Chapter 28: Well Played, Everyone Is a Camper!

At this moment, the Sunagakure ninja felt as if he were staring into the face of his own impending death. His eyes widened, but his body ceased its struggle; Kurenai Yuhi swung the kunai in his hand, preparing to end the man's life.

*Swoosh!*

At the critical moment, the sound of air being torn apart echoed from behind Kurenai.

"Got you." There was no one else who could have jumped out to ambush him at such a time but the Sunagakure jonin.

A humanoid puppet sliced through the air with such speed that even a jonin would find it difficult to dodge. Kurenai, a jonin renowned for his mastery of genjutsu, was no exception. Although he twisted his body with all his might the instant he sensed something amiss, he was simply too slow compared to the well-prepared elite Sunagakure jonin and his speed-oriented puppet.

The blades embedded in the puppet were razor-sharp and coated in lethal poison. A mere scratch would be enough to spell doom, unless one were a medical prodigy like Tsunade; otherwise, the victim could only rely on sheer willpower and physical constitution to continue the fight. Even then, they would face the relentless progression of the toxin, a rapidly declining state, and a barrage of poisoned weapon strikes.

Kurenai failed to evade the ambush. The poisoned blade of the puppet grazed his waist, leaving a deep gash while simultaneously introducing the toxin into his system.

The elite Sunagakure jonin curled his lips into a smirk. *Is this the famed genjutsu jonin of Konoha? He is nothing more than this. Since he failed to dodge my sneak attack, his career as a ninja ends here.*

However, before the smile could fully bloom on the Sunagakure elite’s face, it suddenly stiffened.

*Poof!*

With a dull sound, the Kurenai Yuhi he had just struck exploded, leaving behind only a cloud of white smoke.

*A shadow clone? How could it be a shadow clone? I have been watching him ever since he first appeared! How is this possible?*

The Sunagakure jonin’s mind raced. He was certain that under his watchful gaze, Kurenai had never performed the hand signs to create a clone. *Is it genjutsu?* That was even more impossible; hiding in the shadows as he was, how could he have been targeted by a genjutsu?

As these thoughts flashed through his mind, a terrifying realization struck the elite jonin.

"Damn it! Retreat! Get out of here!" he roared. Ignoring his remaining teammates, he immediately performed a Body Flicker technique, intending to escape the inn through the hole he had blasted in the wall earlier.

***

Unfortunately, it was far too late to realize this now.

"Got you."

Forming a single hand seal, Kurenai Yuhi—who had appeared outside at some unknown moment—revealed a trace of satisfaction in his eyes. At his feet lay the unconscious Konoha spy. With a surge of chakra, he triggered the trap he had laid in advance.

*Boom!*

A series of thunderous explosions erupted within the inn. It was an explosive tag trap; Kurenai had prepared it long before the Sunagakure ninja arrived. Once he had confirmed that the elite jonin was indeed the true body, he activated the trap using the chakra he had pre-implanted into the tags.

Watching the destruction within the inn and glancing down at the spy at his feet, Kurenai’s eyes lowered. He could have triggered the trap before the enemy destroyed his shadow clone, which might have been more effective, but this spy—who claimed to possess vital intelligence—likely would not have survived the fallout of such an explosion. Since this man was the very contact his squad had been sent to retrieve, Kurenai had chosen to take the risk.

He did not linger on the spy, nor did he ask about the intelligence. If the man had wanted to share it, he would have done so while he was shouting earlier. Ignoring the spy's petty schemes, Kurenai observed the inn, which had just endured the blast.

"Tsk, you didn't die? What a waste of the trap I meticulously laid for you." Sensing a flicker of chakra, Kurenai sighed with mock resignation.

Indeed, despite being caught squarely in the blast, the elite Sunagakure jonin was still alive. Though he looked disheveled, he hadn't a single scratch on him. However, despite being physically unscathed, his expression was far from pleasant. The reason was simple: while he had survived, his puppets...

In the wake of the explosive tags, he had been forced to sacrifice three of his puppets to shield himself. While those puppets were valuable, they were merely standard issue. What truly caused him pain was the loss of the puppet he had used to ambush Kurenai’s clone—the one he hadn't managed to retract in time.

***

The value of the puppet aside, the most critical issue was that it had been his greatest trump card. It was well known that a puppeteer’s strength relied heavily on the quality of their creations, and it was no coincidence that this Sunagakure ninja had earned the rank of elite jonin largely because of that now-destroyed puppet.

"Damn you, Konoha ninja! Damn you, Kurenai Yuhi! I will never forgive you!"

Two more puppets emerged at his side. The Sunagakure jonin manipulated them, charging straight toward Kurenai.

In the shadows of a corner, two other figures lurked, creeping stealthily. What they failed to notice, however, was that three smaller figures were silently closing in on them from behind.

*Genjutsu: Hell Clone.*
*Genjutsu: Triple Cherry Blossom.*

On this side, the two jonin—one from Konoha and one from Sunagakure—began their final duel.

The clash between genjutsu and puppets was not as spectacular as one might imagine. Puppets were inanimate objects completely unaffected by genjutsu. To achieve victory, Kurenai had to find a way to get close to the puppeteer's true body, where he could then use his signature genjutsu to end the fight in one stroke. The Sunagakure puppeteer was no fool and would never easily grant Kurenai such an opportunity.

As the stalemate persisted, both men waited—waited for what? Naturally, for an ambush by their respective teammates.

The initial explosive trap had targeted the elite jonin primarily; thus, his two team members, though injured, had managed to survive the blast. As for the other member, he had already fallen under Kurenai’s genjutsu; if Kurenai couldn't keep him down, he might as well surrender his title as a jonin.

Under the cover of night, the two Sunagakure ninjas concealed their presence, hiding in the shadows of the corners and watching the battlefield. They waited for an opening, ready to strike like rattlesnakes in the sand, hoping to deal a devastating blow to the enemy and create the perfect opportunity for their captain.