Not, Bro, Are You Really a Genius?

"It was pretty easy."

An hour later, Shimizu emerged from the woods carrying exactly fifteen kilograms of materials and arrived at the edge of the oasis.

Lynx bones and White Ironwood accounted for a considerable portion of the weight. The former weighed 3.4 kilograms, the latter 9.8 kilograms, while the rest consisted of miscellaneous materials, such as plant sap for making adhesive.

Training Ground No. 1 encompassed the entire Emerald of the Wind Oasis, as well as a vast stretch of Gobi surrounding Emerald of the Wind. A large training square had been built there, furnished with several shared training facilities, including Wooden Dummies for Taijutsu practice and targets for Ninja Tool Throwing.

Eighty of the most basic Workbenches had already been set up in the open space before those facilities.

"You have two hours. I hope you can produce something that satisfies us. After two hours, you'll be divided into groups for battles, where you'll demonstrate both the puppets you made and your control over them."

Sunakami Sayama stood with his hands behind his back, sweeping his gaze over the eighty young Puppeteers who had just arrived at their Workbenches with their materials.

"Begin."

At the command, Shimizu immediately picked up the tools on the table and got to work.

He first processed the materials. He quickly crushed some of the herbs he had brought back, poured clean water into them, then separated the Lynx bones. After roughly working them with a file and other tools, he placed them into the herb-infused water.

This had to be the first step. If the Lynx bones lost their freshness, their Chakra conductivity would drop dramatically.

They were the core of the puppet he was making.

Next came cutting, processing, and drying the White Ironwood, followed by polishing the Snake Fangs and the Lynx's claws and teeth.

Shimizu had long since drafted a plan for his creation in his mind.

At that moment, the System Panel began to change.

Puppet Name: ??

Overall Parameters:

Height: ??

Weight: ??

Materials: White Ironwood, reinforced bone material...

Power Source: None

Control Method: Chakra Thread

Puppet Rating: ?

Overall Evaluation: A puppet currently being made...

All the materials had been freely listed in the boxes on the left side of the System Panel. As he processed them according to the procedure, Shimizu merely had to will it, and he could freely simulate assembling them within it.

It could be said that while processing the materials, he already knew what the finished product would look like.

Puppet Name: Unnamed

Overall Parameters:

Height: 60 cm

Weight: 14.20 kg

Materials: White Ironwood, reinforced bone material...

Power Source: None

Control Method: Chakra Thread

Puppet Rating: D

Overall Evaluation: A temporarily made small agile puppet. Its structure is simple, it possesses the combat strength of a mid-level ninja academy student, and it has numerous flaws.

After completing the preliminary processing of the materials, Shimizu closed his eyes where he stood and began making adjustments in the System Panel.

The center of gravity was too high, affecting stability. But if it was too low, it might compromise the puppet's agility. The best option was therefore to lengthen the tail to improve balance.

Replace the leg joints with a Ball Bearing design to further enhance joint flexibility.

Optimize the mechanical structure. Modify the connection between the Chakra Hub and the Chakra Threads...

In an instant, Shimizu rapidly corrected the puppet's flaws and even gave it a name.

Puppet Name: Tom

Overall Parameters:

Height: 60 cm

Weight: 14.26 kg

Materials: White Ironwood, reinforced bone material...

Power Source: None

Control Method: Chakra Thread

Puppet Rating: C-

Overall Evaluation: A small biomimetic puppet with outstanding agility. It possesses the combat strength of a newly promoted Genin, though it still has a few design flaws.

Tsk!

As expected of me. I casually made a puppet with Genin-level combat strength!

Of course, the materials were crucial as well.

The materials Shimizu had selected were naturally far from inferior. Even without enough time for fine processing, these basically processed materials were still better than those used for the fat puppet he had previously modified from a training puppet.

Unfortunately, there was too little of it. The fifteen-kilogram limit had been set too low. Otherwise, Shimizu truly wanted to see whether he could make a B-rank puppet.

While Shimizu was brainstorming, things looked entirely different to everyone else.

The other Puppeteers were either still processing materials or had picked up paper and pens to draw design blueprints. Only Shimizu stood motionless with his eyes closed, seemingly dazed.

Sasori glanced at Shimizu, then indifferently withdrew his gaze and continued drawing his design blueprint.

He had also tried skipping the blueprints, simulating the design in his mind before directly starting on the puppet.

After all, drawing blueprints was somewhat tedious.

But in reality, the result of not doing so was a constant stream of mistakes during the later stages of construction.

Even if no mistakes occurred, blueprints still had to be drawn, because early revisions were usually made on the blueprints. Once the puppet was completed, any remaining flaws could then be checked and fixed.

This person might have been trying to attract attention, might have been at a loss, or perhaps truly had some skill. But none of that had anything to do with them.

The other Puppeteers paid Shimizu no attention either. At most, they cast him a few curious glances before refocusing on their own puppets.

"This child..."

Sunakami Sayama frowned as he watched Shimizu with a hint of displeasure.

What kind of Puppeteer worked like that?

Even he, one of the top ten first-rate Puppeteers in Sunagakure, would not dare make a puppet without drawing design blueprints!

Ishido, standing beside Sunakami Sayama, wore a puzzled expression, though his heart was filled more with uncertainty.

Had I misjudged him?

Or was this child truly an unprecedented genius at making puppets?

Under the watchful eyes of the two Jonin, Shimizu opened his eyes.

The design is complete. Time to start!

He took the roughly processed materials to the next stage of fine processing and began constructing the puppet's main skeletal frame. His movements flowed like water, without the slightest hesitation. Every action seemed predesigned, carrying the smoothness of someone answering a test while looking at the reference answers.

But everyone knew that was impossible.

Sunakami Sayama's expression was filled with deep astonishment.

With the eye of an Elite Jonin-level Puppeteer, how could he fail to see Shimizu's design?

Though the puppet had not yet fully taken shape, it was clear that its design was rather complete.

Copying answers onto a test was far faster than solving it yourself.

Sunakami Sayama had given them two hours. Shimizu spent half an hour processing the materials, then closed his eyes for a brief while. The subsequent puppet construction took only a little over twenty minutes.

In less than an hour, Shimizu had already completed the puppet.

Among everyone else, even the faster ones had only just begun.

Except for that red-haired boy.

Sasori's construction was already more than halfway complete.