Puppet Master, Izayoi's Excitement

"No wonder it's the Ultimate Eye Technique whose final form can control a planet's trajectory. Just its first stirrings were enough to use gravity to pull a meteorite down from outer space."

"Even if that technique isn't complete yet, I already have a trump card capable of strategic deterrence."

After flying for some distance, Izayoi descended from the air. As he dashed along with Body Flicker, he thought to himself.

The Tenseigan's power exceeded Izayoi's imagination.

Moreover, unlike the Rinnegan, whose strength lay in its exclusive eye techniques and rule-based power over life and death...

The Tenseigan's power was displayed more through destruction.

Gravity and repulsion were already this powerful. He truly looked forward to unlocking Tenseigan Chakra Mode.

Since his Shadow Clone had no suitable reason to leave for the time being, Izayoi was in no hurry to return to the team. Once he was back within a certain range, he took out the scroll gifted by his good friend and began reading it.

Earlier, he had only given it a cursory glance, putting it away after confirming its authenticity.

Only now did Izayoi read it carefully.

The scroll he was reading was not about Puppet Technique. To Izayoi, who could control puppets wirelessly, that stuff was simply trash.

What Izayoi was reading was the method for creating Human Puppets.

"So this is how Kekkei Genkai and ninjutsu are preserved. That guy really is a genius."

After reading for a while, Izayoi could not help but marvel. "No wonder his trait is Puppet Master (Purple). This kind of Chakra Core has already surpassed those of the past. Even the Otsutsuki Clan's Puppet Technique on the moon falls far short of his."

After saying that, Izayoi opened another scroll, which recorded the method for creating the Chakra Core of a Human Puppet.

The Chakra Core was the most important core of a puppet.

Controlling puppets with chakra strings alone was nothing more than playing with marionettes.

Powerful puppets were also fitted with large numbers of mechanisms and concealed weapons. Some could even wield the power of the five elements. These functions could not be activated with chakra strings.

A Chakra Core had to be installed in the puppet. Only by sending chakra into the puppet through chakra strings could one freely use its various abilities.

How powerful a puppet was depended entirely on what its creator had installed inside it.

Sasori of the Red Sand, however, had forged a path of his own.

Rather than using materials to make puppets, he infused materials into human bodies and turned corpses into puppets.

He then modified the puppets' hearts—their Chakra Cores—allowing the Human Puppets to use the Kekkei Genkai and ninjutsu they had possessed in life.

This was practically an entirely new school of puppetry.

As the founding pioneer, Sasori of the Red Sand truly lived up to the system's evaluation of him—Puppet Master (Purple).

In Izayoi's eyes, Sasori of the Red Sand's Human Puppets were more suitable for him than the Otsutsuki Clan's puppets on the moon.

"Wait..."

Suddenly, inspiration flashed through Izayoi's mind. His expression turned excited as he said, "Maybe I can upgrade Human Puppets even further."

Sasori of the Red Sand's Human Puppets and Nagato's Six Paths of Pain shared the same underlying principle.

In the original Fourth Ninja World War, Obito Uchiha turned Jinchuriki into Six Paths avatars. They could all use the tailed beasts' chakra and the abilities they had possessed in life.

This meant that, like Human Puppets, Six Paths avatars could retain the abilities they had possessed before becoming puppets.

The only difference was that Human Puppets required chakra strings for control, while the Six Paths of Pain could not stray too far from the Outer Path or they would lose their signal.

However, the Tenseigan could make up for both of these flaws.

With the Tenseigan's Wireless Puppet ability, as long as a puppet remained within its range of vision and its Chakra Core still contained chakra, it could be controlled freely.

Even inside the spatial passage connecting the moon and Earth, the puppets could still receive the signal.

If puppets like that could also use Kekkei Genkai and ninjutsu, and have their chakra replenished from afar, wouldn't that be equivalent to an Impure World Reincarnation army without immortal bodies, or a legion-sized army of Pain?

The more Izayoi thought about it, the more feasible it seemed.

However, he had yet to unlock Yin-Yang Release, so he could not combine the three.

But he could first create a large number of puppets. Once he unlocked Yin-Yang Release, he could directly insert Yin-Yang Release Black Rods into them and upgrade them.

That night, Izayoi returned to the team without incident.

Other than Hinata, neither Eighth Squad nor the convoy realized that the enormous meteorite had actually been summoned by Izayoi.

Eighth Squad and the convoy deliberately took a detour to avoid the Art Duo, spending another three days before reaching their destination.

Along the way, they also avoided a mountain village where there was likewise a chakra presence stronger than Red Yuhi's.

The place where Mr. Nishimura and the others lived was a remote mountain village.

Such mountain villages could be found everywhere in the Land of Rivers.

However, villages like this one, which had discovered mineral deposits and knew how to mine and sell them, were extremely rare in the Land of Rivers.

That made Mr. Nishimura all the more valuable.

Because the mountain village's conditions were too poor, and because they had arrived at noon, Red Yuhi declined Mr. Nishimura's hospitality. She took out the mission scroll, had him sign it and leave a positive review, then led Eighth Squad back.

Unlike their journey here on foot, Eighth Squad traveled back by using Body Flicker, each dash covering several meters or even more than ten meters.

At this speed, they would be able to return to the Hidden Leaf Village in at most two days.

This was the difference between ninja and ordinary people.

In this world with its bizarre technology, ninja were also versatile tools—the most useful workhorses.

"It's your first time carrying out a C-Rank Mission. Tell me how you feel."

When they grew tired of using the Body Flicker Technique, they came down and continued on foot. Red Yuhi looked at Izayoi and the other two as she asked.

"I'm exhausted."

Izayoi answered honestly, "At first, it still felt a little fresh, but after that, it was nothing but physical and mental torment."

Hinata and Shino Aburame nodded in agreement.

"Escort missions are like that. Not only are they tedious and time-consuming, but the pay is pitifully low." Red Yuhi smiled. "But our mission was rather unusual. The Land of Rivers is full of forests and rugged terrain, and we nearly ran into an S-Rank Missing-nin and a mysterious powerhouse. Very few C-Rank Missions are as unlucky as ours."

"Luckily, we had Hinata's Byakugan. Otherwise, this trip would have been far more dangerous than fortunate."

As she finished speaking, Red Yuhi reached out and patted Hinata's head.

Hinata said softly, "It was what I should have done."

"What a good girl. Izayoi really got lucky with you." Red Yuhi decided to give Hinata a little push.

Little did she know, both Hinata and Izayoi had their own plans.

The two merely smiled without saying anything, ignoring Red Yuhi's assistance.

Two days later, in the afternoon, Eighth Squad finally returned to the Hidden Leaf Village.

This C-Rank Mission had taken them exactly half a month.

After half a month of hardship, each of them received an exceptionally high reward... 23,000 Ryo.

For a C-Rank Mission, that reward was indeed exceptionally high.

The village would deduct a portion, and the Guidance Jonin would take another portion. Even after the remaining reward was split three ways, they still received 23,000 Ryo each. That meant the reward for this C-Rank Mission had probably been over a hundred thousand.

The reward for a C-Rank Mission was generally between 30,000 and 100,000.

With a reward of over a hundred thousand, the amount of time it took made sense.

But if they had been given a choice, Eighth Squad sincerely would not have wanted to take this C-Rank Mission.

Seeming to notice their exhaustion, Red Yuhi smiled. "I'm giving you three days off. Go home and get some proper rest."

"Yes."

Eighth Squad disbanded on the spot.

"Izayoi-kun, see you tomorrow."

Somewhat mentally exhausted, Hinata unusually did not go to Izayoi's home.

Having only bathed a few times in the wilderness, all she wanted now was to go home, soak in a bath, sleep, and then appear before Izayoi in her best condition.

Since Physical Stamina Healing could not help with that, Izayoi could only use a special method to heal Hinata.

Izayoi suddenly lowered his head and kissed Hinata on the forehead. Waving with a smile, he said, "Go back and sleep well. See you tomorrow."

After saying that, Izayoi vanished in a Body Flicker.

Hinata froze for several seconds, then hurriedly looked around. When her eyes met a woman's amused gaze, her neck and cheeks instantly flushed red from bottom to top. Steam seemed to rise from her head as she fled.