"Mhm? You two got something you want to say?"
Teizawa's gaze slid over Temari's already well-developed figure, and he raised a brow with a grin.
"Y-You…"
Temari could clearly feel his eyes lingering on her chest.
It made her embarrassed and annoyed.
And yet, almost instinctively, she straightened up and pushed her chest out.
The moment she realized what she'd done, Temari went blank.
Wait. Temari, what are you doing?!
Beside her, Kankurō saw his sister blushing and going silent. He only felt it was weird, didn't dare think too hard about it, and hurriedly said:
"Ka… Kazekage-sama, how do you plan to deal with Gaara?"
The question came out stuttering.
He couldn't help it. The pressure this man gave off was suffocating.
And Kankurō was Gaara's blood brother.
If this was "cleaning out opposition," then he'd be the kind who had to be executed.
"Oh?"
Teizawa stood up and stretched lazily. "What do you think we should do?"
"I… I don't know!"
Kankurō slumped, defeated.
If he put himself in Teizawa's position…
He would've already put Gaara down, clean and final.
"Are you really going to kill him?"
Temari suddenly spoke.
Her beautiful eyes were full of unwillingness as she stared at Teizawa. "He's changed. He's not like he was when he was little."
Watching Temari with her face set hard, looking like she'd rather die than yield, Teizawa narrowed his eyes slightly.
For no particular reason, he suddenly wanted to conduct humanity's sacred breeding project.
He forced the agitation down.
He didn't respond to Temari at all.
Instead, he crooked two fingers at Kankurō.
Come here.
Kankurō glanced at his sister, then at Teizawa's smiling face.
In the end, he could only grit his teeth and walk over.
Teizawa leaned by the window and pointed outside. "Look."
Kankurō followed where he pointed and stared through the glass.
His pupils instantly constricted.
On the ruined, trashed plaza below…
That black mecha giant, tens of meters tall, was still standing there.
Under the moonlight, the black armor gleamed…
And there were still plenty of Suna shinobi gathered in a dense mass at its feet.
Their eyes burned with fanatic fervor…
After beating the One-Tail down, Teizawa hadn't recalled the machine immediately.
He'd left it there.
Let it keep concentrating the Suna shinobi's faith.
"Cool, right?" Teizawa asked, watching Kankurō's gaze turn entranced.
"Gulp."
Kankurō swallowed and answered without thinking. "Cool!"
"Do you want to try piloting it yourself?"
"I do!"
The second the words left his mouth, Kankurō gave a bitter laugh.
"Kazekage-sama, you think too highly of me. I can barely handle a single puppet as it is."
Teizawa patted Kankurō on the shoulder.
"Do you know how I piloted it?"
"How?"
Then Kankurō added quickly, slipping into his professional mode.
"Did you hide the chakra threads inside? I observed it up close earlier. I didn't see any signs of chakra threads on the exterior…"
The moment it hit his specialty, Kankurō wasn't as scared of Teizawa anymore.
He started talking nonstop.
Teizawa shook his head. "I didn't use chakra threads. With a normal person's chakra pool, chakra threads can't control a body that heavy."
"Then you used…?"
Teizawa sighed dramatically. "I cheated. I used Jiton (Magnet Release)."
"I see."
Kankurō's eyes dimmed a little.
He didn't have Magnet Release.
"But," Teizawa said with a smile, "I just got an idea. I might be able to let you pilot that mechanized giant too."
Teizawa remembered the original plot…
In Kankurō's dream, there was a scene of him controlling a flying giant robot.
There was no way Kankurō wasn't tempted.
Sure enough, Kankurō lifted his head, eyes full of anticipation. "H-How?"
Teizawa smiled. "If one person's chakra can't move it, what about two people? Three? Ten?"
"One person handles the arms, someone else handles the legs. With that many people, you're telling me it still can't move?"
"T-This…"
Kankurō swallowed.
It suddenly felt ridiculously reasonable.
"But that's something we can test slowly later," Teizawa said, looking at Kankurō with an almost gentle expression. "I want you to make it real someday."
"I…"
Kankurō blinked.
It didn't feel real.
Teizawa nodded. "I'm going to establish a research institute in Sunagakure. It'll focus on developing new weaponry. Puppets, and that giant mecha, will both be major projects."
"For now, I'm planning to have Elder Chiyo lead it, but I want you to grow fast."
After a pause, Teizawa sighed again. "Elder Chiyo is old, after all. In my eyes, your talent as a puppeteer is the highest I've ever seen. In the future… I'll have to rely on you."
"T-This…"
Hearing those words spoken like they came straight from the heart, Kankurō felt blood rush up into his head.
So Kazekage-sama… thinks that highly of me?
Can I really do it?
Out of the three siblings, Gaara was the strongest.
Temari, as the eldest, had the best ninjutsu talent.
And him…
No talent, no ability, nothing.
All he could do was study puppet techniques.
But now, this man, the strongest in Sunagakure, was saying he believed in him like this.
Kankurō suddenly wanted to cry.
He stammered for a long time, unable to find anything to say, until he abruptly dropped to one knee and shouted in a deep voice:
"I'm willing to die in service to Kazekage-sama!"
Watching Kankurō get worked up to the point of tears from just a few lines…
Teizawa couldn't help but sigh again.
Damn. Look how wronged this kid feels.
"Get up," Teizawa said. "But I hope you start your research by working from your own puppets."
Kankurō stood up in a daze, confused. "You mean…?"
Teizawa said seriously, "A puppet's use is substitution, reconnaissance, and assassination. In a straight-up fight, a puppeteer can't stand on the main stage."
"But what if… a puppeteer wore the puppet on their body?"
"In other words, put on a layer of armor."
"I'm only giving you a direction. The specific research is still on you."
Kankurō frowned. "But most puppets are made of wood. Their defense isn't strong…"
"Then switch to steel!"
"Wouldn't it be too clunky?"
"Use the wearer's own strength, plus chakra threads to control the joints. That reduces effort. And also…"
Kankurō's eyes lit up, and he jumped in on his own:
"And you can hide the chakra threads inside the armor, avoiding the risk of them being cut. The puppet would have no weakness…"
"Smart." Teizawa nodded.
Finally. This kid gets it.
Whether the shinobi world would ever see an Iron Man, and the birth of giant mecha…
That depended on whether their science would deliver.
Teizawa wasn't talking out of nowhere.
Shinobi tech wasn't weak at all.
Kumogakure's laser cannons, the Hidden Sky Village's flying forces, and so on…
All of it proved the shinobi world could create mechanical constructs.
And besides…
Iron Man and giant mecha both required a massive energy source.
In the shinobi world, chakra itself was universal energy.
If you combined the two, there was no reason it couldn't be done.
Of course, right now it was only a concept.
Teizawa provided the direction, and the professionals would make it real…
"You're making it sound too easy."
At that moment, a cold female voice came from behind them.
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