Chapter 103: Puppet Bomb
Chapter 103: Puppet Bomb
The mountain path twisted sharply as it climbed, narrow and steep beyond reason.
At times, the only solid foothold lay directly beneath your feet—one misstep, and you'd plunge into a canyon so deep it looked like an endless pit of darkness. But upon closer inspection, Ryosuke knew that at the bottom was nothing more than a shallow puddle, devoid of life.
They'd entered from below—Ryosuke and his team—working their way up the narrow cliff trail. It had taken nearly half an hour before they finally reached a clearing at the top where sunlight filtered in.
That's how Ryosuke understood what lay beneath: nothing but illusion.
This trail was a secret shortcut leading to the border of the Land of Fire. Ordinary travelers would avoid it entirely. Only seasoned shinobi ever dared to take this route—for the sake of speed, and often, survival.
A cutting wind whipped across the narrow mountain path, so fierce it could've tossed an average person into the abyss like a feather. That cold gust came rushing up from the canyon floor, sharp and unrelenting.
Fighting in a place like this? Practically impossible.
For regular people.
But for shinobi?
Nothing is ever truly impossible.
By the time a ninja reaches the rank of Chunin, they typically have decent chakra control. That alone makes battles in even the most extreme environments manageable.
Case in point—right now.
"Earth Style: Earth Spear!"
With chakra concentrated in the soles of their feet, several dozen Anbu dashed along the vertical cliff wall, defying gravity. At their front was the Anbu captain, a seasoned Jonin of Konoha, who made swift hand seals mid-run before slamming his palms against the stone wall.
From Ryosuke's perspective, chakra pulsed from the Jonin's hands into the rock, spreading through the stone like veins of light. It surged toward a crevice in the cliff where a group of Mist shinobi were hiding.
The entire encounter unfolded in mere moments.
From the time Hyuga Hizashi sensed something was off, to the moment the Anbu sprang into action and launched their counterattack, only a few seconds had passed.
Crack!
Sharp earthen spikes exploded from the wall, impaling the unsuspecting enemy shinobi like a trap sprung too fast for escape.
To Ryosuke, they looked like nothing more than a bunch of panicked birds.
Chicks.
That's how he saw them.
In all the recorded battles of the ninja world—major wars and minor skirmishes—no competent commander would ever underestimate the Hyuga clan's perception abilities. And yet, these idiots had tried a sneak attack?
It was laughable.
Still, Ryosuke didn't let his guard down. His mocking thoughts were only surface-level.
The Byakugan couldn't see through everything.
If it could pierce all matter, then the Hyuga clan would have been truly invincible during the warring states era. But that had never been the case.
In reality, ordinary Byakugan could only see chakra—and where chakra flowed, it could also observe meridians, acupoints, and bones.
Only Hyuga with exceptional talent or chakra purity could train their Byakugan to perceive physical matter with greater detail, expanding both range and resolution.
Just like in the original timeline—Neji, the Hyuga prodigy, had achieved feats others in his clan could not.
Ryosuke himself possessed an evolved Byakugan—an ability that let him see solid structures as well as chakra.
But even he couldn't see everything inside a human body. Not the organs, not the flow of blood through a beating heart, not in precise detail.
At least… not yet.
So far, these Mist ninjas appeared completely normal under his gaze. There was no sign of foul play.
Still, something felt wrong.
Ryosuke began scanning the environment instead. He suspected these shinobi might be death squads—expendables sent in as a distraction to cover for an incoming ambush from the main force.
But... he was wrong.
There was nothing. No one else was nearby.
Not beneath the cliff. Not above it.
Just them.
So what was the point of this group?
Why were they here?
Before he could answer that, the Mist shinobi reacted to the earthen spikes just as expected—pure panic. They bolted from the crevice like fresh Genin fresh out of the academy, scrambling without formation or thought.
Some weren't fast enough. The spikes ran them through, silencing their cries forever.
"Take them down!" the Anbu captain ordered.
But he didn't rush in himself. Something had made him wary.
He waited.
Watched.
Only when he confirmed the enemies were genuinely flustered and weak did he signal for the rest of the team to close in and take them alive.
And that... was the mistake.
From a distance, Ryosuke's eyes widened.
He saw it clearly—one of the shinobi who'd been impaled… moved.
They were moving again.
Impossible.
No one moved after being killed like that.
Unless…
"—They're puppets!" Ryosuke muttered.
If they weren't White Zetsu, then there was only one answer: these were human puppets, crafted from corpses—or worse, living people turned into bombs.
Only something like that could fool his Byakugan so perfectly.
"Retreat!" Ryosuke shouted—too far to be heard.
He didn't hesitate. He used his Genjutsu to briefly seize control of Hyuga Hizashi, embedding a warning directly into his mind.
But it was too late.
BOOM!
The first explosion tore through the rock crevice with the force of a battering ram. Gravel and dust burst outward like a geyser, flinging deadly shrapnel in every direction.
Sharp fragments slashed through the air like kunai. One piece lodged into a shinobi's eye socket, driving deep between the bones. The man screamed—but he couldn't move.
He was standing inches from the edge, one false step away from falling into the abyss.
The mountain shook violently.
Chunks of the rock wall collapsed, raining boulders into the canyon below.
Anbu who had rushed in to capture the Mist shinobi were caught in the blast. They plummeted down along with the falling debris.
Thud.
A dull, lifeless sound echoed up from the bottom.
Everyone who heard it—Ryosuke included—felt their stomachs tighten.
That single sound spoke volumes. It told them how far the canyon dropped. How unforgiving the fall was.
And then, the survivors—the Mist shinobi who'd somehow evaded the initial blast—rushed straight toward Hizashi and the rest of the team.
It was a suicide charge.
But the Root shinobi hiding in the shadows acted quickly. They intercepted the attackers with a swift Earth Wall jutsu, trapping the Mist survivors on the far side of the trail.
And then...
BOOM!
Another explosion. Louder than the first. The mountain roared as it trembled under the blast.
"Retreat! Retreat! Run forward, now!" shouted Mitokado Homura.
Anbu and Root operatives immediately sprinted toward the far end of the trail, chakra surging through their feet as they climbed the cliff walls like spiders.
Ryosuke didn't waste a second either. He'd started to fall back the moment he gave his warning.
No one cared about conserving chakra now.
All that mattered was survival.
They sprinted along the rock wall—thousands of feet above the canyon floor—knowing one wrong move or delayed reaction could mean death.
These Mist ninjas…
Their plan wasn't just a sneak attack.
They'd come to bury them here.
To blow apart the canyon wall and send everyone plummeting to their deaths.
And Ryosuke couldn't shake the feeling...
This wasn't just an ambush.
This was the setup for something even worse.
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