I Just Wanted to Slack Off, But I Was Forced to Become Hokage

Chapter 85: S-Rank Mission: [The Battle for Kikyo Castle]!

On the surface of the pure white scroll were engraved simple, monotonous diamond-shaped patterns. Driven by Chiyo's will, a dense mist of deep purple chakra continuously poured out from the center of these patterns. In just a moment, this chakra mist gathered and formed into ten special puppets.

These ten puppets roughly maintained a human form and shape, but their sizes varied. Each puppet was draped in a long white robe, and an invisible deterrent force emanated from their cold shells.

Chiyo raised her hands. From the fingertips of all ten fingers, tough, solid chakra strings condensed and shot out, directly adhering to the backs of the "Chikamatsu Collection of Ten Puppets." As Chiyo's ten fingers moved, each of the puppets made a corresponding movement.

"I will attack first. You follow up later!"

Under Chiyo's control, three of the "Chikamatsu Collection" puppets stepped out from the ranks and moved quickly to the vicinity of Kikyo Castle. The three puppets' faces simultaneously aimed at the castle gate, and they opened their mouths.

"Chikamatsu Collection: Three Jewels Suction Crushing!"

The three puppets formed a triangular formation and simultaneously made the hand gesture for molding chakra. This seemed to be the signal to activate some special mechanism. An incomparably violent gale surged from in front of the three puppets. They intertwined, forming a ferocious and terrifying horizontal tornado tunnel, its end pointing directly at the gate of Kikyo Castle.

BOOM!!

With a heaven-shaking roar, the "Three Jewels Suction Crushing" released by the three puppets simultaneously and violently tore the gate of Kikyo Castle from the walls. The wide, thick castle gate was sucked towards the puppets through the tornado tunnel, continuously emitting "cracking" sounds of shattering along the way, clearly being compressed and destroyed by the astonishing wind pressure.

With just one move, the frontal defense of Kikyo Castle was almost completely destroyed by Chiyo's "Chikamatsu Collection."

Seeing this, the ninja of the Sunagakure Puppet Brigade who had arrived with Chiyo also began to control their own special puppets, moving rapidly towards the inside of the castle.

"Such immense power..."

Among the Puppet Brigade, a kunoichi with a bun hairstyle who seemed somewhat out of place, marveled at the destructive effect Chiyo had caused.

"The Chikamatsu Collection is the outstanding work of the founder of puppetry. It's only natural that it possesses this level of destructive power." Chiyo first praised her puppets, then turned to reprimand the kunoichi beside her. "Pakura, don't get distracted! Although you are not a puppet master, your abilities are very special. Do not forget your mission. After we have quickly destroyed Kikyo Castle's defense system, it will be your turn to act."

The kunoichi with the special Kekkei Genkai "Scorch Release," Pakura, replied somewhat unhappily, "I know! Granny!"

Inside Kikyo Castle.

The roaring sound from the city gate was like an ear-piercing alarm, instantly sweeping through the entire city. In a moment, countless ninja were mobilized by the sound. Lights lit up from all over the city, and the entire city, which had been in a deep sleep, was immediately awakened.

However, due to the city's function, most of the ninja remaining in Kikyo Castle were those who were wounded in battle and could no longer fight. The number of ninja who could actually participate in combat was not large. Even so, a large number of Konoha ninja proactively gathered and rushed towards the vicinity of the city gate.

The Kikyo Orphanage, located in the most remote periphery of the city, heard the unusual noise from the gate a step earlier than other places.

Nara Keisuke and Yakushi Nono'o, who had been sleeping in the same bed, opened their eyes at almost the same time.

"Keisuke, something's wrong! This sound seems to be from a large-scale explosion..."

"I heard it." Keisuke quickly rolled out of bed. His gaze swept towards the direction of the city gate, and his increasingly sharp senses instantly detected the chaotic aura in that area. "Sister Nono'o, you stay here at the orphanage and protect the children. I'll go check the situation."

Yakushi Nono'o's lips moved, swallowing the words of persuasion that had risen to her throat back down.

[Shadow Transformation Technique]!

The fully-dressed Nara Keisuke created a special [Shadow Creature] from his own shadow. This creature was about the same size as him; the only difference was that it was entirely lacquer-black, and on its face, it wore a simple B-rank ninja tool, a [Nature Mask].

"This is a [Shadow Creature] I've created. It will follow your commands," Keisuke said, quickly giving instructions. "Sister Nono'o, if you encounter an enemy you can't handle, send it! Its strength is quite good, and it's proficient in Yin Release as well as Earth Release ninjutsu."

Nono'o nodded lightly, watching Keisuke flicker away from the orphanage.

Without using the [Body Flicker Technique] or other speed-enhancing ninjutsu, Keisuke, relying solely on his [Speed] stat which had already reached B-rank, displayed a swiftness comparable to a Jonin.

The closer he got to the city gate, the more clearly he could sense the chaotic situation there. He looked from afar. The empty gate of Kikyo Castle was like a dark beast that devoured life.

"It seems there really is a problem... A ninja unit from another village has actually attacked Kikyo Castle! And they broke through the gate in an instant!"

Just then, Keisuke looked up at the night sky. An eagle made of shadow was quickly catching up from behind him. On the back of the shadow eagle, the gray-haired Nara Shikano had a firm and cold expression.

[Shadow Beast Scroll]. This Yin Release ninjutsu, modified by Nara Keisuke from the [Super Beast Scroll], was finally revealed to the world at this moment.

"The Clan Head is here too!" Keisuke quickened his pace and rushed towards the gate.

After a brief period of chaos, the Konoha ninja stationed in Kikyo Castle had initially gathered and were now engaged in a frontal clash with the attackers.

"Kill!"

"Take down these ninja of unknown origin!"

"Wait! These guys don't bleed..."

"They're not ninja, they're puppets! They're Sunagakure's puppets!"

As more and more Konoha ninja gathered, everyone finally began to discover the true face of the attackers. But at this time, the Puppet Brigade's next round of attacks had already arrived. Chiyo's plan had been to wait for the Konoha ninja to initially gather, and then wipe them all out in one fell swoop!

Under her control, another "Chikamatsu" puppet stepped forward and opened its mouth towards the crowd in front. "Chikamatsu Collection: Poison Mist!"

Haaa—

The puppet's mouth instantly spewed out an incomparably dense cloud of blackish-purple poison mist. Its thickness was so astonishing that it almost condensed into droplets and fell to the ground. A poison mist of this density could not have crossed the distance of half a battlefield to reach the entrance of Kikyo Castle.

But at this time, another ninja stepped forward from beside Chiyo. Ebizō held a huge fan-like ninja tool. As if they had coordinated a thousand times before, he waved the fan with perfect tacit understanding. The chakra in his body, transformed into the nature of wind by this special tool, gushed outwards.

"Wind Release: Air Current Wild Dance!"

Whoosh—

An astonishing gale scraped out from Ebizō's fan, rushing into the "Poison Mist" summoned by Chiyo. It instantly dispersed and diluted the dense blackish-purple mist, and then carried it along towards Kikyo Castle.

Under the cover of night, the spread of this poison mist was not immediately discovered by the Konoha ninja. In just a few breaths, the diluted poison mist was sent by the Wind Release to the gate of Kikyo Castle, enveloping the surrounding crowd.

The poison mist would have an indiscriminate attack effect. But at this time, the ones fighting the Konoha ninja were just the special puppets created by Suna's elite Puppet Brigade. The puppets, which had no life signs to begin with, would not be harmed by the poison. The ones who were truly harmed were the Konoha ninja gathered at the entrance!

The poison mist released by the "Chikamatsu" puppet was specially configured by Chiyo, mixed with numerous poisonous insects and potent drugs from Sunagakure, possessing a terrifyingly toxic effect. Even after being simply diluted by the "Air Current Wild Dance," when this poison mist affected the Konoha ninja, it still caused an extremely astonishing amount of damage.

The moment the poisonous gas entered their bodies through their mouths and noses, a strong sense of paralysis and dizziness welled up in the hearts of these Konoha ninja. They could no longer precisely control their bodies and suffered massive casualties at the hands of the Suna Puppet Brigade.

Flying in mid-air, Nara Shikano, taking advantage of his height, had narrowly escaped. He looked down at the tragic scene below and roared hoarsely, "It's poison gas! All Wind Release ninja in the vicinity, use your Wind Release to disperse the gas! We must not let the poison mist spread into Kikyo Castle!"

Just as the old clan head's voice fell, a sweeping gale rushed from behind him, viciously slamming into the poison mist that was about to spread into the castle.

[Wind Release: Great Breakthrough]!

Aided by the resonance effect of the [Chakra Crystal], Nara Keisuke, who had arrived a step later, released a super-gale that filled the sky. It directly dispersed and broke up the poison mist, and then rolled it back towards the direction of the Suna Puppet Brigade.

Setting aside the hasty response of the Suna ninja, Tsunade's loud shout had already resounded through Kikyo Castle. "Konoha ninja, in the name of the Sannin, Princess Tsunade, I issue an emergency S-rank mission to all ninja within Kikyo Castle—repel the attackers from Sunagakure and protect Kikyo Castle!"

A new mission prompt suddenly popped up on Nara Keisuke's panel.

[S-rank Ninja Commissioned Mission Detected!]

[S-rank Mission: The Battle for Kikyo Castle]

[Mission Content: Defend the homeland.]

[Mission Reward: One S-rank Shinobi Secret Scroll]

(End of Chapter)

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