Ebizo

Shimizu rummaged through Sasori's Ninja Tool Bag and pulled out the bottle containing Antidote Pills, speaking weakly:

"Here..."

"Humph!"

Sunakami Sayama snatched the bottle away.

"Don't let it happen again! The two of you will clean the entire base today as punishment!"

Shimizu and Sasori looked at each other.

"Do you know Water Release?"

Shimizu looked at Sasori and asked.

"A little."

"Then that's good."

If he knew Water Release, cleaning would be a little easier.

"Next time, I'll come spar with you again. I hope you won't slack off."

"Huh? Wouldn't that make me your sparring partner? And for free? Isn't that a huge loss for me?"

Shimizu picked up a broom and mop, staring at Sasori with dead fish eyes.

Sasori turned his head slightly away.

"Grandmother was worried I'd get bored alone, so she left a lot of books at home. If you're interested, every time you beat me, you can read one book, until I win."

Shimizu's eyes lit up.

Chiyo's collection?

She was an old-school Kage-level powerhouse, and Chiyo, still at her peak, was definitely among the stronger Kage-level figures. She was undoubtedly the greatest Puppeteer in the ninja world today.

There probably wasn't a single Puppeteer who wouldn't want to explore her collection.

"Ahem, little brother Sasori, then this time..."

"After we finish cleaning, come with me."

Thanks to Sasori's Water Release, the cleaning progressed even faster than Shimizu had expected.

Although Sasori was not particularly proficient in Water Release, and the geography and climate of Sunagakure inherently weakened Water Release by thirty percent, it was still more than enough for cleaning.

Even so, by the time Shimizu and Sasori had finished cleaning the entire Puppet Force base, it was already afternoon.

In a beggar's imagination, an emperor must eat white flour buns at every meal and farm with a golden hoe. Sasori's home situation gave Shimizu a small shock as well.

It wasn't that he had never seen the world before his transmigration. It was that he knew how difficult it was to own such a house in impoverished Sunagakure.

It was a sizable courtyard, built entirely from smoothly polished sandstone bricks, giving off a somewhat muted yellowish-white hue.

In Sunagakure, where Water Resources were incomparably precious, there was even a small pond in the middle of the courtyard. A spring beneath it continuously bubbled up with a gurgling sound, while transplanted poplar trees stood on either side.

Fish swam in the pond, and beneath the shade of the poplars were two fully automatic retractable fishing rods made with Puppet Technique.

It looked like an ordinary farmhouse courtyard, but in Sunagakure, it was a palace that money alone could not buy.

"The study is here."

Sasori opened a door on the left side of the courtyard.

Three walls of the room were lined with bookshelves.

One shelf held ordinary books, while the shelf beside it contained Ninjutsu Scrolls.

The remaining shelf in the middle was a mix of both.

"Don't touch the shelves on either side. Grandmother placed Sealing Techniques on them. The one in the middle contains books she specifically sorted out for me to read."

Shimizu curiously walked toward the shelf Sasori had indicated.

"Advanced Black Secret Technique, Part One," "Advanced Design and Application of Puppet Mechanisms," "Poison Making Notes and Antidote Pharmacology," "Medical Ninjutsu Fundamentals," "Sand Village Sealing Basics," "Monzaemon: Chakra Thread Application Techniques"...

More than half the books were related to Puppet Technique, while there were also plenty on Sealing Techniques, Medical Ninjutsu, poison-making, and other subjects. The collection was vast and varied.

"These books all belong to Grandmother, so I can't give them to you directly or let you take them home. But you can choose any one book to read here. It's fine if you can't memorize everything. I can bring you here again tomorrow."

Sasori sat down at the desk, picked up the book on Human Puppet creation that Ishido had given him last time, and began reading in silence.

Now it was Shimizu's turn to struggle with his choice.

There were over a hundred books on this entire shelf. Any one of them would probably fetch a high price outside, and some were even unique copies personally written by Chiyo.

"Medical Ninjutsu and Sealing Techniques are things I definitely need to learn in the future, but they can't immediately improve my combat ability. For now, they won't help me much."

"Poison-making and medicine-making also require a foundation in pharmacology. My foundation in that area is probably insufficient. I can't get started just by reading one book in a short time. At most, I could learn a few recipes."

"I should still study Puppet Technique. My current skill in puppet construction is barely sufficient, and my clone is also studying modern engineering in the DC World. On the other hand, while my fundamentals in puppet control are decent and I've learned the basics of the Black Secret Technique, there's still plenty of room for improvement."

After weighing his options, Shimizu ultimately chose the book written by Monzaemon, "Chakra Thread Application Techniques."

An afternoon was certainly not enough to memorize an entire book, though it was more than enough to read through it once. But Shimizu chose to have his clone in the DC World work simultaneously.

His main body read here, while his clone memorized it in the DC World.

Monzaemon was the pinnacle of Puppet Technique thus far, both in construction and control. Even the fully developed Sasori from the original work, with the Third Kazekage Human Puppet and the Hundred Puppet Manipulation, might not have been able to surpass him.

Their positions in Puppet Technique could perhaps be compared to Newton and Einstein: one inspired the natural sciences, while the other achieved the greatest accomplishments in the scientific world.

Human Puppets were invented by Monzaemon, and Puppet Technique only truly formed a complete system in Monzaemon's hands. The Ten Puppets of Chikamatsu were also the strongest puppet combination created by Monzaemon. As his inheritor, Chiyo could at most approach Monzaemon's level rather than surpass him.

As for Sasori's greatest achievement in Puppet Technique, it was breaking through the limitation that Human Puppets could not use abilities such as Kekkei Genkai, thereby raising the upper limit of a single Human Puppet.

As far as Shimizu was concerned, he could understand roughly ninety percent of the contents in this book written by Monzaemon, while the rest was only partially comprehensible.

That was more advanced knowledge.

After all, he was only a Genin capable of controlling two puppets—even if he could sometimes defeat some Chunin.

As for techniques for controlling three puppets or even more, Shimizu could not yet put them into practice through theory alone. He could only have his clone record them and slowly study them in the future.

As the sky darkened, Shimizu remained immersed in the book even after his clone had finished recording it.

Creak—

The wooden door to the study was pushed open.

A tall, thin man in his forties, with long eyebrows and a white cloth wrapped around his head, walked in.

Sasori raised his eyes and looked at him.

"Second Grandpa."

Shimizu also stood up from the desk, realizing who the visitor was.

"Lord Ebizo."

Ebizo smiled and nodded at Shimizu, then looked at Sasori.

"It's rare not to find you in the workshop. Aren't you going to introduce the friend you brought home?"