[Land of Iron, Outskirts]
Before going back to Oto no Kami, Danzo wished to visit the land of iron. After all, the land of iron and the land of rice shared many similarities. Both possessed a strong samurai legacy, and while the land of iron was much bigger in size and number with more than ten thousand samurai, the land of Rice was not to be underestimated.
After all, Danzo had completed quite a few missions for Takeshi, the guardian of Oto, many of which reinforced their strength. Anything that strengthened Oto no Kami was a good thing for Danzo, so their friendship was very beneficial for the both of them. Since he happened to be in the land of Samurai, maybe he could get one or two insights that might benefit the 3000 samurai living in Oto no Kami.
"So...How was Hanzo's heart?", Harumi teased Rin, embracing her from behind.
Though the relationship between the two women was very complex, it was undeniable that the rivalry that sparked upon their joining of Otogakure had never stopped. This rivalry had brought them apart and closer than ever, a common irregularity. Yet, Danzo could only smile. These women were the pillars of Otogakure, as they had both reached the kage-level realm. Without them, who knows what the other hidden villages would have done?
Rin smiled and locked her eyes into Harumi's serpentine pupils: "It was delicious...I can't help but await the day we can spar...I would gladly add a serpent's heart to my collection, shilululu"
Harumi hissed: "You would take my heart? How insensible to say that in front of your victim! You should at least take it when I sleep...though I doubt Matatabi would let you do that"
"Enough", Danzo spoke, "We have company"
Emerging from the shadows, a long-lasting ally who supported him came forward. Ebizo
ùand Chiyo, both commanders of his army, followed him with robustness and surveying the area to prevent any spy or enemy.
Rin frowned, seemingly not having noticed the three of them, but Harumi had long since warned the Otokage. Although she was Danzo's husband, in this mission, she was a bodyguard, and was one of the few shinobi who never failed a mission in her life, something that even Danzo could not boast about.
"Company? I guess this is what I get for trying to talk to you without prior agreement", the Third Kazekage spoke, "I wanted to celebrate our successful alliance. Although we exchange regularly through missives, I was telling myself we could know better about each other by drinking tea. I have a formidable samurai friend who lives in the area, and invited the both of us"
Harumi hissed: "Ever since the Otokage took upon students, I suppose informal visits have become increasingly rarer. We should go"
Seeing her wife eager to taste foreign tea in a samurai place, Rin interested at the Third Kazekage's mimics and the Third Kazekage himself looking at him with puppy eyes, Danzo could only oblige: "Fine. Our goal in staying in the land of iron was to visit the country itself and maybe implement some of their ideas in Oto"
The third Kazekage smiled: "As diligent as always, I see...Well, since our interest align, let's go there together"
"I suppose it would be safer", Danzo said jokingly, fully knowing that the Third Kazekage, often hailed as the strongest Kazekage of all time, was no weakling. Chiyo and Ebizo were semi-kage level powerhouses on their own. Anyone trying to ambush him would be foolish.
"Safer? I believe the people who can threaten you, Otokage, are not from this world anymore. It would take several kage and their elites to have a chance, an impossible alliance which you foresaw"
"You overestimate me, Kazekage. Anyway, I believe the black locust poison has increased your puppet brigade's lethality by leaps and bounds. The woman escorting you is their captain, isn't she?"
"Perspicacious as always, Otokage-sama", Chiyo spoke, "I am the proud owner of the Chikamatsu Collection of Ten Puppets"
Ebizu knew better than laugh at Chiyo's humbleness. Although she had defeated the Senju forces at Nobuki's fort with her brigade, rendering medical nins helpless from her cocktails of poison diversified on a daily basis, affecting the whole battlefield at once...Chiyo's achievements paled in front of the Shimura Demon, Danzo.
"Oh? The Chikamatsu collection, huh, inherited from the creator of puppetry. This is indeed an extraordinary A-rank collection, borderline S-rank. I was wondering what made you so strong...The Yashiro clan seems to be far from Sunagakure's advances in puppetry"
The Kazekage frowned upon the mention of the Yashiro clan, but did not take offense in the message. The Yashiro clan might have served the Land of Wind Daimyo at some point of their history, but the bad blood between their clan and Suna made it impossible for them to ever join the village. Still, they possessed puppetry techniques too, and the thought of puppets becoming part of another village's strength made Chiyo and Ebisu quite unhappy.
It was Chiyo who questionned the Otokage first.
"The Yashiro clan has only seldomly produced jonins. Even if they are talented and possess strong chakra reserves, seals consume more chakra than strings. This is an immuable property which is the foundation of Sunagakure. This is why Yashiro jonins are always inferior to Suna puppeteer jonins. This is not a lack of advancement, it is a route that is bound to be inferior", Chiyo spoke not as a bodyguard, but a puppeteer grandmaster, "Their puppets will always be one grade below ours even if the puppeteer are equal in strength and skills"
Taking pride in Otogakure, Harumi could not let Chiyo badmouth one of their clans like that, even if it was one of the six outer clans: "This would have been true in the past, but, the Yashiro clan patriarch managed to create a vanguard of jonin-level shinobi, each capable of controlling ten to twenty puppets. You were right in saying that the individual strength of puppet is slightly inferior to the standards of Sunagakure, though the recent advancements of our joint collaborations on poison alleviated this weakness. However, their strength is no longer necessarily inferior to that of sunagakure puppeteers, in spite of your recent growth"
Chiyo's eyes widened. She knew the difficulty of controlling puppets. Ten was the result of decades of training, which was her limit. Controlling more than that...The toll on one's brain was extreme, and during battle, it was near impossible to stay calm and continue controlling so many. Each puppet destroyed would require different movements, different formations, which was unbelievably difficult.
Danzo smiled at Chiyo's awful face: "Harumi...Leaking our vassal clan's recent progress. Thank god you were talking to allies, otherwise I would have had to punish you as the Otokage. The reason I brought puppets is indeed related to the Yashiro clan. They have been one of the best performing clans, and it is my duty to help them. Faced with a grandmaster of the art, I could only try to get some information"
The Third Kazekage smiled: "Let bygones be bygones. What answer do you seek? I must warn you that the puppetry arts are a hidden art of our village and will never be disclosed to allies, even if they are as vital as Otogakure"
Danzo nodded: "Of course. Even if I needed it, I would not pressure you to do so. But, as we spoke, Sunagakure and Yashiro took different routes. It would be counter productive to change expertise, especially since I believe in my vassal clan. No, I wanted to propose a trade of blueprints"
The Third Kazekage nodded: "Not the techniques, but the gear, huh?"
Danzo smiled: "Indeed, the Yashiro clan's limitations do not stem from their hidden arts, which has been showing great progress recently, but the individual strength and resilience of the puppet tools. I believe Otogakure and Sunagakure have fundamentally different designs, and while these differences are good, the inspiration could allow each village to strengthen"
Rin's face shifted, revealing a scroll. Although she was not a sharingan user, she possessed as a Kaonashi a talent at copying others. Hidden arts are naturally much more difficult, but with her recent progress and kage-level strength, she managed to learn part of the Yashiro's puppetry techniques. Of course, reaching the proficiency of Yashiro elders would be out of the question, but she could still control five B-rank puppets at once, each capable of handling a jonin-level shinobi.
Rin took out bells, which released commands in the forms of chakra waves, allowing her to communicate with the seals in a more efficient manner. The frequency of resonance differed based on the command, allowing the puppets to act in the way she intended.
Seeing the puppets exert such swordsmanship, clearly inspired from the Shimura Kenjutsu Art, Chiyo's eyes widened. Sound Seals [C] on the puppet's back and arms could be detonated to surprise enemies, while the blades were coated in locust poison.
After ten good minutes of display, the sand shinobi gasped.
This was not just 'good progress' from the Yashiro clan. If an outsider could display such proficient use of puppetry, then the Yashiro clan would not longer be limited to a poor imitation of the Suna puppetry arts. It had the potential to become a core technique of Otogakure as a whole.
Yet, the Kazekage could not bring himself to refuse collaboration.
The joint collaboration on poison had allowed for the creation of a jonin-level poison, something that had not been achieved since the start of the Second Shinobi World War. However, hundreds of C-rank and D-rank poison prototypes had been created in the process, which allowed the puppetry brigade to develop a variety of poison that was unique to squads. Enemy medical nins would need to develop not one, but several antidotes at once after a battle, which was a diversity that was thought to be impossible before.
If they could collaborate on puppetry arts then...
Maybe Sunagakure could become even stronger.