Clank…

Fugaku draws out a kunai from his holster and blocks the attack from the scorpion-like long iron-tail. The tails rotate again and stab towards Fugaku. ​​

Clank…

Fugaku blocks another attack from the tail. He notices a purple glint on the tip of the tail.

"Poison…"

Fugaku frowns and jumps back. He throws many kunais at the puppet.

Clank… clank… clank…

The tails blocks all the kunais. The puppet opens its mouth and launch a barrage of senbon at Fugaku.

Fugaku easily evades the barrage of senbon.

"The weakness of a puppet user lies in close-combat. No matter how hard you try, you can't overcome this weakness with that weak shell of yours."

Fugaku runs towards the puppet. He coats his kunai in the lightning chakra and attacks the puppet.

'Lightning Release: Kamaitachi claw'

He forms a sickle with the lightning chakra and slashes it at the puppet.

Clank…

The Hiruko (name of the puppet) raises its tail to block the attack.

Kacha...

Fugaku slash apart the tail, and he continues to attack the top of the puppet.

Clang…

The cloak of the puppet rips and reveals a heavy defensive shell. Hiruko retracts the broken tail and stretches its left arm to reveal a torpedo-like artillery shell.

Swoosh… fwoosh…

The artillery chases Fugaku. He jumps back to avoid a direct hit. The mechanism of torpedo triggers to launch a shrapnel barrage of senbon.

Fugaku dodges the senbon and approaches Hiruko. He quickly makes some hand signs.

'Lightning Release: Raijin's Wrath'

Fugaku fires a concentrated bolt of lightning. The lightning bolt takes the form of an arrow and pierces the hard shell of the puppet.

Boom…

The puppet explodes into pieces. A cloaked figure jumps out from the remains of the puppet.

"So, the puppeteer has finally shown himself.

What's your motive behind attacking my Uchiha clan?"

Fugaku intensely glares at the cloaked figure. The puppeteer removes the remains of the puppet from his body and reveals his face.

Fugaku immediately identifies the culprit.

"Wait, you are Sasori of the Sand. What are you doing in the leaf? Attacking my clan no less."

Fugaku gets serious since Sasori has quite a reputation in Hidden Villages. Sasori nonchalantly looks at the remains of his puppet,

"What a waste of such fine art and craftsmanship?"

Sasori flicks his right hand. Various chakra thread appears among them. He quickly pulls the remains of his puppet and stores them into a scroll.

He faces Fugaku and remarks,

"You are strong, wicked-eye Fugaku, the leader of the Uchiha clan. You are worthy to face against one of my most prized possession."

Sasori rolls out a scroll from his sleeve.

"A collection that gave me a hard time when trying to kill it, but the effort was worth it."

Poof…

A large amount of smoke covers Fugaku's vision. The smoke disperses to reveal another puppet.

Fugaku's eyes widen as he stares at the new puppet.

"That's… that's the Third Kazekage who went missing a few years ago…."

Fugaku warily stares at Sasori.

"I never expected, you killed the Third Kazekage and turned his body into a puppet."

Fugaku clenches his kunai tightly and enters in a combat stance.

The Kazekage puppet immediately dashes towards Fugaku. Sasori waves his hands and skillfully controls the movements of the puppet.

The right arm of the puppet turns into multiple blades coated in poison.

Clank…

Fugaku blocks the blades with his kunai.

Srrrr…

He channels lightning chakra through his kunai and slashes apart the blades. The puppet attacks him with its left hand.

Fugaku jumps back and avoids the attack. The left-arm opens up and reveals several summoning seals.

The seals glow and summons thousands of similar arms. All the arms turn towards Fugaku and attack him.

Fugaku slices them apart with his lightning blade. The openings on the arms fire a barrage of kunais, shurikens, and senbons at Fugaku.

Fugaku calmly stares at the incoming barrage of projectiles.

'Sharingan: Eye of Insight'

The tomoe in his eyes spins rapidly. Everything slows down for him, his perception reaches incredible heights.

Clank… clank… clank… clank…

Fugaku deflects one projectile after another. After a minute, he stands perfectly with no scratches or injuries on him.

Suddenly, one of the openings of arms throws a small canister towards Fugaku. Fugaku slashes the canister in half.

Purple color gas leaks from the poison. It quickly spread and covers Fugaku.

Fugaku immediately make some hand signs,

'Wind Style: Great Breakthrough'

Fugaku blows away the poison mist.

Cough… cough…

'I accidentally inhaled a small quantity of this poison. I have to quickly end the fight before the poison takes effect.'

Swish… swish…

Multiple kunais with explosive tags tied to them surround Fugaku.

Bang…

The paper bombs explode and cover the place in smoke and debris.

"You will be a fine collection to my art, Fugaku Uchiha."

-----------------

Cough… cough…

Shisui coughs a little and slowly stands up. He has a smirk on his face as he looks at Kakuzu.

Chirp… chii… Stab…

A shadow appears behind the Lightning mask and stabs it from behind.

'Lightning Release: Chidori Raikiri'

The shadow pierces through the lightning mask.

Throb… throb…

The heartbeat of Lightning mask throbs for a while before the mask shatters into countless pieces. The lightning mask creature falls lifelessly on the ground.

'Kakashi Senpai's technique is quite handy. I wonder why Izuna nii-san never uses it. Well, he has plenty of jutsus in his arsenal.'

The shadow disperses as Kakuzu stares at Shisui with wide-eyes.

"You kid! You made me lose two of my hearts. Now, I need to kill another powerful shinobi and rip apart his heart beside you."

Kakuzu inspects the features of Shisui.

"I remember you now. Shisui the teleporter. There is a bounty of 50 million Ryo on your head. How can I miss such a cash grab? It will be a double paycheck, your heart and bounty money will be mine.

It's time to get serious or I will miss this bag of money."

Kakuzu stretches out his hand. Various black threads flicker from his hand. The remaining two Wind Mask and Fire mask appear beside him.

Kakuzu claps his hands together.

"Earth Grudge Fear: Fusion"

Various tendrils extend from the two creatures. The tendrils connect and the Fire Mask and the Wind Mask fuses.

Kakuzu makes more hand signs,

"Wind Release: Pressure damage"

The wind mask fires a barrage of wind blasts at Shisui. Shisui jumps around and dodges all the attacks.

"Fire Release: Intelligent Hard Work"

The Fire Mask spews out a wide area firestorm at Shisui to prevent his escape.

"Water Style: Searing Torrent"

Shisui cancels the firestorm with his jutsu.

'I need to get closer to him to finish him off. He still has three lives remaining.

But this continuous barrage of jutsus and his almost endless chakra is making it difficult for me to approach him.'

The combo of wind and fire mask chases after Shisui. Shisui closes the gap between Kakuzu and him and engages in close combat with him.

Clank… clank…

He trades a few blows with Kakuzu and jumps up to avoid the attack of the wind mask.

Kakuzu hardens his body and sustains the attack with no damage.

Kakuzu stretches his hardened right hand and attacks Shisui from a distance.

'Lightning Release techniques are his weakness. I have to take advantage of it.'

Chii….

Shisui throws a kunai in the air and blocks the right hand of Kakuzu with his blade. Shisui does a summersault and grabs the kunai. He infuses lightning chakra in the kunai and slashes the arm of Kakuzu apart.

The arm fell on the ground and the thread-like structure wriggles from the arm.

Boom…

Shisui avoids another attack from the wind mask creature. Kakuzu retrieves his right hand and joins it back.

'That's almost cheating. This guy can reconnect his limbs.'

Shisui jumps back and avoids another attack from the Fire Mask. The masked creature appears behind Shisui.

Both the masks open their mouths simultaneously and release a dual attack.

"Fire-Wind Combo Strike: Strange Mask exploding Flame"

Boom…

The intense pressure from the attack creates large gusts of winds as a massive firestorm covers a large area. The attack quickly approaches Shisui.

'I won't be able to counter this attack with Water release alone.'

Boom….

The jutsu explodes on contact with Shisui and wreaks havoc on surrounding buildings. A massive crater appears at Shisui's position.

Dust and debris fog the vision. The dust and debris settle down to reveal…