Don't underestimate this seemingly minor discovery—it actually had significant practical use.
When you didn't need shadow clones to have much chakra, spreading the chakra as thinly as possible among more clones ensured the original retained ample reserves.
For shinobi without large chakra pools or strong recovery, this technique was quite valuable.
Having performed the Shadow Clone Technique only twice, Daigan had already burned through most of his chakra, forcing him to be cautious.
Jutsu were wonderful, but the risks couldn't be ignored. No wonder Multi-Shadow Clone Jutsu was classified as an A-rank forbidden technique.
Splitting too many shadow clones not only affected the original's combat ability—once they dispersed, the instantaneous mental shock could knock someone unconscious, completely robbing them of any fighting capacity.
Today's jutsu practice ends here. I'm just recovering from serious injuries; it's not wise to overextend my stamina and chakra.
There were still nearly twenty days to prepare. If memory served, Uchiha Sasuke would likely be late, and Temari's fourth-round match with Daigan might unexpectedly get moved up.
How far should he fight Temari?
First, he definitely had to keep enough chakra reserved to ensure sufficient combat strength for the storm that would follow during the Konoha Crush.
Second, he couldn't lose too disgracefully—couldn't let people question the seriousness of the match or leave a bad impression on Temari.
Finally, he had to control the pace as much as possible and hold out until Uchiha Sasuke arrived.
In short, it had to be a fake fight, but not too fake, and it had to look good—leave no room for criticism.
From that perspective, it was more of a performance than a battle.
Not only did his side need to maintain the right balance, Temari also had to cooperate with tacit understanding.
So his tactics required careful thought.
Of course, there was something even more important: to strengthen his combat ability by any means necessary as quickly as possible—to secure more chances of survival for himself and those he cared about.
Sand Manipulation was limited by innate talent and lineage; it wouldn't improve much in such a short time. Wind Release and the Shadow Clone Technique would be the focus of his training going forward. Additionally, he couldn't abandon Puppet Technique, which he'd already begun to grasp.
Puppet Technique was a highly practical secret art. Otherwise, the Second Kazekage Shamon wouldn't have developed and expanded it into one of Sunagakure's pillars.
But constrained by an intense survival crisis and a short-sighted cultivation approach, the true development of Puppet Technique had been sluggish—advancing only along the path of the Puppet Master without any fundamental improvement. Only the Human Puppet secret art showed any promise, but due to real-world considerations, it had to be classified as forbidden.
Turning knives on other people's bodies was certainly unacceptable, but puppet masters who turned knives on themselves were even more foolish. No matter how flawed the human body might be, its developmental potential far exceeded that of cold human puppets.
Though Sasori of the Red Sand had many hard-to-accept quirks, Daigan thoroughly agreed with one thing:
Puppet Technique is an art.
Treating puppets as mere weapons was an exceedingly crude mindset.
He waved his hand. The substitute puppet walked over, bent slightly, and presented its expressionless face before Daigan.
"My first attempt—I don't know if it'll succeed."
His palm brushed across the substitute puppet's face. An exquisitely crafted eyeball appeared in his palm, and the puppet's left eye socket was suddenly empty.
Creating such a lifelike puppet—even abandoning many mechanisms traditionally used by puppet masters, which greatly reduced combat effectiveness—wasn't a decision made lightly.
Whether the substitute puppet or the Temari doll, the materials chosen for their vital organs were extremely particular. So while most of their bodies used very ordinary materials, the cost of producing a single puppet was definitely not small for Daigan.
Take the eyes, for instance: the materials all came from giant insects and reptiles hunted in the desert. Only after countless experiments did he arrive at the optimal production method, creating the eyes for two puppets. They had excellent chakra conductivity and could even basically simulate the complete structure of an eyeball.
A mass of chakra surged from his palm, enveloping the puppet's left eye. He placed it before his own left eye, using chakra to permeate the eyeball's structure while connecting it to his optic nerve.
"Success!"
The puppet eye, now clearly more animated, was placed back into the substitute puppet's left eye socket.
Immediately, Daigan connected to the puppet's eye via chakra threads. A scene from a different angle flooded his mind.
Puppet Technique version of the Third Eye!
Daigan looked uncertainly at the substitute puppet and Temari doll, which had clearly taken on new significance.
No, wait—this is Human Puppet Technique, just not using living people or human corpses as materials.
How did Sasori of the Red Sand—who turned himself into a human puppet with only a lump of flesh left to provide chakra—see the outside world and gain visual perception?
The living proof was right in front of him.
Nearly perfect replication!
I knew it. There are no coincidences in this world. Every technique is born for a reason.
Daigan temporarily severed his neural connection to the puppet's eye, pushed open the hospital room window, and took a deep breath of the slightly cool air.
No wonder Secret Technique: Third Eye felt so awkward. The core lay in connecting the nervous system to an external object to gain perception beyond the original body.
Under what circumstances would someone develop such a secret technique?
Any puppet master who knew even a little about the Human Puppet taboo could probably guess.
Who borrowed from whom remained unknown, but they were likely not unrelated.
Turning knives on one's own body was a Sand Ninja puppet master tradition. Sasori of the Red Sand did it; his grandmother Chiyo likewise transformed one of her hands into a puppet arm in order to perform the powerful defensive jutsu called Mechanized Light Shield Seal.
Otokaze, who wasn't a puppet master, probably didn't fully understand the deeper issues with this ostensibly sand-based reconnaissance technique.
"Fine. I'll just set this aside for now and treat it coldly, as if I never noticed anything. But I'm still going to use it…"
After all, Daigan hadn't made human puppets, nor had he turned knives on his own body. He'd only made a few "useless" puppet parts from beast materials—essentially, he hadn't violated any taboos.
If anyone discovered the problem, he'd just plead ignorance.
Right now, the urgent priority was surviving the chaos when Sunagakure and Konoha clashed. Never mind a technique that only might be problematic—even if it were truly forbidden, Daigan would use it without hesitation when the moment came. Possible punishment could be dealt with later.
While Daigan was lost in thought, a knock sounded at the door.
"Who is it?"
"It's me, Daigan. I heard you were injured, so I made time to come see you."
A familiar voice called out. Daigan opened the door to find Sajin standing outside with a friendly smile.
"Senior Sajin, what brings you here? Please, come in!"
Living alone as a stranger in a foreign land, having a fellow countryman to chat with was more than welcome.
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