Kimimaro, acting as a human shield, luckily wasn't needed yet. The stone wall summoned by Kakashi, engraved with a dog's head, was destroyed by the combined attacks of Sasori's human puppets. However, after the wall crumbled, the momentum of the combined jutsu seemed to lose strength and was unable to completely break through Itachi's water barrier.

But Sasori's aim wasn't to kill.

Destroying such valuable material would be a waste of all his efforts. The best outcome would be capturing them alive for gradual modification. If that wasn't possible, at least keeping the body intact was crucial. Cutting off limbs might be acceptable, but making them a bloody mess beyond recognition was not.

The frontal attack of the five puppets was blocked, but they successfully delayed Kakashi's team from escaping. With the brief pause, five more traditionally-constructed puppets circled around, cutting off their retreat. At this point, Sasori finally made a move.

Puppet masters have a distance limit for controlling their puppets. The farther the puppets are from the master, the more chakra is consumed and the harder it is to maintain control. Even for Sasori, controlling ten puppets at once required intense concentration, leaving no room for mistakes.

With a metallic clang, Itachi parried a poisoned blade with his short sword, moving like a phantom across the battlefield using a combination of Body Flicker and Substitution Techniques. His Uchiha-style swordsmanship and shuriken techniques were flawless in both close and ranged combat. If only genjutsu were effective, Itachi believed he could have already taken down several enemies.

Unfortunately, their enemies were puppets.

Genjutsu didn't work on them.

Moreover, the puppets' hardness far exceeded that of a regular ninja's body. Unless someone mastered powerful Wind Release techniques or had weapons that could cut through iron like mud, it would be difficult to damage these puppets with regular tools. Right now, only ninjutsu or explosive tags seemed capable of harming them.

Through his peripheral vision, Itachi observed the situation. The puppets weren't attacking all at once but maintained a one-on-one approach. Kakashi and Kimimaro were each occupied by one puppet, while the remaining seven blocked all possible escape routes—a frustrating situation. Itachi, known for his humility and politeness, still had some pride as an Uchiha.

Despite his modest smile when praised as a genius, deep down, Itachi held a sense of pride. Since graduating from the ninja academy, he hadn't lost a single fight, except when facing the clan leader or Shisui.

"What now, Kakashi-senpai?" Itachi asked in a low voice as they passed each other.

Kakashi remained silent for five seconds until they crossed paths again. As they moved back-to-back, he finally whispered new orders to Itachi: "Proceed with free action. Do whatever you think is best."

The situation was grim.

The human puppets were far more troublesome than expected. If he were uninjured, there might be a chance for a counterattack, but his deteriorating condition made it hard to last much longer. Sasori, on the other hand, had yet to go all out. And even more frustratingly, their escape was blocked. If Kakashi were alone, he could escape easily, but he had Itachi and Kimimaro with him. While they weren't a burden, their teamwork, despite looking coordinated, was full of holes when facing an opponent of Sasori's caliber.

Rather than forcing flawed teamwork, it was better to let them make their own decisions.

After relaying the same instructions to Kimimaro, Kakashi knew he couldn't abandon his team and escape alone. He sighed, swallowed a pain-relief pill, and gave his full attention to the puppets, launching a fierce attack.

Though they were being pinned down by the puppets, Kakashi had grown familiar with their mechanisms over time. He carefully placed an explosive tag in his left palm, preparing for the right moment. His Sharingan helped him predict the puppet's movements, allowing him to avoid its attacks with precision. In one swift motion, he planted the tags on the puppet's side, thigh, and back, executing a daring and precise move.

If he had miscalculated by even a fraction, it would've been Kakashi lying on the ground.

But Kakashi trusted the eye given to him by his close friend to see the path forward. He knew his hard work wouldn't betray him. And in a series of three nearly simultaneous explosions, the puppet—made of steel and wood—was blown to pieces. The poison-laced, finely crafted blades scattered far and wide, torn apart by the blast.

"Not so hard to deal with after all," Kakashi thought.

His earlier judgment had been wrong. Once familiar with the puppet's combat style, he realized he had overestimated their threat. The pressure from Sasori's reputation and Kakashi's own injuries had clouded his judgment.

Though these puppets weren't invincible, Sasori himself, who had yet to reveal his full strength, remained a formidable opponent.

Kakashi had only destroyed a traditional puppet, not one of Sasori's human puppets. The Earth Release puppet, which had been chasing him earlier, was still blocking their retreat.

Shortly after Kakashi defeated his puppet, Itachi finally used his second jutsu.

Fire Style: Phoenix Flower Claw Crimson.

Small clusters of flames fell like a sudden downpour, hitting the puppet squarely before it had a chance to evade. The high temperatures of the fire caused the puppet's wooden body to warp and twist slightly, but it did not catch fire. Every part of the puppet had been coated with fire-resistant material.

For the puppet masters of the Hidden Sand Village, fireproofing was a necessary skill. They didn't aim to resist extreme heat or the shockwaves of explosions, but rather to ensure their puppets wouldn't ignite easily.

However, Uchiha Itachi's goal wasn't to burn the puppet down. The Phoenix Flower Jutsu was just one part of his attack. Hidden within the flames were shuriken, which completed the assault. Under Itachi's precise control, the shuriken struck the puppet's joints, and the high temperature of the flames caused the puppet's body to deform. The shuriken became lodged in the joints, rendering the puppet's mechanisms useless.

Even though this puppet wasn't completely shattered like the one destroyed by Kakashi, it was still practically unusable with its stiff limbs. It became more of a burden to Sasori, distracting him and occupying one of his control slots.

Sasori quickly abandoned the broken puppet, letting it drop to the ground as he severed the chakra strings controlling it.

"Stop right there!"

With a roar like that of a young tiger, Kimimaro engaged in direct combat with another puppet.

White bones jutted out from his palms, elbows, shoulders, back, and sides, making him look like a white hedgehog. The six-armed puppet couldn't find an opening to attack. Every strike it attempted was blocked by Kimimaro's incredibly tough bones, which even chipped the puppet's blades upon impact.

And this wasn't even his limit—he could still get stronger!

Seeing Kakashi and Itachi handle their respective puppets, Kimimaro felt a surge of determination. He focused on increasing the calcium density in his bones, making them even harder. Then, with a swift motion, he drew out his own spine, using it as a whip to ensnare the puppet.

At the same time, more bones grew from his body, which he threw with all his strength. The bones crossed and pinned down the puppet, restraining it completely. Even though Sasori tried to disassemble the puppet, every part that came loose was still held fast by Kimimaro's bone restraints.

In less than five minutes, Kakashi and his team decided to fight instead of retreating. They disabled three puppets through various means, with Kimimaro successfully restraining one. Out of breath, Kimimaro barely had time to savor the victory before noticing that both Kakashi and Itachi were already caught up in a new round of fierce combat.

This time, each of them faced off against three puppets, and another one was charging directly at Kimimaro, seamlessly continuing the assault!

Victory still seemed far out of reach.

Taking down one puppet was only the first step. Defeating Sasori of the Red Sand completely would be no easy task.

"Impressive! You're all such excellent material!"

Despite losing three puppets, Sasori wasn't angry. In fact, a barely perceptible smirk appeared on his usually emotionless face. After all, these were just old models. Even if they hadn't been destroyed in battle, he would've disposed of them eventually. These puppets were from before he started mass-producing human puppets.

Now that his collection of human puppets was growing, the old models were becoming obsolete. Even if his human puppets were damaged, Sasori didn't mind. Their destruction only proved that they weren't eternal, reaffirming his pursuit of true immortality. His calm, calculating mind even wandered to thoughts unrelated to the battle.

In stark contrast, Kakashi and his team were in a much more desperate state.

Their earlier momentum had faded like a brief flash of brilliance, and now they were struggling under the relentless attacks of the puppets. The sheer ferocity of the human puppets' assaults was overwhelming. Even though Kimimaro was only facing an old-model puppet, his chakra reserves were already below half, and the techniques he had used earlier might not work again. His situation was becoming increasingly grim.

Kakashi's mind raced with thoughts on how to break the stalemate. Fortunately, it seemed like Sasori wanted to capture them alive, as he hadn't been going all-out. But unfortunately, this meant Sasori was more than willing to drag the battle out for as long as it took.

The longer the fight went on, the happier Sasori seemed. Exhausted prey with depleted chakra would be much easier to capture alive. As time dragged on, Kakashi's team would grow weaker and weaker, while Sasori, having transformed himself into a puppet, would never tire. As long as he managed his mental stamina, he was confident he could wear them down.

Kakashi didn't know Sasori's secret, but his instincts and experience told him that prolonging the battle was not an option.

If they couldn't break the deadlock before their chakra ran out, they'd be done for. But this deadlock wasn't easy to shatter…

Gritting his teeth, Kakashi steeled his resolve, his jaw tightening.

"Itachi, Kimimaro, watch your feet!"

Kakashi shouted loudly.

In a flash, he used the Body Flicker Technique to put some distance between himself and the puppet attacking him. His hands moved so quickly they left afterimages as he formed seals, gathering a large amount of chakra into his palms. He crouched down and slammed both hands into the ground.

Earth Style: Fissure Palm!

This was a high-level Earth Style technique.

Its destructive power was among the top-tier Earth Jutsu, capable of not only attacking targets but also damaging the battlefield itself to achieve strategic effects. It was a favorite technique of Stone ninja in large-scale battles.

(End of Chapter)