"Puppet Technique (Kugutsu)?"
Ebizō stared at the metal-sheened mechanical giant beyond a hundred meters, uncertainty flickering across his face.
"Sister… you're calling that thing Puppet Technique (Kugutsu)?"
Watching that titan pound Shukaku until it screamed, Ebizō suddenly felt like the world had turned unreal.
That was a tailed beast. The thing Sunagakure feared like a nightmare made flesh.
And now it was getting beaten like a dog.
It didn't feel real.
And now…
The woman beside him, the so-called number one puppet master of Sunagakure…
Was saying the one who made all this happen… was using Puppet Technique (Kugutsu)?
Don't make him laugh.
Puppet Technique (Kugutsu) had been created by the Second Kazekage, then became Sunagakure's exclusive school.
So why weren't there many puppet masters in other villages?
Because they looked down on it.
If you had real ninjutsu you could learn, who in their right mind would train Puppet Technique (Kugutsu)?
You could say Puppet Technique (Kugutsu) existed because Sunagakure was resource-poor, a compromise turned into a tradition.
Its offensive methods were straightforward and limited.
So to make puppets more practical in real combat, Sunagakure developed poison tactics specifically for puppets.
And for a while, during the Second Shinobi World War and even the Third, puppet masters finally had their moment.
But once Konoha's Tsunade-hime cracked Sunagakure's poisons…
Puppet masters bloomed like a night flower, then vanished into history.
Because everyone already knew it.
That was the ceiling.
At best, puppet masters could do reconnaissance, baiting, assassination… small, dirty tricks.
Even Chiyo, who specialized in Puppet Technique (Kugutsu), had only barely squeezed into the Kage-level bracket.
And she was in the weakest tier.
And with no real room left to climb…
That was why Ebizō was shaken.
If someone had told him yesterday that Puppet Technique (Kugutsu) could stomp a tailed beast, he would've called them insane.
But now Chiyo was insisting—
That mechanical giant beating the One-Tail into pulp was a puppet.
This…
This was worldview-breaking.
"D-don't joke around, Sister," Ebizō said, his face twitching.
Chiyo didn't even look at him.
Her cloudy eyes suddenly sharpened, the light inside them turning razor-bright.
She stared at the mechanical giant in the distance, her face full of confusion.
But the tremble in her hands betrayed how far from calm she really was.
"I'm not wrong. Teizawa's giant… that's absolutely Puppet Technique (Kugutsu)."
"But how is he controlling it…? With a normal person's chakra reserves, you can't possibly operate a mechanical body that huge…"
Everyone's chakra pool had a limit.
Just like her.
Her upper bound was Shiro Higi: Chikamatsu Jikkū no Shū (White Secret Technique: Chikamatsu's Ten Puppets), meaning she could control ten puppets at once.
She'd once used that one technique to take an entire city by force.
But the sand-iron mechanical titan in front of them—
At that volume, it was easily a hundred times what she controlled.
This wasn't a matter of "hard" or "easy."
It shouldn't have been possible at all.
"Sand iron…"
As she murmured it, Chiyo's eyes suddenly widened, as if something clicked into place.
"Sand iron… Magnet Release (Jiton)… I get it."
"That brat… he really is a genius."
Ebizō's curiosity was fully hooked now, and he leaned in. "What do you mean?"
Chiyo exhaled, sounding almost awed. "He isn't controlling it with traditional chakra threads. He's using Magnet Release (Jiton), using magnetic force as the linkage, and controlling it through his own body."
Ebizō chewed on that, then clicked his tongue in admiration.
"To think Sunagakure could produce someone like this…"
Monk Hōichi, standing nearby, was still half-lost.
But his eyes were locked on the black mechanical giant.
Just a moment ago, he'd been talking so confidently…
Saying only he and Magnet Release (Jiton) could deal with a tailed beast.
Now…
He really did feel like he didn't know his place.
But then another thought followed.
He hadn't actually been wrong.
Because Lady Chiyo had just said it herself.
What Teizawa was using… was Magnet Release (Jiton).
...
"H-hey, don't joke with me. A puppet can be that huge?!"
"Hahahaha! This is it. This is it! This is the ultimate goal of a puppet master!"
"Kazekage-sama has Magnet Release (Jiton), and he's the strongest puppet master too!"
"I knew it. Puppet masters aren't just support."
"Hahaha… so it's not that puppet masters are weak. We just weren't strong enough."
"…"
Almost every Sand shinobi felt it hit home.
And a whole lot of puppet masters were watching with surging blood and tears in their eyes.
Because in Sunagakure, talented shinobi prioritized Wind Release training.
But at least half of the village's shinobi—
More or less—had their own puppet creations.
Maybe that was just "company culture."
In a way, Puppet Technique (Kugutsu), like Magnet Release (Jiton), was one of Sunagakure's signature products.
So in that sense, this really was "rooted in the village," pure and proper.
In that moment, Teizawa's image as someone selfless, powerful, and proudly Sunagakure-born was burned into every Sand shinobi's heart.
You could say his goal had already been achieved.
...
While all of Sunagakure fell into a frenzy because of him…
Teizawa was privately enjoying the hell out of being inside a mecha.
Because, honestly, a mecha is a man's romance.
When he'd first transmigrated, he'd been depressed for a while that he hadn't landed in Konoha, and hadn't gotten the "red-eye disease."
Because who doesn't want to pilot a Gundam?
Later he'd accepted reality.
And started thinking about other ways to pilot one.
Then, under Sunagakure's constant influence, his attention shifted to Puppet Technique (Kugutsu).
Puppets were basically… robots, weren't they?
If he modified them, couldn't he live the mecha dream?
But Puppet Technique (Kugutsu) had too many limitations.
The bigger the puppet, the harder it was to control.
Sometimes it even became sluggish and clumsy.
For a while, Teizawa had nearly given up.
And then he awakened Magnet Release (Jiton).
And that led to what he had now…
A sand-iron Gundam.
The only difference was…
Sand iron was always black.
So the whole thing looked a little off, a little mismatched.
Sometimes Teizawa even joked with himself that this technique should be called…
The Black Warrior.
"Ayaayaayaaya…"
"You damn brat! Just you wait!"
Shukaku, bent on destroying Sunagakure, finally had its "hero dream" crushed by three punches.
After spitting out a threat, it scurried back into Gaara's body, shrinking away and refusing to come back out.
"Tch. What, you want to yell 'I'll be back' too?"
Teizawa snorted, not bothering to kick it while it was down.
Shukaku was going to be Sunagakure's guard dog in the future, after all.
He couldn't just beat it to death.
Besides, tailed beasts didn't stay dead anyway.
Even if you killed one, it would eventually respawn somewhere in the shinobi world.
A complete bug.
Either way, killing a tailed beast wasn't worth it.
As Gaara, now without Shukaku's massive body, fell from the air—
Teizawa willed it.
A mass of sand iron rose up and caught him, preventing Gaara from being splattered on impact.
Only after that did Teizawa turn his sand-iron mecha, the "Black Warrior."
Facing those feverish, worshipful eyes across Sunagakure—
Teizawa slowly withdrew his body from the sand iron's casing.
And stood atop the mecha's head.
[1 Of 3 New Fanfics For The Poll Event!!]
[Use Your Power Stones On Your Favorite For It To Be Picked UP!!]
[Power Stones+Reviews Are Counted!!]
[Comments On Chapters Are Also Counted!!]
[Thanks For Your Support!!]