Chiyo's Gift

For Shaye, life at the Ninja Academy felt more like a necessary formality. The taijutsu basics taught in class, shuriken throwing—he could currently only throw them a few steps—and the exceptionally difficult task of chakra refinement all progressed slowly. His frail body was his greatest shackle. Yet his exploration of the spiritual world never ceased.

After school and on rest days, the place he frequented most was still the Fourth Puppet Corps Logistics Maintenance Squad, where his father worked. Only the smells, sounds, and cold components there made him feel truly at ease and excited.

He was no longer content merely to observe from a corner. As he gained a preliminary perception of chakra—however faint—and finer control over his body, he began attempting more involved "play."

Whenever the craftsmen rested, he would approach the dismantled puppet wreckage and gently touch the intricate transmission mechanisms inside with his small hands, studying how the gears meshed and guessing the purpose of every lever. He even picked up discarded scraps and tried polishing and assembling them with the maintenance squad's basic tools. Without chakra to power anything, 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 building blueprints in his mind, then testing them with his own hands.

"Hmm? This little fellow is interesting." An old craftsman on break watched Shaye carefully file a small wooden piece into a properly fitted tenon, then 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 Shaliu, could your son be a puppet-making genius?"

Shaliu was bent over repairing a complex chakra-conducting joint. Hearing this, he looked up at his son's focused profile, and a flicker of complicated emotion passed through his eyes. Of course, he knew his son was different. The persistence beneath that quietness, along with the occasional questions that struck straight to the heart of the matter, unsettled him. But he was even more worried whether that body could bear such talent. "He's just fooling around. He's weak, so there isn't much else he can do," Shaliu replied vaguely. He continued working, though his gaze kept drifting toward his son.

That day, the maintenance squad received an unexpected inspector—Elder Chiyo.

After the war, the weariness and vicissitudes 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 the deeper part of the workshop, her attention was drawn to a small figure in the corner.

If other children came to a place like this, they would likely have been interested in the complete puppets that could move and fight. But the pale little boy with black hair and black eyes was staring unblinkingly at a pile of utterly scrapped, completely dismantled components. He held a tiny gear in his hand, studying the wear on its teeth against the light. His small brows were slightly furrowed, as though he were pondering something.

Chiyo stopped and watched quietly.

She saw Shaye pick up another damaged bearing, dip a small finger in some machine oil, and try applying it before mimicking a turning motion, seemingly testing its smoothness. She saw him shake his head at a metal plate engraved with a failed chakra circuit. His little lips silently muttered something, and his expression made him look less like a child than 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, which immediately became the courtesy of a junior toward an elder. He put down the component in his hand and gave a slight bow.

"Whose child is this?" Chiyo asked evenly.

The squad leader beside her hurriedly answered, "He's Squad Leader Shaliu's son, Shaye. He isn't in very good health, and Shaliu doesn't feel safe leaving him home alone, so he often brings him here. He's a good child. He likes watching us work and occasionally tinkers with little things himself."

"Shaliu's son..." Chiyo remembered—the child who had been born prematurely and lost his mother. She stepped closer and looked at the components Shaye had been studying. "You like these things?"

Shaye nodded, his voice calm. "When they are put together, they can move. There is a pattern to them."

"A pattern?" Interest flashed through Chiyo's eyes. "What do you think a puppet is?"

Shaye thought for a moment, organizing his words with his limited vocabulary. "It is... an extension. Using fixed 'rules' to extend ideas and strength to places the body cannot reach." This was his intuitive understanding, combining the concepts of mechanical automation from his past life with the Puppet Technique of this world.

Elder Chiyo was truly astonished. This was absolutely not something an ordinary five-year-old could say. It even touched upon an 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 components in his hands, worn smooth from handling. She fell silent for a moment. The village was in need of talent, and geniuses were hard to find—especially a child 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 records some principles of puppet construction, basic rune engraving, and the fundamentals of control. You may not understand it or be able to use it yet, but if you are truly interested, you can memorize it first."

This was undoubtedly a weighty gift. To countless children who dreamed of becoming puppet masters, this introductory scroll was an invaluable treasure. Chiyo's gesture came partly from her appreciation for the interest and unusual way of thinking Shaye had displayed. Perhaps there was also a trace of affection for the distant relative of his late mother, as well as an investment in the village's future.

Shaye gripped the scroll tightly and bowed solemnly once more. "Thank you, Granny Chiyo."

Chiyo nodded without saying 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 school. After class, he "played" in the maintenance squad while devouring the foundational Puppet Technique scroll Chiyo had given him. His powerful memory proved tremendously useful now. Although he could not practice many portions involving practical chakra use, he quickly imprinted the complex structural diagrams, transmission principles, and rune patterns into his mind. He cross-referenced them with the mechanical knowledge from his past life, and his rate of comprehension was astonishing.

And on the road between home and the maintenance squad, he would always "coincidentally" detour past that secluded temple.

Monk Bunpuku always welcomed him warmly. Shaye would share amusing things from school with him—naturally omitting the parts where he was mocked—and would take out runes from the Puppet Technique scroll that he could not understand to ask for guidance. Many puppet control cores also involved basic Sealing Technique formulas.

Bunpuku patiently explained them to him, making the knowledge of Sealing Technique easy to understand. Sometimes, Shukaku would impatiently interrupt, "mocking" some rune structure for being flashy but impractical, or boasting about how easily it had broken through a similar restraint in the past. Shaye treated all of these "mockery" remarks as valuable learning material and carefully recorded them.

His system of knowledge was like the roots of a plant greedily absorbing moisture in the desert, quietly and tenaciously driving downward through the two paths of Puppet Technique and Sealing Technique, waiting for the day it would break through the earth.