Starting as the mastermind behind Naruto

Chapter 214 If you don't achieve good results, I'll eat your puppet!

This was the first time Nagato had taken a battle seriously.

In the past, when the Akatsuki team was on a mission, Nagato would just casually fire a few laser cannons to provide support, and everyone thought that Nagato was a ranged support ninja.

Today, Nagato showed off his skills, displaying combat power far exceeding that of others. In just a few seconds, he defeated the versatile Kakashi Hatake, leaving him helpless. Now, Kakashi can only lie on the ground like a dead dog, spitting blood.

Nagato looked down at Kakashi Hatake on the ground and said coldly, "Some people have said that Kakashi Hatake, the Copy Ninja of Konoha, is a ninja who can hold his own against any enemy... Now it seems that he has somewhat disappointed my expectations."

Kakashi Hatake, the Balanced Ninja of Konoha.

No matter how powerful the enemy, Kakashi Hatake will never have a bad fight, and may even find a chance to win; no matter how weak the enemy, Kakashi Hatake will never have a good fight, and may even suffer an unexpected defeat.

All of this was told to Nagato by Uehara Naraku.

When Nagato first heard this, he thought it was all too ridiculous.

However, since Uehara Naraku said so confidently, Nagato had no choice but to believe him unconditionally. He did have a slight expectation for Hatake Kakashi, wanting to see just how bizarre this enemy praised by Uehara Naraku was.

At this point, it seems that Kakashi Hatake doesn't have much to offer.

"Kakashi-sensei!"

Naruto Uzumaki, who was some distance away, rushed towards Kakashi Hatake's location first, and began to form hand seals: "Multiple Shadow Clone Technique!"

Countless shadow clones of Naruto Uzumaki appeared densely in the forest, rushing towards Nagato and Sasori!

"The Path of Asura!"

Nagato swiftly summoned two mechanical arms, which instantly transformed into two terrifying-looking multi-barreled machine guns, firing a barrage of bullets at Naruto's shadow clone!

Da da da da da da!

One by one, the shadow clones were turned into smoke by the machine gun!

No shadow clone was able to force its way close to Nagato and Sasori through the firepower blockade formed by the two machine guns; even survival became extremely difficult.

"..."

Naruto Uzumaki watched in disbelief as his shadow clones were wiped out like mowing grass: "Hey, Sakura, what kind of weapon is that?"

"Naruto, come back here!"

Sakura Haruno was also desperately dodging stray bullets.

Fortunately, Granny Chiyo set up a mechanical light shield in time, which barely created a safe place for them to breathe.

According to Granny Chiyo's knowledge, it was probably a rather peculiar mechanical weapon, with the power of the projectiles being similar to that of Senbon.

The entire forest was riddled with holes by machine gun fire.

After Naruto's thousands of shadow clones were eliminated one by one, Nagato leisurely made the two machine guns disappear: "It seems this technique is quite effective."

"..."

Sasori of the Red Sand stood beside Nagato, dumbfounded.

Ever since Nagato summoned two machine guns, Sasori of the Red Sand has been watching Nagato operate the machine guns and wreak havoc, completely dumbfounded.

What kind of weapon is this?

No, what kind of hidden weapon is this?

Damn it, have times changed again?

Sasori recalled the times when they were working with Nagato and Uehara Naraku, and it seemed that those two guys always managed to come up with something new and interesting.

If only we could mount Nagato's two machine guns on his puppet...

It will definitely be very interesting.

"Rasengan!"

Suddenly, a figure emerged from the lawn, holding a Rasengan and about to press it against Nagato. It was none other than Naruto Uzumaki, who had secretly used Shadow Clones to cover his sneaky advance!

Nagato frowned, slowly extended his hand, and grasped the Rasengan in Naruto's hand, hissing in a low voice, "Preta Path!"

The next moment, Nagato directly absorbed the chakra of that Rasengan!

Naruto looked down, staring in astonishment at his empty wrist: "Wait... how is this possible?"

"Nothing is impossible in this world."

Nagato flipped over and kicked Naruto away, his face calm as he said, "Being distracted in battle is not a good habit!"

"Naruto!"

Sakura Haruno rushed forward and hugged Naruto Uzumaki, saving her teammate. She said in a deep voice, "Naruto, don't be so impulsive!"

Taking advantage of this opportunity, Sai broke free from his restraints and used the Substitution Jutsu to instantly appear next to Kakashi, rescuing their captain.

Throughout everything they did, the members of Akatsuki did not stop them.

However, the members of Akatsuki themselves already brought enough pressure.

Now, the strongest member of this squad, Kakashi Hatake, has lost his fighting ability, leaving only the younger generation and the old woman, Granny Chiyo.

"That hooded guy is really strong!"

Naruto Uzumaki gazed at Nagato in the distance, his face grave, and said, "He's stronger than I imagined. In my opinion, the pressure he brings is almost as great as the pressure Uehara once brought us..."

During their exchange, Naruto felt completely powerless to fight back, while his enemy seemed to be doing it with ease.

Naruto Uzumaki frowned, seemingly searching for an explanation: "The feeling I had when I fought him... was like when we encountered a powerful opponent like Uehara during the Chunin Exams four years ago."

"..."

Sakura Haruno's face suddenly turned extremely ugly.

Four years later, they have become even stronger. Have they encountered another enemy who can easily defeat them?

"This is not good..."

Granny Chiyo's fingers twitched slightly, manipulating her two puppets, and she said in a deep voice, "We'll fight and retreat from here on out, let's move towards the other team first! I'll cover the rear, you kids move quickly!"

"Mother-in-law!"

"No way! I'll cover the rear!"

"Stop arguing."

Granny Chiyo coldly stared at the two figures in black robes draped in auspicious cloud patterns in the distance, then glanced at Deidara in the air, and whispered, "We can only make further plans after we rendezvous with the other team. These enemies seem to completely disregard us..."

"Um."

Sai nodded in agreement and said softly, "Perhaps the only gain is that we've definitively found Akatsuki's trail, but now that we have, we absolutely cannot let go easily. We must reunite with Team 3 as soon as possible!"

"don't want."

Naruto clenched his fists tightly, his expression unusually resolute. "If we lose track of Akatsuki this time, who knows when we'll find them again? And when will we be able to rescue Gaara!"

Sakura Haruno nervously looked at her teammates beside her: "Naruto..."

"Don't worry, Sakura, I won't put myself in danger."

Naruto waved his hand and said softly, "You all step back a little. I'll take over the rest of the battlefield!"

"Um?"

Granny Chiyo looked at him with surprise, then couldn't help but say, "Although I don't know what kind of technique you're going to use, let me assist you in your attack!"

"Mother-in-law!"

Naruto shook his head, stopping Granny Chiyo's idea: "I might have to use the Nine-Tails' power next, which could cause trouble. It's better to stay away from me, since I'm not very familiar with this move."

"Understood."

Granny Chiyo nodded, still manipulating her two puppets, and said softly, "Then I'll go find a way to lure that brat Sasori away, so his puppets don't cause you any trouble!"

"Leave the aerial enemies to me!"

Sai glanced at Deidara, who was still slowly circling the area in the air, took out a thick paintbrush, and used the bold ink to draw a bird on his scroll: "Super Beast Imitation Painting - Bird in the Clouds!"

A giant bird carried Sai into the air. He simply turned back and said coldly, "I'll hold off that blond ninja in the air for a while. The ground is yours, Naruto!"

"Um!"

Naruto Uzumaki nodded heavily.

Sakura Haruno reached out to heal Kakashi Hatake, whispering, "Kakashi-sensei's injuries are serious. I'll protect him..."

As she spoke, Sakura Haruno suddenly looked up and asked, "But Naruto, is there really a reason why we have to do this?"

"have!"

After Naruto nodded, a red chakra cloak appeared on his body, and a tail appeared behind him!

This scene instantly alerted Nagato and Sasori.

That's the Nine-Tails' chakra!

"Such ferocious chakra..."

Nagato's fingers twitched, and he whispered, "It looks like he can use the power of the tailed beasts now. If I weren't worried about delaying that little guy's plans, I would really like to capture Kurama right now. After all, it's the most difficult tailed beast to capture..."

"Oh…"

Sasori of the Red Sand chuckled lightly, "You lot, from the leader down to you, you all really dote on him!"

"We can only decide the present, but he is the one who will shape the future."

"Tsk, I have no interest in hearing about raising kids!"

Sasori, manipulating the puppets of the Third and Fourth Kazekage floating around him, glanced at Chiyo, who was eyeing him menacingly, and said coldly, "It seems I'm forced to have another big battle with Granny again."

"No, you and Deidara will switch opponents."

Nagato interrupted Sasori with a cold voice, and continued, "Konan has already instructed that if you can't make any use of those puppets created by wasting the money allocated to you by the organization, then you should eat all the scrapped puppets."

"..."

Sasori of the Red Sand paused for a moment, then snorted coldly, "No problem!"

I don't know if this guy meant that the battle itself was fine, or that swallowing the destroyed puppet after the battle was fine...

The next moment, Sasori manipulated the Fourth Kazekage to create a sand cushion that appeared beneath his feet, carrying his body and puppets into the air!

Sasori agreed to Nagato's request and immediately went to exchange opponents with Deidara.

Deidara, hovering in the air, seemed slightly displeased upon seeing Sasori. He muttered, "Hey, hey, hey, I don't want to deal with such a troublesome opponent as a puppeteer. Am I supposed to just use Android 18 and Garuda to blow up that old woman?"

"No need to try your best."

Sasori of the Red Sand truly lives up to his reputation as Akatsuki's veteran master of holding back; his techniques for doing so are so readily apparent: "All you need to do is stall for time!"

All the three of them need to do now is stall for time until Uehara Naraku and another team of Konoha ninja arrive.

Coincidentally, what Konoha needed to do was also to do its best to delay the arrival of Uehara Naraku and his other team.

"Alright."

Deidara reluctantly nodded, piloted the giant clay bird towards Granny Chiyo on the ground, and threw a string of clay spider bombs!

Deidara's joyful voice echoed throughout the air: "Hahahaha... Art is an explosion! Drink!"

"idiot…"

Sasori cursed and then frowned, feeling that something was amiss.

Deidara is his cherished teammate, and Granny Chiyo is his family. Is it really okay for these two to fight?

Unfortunately, time was running out for Sasori of the Red Sand to think!

Apart from Sakura Haruno helping Kakashi Hatake with his treatment, the others have each chosen their opponents and are now locked in battle!

I finally got to copy a book review! So happy! Too bad the one with profanity got deleted…

Thank you to reader 20200801003127855 for the generous donation!

The remaining two updates will be at the usual time of 5:30 PM.

(End of this chapter)