"No wonder it's the ultimate dojutsu capable of controlling planetary orbits in its final form. Even at its first awakening, it can use gravity to pull a meteorite from outer space."
"Even if the technique isn't complete yet, I've got a trump card for strategic deterrence."
After flying some distance, Izayoi descended from the sky, flickering through the trees with the Body Flicker Technique while musing to himself.
The power of the Tenseigan surpassed his expectations.
Unlike the Rinnegan, with its exclusive dojutsu and rule-based mastery over life and death, the Tenseigan's strength lay primarily in destruction.
With gravity and repulsion already this potent, Izayoi couldn't wait to unlock the Tenseigan's Chakra Mode.
Since his Shadow Clone had no good excuse to leave yet, Izayoi wasn't in a rush to regroup. Instead, he stopped within a certain range and pulled out the scrolls his "good friends" had gifted him.
Earlier, he'd only given them a quick glance to confirm their authenticity before tucking them away.
Now, Izayoi read them carefully.
He skipped the scroll on the Puppet Technique—useless to someone like him who could control puppets wirelessly.
What Izayoi studied was the method for creating human puppets.
"So that's how he preserved Kekkei Genkai and ninjutsu. This guy's a genius."
After a while, Izayoi couldn't help but marvel. "No wonder his tag is Puppet Master (Purple). This Chakra Core surpasses anything before it. Even the Otsutsuki clan's puppet techniques on the moon pale in comparison."
With that, Izayoi flipped to another scroll, this one detailing the creation of a human puppet's Chakra Core.
The Chakra Core was the heart of any puppet.
Controlling a puppet with Chakra Threads alone was like playing with a marionette.
Advanced puppets were equipped with intricate mechanisms and hidden weapons, some even capable of wielding the five elemental natures. These functions couldn't be activated by Chakra Threads alone.
A Chakra Core had to be installed in the puppet, allowing Chakra to be channeled through the threads to freely activate its abilities.
A puppet's strength depended entirely on what its creator had built into it.
Sasori had forged his own path.
Instead of crafting puppets from materials, he infused materials into human bodies, turning corpses into puppets.
Then he modified the puppet's heart—the Chakra Core—enabling it to use the Kekkei Genkai and ninjutsu of its former life.
This was practically a new branch of puppetry.
As its pioneer, Sasori truly lived up to the system's evaluation: Puppet Master (Purple).
In Izayoi's eyes, Sasori's human puppets were better suited to him than the Otsutsuki clan's puppets on the moon.
"Wait…"
A sudden spark of inspiration hit, and Izayoi's face lit up with excitement. "Maybe I can upgrade human puppets even further."
Sasori's human puppets shared a striking similarity with Nagato's Six Paths of Pain.
In the original story's Fourth Great Ninja War, Obito Uchiha had turned Jinchuriki into Six Paths clones, capable of using Tailed Beast Chakra and their original abilities.
This meant that, like human puppets, Six Paths clones could retain their former powers.
The difference was that human puppets required Chakra Threads for control, while the Six Paths of Pain couldn't stray too far from the Outer Path or they'd lose their connection.
But the Tenseigan could overcome both flaws.
With the Tenseigan's wireless puppet control, as long as the puppet remained within far-sight range and its Chakra Core had Chakra, it could be manipulated freely.
Even in the spatial corridor linking Earth and the moon, puppets could still receive signals.
Puppets like that, capable of using Kekkei Genkai and ninjutsu, with the ability to remotely replenish Chakra—wouldn't they be like an immortal Edo Tensei army without the immortality, or a legion of Pain-level forces?
The more Izayoi thought about it, the more feasible it seemed.
For now, he hadn't unlocked Yin-Yang Release, so he couldn't fuse the three.
But he could start by crafting a ton of puppets. Once he unlocked Yin-Yang Release, he could simply insert Yin-Yang Release Black Rods to upgrade them.
That night, Izayoi smoothly rejoined his team.
Aside from Hinata, neither Team 8 nor the caravan suspected that the massive meteorite had been summoned by Izayoi.
Having deliberately taken a detour to avoid the art duo, Team 8 and the caravan spent three extra days reaching their destination.
Along the way, they steered clear of a village where they detected a Chakra signature stronger than Kurenai Yuhi's.
Mr. Nishimura's home was a remote mountain village.
Such villages were common in the Land of Rivers.
But a village that had discovered a mineral source and knew how to mine and sell it? That was rare in the Land of Rivers.
It made Mr. Nishimura's work all the more valuable.
The village's conditions were poor, and since they arrived at noon, Kurenai declined Mr. Nishimura's hospitality. She pulled out the mission scroll, had him sign it, and asked for a good review before leading Team 8 back home.
Unlike their outbound journey on foot, Team 8 used the Body Flicker Technique for the return, covering several meters—or even dozens—with each leap.
At this pace, they'd be back in Konoha in two days at most.
That was the gap between ninja and ordinary people.
In this tech-abstract world, ninja were the ultimate multi-tools, the most reliable workhorses.
"This was your first C-rank mission. What're your thoughts?"
When they paused the Body Flicker to walk, Kurenai looked at Izayoi, Hinata, and Shino.
"Exhausting," Izayoi said honestly. "It was exciting at first, but after that, it was just physical and mental torture."
Hinata and Shino nodded in agreement.
"Escort missions are like that—boring, time-consuming, and the pay's pitiful," Kurenai said with a smile. "But this mission was unusual. The Land of Rivers is full of dense forests and treacherous terrain. Plus, we nearly ran into S-rank rogue ninja and a mysterious powerhouse. Few C-rank missions are as unlucky as ours."
"Good thing we had Hinata's Byakugan, or we'd have been in serious trouble."
At that, Kurenai reached out and ruffled Hinata's hair.
Hinata said softly, "It's what I'm supposed to do."
"Such a good girl. Izayoi's lucky to have you," Kurenai teased, trying to nudge them closer.
Unbeknownst to her, both Hinata and Izayoi had their own plans.
They just smiled, ignoring her matchmaking.
Two days later, in the afternoon, Team 8 finally returned to Konoha.
The C-rank mission had taken exactly half a month.
For their efforts, each of them earned a whopping… twenty-three thousand ryo.
For a C-rank mission, that was indeed a hefty sum.
The village took a cut, the jonin instructor took a share, and the rest was split three ways. To still get twenty-three thousand ryo each meant the mission's total reward was likely over a hundred thousand.
C-rank missions typically paid between thirty and a hundred thousand ryo.
A reward in the six figures justified the time spent.
But if given a choice, Team 8 would've passed on this mission.
Noticing their exhaustion, Kurenai smiled. "I'm giving you three days off. Go home and rest."
"Yes, ma'am."
Team 8 disbanded on the spot.
"Izayoi-kun, see you tomorrow."
Even Hinata, mentally drained, didn't follow Izayoi home—a rare occurrence.
After bathing only a few times in the wild, all she wanted was to soak in a tub, sleep, and face Izayoi at her best.
Physical healing couldn't help, so Izayoi resorted to a special method.
He leaned down, kissed Hinata's forehead, and waved with a grin. "Get some good sleep. See you tomorrow."
With that, he vanished in a Body Flicker.
Hinata froze for a few seconds, then glanced around. Catching a woman's playful smile, her neck and cheeks flushed red from bottom to top, steam practically rising from her head as she bolted away.
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