Three days passed, and Konoha's reconstruction picked up visibly. It wasn't because they had suddenly gained more manpower, but because they had gained a crew of "temporary workers" who wanted no wages, only candy.
They were Kaguya's fragments.
The construction site bustled.
Hand Princess Big led a dozen white hands through the rubble, moving bricks faster than able-bodied laborers.
Hand Princess Small led a group of feet mixing mud in a pit, their toes hooked around shovels as they stirred at a furious pace.
Hand Princess Three bounced around, gripping planks between two toes and passing them precisely to the craftsmen on the scaffolding.
Hand Princess Four floated in midair like a foreman. Whenever a brick wasn't stacked level or a timber was missing, it let out a shrill cry.
There was also the largest torso, which Shuo had casually named Hand Princess Five. It squatted on the highest heap of rubble on the site, every eye on its belly open, scanning the whole area over and over.
A wooden pillar had just tilted. Before the craftsmen could react, it slowly moved over and nudged it with its body, setting it firmly upright.
The villagers had long since lost the fear they had felt two days earlier. Now they called out to them as if they were neighbors.
"Hand Princess Big, the east wall needs fifty bricks!"
"Hand Princess Three, stop bouncing and pass me that beam!"
"Hand Princess Four, don't just float there! Help me check whether that earthenware jar got knocked over!"
The fragments understood and promptly scurried over to work.
It wasn't that they loved labor so much. Shuo had laid down the rule two days earlier: "Work, and you get candy. Slack off, and you get none."
Outside the general store, Kaguya stood in the shade