Takeshi didn't have a close relationship with the Hyuga clan ninjas, heck he had not even interacted with them before, so he didn't remember their scents. This made searching for them in the current situation even more challenging.
However, after spending some time searching, although they didn't find the Hyuga clan ninjas, they stumbled upon another murder scene.
The victims who died before were not from Konoha Ninja Village, but this time it was different. The two Konoha shinobi died in the same manner as the previous ones.
Guy immediately rushed over, carefully turned the body over, and then checked the body, trying to identify the owner.
"Do you recognize them?" Obito and Rin ran over to ask about the situation expectantly, but Takeshi knew that Guy was just wasting his time – he didn't believe Guy recognized any of them, as Guy didn't remember most of the people he had interacted with.
Guy pondered for a moment, then shook his head and said, "No, I have no impression at all. Are they really ninjas from Konoha?"
Rin was speechless. However, after this period of observation, she knew that Guy did have these issues, maybe it was a kind of prosopagnosia (a neuro-ophthalmic disorder in which a patient has difficulty perceiving or recognizing faces, Ophthalmic means relating to the eye and its diseases.).
Since she couldn't count on Guy anyway, she knelt down and carefully observed the appearance of the two ninjas.
They seemed familiar. Obito stared at them for a few seconds, and then his face became paler and paler. He was so frightened that his hands started trembling a bit.
With his trembling hands, he tried to grab Rin's hand, but Takeshi slapped it away with a paw: "Meow! You have something to say!"
"He- he is member of my clan!" Obito said in fear.
"A member of your clan? I do recall that there was an Uchiha Genin who was taller than you and about fifteen or sixteen years old," Rin also remembered.
"No, he... he unlocked the three tomoe Sharingan some time ago, and his strength... he is a Special Jonin." Obito's teeth were chattering.
Even the Special Jonin team was eliminated by Sasori. If Sasori had taken action against them just before... the consequences would've been disastrous!
He was afraid of his own death, but he was even more afraid of Rin and everyone else he cared for dying.
"A Special Jonin!" Rin was shocked, and her face suddenly turned pale. Guy on the other side also didn't dare to have any ambitions of looking for Sasori to fight him.
His excitement died down, because the opponent's strength was really terrifying, and even if they tried their best, they might not be able to cause any damage to the enemy.
The most terrifying thing was – "Wait, the body is still warm; be careful!" At the same time, Takeshi's instincts started flaring, and he immediately utilized his chakra to enlarge his tail and controlled the fur to grow rapidly to surround him and his teammates. The dense cat fur formed a huge protective shield to resist possible attacks.
"What's the situation?"
"I don't know, but... it should be the enemy." Obito took a deep breath and immediately opened his Sharingan.
His hands were shaking, but he knew in his heart that he had to overcome this fear because of the encounter before him. The enemy was powerful enough to destroy them.
Takeshi felt a slight yet continuous impact on his fur. The hidden weapon did not break his defense.
He didn't dare to lower the defense from the Wild Lion's Mane jutsu, but slowly created an opening to observe the situation outside.
Then he saw Sasori standing on a tree not far away. "Your abilities are really diverse. Become part of my collection, and I will grant you immortality! I will make you a great piece of art!" though Sasori's words came from over there. Takeshi kept observing the surroundings vigilantly.
After feeling that the danger that made his heart palpitate gradually lower, he stopped the effect of the ninjutsu, and then the thin needles fell to the ground one by one.
The black cat stood in front, staring at Sasori warily. It's time to fight! Takeshi took a deep breath, then roared, and instantly became as big as an elephant.
His fur constantly surrounded himself, covering his whole body for protection, leaving only his eyes unprotected.
However, when needed, the surrounding fur would grow in time to protect his eyes too. In fact, if he weren't for protecting his team behind him, he wouldn't need to be so big at all.
Although the Multi-size Jutsu is powerful, it sacrifices the cat's lightness and agility. "Let's find a place to take cover quickly..."
"Throw the emergency flares first." Rin acted decisively. She couldn't care about the exam at this time. She wanted to save herself and her team's lives first.
As for becoming a Chunin, if they have the strength, why should they care about a professional rankings? She didn't hesitate and fired the flare directly.
Fireworks exploded in the air. Sasori glanced at the sky above, then looked indifferently towards his potential victims, and then – one, two, three... From the bushes and trees, figures emerged one after another.
'Fifteen puppets! Controlling fifteen puppets at the same time, why is he in these Chunin exams with such strength!?' Takeshi wanted to curse at Sasori.
Although he knew that Sasori can control a hundred or more in the future, the situation is different.
In the future, he will not be a human, and transform his body into a puppet. The current Sasori is still human. At most, he is using a similar method to the one Chiyo used. This situation went from bad to worse!
"Looks like we are surrounded; it'll be difficult to escape!" Guy swallowed, understanding how the previous ninjas died.
With so many puppets, it won't be difficult for the enemy to gang up on them and eliminate them one by one.
"Run!" Takeshi roared, then raised his paws. His front paws instantly stretched and became larger, and then a huge chakra sphere appeared in his palm.
Odama Rasengan!
Boom!!... Under the impact of this ninjutsu, the place where the giant Rasengan passed was a mess, and all the puppets and trees were wrecked. With just one blow, he forced a way open.
Rin and her team were shocked, but they soon realized that this was the way out that Takeshi had forcibly opened, and Rin also didn't insist on staying – she knew that as long as she escaped far enough, she could use the Summoning jutsu to summon Takeshi to a safer location.
This is the best choice for the current situation. The three escaped, but Sasori did not stop him because his target had changed from Obito to this cat.
"I can't wait to have you part of my collection!" Sasori summoned new puppets and once again formed a formation of fifteen puppets to surround Takeshi.
As long as he broke through the defense, he could bring down this large cat. Sasori is very confident about this, because the new puppets will release poisonous mist, and the poisonous mist cannot be blocked by this cat's hair ninjutsu.
His puppet mastery is quite proficient, and these puppets quickly rushed to Takeshi's side, emitting bursts of poisonous mist.
But after Rin and the others left the battlefield, Takeshi shrunk, held his breath, and then jumped out of the puppet and rushed towards the place where Sasori was hiding.
He wants to keep attacking Sasori as much as possible. Against the puppet master, hitting the puppet is useless. The puppet master must be attacked!
Takeshi's speed was pushed to the limit, inhaling and infusing chakra while running, and then suddenly sprayed out a powerful water jet– Wind Release: Toad Gun.
This is a combination ninjutsu similar to the one used by Naruto and Gamatatsu, but he bought it with the system, and it can be combined completely by himself.
The water jet directly knocked down a tree and hit the hiding Sasori. However, it was just a clone.
Despite that, Sasori was unable to control the puppet perfectly at the moment of dodging, which gave Takeshi an opportunity to take advantage of it.
He pushed out a black ball from below him and quickly jumped away when the puppets came nearby.
He jumped to the tree in front and protected himself with Needle Jizo, and then – "Meow!" (Katsu!)
Boom!
There was a loud noise, and the sky was filled with dust after the explosion.
For a couple of seconds, nothing could be seen. The puppets that were closest and didn't have good defense were directly blown to pieces.
Even those puppets that had good defense were blown over. The ground had a small crater at the center. Takeshi hid far away, but just looking at this scene felt worried.
He had to use this trick just now as a last resort and didn't want to run away so far from the blast zone, but fortunately, he felt his instincts blaring the last second and immediately reacted and left. Sasori was not far away. If he wanted to control the puppet, he had to get closer.
Although Sasori avoided the explosion, he couldn't avoid the smell and dust, so horrible! 'This cat must be killed!'
Although Sasori has started the process of transforming his body into a puppet, most of his internal organs have not started to be transformed, so he can still smell this unspeakable stench.
Except for the Third Kazekage, he had never wanted to kill anyone so much, but after sensing around, he found that the cat disappeared out of thin air.
Summoning? That cat is actually a Summoning beast! When Sasori saw the little girl carrying it with her, he thought it was an ordinary ninja beast, but he didn't expect it to be a Summoning beast that had a Summoning blood contract... This made him feel even more frustrated.
His face scrunched up in anger. If he had known earlier that he should have caught the female medical ninja first.
The signal flare attracted the attention of the surrounding ninjas. At this moment, more and more ninjas were rushing here.
However, Sasori lost twelve puppets to Takeshi and had to retreat immediately. "Damn it, sooner or later I will make you into a cat puppet, otherwise, it will be difficult to vent my hatred! You will experience being my eternal piece of art!" Sasori swore viciously, and then immediately sealed his puppets and prepared to retreat.
He has no other choice. He not only killed the ninjas from various villages and Konoha, but also some Kekkei genkai ninjas from Sunagakure Village.
He had made a lot of enemies today, and Ebizo couldn't save him even if he stayed.
He had more important things to do, and he wouldn't die here pursuing a cat.
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