Naruto: My Progress in Konoha.

Chapter 1236 Restraint (Bonus Chapter)
'Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique~'

Uchiha Shisui swiftly completed the hand seals, then opened his mouth and spat out a crimson fireball with a diameter of over three meters, which hurtled straight at Sasori.

Sasori hadn't expected that Uchiha Shisui had just used a trap against him; by the time he realized it, it was too late.

bang~
The fireball struck the scorpion precisely, engulfing it instantly.

In the distance, Uchiha Tetsuka and the others saw this scene and their faces lit up with joy, thinking to themselves, "Did they succeed?"

However, their expressions changed the next moment.

The reason was simple: the puppets in front of them continued their attack.

Clearly, the strange man was not dead, or at least he was not incapacitated.

Uchiha Shisui also noticed the situation and decided to escalate the attack, targeting Sasori who remained stationary.

But this time, before he could make a move, a gust of wind blew from the front.

Sensing the sharp blades in the wind, Uchiha Shisui hesitated for a moment before choosing to dodge.

When he regained his footing, he saw that the flames on the scorpion's body had gone out.

Scorpion glanced at his own body, then ripped off his tattered black robe with red clouds, revealing the scarlet amber beneath.

Looking at this inhuman body, Uchiha Shisui frowned slightly and asked, "What exactly are you?"

"what?"

A hoarse voice came from Hiruko's mouth.

Then, he suddenly raised his voice and said, "Next, you will witness the supreme masterpiece of puppetry, the greatest art of mankind—the art of human puppetry!"

"Puppetry?"

Uchiha Shisui repeated, his face full of doubt.

However, Scorpion made no attempt to explain.

Suddenly, he opened his mouth wide, opened the mechanism hidden inside Hiruko's mouth, and unleashed the Puppet Technique - Needle Eight Waves!

The next moment, a dense barrage of poisonous needles and thorns shot out from his mouth, like a storm, directly attacking Uchiha Shisui.

Unlike the hidden weapons that ninjas launch using skillful force, the poison needles launched by the mechanism are much faster.

However, Uchiha Shisui's Sharingan was no ordinary Sharingan. The three tomoe in his pupils spun rapidly, instantly discerning the flight trajectories of all the poison needles.

Then, his figure flashed, dodging all the attacks.

Seeing this, the scorpion did not give up. After adjusting its angle, it launched another volley of poison needles.

Uchiha Shisui continued to dodge.

And so, the two sides went back and forth, completing several rounds of combat in a very short period of time.

However, human strength has its limits, and even Uchiha Shisui could not maintain a high level of evasion for an extended period of time.

Finally, he began to frequently use his short knife to parry some of the poisoned needles that he couldn't dodge in time.

Seeing this, Scorpion seized the opportunity and manipulated the demon mask on his back to open.

The next moment, a long tail resembling a centipede shot out from it, flying towards Uchiha Shisui at an extremely fast speed.

Hey~
There was a clear sound of metal collision.

Uchiha Shisui used his short sword to block the scorpion's tail that shot towards him.

Looking at the tail hook gleaming with a chilling light in front of him, and the purplish-black venom dripping from it, Uchiha Shisui felt a wave of fear.

He was just a hair's breadth away from being caught off guard. If he hadn't been so alert and attentive to his opponent's every move, reacting in time to activate the mechanism on the opponent's back, he would probably have been caught off guard by now.

Even if they don't die, they will be severely injured.

It's important to know that Sunagakure is not only famous for its puppetry techniques, but also for the poisons it uses in conjunction with them.

Only Konoha produced Tsunade, whose medical ninjutsu was unparalleled in the ninja world, and who overpowered Sunagakure in every Shinobi World War.

Otherwise, their poison skills would also be famous throughout the ninja world.

Even if he is not well-known, it cannot conceal his skill in making and using poisons. Thus, one can imagine just how potent the poison on the tail hook of this rogue ninja, who is clearly from Sunagakure, must be.

Fortunately, he blocked it.

Kakakka~
With a sound of gears turning, the scorpion retracted its tail hook.

He looked at Uchiha Shisui, staring at his three-tomoe Sharingan, and said, "Not bad eyes. I hope they'll be just as useful after I turn you into a puppet."

'Turn me into a puppet?'

Upon hearing this, Uchiha Shisui was initially puzzled, but soon he remembered what Sasori had said at the beginning.

His face immediately turned extremely pale.

"Is the art of human puppetry using humans as materials?"

Uchiha Shisui asked in a deep voice.

"if not?"

Scorpion replied calmly.

Upon hearing his nonchalant attitude, Uchiha Shisui's expression immediately darkened.

Without further ado, he raised his hands to form hand seals and unleashed the 'Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique' once again.

This time, he attacked in anger, and the fireball he condensed was ten meters in diameter, not only more powerful but also faster.

Although Hiruko is a puppet that leans towards defense, due to the inherent weaknesses of human puppets, it is impossible for her to withstand such an attack.

Therefore, the scorpion chose to dodge.

Having seized the initiative, Uchiha Shisui pressed his advantage, his Sharingan locking onto Sasori's movements. While dodging the poison needles Sasori spat out, he formed hand seals again and unleashed another ninjutsu.

However, this time, he did not use 'Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique', but instead used another signature ninjutsu of the Uchiha clan - Fire Release: Phoenix Flower Technique!

Then, fireballs the size of human heads flew out of his mouth, like seeds of balsam flowers, seemingly slow but actually swiftly surrounding and smashing towards the scorpion.

However, given the defensive capabilities that Hiruko had previously demonstrated, such a fireball hitting her would undoubtedly be like a tickle.

Uchiha Shisui was well aware of this.

So he added something to these fireballs: a few shuriken.

This is another use of 'Fire Release: Phoenix Flower Technique', which is to use the number of fireballs to hide the existence of shuriken, and then use the high temperature of the fireballs to heat the shuriken.

Thus, upon hitting the enemy, it will cause a double blow of physical and magical damage.

Although Sasori didn't understand the intricacies of the situation, he trusted Uchiha Shisui's intelligence and knew that the other party wouldn't speak without reason.

Therefore, he did not choose to take the fireballs head-on just because they could not harm him. Instead, he continued to control the mouth mechanism to fire poison needles at Uchiha Shisui, forcing him to reveal an opening, while controlling the scorpion tail on his back to block the incoming fireballs.

Ding Ding Dang Dang~
A series of metal collision sounds were heard.

The scorpion's tail was surprisingly flexible, changing position several times in a very short time, blocking all the fireballs that approached him, and of course, also blocking the shurikens hidden among them.

Seeing this, Uchiha Shisui sighed inwardly, then looked for another opportunity to attack Sasori.

And so, the two engaged in a fierce battle, creating quite a lively scene.

With such a commotion, it was impossible for Qingming not to notice.

However, he only glanced at it a few times before paying no further attention.

Given the current situation, without using the Mangekyou Sharingan, Uchiha Shisui has no chance of defeating Sasori; he might not even be able to break through Sasori's turtle shell.

This is simply because the puppeteer can restrain the Sharingan.

While it seemed that Uchiha Shisui had found the opponent's true form, he was actually still fighting against the puppet.

Thus, the Sharingan's most important genjutsu and hypnosis abilities are rendered useless, while its powerful perception is used to observe the various mechanisms controlled by Sasori.

In this way, you naturally won't gain any advantage.

(End of this chapter)