Haruki’s counter-question successfully silenced all the Amegakure ninjas once again. It was as if all the Amegakure ninjas’ tongues had been snatched by an eagle. They wanted to speak but didn’t know what to say, nor how to begin.
Shock and doubt intertwined in their minds.
"Wh-what do you mean?"
After a long pause, a ninja finally spoke.
All the Amegakure ninjas stared intently at Haruki. They looked at the boy who had brought them countless miracles.
Undoubtedly, the ninja who had just spoken voiced the thoughts of everyone present. They also wanted to ask what Haruki’s words meant.
After a moment of thought, Haruki explained earnestly, "It means I have more than just Number One. There are many others, but they are sealed in scrolls."
As he spoke, he pulled out a scroll from the ninja tool pouch strapped to his thigh.
The Amegakure ninjas blinked, a little unable to process this news, and could only stare blankly at Haruki’s actions.
Haruki unrolled the scroll and spread it flat on the ground. Then, he half-knelt and formed hand signs.
Several plumes of white smoke immediately billowed before the Amegakure ninjas’ eyes. Humanoid silhouettes emerged within the white smoke.
The howling desert wind quickly carried away the white smoke. Dozens of puppets appeared before the Amegakure ninjas.
These puppets wore neat black uniforms, their faces covered by masks, revealing only their eyes. They looked indistinguishable from ninjas.
The Amegakure ninjas stared dumbfounded at the puppets before them.
If Haruki hadn’t said anything, they wouldn’t have believed these were puppets.
Miozawa stared in shock at the puppets before him and asked, "Th-these are puppets?"
"Haruki, are these puppets you made?"
The Amegakure ninjas were still unable to believe these were puppets. They looked hardly different from ninjas.
The Amegakure ninjas reached out, wanting to touch the puppets before them, but feared clumsily damaging them and dared not touch.
"Yes." Haruki nodded at them.
He sensed the Amegakure ninjas’ eagerness and generously waved his hand. "You can touch them."
Upon receiving Haruki’s permission, countless hands immediately reached out towards the puppets.
It wasn’t until Miozawa’s hand landed on a puppet’s arm that he realized the difference between these puppets and humans. The puppet’s arm felt cold to the touch, harder than a human body, and quite elastic when poked.
More importantly, he discovered that these clothes seemed to be part of the puppet’s body, including the masks on their faces.
Haruki allowed the Amegakure ninjas to examine the puppets he had made using Construction.
He had derived his method for creating puppets from Yaga’s Cursed Corpse and Akasuna’s puppet jutsu. Therefore, his speed in constructing puppets with Cursed Energy was extremely quick.
Even though Haruki’s construction speed was very great, the time he had available to construct puppets was limited.
So, to save time, he didn’t bother constructing the puppets’ facial features or any body parts other than their limbs, instead uniformly covering them with black cloth. As long as it didn’t affect the puppets’ combat and movement, it was okay.
"Haruki, you’re amazing."
"Haruki, when did you make these puppets?"
"Haruki, what materials are these puppets made of? So magical!"
One question after another was thrown out by the Amegakure ninjas.
The materials were highly elastic rubber.
How could he explain the origin of rubber?
After all, the rubber was also constructed by him.
"Brother Miozawa, we can start the mission now."
Haruki decisively changed the subject, telling Miozawa, "We can’t keep the ambush unit waiting too long."
Miozawa nodded. "You’re right."
"Haruki, I’m leaving it to you." Miozawa said earnestly to Haruki.
Haruki nodded, a big smile spreading across his face. "Don’t worry."
He could accumulate emotional value again!
"Then let’s go, and let the puppets begin the decoy plan." Miozawa said to Haruki.
Haruki was stunned. "Huh?"
Miozawa looked at Haruki, then glanced at Number One, his expression gradually becoming serious, "Can’t these puppets move freely like Number One?"
If these puppets couldn’t move freely, Miozawa wouldn’t assign this mission to Haruki. It was too dangerous. He wouldn’t let Haruki take that risk.
Haruki glanced at Miozawa and saw determination in his eyes.
He rolled his eyes and nodded, saying, "These puppets can move freely."
Miozawa breathed a sigh of relief and said, "That’s good."
"Once the puppets start moving, we’ll immediately retreat. Next, it’s the ambush unit’s turn." Miozawa said to Haruki.
Haruki thought for a moment and temporarily agreed.
He followed Miozawa and the others out of the rock formations.
Meanwhile, thirteen puppets, under Haruki’s command, swiftly attacked the Sunagakure camp.
After Haruki and his group retreated to a safe distance, the First Ambush Unit, led by Takinawa, appeared.
"You can proceed." Miozawa nodded to Takinawa.
Takinawa made a gesture, and the Amegakure ninjas behind him swept past him, splitting into two groups, bypassing the rock formations, and heading towards the Sunagakure camp from both flanks.
Haruki stepped out from beside Miozawa and said, "I’m going too."
Takinawa paused and said, "No."
"I’ll protect myself. If I encounter an enemy I can’t defeat, I’ll escape immediately." Haruki raised the broom in his hand as a gesture.
Takinawa initially wanted to continue refusing, but then he suddenly remembered Haruki’s previous feats.
Once secretly entering a battlefield, and once secretly following Suzaku on a dangerous mission.
Rather than Haruki appearing in some unknown corner of the battlefield at an unknown time, it was better to keep him within his line of sight.
"Alright." Takinawa relented.
Miozawa looked at Takinawa in confusion.
Takinawa blocked Miozawa with a single sentence, "Me watching him is better than him secretly sneaking into the Sunagakure camp by himself."
Haruki mounted his broom, flew high into the sky, and excitedly headed towards the Sunagakure camp.
He was coming to bring his emotion points home!
At the entrance of the Sunagakure camp.
A sharp whistling sound suddenly erupted from directly in front of the camp gate.
Streaks of black shadows swept rapidly towards the camp gate, hugging the ground.
They were completely shrouded in black uniforms, their heads and faces tightly covered, revealing only a pair of emotionless eyes.
These black shadows moved agilely, passing through the net of senbon, kunai, and shuriken laid by the Sunagakure ninjas. As they approached the camp, they suddenly raised their arms.
They threw kunai with explosive tags attached to them with pinpoint accuracy.
Crimson fireballs, carrying scorching heatwaves and shattered rock and sand, suddenly surged up.
Burning debris scattered, igniting the dry canvas tents, and flames shot skyward.
"It must be the Amegakure ninjas, engage!"
The Sunagakure ninja inside the camp roared without the slightest panic, his eyes blazing with anger from being ambushed by the Amegakure ninjas.
As soon as he finished speaking, dozens of black figures immediately darted out from the Sunagakure camp, chasing after the black-clad figures who were rapidly retreating towards the rock formations behind them.