Violet-Eyed Serpent: Ch.16

'Granny Chiyo. Arguably one of the best puppet users that Suna has seen in its history apart from a select few. She possesses an extensive knowledge on different poisons that could kill me within just a few minutes. She also has those ten puppets of hers that she can control each individually with a finger so the moment I give her a chance to use them, I'll be facing off against ten of them and possibly her as well.'

“I have to admit that I am a bit amazed by your age considering what you have done to not only Suna but also Konoha and Iwa.” Chiyo spoke with a hum as she slowly brought the puppet to be in front of her and I shrugged while making sure to keep an eye on them.

“Thank you, but it's more trouble for people to know who I am given that I need the secret identity to continue doing my jobs in peace.”

“Hmm, and from the red hair, you're an Uzumaki, yes? Not just the hair, but also the incredible chakra I can feel from you for your age. However, your eyes are what intrigues me the most.”

“How so?” I asked even as I stared at her and she simply smirked before humming.

“That is the question indeed. I don't believe that you would surrender and let me capture you, now would you?”

“Not in the slightest. Any other requests?” I asked and she simply smirked before her right index finger twitched.

The moment it did, I readied myself as the puppet besides her shot forward, clacking its jaw repeatedly while a jagged blade shot out from the long sleeves of its cloak.

Wary of the poison visibly dripping from the edge of the blade, I leaned back right as the puppet flew past with a slash, backflipping repeatedly to dodge the kunai she threw at me with her free hand before leaping into the air with a spin right as the puppet spun around and swung at me.

Shifting my left index finger into a cannon, my body was a blur as I rapidly backstepped away from the pocket, who was able to keep up with me as its sword sliced swiftly through the air in search of my blood.

I also made sure to gather a layer of chakra around me as I saw it purposefully flicking the poison from its blade at me, moving to the side as it swung down before leaning back when it switched its grip and swung at me with a backhand swing.

Kicking out at its body when it finished its swing, a pulse of chakra from my foot at the right moment made that a bad decision when my foot crashed right through the blade and slammed into its chest.

A shockwave rippled through the air as I sent the puppet flying head over heels before pointing my finger at it and unleashing a deep purple energy ray, the blast slicing the puppet as well as the ground behind it in half as I turned towards Chiyo with the same ray.

However, she dodged it with a graceful jump even while looking surprised at what I did, landing and throwing a flurry of kunai at me that I quickly dodged before my eyes widened as the woman appeared in front of me with a lunge.

Ninja Art: Poison Fog

Preta Path

It was only through my paranoia that I activated the Preta Path right as she opened her mouth and I couldn't feel more relieved as I watched a poisonous mist billowing from her mouth.

She looked surprised while I smirked as the Preta Path managed to absorb the chakra in the mist, leaving the mist to dissolve as it didn't have chakra to sustain it while my hand flashed forward and wrapped around her throat.

However, I simply frowned at the hollow rough feeling of her skin before looking to the side as I heard footsteps rapidly approaching, frowning at the sight of two more puppets rushing towards me before quickly spinning and throwing the puppet in my grasp at them.

'Right. Why would a puppet master come closer?' I thought with a frown as I rushed at the puppets, leaping into the air before bringing my leg down in an axe kick right as the two puppets leapt to the side.

My heel cratered the ground around me for a few meters while shaking the parts beyond it, taking a kunai out from my pouch right as the two puppets rushed in at me.

Parrying the first swing from the left puppet's claws while ducking under the punch of the puppet on my right, I grabbed both of their wrists before tossing them in opposite directions.

I also didn't miss the threads trying to subtly wrap around me as chakra flowed to my kunai before I sliced them off, rushing in towards the puppet with the poison claws right as it recovered.

Dodging to the side as it stabbed at my head, I swung at its arm only for the puppet to pull its arm back, swinging the other hand at my head and I ducked while slicing off its lower body at the waist.

Shifting to the right as I watched it struggle to attack me, my kunai blurred as I rapidly sliced its legs into pieces, quickly leaping back when it tried to attack me before backflipping over the second one as he came at me from behind.

Wind Style: Vacuum Blast Barrage!

Swinging my head from side to side while blowing out condensed air blades, the puppet with the claws didn't stand a chance as the blades sliced its body to ribbons.

However, I was surprised by the second puppet as it raised its arms towards me before segmented parts of it opened up and chakra gathered in the form of a shield in front of it to block the attack.

Fire Style: Flame Bombs!

Taking a deep breath while rushing through hand signs, I didn't leave the puppets time to reassemble as I spat out flaming oil bombs in all directions, burning the broken parts of the first puppet to cinders while forcing the other to keep its shield up as I rushed towards it.

Asura Path

Lunging forward as the puppet snapped its segmented parts closed and reached towards me the moment I stopped spitting out fireballs, my right arm shifting into a cannon as another right arm grew out from my side and shot out wires that wrapped around and crushed the puppet in its grasp.

Retracting the wires, the puppet was erased by a powerful energy blast that also scorched the ground around it, making me frown as I turned my arm back to normal while frowning as I slowly looked around.

'She disconnected the chakra strings the moment I started looking around so she suspects my eye to be like the Byakugan. Oh well, guess it's time to go loud'. I thought as I pulled my left arm out while raising it towards the sky, the dozen missiles on it all lighting before they flew up high.

Seconds later, each one curved around and flew down towards me, making me smile as I leapt into the air right before the area was lit up with powerful explosions.

Water Style: Explosive Water Shockwave!

Not finished yet, I took a deep gulp before spitting out a torrent of water down at the ground, the large wave crashing down and washing away everything in its path before I smirked as I made a few new hand signs.

Lightning Style: Thunderbolt!

Electricity sparked around my body before powerful bolts rained down onto the water still pouring out from my mouth cutting off the flow of water right as the potent electricity raced through it.

'Then again, that wasn't necessary considering how wet Ame is all the time.' I thought with a smirk as I activated the Preta Path and landed, not even caring for the electricity while looking around for Chiyo's chakra.

'There's Pakura and it looks like the few around her are fading fast so she's alright, but where's Chiyo? Did she run? I mean, I could understand if she did, but I don't think she would do su-!' I quickly dove to the side right as a blade missed cutting me in half.

Looking up at what attacked me, my eyes widened slightly at the puppet with its red hair in two buns and dual wielding two large broadswords while wearing a white cloak around its body.

It was not the only one as I found nine more slowly surrounding me from all sides and I sighed as I heard Chiyo's voice echoing in the air.

Secret White Technique: Chikamatsu's Ten Puppets

Asura Path

'I'm guessing she used the other puppets to scout what I have up my sleeve. It's a good thing then that I didn't go all out.' I thought with a frown as I undid my cloak and took it off, my body bulging as two pairs of extra arms grew out from my sides while another two faces appeared on the sides of my first one.

The last addition was three tails growing out from my tailbone, each one having a laser cannon barrel at the end before a third eye opened on all three of my foreheads and linked to each individual cannon.

“Alright, then! Time to get to work!” I grunted and that was all the puppets needed as all ten rushed in at the same time, making me grin before all three pairs of hands flew through hand seals while chakra charged to my laser tails.

Wind Style: Vacuum Blast Barrage!

Fire Style: Fire Dragon Bullet!

Lightning Style: Electromagnetic Murder!

Asura's Sorrow!

My left and right faces took deep breaths before spitting out a literal storm of razor winds and scorching fire bullets, my original pair of hands slamming down onto the ground and unleashing a wave of electricity that raced across the ground.

The puppets all dodged them with relative ease while my tails all lit up before shooting out a bombardment of laser blasts in all directions, forcing the puppets back as the wind and fire began to mix and empower each other.

I had to admit that the six different perspectives were throwing me off severely, but I simply forced myself to adapt as I rushed towards the first two puppets while keeping the others at bay.

The puppet with the long black hair seemed prepared as he linked hands with another one that had a red face and white hair, surprising me as a section of the red-faced puppet's face lifted to reveal an orb with four large chakra blades spinning rapidly.

Preta Path!

The moment the black-haired puppet extended its hand with a chain and hurled the puppet at me, chakra flooded to my hands as I raised my left hand and caught the puppet by its skull.

It tried its best to lower its head, but I gritted my teeth and kept a tight grip on its orb before slamming it neck first into the ground while unleashing a tail blast at its back

However, this took a blaster away and the red-haired feminine puppet from earlier didn't waste the moment as it rushed towards me, the others following suit as I quickly ripped the puppet in my hand out from the ground before blasting its limbs and head clean off.

The moment I did, a puppet with grey markings around its mouth stretched its arms out and formed some kind of cage around me, a blue-skinned puppet rushing in from the gaps with its head pointed at me before I grunted as I reached forward and caught it by its shoulders.

Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!

Taking a deep breath, I spat out a torrent of flames right as the tendrils from the blue puppet's head shot out and stabbed at my limbs, but I smirked as I shifted the composition of my skin to that of steel while enhancing it with chakra and watched as the tendrils simply bounced off.

Before it could move away, my lower left and right arms reached forward and grabbed the puppet by its tendrils, to which I grunted as I lifted it up before throwing it at the puppet making the cage right as the puppet spat out a flurry of small bombs that detonated with a concentrated explosion.

Water Style: Severing Wave!

Instead of waiting for the smoke to fade, I didn't waste time as I spat out a torrent of high-pressure that sliced through the air and through the head of the puppet making the cage, even going so far as to swing my head down to cut it in half before destroying its body with my blasters.

As the cage fell, the female puppet was on me with a dance of deadly steel, my own arms reinforced with steel skin and chakra scalpels as I blocked the strikes aimed at my vital spots while dodging the ones I couldn't.

My blasters were not idle either as each one was rapidly shooting at three of the puppets before the black-haired one and a grey-skinned Oni puppet with golden horns rushed in to support the sword-wielding puppet.

Catching one of its blades with my upper arms, I quickly shattered the blade with a punch to the flat side before spinning and throwing the top half I caught at the black-haired puppet.

It quickly ducked under the throw while the Oni puppet rushed at me with a fist pulled back, which I responded in kind as I pulled my original right fist back before we punched at each other at the same time.

Unlike his, mine was not only enhanced, but I also unleashed a powerful pulse of chakra at the point of contact and grinned as I watched my arm tearing through its arm, bringing my leg up and cleaving through the top of its body with a diagonal kick.

A blaster spun and shot its body to oblivion while I panted as I leapt backwards, stopping my blasts and keeping my eyes focused on each puppet.

'Four down, six to go and two-thirds of my chakra remaining. Man, this is harder than I thought.' I thought with a frown as I kept a third eye constantly on the sword-wielding puppet, whose movements looked a lot more precise than before.

'Right, the more puppets she loses, the more fingers she gets to use with the others. From how the black-haired one and that cyclops one is moving, I'm guessing she's using two fingers for each of them while the other three only got one. Speaking of the other three, why are they on each other's shoulde-Oh shit!'

Three Treasures Suction Crush!

Hell Bombardment!

The moment I saw the scrolls when they opened their mouths, I remembered what they did and unleashed a bombardment of laser blasts at them, tearing their bodies even to shreds while digging my feet into the ground as I felt their wind trying to suck me up.

Fire Style: Flame Bombs!

However, I was never one to deny a gift as I took a deep breath and spat out a barrage of flaming oil bombs at the three puppets, the wind from them boosting the flames significantly and charring them within seconds as I slowly looked towards the final three puppets.

'The Mito-Lookalike, Cyclops and Emo puppet…Yeah, there's something about that cyclops I don't like.' Ever since the battle started, I could see the chakra circulating to its mouth, but it has not attacked me a single time even when the others were being ripped to shreds.

'Yep, taking it out first.' With a rapid spin and a burst of chakra, the ground shattered under me as I rushed towards the cyclops, feeling proud of my gut instinct as I watched it backpedal while the other two quickly rushed in to block my advance.

Shadow Clone Jutsu!

Two clones appeared at my sides with a hand signs before they rushed towards the other two as I leapt over them with a powerful jump, my tail blasters aiming at the puppet before I unleashed a barrage of blasts at it.

However, it seems that Chiyo's control was a lot more precise now as the puppet easily ducked and moved around my attacks, even going so far as to do a rapid combo of backflips before leaping with a corkscrew into the air as I crashed down onto it.

Raising my middle right arm and stabbing at its head, the puppet surprised me slightly as it blocked the attack while countering with its own punch, to which I responded by blocking the blow before grabbing it with four of my six arms.

Fire Style: Dragon Fire Jutsu!

Having a tight grip on its body, I bit down on its skull before spitting out a scorching wave of flames right into its body, thankful for the heat not affecting me as its body slowly cracked and crumbled in my grasp.

“No Sealing Shenanigans here, bitch.” I grunted as I dropped the charred puppet body to the ground, stomping down on its skull before unleashing a barrage of tail blasts to make sure it was nothing but pieces.

'Ah, I see.' I thought with a smirk as I picked up the orb it had in its mouth, staring at the monstrous head sealed inside of it before remembering how it was the thing that nearly helped Chiyo beat Sasori if he did not have that artificial heart.

Turning around to stare at the puppets still fighting, I rose an eyebrow at the sight of my clones detonating themselves and taking the black-haired puppet with them, leaving only the red-haired puppet who rushed in as I sealed the orb away.

Dashing in as it swung at my head, I wrapped my limbs around it before its back shattered open thanks to the serrated blade sticking out from my stomach, my tail blasters retracting along with my faces while my lower and upper arms shifted into laser cannons.

“Goodbye.” With that final word, the puppet was erased by numerous powerful blasts that burned everything with a devastating explosion, the only thing that was left being me standing there in a scorched crater while taking deep breaths.

“Damn…that…was pretty cool.” I muttered softly as I looked around, the only thing left of the Asura Path being the cannon arms I had as I heard footsteps drawing closer.

“Woah! Lower the cannons there, buddy!” Pakura spoke with a frown and I rolled my eyes as I lowered my cannons, still keeping them out even as I looked around for Chiyo.

“You looking for something?”

“Yeah, the Puppet Mistress Chiyo was here.”

“…Light grey hair, slight laugh lines and a turban around her head? Ten different puppets dressed in white cloaks? That Chiyo?” She asked with a wary look and I simply gestured towards what remained of Chiyo's arsenal.

“You tell me.”

“I thought these were just someone replicating her work. …Holy shit, she was actually here.”

“Yep! So, I guess we need to get out of here before she comes back with reinforcements.”

“Right. You remember the code to the tower, right? I'm going the alternate route.”

“Of co-!” Before Pakura could finish her sentence, her skull was blasted apart by a laser blast and I watched the puppet fall while aiming my other three arms towards where Chiyo was hiding.

“I know you're there and I know you have Pakura hostage. I can see you both.”

“…Hehehe~ Quite the sharp eyes indeed.” Chiyo spoke with a smirk as she slowly walked out of a destroyed tent, a kunai floating next to Pakura's neck as the girl walked out in front of her.

“Make the wrong move and she dies.”

“Make the wrong move and I erase your limbs from existence. Then, I'm going to make you wish for the sweet relief of death.”

“Even if she dies?”

“Even if she dies.” I answered as I kept my blasters on her and Chiyo smirked as she slowly stepped back away from Pakura while I stepped forward.

“This was quite entertaining and I've learned a bit of the puppetry you use. Until we meet again.”

“You think you're escaping?”

“She already did.” Pakura muttered with a frown and I didn't waste any time as two arms shot blasts at Chiyo while a third shot at the kunai and the fourth shot out ropes that wrapped around Pakura and pulled her out of the way.

I then saw what Pakura meant as Chiyo simply exploded into wooden shards the moment the blasts impacted her, cursing slightly before looking at Pakura with a frown as I scanned her chakra.

'No genjutsu and nothing hidden under a camouflage. Okay, she's good.'

“I thought you had the others handled?”

“How the hell was I supposed to know Chiyo herself was going to be here?” Pakura asked with a huff and I rolled my eyes before looking at the carnage.

“Damn, we really didn't preserve a single meter, huh?”

“Nope. So, are you going to summon a snake for us or what?”

“I used a little over half of my chakra and while I am more durable than most, I also still feel every hit. We're going to rest first and then we're going back.”

“Sure. So, did you get the file?” She asked and I blinked before slowly looking at her as she pinched the bridge of her nose.

“I was busy fighting her so I thought you did.”

“…Hah, no rest for the wicked.

A/N: And this arc ends off with a battle of Chiyo against Nagato!

Next chapter: Time-skip and ending a war.

Also, I merely ended it in a draw because having Nagato do so and letting Chiyo survive means Suna understands just how dangerous he really is now.

However, if you want me to let it end in Chiyo's death to drastically change the timeline, let me know and I'll do it.

Anyway, as always, read, enjoy, review and until the next one…

Ba-Bye~!!