28: Sorry, your information is all a trap!

“Swish! Swish! Swish!”

Several figures appeared like phantoms at the canyon entrance, moving swiftly and silently. It was Maki’s support team.

Maki’s eyes were as sharp as an eagle’s, quickly scanning the entire battlefield.

The wind in the canyon seemed to be stained by congealed blood, carrying a sweet, metallic scent, whimpering as it passed through the jagged rocks.

The setting sun’s afterglow cut the rock face into light and dark halves, casting grotesque shadows that made the few fallen Leaf Ninja corpses look like offerings crawled out of hell.

Dead silence.

Besides the wind, there was only Zi Luo’s heavy breathing and the excited flush that had not yet faded from his face.

There were no traces of large-scale Ninjutsu devastation; the ground, apart from a few shallow pits and scattered kunai, was too clean to be the site of a life-and-death struggle.

His gaze finally landed on Zi Luo.

“Didn’t I do great, Teacher Maki!” Zi Luo grinned, excitedly pounding his chest with his fist. “I took down two Genin by myself! The Ninja of the so-called ‘First Ninja Village’ are nothing special!”

Maki ignored his bragging and walked directly to the Konoha Chunin’s corpse, squatting down.

His fingers gently brushed aside the messy hair on the deceased’s forehead, revealing a red dot, almost imperceptible to the naked eye, right in the center of the brow.

Centered around the red dot, the surrounding skin tissue had already begun to show a strange bluish-black color, with slight signs of inward corrosion.

It wasn't a kunai, nor a senbon, nor any conventional Ninja tool.

It was Tang Yan’s exclusive hidden weapon.

A highly potent poison capable of instantly destroying the central nervous system, causing him to die on the spot before he could even form a single hand seal.

Maki’s heart sank sharply.

This clean and decisive killing method instinctively sent a chill down his spine.

His gaze slowly lifted, passing over the still chattering Zi Luo, finally settling on Tang Yan.

And, next to Tang Yan, the quietly crouched puppet, with its grotesque yet somewhat aesthetic design.

‘Jia’.

It was entirely covered in dark brown scales, each shimmering with a cold metallic luster, its design full of power and the aesthetics of slaughter.

But what truly made Maki’s heart pound was that this “puppet” was spotlessly clean, feeling different from other puppets.

As a Jonin of Sunagakure, puppetry was a tradition and pride ingrained in their bones.

Maki himself was an expert in controlling puppets, from the most basic single-line control to Elder Chiyo’s miraculous “Chikamatsu Collection of Ten Puppets,” the core of which was always the visible or invisible Chakra threads.

Those were the puppeteer’s nerves, the puppet’s lifeline.

He re-examined “Jia,” from head to toe, not missing a single joint seam.

Nothing, there was nothing.

This thing in front of him… it seemed to have no lifeline.

Zi Luo also leaned over, curiously poking “Jia’s” cold scales, producing dull “clanging” sounds.

“Tang Yan, your puppet is really sturdy. But… where are your Chakra threads? Where did you hide them?”

Maki slowly stood up, his throat feeling dry, his voice even carrying a subtle hoarseness: “Tang Yan, has your puppet control Jutsu advanced to the point where you can detach from Chakra threads?”

He tried to use logic he could comprehend to explain this scene that overturned his understanding.

Perhaps it was some more advanced Chakra transmission technique, similar to radio waves? But even then, there should be Chakra fluctuations.

Tang Yan’s expression was as calm as ever, as if the rapid battle just now was merely a stroll after a meal.

He lightly patted “Jia’s” shoulder, producing a dull metallic thud.

“Teacher Maki, to correct you, it’s not a conventional puppet.”

He spoke plainly, his words clearly reaching Maki and Zi Luo’s ears.

“More precisely, it’s an autonomous combat weapon based on ‘Mechanism Puppetry’.”

“Autonomous… combat weapon?” Zi Luo scratched his head, his face full of question marks. “What’s that? Isn’t it still a puppet?”

Tang Yan ignored Zi Luo. His gaze fixed on Maki’s undisguised astonishment, his tone still calm: “Teacher Maki, you can understand it this way. I will pre-’engrave’ dozens, even hundreds, of basic attack patterns, defensive stances, movement methods, and other ‘modules’ into its core drive unit.”

“For example, when facing multiple enemies advancing from the front, ‘Jia’ will automatically activate ‘Scheme 37’: deploying smoke bombs from its shoulder mechanisms to obscure vision, simultaneously activating its leg burst units for retreat, and then switching to crossbows for suppressive scattering.”

With each additional sentence Tang Yan spoke, Maki’s expression grew more solemn.

This was no longer within the scope of puppetry.

This was a completely new logic of warfare.

“Once combat is triggered, ‘Jia’ will automatically select and combine the most effective countermeasures from these preset modules based on real-time changes on the battlefield—such as the number of enemies, distance, attack methods, and formation. The entire process requires no real-time subtle control from me.”

Tang Yan paused slightly, as if searching for a more common explanation.

“Simply put, the only command I give is ‘clear the area’. As for how to clear it, whether with poison needles, crossbows, or close-quarters combat, ‘Jia’ will decide on its own, and its on-the-spot reaction will be faster than mine.”

“Of course,” Tang Yan added, “if the situation requires, I can also intervene with Chakra threads or issue more precise instructions.”

He did not reveal that the Tang Clan’s secret technique, “Object Manipulation,” could completely dispense with Chakra threads. These words were half-truth, half-fiction, both explaining the current phenomenon and leaving enough room for his abilities to appear less astonishing to Maki’s understanding of this advanced technology.

Maki was silent.

Countless thoughts flashed through his mind instantly.

What if… what if Sunagakure had such a unit? It wouldn’t require a large number of puppeteers, just a commander and a group of these “weapons”…

What a terrifying scenario that would be.

His gaze towards Tang Yan had completely changed.

Zi Luo, listening in confusion, looked at Tang Yan, then at the motionless “Jia,” finally unable to hold back, scratching his head and leaning closer: “Wait, wait! Tang Yan! You mean… this puppet, it, it thinks for itself how to fight? I just need to poke it with a Chakra thread, and then I can just watch from the sidelines, and it can take apart all those Konoha guys by itself?”

Maki was in no mood to deal with Zi Luo’s fussing at this moment.

His brain was working at an unprecedented speed, every cell screaming in protest, trying to digest Tang Yan’s words.

No real-time micro-control needed?

After issuing a command, the operator could even free their hands to perform other Ninjutsu?

This… this was not an innovation in puppetry. This was forcibly grafting a “devil’s” tree onto the foundation of puppetry, which had been passed down for hundreds of years in Sunagakure—a tree he completely failed to understand, and even felt a chill from!

He stared intently at Tang Yan, this junior much younger than him, whose face remained calm and unperturbed.

It was as if he had just dropped not a bombshell capable of overturning Sunagakure’s entire military philosophy, and possibly even changing the nature of warfare in the Ninja World, but merely an inconspicuous pebble by the roadside.

An indescribable complex emotion surged in Maki’s heart.

There was fear of this unknown power, amazement and satisfaction at the junior’s extraordinary talent, but more so, a sense of powerlessness, as if being violently slammed onto the beach by the tide of the times, almost suffocating.

Tang Yan seemed to see through his thoughts, gently stroking “Jia’s” cold shoulder armor, as if admiring his masterpiece, and said in a voice almost to himself: “This is just the beginning. The ultimate goal of Mechanism Puppetry is to achieve my ‘One Hundred Puppet Performance’.”

One Hundred Puppet Performance?!

The last four words struck Maki’s heart like a heavy hammer! His pupils suddenly constricted, and his breathing stopped for a moment.

That was a forbidden Jutsu only Sasori of the Red Sand had mastered! It was the pinnacle legend of Sunagakure’s puppetry! But Sasori’s One Hundred Puppet Performance came at the cost of sacrificing his human body, and still required massive amounts of Chakra threads as a medium!

And the “Mechanism Puppetry” and “Autonomous Combat Weapon” that Tang Yan spoke of were two terms he had never heard before, yet they sent chills down his spine.

He suppressed the stormy waves in his heart and slowly walked towards “Jia,” extending his gloved hand to gently touch its outer shell.

The sensation upon touch was cold, hard, a pure metallic texture, rather than the slightly warm special wood or alloy of traditional puppets, which had been nourished by Chakra for years.

He could even clearly see that the seams of each scale were perfectly fitted, its craftsmanship so exquisite that it surpassed the realm of “weaponry,” more like… a work of art from another world.

This… this was not a Ninja’s creation at all!

A storm raged in Maki’s mind. Puppetry was the foundation and glory of Sunagakure, its core lying in the bond and precise control established between the puppeteer and the puppet through Chakra.

Elder Chiyo’s “Chikamatsu Collection of Ten Puppets” was already the limit attainable by mortals, with each finger corresponding to the life and death of a puppet.

But this thing of Tang Yan’s, it had no bond, it only needed commands!

It moved by itself, it killed by itself!

This meant it was not even limited by distance; it could lurk thousands of miles away, and at the most unexpected moment, unleash a pre-set combination attack to achieve a fatal blow!

This was not just an improvement, nor just an innovation; this was a complete subversion of the “puppetry” system from its very roots!

Maki suddenly turned his head, and in a flash of lightning, everything connected in his mind.

Zi Luo’s frontal feint drew all the enemy’s attention.

Qian’s cactus Genjutsu on the flank created confusion and delayed movement.

Then, this “unknown unit” that the enemy completely failed to comprehend launched a fatal blow from underground, where they were least likely to guard, instantly tearing open the defense and harvesting lives!

He had always thought it was a five-on-three advantage battle.

Now he understood that from the very beginning, they were five-on-four, and this “four” was the most deadly hunter, whose very existence they had failed to perceive.

This was the true reason why this battle ended in such a short time, with almost zero casualties!

Maki looked at Tang Yan’s young yet placid face, and for the first time, he felt a delusion called “fear” for the enemy.

This young man was not just a genius Ninja.

He was a terrifying commander of the future, possessing groundbreaking tactical thinking and holding an unknown trump card capable of changing the rules of war!

“Cough…” Maki forcefully suppressed the shock in his heart, regaining his Jonin dignity, and took out a scroll from his Pregnant, solemnly conveying the latest orders from headquarters, “Headquarters command—”

He unrolled the scroll, his expression more serious than ever before.

“Next phase of the mission, you will detach from the main force and immediately infiltrate Mt. Kikyo on the border of the Land of Wind to investigate Konoha’s rear supply lines. Mission level—B-rank! If you can cut off the enemy’s supply lines, the mission level will automatically rise to S-rank!”

B-rank? S-rank mission!

Zi Luo’s breathing quickened, his eyes full of excitement and fighting spirit.

Qian’s face grew even paler; she knew very well what an S-rank mission meant.

The atmosphere of the entire canyon, because of that word, became extremely heavy once again.

However, the young man who was expected to accept the order showed no reaction.

Tang Yan merely looked at Maki calmly, his deep eyes filled with solemnity.

Just as Maki frowned, Tang Yan suddenly spoke, his voice not loud, but like a heavy hammer, striking everyone’s hearts.

“Teacher Maki, the intelligence is incorrect.”

Maki was startled: “What?”

“This B-rank mission isn’t to investigate Konoha’s supply lines,” Tang Yan’s gaze seemed to pierce through endless sandstorms, seeing the distant Mt. Kikyo. “According to my feeling, that so-called ‘supply line’…”

He paused slightly, then, word by word, delivered a conclusion that made all the hairs on Maki’s body stand on end.

“It itself is a huge trap, designed to lure all of us in.”