"Indeed," a voice said. "It's at the moment of victory that one is most careless. That's why you have to stay vigilant. When fighting a Puppet Master, you should at least be able to tell which one is the puppet and which is the main body!"
***
The puppet, which had seemingly been frozen by the shadow technique, transformed into Daigan's own image right before Shikamaru's horrified eyes.
"Transformation Jutsu?"
"Correct, but there's no prize!" Another elbow strike landed on Shikamaru's back, knocking him to the ground with a trickle of blood at the corner of his mouth.
With victory firmly in his grasp, Daigan finally allowed himself a moment of relief. The outcome was good, but the process had been anything but easy. He had nearly been defeated, but fortunately, he had the last laugh.
Unlike the weak and despicable Grass Ninja, Nara Shikamaru's performance had been quite impressive. If he hadn't been so unfamiliar with a Puppet Master's fighting style, he wouldn't have been defeated so easily.
After Daigan had rested for a moment, Chi arrived with Yome, carrying the incapacitated Yamanaka Ino.
"What took you so long?" Daigan asked. "Two against one, and it took you that much time to win?"
Chi dropped Ino to the ground and stretched her sore arms. "This girl isn't weak. Even for a rookie fresh out of the Academy, I could only gain the upper hand by relying on my experience. When she's my age, she'll probably be much stronger than me."
Yome added with emotion, "Konoha's foundation is terrifying. We just picked a weak team to test our skills, and we almost lost."
"Don't sell yourselves short. Their talent is likely among the best even in Konoha. Still, your fighting styles are too straightforward. You lack a bit of combat smarts..." Daigan offered some comfort to his somewhat dejected teammates. "Yome, check our surroundings. Our fight made a lot of noise, with the smoke bombs and flash bombs. We might attract other enemies."
"Understood. Leave it to me!" Yome said, once again activating her vision that could scan the entire Forest of Death. Her pupils adjusted slightly as she searched for any hidden figures nearby.
"Watch out! Someone's here!" Yome suddenly warned in a sharp voice.
Daigan and Chi tensed up.
"Where?"
"They're... above us!"
As Yome lifted her small face, she saw three Konoha ninja hidden in the treetops, where they had been observing for some time.
"Hey, you Sand Ninja down there," Hyuga Neji said, looking down on Team Otokaze with an air of superiority, his arms crossed. "Are you done resting?"
"How long have you been here?" Daigan asked, eyeing Konoha's top rookie from the previous year warily.
"Since you knocked that big guy to the ground."
"So you saw almost everything, huh? Well, isn't that just..." His fight with Shikamaru had been completely exposed. Winning by exploiting his opponent's unfamiliarity with Puppet Masters would be much harder now.
At the same time, Rock Lee and Tenten flickered into position, cutting off Team Otokaze's escape route.
"Your personalities might be a bit rotten, but at least you defeated those rookies fair and square," Rock Lee said. "We won't take advantage of you. If you need to rest a bit longer, we can wait."
Daigan waved his hand, signaling his teammates to fall back. With his left hand, he pulled back the substitute puppet that looked identical to him, and with his right, he brought out the Temari puppet he had kept hidden.
"So you can control two puppets at once. It seems you were holding back when you beat those rookies," Neji noted with a nod. "Good. That means I can expect a little more from you." He leaped down from the treetop, forming a triangle with his two teammates to surround Team Otokaze. "It seems you don't want to waste any more time. Excellent. Let's begin. Don't hold back. Those rookies don't represent the strength of Konoha's ninja. We're different. Bring it on!"
Yome felt a pang of guilt for not spotting the enemy sooner. "Sorry, Daigan..."
Daigan waved her apology away calmly. "Don't worry about it. You can't fight and scout at the same time. In the end, it's our fault for taking too long. There's no point in assigning blame now. We just need to do our best to get out of here. Follow the plan."
"Right!"
Chi and Yome each took out a special antidote pill and swallowed it. Yome also put on a pair of prepared goggles.
With preparations complete, Daigan gave the order. The two puppets' mouths suddenly flew open, shooting out a barrage of firebombs that blanketed an area nearly a hundred meters across. The bombs exploded, releasing a thick, acrid, poisonous smoke. The foul smell quickly spread, and soon, nearly half the participants in the Forest of Death could smell it.
"Follow me!" Yome charged forward, heading for the weakest point in their encirclement—Tenten. She was met with a volley of thrown weapons.
Daigan flicked his hand, using his substitute puppet to block the attack and force a path through.
Realizing their opponents were trying to flee, Neji and Rock Lee flanked them from the left and right, but they didn't press the attack immediately.
"Daigan, this isn't working! They're too fast!" Yome cried anxiously, watching Neji and Rock Lee closing in.
"I know. Just wait a little longer!"
-----
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