Bloodline Human Puppet

When Shimizu walked out of the Kazekage’s Office Building, it was already afternoon.

He had even eaten at the Kazekage’s Office Building, sharing a table with the Third Kazekage as they continued their discussion over the meal.

After a full morning and noon of deliberation, once the Third Kazekage had gained a relatively complete understanding of Breathing Styles through Shimizu, he settled on a plan.

Over the next year, Shimizu would first lead this group in practicing Breathing Styles. At the same time, the Third Kazekage would send in some jonin and Special Jonin who were already proficient in swordsmanship and Taijutsu to see how effective it was.

A year later, if the results satisfied the Third Kazekage, they would begin building a dedicated talent selection and training system for Breathing Styles.

The Swordsmanship Improvement Class would become a permanent institution, serving as an important training organization for the village. Though not as vital a department as the Puppet Force, its head would hold a position equivalent to a deputy director of the major departments.

First, swordsmanship and Taijutsu courses would be strengthened at the Ninja Academy, with some basic Breathing Style content added.

Relevant bonus questions would be added to final exams and Genin graduation assessments. If any promising seedlings appeared, they would be selected from that point onward for close observation.

During their time as Genin, if their jounin instructor was qualified to recommend them, they could send the Genin to the Swordsmanship Improvement Class for trial training. Those who passed the review and trial training could enter the class and be taught Breathing Styles all the way up to the Total Concentration: Constant stage.

Naturally, the current batch would receive the same treatment after passing political review.

Only after completing Total Concentration: Constant would they be qualified to obtain the subsequent methods of cultivation from Shimizu or the Third Kazekage.

This tiered teaching process was already similar to the Black Secret Technique and White Secret Technique. It would be enough to ensure that the core components of Breathing Styles would not leak out for quite some time.

As for a management method that was once-and-for-all and absolutely foolproof, such a thing certainly did not exist. As long as it could extend Sunagakure’s head start as much as possible and later turn that advantage into an absolute advantage in strength, then this management plan would have achieved its purpose.

After leaving the Kazekage’s Office Building, Shimizu did not go to the Swordsmanship Improvement Class as he had yesterday.

After all, he only taught one class a week.

Whether it was him or those ninja, everyone had their own work to do.

Shimizu normally still had to report to the Puppet Force, overseeing the many development projects for new Puppet Techniques. Sometimes, the Third Kazekage would also assign him high-level missions and have Shimizu lead a team to carry them out.

On one hand, Shimizu now counted as one of Sunagakure’s top combat forces, and some missions required someone of his caliber. On the other hand, the Third Kazekage deliberately wanted Shimizu to build good relationships with the jonin who carried out missions alongside him.

"You finally showed up. How considerate of you to still remember that you’re a Puppeteer."

Inside the Puppet Force base, Sasori sneered at Shimizu while using Chakra Thread to manipulate a puppet behind him for testing.

"Yeah, I really have had a lot going on lately. But it can’t be helped. There are many things I can only leave to you, Sasori. After all, only you have the ability to handle them."

Shimizu rubbed his nose and checked Sasori’s expression.

Hmm, not bad. He probably wasn’t angry.

If Sasori got angry and quit, Shimizu would never find another super genius in Puppet Techniques to help him with all this work.

"Hah, that sounds better than a song."

Seeing that Sasori had no intention of letting him off, Shimizu could only try to change the subject. He pointed at the puppet behind Sasori.

"Have Second Shorty and Clairvoyant Eye been completed?"

"Not yet. This is only an experimental version, but it’s close. The current problem is that we can’t achieve the legion-style group control and long-distance communication you mentioned, let alone real-time transmission of images over long distances."

Sasori shook his head, took a design blueprint from the side, and handed it to Shimizu.

"Give me the details."

Shimizu glanced over the blueprint and asked.

"I went through every piece of material in the village related to sensory ninjutsu and summarized several methods of using Sealing Techniques to transplant it onto materials. This would allow materials with Chakra sensitivity to replace humans in detecting fluctuations in Chakra, but the results aren’t very good. A sensing range of one or two kilometers would already be exceptional for a Sensory Ninja.

And when it comes to Chakra sensing, no matter how good the material is or how perfect the seal is, the results are still far inferior to a human’s."

That was perfectly normal.

When many technologies were first developed, they did not immediately demonstrate impressive results. People could only use experience and theoretical calculations to infer their prospects.

Just like how trains were slower than people when they were first invented, yet eventually replaced horse-drawn carriages.

But that often required a long period of constant improvement.

"Then do you have any ideas for solving it now?"

Shimizu set down the blueprint and continued questioning Sasori.

"There are only two methods for now."

Sasori held up two fingers.

"The first might be achievable in a relatively short time. We could create a special barrier and use it to detect Chakra fluctuations, allowing real-time observation and control within the barrier’s range. But then the puppets could only be used for things like strengthening the village’s defenses. They would be difficult to use in battles outside the village."

Shimizu nodded.

The principle was actually similar to the Crystal Ball Technique the Third Hokage of Konoha used to spy on women’s bathhouses.

"What about the other method you thought of?"

"Do you know the Mind’s Eye of the Kagura?"

"The Uzumaki Clan?"

"Yeah. The Mind’s Eye of the Kagura currently has the greatest known sensing range among sensory ninjutsu, and its sensing precision is also extremely high. If we can capture an Uzumaki Clan ninja with the Mind’s Eye of the Kagura, turn their corpse into a Human Puppet, preserve and modify their Kekkei Genkai from when they were alive, then they can become a relay. As long as that puppet is taken out, it can be easily controlled anywhere within the sensing range of the Mind’s Eye of the Kagura.

It’s just a shame that Uzushio Village has been destroyed. Who knows whether we can still find a woman who possesses the Mind’s Eye of the Kagura."

Shimizu’s eye twitched.

Very good. This solution was very much Sasori’s style.

But the Mind’s Eye of the Kagura…

At this point in time, perhaps he could find one in the Land of Grass?

The Land of Grass was only a small country, but it sat at the border between the Land of Fire and the Land of Earth. It was within the spheres of influence of Konoha and Iwagakure. If he wanted to abduct someone from there, he would need to investigate first and make appropriate plans.

But there was another issue.

"How did you make Human Puppets inherit the abilities they had in life? Have you already developed a method?"

"There is already a viable method, but it isn’t complete."

Sasori answered calmly.

He had actually produced results from his research.

But on second thought, it made sense.

After all, in the original timeline, the Third Kazekage might very well have already been made into a Human Puppet by this point.