Konoha: Offer your heart to the Hokage!

Unable to dodge, Shen'er could only fight back in place to save his life, spitting fireballs. Some of the iron sand was melted by the fireballs, but some sand needles still pierced through the fireballs, sweeping across his body and leaving many bloody holes.

Shen Er, with one hand on his shoulder, half-knelt on the ground, breathing heavily, revealing his exhaustion from severe injuries and inability to fight.

Ebizo's offensive also ceased, and he glanced subtly in the direction of the Tsuchiyuri-gai.

Before the operation, Chiyo specifically instructed him to capture Zenin Jinji alive and bring him back to Sunagakure if the opportunity arose. He was a highly valuable talent capable of breaking sand poison ninjutsu, and it would be a pity to kill him directly.

As for what to do with them if they're captured alive...

It could be for sexual purposes, to be used as a seed donor. Or it could be taken back for interrogation to extract information.

But doing this would be unfair to the two people inside the wall.

But so what?

Onoki's clone was just that—a clone. Once dispelled, it wouldn't retain any memories. As for Rashi, that Kumogakure brute was simply dead.

The real target tonight, from beginning to end, has only been Zen-in-Sen-er.

As for Uchiha Chiri, they might not be able to defeat her, but for the guards, if the person they are protecting is killed, her being alive is a crime.

I've heard that the Second Hokage has always been at odds with the Uchiha clan, and he might use this mission failure as an excuse to execute Uchiha Chizuru.

With his mind made up, Ebizo finally made his move.

He stopped a hundred meters away, manipulating the First Kazekage puppet to slowly approach, intending to knock Shen unconscious and capture him alive. As a puppeteer, maintaining a safe distance from the target at all times is a fundamental principle for protecting the relatively weaker main body.

"Fifteen meters..."

"Ten meters..."

"Seven meters..."

Despite appearing severely injured and in a sorry state, Shen'er remained completely calm, silently and precisely calculating the distance between herself and the puppet.

His injuries were all the result of deliberately suppressing his immortal body, with the aim of making Ebizo lower his guard.

With his power, it wouldn't have been difficult for him to destroy the Wind Shadow puppet, but he didn't do so.

The Kazekage puppet before him represented the pinnacle of Sunagakure's puppetry techniques. He needed a complete sample to reverse-engineer Sunagakure's puppetry. Once he mastered this technology, he could mass-produce puppets with Kage-level strength.

This achieved his earlier plan of "using one body for two purposes and making the best use of it".

The joints of the puppet are all wrapped with Ebizo's chakra threads. The seemingly powerful puppet will become useless if the threads break or are replaced.

What Shen Er needs to do is replace the chakra threads with his own Heavenly Compassion Threads and take over this puppet.

He couldn't act rashly; a puppeteer's reflexes were faster than those of a regular ninja. If he released the Heavenly Compassion Thread from a distance, Ebizo would surely detect his intentions.

If you choose to attack the main body after it's exposed, you won't even have the speed to teleport 100 meters, and you won't have time to get close. The best outcome would be to kill Ebizo in the end, but Ebizo will most likely destroy the puppet beforehand and won't leave it for the enemy.

So, all we can do is wait.

There was also an element of gambling involved; if Ebizo didn't want to capture him alive but only wanted to kill him, then Shinji wouldn't have had a chance to get close.

Now it turns out he won his gamble.

At this moment, the puppet was less than 5 meters away from Shen'er.

Ebizo's mouth was already slightly agape with excitement, as if he could already see the scene of bringing Zen-in Jinji back to the village.

In this way, the Sand Ninja who sacrificed themselves on the battlefield tonight will not have died in vain.

"Now!"

Shen Er seized the opportunity and immediately launched the Earthly Grudge. A large number of black lines surged from his hands and stabbed towards the puppet.

Almost simultaneously, the experienced Ebizo sensed the unusual movement and instinctively manipulated his puppet to deploy a sand shield defense. He was used to seeing such desperate struggles; many ninjas with no other options would make a final stand.

But without exception, they all failed.

Ebizo was well aware of the First Kazekage's puppet's defensive capabilities. Its main body was forged from chakra metal, and combined with the First Kazekage's Magnet Release technique, the two combined to create an astonishing defensive force.

In the past, those opponents who fought desperately would completely lose their fighting spirit and become powerless to resist once their offensive was blocked.

But the next second, reality slapped Ebizo in the face, and the smile on his face froze.

He then realized that Zenin Shinji's goal was not to destroy the puppet at all, but the chakra threads!

The dense black lines, like a persistent leech, absorbed his chakra while simultaneously binding him with tough, specially made chakra threads, continuously invading the puppet's interior along these lines.

The threads used to control puppets are divided into two categories: one is chakra threads, which are the most commonly used method by advanced puppeteers; the other is physical threads, which are used as a backup by novice puppeteers or when chakra is insufficient.

But now, both insurance policies have failed.

Ebizo clearly sensed that his connection with the first human puppet was constantly weakening.

How did things turn out like this?

Ebizo panicked and began manipulating the threads, trying to make the puppet release Magnet Release to kill Zenji immediately.

But it was too late.

The key nodes inside the puppet have begun to be entangled and taken over by black threads. Although it can still move with difficulty according to his commands, it has become extremely stiff and its agility is far less than before. Ninjutsu is also unable to be used because the chakra supply is blocked.

Shen Er calmly stood up, a faint smile playing on his lips: "So this is puppetry? It's quite interesting indeed."

Ebizo's face was ashen as he struggled to control the puppet, raising its right hand to fire a hidden poison needle. But as soon as the firing port opened, the puppet's left hand moved first, pressing down firmly on the right hand and blocking the attack angle.

To put it simply...

The puppet has started attacking the right brain from the left.

He even moved his five fingers, manipulating the puppet with great interest. Despite having the absolute upper hand, he was in no hurry to make a move.

At this moment, the two sides are evenly matched in terms of control over the first Kazekage puppet.

Currently, the two have equal control over the First Kazekage puppet, with Jin controlling the left half and Ebizo controlling the right. However, a puppeteer's combat power depends entirely on the puppet, and Ebizo, having lost full control over it, has lost any possibility of posing a threat to Jin.

Now, Shen Er is considering whether or not to spare Ebizo's life.

"Damn it, give me back the puppet!"

Ebizo was both shocked and furious, realizing that if he didn't do something soon, he would eventually lose control of the puppet.

The black lines at the Zen temple were too eerie.

Do not break or stand.

Ebizo simply relinquished control of the remaining half of the puppet, freeing his hands to form hand seals: "Wind Release: Wind Blade".

He concentrated his chakra in his palm and manipulated the wind pressure to transform the airflow into a blade.

An invisible wind blade shot towards Shen'er.

Ebizo's primary profession was as a puppeteer, and due to his exceptional performance, he was allowed to manipulate the First Hokage's puppet, which was at the Kage level. However, this did not mean that his training in conventional ninjutsu was weak; he was still at the Jonin level.

Dense wind blades roared out.

However, when faced with the incoming wind blades, Shen Er did not even think of dodging; he merely twitched his fingertips slightly.

The puppet instantly blocked his way.

Sizzle!!

A harsh, screeching sound rang out.

The invisible wind blades dissipated, leaving only a cut about one centimeter deep on the surface of the human puppet.

Shen Er couldn't help but affirm, "Your puppet is really useful."

Ebizo's face turned black.

Why is Zenji able to adapt to and learn to manipulate puppets so well?

This question lingered in his mind.

As the puppet's level increases, the difficulty for the puppeteer to control it also increases. Every puppeteer must undergo long-term specialized training before they can master controlling a puppet.

The Zen temple, however, from releasing the black lines to manipulating the puppets, took less than a minute in total.

What kind of monster is he?!

Not only did he break the Sand Poison Ninja Technique in a very short time, but he also gained control over the puppet's movements in less than a minute.

Ebizo was unaware that the Earth Grudge was part of Shinji's body, and that controlling the puppet with the Earth Grudge Threads was as simple as a child playing with a movable doll. He could make the puppet move however he wanted, as easily as controlling an arm.

Even if Chiyo and Sasori develop the White Secret Technique and the Red Secret Technique in the future, their control is essentially just manual control. And the method of controlling puppets by connecting them with Earth Grudge Threads is more like mind control.

In theory, he could be the strongest puppeteer if he wanted to!

Compared to making the puppet move, what's slightly more complicated is making it release ninjutsu. After blocking several of Ebizo's wind-style ninjutsu, he even successfully linked with the First Kazekage's puppet's ninjutsu system.

"Let's try this trick."

"Magnetic Release: Iron Sand Rain!"

After the puppet formed the "未" hand seal, the ground trembled, and iron sand, like ocean waves, was extracted from the ground and floated in the air, condensing into countless fine needles.

This is exactly the tactic that Ebizo used to deal with Shinobu.

But at that moment, the fine iron needle turned its head and aimed it at Ebizo.

"Run away as fast as you want!"

Shen Er moved his fingers, and the fine iron needles were launched at lightning speed towards Ebizo. This technique had a wide attack range, a long duration, was extremely difficult to dodge, and possessed extremely strong destructive power.

Fearing the pressure wasn't enough, he manipulated the puppet to unleash Magnet Release: Iron Sand Barrier. Iron sand wove into a giant barrier covered in spikes in the air, with spikes constantly falling and sealing off Ebizo's space.

Seeing Ebizo fleeing in a disheveled state, Shinji couldn't help but laugh.

Using the Kazekage puppet to deal with the Sand Ninja is nothing short of being a minotaur.

Traditional Sand Village puppeteers rely on a limited set of techniques; their power is drastically reduced once they lose their puppets. While they're fine for easily defeating weaker opponents and fighting large armies, their over-reliance on puppets becomes glaringly apparent when facing stronger adversaries.

Only Sasori of the Red Sand, who will transform his own body into a puppet in the future, can be considered a good fighter in one-on-one combat.

This is a problem that cannot be avoided.

If Ebizo were a Cloud Village ninja skilled in Lightning Release, and upon entering Lightning Release Chakra Mode, he could sever the "threads" controlling the puppet at an extremely fast speed, he would also lose control of the puppet.

After toying with Ebizo like a cat playing with a mouse for a while, he finally made a decision.

He decided to kill Ebizo.

Chiyo Mirai's motivation and intention in developing [Self-Reincarnation] was to resurrect the parents of her grandson, Sasori of the Red Sand.

As the widow of the First Kazekage, her relationship was somewhat like that of an older man marrying a younger woman. Chiyo and Hiruzen Sarutobi were the same age, making her seem like a little girl to the First Kazekage. Her child would be killed by Sakumo Hatake during the Second Shinobi World War.