"Makoto-aniki once told me about the Five Great Nations when we were in the Land of Snow. He said Sunagakure produces beautiful women, Kirigakure produces femboys, and Konoha produces bond freaks…
"I never really understood what those last two meant, but looking at Sunagakure now, Makoto-aniki definitely wasn't lying. There really are a lot of cute girls here."
Naruto stared thoughtfully at the stack of files in Temari's hands and nodded to himself.
"…Get away from me!"
Temari immediately pulled the files against her chest.
She had originally assumed Naruto was merely a bond-type shinobi, meaning only the men needed to be careful around him.
Apparently, she had been careless.
How could the creator of the Sexy Jutsu possibly be limited to something as simple as bond-type tendencies?
A phrase came to Temari's mind:
No opening was safe.
She needed to stay alert.
Clutching the files protectively, Temari slowly backed out of the Kazekage's office while keeping a wary eye on Naruto.
Uzumaki Naruto was far too dangerous.
He wore such an upright, innocent-looking face while pretending not to understand anything.
The guy was practically the perfect example of the "gay freaks" Konoha supposedly produced, yet he still had the nerve to claim he did not understand what the term meant.
Once Temari left, everyone else went their separate ways.
Konohamaru left with Kankurō.
Naruto went with Gaara.
Kakashi followed the information Gaara had provided and headed outside the village to find Hōichi.
Originally, the three Sand siblings had all lived in the same residence.
Naturally, not in the same room.
As the children of the Fourth Kazekage—who had literally been capable of mining gold—they had owned one of the more luxurious homes in Sunagakure.
However, after Rasa's death and Gaara's appointment as Kazekage, the arrangement gradually stopped being practical.
Temari was getting older, while Kankurō, as a puppeteer, needed plenty of private workspace.
Eventually, the siblings sold their old family home and each purchased a separate residence.
None of them lacked money.
They had only sold the old house because leaving it empty served no purpose.
The person who bought their former residence was Saya, the puppeteer.
Her family was fairly wealthy by Sunagakure standards, making her something of a young lady from a prominent household.
Living separately also had its advantages.
At least in situations like this, everyone had privacy and did not need to worry about awkward sounds traveling through the walls.
Even after moving out, Gaara's new home remained relatively spacious.
His real training grounds were outside the village, but his residence still included a backyard large enough for light practice.
That was where Gaara brought Naruto to begin receiving personal instruction in Sage Mode.
…
Elsewhere, Kankurō brought Konohamaru to his own home.
"Kid, if you see anything interesting, don't touch it without asking. Some of the traps in here fire poisoned needles."
Kankurō thoughtfully warned the wide-eyed Konohamaru.
At this point, he looked nothing like the face-painted weirdo who had bullied Konohamaru during the Chūnin Exams.
Whenever Konohamaru asked about something, Kankurō enthusiastically demonstrated the special features of his various puppets.
Ever since their father Rasa died and Gaara became Kazekage, Kankurō seemed to have matured almost overnight.
Gaara had become the Kazekage.
As his older brother, Kankurō could no longer afford to behave like a childish brat.
At its most basic level, a puppet was essentially a toy.
Kankurō frequently visited the Ninja Academy and used his puppets to entertain children, hoping to encourage the next generation to take an interest in puppetry.
So dealing with Konohamaru came naturally to him.
Konohamaru also sensed Kankurō's goodwill.
As someone who had inherited both the Will of Fire and the teachings of the Third Hokage, Konohamaru naturally wanted to return that kindness.
He genuinely intended to teach Kankurō Sage Mode properly and make sure he succeeded.
After Kankurō's first training attempt failed, Konohamaru began asking questions.
"Kankurō-aniki, have you ever tried making your own puppets?"
Thanks to Kankurō's earlier enthusiastic explanations, Konohamaru already knew where all his current puppets had come from, so the question followed naturally.
"Of course I have!"
Kankurō answered a little too loudly.
After all, people asked him the same thing all the time:
Why was a puppeteer like him constantly using puppets made by other people?
"Konohamaru, you're from Konoha, so you don't have many puppeteers over there. You wouldn't understand.
"Making puppets is extremely complicated. Something being handmade by you doesn't automatically mean it'll suit you better or perform better."
Kankurō led Konohamaru into a private room and opened the door.
The entire room was filled with puppets of every shape and size.
"I made all of these."
"Did you abandon them?"
Konohamaru asked curiously.
"They're not abandoned. They're just less practical than the ones I currently use, so I never bring them into battle.
"A puppeteer can only control so many puppets at once."
Kankurō sighed.
For a puppeteer, the number of puppets you could deploy was basically like building a team in a mobile game.
You only had so many slots.
The puppets Kankurō had scavenged might not perfectly match his fighting style, but their raw stats were high.
At the very least, they were gold-rarity units.
The puppets he built himself might have better synergy and fit him personally, but they were basically purple-rarity units.
Their numbers were simply too low.
After hearing Kankurō's explanation, Konohamaru fell into thought.
With his exceptionally high comprehension, he quickly identified the real problem.
Kankurō could make puppets.
Those puppets even suited him well.
Their only flaw was that their stats sucked.
And Kankurō himself had the same issue.
Forget Sasori's Performance of a Hundred Puppets—he could not even manage Granny Chiyo's Chikamatsu Collection of Ten Puppets.
His deployment limit was simply too low.
In short, Kankurō's own stats were also lacking.
In that situation, using shadow clones would merely waste chakra.
Contracting more summons would be equally pointless because they would overlap with the role of his puppets.
So…
"Kankurō-aniki, back in the Kazekage's office, I accidentally glanced at one of the shinobi profiles.
There was a puppeteer named Saya, right? One of the puppets she uses is a doll-type puppet?" Konohamaru asked.
"Yeah. Why?"
"Then…"
Konohamaru's mischievous little brain went into overdrive, and he revealed an expression that anyone in the know would instantly understand.
"Kankurō-aniki, if you can't make puppets with high combat power, then why not make specialized puppets instead?
"Puppets that help you enter Sage Mode faster."
"Holy shit. You mean those dolls in that store?!"
Kankurō stared at him in shock.
He had never imagined that the grandson of the distinguished Third Hokage could suggest something so shameless!
But…
Now that he thought about it, it actually sounded workable.
He would just need to keep the fact that he made such a puppet absolutely secret.
If Granny Chiyo ever found out, she might personally purge him from the puppeteer profession as a disgrace to the entire art.
"Uh, Kankurō-aniki…"
Konohamaru gave him a disdainful look.
"How do you know about that store? Have you bought one before?"
"I didn't buy anything! I just saw them once—"
Kankurō stopped halfway through his defense as realization struck him.
"Wait a damn minute. How do you know about that place?!"
A kid Konohamaru's age knowing about something like that was far more suspicious.
Was this how the Hokage family raised children?
"Uh… don't worry about minor details like that!"
Konohamaru hurriedly changed the subject.
"Kankurō-aniki, let's start building it! As the successor to Naruto-aniki's Sexy Jutsu, I can give you plenty of useful design advice!"
Konohamaru rubbed his hands together, visibly excited about what came next.
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