"They arrived quite fast. Come with me."
"Where to?"
No response. Using Chakra Threads, Ryuji controlled the girl to jump onto the mechanical bird, then dove upward.
"Ahhh!!!"
The girl lay on the mechanical bird, clutching Ryuji's legs tightly, screaming.
Ryuji glanced back at her, frowning slightly.
Just as he was about to say something, the whistling sound from above grew clearer.
Looking up,
In the torch-lit dimness, three black dots appeared.
As they accelerated toward each other, the dots enlarged, finally revealing the newcomers.
Over two meters tall, puppets resembling medieval knights.
They wielded brutal weapons like knight lances, fan-blades, and drills. From over ten meters away, they raised their empty left hands.
"Don't attack! I'm here!"
Sara shouted loudly.
But the puppets showed no hesitation, launching kunai from their left hands attached to purple chakra strings.
"How could this be!?"
Sara widened her eyes, unable to believe what she saw.
Ignoring her, Ryuji focused on piloting the mechanical bird. As the kunai shot toward them, he rotated the fuselage, narrowly slipping through gaps in the attacks.
The extreme speed even left the puppets unable to react before he flew past them.
"Whoosh..."
Fierce winds howled, making it hard to keep eyes open.
Sara kept her head down, hiding behind Ryuji's legs, while Ryuji remained unaffected.
His eyes were fitted with tactical contact lenses paired with his exoskeleton armor, not only blocking wind and sand but also providing infrared vision, data analysis, etc.
Swish!
The mechanical bird instantly flew to the ground level. Without hesitation, Ryuji attacked, piercing through the tower wall, flying out from the hole.
The knight puppets followed closely, continuously shooting kunai from behind.
Their kunai were attached to Chakra Threads, allowing them to shoot and immediately retract.
Theoretically, they could fire infinitely.
Dense kunai constantly flew, hitting nearby buildings with explosive sounds.
Ryuji piloted the mechanical bird, swiftly weaving between towers, dodging the continuous attacks from behind and the knight puppets joining midway to encircle and intercept.
Though fierce fighting occurred above, below remained brightly lit, with people singing and dancing, turning a deaf ear to the huge commotion.
Sara shouted loudly, wanting her people to take shelter.
But whether her voice was drowned by the wind, unheard, or simply ignored,
in any case, everything continued as before.
Ryuji found it somewhat unbearable, snorting coldly. "No matter how foolish you are, you should have noticed something wrong by now."
"What did you say?"
"Your so-called subjects are all marionettes, not real people."
"What!?"
Sara's eyes widened in disbelief.
Ryuji said no more, piloting the mechanical bird to fly over the queen's subjects, cutting the puppet strings hanging from the towers.
Instantly, the people who were just singing and dancing collapsed as if losing their souls.
"This... how could this be!?"
"Why are all my subjects puppets?"
"Where are the real ones?"
Sara looked dazed.
"You'll find out soon."
As Ryuji spoke, he observed the surroundings, muttering to himself, "We're a good distance from the Dragon Vein now. I can finally act freely."
With that, the mechanical bird executed a 180-degree mid-air turn. Its mouth opened, extending a six-barrel Gatling gun.
Rat-tat-tat!!!
The barrels spat fire, countless fire bullets spraying out, instantly destroying several knight puppets.
Boom! Boom! Boom!!!
The pursuing puppets opened their mouths, firing Chakra Cannons.
Ryuji piloted the mechanical bird to sway left and right, dodging the cannon fire while turning into a corner ahead.
Using buildings to block line of sight, he circled around to the enemy's rear to attack.
Rat-tat-tat!!!
Fire spat, bullets flew, knight puppets fell from the sky one after another.
However, the pursuing puppets not only didn't decrease but increased.
"It's useless. Over the past decades, Anrokuzan has been manufacturing a puppet army. Even I don't know how many there are." Sara suddenly spoke.
As the saying goes, when no one can be relied on, people become self-reliant.
In the original work, that naive, foolish Queen of Roran, who only knew to rely on Naruto, also calmed down and thought when no one was there to depend on.
She knew only Anrokuzan, the puppeteer, could replace all subjects with puppets.
Although she didn't know why he did it and couldn't believe it, the facts before her eyes forced her to consider this.
Anrokuzan had ulterior motives.
Even her mother's death might be related to him.
"I never planned to take down the entire puppet army alone!" Ryuji controlled the mechanical bird to destroy several more knight puppets, then charged toward a tower.
On that tower's balcony stood a middle-aged man in splendid robes, with a beard and a portly figure.
As the mechanical bird flew toward him, their eyes met in the air.
"Found you."
Ryuji grinned. The mechanical bird spat orange fireballs the size of fists.
The middle-aged man somersaulted down.
Ignoring the explosion behind him, he waved his hands, and puppets immediately flew to catch him, heading toward the ground.
"You can't escape."
Ryuji showed a faint smile, turning the mechanical bird to pursue, the six-barrel Gatling continuously firing various elemental Chakra Bullets.
Anrokuzan fled while controlling puppets to counterattack.
But how could humanoid weapons compare to a mechanical bird specifically designed for flight and aerial combat?
Whether flight speed or agility, the mechanical bird completely outclassed them.
With such an advantage, Ryuji naturally didn't engage head-on. Piloting the mechanical bird, he used Roran's tower-filled terrain for guerrilla warfare.
No matter how many puppets the opponent had, they could only be continuously shot down.
However...
"Chakra is running low."
If simply flying, the mechanical bird didn't consume Chakra.
But once entering combat mode, whether manipulating airflow for acceleration or continuously firing Chakra Bullets, it consumed energy.
The opponent's puppets seemed endless and familiar with the terrain.
Relying on guerrilla warfare to defeat them in a short time was impossible.
"Then, as you wish, let's fight head-on!"
Ryuji has a confident smile. The mechanical bird, understanding its master's mood, turned and dove toward the enemy from the front.
"You finally dare to face me head-on!"
Anrokuzan roared with vented anger. Several knight puppets charged forward, countless Chakra Cannons firing from their mouths.
Boom! Boom! Boom!!!
The mechanical bird didn't dodge. Several Chakra Cannon shots accurately hit, erupting in explosive sparks mid-air.
Just as Anrokuzan prepared to celebrate, a slender figure burst from the smoke.
Under moonlight, silver hair shimmered faintly.
"Hah!"