Baki gave a bitter smile again. "I can only say what I know."
"Mukade is a very talented ninja, especially in puppet jutsu! During the war between the Sand and Cloud villages, his puppet jutsu played a significant role in reducing the sacrifice of lower-ranked ninjas in the village.
The Kazekage holds him in high regard and even planned to take him as an apprentice. If things had gone as expected, he could have become the Fifth Kazekage in the future!
But shortly after the war with the Cloud village ended, Mukade defected from the Sand village. At first, it was like the Third Kazekage's disappearance — he simply vanished.
Soon after, the Kazekage discovered that the village's collection of secret puppet techniques had been stolen, and the thief was most likely the missing Mukade.
No one knows why he betrayed the village, as he was supposed to have a bright future ahead!
The Kazekage sent the Anbu after him, but his strength far exceeded the village's estimation, reaching the level of an elite jōnin.
Ultimately, all we were able to find out was that he disappeared near the desert in the Roran country. Once the Sand Anbu entered that area, they lost contact.
Realizing that ordinary ninjas couldn't threaten Mukade anymore, the Kazekage, at the suggestion of the Daimyo, decided to join forces with Konoha for this mission.
Originally, we wanted to cooperate with the Yellow Flash! But the Hokage rejected our suggestion, saying that the Yellow Flash had even more important tasks at hand."
"So, you don't know how strong Mukade is now?" Kagetsu quietly summarized.
Baki shook his head with a grim expression.
Based on the situation encountered during the infiltration, Mukade's strength and his use of puppet techniques have greatly improved, and it's hard to say whether he has shown all his power.
Moreover, geniuses can't be judged by ordinary standards. Especially considering that these recent years have likely been the period of his most rapid growth.
Two years ago, the hidden strength of Mukade could already rival that of an elite Jonin. Now, it's hard for Baki to imagine how much he has grown.
"Then, tell me more about his abilities," Kagetsu demanded. Knowing yourself and your enemy is the key to winning every battle. Besides, this time, their team also has Itachi and Asuma.
"How should I put it? His talent in Earth Style and Puppet Jutsu is exceptional! But his genius wasn't apparent from a young age. Instead, there was a period when he suddenly began to show his abilities.
We believe that before that, he was intentionally hiding his skills. But when war broke out, he couldn't keep hiding them. However, in reality, he was just hiding them even deeper.
After his defection, Lord Kazekage conducted a thorough investigation. He is indeed from Sunagakure, the Hidden Sand Village, and not an outside spy.
He can use Earth Style to create certain earthen puppets, which he controls as his own puppets. These earthen puppets have some regenerative abilities and can hide various mechanisms inside their bodies during battle.
He is already capable of controlling more than five puppets at once, earning him the title of a puppet genius. The puppet performances he created are even considered one of the Hidden Sand's secret puppet techniques.
In Sunagakure, ever since the Second Kazekage invented the Puppet Jutsu, every famous puppet master who has developed their unique system usually has their own signature puppet creations and corresponding operating techniques.
To distinguish them, these secret techniques are typically named based on colors.
For example, the most widely known external ninja village techniques are Chiyo's White Secret Technique and the Black Secret Technique of the Sasori of the Red Sands.
The clay puppet play created by Mukade is known as the "Brown Secret Technique." Lord Kazekage believes that, in the future, he will be able to rival the lost Sasori of the Red Sand.
When he defected from the village, he stole many of Sunagakure's core puppet techniques, along with some secret methods. It's hard to say whether he applied some of those mechanisms and techniques to his clay puppets.
Because his clay puppets have the highest potential for expansion and modification.
Puppets for different purposes, and their corresponding combinations, Mukade's clay puppets are also the most complex and troublesome. However, the biggest limitation for Mukade is his chakra.
His chakra amount is his only weakness, limiting him from reaching higher levels.
Lord Kazekage originally planned to take him as an apprentice and seal the One-Tail inside him, maQueen him a Jinchuriki of the One-Tail.
However, if there's another powerful chakra source here, Mukade would definitely find it and wouldn't hesitate to use it.
By the end, Baki's expression and tone became much more serious. Clearly, he realized the difficulties and trouble. He could already imagine that Mukade now holds a high position in Roran, possibly even changed his identity and appearance.
They were now in a difficult situation.
Baki even considered leaving and teaming up with Konoha to bring more ninja and clear Roran.
"We can't leave anymore." Upon hearing Baki's thoughts, Kagetsu simply shook his head.
"The entire Roran is sealed by a barrier. A very peculiar and dangerous barrier. Unless we find Mukade and gain control of the barrier, or find the chakra source supplying this barrier and shut it down.
Otherwise, we'll be stuck here."
"This place must be heavily guarded," Baki frowned, then seemed to think of something and looked at Kagetsu expectantly, asQueen, "Can we infiltrate through the shadows?"
"Alright, but I think this idea won't go smoothly." Kagetsu nodded first, then expressed his intuition.
However, no matter what, they first needed to pinpoint the exact location of the chakra source. This was a bit difficult under the intense search and surveillance of the clay puppets.
"Itachi, Asuma, can you both tell me what we need to do to determine the location of the chakra source?"
Itachi and Asuma understood that Kagetsu was testing and training them when they heard the question. They both began thinQueen carefully.
"I think we should capture someone who might know about this place and interrogate them for the information," Asuma said, drawing from his experience.
"Then who would know about this place?" Kagetsu quietly asked in response.
"A place like this is usually only known to a few high-ranQueen officials. And the only ones who would know the secret for sure, aside from Mukade, whose identity is still uncertain, would be the Queen of Roran. Finding the Queen's location isn't difficult. If we can sneak into their side, we can use genjutsu to gather the information."
This was Itachi's response. He had already set his sights on the queen. They needed to determine what the current situation of the Roran queen was.
Of course, they wouldn't take any dangerous actions toward the queen, as Konoha and Sunagakure ninja, they still needed to be cautious of the potential consequences.
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