New Changes to the System Panel

The reason was simple: only Sunagakure possessed advanced Puppeteer knowledge.

The Puppeteer was a new type of shinobi profession founded by the Second Kazekage and promoted and developed by Monzaemon. It had existed for less than thirty years. Other shinobi villages could at most obtain some basic knowledge of the Puppeteer system; truly powerful Puppeteers existed only in Sunagakure.

"He came from the ninja academy's elite class. His jonin squad leader was Momi, a typical Wind Release ninja, so she probably couldn't teach him these things either. In fact, even if someone did teach him, being able to reach this level at his age means his future potential is immeasurable."

Ishido continued speaking to Ebizo.

"Mm, acceptable. You want to transfer him to your Sixth Division?"

"Yes, Lord Ebizo. Two years ago, White Fang nearly wiped out over seventy percent of the Puppeteers in our Sixth Division. We still haven't finished rebuilding, so when I saw such a promising seedling, I couldn't help but..."

"Enough. I understand."

Ebizo removed his hand from his gray beard and examined him again for a while.

A genius like this was worth cultivating.

And he was only two years older than Sasori, so they could be considered peers.

Perhaps he could try letting him interact with Sasori.

After all, ever since his parents died, Sasori had become increasingly withdrawn.

"Transferring him directly into your division is impossible. For this new generation of Puppeteers, I will select eighty to enter the training list. When the time comes, who enters the puppet force and which division they join will be decided by the leadership of each division yourselves."

"Puppet Force Training Plan?"

A week after Shimizu submitted the puppet repair mission, he received this notice at home.

"Yes. You must seize this opportunity. The puppet force is the village's elite unit. Over the past decade or so, nearly every Puppeteer who became a jonin came from there."

A ninja in his fifties, with bandages wrapped around his shoulder, placed a form on the table.

This was Shimizu's former jonin squad leader, Momi, an old-established jonin of Sunagakure. Due to her age and injuries, she had withdrawn from the Land of Rain front alongside Shimizu's group.

Of course, Momi had not led Shimizu on the battlefield. As a jonin, the missions she carried out were beyond the reach of a genin like Shimizu, who had graduated only a year ago.

"I'm not a Puppeteer. I became a jonin through Wind Release Ninjutsu and swordsmanship, and there's only so much I can help you with in Puppet Technique. So if you want to keep advancing in the future, you must seize this opportunity."

Momi looked at the young man before her as she spoke.

She knew her student's potential very well.

His talent in ninjutsu could only be considered above average, while his swordsmanship was fairly good. If he followed the usual path, becoming a Chunin would definitely not be a problem. If he did not die young and spent enough years honing himself, he might perhaps reach jonin-level in certain aspects and become a Special Jonin as an adult.

He had a chance of becoming a jonin, but it was not a great one.

But Shimizu's talent as a Puppeteer was so high that even Momi was astonished. She believed that if Shimizu could receive a sufficiently advanced Puppeteer inheritance, becoming a jonin would be inevitable.

In the future, he might even have a sliver of a chance to become a major figure like Elder Chiyo.

"Thank you, Teacher Momi."

Shimizu accepted the form from Momi and thanked her.

"There's nothing to thank me for. When you graduated and were assigned to a squad, the fighting on the battlefield was at its fiercest. At that time, the village's powerful Puppeteers..."

Momi shook her head.

"What happened to those Puppeteers?"

Shimizu asked curiously.

"At the time, Elder Chiyo handed the puppet force over to her son and daughter-in-law. They were both formidable Puppeteers, regarded as two candidates who would one day take up the Fourth Kazekage's banner. Unfortunately, in one battle, the puppet force they led encountered Konoha White Fang's unit. The casualties were devastating, and those two died in battle as well."

"The jonin originally assigned to lead you was also temporarily added to the puppet force after the battle and sent to the front lines. So they could only find a mediocre jonin like me to lead you."

Momi patted Shimizu on the shoulder.

Among the Five Great Shinobi Villages, each village had over ten thousand active shinobi. Naturally, each graduating class did not have only twenty-seven genin like in the anime, with some of them still needing to be eliminated.

In reality, those twenty-seven had either higher talent and potential or sufficiently powerful backgrounds. Only they would be led by jonin after graduation.

Shimizu was one of them as well.

His talent fell short of top-tier geniuses, but it was still above average. Coupled with his early head start, he had managed to squeeze in.

That night, seated at his desk, Shimizu absentmindedly fiddled with puppet components as he watched the progress bar at the bottom of the System Panel slowly advance.

"Looks like the application for Puppeteer training has been approved."

Ninety-seven percent, ninety-eight percent, ninety-nine percent...

The progress bar slowly yet steadily reached one hundred percent, then instantly emptied.

System update in progress...

New function unlocking...

System update complete!

The System Panel changed at that moment.

To the left of the Fatty Puppet's original panel, a new sub-panel had appeared, displaying a three-dimensional image of Shimizu himself.

"This is... my own status screen?"

Shimizu stared at the changes on the System Panel in surprise and immediately began examining his attributes.

Name: Shimizu

Age: Eleven

Class: Ninja (Primary), Puppeteer

Class Attributes: Ninjutsu: 4 Taijutsu: 3 Genjutsu: 3 Wisdom: 5 Strength: 3 Speed: 4 Stamina: 4 Hand Seals: 5

"This is... the Eight Ninja Skills?"

The Eight Ninja Skills were a numerical method for evaluating a ninja's overall abilities. The Ninja Academy also used this method to score a ninja's various capabilities.

These values could broadly reflect a ninja's level, but they did not represent everything. For example, a ninja might not be skilled in Genjutsu, yet possess strong abilities to dispel it. In that case, their Genjutsu score would not be high, but it could still reach six or seven points. Even someone whose Genjutsu attribute had reached ten would generally find it difficult to trap such a person in an illusion.

The most typical examples were Might Guy and Jiraiya. They were not skilled in Genjutsu, but that did not mean they were poor at resisting it.

Even so, the Eight Ninja Skills' values remained highly useful as a reference.

With some curiosity, Shimizu mentally tapped the word "Ninjutsu."

He could not allocate points to it, but another sub-window popped up, showing the branch attributes beneath the Ninjutsu value.

Wind Release Ninjutsu: LV1 Puppet Technique: LV2

"If this is all it does, then it seems to be of limited help to me."

Still unwilling to give up, Shimizu tapped every corner of the System Panel once.

When he opened Wind Release Ninjutsu, the two C-Rank Wind Release Ninjutsu he currently possessed appeared: Wind Release: Gale Palm and Wind Release: Great Breakthrough.