Naruto: Puppet Master Undercover in Konoha

Pakura sought out Shindai for battle, who had little choice but to face her.

Pakura manipulated one of the four fireballs behind her and sent it flying toward Shindai, while charging at him with a kunai in hand.

"Can't you dial back your combat enthusiasm a bit?!" Shindai shouted.

Controlling Kannazuki, Shindai transformed its left arm into iron sand, forming a barrier that blocked Pakura's fireball.

Shindai then shaped a spear from his iron sand, deflecting the kunai Pakura had thrown with a sharp angle.

After parrying Pakura's kunai, Shindai grimaced and pleaded, "Could you at least pretend to fight?"

"No way!" Pakura shot back, kicking straight toward Shindai.

Shindai blocked the kick with his elbow and used the momentum to create distance between them.

He recalled Kannazuki back to his side and was surprised to find that the iron sand from Kannazuki's left arm hadn't reformed after constructing the barrier against Pakura's fireball.

Shindai frowned slightly.

This wasn't good—Pakura's flames countered his Magnet Release.

Because Pakura's Scorch Release fireballs were extremely hot, the high temperatures destroyed the internal magnetic structure of the iron sand, causing the magnetism to vanish.

Shindai unfurled a scroll and summoned a mass of iron sand, which quickly reassembled Kannazuki's arm.

Pakura looked at Shindai's puppet and complimented, "Your puppet looks pretty nice."

"How about I make one for you in the future?" Shindai immediately suggested. "Fully customizable—you can pick any handsome guy you want—as long as we can fake this fight now. What do you think?"

"You're still as unwilling to fight as ever," Pakura replied. "If you don't want to fight, then why even come to the battlefield at all? This place is where it's kill or be killed. You should've known that the moment you set foot here."

With that, Pakura hurled another fireball toward Shindai.

"You'd believe me if I said I was forced into this, right?" Shindai called out. "At first, I just wanted to slack off, but two idiots dragged me straight to the front lines! [Magnet Release! Iron Sand Wall!]"

This time, Shindai didn't dare use Kannazuki to block. He formed a basic iron sand wall to protect himself from Pakura's fireball.

Then, he controlled Kannazuki to engage Pakura in close-range combat.

But Shindai soon realized that even close combat using Kannazuki wouldn't work—because there were still two fireballs behind Pakura. The iron sand on Kannazuki's body started peeling off in large chunks simply from being near them, never mind actually making contact.

Shindai pulled Kannazuki back and decided instead to fight from a distance.

Kannazuki transformed its right arm into a cannon barrel and began firing missiles at Pakura's position.

Pakura skillfully maneuvered her fireballs, detonating the missiles mid-air before they could harm her at all.

Shindai gave her a slightly exasperated look. Why was she being so serious?

The best way to fight against Pakura was to use the Iron Sand Body technique to fly into the air and bombard her relentlessly.

But if Shindai dared to take flight now, he would surely be targeted and shot at by other ninja.

Shindai continuously launched [Magnet Release] techniques at Pakura, blocking her fireballs while trying to keep her from closing in on him.

However, Pakura's combat experience far surpassed Shindai's. His [Magnet Release] techniques barely posed any obstacle to her, and instead, Kannazuki ended up riddled with holes.

"Wait!"

"No waiting at all!"

Pakura hurled a fireball that struck the iron sand shielding Shindai. The sand lost its magnetism and crashed to the ground.

Panicking, Shindai quickly maneuvered Kannazuki into a defensive position.

Flames erupted from Pakura's right hand as she smashed it straight into Kannazuki's head, creating a large gash. "I've been itching to smash this ugly puppet of yours! Why make a puppet look so fancy anyway?"

With her left hand, Pakura grabbed Shindai by the collar. Then, after dissipating the flames from her right, she threw a punch straight into Shindai's face.

Shindai flew backward, crashing onto the ground and rolling several times before coming to a stop.

Bruised and disheveled, Shindai struggled to his feet, clutching his swollen cheek and staring at Pakura in disbelief. "You're really serious about this!"

Pakura immediately assumed a fighting stance again. "Did I ever say I wasn't?"

Seeing Pakura charge forward once more, Shindai quickly shouted, "Wait! How about we have a pure Taijutsu showdown?!"

Pakura gave Shindai a strange look. "Are you serious?"

Shindai shrugged his shoulders defiantly. "Did I ever say I wasn't? Are you scared?"

Pakura's [Scorch Release] was simply too oppressive against his [Magnet Release], and her combat experience was light-years ahead of his—there was no way he could win, absolutely no way!

Initially, Shindai had thought that since he had beaten Chiyo so badly, defeating Pakura would be easy.

But he never expected Pakura's [Scorch Release] to completely suppress his [Magnet Release] so thoroughly—he was utterly helpless against it.

All of Shindai's techniques were built upon his [Magnet Release]. Now that it had been neutralized, he was powerless.

Shindai made a mental note: Once he returned to Konoha, he must find a way to strengthen his [Magnet Release] so it wouldn't be affected by high temperatures.

Pakura agreed readily. "Fine then, let's go!"

"Haaah!"

Letting out a battle cry to psych himself up, Shindai charged headfirst toward Pakura.

"Take this punch!"

Shindai swung at Pakura's chest. He didn't want to hit Pakura's face—not because he didn't try, but because Pakura stood a full head taller than him.

He couldn't exactly jump up to hit her.

Pakura smirked slightly. Just by watching Shindai move, Pakura already understood everything—maybe Shindai did know some Taijutsu, but it was undoubtedly nothing more than amateurish skills.

Pakura simply reached out and caught Shindai's attacking arm mid-punch.

"Eh?"

Shindai froze for a moment, then suddenly launched into the air—only to be smashed straight back down to the ground.

Pakura eyed Shindai on the ground with contempt. "You didn't even use your Magnet Release techniques."

Shindai bolted upright like a fish leaping out of water. Though he was clearly hurting, he shot back defiantly, "Hmph, didn't hurt at all. I was just testing your skill level earlier. Now that I'm done testing, your Taijutsu is nothing but trash!"

Pakura's eyelid twitched violently as she narrowed her eyes halfway at Shindai. "Oh? Is that so?"

"That's right!"

Shindai charged at Pakura again, throwing a punch toward her.

Just as Pakura was about to repeat the same move by grabbing his arm again, Shindai suddenly pulled back his right hand and feinted, then swung his left fist wildly toward her.

Tsking softly, Pakura said with a smirk, "Naive. Let me show you what real taijutsu looks like!"

Pakura was particularly skilled in close combat. Normally, she used fireballs from her Scorch Release to complement her taijutsu attacks.

So to Pakura, Shindai's little tricks were utterly useless.

With one casual swat, Pakura deflected his punch aside, then slammed her knee directly into Shindai's abdomen.

"Cough~"

The impact sent a wave of agony through Shindai's gut—he looked like his eyes would pop out from the pain.

And true to her word about showing him real Taijutsu, Pakura gave him no chance to recover, pounding him relentlessly like a punching bag.

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