Shindai paced back and forth, closely inspecting his puppet "Kannazuki" within his home.
Like a human, "Kannazuki" had a metal skeleton inside, which meant its movements could be extremely refined and delicate.
Earlier, Shindai had installed a missile inside Kannazuki's left arm, while the right arm housed a poisoned ninja blade. Retractable poison blades were also embedded in the joints, along with various small mechanisms capable of releasing jutsu through ninja scrolls.
Kannazuki's chest cavity was filled with numerous poisoned kunai.
[Iron Sand Body] had been packed into Kannazuki's form as well.
Infused with Shindai's chakra, these iron sands enabled him to manipulate Kannazuki as effortlessly as moving his own limbs.
What made Shindai most proud was that he had developed a material nearly indistinguishable from human skin, allowing Kannazuki's appearance to closely resemble that of a real person.
However, upon close inspection, differences remained—human skin had pores, artificial materials did not.
Additionally, by combining the limited knowledge he had gained in Sunagakure with his own accumulated understanding, Shindai had created and successfully implanted driving devices, control systems, and power units inside Kannazuki.
In other words, once fully charged, Kannazuki could move autonomously.
However, this system still had many flaws—it could only follow simple commands and couldn't yet act independently without Shindai's control.
There were also issues like ten hours of charging for just three minutes of operation, among various other problems.
This was currently the limit of what Shindai could achieve; after all, the research environment here was simply too harsh for proper study and improvement.
But Shindai aimed far beyond this.
He wanted to develop Ninja-Ware that wouldn't exist until the distant future.
These would store the chakra required to perform ninjutsu, allowing techniques sealed within miniaturized scrolls to be released—much more convenient than conventional ninja scrolls.
If Shindai succeeded in creating them, they would greatly enhance Kannazuki's capabilities.
The problem troubling Shindai, however, was his lack of relevant knowledge and resources. Even if resources existed, Sunagakure simply couldn't support his research.
Because Sunagakure was just too poor.
Moreover, only Sasori knew how to create human puppets—though more accurately, it was about crafting chakra cores. This interested Shindai greatly.
Sasori could transform deceased bodies into human puppets imbued with chakra cores.
He was the only puppet master capable of creating human puppets—and most importantly, could do so while preserving their former chakra. Thus, all the deceased's original ninjutsu and Kekkei Genkai could be completely retained. The chakra core was key—this was the greatest advantage of human puppets.
However, in Shindai's opinion, Sasori's Human Puppets had one unique feature—the Chakra Core. By using the Chakra Core and the original body, one could replicate the ninja techniques and Kekkei Genkai the person had possessed in life. But other than that, they were simply no match for his own creation, Kannazuki.
This was because Sasori focused on preserving the strength the individual had possessed while alive, whereas Shindai emphasized the puppet itself.
Shindai didn't dare approach Sasori to discuss things; after all, Sasori's creation of Human Puppets was a secret. If he charged in blindly like an idiot, he'd surely be killed by Sasori.
Besides... the process of making those puppets must have been extremely bloody and cruel. Shindai felt uneasy just thinking about it.
"Sigh... I really want to meet Orochimaru. Although he's also pretty ruthless, he managed to create Machine Naruto. Such a scientist—if I could exchange ideas with him, it would definitely offer me some valuable insights."
Shindai sighed. He had never felt lonely before, but now he strangely felt a sense of solitude. He wished he had someone with similar interests to chat with.
Feeling slightly exhausted, Shindai took a few bites of bread, drank some water, then lay down on his bed and fell asleep.
...
Meanwhile, inside the Kazekage building of Sunagakure, an important meeting was taking place.
The Third Kazekage, Chiyo, Ebizō, and other high-ranking officials from Sunagakure were all present.
Ebizō spoke solemnly, "According to reports from my spies across the Great Nations, the entire Ninja World is currently filled with hidden tensions. Many years have passed since the last war, and every nation has recovered its strength—it seems they're preparing for another large-scale conflict."
The Third Kazekage frowned. "Planning to escalate the conflict? So you're saying these local skirmishes could soon turn into full-scale war?"
Ebizō nodded. "Exactly. Right now, we're only missing a single spark to ignite an all-out war."
Chiyo let out a sigh. "It hasn't even been a few years since the Second Great Ninja War ended, and war is coming again. The Land of Wind doesn't compare to other great nations. Our environment is harsh, our resources scarce—we haven't fully recovered yet. How can we fight this war?"
The Third Kazekage's expression turned very grim.
Although the Land of Wind was considered one of the Five Great Nations, it was undoubtedly the weakest among them—lagging behind in population, military strength, economy, and resources.
Moreover, immediately after the end of the Second Great Ninja War, their Daimyo proposed troop reductions.
The Third Kazekage naturally opposed the Daimyo's proposal with all his strength. He technically succeeded—but in reality, he utterly failed.
Because the Daimyo only allocated the bare minimum budget for military expenses, leaving the Third Kazekage responsible for securing the rest himself.
He knew well that ninja were the foundation of their strength. Without sufficient funding, ninja couldn't be properly supported, and without strong ninja, Sunagakure couldn't thrive.
So, to raise military funds, the Third Kazekage spent countless sleepless nights—no matter how dirty or exhausting the task, he would do absolutely anything to raise the money.
As he thought about it, Third Kazekage suddenly slammed the table in fury and cursed, "That narrow-minded fool really deserves to die!"
The high-ranking officials of Sunagakure were startled. They looked at Third Kazekage with confusion, unsure why he had suddenly flown into a rage.
Chiyo asked cautiously, "Third Kazekage?"
His teeth clenched tightly, Third Kazekage replied, "If the Daimyo hadn't cut our military funding to the bone, we'd already have a batch of battle-ready ninja! This Third Great Ninja War is our big chance!
Since the four major nations won't be targeting us, getting involved in this war means everyone will want to cooperate with us. Besides payment, we could make huge gains. Such a golden opportunity just slipped through our fingers!"
Ebizō and Chiyo immediately understood why Third Kazekage was so angry.
The Land of Wind was simply too barren—invading it would bring no profit to others, so the four great nations wouldn't be foolish enough to attack us.
Yet those four nations feared that the Land of Wind might strike them first, making them eager to form alliances with us to prevent attacks from Sunagakure's ninja.
After all, the barefoot fear nothing. Even grabbing a pair of worn-out shoes would count as a huge windfall.
But now, Sunagakure hasn't fully regained its strength yet, and with such limited funds, our current ninja forces aren't strong enough to fight directly in this war.
All because of money—just money—a golden opportunity slipped right through our fingers.
That's why Third Kazekage was so angry.
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