The reason things were so evenly matched was mainly because the little boy puppet had slightly better performance, with extreme agility and a significant speed advantage, allowing him to maintain a stalemate.
To have built such a puppet at age nine—was this the true value of a puppet master's talent, second only to the greatest in ninja history?
But if this was all, it still wasn't enough.
Hardy controlled the Fat Puppet, moving its heavy steps toward Sasori. At the same time, a row of firing ports popped up on its shoulder, launching a barrage of poisoned needles at Sasori.
With a wave of his left hand, Sasori had Sanshōuo quickly block in front of him, deploying its shield.
Hardy didn't mind. Both sides knew that poisoned needles and kunai were common ranged attacks for puppeteers, but unless you were a Sharingan-wielding Uchiha who could turn ninja tools into art, these weapons were ineffective against non-living puppets.
His real aim was to force Sasori to use Sanshōuo for defense, preventing him from focusing entirely on controlling Kuroari, so the little boy could use his speed advantage to keep Kuroari occupied.
Then...
"Black Secret Technique: Pneumatic Fist!"
The air valve in the Fat Puppet's left arm opened, converting the ultra-high pressure of compressed air into mechanical force. Empowered by chakra, it unleashed a powerful punch.
Kuroari was sent flying in an instant, crashing into the wall and scattering fragments of its parts.
That was the result of Kuroari trying to counter the Pneumatic Fist with its six spiked arms, only to be smashed to pieces.
Sasori's heart sank.
He had already witnessed the terrifying strength of Hardy's puppet before, but still underestimated it.
Even the newly constructed Kuroari, made from new materials, couldn't withstand it head-on.
Sasori quickly changed tactics, once again using chakra threads to control Kuroari against the little boy, while rapidly retreating and always keeping Sanshōuo between himself and the Fat Puppet.
So far, the Fat Puppet's only weakness was its speed.
Though its agility was decent, its massive size inevitably affected its speed.
It was still much faster than an ordinary person running at full speed, but compared to ninjas who specialized in speed, it was slightly lacking.
"I've noticed that when you use that powerful puppet technique during missions, there's always a gap before you can use it again. It must consume a lot of chakra. If I keep dragging this out, do you think you'll still win?"
A faint smile appeared on Sasori's delicate face as he looked at Hardy.
"Feel free to try. Let's see whose resources run out first—my chakra or Kuroari's endurance."
Hardy's expression remained calm, but he was secretly pleased that Sasori had guessed wrong.
The main chakra cost of the Pneumatic Fist was in using chakra threads to operate the air pump and compress the gas into the cylinder.
Although it did consume a fair amount of chakra, with a well-designed mechanical structure, the actual chakra expenditure was far less than Sasori imagined.
The real limitation on the Fat Puppet's Pneumatic Fist was hardware: the speed at which the air pump compressed air and the maximum pressure the cylinder could withstand, both restricted by the materials used.
If the Pneumatic Fist was used recklessly without regard for consequences...
That would damage the air pump, rendering it unusable—in essence, trading the puppet's durability for a brief burst of power.
Unless faced with an extremely dangerous situation, Seisui would never resort to such a move.
"Secret Black Technique: Auxiliary Manipulation."
The Formentor Puppet instantly split into more than a dozen units that flew out, quickly reassembling in front of Seisui.
With Seisui's own weight removed, the Formentor Puppet's speed increased sharply, charging toward Sasori like a tank.
"Boom!"
The powerful pneumatic fist struck the shield on the surface of the Salamander, leaving a pit that was neither too deep nor too shallow.
Sasori quickly scrambled back to widen the distance, then twisted his body to dodge the senbon fired from the Formentor Puppet's shoulder.
Worse yet, after being severely damaged by the Formentor Puppet, Black Ant's threat to the little boy had been greatly reduced, and it was clear it wouldn't hold out much longer.
Sasori made a snap decision, pulling Black Ant back to his side at the cost of two severed arms.
With the sound of mechanical twisting, Black Ant actively detached its remaining four limbs, opened its abdomen, and ejected several slender tubes.
Vaguely guessing what Sasori was about to do, Seisui also began to retreat, quickly pulling the little boy back to his side with chakra threads.
As Seisui expected, a thick cloud of green poisonous smoke wafted out from the tubes.
Seisui used chakra threads to activate a switch on the little boy's mechanical arm, then quickly released the threads and formed hand seals with both hands.
Three slender blades rapidly popped out from the mechanical arm and began to spin, blowing a gust of wind.
At the same time, Seisui's ninjutsu was complete.
"Wind Release: Gale Palm!"
Although it was only a basic C-rank Wind Release ninjutsu and not particularly powerful, a fierce wind still surged forth, not only blowing all the poisonous smoke back but also forcing Sasori to hide behind the Salamander to avoid injury.
But that billowing poisonous smoke was not so easy to evade.
"Cough! Cough, cough, cough!"
The Salamander's four limbs suddenly collapsed to the ground, motionless. Sasori lay on the ground, coughing violently, foam at his mouth.
"Um… are you okay?"
Seisui used Wind Release again to disperse the poisonous smoke and called out to Sasori.
"Antidote… the antidote is in my ninja tool pouch…"
Sasori's face was turning blue, and he spoke with difficulty.
Seisui hurried over to Sasori, found the antidote, and poured it into his mouth with a water bottle.
A few minutes later, after the antidote took effect, Sasori's complexion finally returned to normal.
"I have to say, you're really ruthless. This was just a sparring match—did you really need to use this kind of poison?"
Seisui quietly pocketed an extra antidote pill and complained to Sasori.
"This is just a neurotoxin made from green cactus juice mixed with a volatile agent. The effect is only paralysis and muscle spasms."
Sasori wiped the foam from the corner of his mouth with his sleeve and replied calmly.
"Then… does anyone else have the antidote?"
Sasori sneered and said, "I made this poison myself. Although it's not very potent, I added something special to the volatile agent. For ordinary people, it's not so easy to cure…"
"You two brats! Why are you releasing poison in the middle of the base? If you want to test poison, there's a special place for that! If this weren't the Puppet Corps, you'd both be thrown into the ANBU prison for endangering the village and threatening its safety!"
A booming voice came from the edge of the training ground. Suna Kamizuyama, with a burly physique, bare-chested and wearing a gas mask, strode over menacingly.
"Antidote!"
A palm as big as a fan was thrust in front of Seisui and Sasori.