Before Shin-chan had time to think, the fleeing man reached his side, slipped, and fell onto the stone road with a thud.
Several puppets lunged toward the man simultaneously.
The surrounded man did not even see what happened before two of the puppets were sent flying, crashing onto the stone pavement and breaking into several pieces.
The remaining puppets turned at once, the red light in their eye sockets locking onto Shin-chan.
"Warning. Obstruction of law enforcement. Target identified as hostile—"
Before it could finish speaking, a tremendous force overturned the puppet's entire body and slammed it heavily into the ground.
Before the other puppets could react, they all fell apart.
Shin-chan picked up a broken component and turned it over in his hand. "Are these relatives of Sasori's puppets?"
The man lying on the ground stared blankly at the scene before him, his mouth hanging wide open.
"W-who are you?"
"Just passing through." Shin-chan tossed the component aside.
The man climbed up from the ground, his voice still trembling. "Thank you... but you shouldn't have interfered. Lord Anrokuzan will—"
A jumble of footsteps came from behind Shin-chan, interrupting him.
Shin-chan turned and saw five or six people wearing matching uniforms running toward them.
"Who are you?"
"We're the resistance fighting against Anrokuzan!" a young man shouted.
Shin-chan's eyes lit up. "The resistance? That sounds impressive. Are you also members of the Chocolate Stick Alliance?"
"What alliance?"
"The Chocolate Stick Alliance. I'm the leader. There are currently three official members, and we're still recruiting honorary members."
The resistance members looked at one another, clearly having no idea what Shin-chan was talking about.
Judging from their confused expressions, Shin-chan reached a conclusion. "Looks like you aren't members."
"We don't belong to any alliance." A large, scar-faced man stepped forward. "We're ordinary citizens of Rōran. We no longer want to live under the rule of Anrokuzan's puppets, so we organised ourselves to resist."
"Who is Anrokuzan?"
"He is a minister of Rōran, but the entire kingdom is under his control," one resistance member said quietly. "Queen Sāra is merely a puppet. Anrokuzan is the one truly controlling everything."
The scar-faced man turned and headed deeper into the alley. "Standing in the street makes us too conspicuous. Anrokuzan's spies will notice us. Follow us unless you want the puppets to catch up."
Shin-chan took one last look at the street behind him.
The chocolate-stick stall had completely disappeared. Even the man wearing the headscarf was nowhere to be seen.
He sighed and followed the resistance into the maze-like alleys.
The resistance's hideout was an abandoned textile workshop. Several members sat in the corners, and when they saw the scar-faced man return, they all stood up.
The scar-faced man looked Shin-chan up and down. "Who exactly are you? Where did you come from?"
"Konoha Village."
The room instantly fell silent.
"Konoha is nowhere near Rōran. Why did you come all the way here?"
"I heard Sunagakure ninja were moving around near Rōran, so I came to take a look."
The scar-faced man exchanged glances with the other resistance members.
Someone in the corner lowered his voice. "That Anrokuzan uses Sunagakure's puppetry. We suspect he used to be a Suna ninja."
"Who cares where he came from?" The scar-faced man spat. "Now he's the greatest plague in Rōran. He captures anyone who disobeys him and forces them into labour. Some people even say he's using the power of the Dragon Vein to create something even more terrifying."
Before he could finish speaking, a puppet suddenly smashed through the workshop's wooden window.
The resistance members raised their weapons, but Shin-chan had already disappeared.
Bang!
With a muffled impact, the puppet's chest was pierced by a single punch, scattering fragments everywhere.
"This place isn't safe anymore! Move!"
The resistance members did not hesitate and evacuated through the workshop's back door.
The streets outside were in chaos.
Puppets poured in from every direction. The resistance fought while retreating, but there were far too many puppets.
"Stop resisting."
A man in magnificent official robes stood on a raised platform at the end of the street.
"Anrokuzan!" The scar-faced man's voice was filled with fury.
Anrokuzan swept his gaze over the street before fixing his eyes on Shin-chan.
"Young outsider, you possess considerable ability. Why not work for me? I can give you anything you desire—power, wealth, even those 'chocolate sticks' of yours. You can have as many as you want."
"Really?" Shin-chan's eyes lit up.
A smile appeared on Anrokuzan's face. "Of course, as long as you agree to serve me."
Shin-chan raised one finger. "Then I have one condition."
"What condition?"
"Can you resign first?"
Anrokuzan's smile froze.
"Think about it." Shin-chan counted on his fingers. "If you resign from your job as minister, the people of Rōran won't have to run away from puppets anymore, and I'll still get my chocolate sticks. No one has to fight. Doesn't everyone win?"
Anrokuzan's expression changed. "You don't know what's good for you."
Within the darkness behind him, the eyes of even more puppets began glowing red.
"This way." The scar-faced man led the resistance through the winding alleys.
After turning a corner, a tall tower suddenly appeared ahead.
Beautiful reliefs were carved across its surface, making it stand out sharply from the surrounding buildings.
What caught Shin-chan's attention even more was the strange chakra faintly radiating from the top of the tower.
"What tower is that?" Shin-chan stopped walking.
The scar-faced man followed his gaze. "That's the tower Anrokuzan uses to control the power of the Dragon Vein—"
Before he could finish speaking, a blinding beam of light suddenly shot from the tower's peak.
Immediately afterwards, the ground beneath their feet began shaking violently. Countless cracks split across the stone road, and purple chakra surged out of them.
"The Dragon Vein is going out of control!" The scar-faced man's expression changed completely. "Run towards the desert! Don't look back!"
An explosion sounded nearby, and a building collapsed amid the purple light.
The Dragon Vein within the tower had completely run wild.
Purple chakra tore apart the sealing formation and spread in every direction from the tower's peak. The tower itself broke into fragments within the violet glow.
Shin-chan activated the Flying Thunder God Technique, but the Dragon Vein's chakra had already seeped into every inch of the surrounding space.
He could feel that power interfering with his Flying Thunder God formulas. Every coordinate was fluctuating wildly.
Silver spatial light suddenly flared.
But in the next instant, the purple and silver energies tangled together. The two colours of chakra intertwined and spiralled around his body, forming an enormous vortex.
The surrounding scene began to twist and distort.
Rōran's towers, the purple pillar of Dragon Vein chakra, the collapsing buildings—everything spun at tremendous speed.
As the world whirled around him, Shin-chan felt a force violently yank his body, as though someone had grabbed him by the collar and thrown him from one pocket into another.
Then the world became silent.