Chapter 140: Humanoid Puppet
Yoru obtained a temporary identity, a genin dispatched by the village to the Land of Rivers front line, Tengbei.
He would use this new identity to disguise himself as a normal Leaf Ninja, observe the Suna Harbor Raid Mission, and collect the most accurate front line information for the Hokage.
Tengbei was an utterly unremarkable genin, unable to pass the Chunin Exam for several years after graduating from the Ninja Academy.
When Yoru was arranging his own identity, he saw Nara El acting as squad leader, currently supplementing team members.
In Xinming’s final mission, only Nara El had survived.
When Yoru was selecting a squad, he chose Nara El’s squad.
Nara El did not seek teammates from the Ino-Shika-Cho Clan, but instead accepted three civilian teammates.
Nara El’s squad assembled, and he held a backpack, saying to the three team members:
“This backpack contains a newly manufactured strategic-grade important equipment of the Nara Clan, the glider.
The glider can grant ninjas flight ability, which is another major contribution of the Nara Clan to the village.
I am responsible for operating one glider. Which one of you is willing to learn to use the glider?”
Yoru listened in stunned amazement. The glider was clearly something he had offered to the village, but in a turn of events, the Nara Clan was claiming it as their important contribution to the village?
Nara El said it was manufactured by the Nara Clan, but didn’t claim they invented it—playing word games.
To conceal his Anbu identity, Yoru did not step forward.
The female ninja Zhen Li stood out: “I am willing to learn the glider!”
Zhen Li was very petite, with a cute doll-like face.
Nara El did not ask the others again, saying:
“In five days, you must master the use of the glider. Five days from now, we will carry out the Suna Harbor Raid Mission.
As long as we sabotage Suna Harbor, Hidden Sand Village’s recent steel supply will face a gap, and the Land of Wind’s foreign trade will suffer heavy damage.”
A normal Leaf squad would explain the mission content and emphasize the importance of the mission.
Unlike Anbu, where the squad leader only tells you the time, location, and target, nothing else.
Over these five days, Yoru and the other team member boredly sparred against each other.
Nara El trained Zhen Li on glider operation.
On the black night five days later, Nara El’s squad arrived outside the camp.
Outside the camp were about 1000 ninjas; the Front Line Camp had mobilized half its forces.
600 ninjas, under the leadership of Deputy Commander Hatake Sakumo, engaged the Sand Ninjas head-on to buy time.
400 ninjas, under the leadership of Commander-in-Chief Nara Shikaku, used gliders to raid the rear Suna Harbor.
This was a major operation.
As for Tsunade, she was responsible for defending the camp and had been at the Front Line Medical Post.
The hot winds of the Land of Wind blew continuously, as glider after glider took off.
Nara El’s squad balanced their weight; Zhen Li carried Tengbei, while Nara El carried the other slim team member as they took off.
Zhen Li carefully tied a rope around Tengbei, then manipulated the glider to fly up.
Yoru could feel the tension in Zhen Li behind him; her muscles were taut.
“Zhen Li, I’ve seen your training. There’s no need to strain your whole body, right? You just need to control the control ropes.”
Zhen Li knew that too, but she just couldn’t help it; her legs and waist kept exerting force into thin air.
“I’m not this nervous when flying alone. It’s different with you. If we crash, we’ll both die.”
Yoru looked down at the ground over two hundred meters below, thinking to himself that with his absolute defense, he might not die.
Until they flew above the cloud layer where the ground was no longer visible, Zhen Li became proficient and relaxed slightly.
Two hundred gliders above the cloud layer resembled a dense flock of wild geese.
Cold wind whistled past their ears; the gliders were moving very fast.
“Zhen Li, I heard you’re already a chunin.”
“Yeah, I just passed the Chunin Exam. It’s easy to promote during wartime. Some of my classmates are already special jonin,” Zhen Li said.
“Tengbei, you need to work hard too. I heard some ninjas are late bloomers, growing stronger and stronger with rich experience.
Not all ninjas peak at 20; some are strongest at “
Yoru said: “30? I’d be almost dead by then.”
Many mediocre ninjas could achieve decent strength through long accumulation, but unfortunately, most didn’t get the chance to accumulate and died early in some mission.
After flying for a long time, the surrounding winds grew stronger.
Zhen Li said: “We’re almost there! The wind direction changed! This is sea wind!”
After passing the final cloud layer, the distant Suna Harbor was brightly lit.
The gliders ahead began lowering altitude one by one, starting to dive.
“Be careful! El Captain said the Sand Ninjas will counterattack during the dive phase!” Zhen Li said.
“Sorry, I’m a chunin and you’re a genin, yet I’m letting you block in front of me.”
Yoru thought to himself that Zhen Li was quite kind, feeling guilty because he was blocking in front of her.
Inside Suna Harbor, sudden chaos erupted.
Sand Ninjas shouted as they jumped onto rooftops and watchtowers, throwing kunai and exploding tags into the air.
Zhen Li dodged attacks as much as possible, but some still headed straight for Tengbei.
Yoru used a kunai to knock away the Sand Ninja’s kunai, saying: “Zhen Li, don’t be nervous. The Sand Ninjas’ kunai lose power when they reach this height after flying upward.”
“You’re right. It’s that I’m not used to glider combat. The Nara Clan’s invention is truly amazing.”
Yoru felt dissatisfied inside. The Nara Clan really knew how to gild their own faces.
Nara El’s squad’s mission was to blow up one pier at the dock.
Zhen Li’s landing was unsteady, and Yoru and Zhen Li rolled on the ground.
A Sand Ninja saw the two in a sorry state and jumped over, kunai in hand, pouncing at them.
Ding!
After the crisp sound, the Sand Ninja looked down in terror.
His kunai had failed to pierce the Leaf Ninja’s heart!
Yoru countered by slashing the Sand Ninja’s throat with his kunai.
He patted his chest, saying: “Lucky I have heart-protecting iron armor under my vest, or this Sand Ninja would have gotten me.”
Zhen Li suspected nothing, assuming Tengbei was well-prepared, and quickly untied the ropes for both of them.
“Into the water! Infiltrate under the pier!”
Nara El shouted, telling the team members to jump into the seawater.
The squad’s other two squads held off the Sand Ninjas on the pier, while Nara El’s squad jumped into the seawater and set exploding tags under the bridge.
After swimming in the icy seawater for over ten seconds, Yoru suddenly sensed an extremely fast-moving shadow.
“There’s a puppet! Fish-shaped Puppet!”
The dark seawater under the bridge was the fish-shaped puppet’s home turf.
Yoru suddenly noticed that the other team member was recklessly charging toward the fish-shaped puppet.
This was too rash.
Wait!
Yoru realized that team member’s movements were odd; he wasn’t charging proactively—it was stiff. Why was that?
He was controlled by Shadow Secret Jutsu!
He collided with the fish-shaped puppet, his body pierced by the puppet’s blades, but he also grabbed hold of the puppet.
Yoru whipped his head around and saw Nara El, with only the upper half of his head above the water surface.
Nara El had used the seawater to hide his Shadow Imitation Jutsu movements.
Was this using Shadow Secret Jutsu to turn a subordinate into a humanoid puppet?
