Chapter 282: Chapter 282: To Make the Sand Great Again!
A few minutes later, at a corner with a road sign, Yahiko and Konan stopped, looked around, and then continued forward. Not long after crossing the bridge, four figures flickered out.
"Hello, I am..."
"We know. You are Yahiko of the Hidden Rain Village, and this must be Konan, right? Hokage-sama has already explained the situation."
"We just didn’t expect you to go to Tanzaku Town."
Gekkō Shūsaku sized up the two, his tone a bit strange. Kyohiko had specially instructed him to look after Yahiko and Konan in secret, in case something happened. And the result—well, at least they were adults.
He coughed lightly. "You two, what have you learned from your investigation this time?"
"The Land of Fire is indeed very prosperous!" Yahiko coughed, quite embarrassed.
Gekkō Shūsaku smiled. "The ninja world is not very peaceful recently, so I’ll take you to Konoha."
"The ninja world is not peaceful?" Yahiko was slightly taken aback.
He had been in the Land of Fire for a few days, and the intelligence from the Hidden Rain and the Land of Birds had basically not been sent to him, so he lacked understanding of the outside world. He had intended to stop the conversation. But on second thought, if the other party was unwilling to disclose, why would he bring it up?
Yahiko immediately asked, "What happened?"
"The Hidden Stone Village has sent a large number of Anbu and intelligence ninja into the Land of Rain and the Land of Wind. Some have also infiltrated our Land of Fire."
"The Hidden Stone Village..." Upon hearing this, Yahiko was first surprised, then his expression became grave. He understood why Ōnoki had reacted so strongly. Once the Land of Fire, the Land of Wind, and the Land of Rain formed an alliance, the Land of Earth would face immense pressure.
But the Land of Rain had no choice. In the current situation, if they didn’t cooperate with Konoha, they could only cooperate with the alliance formed by the Hidden Stone, Cloud, and Mist. No matter which they chose, they would be at the core of a three-way battlefield. The Hidden Rain could only choose the lesser of two evils.
"Please take us to Konoha." Yahiko instantly lost the mood for sightseeing.
***
In Konoha, outside Namikaze Minato’s house, Rasa was waiting eagerly. Unfortunately, after waiting for a long time, the figure he was looking forward to did not appear.
Inside the house.
"Temari, are you really not going out to see him?"
"We just met. What’s there to see?" Temari was cold and ruthless.
Kushina sighed helplessly. She understood Temari’s emotions very well, but whether it was from Uzumaki Mito’s experience or the insights she had summed up... the most proficient method of the sealed Tailed Beasts was to transmit their negative emotions to the Jinchuriki through chakra. To resist the emotional pollution of the Tailed Beasts, one had to have an extremely strong heart.
Temari’s current situation was very dangerous! But, it was obvious that she hated Rasa to the core.
Kushina thought for a moment, walked out the door, her gaze gradually becoming stern. She said to Rasa in a huff, "You should just leave. You’re not welcome in my house!"
"Temari..."
"She doesn’t want to see you. If you stay here, you’ll only make her more annoyed." Kushina was very impolite.
Rasa’s eyes dimmed, but then he forced a smile. "I understand. Thank you for helping me convey the message. Also, thank you very much for being willing to take her in."
As he spoke, he bowed deeply. As the Kazekage, Rasa was not an expert in human nature, but he was by no means clueless. He could see... Kushina was very fond of Temari. Otherwise, she wouldn’t be so angry. For Temari to be able to stay in such a family in Konoha was indeed her own good fortune. It was just—Konoha!
Rasa let out a long sigh, his heart growing heavier. On the way back to his lodging, he looked at the bustling streets, with caravans coming and going. How was it not ten times more prosperous than the Sand Village?
Would these children really be willing to return to the village? He had no confidence in his heart. But if he didn’t send a few over to hold Temari with the bonds of friendship, the future Temari would only grow further and further away from the Sand Village in hatred.
He had no choice in this matter!
***
Outside Orochimaru’s base, Kyohiko’s hands formed a seal and pressed them on the ground. In an instant, trees grew out, combining and changing their state under the control of chakra.
Soon, under the control of chakra, a turtle-like puppet appeared before them. The next moment, steel bars, under Kyohiko’s control, quickly pierced into the puppet’s body. In just a few minutes, a puppet was completed.
Orochimaru couldn’t help but exclaim in admiration, "Although it was just made casually, your puppet jutsu is already very remarkable!"
"It was just a casual attempt. This kind of puppet is very simple. It can only perform basic manipulation, transformation, and hidden mechanisms." As Kyohiko spoke, his fingers danced, and the puppet moved with a "clack clack" sound—its head suddenly extended, pouncing towards Orochimaru.
Orochimaru slapped it back. But the "turtle’s" tail suddenly turned into a number of "snakes" that flew out, spewing chakra from their mouths. Its legs suddenly grew, and its abdomen opened... This was a demonstration of how to use the puppet.
But Orochimaru knew that Kyohiko didn’t just mean that. His eyes lit up. "An Earth Release puppet?"
"Earth Release is the basic. On top of Earth Release, Fire and Wind Release can be added to form a three-attribute fusion, but that is the ultimate state..." Kyohiko explained his concept. The defense and movement of Earth Release were its basic abilities, while Wind and Fire Release were its offensive abilities.
"Three attributes. Indeed, if this puppet armor were to be enlarged a bit, it would be impossible for one person to control it." Orochimaru nodded. "Then what about this one now?"
"It’s a gift for the little girl from the Sand Village. Yamato directly shattered the other party’s puppet. We have to show some gesture." Kyohiko grinned.
Orochimaru said, "The people from the Sand Village, is it necessary to be so attentive?"
"To unify the ninja world, this is a necessary step." Kyohiko put away the puppet. "Unification is not just about unifying territory, but also unifying their thoughts and consciousness."
"Perhaps." Orochimaru was noncommittal. He wasn’t very interested in Kyohiko’s grand ambitions. The so-called unification of the ninja world was just an unnecessary effort in Orochimaru’s eyes. This kind of unstable thing, even if unified and integrated for a time, would sooner or later separate.
"I’m leaving."
***
"For me?" Rina looked at Baki in a daze.
Baki was also confused by Kyohiko’s thoughts for a moment—giving a puppet to a Sand ninja? And a child at that...
"It’s just a token of our apology. After all, it was our ninja who broke your puppet yesterday. And it is also a symbol of the friendship between our two villages," Kyohiko said with a smile.
Rina didn’t dare to accept it. At this moment, a voice came from behind. "Accept it."
"Kazekage-sama!" Baki breathed a sigh of relief.
Rasa was back! Finally, he didn’t have to make the decision.
Rasa nodded lightly, signaling for Rina to accept it. Then he had her bow and thank Kyohiko. Kyohiko nodded lightly and left.
Baki scratched his head. "Did he really just come to give a gift?"
"What do you think?" Rasa glanced at him.
Baki lowered his head. "This subordinate thought he wanted to gather information..."
"We don’t have any information that needs to be gathered. And you need to understand that you will be living in Konoha for a long time in the future." Rasa paused here. "You will encounter many difficult problems. Baki, you are their leader. You must have the ability to distinguish and make decisions."
"Yes!" Baki lowered his head.
Rasa sighed lightly, knowing that it was also difficult for Baki. Even he couldn’t handle such a matter well, let alone Baki? He looked at the puppet scroll. "Let’s see it."
Unseal! Soon, a turtle-shaped puppet appeared before them.
Baki was full of confusion. But... Rasa’s expression became grave. As a ninja who controlled Magnet Release, he could clearly feel the metal distribution inside.
This puppet was very precise! Its structure and production were very exquisite, almost on par with those few creations of Sasori’s. The reason it wasn’t as good... was not that the other party couldn’t do it, but that they didn’t want to.
Konoha’s puppet-making technology had actually reached such a terrifying level!
Rina’s fingers moved, and chakra threads attached to it. Soon the puppet began to move with a "clack clack" sound. However, after a moment, the components came apart, and she had to use all her strength to retract all the parts.
"Kazekage-sama, this puppet..."
"Keep it. But you must remember to study and learn its technology well. If one day you can understand it, the Sand Village’s puppet-making technology might be able to improve by a level," Rasa said.
Rina was stunned for a few seconds, then looked at the puppet in front of her, realizing that this thing might be very precious.
Konoha’s puppet... In the past, she had always felt that the Sand Village’s puppet jutsu was the strongest. A puppet genius like Sasori of the Red Sand was born in the Sand Village. Even until yesterday’s defeat, she still thought so. That thing of Konoha’s was not a puppet at all!
But today—this puppet shattered her illusion. Konoha was not incapable of puppet making. They just disdained to make this kind of puppet. Otherwise, their technology was in no way inferior to theirs.
She bit her lip. The pride and confidence she had as a Sand ninja were all destroyed at this moment. It felt like her beliefs were collapsing. Not just her. Baki was also somewhat disillusioned, his mind unable to calm down.
Konoha had never researched puppets before, but in such a short time, they could catch up to and surpass their Sand Village’s decades of research. And this was just in terms of puppet jutsu. Poison, medicine, ninjutsu... as long as Konoha wanted to do it, there seemed to be nothing they couldn’t do.
Konoha’s strength far exceeded his imagination, to the point that he couldn’t even think of being an enemy of Konoha. To be an enemy of such a person, such a village... was there really a future?
He endured the sadness, looked around, wanting to say something, but for a moment he couldn’t find any encouraging words in his heart. From the current situation, the gap between them and Konoha was indeed too large to be glossed over with words.
Rasa saw everything. He himself was also very desperate. The repeated defeats of the past seemed to be right before his eyes. But at the same time, he had to pull himself together. Because he was the Kazekage!
"Children, you must face the gap. Konoha is indeed strong, much more powerful than us. It is precisely because of this that you need to come here to study."
"The Sand Village awaits your return, to rebuild the village and make the village great again!" Rasa’s voice was impassioned.
Baki and the others were moved to tears. At this moment, they indeed had the thought of returning to rebuild the Sand Village after completing their studies, and even imagined the scene of their return to the village in the future.
Rasa continued to speak of their importance to the Sand Village, and the faces of the several children turned red.
"To make the Sand great again!"
***
"It’s done!"
"It’s done? Sandaime-sama, coincidentally, I’m also done!" Kyohiko smiled and handed over the puppet’s blueprints and some simple components. "Now it’s just up to your side."
"Ah?" Sarutobi Hiruzen was stunned for a moment, then took it and looked.
Well, I’ll be! Earth, Wind, and Fire Release. A combination of three. He had just figured out one and had just finished researching it, and Kyohiko had already raised the requirement to three?
Sarutobi Hiruzen was silent. "Kyohiko, your design is not bad, but the research of armor patterns is not that simple..."
"Sandaime-sama, there really is no talent in this area. The next generation is still being cultivated. You’ll have to bear with it. As for the puppet, let’s first create the defensive Earth Release one."
Shear the sheep first!
Kyohiko took over Sarutobi Hiruzen’s armor, then skillfully inlaid it into the reserved empty space—the ordinary puppet was not a Hashirama cell version, so it didn’t need such precise protection.
Installation complete.
Sarutobi Hiruzen nodded, then created a shadow clone and entered the "turtle’s" interior. Soon, a layer of earthy yellow covered the turtle’s surface.
Earth Style: Hardening Jutsu! Then, with a shake of its foot, the soil below quickly turned into quicksand, and the huge puppet instantly disappeared, soon drilling out from beside Kyohiko.
Although Sarutobi Hiruzen was using it for the first time, he controlled it with ease.
"The chakra is quite a lot. You can release the area in the middle of it now."
"What is this?" A voice came from inside.
Seal, release! The next second, a surge of chakra burst out from inside.
Boom!
The soil surged, quickly rising up to form a high wall.
Sarutobi Hiruzen canceled the clone and said, "Is that the Yin Seal?"
"Similar, but purely a fool-proof version." With Kyohiko’s grandmaster-level Yin Seal, it wasn’t difficult to improve and optimize it. A similar seal had been planted on Pakura before. It could absorb a part of the user’s chakra, and over time, release it all at once during battle. Without a living body to provide extra energy, and with the seal in place, there was no problem of it expanding and eroding in an uncontrolled manner.
"Good!" Sarutobi Hiruzen couldn’t help but exclaim in admiration, and at the same time, he was very impressed. As expected of Kyohiko!
"This is a success, right?"
"Mhm, the basic part is a success. The rest is just adding more functions. This thing is much simpler than Yamato’s," Kyohiko nodded.
Sarutobi Hiruzen touched the puppet, then said with a smile, "Just give it to me!"
Kyohiko glanced at the system panel.
[The research team you formed has successfully conquered the Earth Release amplification armor and completed the construction of the Earth Release puppet armor.]
[Reward: Earth Style: Added-Weight Rock Technique (Grandmaster)]
Added-Weight Rock Technique? This thing... good stuff! If he could master it proficiently, it would be a great improvement for him, as well as for Jiraiya and Kakashi.
The key was—knowing how it worked, he could research more derivative jutsu based on this ninjutsu.
Kyohiko’s eyes lit up, and he looked at Sarutobi Hiruzen with eagerness. Just one type of puppet armor gave such a reward. If all types were created, and even the ultimate five-element structure was completed... wouldn’t that be amazing?
"Sandaime-sama, you have to work harder!"