For Shaye, life at the Ninja Academy was more like a necessary formality. The taijutsu basics taught in class, shuriken throwing—he could currently only throw them a few steps—and the immensely difficult task of chakra refinement all progressed slowly. His frail body was his greatest shackle. Yet his exploration of his inner world never ceased.
After school and on rest days, the place he spent the most time was still the Fourth Puppet Corps Logistics Maintenance Squad, where his father worked. Only the smells, sounds, and cold components here made him feel truly at ease and excited.
He was no longer content merely to watch from a corner. As he gained an initial perception of chakra—however faint—and finer control over his body, he began trying to "play" more deeply.
Whenever the craftsmen rested, he would approach dismantled puppet wrecks and lightly touch their intricate internal transmission mechanisms with his little hands. He observed how the gears meshed and guessed at the purpose of every lever. He even picked up discarded scraps and tried to polish and assemble them with the Maintenance Unit's simple tools. Without chakra to power them, he studied purely mechanical structures.
His movements remained slow, but they carried a precision and purpose far beyond his age. He was not haphazardly piecing things together; he was constructing blueprints in his mind, then using his own hands to verify them.
"Hmm? This little fellow is interesting." Watching Shaye carefully use a file to shape a small piece of wood into a properly fitting tenon, an old craftsman who was taking a break could not help whispering to Shaliu beside him, "Look at the angle and force he uses. He doesn't look like a child at all. Old Sha, could your son be a puppet-making genius?"
Shaliu was bent over repairing a complex chakra-conducting joint. At those words, he raised his head and looked at his son's focused profile, a complicated expression flashing through his eyes. Of course he knew his son was different. The persistence beneath his quietness and the occasional piercing questions he asked both unsettled him. But he was even more worried about whether that body could bear such talent. "He's just messing around. He's weak, so there isn't much else he can do," Shaliu replied vaguely, returning to his work, though his eyes kept drifting toward his son.
That day, the Maintenance Unit received an unexpected inspector—Elder Chiyo.
After the war, the exhaustion and weariness between Chiyo's brows had deepened, yet her gaze remained sharp. Accompanied by the squad leader, she inspected the repaired puppets and the progress of new production one by one, occasionally offering crucial suggestions.
When she reached a deeper part of the workshop, her gaze was drawn to a small figure in the corner.
If other children came to a place like this, they would likely be interested in the intact puppets that could move and fight. But that pale little boy with black hair and black eyes stared unblinkingly at a pile of completely scrapped parts, dismantled into a scattered mess. He held a small gear up to the light, carefully examining the wear on its teeth. His little brows were slightly furrowed, as though he were thinking about something.
Chiyo stopped and watched quietly.
She watched Shaye pick up another damaged bearing, dab a little engine oil onto it with his fingertip, and try to apply it before imitating a turning motion, seemingly testing its smoothness. She watched him shake his head at a metal plate engraved with a failed chakra circuit, his small lips silently muttering something. He did not look like a child, but rather a picky inspector.
What surprised her most was that Shaye seemed to notice her gaze and looked up at her. There was none of the fear or curiosity common to children in his eyes, only calm appraisal. It then became the courtesy of a junior toward an elder. He set down the part in his hand and gave a slight bow.
"Whose child is this?" Chiyo asked evenly.
The squad leader accompanying her hurriedly answered, "He's Squad Leader Shaliu's son, Shaye. He's not in good health, and Shaliu doesn't feel safe leaving him home alone, so he often brings him here. The child is well-behaved. He likes watching us work and occasionally tinkers with little things himself."
"Shaliu's son..." Chiyo remembered him, the child who had been born prematurely and lost his mother. She stepped closer and looked at the parts Shaye had been studying. "You like these things?"
Shaye nodded, his voice calm. "When they are put together, they can move. There are patterns to it."
"Patterns?" Interest flickered in Chiyo's eyes. "What do you think puppets are?"
Shaye thought for a moment, using his limited vocabulary to organize his words. "They are... extensions. Using fixed 'rules' to extend thoughts and strength to places the body cannot reach." This was his intuitive understanding, born from combining the concepts of mechanical automation from his past life with the Puppet Technique of this world.
Elder Chiyo was truly surprised. This was absolutely not something an ordinary five-year-old could say. It even touched upon one interpretation of the essence of Puppet Technique—not merely a tool for killing, but an extension of will and strength.
She looked into Shaye's overly clear and calm black eyes, then at the parts in his hands that had been rubbed smooth. She fell silent for a moment. The village was in need of capable people, and geniuses were hard to find—especially children with such a way of thinking.
She took a somewhat aged scroll made of animal hide from her robes. Its edges were worn, but it had been preserved quite well.
"This is for you." Chiyo handed the scroll to Shaye.
Shaye accepted it with both hands. The scroll was not heavy, yet it seemed to carry a certain weight. He looked up at Chiyo in confusion.
"This is a most basic introductory scroll on Puppet Technique," Chiyo explained. "It contains principles of puppet construction, basic rune inscriptions, and introductory control methods. You may not understand or be able to use it yet, but if you are truly interested, you can memorize it first."
This was undoubtedly a substantial gift. To countless children who dreamed of becoming puppeteers, this introductory scroll was priceless. Chiyo's gesture came from her appreciation for Shaye's displayed interest and unique way of thinking. Perhaps it also carried a trace of distant kinship with his deceased mother, as well as an investment in the village's future.
Shaye gripped the scroll tightly and bowed again with solemn respect. "Thank you, Grandma Chiyo."
Chiyo nodded without saying anything more and continued her inspection. But Shaye knew that this gift had opened a new door for him.
In the days that followed, Shaye's life became even busier and more fulfilling.
During the day, he received basic ninja training at the Ninja Academy. After school, he "played" in the Maintenance Unit while hungrily studying the foundational Puppet Technique scroll Chiyo had given him. His powerful memory proved immensely useful now. Though he could not practice many sections involving hands-on chakra use, he rapidly imprinted the complex structural diagrams, transmission principles, and rune patterns into his mind. By comparing them with the mechanical knowledge from his past life, he understood them at an astonishing speed.
And on the road between home and the Maintenance Unit, he would always "accidentally" take a detour to that secluded temple.
Monk Bunpuku always welcomed him warmly. Shaye would share interesting stories from school with him—naturally leaving out the parts where he was mocked—and would also take out rune patterns from the Puppet Technique scroll that he did not understand to ask for guidance. Many puppet control cores also involved basic Sealing Formulae.
Bunpuku would patiently explain them to him, presenting the knowledge of Sealing Technique in a clear and accessible way. Sometimes Shukaku would impatiently interrupt, mocking a certain rune structure for being flashy but impractical, or boasting about how it had once easily broken through similar restraints. Shaye treated all of those "complaints" as valuable study material and carefully recorded them.
His system of knowledge was like the roots of a plant greedily absorbing moisture in the desert, silently and stubbornly taking root downward through the two paths of Puppet Technique and Sealing Technique, waiting for the day it would break through the soil.
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