Chapter 869

As everyone knows, ever since the Second Kazekage Rasa created puppet arts and sand-manipulation ninjutsu, puppet arts and sand-manipulation ninjutsu became two powerful inheritances with different paths within the Suna-nin.

Apart from some Kekkei Genkai, high-level Suna-nin who wanted to enhance their strength would often choose one of these two paths.

After the Second Kazekage died, Chiyo and Ebizo inherited the Second Kazekage's puppet arts, while the Third Kazekage, Iron Sand, inherited the Second Kazekage's sand-manipulation ninjutsu.

After the young Third Kazekage took office, the conservative faction led by Chiyo had always been insubordinate to the Third Kazekage's rule, unwilling to hand over the power in their hands.

Because of this, there had actually been power struggles within Sunagakure, and naturally, this situation would give birth to factions of power struggle.

One could roughly guess that as the most outstanding user of sand-manipulation ninjutsu today, and holding the high position of Third Kazekage, although he could not shake the status of Chiyo and Ebizo due to his youth, the high-level ninjas within Sunagakure who were good at sand-manipulation ninjutsu would still instinctively flock to the Third Kazekage's command.

Naturally, ninjas who were good at puppet arts would inevitably gather under Chiyo's command to support her.

In this way, puppet ninjas and sand-manipulation ninjas formed two opposing factions within Sunagakure.

In the original work, from Gaara's abilities, one could see that the specialty of sand-manipulation ninjutsu was actually not in attack, but in defense and sealing.

And puppet arts were completely different; from the performance in the original work, puppet masters were completely fragile ADCs.

One attacking and one defending, they formed a completely distinct contrast.

And in the situation where the Third Kazekage himself opposed launching the war, a large number of high-level Suna-nin who used sand-manipulation ninjutsu would naturally also oppose participating in the war.

In this case, unless Chiyo and Ebizo intended to completely fall out with the Third Kazekage, it was naturally impossible to forcibly conscript sand-manipulation ninjas.

Therefore, in reality, the main force of the troops under Chiyo and Ebizo were puppet masters and some ninjas who used ordinary elemental ninjutsu; there were hardly any ninjas who could use sand-manipulation ninjutsu.

And the ninjutsu characteristics of ninjas within Sunagakure were mostly dominated by Wind Release, which was good at attacking; there were not many who were proficient in defensive Earth Release and Water Release.

This resulted in the poor defensive capability of the troops led by Chiyo.

As Kage-level powerhouses, their strengths also varied, and they each had their own characteristics.

And Hatake Sakumo happened to be the greatest nemesis of puppet masters.

If puppet masters were all fragile ADCs good at long-range attacks, then Hatake Sakumo was a top-tier assassin who had maxed out his attack and agility.

Hatake Sakumo was good at two things.

One was sword arts, and the other was Earth Release.

Hatake Sakumo's fighting style was also very simple: use high-level Earth Release to approach without anyone noticing, then use speed comparable to thunder to finish off the target with one blade, and then burrow into the ground to retreat.

Although the description sounded very plain, complex and flashy methods did not always mean they were effective, and simple means did not mean they were useless.

Hatake Sakumo's battle method was very simple: it was to push speed, accuracy, and ruthlessness to the extreme.

And such an opponent was exactly the enemy that puppet masters, who were good at kiting, feared the most.

Even the Kage-level puppet master siblings Chiyo and Ebizo were countered by Hatake Sakumo, let alone other puppet masters.

Although their abilities were countered, ninja battles could not be decided by abilities alone.

If they really fought, relying on the complementary abilities of the siblings Chiyo and Ebizo, it might not be impossible to fight.

Unfortunately, what gave them the most headache was that Hatake Sakumo simply did not engage them head-on.

Hatake Sakumo, a standard ninja, a ninja good at the way of the assassin, how could he fight Chiyo and Ebizo head-on?

What is an assassin? Standing on the edge of a blade, wandering under the shadows.

Regarding this war between Konoha and Suna-nin, it could only be described in one sentence.

Hatake Sakumo: Awakened, the hunting moment. ===== CHAPTER 871 =====