December 29th.
Early morning.
The Mechanical City, outside the city, uninhabited zone.
"Ninja Art: Poison Mist!"
Following a sharp cry, dense purple mist spewed from the girl's mouth, instantly spreading dozens of meters, engulfing several trees grown from the Seed Cells, causing them to instantly wither and die.
"It seems adaptation is going well."
The girl turned towards the voice and saw a young man with reddish-brown short hair walking over from the distance. She complained, "There are too many types of poison. Just memorizing them isn't easy. Developing corresponding Ninjutsu is even harder."
However,
Although complaining, the girl had a happy smile. This must be the annoyance of good fortune!
Indeed, it was like that.
There were over two thousand, nearly three thousand types of Charm-Poison. Just memorizing their properties and effects was a major challenge, let alone creating Ninjutsu to use them.
Using a single poison, combining two or even multiple poisons, mixing with other Ninjutsu...
Each poison had thousands of applications, each application producing different effects. Nearly three thousand poisons... according to the observation instrument's calculations, there were at least 136,777 different effects.
Even if many application methods overlapped, there were still thousands of usage methods.
If Kana could develop and master all methods, she would undoubtedly become the number one poison master in the Shinobi World.
But the key problem was that achieving this was extremely difficult.
Although different paths lead to the same destination, and these were all poison-related skills, and once one becomes proficient, subsequent development and learning speed up, it still required the level of a 'top-tier genius'.
This top-tier genius refers to the likes of Kakashi and the Third Hokage.
Although they were all poison-type categories, the requirements were lower. But considering thousands of different applications and over a hundred thousand different effect variations, the difficulty was no less than learning and mastering thousands of different Ninjutsu.
Moreover, there were no ready-made Ninjutsu to learn; one had to explore and develop based on their own characteristics.
The requirement was even higher.
At least, Kana didn't have that talent.
It's all thanks to the Observation Device providing a customized simulation skill tree, allowing her to just follow the skill tree's direction to explore and experiment to develop corresponding Ninjutsu.
But this was still an impossible task.
However, having too many choices to select from meant that, at the beginning, developing corresponding Ninjutsu was relatively simple.
"Don't be ungrateful." Ryuji glared at her, displeased. "These 136,777 effects and thousands of different usage methods represent pushing the Charm-Poison Body's abilities to their limit, forming a unique system. It requires generations of a clan's continuous effort and refinement to complete. I made the Ninjutsu models for you. You just need to follow the requirements step by step and work hard to develop them. What more are you dissatisfied with?"
"It's just that I'm too stupid!"
Kana stuck out her tongue, showing an embarrassed expression.
She also knew her complaint was somewhat excessive, but she wasn't truly complaining. She was just instinctively acting coquettishly towards this man with whom she had a relationship.
Although she knew Ryuji did everything for profit, had no feelings for her, and she had accepted this fact and given up her fantasies about this man, deep down she still harbored a dependence on him.
Yet, the response she received still wasn't what she wanted, causing her heart to ache faintly.
The girl's feelings weren't shown on her face, and Ryuji couldn't read minds, so he remained unaware.
Seeing Kana not dwelling on it further, he stopped concerning himself with it and directly stated his purpose, "The Mechanical City's matters are almost finished. I'll be going to Konoha then. You'll come along."
"What about my clan members..."
Kana hesitated, wanting to speak but stopping.
Ryuji had promised her that if her clan members were willing to give up their surname and clan emblem to join Sunagakure, he would be willing to transplant poison sacs for them too.
Kana agreed without hesitation.
First, the Kagero Clan wasn't characterized by a shared surname but by the 'poison' character clan emblem symbolizing poison.
Second, the current Kagero Clan, aside from her, only had sixteen people left.
Seven from her mother's generation, nine from her grandmother's generation, two from her great-grandmother's generation.
With so few people, they couldn't even ensure the clan's continuation. Who cared about the clan emblem?
Moreover, even without a surname and clan emblem, it didn't mean the clan ceased to exist; just the way they coexisted changed.
Sunagakure called itself a village of comrades, with no clans.
But were there truly no clans?
Then tell me, why do Gaara, Rasa, Sasori, Sasori's father, and Ryuji all share the same hair color?
Why did Chiyo take care of Ryuji from childhood and teach him puppetry?
Was it really just because of talent, because they saw promise in him?
Baki was also very talented. Why didn't any high-ranking expert teach him?
Pakura was also very talented. Why didn't any high-ranking expert teach her?
Could it be that their talent, though good, wasn't good enough to impress the experts?
Nonsense.
No matter how talented you are, the little learned in the Academy cannot showcase an individual's talent ceiling.
Is the difference between exceptional talent and high talent significant when learning the Transformation Technique?
No, basically no difference.
Because for geniuses, it's an easily learned Ninjutsu.
The reason those geniuses didn't have experts voluntarily teaching them was because they lacked connections, while Ryuji shared the same clan with many of Sunagakure's higher-ups.
Even if the clan's surname and emblem were gone, one couldn't deny they shared common ancestors.
Shinobi live in a world of slaughter, so they value relationships more than ordinary people.
This relationship could be friends, family, clan members, fellow villagers. Each person's experiences differ, so the relationships they value more also differ.
But before experiencing life-and-death with comrades, family and clan members are the most trusted relationships, followed by teammates and fellow villagers.
Because of these relationships, when promoting juniors, people often choose those close to them.
Of course, the prerequisite is that they are capable.
If they are hopeless, no one will bother with them.
In short, Kana agreed to Ryuji's request to disband the Kagero Clan and have her clan members integrate into Sunagakure, in exchange for Ryuji's help.
"After going to Konoha first, you can return to inform your clan members. Have them go directly to Sunagakure." Ryuji said, "I won't stay in Konoha for more than a few months this time. I'll return soon and perform the surgeries for them then."
"Then it's settled."
…
January 11th.
All Planetary Engine thrusters were completed and installed on the underside of the landmass by worker puppets.
Simultaneously, Ryuji built a Chakra Control System in the central spire.
This control system was somewhat similar to the flying city of the Land of Sky; both involved inscribing corresponding seals and formulas in a sealed room, then placing a sensing crystal ball in the center.
The operator could see the outside scene through the sensing crystal ball and control it via thought.
Starting, stopping, turning, ascending, descending… all could be done.
Finally, Ryuji connected the pre-reserved Dragon Vein conduits. The Mechanical City's flight system was completely finished.
The Specific Gravity System could freely adjust its own density and weight, mainly used for acceleration, deceleration, and braking anchor functions.
The anti-gravity system's main role was energy saving.
When the floating landmass needed to hover in one position, it could float in the air by controlling gravity, then adjust weight via the Specific Gravity System to prevent being blown away by strong winds.
This not only saved Chakra but also extended the Planetary Engine's lifespan.
As for the Planetary Engine, naturally, it was the propulsion device, used for flying.
At this point, apart from the defense system, the Mechanical City's construction basically no longer required Ryuji's personal involvement.
After all, it was based on the Mechanical City from the Mozi as the prototype foundation, assisted by the alchemy recorded in Golems and Dragons, combined with the mechanical technology from the Steam Age, ultimately designing the plan.
Although the city design was quite different, its theme still relied on the Mohist school's mechanical arts.
And every puppeteer in Sunagakure was proficient in mechanical arts and architecture. Even if they didn't understand some advanced mechanical arts, with blueprints, they could mimic and produce them.
...
January 12th.
Outside the Mechanical City.
Ryuji gave final advice to Ebizo who came to see him off, "After building the flight system, follow-up funds got a bit tight, Ebizo-senpai. You can start with things that cost little, are simple to make, yet crucial."
"You don't need to tell me; I already know."
Hearing this reassuring remark as usual, Ryuji smiled, "Since that's the case, I leave this place to you, Senpai."
"...Maybe you shouldn't go."
Ebizo frowned tightly, hesitating before saying, "The appearance of the floating landmass has greatly shocked all the Shinobi Villages. While they revere you for designing it, they are also very afraid, fearing you might do something even more astonishing in the future."
"I'm afraid they might act against you in secret during this trip to Konoha."
Hearing this, Ryuji showed a confident smile, "As long as they don't act openly, that's enough."
"That they definitely won't do."
Ebizo belonged to the same generation as Konoha's Third Hokage. In their youth, they had clashed on the battlefield, so he understood him relatively well.
Although this person was somewhat foolish in certain aspects, his grasp of the situation was very accurate.
Konoha was currently at war with the combined forces of Iwagakure and Kusagakure, at a troop disadvantage.
They would be trying to please Sunagakure, let alone offend it.
If Konoha dared to act openly against Ryuji or the Sunagakure's delegation, Sunagakure's forces would march on Konoha the next day.
Then, it's unknown if Konoha could repeat the performance they had against Kumogakure.
If not, they could await destruction!
As for acting in secret...
Acting in secret meant they didn't want to escalate matters, so they couldn't send too many people.
And the Sunagakure's delegation had fifty elite puppeteers there. What's to fear?
One must know, these fifty elite puppeteers were at the level of the twenty elite teams Tsunade formed in the original manga to deal with the Akatsuki… each team could hold their own against a Kage-level expert for a while.
Plus Karura, Gin, Kuro with his prosthetic limbs and more skilled use of Ninjutsu, and the accompanying mission guards... Unless Konoha sent all the Genin and Chunin they had in the village, Ryuji wouldn't be intimidated.
As for sending top experts...
Don't be ridiculous. Konoha was still at war with Iwagakure. How could they recall all their experts to deal with him?
Did they not want the frontline anymore?
And with only the experts remaining in Konoha taking action... aside from Hiruzen, the Hokage himself, whom he wasn't confident he could defeat, he didn't really care about the others.
The lack of confidence in defeating Hiruzen was because he didn't know how strong his peak power truly was.
After all, according to Orochimaru's words in the original work, Hiruzen at age fifty-nine still had the power to instantly kill him.