Third Kazekage human puppet, he couldn't be sure if he could escape pursuit.
However, facing the Third Kazekage human puppet, Ishiro was not without the strength to fight.
Before the Third Kazekage got close, Ishiro retreated while storing all iron-related weapons on his person into a sealing scroll.
Then, while flying, Ishiro performed hand seals and unleashed his Porcelain Release. A large amount of slurry blasted towards the Third Kazekage's Iron Sand.
In the first exchange, Ishiro didn't come off worse, as Sasori hadn't expected Ishiro to have such a technique up his sleeve.
But the second attack from the Third Kazekage human puppet made Ishiro feel the pressure.
It turned out that the Third Kazekage was controlling the Iron Sand, shaping it into countless kunai that rained down on Ishiro.
The density of this attack, compared to the previous wave of senbon, was like night and day.
"So it can be used like this, why didn't I think of it?" Ishiro cursed himself inwardly for being foolish. Although his Porcelain Release wasn't as sharp as Iron Sand, if he formed it into kunai to attack the enemy like this, the effect would surely be stronger than just turning it into rocks to block them.
However, now was not the time to dwell on such thoughts. Ishiro controlled the slurry to form a thick layer of rock in front of him.
As soon as the rock layer formed, Ishiro heard a series of dull thuds. Evidently, a large number of Iron Sand kunai had embedded themselves into the rock layer.
At the same time, from the directions around Ishiro not blocked by the rock layer, a large number of Iron Sand kunai quickly bypassed Ishiro and shot towards his rear.
Knowing that his slurry could be controlled at will, Ishiro paid close attention to the kunai shooting past him.
Indeed, after flying some distance, the kunai quickly slowed down, then turned around and shot back towards Ishiro again.
Fortunately, neither the Third Kazekage nor Sasori of the Red Sand possessed the Uchiha clan's kunai throwing techniques. These speeding kunai couldn't make sharp turns while flying at high speed. Otherwise, Ishiro would have been in a very tight spot today.
Ishiro controlled the slurry to repeatedly block the kunai attacks while continuously flying higher into the sky.
Initially, the Third Kazekage human puppet also flew up, following Ishiro as he gained altitude. But soon, Sasori understood Ishiro's intention. With a cold sneer, he manipulated the Third Kazekage human puppet to form a platform of Iron Sand beneath his own feet, and then Sasori stood on the Iron Sand and flew up.
This was, of course, within Ishiro's expectations. Ishiro naturally wouldn't be foolish enough to think that such a simple trick could allow him to escape Sasori's pursuit. Ishiro's goal was to get Sasori off the ground.
Although the Third Kazekage human puppet could fly, Sasori himself could not. Sasori's conventional fighting style was ground-based. Being further from the ground was advantageous for Ishiro.
The two, one chasing and one fleeing, soon reached an altitude of a thousand meters. Through the earlier exchanges, Ishiro found that his speed was similar to the Third Kazekage's. Trying to escape Sasori of the Red Sand through a speed advantage would be quite difficult.
So Ishiro decided to take a risk.
In the previous clashes, although Ishiro appeared to be handling things with ease, he was actually the weaker party. Firstly, with Sasori's strength, he could undoubtedly control more than just this one puppet simultaneously. He hadn't brought out other puppets yet merely because he felt the Third Kazekage human puppet was sufficient.
More importantly, the Third Kazekage human puppet controlled Iron Sand with great flexibility, while Ishiro, though able to instantly manifest his slurry, had to maintain hand seals with both hands.
In other words, while Ishiro was controlling the slurry, many of his other techniques could not be used.
Therefore, upon reaching an altitude of a thousand meters, Ishiro changed his tactics. At this point, Ishiro was at the highest position, the Third Kazekage human puppet was below and to his side, while Sasori's main body was cautiously hiding beneath the Third Kazekage human puppet.
At this moment, Ishiro suddenly stopped his ascent and abruptly plummeted downwards.
Seeing Ishiro change tactics, Sasori didn't panic. He promptly controlled the Third Kazekage to form more Iron Sand to intercept Ishiro. Simultaneously, the Iron Sand platform beneath his feet moved horizontally, away from Ishiro.
But Ishiro had anticipated this. He first controlled the slurry to form a rock layer below him, then directed the rock layer to forcefully break through the Iron Sand's interception.
Although the Iron Sand didn't completely stop Ishiro, his blatant intention to approach Sasori's main body to attack was seen through by the enemy.
At this point, although Ishiro was now below the Third Kazekage human puppet and at the same altitude as Sasori, there was still a considerable distance between them.
Furthermore, above and between the two, the Third Kazekage human puppet was maneuvering to interpose itself.
At this moment, even if Ishiro wanted to use some ninjutsu, there wouldn't be enough time. Unless it was a ninjutsu that could be cast instantly without hand seals, by the time Ishiro finished the seals, the Third Kazekage human puppet would surely have blocked the way.
And even if Ishiro launched some seal-less ninjutsu at the distant Sasori, Sasori could take out new puppets to block the attack.
Under normal circumstances, Ishiro would have no way to deal with Sasori at this point.
But Ishiro wasn't a normal person; he had a trump card. This trump card was an S-rank ninjutsu. Speaking of which, this was the first time Ishiro had truly used an S-rank ninjutsu in battle since learning it.
Ishiro's S-rank ninjutsu, Banshō Ten'in (Universal Pull), its biggest "bug" was that it didn't require hand seals and could be activated just by extending a hand.
However, this ninjutsu's practical use in combat wasn't actually that great. In the original work, Pain relied on Shinra Tensei (Almighty Push) to attack enemies; Banshō Ten'in was mainly used to complement Shinra Tensei.
But for Ishiro, at this moment, it was perfect.
Under Sasori's bewildered gaze, Ishiro extended a hand towards him. Then, Sasori was shocked to find his body being pulled by an unknown, immense force.
This was no small shock. Sasori only reacted after his body had left the Iron Sand platform, but by then it was too late, as Ishiro himself was already rapidly descending. And as Ishiro descended, he dragged Sasori down with him.
This descent was extremely fast. After all, Ishiro had used his Light/Heavy Rock Technique, and besides that, there was the effect of gravity itself.
Sasori's main body plummeted with Ishiro at a terrifying speed. Although he had already completed his body's modification, he couldn't guarantee that his body could withstand a fall from such a great height.
However, Sasori didn't panic. While rapidly descending, he controlled the Third Kazekage human puppet to follow, while continuously taking out puppets one after another. These puppets varied in form, but most were humanoid. Clearly, Sasori's human puppet technique was already very mature.
With each puppet he took out, Sasori would use it to slow his descent. If this continued, Ishiro's plan to make Sasori fall from a thousand meters high was bound to fail.
But Ishiro's plan was clearly not over. After they had fallen about two hundred meters, Sasori suddenly felt the pulling force Ishiro had exerted on him disappear.
Ishiro not only stopped using Banshō Ten'in on Sasori, halting Sasori's accelerated descent, but he himself also stopped his own downward momentum.
After ending Banshō Ten'in, Ishiro reversed direction again, passed by Sasori, and then used his full strength to unleash Porcelain Release, creating a massive amount of slurry that directly blocked the downward path of the Third Kazekage human puppet above.
Only then did Sasori understand Ishiro's true intention. It turned out Ishiro wanted to use this method to sever the connection between Sasori and the Third Kazekage human puppet.
Puppet masters control puppets using chakra threads. Ishiro didn't have the Sharingan or the Byakugan, so he couldn't see chakra threads. Therefore, Ishiro created a vast amount of slurry to directly seal off the area between Sasori and the Third Kazekage human puppet.
Even so, Ishiro wasn't entirely at ease. Sasori was, after all, the most formidable puppet master in the entire ninja world. Who knew if he had other methods to control his puppets?
That's why Ishiro hadn't resorted to this method earlier, but waited until Sasori lost his ability to fly.
The current Sasori, although continuously slowing down with the help of other puppets, was still increasing the distance from Ishiro at a heart-stopping speed due to his initial rapid descent.
Therefore, as long as Ishiro did his best to hold back the Third Kazekage human puppet for a while, the distance between Sasori and the puppet would quickly extend to the limit of puppet control.
Ishiro didn't believe Sasori could still flexibly control the Third Kazekage human puppet from hundreds of meters away.
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