Naruto: Puppet Master Undercover in Konoha

Five Sand shinobi glared at Shindai with eyes full of hatred upon discovering his Magnet Release and Kannazuki.

In their eyes, Shindai had not only caused the death of the Third Kazekage but also drawn Sunagakure into war.

Shindai laughed loudly, holding his stomach as he laughed.

Obito, who was already a bit dense, became even more confused now. "What's so funny about this? There's absolutely nothing to laugh about! They're about to kill him, so why is he laughing?"

Kakashi and Rin Nohara gave Obito the side-eye, pursing their lips slightly.

Rin Nohara said to Obito, "Didn't you hear what Shindai just said? He's cut all ties—there's no need for hesitation anymore. What Shindai confirmed earlier was exactly this point—he is now completely on the opposite side from Sunagakure."

The five Sand shinobi simultaneously formed Hand Seals, preparing to unleash Ninjutsu on Shindai.

Meanwhile, Shindai's right hand moved rapidly, fingers dancing through the air.

["Kannazuki! Launch: Missile Barrage!"]

Kannazuki's right arm transformed. The entire limb turned into a cannon barrel with five small-caliber gun barrels. Activating Raikō Ken at the same time, five miniature missiles instantly loaded into the barrels.

The barrel rotated, launching a barrage of tiny missiles directly toward the five Sand shinobi.

Immediately after firing, another set of five new miniature missiles automatically reloaded and launched without pause.

Shindai unleashed an unrelenting bombardment directly at the five Sand shinobi.

In today's shinobi world, such missiles were extremely rare—they were bulky and required carrying launchers, making them highly inconvenient. Although their power surpassed that of Explosive Tags, tags were far more convenient, so practically nobody used missiles like this.

And in Sunagakure, where technology was severely underdeveloped, nobody had ever seen anything like this before.

Therefore, these five Sand shinobi mistook it for some kind of special ninja tool, and two of them even attempted to block the incoming missiles with Kunai.

As soon as they tried to parry, the missiles detonated on impact, obliterating them completely, leaving nothing behind—not even ash.

Luckily, the five Sand shinobi had been standing apart from each other, and the individual mini-missiles had limited blast radius. After the two who tried blocking were vaporized, the remaining three were thrown back by the shockwave.

Shindai maneuvered Kannazuki to continue unleashing suppressive fire upon the surviving three, forcing them to flee in panic.

Obito and the others stood there with mouths slightly open, staring blankly at Shindai's relentless bombardment.

They weren't strangers to Shindai's missile attacks—but every previous time had only been a single shot, nothing more. Never had they witnessed such continuous, overwhelming firepower like this.

After bombing for a while, Shindai stopped.

Though he'd stocked up on missiles, he didn't have an endless supply—just enough to make things interesting.

The surviving three Sand shinobi were now dazed and ringing in their ears, hearing nothing but tinnitus.

Among these three, two were Puppet Masters, and now they activated their puppets, sending them charging toward Shindai.

Shindai sneered, curling his lip slightly before raising a finger. Kannazuki darted forward like lightning.

Kannazuki didn't dodge or evade at all, allowing the attacks from the two Puppets to strike him directly.

With a "clang," the attacks from the two Puppets failed to pierce Kannazuki's defense.

At the same time, part of the Iron Sand on Kannazuki began spreading toward the two Puppets.

Not only did the Puppets become paralyzed and unresponsive, but the areas covered in Iron Sand emitted crunching sounds as they were crushed.

Under the shocked gazes of the two Sand Ninja puppeteers, their Puppets were instantly crushed into dust.

"I'd be embarrassed to show puppets this weak in public!"

Shindai's fingers moved quickly, and Kannazuki rushed toward the three Sand ninja.

The three Sand Ninja released their ninjutsu, slamming them into Kannazuki's body.

Though the attacks left gaping wounds, the next instant, the Iron Sand reassembled, as if he had never been struck at all.

The three Sand Ninja widened their eyes in disbelief.

"This… this is impossible!"

"Is this really a Puppet? Since when do Puppets like this exist?"

"If this Puppet can't be destroyed, how are we supposed to fight it?"

The three surviving Sand Ninja considered retreat, turning to flee.

"Do you think you can run away?"

[Kannazuki: Iron Sand – Detonation Blast!]

Electricity flickered across Kannazuki's body before his entire left arm exploded outward.

After scattering, his left arm transformed into countless tiny Iron Sand bullets. Enhanced by electricity, these projectiles launched at tremendous speed, instantly riddling the three Sand Ninja with holes—turning them into sieves.

These scattered Iron Sand bullets reassembled, reforming into Kannazuki's left arm.

The battle came to a swift end—Shindai had claimed victory with ease.

Manipulating Kannazuki back to his side, Shindai struck a pose toward Obito and the others: "Victory is right here for the taking!"

Obito, Kakashi, and Rin Nohara jumped down from the tree trunk and circled around Kannazuki while observing him closely.

Obito clicked his tongue in admiration: "Shindai, you actually pulled it off after all?"

Shindai replied discontentedly: "What do you mean 'actually pulled it off'? Of course I could! This was only natural—I'm… a genius!"

Rin Nohara prodded Kannazuki's arm curiously with her fingertip: "So does that mean Shindai's Kannazuki is invincible?"

Kakashi answered confidently: "There's no such thing as an invincible being. Everything has its weakness. Just like the five chakra natures counter each other, Shindai's Kannazuki definitely has weaknesses too."

Shindai pouted, looking at the three of them: "You guys, couldn't you just give me some proper compliments? Must you always ruin the mood like this? This was Kannazuki's debut—the first generation—and he performed so well, effortlessly defeating those Sand Ninja. Doesn't that deserve a bit of praise?"

Obito and the other two gave Kannazuki a half-hearted compliment, then continued discussing his potential weaknesses.

Better if they hadn't said anything at all.

Kannazuki did have weaknesses, quite a few in fact.

After all, Kannazuki's body was made up of an Iron Sand Body that was magnetically charged, so the most obvious weakness lay precisely in its magnetic properties.

High temperatures could disrupt its internal magnetic structure, causing Magnetic Stability to disappear.

Alternatively, using a strong magnetic field to change the direction of the magnetic moments within the iron sand could also remove its Magnetic Stability, though this method was only something other Magnet Release ninja could do.

Intense vibrations could similarly alter the internal structure of the 'magnet', causing a loss of Magnetic Stability.

So when it came to Magnetic Stability alone, Kannazuki had many vulnerabilities—one could say he was built on magnetic power, and would ultimately fall because of it.

However, this was just the first generation of Kannazuki. When creating the next iteration, Shindai would naturally find a way to resolve these issues.

Kakashi retrieved the three supply scrolls carried by the five Sand ninja who had been blown away to a distance, saying, "Alright, there are three supply scrolls total. Same as usual—Obito, Shindai, we each carry one back to Konoha's base camp."

After Shindai, Kakashi, and Obito each grabbed a scroll, they returned to Konoha's base camp alongside Rin Nohara.

Over the following period, Shindai and Kakashi along with the others began repetitively taking, carrying out, and completing missions—it was extremely dull and monotonous.

About a month passed like this. Though they didn't hear from Chiyo, Shindai heard news about someone else instead.

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