The commotion lasts for half an hour.
The hall, once bustling with noise, is now silent.
Leaving a shadow clone to watch the exit, in case of any unexpected situations,
Takumi then begins the intense work of making puppets.
Although he has obtained the inheritance of the Puppet Master, making puppets cannot be completed in an instant.
Making one puppet still takes several minutes to complete.
Because turning a person into a puppet, making the skin as hard as a puppet's, takes some time for the transformation.
And this is only installing simple weapons.
If he wants them fully armed, each puppet would take a very long time.
Fortunately,
Takumi doesn't need to make them one by one.
While waiting, he can start making the next puppet.
Even so, he spends a whole day and night completing the production of one thousand puppets.
Putting the finished puppets into the large scroll he specially brought,
Takumi walks out of the cult's headquarters feeling satisfied.
"First, destroying the heinous Jashin Cult, and then obtaining so many puppets, this trip was not in vain."
Takumi is smug, then leisurely heads back to Konoha.
On the way back, he can also modify the puppets, increasing their offensive capabilities.
Although the puppet skills he obtained this time are astonishing,
The strength of the Jashin Cult's members is uneven, most of them being ordinary people.
Compared to Sasori's puppets, all of which are Jonin or Tokubetsu Jonin level, his only advantage is quantity.
Increasing some lethality will make it easier to deal with Sasori later.
Going to the Land of Rivers took less than half an hour.
But returning to Konoha took a full three days of dawdling on the road.
Back in Konoha,
As soon as Takumi steps through the gate, the gatekeeper, Kotetsu immediately stops him.
"Takumi-san, the Hokage-sama has an urgent matter to see you. He instructed you report immediately upon return."
Kotetsu doesn't know what happened; he is just relaying Hiruzen's order.
But from the order, he also knows the situation must be very urgent.
"I understand."
Takumi nods silently and quickens his pace towards the Hokage Tower.
He knows,
At this time, Hiruzen being so anxious is definitely because of Gaara's capture.
He thought he still had a day or two of leeway.
Unexpectedly, Sunagakure's request for help came earlier.
He doesn't know which part went wrong.
But regardless,
Since Sunagakure came for help, he will naturally go.
He went to the Land of Rivers precisely for this.
Arriving at the Hokage's Office, Takumi scans the room and finds, besides Temari, there are also some others.
Especially a short, elderly woman.
Her appearance makes Takumi narrow his eyes slightly.
"Hokage-sama, I'm back."
Takumi first greets Hiruzen.
Then, he turns to look at the others.
But before he can speak,
A figure throws itself at him.
Takumi instinctively catches her, and before he can feel the softness against his chest,
He hears her sobbing voice in his ear.
"Hub... Takumi! Please save Gaara! I beg you!"
Temari's voice is full of trembling.
"Don't worry. Although I don't know what happened, since you came to me, I will definitely help."
Takumi gently comforts her. "With me here, you can safely leave anything to me."
His voice seems to carry magic, and Temari's emotions gradually calm down.
Before coming to Konoha, Temari's cold attitude was like two different people compared to her delicate state now in Takumi's arms.
People very familiar with Temari, such as her teacher Baki, couldn't help but show surprised expressions.
He had never noticed that Temari could show such a delicate side.
Perhaps because Temari had always acted very strong.
His subconscious always assumed she wouldn't be the kind of girl to act like this.
Temari's behavior today really surprised him.
"Don't waste time."
Chiyo glanced at Takumi, then turned her gaze to Hiruzen. "The enemy is very strong and can fly in the sky."
"Therefore, we need someone who can deal with him."
"You don't need to worry about the rest."
As an advisor of Sunagakure, Chiyo naturally had her own pride.
Although Gaara left a message asking them to seek help from Konoha,
How could she let Konoha take the initiative?
Although they were the ones asking for help, she still wanted to maintain the upper hand.
Otherwise, wouldn't it make their Sunagakure look too incompetent?
"..."
Baki wanted to say something, but after a glance from Chiyo, he showed a wry smile and held back his words.
"Don't be so angry."
Hiruzen said with a chuckle, seemingly unfazed by Chiyo's aggressive tone. "You haven't explained the specific situation yet. We don't even know who the enemy is. How can we coordinate personnel with you like this?"
Although Hiruzen had already decided who to send, he definitely wanted to gain more leverage from this.
Otherwise, just doing whatever someone asked would be too face-losing, wouldn't it?
Takumi comforted Temari on the side while watching coldly from the sidelines to see what these people planned to say.
"I said, you just need to provide someone who can deal with an enemy in the air."
Chiyo said coldly, suddenly turning her gaze to Takumi. "He's your precious Takumi, right? I remember someone told me he can fly."
"Sending him is perfect."
Chiyo's tone made Takumi very unhappy.
As if in her eyes, Takumi was just a commodity, take him if you want, leave him aside if you don't.
"Hmph!"
He snorted lightly to express his displeasure. "Who is this old woman? Doesn't she know this is Konoha? Since you're here to ask for help, you should have a proper attitude."
"Konoha is not to be bullied!"
Takumi's tough attitude surprised Chiyo.
She looked up at Takumi in surprise, carefully appraising him.
As if wondering what right this kid had to act so arrogantly in front of her.
"Calm down, everyone."
Hiruzen came out to mediate with a chuckle, although inwardly he was delighted. "Takumi-kun is still young. As an elder, you should overlook it."
"Why don't we continue with our previous topic?"
"If you don't tell us about the enemy, it really puts me in a difficult position."
"Although I very much want to help you solve your problem, I also need to ensure the safety of our Konoha people."
Hiruzen spoke earnestly and righteously. "As Hokage, I naturally have to ensure the safety of all shinobi who sacrifice for Konoha."
"Hmph!"
Chiyo snorted coldly. She didn't believe Hiruzen's words at all.
But she had no choice now.
She was here to ask for help after all. Her earlier aggressive attitude was just to gain the upper hand.
If she couldn't even achieve the purpose of asking for help, then this trip would be wasted.
Helpless, she could only reveal the enemy's identity. "There are two enemies. One can control puppets, and the other uses explosion-type Ninjutsu."
"They both wear black robes with red clouds."
The last sentence immediately let Hiruzen know who the enemy was.
His expression immediately became gloomy.
'That guy Itachi hadn't passed back any relevant intel.'
But his expression changed only for a moment, then he put on a thoughtful look. "People dressed like this seem to have appeared in Konoha many times."
He looked up at Takumi, as if asking for confirmation.
"That's right."
Takumi nodded. "They call themselves the Akatsuki. The members are S-Rank Missing-nin from various villages, all famous powerful individuals."