This should be a production base for puppet materials in the Sand Hidden Village.
One hour is more than enough.
The real test should be the subsequent puppet-making process.
The two-hour time limit for making puppets is quite tight. Although many materials here are of good quality, most of them require long processing before they can be used.
In other words, one needs to find materials that are easy to process, preferably ready to use, while also considering their quality.
The best choice is definitely animals with chakra, as their bodies have chakra flow, making chakra conductivity the best.
Just like the powerful puppets in the Sand Hidden Village are all human puppets, made by powerful ninjas before their deaths.
However, handling them is troublesome, requiring dissection, soaking in medicine, pickling, which all take time. Moreover, one needs to have sufficient knowledge of the biology of that species, so it's not the best option.
"But... that doesn't mean I won't use them."
Waving a shuriken, it accurately hits a seven-inch snake hidden in the bushes.
One only needs to take the parts they can use from these creatures.
Walking up, Clearwater breaks off a tree branch and thrusts it into the snake's mouth.
It's not completely dead, although it's brain-dead, its nerves are still active.
Ensuring that the dead snake won't attack again, Clearwater skillfully pulls out the fangs, cuts off the venom sac, and then turns and leaves.
Other things have value, but the weight of what one can carry is limited, so only the most valuable parts can be taken.
"The material weight cannot exceed fifteen kilograms, so it can only make small or micro puppets. Therefore, the puppet's frame cannot be made of heavy metal. In this case, there is no time to collect metal and smelt it. It's best to use bones of small animals with chakra for better chakra conductivity. Otherwise, one can only find alternatives like bamboo."
Clearwater manipulates the puppet Fatty, flicking out the toothed blade on its wrist, quickly cutting down a tree.
At the same time, Clearwater collects the seeds of this tree and plants them around.
People in the Sand Hidden Village have the consciousness of cutting down trees and planting them.
This tree is called Bai Tie Wood, with hard and solid wood, resembling iron casting, light in weight, decent toughness, often used to make weapon handles and other parts, and can also be used to make puppets, which is the main material Clearwater chose to make the puppet later.
Opening Fatty's puppet back compartment, Clearwater places the collected wood inside.
Fatty was originally a transport puppet made for teaching purposes, naturally possessing storage and transport capabilities. Usually, it contains gauze bandages and antiseptics for emergencies.
There is also a secondary compartment for the hand catapult device, used to place poison needles and shurikens.
"Next, is to find items that can be used as puppet frames."
Clearwater takes a step, walking towards a low-lying area following the terrain.
If there is a water flow, it should be there.
Slightly larger animals, if they don't have a stable and sufficient water source, cannot survive.
And those that can dominate a water source are likely to be powerful animals, most likely with chakra.
Other puppeteers from the Sand Hidden Village have also thought of the same thing. When Clearwater reaches the riverbank, he has already found traces left by some puppeteers.
Fortunately, the area of the Wind Emerald Oasis is large, almost comparable to Konoha's Forest of Death, so it's more than enough for seventy-nine puppeteers from the Sand Hidden Village to gather materials without the need to compete or engage in conflicts.
After all, this is likely an important puppet material production base of the Sand Hidden Village.
"There are no traces of large animals living nearby, mostly small animals like otters and desert foxes. It should be the territory of a powerful creature."
Walking upstream along the river, Clearwater soon finds traces.
Feces.
And there is a strong smell of urine under the nearby trees.
This is definitely a territorial mark left by some kind of animal.
This also gives Clearwater a tracking clue.
Tracking animals is much easier than tracking ninjas, as every qualified ninja will have anti-reconnaissance awareness, deliberately erasing their tracks and even giving false clues to trackers, but animals won't.
"So... is it that cat?"
Clearwater stands on a tree trunk, looking at a large cat crouching on a rock in the distance.
It's a lynx, with black fur-tipped ears standing upright, looking like horns, brownish-yellow fur with some white spots, slightly larger than a normal lynx, about one and a half meters long.
"This should be the one."
Clearwater lowers his gaze, reaches for his waist, takes out shurikens, kunai, and steel wires, sets up a few traps, then extends chakra threads from his fingertips, accurately connecting Fatty's limbs and torso. Under Clearwater's control, it slowly sneaks towards the lynx.
It turns out that controlling a puppet to sneak is much more difficult than sneaking oneself.
When the lynx is about twenty meters away, it alertly stands up, crouches low, and emits a low growl unique to felines towards Fatty.
It's not the comfortable purring sound a domestic cat makes when being petted, but a warning.
"Sand Secret Technique: Thousand Poison Needles."
The face of Fatty's puppet opens, revealing a surface full of dark holes, shooting rows of needles towards the lynx, while the toothed blade on its left arm pops out, taking big strides towards the lynx.
"Roar!"
The lynx roars, swiftly dodging the needles and attempting to flank from the side, avoiding the claws and attacking the weak points like the neck.
Clearwater tugs at the corner of his mouth.
The lynx's roar is very unique, reminding him of a certain blue cat.
With that thought,
The lynx flashed by and pounced on the fat man's body.
Although the fat man had decent frontal combat abilities, his speed was his weakness.
Fortunately, he was a puppet, and his neck was not his weak point. Hardy had also designed control-type props to deal with this agile enemy.
"Sand Secret Technique: Puppet Manipulation!"
The fat man puppet's arms instantly separated, and several thick ropes shot out from them, entangling the lynx.
"Roar! Roar! Roar!"
The bound lynx howled in fear, struggling continuously.
Footsteps approached, and Hardy emerged from the bushes, taking out a few thousand needles treated with the juice of desert poisonous cacti from his ninja tool pouch and shot them towards the lynx.
It was a type of neurotoxin that could act as an anesthetic.
As the toxin evaporated, the lynx's voice gradually weakened, and it stopped struggling.