The destroyed puppet bodies were transported in batches to various research facilities across the Land of Lightning, Ryūchi Cave, Konohagakure, and even Hoshigakure, where scientists from across the shinobi world collaborated to analyze them.
The final analysis revealed—
These puppet bodies were all crafted from branches of the Divine Tree. They were capable of unleashing taijutsu strikes on par with Kage-level shinobi, and their chakra reserves were sufficient to operate energy weapons far more powerful than those of ordinary Kage.
Within their cores were intricate marks, resembling wedges in form, etched with some kind of divine technique imbued with space-time power.
All it took to activate them was an injection of chakra...
Additionally, due to their construction from Divine Tree branches, the puppet bodies were not only immune to conventional physical attacks but could also absorb chakra-based techniques below the level of a Kekkei Genkai.
Fortunately, thanks to Amado's foresight in anticipating the need to combat the Ōtsutsuki clan, the latest generation of scientific ninja tools were no longer reliant solely on chakra for power. Instead, they had begun to incorporate miniaturized firearms and electrically-driven weapons.
In the end, it took the full effort—and life—of Ōnoki, a politically astute and immensely powerful Kage-level shinobi, to destroy just one puppet.
Yet even after that, four more identical killing machines remained.
Utilizing powerful space-time divine arts, they continued to roam the land, slipping through space with ghost-like unpredictability, hiding within the vast shinobi world.
Though Sasuke and Neji had already begun hunting the remaining four puppets, Neji's speed became a liability against opponents wielding space-time techniques. Even though he could resonate with the natural world to erase his presence, and his immense sensory perception allowed him to lie in wait and ambush the puppets...
He was only able to defend one critical core zone, ensuring that the training of the next generation—the hope of the shinobi world—and ongoing research would not be disrupted.
Only Sasuke possessed both the strength to chase the puppets and the power to confront them head-on, even when outnumbered.
...
It's worth noting that the arrival of the alien Ōtsutsuki clan had plunged the shinobi world into an unprecedented crisis. Even Naruto had been forced to abandon his physical body in the process.
Sasuke, too, had long let go of his lingering doubts. He turned to Amado and Orochimaru to implant a cybernetic arm, one that combined various scientific ninja tools, Hashirama cells, and the ability to release a wide range of Kekkei Genkai.
With this high-tech arm, Sasuke's strength saw a significant boost—even without activating Susanoo.
Through coordinated ambushes and active hunts, Sasuke and Neji quickly took down two more puppets.
One puppet appeared in Konohagakure and targeted the hospital where Tsunade was located, charging up an energy weapon.
Once fully charged, that weapon could have wiped out the entire village in a single blast.
Inside the hospital were not only Tsunade—the strongest medical ninja in the shinobi world—but also numerous injured jōnin and new-generation shinobi recovering from previous attacks.
Moreover, Konohagakure housed newly established research labs and a vast reserve of ninjutsu knowledge.
If the puppet had succeeded, the damage it would've inflicted on the shinobi world was beyond imagining.
Luckily, Neji happened to be nearby and arrived just in time to interrupt the charging process. From prior research, he understood the puppet's ability to passively absorb chakra-based attacks.
So Neji used the Breathing Art of the Sage Path in advance and went to a nearby power station to rapidly absorb massive amounts of energy, temporarily converting all the energy in his body into electricity and natural energy.
With one decisive strike, he shattered the puppet.
Its entire body turned to char under the lightning, utterly destroyed—no chance to escape or retaliate!
...
Another puppet was discovered by Sasuke during an attack on the training base in the Land of Water.
Both sides unleashed space-time ninjutsu as they fought.
In the chase, Sasuke struck the puppet's core with his reforged divine sword, and without its divine technique, the puppet lost its ability to escape.
A second puppet, rushing in to assist, was overwhelmed by Sasuke's cybernetic arm.
It was bombarded by wave after wave of ninjutsu powered by new energy sources, barely escaping with half its body left in ruins.
This severe loss to the puppets was only possible because Sasuke was still unfamiliar with the arm. Had he fully mastered it, the puppet wouldn't have even had the chance to retreat.
After suffering such a fierce counterattack from the shinobi world, the remaining puppets became noticeably more cautious.
For several months, there were no further puppet attacks.
Instead, the remains of the destroyed puppets were quickly analyzed and put to use by various research facilities.
At the Konoha Research Institute, led by Amado and Kabuto, scientists were the first to successfully replicate the divine technique 〖Scar Mark〗 from the puppet cores.
Experiments revealed that as long as sufficient energy was supplied, even a genin could use the mark safely.
It was an ideal fit for scientific ninja tools, and once mass-produced, would directly address the chakra limitations of ordinary shinobi.
Once fully equipped, it would become a pillar of strength in the future battle against the Ōtsutsuki from beyond the stars.
...
In Hoshigakure, a new lab had been spontaneously formed by numerous craftsmen and later joined by many scientific ninja.
From the puppets, they extracted new materials and managed to cultivate Divine Tree branch tissue onto metallic ore, resulting in a self-repairing metal with powerful regenerative properties.
With this material, the first-generation prototype chakra armor—an ultimate scientific ninja tool nearing completion—would receive a significant boost.
The same material could also be used to reinforce blades and weapons.
Even Kumogakure's own research institute had begun incorporating self-repairing metal into their chakra cannons, extending both their overdrive limit and operational time...
...
Even a small, unknown lab—secretly organized by the likes of Hiruko—managed to extract a live-body fusion technique from the puppets.
This method allowed human subjects to fuse on a physical level with degraded Ten Tails specimens, granting them tremendous physical power, Wood Release, and chakra levels far beyond elite jōnin.
While the technique was too brutal and inhumane to be deployed widely, it was still preserved as a key piece of technological reserve by the Shinobi Alliance.
The leaders of the Shinobi Alliance knew well—
Once war with the Ōtsutsuki truly broke out, death and untreatable injuries would be inevitable.
And the shinobi world's technological and experiential inferiority would almost certainly lead to devastating losses in the first confrontation.
That's why even such cruel yet effective techniques had to be preserved and prioritized.
Other examples included Amado's human-machine hybrid enhancement methods, Sunagakure's puppet-based self-modification techniques, and even cloning technology.
...
Though the puppet invasions had come to a temporary halt, they served as a grim reminder to those in the shinobi world, who had just begun enjoying the peace brought by unity and liberation—
War has returned once more.