In a house on the outskirts of Sunagakure,
a ten-year-old black-haired boy sat on a chair, tinkering with an arm.
Of course, this arm wasn't human—it was a prosthetic limb.
Behind him stood a female puppet with an incredible figure, nearly indistinguishable from a real woman.
"Finally got the missile system figured out. Man, that took some work. If I hadn't already known that Pain's Asura Path could fire missiles, I would've assumed they were just explosive tags. Installing one inside the arm…OK, absolutely no trace visible at all. Perfect~"
The boy examined the incredibly realistic arm with great satisfaction, a hint of pride on his face.
He sighed. "But one missile won't be enough. Future Sasuke seems to have a ninja tool summoning technique—just touch the seal on the arm and instantly summon ninja tools. I'll have to see if I can learn that someday and add it to my masterpiece. That way, I won't have any limitations."
The boy's name was Shindai—he was a genin of Sunagakure.
But Shindai's status as a genin was somewhat questionable. He had never attended Sunagakure's Ninja Academy or taken any exams; his uncle had simply given him the title directly. Truthfully, Shindai had no desire to become a ninja.
Oh right, Shindai's uncle was the Third Kazekage.
Shindai inherited the Magnet Release kekkei genkai from the clan of the Third Kazekage.
However, Shindai didn't have even a single memory of his parents.
This was because when he was barely two years old, both his parents had died during a mission.
After that, he had been raised by the Third Kazekage.
Well, calling it 'raising' would be generous—more like being left to fend for himself.
The Third Kazekage merely sent someone every day to deliver meals to Shindai—nothing more than keeping him from starving to death.
Have you ever seen a two-year-old trying to chew through rock-hard flatbread?
Shindai had experienced exactly that.
Fortunately in this world, even two-year-olds already had all their teeth fully grown. Otherwise, Shindai really felt he wouldn't have survived until now.
Even today, Shindai still clearly remembered nearly suffocating back then, only managing to swallow after quickly drinking some water.
Still, Shindai always felt that surviving until now was practically a miracle.
Actually, it wasn't that the Third Kazekage intentionally wanted to torment Shindai—it was simply because he was genuinely too busy to take proper care of him.
When Shindai turned three, the Third Kazekage visited him and gave him three scrolls.
One contained chakra cultivation methods and basic ninjutsu like the Three Body Techniques, another contained Magnet Release techniques, and the third was about Puppet Techniques.
Without any teacher or guidance, he was simply told to train on his own, regardless of whether he understood them or not.
Later on, Shindai rarely got to meet the Third Kazekage even once a year.
Shindai lived like a recluse, never leaving his house even for meals. Even when someone came to deliver food, he would ask them to leave it at his doorstep and wait until they left before retrieving it.
He wasn't lazy—it's just that he was constantly terrified of dying without warning or cause.
After all, this world was far too dangerous; everyone here was pure cannon fodder.
Shindai possessed incredible talent. Without any teachers or guidance, he had mastered extracting chakra on his own and learned the Magnet Release and Puppet Techniques from scrolls given to him by the Third Kazekage.
Moreover, coming from another world, he had his own unique understanding of puppet techniques.
Not to brag, but among ninja, Shindai considered himself quite the genius.
But...
What good was his talent, even with the Magnet Release kekkei genkai? None whatsoever.
He was still just an advanced piece of cannon fodder.
This world runs on connections and background stories.
Main characters are powerful—they're supposed to survive as protagonists, right?
Take Neji, one of the Twelve Guardian Ninja—he died so pointlessly.
Later battles? Normal fights were a thing of the past. Every time there was a scuffle, it ended up with craters from falling meteors, flattened mountains, or even splitting the moon in half. How could anyone possibly keep playing along?
No way in hell.
So let the protagonists deal with all the fighting. After all, in the end, those heroes will definitely save the world somehow. As for Shindai, he'd rather develop quietly, stay alive, and enjoy his peaceful little life.
When Shindai turned six years old, the Third Kazekage visited him once and saw the puppets he had created. The Kazekage praised Shindai's craftsmanship highly, comparing his creations to those made by Sasori—the genius puppet artisan famed in Sunagakure.
The Third Kazekage believed that Shindai might possess extraordinary talent and wanted to send him directly to the battlefield for combat training.
At this suggestion, Shindai panicked immediately.
He was only six! Was sending a six-year-old to war really something a sane person would do?!
Plus, at that moment, the early stages of the Third Great Ninja War were already beginning, with localized conflicts arising.
War? That was a slaughterhouse for lives.
Shindai firmly believed: if he dared go to the battlefield, he'd probably die just as quickly. So he absolutely refused to consider it.
Originally, he had wanted to proudly show off his Magnet Release ninjutsu technique to the Third Kazekage but gave up on that idea right away.
If the Third Kazekage found out, he wouldn't have a choice but to go.
Shindai held no deep attachment toward Sunagakure. His parents had died early, leaving him neglected and raised himself. Since childhood, he had lived alone at the village's outermost edge as a shut-in. The number of people he'd ever met could be counted on one hand, and among them, he only had a single true friend.
Therefore, Shindai lacked any desire to sacrifice himself for Sunagakure. He simply wanted to steadily grow stronger, ensure self-protection in the future, marry one... or maybe two kind and beautiful wives, and live a peaceful, happy life.
So right away Shindai threw a fit, saying he was afraid of blood and couldn't stand the sight of it. He also insisted he knew nothing about combat—forget Magnet Release Ninjutsu, he couldn't even handle the basics of regular Ninjutsu. The only thing he was good at was making puppets, so he even went into hiding.
Of course hiding was completely useless. Shindai was quickly found by the Third Kazekage and received a brutal thrashing soon after.
The Third Kazekage tested Shindai, but with Shindai intentionally sabotaging himself, every Ninjutsu attempt failed. He even performed poorly at controlling puppets.
This ultimately disappointed the Third Kazekage, who now saw Shindai as merely somewhat talented in puppet-making, with no promise in any other area.
As a result, the Third Kazekage abandoned the idea of sending Shindai to the battlefield. Instead, he ordered him to craft puppets for Sunagakure's puppet ninja and allowed him to stay in Sunagakure to carry on his bloodline.
With both the Third Kazekage and Shindai's clan having few members, the Third hoped Shindai would eventually have children, producing more ninja with the Magnet Release kekkei genkai. This indirect approach would also strengthen Sunagakure's power.
However, Shindai was so engrossed in researching and building his own puppets that he rarely had time—or the inclination—to make them for others.
Therefore, up to this point, Shindai had crafted only two puppets for other ninja.
That said, anything that came from Shindai's hands was guaranteed to be top quality. Though these two puppets were thrown together in just one day, they still far surpassed the creations of Sunagakure's professional puppet masters.
Shindai picked up an arm lying on the table and carefully attached it to the female puppet behind him.
Once he'd finished, he stepped back to inspect his work and grinned with satisfaction: "Perfect~"
This female puppet had an elegantly curved silhouette that turned heads. Her face was based on Shindai's own features, subtly softened to give her a feminine charm.
Not that he wanted to boast, but Shindai had grown into a classic heartthrob. So even a feminine version of him was breathtakingly beautiful.
The name of this female puppet was quite similar to Shindai's own—he called her Kannazuki.
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