Naruto: My Progress in Konoha.

Chapter 1235 Using yourself as bait
"Orochimaru, how long are you going to keep talking nonsense?"

Just as Orochimaru was pondering the deeper meaning of Qingming's words, an impatient voice came from the side.

The voice was unusually hoarse, and it came from the scorpion's mouth.

On Qingming's side, everyone looked on in surprise when they heard him speak to Orochimaru so rudely.

It's important to know that Orochimaru is one of the legendary Sannin, and his reputation and strength are unmatched by ordinary people.

Everyone had heard of his temper, and the fact that anyone who dared to speak to him like that was still alive could only mean that the person who spoke was no ordinary person.

So, everyone turned their attention to Scorpion.

Scorpion, seemingly oblivious to the scrutinizing gazes of Qingming and the others, continued, "Half for each of us."

Upon hearing this, Orochimaru chuckled and said, "Heh~, Sasori, you're still so impatient!"

However, Scorpion ignored him and his words sounded more like a greeting.

After saying that, he reached into his robes, took out a scroll, and threw it into the air.

Then, he raised his hand to form a hand seal and shouted in a low voice, "Release!"

The next moment, the seal on the scroll was broken, and ten figures appeared in the arena.

"puppet?"

"You're a Sand Village ninja?"

Upon seeing these ten figures, Yamato and the others, who had recently fought against the puppeteers of Sunagakure, exclaimed in surprise.

Upon hearing their words, Qingming, adhering to the principle of minimizing casualties, warned, "Be careful, he's no ordinary puppeteer."

Upon hearing this, Uchiha Shisui immediately became extremely vigilant and decided to take the lead in the attack.

There was no way around it; Qingming usually didn't speak, but when he did, it was always something very important that he couldn't afford to ignore.

On the other side, seeing that Sasori had already summoned the puppet, Orochimaru stopped wasting words, immediately bit his finger, letting the blood flow through his palm, and then quickly formed the five seals 'Hai-Xu-You-Shen-Wei'.

Yes, it is indeed 'spirit communication'!
bang~
As puffs of chakra smoke dissipated, three giant snakes suddenly appeared in the arena.

Upon closer inspection, you'll find that they are simply enlarged versions of sand snakes.

In fact, it is true.

In desert terrain, the sand snake is the most useful summoning beast in Ryuchi Cave.

Orochimaru stood atop the middle sand serpent's head, and with a thought, immediately manipulated the three giant serpents into a triangular formation, which then pounced on Qingming and the others.

Because they were too close together and the giant snake was too fast, the group didn't have time to use any spells to stop it and were forced to separate.

bang~ bang~ bang~
The three giant snake heads slammed into the sand with a dull thud.

Large amounts of sand shot out in all directions like bullets.

Yamato and the others originally wanted to fight back, but now they had no choice but to continue retreating and distance themselves from the giant snake.

Just as everyone adjusted their positions and prepared to counterattack, the ten puppets controlled by Scorpion flew over.

咻咻 咻 ~
Then a whooshing sound was heard.

The next moment, a dense barrage of needles, like raindrops, shot out from the arms of the ten puppets, accurately targeting Qingming and the others.

Ding Ding Ding ~
His Azure Sharingan swirled, and he brandished his long sword, blocking all the flying needles aimed at him.

However, just because he can do it doesn't mean that others can.

Apart from Uchiha Shisui and others who also possessed the Sharingan, the others, including Yamato, chose to dodge.

But in that split second, they lost the initiative.

Then, the ten puppets began to fire hidden weapons, forcing everyone to continue dodging.

Thus, with Orochimaru controlling three giant snakes to provide support, Qingming and the others were split into two groups.

Among them, Qingming, Uchiha Inahikawa, and Yamato were a group that Orochimaru targeted specifically.

Uchiha Shisui, Uchiha Tekka, Uchiha Hachiho, and the "Ino-Shika-Cho" trio were grouped together, but Sasori divided them into ten groups, controlling ten puppets to target them. However, although Qingming and the others were slightly on the defensive, they were not truly in danger.

As for Qingming, Orochimaru was wary of his true strength and dared not unleash his full power, only suppressing him on the surface.

As for Uchiha Shisui's side, thanks to his earlier reminder, although Sasori deliberately revealed a few flaws, no one dared to take the bait.

In this way, the scene appeared strangely harmonious.

However, Qingming knew that this was only temporary.

Since Orochimaru chose to stay here and even brought along some helpers, he must have something in mind.

Thus, once the probing is complete, a fierce battle will inevitably break out between the two sides.

That will be the real test of life and death.

Qingming hadn't yet figured out how to get the Edo Tensei body from Orochimaru without being noticed by others, so he simply didn't break the deadlock.

And so, time passed by, second by second.

Finally, the impatient Sasori couldn't take it anymore. He suddenly manipulated the puppet and started playing a trick with Uchiha Shisui and the others, causing them to suffer heavy losses themselves.

Uchiha Shisui and the others were naturally unwilling to trade injuries with a puppet, so they could only dodge more passively.

However, the adage "what is held for too long will inevitably be lost" remains true.

Finally, after dodging the attack from two puppets, Uchiha Shisui seemed to be caught off guard as a puppet behind him closed in.

The next moment, a "click-click-click" sound rang out.

Suddenly, the puppet's abdomen opened up, revealing a six-piece syringe inside.

咻咻 咻 ~
Countless tiny, spinning needles shot out from the syringe, forming a cone shape, and covered Uchiha Shisui.

If you look closely, you can see a purplish-black liquid on these flying needles.

Clearly, these flying needles were also coated with a potent poison.

Seemingly sensing the threat of death, Uchiha Shisui's expression changed drastically.

He tried his best to dodge, but in the end he could not avoid all the attacks and was pierced by several flying needles.

Then a series of "splattering" sounds were heard, and Uchiha Shisui's terrified expression froze on his face.

Seeing this, Uchiha Tetsuka was about to shout out.

But the next moment, Uchiha Shisui, who was frozen in mid-air, suddenly turned into a ball of chakra and disappeared.

"Shadow clone?!"

Uchiha Tetsuka snapped out of his daze and exclaimed in surprise.

That's right, the one pierced by the flying needle was not Uchiha Shisui himself, but a shadow clone he created.

As for when he accomplished all of this?
The answer is simple: right now.

He keenly perceived the scorpion's impatience, so he turned the tables on it, seemingly falling into the scorpion's trap, but in reality, he used himself as bait to put on this show.

Of course, this is only possible for him. If it were anyone else, even with the Sharingan, they might not be able to dodge the sneak attack from the puppet behind him.

After all, when it comes to controlling and using puppets, no one in the ninja world is better than Sasori. Since Sasori has made a move, it means he is confident of success.

Unfortunately, he encountered Uchiha Shisui, a genius who could not be measured by ordinary standards.

So, where is Uchiha Shisui now?

It was very simple; it came to the scorpion's side.

As we all know, the simplest and most practical way to deal with a puppeteer is to go straight to the heart of the matter, find the puppeteer's true form, and then eliminate him.

In this way, there's nothing to worry about regarding those puppets.

(End of this chapter)