There was no doubt that Allen's blatant and undisguised contempt for puppetry had deeply wounded the pride of Chiyo, the veteran of the Hidden Sand.
No one understood the weaknesses of a puppeteer better than she did; she knew all too well that against a truly top-tier powerhouse, puppetry was essentially useless.
The reason was simple.
All puppets are controlled via Chakra Threads. Inherently, this means the puppet's reactions are always half a beat slower than the user's intent. In battles between Chūnin or Genin, this slight latency might not cause significant issues, but at the level of Jōnin or Kage, even a momentary lapse can lead to defeat and death.
At this level, the inherent flaws of a puppeteer are exposed in their entirety.
To compensate for this defect, the Hidden Sand developed techniques to manipulate multiple puppets simultaneously, attempting to use quantity to make up for the lack of quality.
However, there is ultimately a ceiling to this approach.
And right now, Chiyo was facing the absolute ceiling of what a puppeteer could handle. No matter what she did, she couldn't manage to harm a single hair on her opponent's head.
Under the dual buffs of Enhancement-type Nen and the Earth Release: Body Hardening technique, Karin was like a human-shaped Gundam. She could dismantle those fancy puppets in a matter of minutes.
What's more, this wasn't even the full extent of her power.
"Enough! Let's stop this right here!"
Seeing their ally on the verge of a crushing defeat, Jiraiya finally couldn't help but intervene. After all, Chiyo was the last "fig leaf" of dignity this village had left. If even she were stripped of her prestige, the Hidden Sand would be one step away from being erased from the map.
Furthermore, if the Land of Wind were to be occupied by the Resistance, those who harbored deep-seated hatred for ninjas, Daimyōs, and nobles, it would be an absolute disaster for the Land of Fire.
Konoha had already learned a bitter lesson regarding this from the Land of Earth.
As the first major nation to lose the protection of its hidden ninja village, the Land of Earth had turned into a place of madness in the eyes of other nations. A massive uprising of the lower classes had unleashed their pent-up rage and hatred, dragging those once-lofty noble lords and Daimyōs to the execution grounds one by one, slaughtering them without exception.
The Daimyōs and nobles who had ruled the ninja world with impunity had never seen such a bloody and violent revolution. They were so terrified they nearly wet themselves, living in constant fear that their day would come next.
Consequently, regardless of their previous attitudes toward their respective ninja villages, they had all shifted to a stance of 100% unreserved support.
The hidden villages of the remaining four Great Nations could not afford any more "accidents." Otherwise, the very foundation of the nobility and the Daimyō system would shake, crumble, and eventually collapse.
Even more terrifying was that after the rioting citizens of the Land of Earth finished purging their own nobles, they turned their sights toward the neighboring Land of Grass.
The Land of Grass happened to be under Konoha's protection. The death toll from the resulting clashes between the two sides had already reached two to three hundred.
One must realize these weren't ordinary people dying! Specifically for Konoha, the loss of over a hundred ninjas was a blow that cut deep into their marrow.
Furthermore, training a ninja required far more resources and a much longer learning cycle than producing a Nen user.
Of course, the other Great Nations had considered training their own corps of Nen users loyal to them. The problem, however, was that Nen wasn't something one could simply learn from a textbook. Without external help, an ordinary person would need months or even years of training to slowly awaken it.
But the Resistance?
Some of them had learned from Orochimaru and Kabuto how to forcibly open a person's Aura Nodes throughout their body. Using this method, it was incredibly easy to mass-produce and filter out large quantities of Nen users suitable for combat.
Jiraiya knew exactly how precarious the current situation was for Konoha and the Land of Fire. No matter what, he could not allow the Hidden Sand to collapse.
"Are you going to stop me? Or rather, is Konoha truly prepared to go to war with me?" Allen asked meaningfully.
"It's not that we want to go to war with you; it's that you are forcing our hand. The Tailed Beasts are the foundation of every village. Your actions have touched everyone's bottom line," Jiraiya stated with an air of righteous indignation.
"Bottom line? Are you trying to make me laugh? The so-called 'bottom line' exists solely to be broken. Besides, ever since the system of the Five Great Nations was established, you ninjas have started wars day after day for your own interests. Have you ever asked the civilians caught in the crossfire? And to protect your secrets, how many innocent people have you killed in the middle of your missions? Did you respect the 'bottom line' of those victims?" Allen retorted with heavy irony.
"Sigh, it seems your hostility toward ninjas runs quite deep. I suppose we won't be able to have a civil conversation," Jiraiya sighed helplessly.
"It's not that my hostility is deep, it's that the truth I speak stings your most sensitive nerves. Perhaps in your eyes, I am a deviant subverter, the culprit who turned the ninja world into a mess. But in the eyes of the awakened masses, I am their savior, the one who brings hope to the entire world. Do you know why there is such a massive disparity? Because I represent the interests of the majority! Whereas you represent the interests of that tiny handful of elites!"
Allen sneered as he tore away the hypocritical mask of the "Toad Sage" before him.
While, strictly speaking, Jiraiya wasn't a bad person, his identity and position dictated that he could only ever be a guardian of the old order.
"Talk is cheap! Let our strength decide who is right!"
Jiraiya clearly knew he couldn't win an argument against Allen. He moved to summon the two Great Toad Sages, intending to enter Sage Mode for an all-out battle.
But before he could even begin to draw in Natural Energy, Allen instantaneously replicated a nuclear warhead and placed it at his feet. Curving his lips into a smirk, he asked, "Do you know what this is?"
"What?" Jiraiya asked subconsciously.
"This is the very thing I detonated over the Hidden Stone Village. I promise you, if you dare take one more hostile step, I will drop this thing on top of Konoha tomorrow," Allen threatened bluntly.
Hearing those words, Jiraiya froze instantly. He stared fixedly at the massive, oval-shaped metallic object.
After about a minute of silence, he took a deep breath and questioned, "Are you serious? You would really destroy Konoha?"
"That doesn't depend on me; it depends on you. And I sincerely suggest that all of you stay quiet for a while. Otherwise, if I'm provoked, I wouldn't mind in the slightest seeing the events of the Hidden Stone repeat in your village."
Allen gave no face to his opponent, his voice filled with raw, blatant warning.
If it weren't for the fact that the Three-Tails had yet to revive and the Eye of the Moon Plan was still at least two or three years away from activation, he would have simply steamrolled over them already, reviving the Ten-Tails, Madara Uchiha, and releasing Kaguya from her seal on the moon. There would be no need for all this trouble.
Unfortunately, life rarely goes exactly as planned.
Furthermore, he needed some time to research how to separate the Tailed Beast Chakra from its medium, and, while he was at it, forge a divine artifact capable of disemboweling Kaguya herself.