The blood-red afterglow of the setting sun seeped across the sky, dyeing the entire Sunagakure in a crimson hue.
"This is the third group to withdraw from the front lines this month."
Hardy sat at the table, watching a group of battered and defeated soldiers pass by beneath the window across from him, unable to suppress a sigh.
His name, Hardy, carries a good meaning in the Land of Wind, where water is scarce; it was given to him by the orphanage director.
The current year is Year 37 of Sunagakure.
Since all five great ninja villages were founded in the same year, Year 37 of Sunagakure is the same as Year 37 of Konoha.
At this moment, the ninja world is in the midst of the Second Great Ninja War, which has already reached a fever pitch.
Sunagakure's main battlefronts are twofold: one in the northeast, in the Land of Rain, led by Elder Chiyo, whose goal is to suppress Amegakure, prevent Hanzo from leading it to become the sixth great ninja village, and to plunder the village's resources.
The second front is directly to the east, commanded by the Third Kazekage, advancing into the Land of Rivers and the Land of Fire, with the aim of securing fertile territory for Sunagakure.
However, ever since two of Sunagakure's high-ranking officials were slain by Konoha's White Fang two years ago, the advantages Sunagakure once held on the battlefield have gradually slipped away.
For now, none of this concerns Hardy, as he himself only withdrew from the Rain Country front last week.
He does not need to return to the battlefield for the time being.
It has been eleven years since he transmigrated into the world of Naruto.
When he first arrived, he was just an infant. It wasn't until he turned three—when his brain had developed enough—that memories of his previous life slowly began to return.
For as long as he could remember, he had always been in Sunagakure's orphanage.
Because of this, he displayed a maturity and intelligence beyond his peers from an early age, easily passing the entrance exam for the ninja academy and staying ahead of most of his classmates during the initial stages of his studies.
However, in terms of ninja talent, he was not considered top-tier—at best, he was average. He also lacked the backing of influential ninja families or high-ranking supporters like some of his classmates.
So, when he noticed others beginning to catch up to him, Hardy chose to specialize in the unique profession of puppeteer to maintain his competitiveness.
In resource-starved Sunagakure, everything must be fought for.
"My leg injury will take another month to heal, and the internal injuries will take even longer. For now, all I can do is take on some odd jobs, repairing puppets for others. It looks like I won't be able to take on missions to earn money in the short term. At least I don't have to go back to the battlefield.
But before that, I need to finish the puppet repair task assigned by the village."
Hardy refocused his attention on the workbench.
He graduated from the ninja academy last year.
To be precise, he was forced to graduate. Seeing that Konoha was doing the same, Sunagakure followed suit, sending senior students from the ninja academy to the battlefield.
The higher-ups were at least somewhat humane—they didn't send them out as cannon fodder, but rather assigned them to guard warehouses, escort supplies, and deliver low-level intelligence. They weren't sent to the front lines, so while there was some danger, it wasn't too great.
Sending these senior students to the second line of the battlefield freed up some fighting power and gave the ninja reserves some early training.
However, if the front lines ever collapsed, they would still end up as cannon fodder.
Puppeteers are a specialty of Sunagakure, with a complete tradition, impressive combat strength, high potential, and decent status. The only drawback is…
Poverty.
Especially in Sunagakure, which is already poor.
The production and maintenance of puppets is a huge expense.
"This mission… something feels off."
Hardy took out the mission scroll, frowning.
Repairing puppets is a normal task, usually ranked D, occasionally C, but even then it only pays the minimum C-rank reward—10,000 ryo.
This time, the village was uncharacteristically generous, assigning him a mission with a reward of 60,000 ryo. What's more, he didn't have to split it with a team; he could do it solo.
And as long as the repair budget didn't exceed 10,000 ryo, the Puppet Corps would reimburse the costs.
How could such a lucrative mission fall to an ordinary genin puppeteer with no connections like him?
"This generosity is suspicious…"
As he pondered the reason, Hardy turned his gaze to a nearly human-sized puppet standing by the wall. A dialog box appeared in his field of vision.
[Puppet Name]: Formentor
[Overall Parameters]:
Height: 1.5 meters
Weight: 40.22 kilograms
Material: Reinforced wood combined with lightweight metal
Power Source: None
Control Method: Chakra threads
[Puppet Rating]: C
[Overall Evaluation]: Modified from a basic D-rank instructional transport puppet, low cost, possesses standard genin-level combat ability, but requires a certain level of control skill from the puppeteer.
Formentor was Hardy's only puppet, assembled after he dismantled the instructional puppet he bought from the ninja academy and upgraded it with additional materials.
With a mental tap, additional windows appeared, displaying Formentor's three-view diagram, exploded assembly diagram, and detailed parameters, including its flaws.
With this information, it was easy to draft an improvement plan. That's how Formentor evolved from a basic D-rank instructional puppet to a C-rank puppet with qualified genin combat strength.
The interface was a power Hardy brought with him when he transmigrated. So far, its only function was to provide detailed data on items he created himself.
At the very bottom of the interface, there was a progress bar that had reached about eighty percent.
Hardy didn't yet know what would happen when the bar was full, but he had some guesses about how to increase it.
Normally, the progress bar would grow with time, but extremely slowly—maybe not even 0.1% in a month.
But sometimes, there would be significant jumps.
So far, it had happened twice.
The first time was when Hardy received his acceptance letter from the Ninja Academy; the second was upon graduating and becoming a Genin.
At the time, Hardy speculated that this might be related to his ninja rank or personal status.
Turning his head, Hardy looked at another puppet beside him.
This was the target of his current mission.
It was a short, humanoid puppet. Its left arm consisted of segments of wood connected into a long mechanical claw, while the palm of its right arm had a hole capable of firing explosive kunai, and could also be switched to a spiral drill.
Although a panel popped up this time, aside from its name, there was virtually no data.
Because Hardy hadn't made this puppet himself.
Hardy picked up a tape measure and screwdriver, disassembled the puppet, studied it carefully for a while, and then reassembled it.
This way, it could be considered a product he had manually crafted himself.