Chapter 160: Mysterious Puppet Control Technique

Sasori's expression was grim. He hadn't expected his chakra threads to be severed by Uchiha Yuan in an instant. Judging from just now, Uchiha Yuan's speed had already exceeded his reaction time.

"As far as I know, there are two shinobi in Konoha famous throughout the shinobi world for their speed—one is the Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze, the other is Uchiha Yuan, who forced Kitsuchi to retreat during the Battle of Kikyo Mountain.

Minato Namikaze has distinctive blond hair, so you must be Uchiha Yuan?"

"That's right, it's me." Uchiha Yuan admitted his identity without hesitation.

Once Sasori confirmed that the person before him was Uchiha Yuan, his face darkened even more.

Speed-type shinobi were a natural counter to puppeteers. As the most powerful puppeteer to have mastered the Red Secret Technique, Sasori was well aware of that. However, the Hyuga clan member was right in front of him, and her Byakugan appeared special—she might even be a member of the legendary Hyuga main branch.

So Sasori wasn't willing to give up yet.

At this time, Sasori had not yet converted his body into a puppet; he only carried a few mechanisms.

He secretly opened a small case filled with poisoned senbon, and while Uchiha Yuan wasn't paying attention, he launched them.

Unfortunately, such a trick was meaningless against Uchiha Yuan's Sharingan.

With a sweep of his horizontal blade, Uchiha Yuan knocked the poisoned senbon to the ground.

Seeing that even his surprise attack had failed, Sasori's expression grew more unsightly.

For Uchiha Yuan to react in such close quarters and dodge the ambush proved how difficult he was to deal with. Sasori was now thinking of retreat.

Uchiha Yuan, too, could see from Sasori's demeanor that he no longer wished to drag this out.

"Uchiha Yuan, you win this time! That Hyuga clan member was lucky to have you protecting her. If we meet again, I'll definitely turn her into a puppet." As he finished, purple smoke spurted from Sasori's feet.

This smoke was obviously laced with poison. Sasori intended to use it to force Uchiha Yuan and Hyuga Asana back, creating a chance to escape.

But Uchiha Yuan had no intention of letting the Third Kazekage puppet go. He immediately activated his Mangekyo Sharingan—Susanoo isolated them from the poisonous smoke, and he slashed toward Sasori, who was just retrieving the puppet.

Sasori's face twisted—this was his first time seeing Susanoo, a jutsu that could materialize such a massive amount of chakra. It was beyond his imagination.

Helpless, Sasori could only abandon the Third Kazekage puppet and roll aside to dodge Susanoo's blade.

"Damn you, Uchiha Yuan! Remember this!" Sasori shouted as he fled.

Uchiha Yuan was about to give chase when Hyuga Asana approached and said, "Yuan, forget it. We've achieved our goal."

As she spoke, a blue chakra sphere appeared in her hand.

The chakra sphere entered the puppet of the Third Kazekage, and moments later, it floated on its own.

With a thought, the puppet responded to her will and prepared to attack.

"Did it work?" Uchiha Yuan asked.

"Yes. These eyes control puppets even better than I imagined. And Sasori's puppet craftsmanship is truly outstanding.

This human puppet retains seventy to eighty percent of the Third Kazekage's strength. It barely counts as a Kage-level fighter." With that, she beckoned and the puppet flew to her side. Hyuga Asana casually stored it away.

"With the puppet secured, now we have to deal with a minor problem. Someone's coming from that direction," Uchiha Yuan pointed north.

"It's people from the Hidden Sand. The commotion from our fight with Sasori probably drew them here," Hyuga Asana said after sweeping that area with her Byakugan.

"Should we bolt?"

Hyuga Asana nodded. She didn't want unnecessary contact with the Hidden Sand either.

Uchiha Yuan quickly formed hand seals and summoned Lightning again. Before the Sand shinobi arrived, the two flew off.

"Now that we have the puppet, should we return to the village?" Uchiha Yuan asked.

"My mission isn't done yet."

"I almost forgot—you took a mission as a cover. What's the mission?" he asked.

"It's simple. A spy stationed in the Land of Lightning got some intel. Hokage-sama's ANBU are short on manpower, so he passed the task to Lord Orochimaru, who then handed it off to me."

"To the Land of Lightning? Perfect. I've been thinking about going there anyway."

Hyuga Asana turned to look at Uchiha Yuan. She knew he'd been collecting tailed beast chakra recently.

Previously, Uchiha Yuan had taken a mission related to the Seven-Tails. Along with the Eight-Tails horn he got from Orochimaru, the One-Tail from the Battle of Kikyo Mountain, and the Five-Tails' chakra—

Counting it up, Uchiha Yuan already possessed chakra from four tailed beasts.

With a strange expression, Hyuga Asana asked, "Yuan, don't tell me you're after the Two-Tails?"

Uchiha Yuan didn't deny it. He just smiled and said, "I'm still missing chakra from the Two-Tails, Three-Tails, Four-Tails, Six-Tails, and Nine-Tails. If I get the chance, I definitely want them all."

"You're planning to go after the Two-Tails in the Land of Lightning? Yuan, you're way too bold," Hyuga Asana couldn't help but retort.

"Relax. I'm not stupid—I won't attack outright."

As Uchiha Yuan had just said, his goal was to collect all the tailed beasts' chakra.

According to his earlier plan, the Two-Tails wasn't a high priority, as it was always inside the Hidden Cloud Village.

After the Third Shinobi World War, the Cloud lost only the Third Raikage. They still had Killer Bee and the Fourth Raikage—both Kage-level powerhouses.

Especially Killer Bee, a perfect jinchūriki. A perfect host could unleash more power than the beast alone. Even with Susanoo, Uchiha Yuan wouldn't have much of an advantage against a fully transformed Eight-Tails—let alone with the Two-Tails and Fourth Raikage also present.

So his original order was to go after the rogue Four-Tails first, then the reincarnated Three-Tails, followed by the Six-Tails—because Qing in the Mist Village was an informant, making it easier to get intel on the Six-Tails. Only then would he target the Two-Tails.

As for the Nine-Tails' chakra, he could collect that during the Nine-Tails Night. In fact, Uchiha Yuan had some plans he wanted to put into motion during that very event.

Now, since Hyuga Asana's mission was taking her to the Land of Lightning anyway—there was no time like the present. He might just get the opportunity to collect the Two-Tails' chakra.

(To Be Continued...)