"This is amazing!" Kankuro exclaimed as he used the new experimental technique Ren wanted him to test.
With amazement, he watched as the puppet in front of him moved without being connected to him via chakra strings, something so far out of the realm of possibility that for the third time in just the last minute, he secretly pinched himself to make sure he was not just having a wet dream.
His puppet raised its wooden limb and waved, so smoothly that Kankuro would be hard-pressed to replicate the movement by using chakra strings. He made it spin three times before having it do a handstand. Pushing against the ground, he let the puppet do a flip in the air before landing on its feet, while testing if he could control all the installed weaponry systems. Yet, everything worked just fine.
With fiery eyes blazing with determination, Kankuro turned toward Ren, breathing hard as his expression twisted with obvious desire, "This seal is amazing!" He explained and involuntarily took a step closer to Ren, who took a step back and aimed his palm at Kankuro in a stopping gesture.
Kankuro's enthusiasm was a bit unnerving. Enough to make Ren feel uncomfortable when the boy was pretty much giving him some weird version of non-sexual bedroom eyes.
He inwardly shuddered and wondered if Ino didn't include some weird mental effects in her part of the work to prank him.
But no. The sad truth was that Kankuro was just weird.
"Any mental discomfort or delay between your thoughts and the puppet's movements?" Ren asked, inquiring about the mental aspects of the seal because he knew his part of the work on it was naturally flawless.
That, and it wouldn't really matter if he had fucked up. At worst, it would just cut the connection between the puppet and Kankuro's mind, making him lose his control over it. There would be no harm done.
But if Ino's part had problems? It could potentially be dangerous because it was that part of the seal that affected the mind. It was better to be cautious.
"No." Kankuro stopped in his tracks and frowned, furrowing his eyebrows as he focused inwardly to look for any sign of a problem. But he couldn't find anything, so he shrugged and continued more calmly than before, "I feel fine. As for the delay, it does not seem like it. Everything feels alright."
Kankuro hopped a few times while having the puppet squat, marveling at how easy it was to split his focus with... whatever Ren had done through the new seal.
Ren nodded, "Try to channel chakra not into the seal, but rather through it." He pointed at the paper tag stuck on Kankuro's palm, the source of his current control over his puppet.
Kankuro briefly wondered why and gave Ren a curious look, but then just decided to do it and find out for himself. Just like Ren instructed, rather than pushing his chakra into the seal to activate it, he tried to reach beyond.
His eyes slightly widened in surprise when he could feel his chakra disappear into the seal and come out of the connected seal tag located inside his puppet. With no other purpose or control, the chakra quickly dissipated.
Seeing Kankuro's reaction, Ren smiled and spoke again, "Now do it again, but this time, try to shape that chakra into chakra strings."
The astonished Kankuro did so and couldn't help but quietly mutter, "This is fucking wild," under his nose as he molded several chakra strings under his control, all coming from the seal within his puppet rather than from his body.
He swiftly connected them to various inner parts of the puppet and realized that with this, he could still detach various parts of the puppet and use them separately.
The inability to do that seemed like the only downside of this technique, but now...
He gulped as he realized what this meant for puppetry. The old ways might as well die off once these seals became widespread. He could not find even one downside of using the seal over using the normal way of connecting the fingers with the puppet via chakra strings.
His inner elation mixed with a strange sensation of loss and reluctance as he remembered the countless hours he spent trying to master moving the puppet with his fingers. Every single movement, every twitch, every fluctuation of chakra did something different, and it took him weeks just to be able to make his puppet walk in a straight line.
It was an art. A beautiful thing that required skill.
And sure, it was not as if giving this seal to a complete novice meant he could perfectly control a puppet. It would still require training. But the difficulty of using this method was way easier than the normal one.
Enough to make all his effort in the past seem like an insulting waste of time.
With a conflicted expression, Kankuro turned toward Ren, and he grudgingly asked, "What is the range of the seal?"
His mind was in turmoil, and he couldn't even really say if he hoped for a positive or a negative answer. If the range were very small, then that would mean his past efforts were not in vain, but this new method would turn out to have a very limited usefulness.
He couldn't help but think it would be a shame. After experiencing such smooth control of a puppet with nothing but his thoughts, it was truly hard to give it up.
But if the range was at least comparable to traditional chakra strings? The ninja field to which he had dedicated his life was going to go through some massive upheavals, and it would never be the same ever again.
Completely missing Kankuro's inner struggles, Ren donned a shit-eating grin as he subconsciously raised his nose slightly up, looking very proud of himself as he spoke, "It's based on the same principle as the seal that provides fresh water to Suna. So, you tell me." He couldn't help but radiate smugness as he saw Kankuro's jaw drop in the terrifying realization.
After all, the boy was there when he placed the first part of the water seal in the river all the way back in the Land of Rivers. He knew best just what kind of range that seal had at the very minimum.
"This..." Kankuro started but couldn't finish as he was momentarily lost for words.
Ren's self-satisfied grin widened as he enjoyed Kankuro's bewildered expression like a fine tonic. It took quite a bit of effort for both him and way more effort for Ino to put it together. He decided he would have to show this memory to the girl. She was no doubt going to enjoy it. After all, everybody enjoyed having their work admired.
He slightly leaned forward and awaited Kankuro's further reaction with anticipation.
"... This is insane." Kankuro eventually uttered in a shocked whisper, and Ren owlishly blinked, his grin faltering.
"Well," His lips twitched, "that's not exactly the word I wanted to hear, but alright. I guess it would have to suffice." He deadpanned at Kankuro, who stared at him with pursed lips and his expression slightly twisted.
"Do you have any idea what this means?" He asked, giving Ren a small glare. This was no joking matter, and he needed Ren to understand that! "With enough of these seals and that kind of range, we could send remotely controlled armies of puppets at our enemy while the puppeteers could safely sit in cushy chairs all the way back in Sunagakure!" He nearly fervently shouted, waving his arms around, not even noticing that the puppet he was controlling did the same.
"Even if we lose the battle, it wouldn't really matter!" His voice cracked, "We would lose a few hundred puppets, sure, but our enemy would lose many of their ninjas. Puppets can be rebuilt in weeks with enough money and materials, but good ninjas? They take years to train!"
"This can completely reshape how wars are fought in this world!" Kankuro exclaimed, but at the same time, his shoulders slumped in stark contrast to the great future for his village that he had portrayed. Grimacing, he continued. "But... once its true power comes out, all of the other four ninja villages might just team up to destroy us."
Silence spread in the room as Kankuro, breathing hard, blushed and guiltily looked down, clutching his hands together in embarrassment. He might have been a bit too animated there, but he needed Ren to realize just what kind of bullshit he had just created! This was dangerous, dammit!
"Hm." Ren finally let out a sound before huffing and crossing his arms under his chest, "Okay. But more importantly, I created it so Suna could use it in the mining industry."
"... Mining industry?" Kankuro raised his head with a snap, giving Ren an incredulous look as if he had grown a second and third head.
He was truly starting to wonder if his brother-in-law was just enjoying screwing with him for kicks and giggles or if he was honestly simply mentally challenged in some way.
"Yup." Ren nodded with a bright, amused smile. "So get familiar with the seal well, future chief miner Kankuro! I will need your help to transform the Sunagakure puppet corps into mining specialists later on!" He gave the boy a thumbs-up, who almost mentally checked out in sheer disbelief at the absurdity he had just heard.
'No wonder Konoha wanted to get rid of this madman enough to marry him to my sister despite his skills with sealing.' Kankuro mentally stuttered, idly wondering if there was a way to return him back to Konoha like defective goods.
Kankuro wistfully sighed while rubbing the bridge of his nose. Temari would never stand for it, but Sage, it started to sound like a nice dream.