In a dimly lit room, the light from a desk lamp illuminated the scroll placed on the desk.
So that's how Puppet Technique works...
Orochimaru, wearing a loose nightgown, rested her chin on one hand, looking at the scroll related to Puppet Technique.
She had merely shown a slight interest in Puppet Technique, and Eryu had very proactively given her this scroll.
Controlling puppets with Chakra threads was ingenious, indeed ingenious.
Limited by the materials of the puppets, the puppet's strength largely determined the upper and lower limits of a puppeteer.
Undoubtedly, the puppeteer's own strength could raise the upper limit, but what ultimately decided both the upper and lower limits was the puppet. A powerful puppet could allow a puppeteer to exert strength far beyond their own capabilities.
Without a suitable puppet, one could only end up like the Edo Tensei Scorpion in the original story, reduced to cannon fodder.
In the original story, Kankuro used puppets made by Scorpion. Crow, Black Ant, and Salamander were all made by Scorpion when he was very young, showing how important puppet-making ability was for a puppeteer.
Looking at it this way, Kankuro wasn't a qualified puppeteer. The puppets he used were either found or given to him by others. The most outrageous was the puppet that served as Scorpion's body.
Perhaps after Chiyo's death, the skill level of Sunagakure's puppeteers plummeted, leaving Kankuro as the only puppeteer who could hold his own.
Orochimaru recalled her several encounters with Sunagakure puppeteers. Their skills were decent, but their puppets' attack methods were largely similar—poison needles, blades, saw discs, and the like.
Most importantly, their puppets were too fragile. The puppet materials were mostly wood, easily destroyed.
I see...
Orochimaru now understood why the Puppet Master's puppets were made of wood. Rather, it wasn't that they *had* to be wooden, but that the Puppet Master's puppets were either carried on their person or sealed in scrolls, and controlled by Chakra threads when needed.
If the weight was too heavy, the Chakra consumed to control the puppets would undoubtedly increase. Thus, for the materials used to make puppets, they could only choose lighter ones that weren't easily damaged and could still have mechanisms installed within them.
Coupled with the endless yellow sands of the Land of Wind, wood became the best material for making puppets. If there were lighter, stronger, more resilient, and harder-to-destroy materials, the Puppet Master likely wouldn't use wood, which also requires fire and water-resistant maintenance.
Otherwise, a single Fire Release could set the Puppet Master's puppets ablaze like torches.
I'll research it later; there's a lot to do right now.
Orochimaru rolled up the scroll, tied it with a string, and placed it aside.
"Orochimaru, aren't you sleeping yet?"
Uchiha Hikari got out of bed, walked barefoot to Orochimaru's side, bent down, slipped under her armpit, and sat on her lap, rubbing her face against her chest.
"I'll sleep in a bit..."
Orochimaru looked at Uchiha Hikari with a hint of helplessness in her eyes.
"Hm?"
Orochimaru lifted her leg slightly.
"Ah..."
Uchiha Hikari let out a soft cry, her little face turning bright red.
"Hikari, you..."
Orochimaru's eyes widened a bit.
"I'm not wearing..."
Uchiha Hikari looked up, her large black eyes staring unblinkingly at Orochimaru, filled with a mix of anticipation and nervousness.
"Why the rush? We've already confirmed our relationship."
Orochimaru once again felt Uchiha Hikari's profound affection for her.
"I've waited for so, so long! Orochimaru, do you want me to keep waiting?"
Uchiha Hikari hugged Orochimaru's waist tightly, her emotions somewhat out of control as she said, "Orochimaru, do you dislike me? My figure isn't as good as Tsunade's or Mio-neechan's, nor as good as Chigusa's... and I'm not as interesting as Ichikishimahime..."
This feeling... it's so heavy... Orochimaru touched Uchiha Hikari's cheek, gently lifted her head, looked at her red eyes brimming with tears, and the Eye Sealing Curse Mark appeared on her forehead.
Did her overly agitated emotions cause her ocular power to increase again?
"What kind of person am I? Hikari, don't you understand me yet? No one can force me to do something I don't want to do. If I didn't want to, why would I let you mess around, or make a promise with you?"
Orochimaru gently kissed away the tears from Uchiha Hikari's eyes, pinched her cheeks with both hands, and said in a displeased tone, "Hikari, do you think I'm a bit too casual?"
"No... no... I just..."
Seeing Orochimaru get angry, Uchiha Hikari instantly broke free from the negative emotions that felt like a deepening quagmire.
"I just lack confidence in myself."
Everyone around her was more outstanding than her, and their statuses were beyond her reach, so a hint of inferiority naturally arose in her heart.
"Sorry, Hikari, I failed to notice your emotions."
Orochimaru wiped away Uchiha Hikari's tears and kissed her bitten red lips.
"Orochimaru isn't wrong, it's my fault..."
Uchiha Hikari realized her own abnormality; sometimes she was prone to extremes, and in such situations, she couldn't even detect her own errors.
"Hikari, with your mastery of Sealing Technique, you could have already undone the Eye Sealing Curse Mark..."
Orochimaru touched the Eye Sealing Curse Mark on Uchiha Hikari's forehead as it slowly faded.
"I want you, Orochimaru, to undo it for me personally."
Uchiha Hikari blushed shyly; this held extraordinary significance for her.
"Then, as you wish..."
Orochimaru kissed Uchiha Hikari's forehead, undoing the Eye Sealing Curse Mark.
As the Eye Sealing Curse Mark was undone, the three tomoe in her eyes changed, their shape resembling crescent blades, or perhaps flying swallows with spread wings, symbolizing that after becoming a weapon of the Uchiha Clan, she would one day gain freedom.
Bang—!
The chair fell to the ground. Uchiha Hikari, holding Orochimaru, landed on the bed, kissing her lips with immense excitement, her petite body trembling slightly.
"Don't rush, take it slow."
Orochimaru, already an experienced hand, gently stroked Uchiha Hikari's back and hair, slowly guiding her.
Why is it always like this!
The invisible Ichikishimahime once again appeared at the wrong place at the wrong time. She felt she might as well have stayed in the living room watching TV.
The cool night breeze lifted the curtains, and the bright moonlight spilled onto the floor, as if laying a layer of silver sand.
Uchiha Hikari lay in Orochimaru's arms, gasping for breath.
"Just sleep like this. Taking a bath now isn't good for your body."
Orochimaru stroked Uchiha Hikari's cheek and pulled up the blanket.
"Mm..."
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