This place should be a puppet material production base of Sunagakure.
An hour is more than enough.
The real challenge should be the subsequent puppet-making process.
The two-hour time limit for puppet crafting is quite tight. Although many of the materials here are of good quality, most require lengthy processing before they can be used.
In other words, I have to look for materials that are easy to process, or better yet, can be used directly, while also ensuring quality.
The best choice is definitely animals that possess chakra, because these animals have chakra flowing within them, ensuring the best chakra conductivity.
Just like the powerful puppets of Sunagakure, all of which are human puppets made from formidable ninja when they were alive.
But processing them is very troublesome—dissection, soaking in chemicals, curing—all these steps take time, and you also need to have sufficient understanding of the anatomy of that species, so it's not the best option for Hardy.
"But… that doesn't mean I won't use them."
With a flick of his wrist, he threw a kunai, precisely hitting the weak spot of a venomous snake hiding in the bushes.
He only needed to take the usable parts from these creatures.
Hardy walked over, broke off a branch, and poked it into the snake's mouth.
Sure enough, it wasn't completely dead. Although it was brain dead, its nerves were still active.
After making sure the snake wouldn't attack him again, Hardy swiftly pulled out its fangs and cut out the venom sac before turning to leave.
Other parts weren't without value, but he could only carry so much weight, so he had to select the most valuable components.
"If the material quality can't exceed fifteen kilograms, then I can only make micro or small puppets. So the puppet's frame can't be made from heavy metals, and under these circumstances, there's no time to collect and smelt metal. It's best to use the bones of small animals that possess chakra, as their chakra conductivity is better. Otherwise, I'll have to use substitutes like bamboo."
Hardy manipulated the Formentor puppet, popping out the saw blade from its wrist and quickly cutting down a tree.
At the same time, Hardy collected the tree's seeds and planted a few around the area.
People from Sunagakure are always conscious of cutting and replanting trees.
This tree is called White Ironwood. Its wood is hard and solid, almost like cast iron, yet relatively light and quite tough. It's often used to make weapon handles and other parts, and can also be used to make puppets. Hardy decided this would be his main material for puppet-making later.
Opening the storage compartment on Formentor's back, Hardy placed the collected wood inside.
Formentor was originally modified from a transport-type puppet used for teaching, so it naturally had storage and carrying capabilities. Normally, it was loaded with lifesaving supplies like gauze, bandages, and anti-inflammatory medicine.
There was also a secondary compartment linked to the hand's launching mechanism, used to store poison needles and kunai.
"Next, I need to find something suitable for the puppet's frame."
Hardy set off, heading toward a low-lying area.
If there's water, it should be there.
Slightly larger animals can't survive without a stable and sufficient water source.
And any animal that can dominate a water source must be quite powerful, and most likely possesses chakra.
Other Sunagakure puppet masters had the same idea. When Hardy reached the riverbank, he already saw traces left by other puppet masters.
Fortunately, the Emerald of the Wind oasis is vast, and its status in Sunagakure is almost comparable to the Forest of Death in Konoha. If you take a slightly different route, it's more than enough for seventy-nine puppet masters to gather materials without the need for competition or conflict.
After all, this is most likely an important puppet material production base for Sunagakure.
"There are no signs of large animals living nearby—mostly otter rabbits, sand foxes, and other small animals. This must be the territory of some powerful creature."
Following the river upstream, Hardy soon found some clues.
Droppings.
And the base of the nearby trees smelled of urine.
This was clearly a territorial marker left by some animal.
This also gave Hardy a lead to track.
Tracking animals is much easier than tracking ninja, because every qualified ninja is conscious of counter-surveillance, deliberately erasing their tracks or even leaving misleading clues for trackers. Animals don't do that.
"So… it's that cat, huh?"
Hardy stood on a tree trunk, looking at a large feline crouched on a rock in the distance.
It was a lynx, with black tufts of fur standing upright on its ears like a pair of horns. Its fur was tawny with patches of white, and it was larger than an average lynx, nearly one and a half meters long.
"This one will do."
Hardy lowered his gaze, reached for his waist, took out a kunai, shuriken, and steel wire, and quickly set a few simple traps. Then he spread his ten fingers, shooting out chakra threads, precisely connecting them to Formentor's limbs and torso. Under Hardy's control, Formentor began to stealthily approach the lynx.
As it turned out, maneuvering a puppet to sneak up was much harder than sneaking up himself.
When Formentor was still more than twenty meters away, the lynx became alert, stood up, crouched low, and let out a deep, feline growl unique to cats.
This wasn't the contented purr of a kitten being petted, but a warning.
"Secret Sand Technique: Thousand Poison Needles."
Formentor's puppet face opened up, revealing a launch panel covered in pitch-black holes, firing row after row of poison needles at the lynx. At the same time, the saw blade popped out of its left arm, and it strode toward the lynx.
"Raaawrr—!"
The lynx howled, darted aside to dodge the poison needles, and tried to circle around from the side to avoid the strange creature's claws and attack its neck and other weak spots.
Hardy smirked.
The lynx's cry was quite distinctive, reminding him of a certain blue cat.
The thought had just…
In a flash, the lynx's body had already pounced onto Formentor's frame.
Although Formentor was fairly capable in direct combat, speed was his weakness.
Fortunately, he was a puppet—his neck wasn't a vulnerable spot, and Hardy had also designed control-type tools specifically for dealing with agile enemies like this.
"Secret Sand Technique: Multi-Limb Manipulation!"
Formentor Puppet's arms instantly detached, launching several thick hemp ropes that wound tightly around the lynx.
"Awooo! Awooo! Awooo!"
Bound and terrified, the lynx let out panicked howls, its body struggling incessantly.
Footsteps sounded. Hardy emerged from the undergrowth, pulling several senbon needles from his ninja tool pouch. These needles had been treated with the juice of a poisonous desert cactus. With a flick of his wrist, he shot them at the lynx.
It was a neurotoxin, capable of inducing paralysis.
As the toxin took effect, the lynx's cries gradually weakened and finally ceased altogether, its struggles ending.