"Are you a medical ninja?"
"Yes..."
"Come with me."
"Alright..."
Hakushi turned around, and saw that the one controlling the puppet was a beautiful woman with long brown hair, who looked like she was not more than thirty years old. She was recognized as one of the two puppet masters from the Hidden Sand forces.
However, she had lost an arm, and the wound was wrapped in bandages, affecting her overall appearance.
But for a puppet master of her level, even losing an arm would not significantly decrease her strength.
After all, a puppet master's strength lies in the puppets.
She led the way without any precautions, seeming to show no defense against Hakushi—at least, if one ignored the puppet holding a kunai to Hakushi's neck, this would seem the case.
Given her current situation, her caution was entirely expected.
It was a thick tree that might require ten people to encircle, yet its base was hollow, revealing a dark opening, with only a bit of light piercing in.
Hakushi was forced inside, and with the light from outside, he could make out some of the details within.
A red-haired man lay weakly on the ground, with a shocking gash on his chest. Though crudely wrapped in bandages, they were soaked in blood and could only stop the bleeding temporarily.
After a while, giving up on him to escape alone would likely be the only option.
However, Hakushi knew from the intelligence reports that these two puppet masters, one male and one female, were the son and daughter-in-law of a Hidden Sand elite, a pair of very loving ninja spouses. Instead of leaving her husband to die here, she might even have thoughts of dying together.
This possibility also existed.
Ninjas are human too, and suppressing emotions only makes them stronger.
If only considering gains and losses, every human could be a flawlessly calculating genius.
But in reality, there are often not that many flawlessly calculating geniuses.
More than gains and losses, humans are emotional beings easily swayed by feelings.
The best option for this woman would be to kill her husband, dispose of his body to prevent intelligence leaks, and leave alone as quickly as possible.
But she didn't do this, which precisely proved the point.
"Heal him properly and don't try any tricks."
The woman's words were short, making her intentions clear to Hakushi.
"Understood. If I heal him, might you mercifully spare my life?"
The woman didn't respond.
The puppet's kunai pressed against Hakushi's neck, almost enough to sever it.
Hakushi shrugged helplessly.
A faint green light emanated from his right hand, and he crouched down. His left hand slowly removed the bandages from the male puppet master's body. In his unconscious state, the man let out a weak groan of pain, as Hakushi applied the green light to the wound, hastening its healing.
"This wound was caused by wind attribute chakra... To heal it completely, I need ten minutes."
"Don't you, as his student, know the secret of the White Fang Swordsmanship?"
The female puppet master frowned.
Hakushi shook his head.
He only knew that Sakumo's swordsmanship was formidable, but was unsure of its secrets.
Maybe enemies knew, but those who knew could all be dead.
Perhaps many in Konoha knew, yet kept it under secrecy.
After all, exploring a ninja's secret at will isn't wise, it can easily cause discord among comrades.
Especially for a powerful jonin like Sakumo, his swordsmanship secrets could only have been thoroughly understood by higher-ups like the Hokage.
As time went by, the male puppet master's complexion improved significantly and his breathing became steady.
The female puppet master glanced at Hakushi with slight surprise and said, "Your medical ninjutsu is excellent, no wonder you were assigned to Konoha White Fang."
She knew how severe her husband's injuries were and was surprised how Hakushi managed in just ten minutes, without even performing surgery.
Recalling that Hakushi's squad leader was Sakumo, she felt a sense of relief.
Ninja following the Konoha White Fang might not have outstanding combat skills, but their medical ninjutsu must be exceptional.
Even in the Hidden Sand Village, most medical ninjas, including those with outstanding medical abilities, may not match Hakushi's level of medical ninjutsu.
Only in this way could a mediocre Genin have the qualifications to follow the Konoha White Fang.
Konoha is worthy of being a cradle of geniuses.
"The wound has healed, but there are still severe internal injuries. To completely heal him, I need an operating room and some herbs."
Hakushi stepped to the side, standing honestly and properly.
"No need, just leave it as it is for now."
The female Puppet Master showed a slight look of relief on her face.
Just as a string in her heart was slowly relaxing, the male Puppet Master lying on the ground suddenly let out a horrific scream. His lips began to turn deep red, and he started coughing violently, spitting out strange dark red blood.
Poisoned!
The female Puppet Master's face immediately changed with shock. As this terrifying thought flashed through her mind, the five fingers of her only remaining hand started to twitch, revealing a horrifying murderous intent in her eyes as she prepared to control her Puppet to kill.
Her movements were not slow; to some extent, her finger dexterity even surpassed Hakushi, but Hakushi had already made plans.
Taking the male Puppet Master's scream as a signal, he gathered blue chakra in his hands, forming a blade-like shape.
He turned and swung.
The Puppet Puppet just started to move, only to be shattered by the hand blade Hakushi swung out. With a cracking sound, a large amount of wood splinters scattered in front of Hakushi.
"You!"
This kind of reaction and speed was something a Genin could not possibly achieve.
The female Puppet Master finally realized the severity of the situation.
All her strength was concentrated in her puppets.
Her puppet had previously been diced by Sakumo's White Fang Short Knife, and now she was controlling her husband's puppet, which was also damaged.
Even if she wanted to bring out a new backup puppet, it would take time.
However, Hakushi's speed and reaction greatly shocked her. Without much thought, as Hakushi turned and shattered the Puppet Puppet, she grabbed her poisoned, bleeding husband and rushed out of the tree hole.
All she could do now was run for her life.
Just as she ran outside, after a few steps, a petite figure suddenly descended in front of her.
Scarlet eyes with spinning Magatama.
"Ugh..."
The female Puppet Master's body stiffened, making it difficult for her to move.
Her husband rolled to the ground, coughing painfully, his lips now completely black.
Poof!
A blade pierced through from the female Puppet Master's back to her chest, stabbing through her heart.
The female Puppet Master fell straight forward, dying with a look of unwillingness in her eyes.
Hakushi held a blood-stained ninja blade in his hand, his face indifferent as he glanced at the female Puppet Master's body, then walked towards the poisoned and unconscious male Puppet Master, unhesitatingly slashing at his chest, ending his life.
"It turned out to be much easier than planned."
Ruri showed a smile.
"Of course, the Puppet Master's most important combat power lies in their puppets. In cases where you can't directly target the Puppet Master themselves, finding an opening to destroy the puppet isn't a bad strategy."
If he had Sakumo's abilities, he could directly find an opportunity to attack the Puppet Master themselves, without needing to act out such a poor drama, wasting time.
"Looks like we got lucky; credit for these two guys goes to you."
Hakushi generously credited Ruri, while he only needed to continue hiding in the shadows.
Ruri nodded, calmly accepting the credit.
"By the way, I forgot to mention, the Yamanaka Clan is skilled at extracting information from corpses, provided the brain is kept intact. Remember to clean up thoroughly, and don't leave any traces."
Ruri suddenly remembered and said.
"Got it. It's really troublesome, wasting my medicine like this feels like doing something shady."
Hakushi muttered a complaint, rummaging through his Ninja Tool Bag to find two syringes filled with a pale purple liquid, and walked towards the two bodies on the ground.
"Stop complaining, catching such a big fish this time means the village will certainly reward us generously."
Ruri took one of the syringes from Hakushi's hand and injected it into the female Puppet Master's neck, delivering the liquid.
Soon after, they saw the female Puppet Master's skin surface veins bulge, as if about to burst through the skin.
This gruesome scene lasted less than three seconds before the corpse returned to its previous normal appearance, as if nothing had happened.
"I heard the Hokage has a Sealing Book that records various powerful techniques and Forbidden Techniques..."
"Don't even think about that. The Senju line isn't generous to unrelated people. If it were during the First Hokage's regime, maybe there'd be a chance."
Ruri's skill in dampening enthusiasm was quite impressive.
After cleaning up the traces, Hakushi and Ruri carried the two bodies back to the watchpoint.