Kenji stood in his workshop, staring at the puppet in front of him.
He'd spent weeks on this thing. Every spare moment between training sessions, he'd been here, carving, assembling, and calibrating. The puppet limbs for his own body had been finished on day one. That was easy, just swapping out the old materials for properly treated replacements. The chakra-conductive metal threading could be salvaged from the original prosthetics and reinstalled. Simple work.
But this?
The puppet standing before him looked nothing like the traditional Suna designs. Those things were wrapped in tattered cloth and had faces that belonged in horror movies. Creepy as hell, probably intentional given Suna's whole "psychological warfare through disturbing aesthetics" approach.
His design went in a completely different direction.
The frame was built from specially treated ironwood, dense, hard, and flexible enough not to crack under stress. Most of the body was exposed framework, just the core support structure. Curved armor plates covered the arms, legs, and torso. It looked less like a puppet and more like something out of a sci-fi movie. Which made sense, given where he'd stolen the idea from.
He stepped in front of it and extended chakra threads from his fingertips. Five thin strands connected to the control nodes embedded throughout the puppet's structure. He gave a small flick of his wrist.
The puppet's back split open, revealing a cavity shaped to human proportions. He moved forward and stepped inside.
The armor closed around him immediately. The interior padding pressed against his body. It felt snug without being restrictive, like wearing a second skin made of wood and metal instead of flesh.
He channeled chakra into the core mechanism.
The puppet responded instantly. When he raised his arm, the armor moved with him. When he took a step forward, the leg joints provided smooth mechanical support. Every movement synchronized perfectly with his own body.
"External Armor Puppet," he said aloud, testing the name. "Yeah, that works."
The design had been inspired by exoskeleton suits from his previous life. Not the clunky industrial models, but the sleek military prototypes he'd seen in video games and movies. The core concept was simple. Use chakra to enhance coordination and supplement natural strength and speed.
"Let's see how this thing performs."
He walked out of the workshop and into his small courtyard. It was not as spacious as the public training grounds, but good enough for initial testing. He'd run more trials later if there was time before deployment.
First test: speed.
Kenji took a deep breath and broke into a full sprint. His footsteps kicked up small clouds of dust. He could feel the armor amplifying every movement, like the leg joints providing extra thrust with each stride. It felt way faster than his normal pace.
He skidded to a stop, turned around, and returned to the starting point.
Time for a comparison.
"Shadow Clone Technique!"
A puff of white smoke, and his clone appeared beside him. They lined up at the courtyard's edge.
"On three. One, two, go!"
They launched forward simultaneously.
The clone fell behind immediately. By the time Kenji reached the opposite end of the courtyard, his clone was still maybe halfway there. Rough estimate? The armor had doubled his speed.
"Not bad," he said, watching his clone jog up. "It could be better, but for an assist system, that's solid."
The clone walked off to the side.
Next test: strength.
Kenji walked over to the heavy stone training weight sitting in the corner. It was about half his height and quite dense. Normally, this would take both hands and serious effort to lift.
He grabbed it one-handed and hoisted it overhead.
It was easier than expected. The armor distributed the load across his entire frame, and the mechanical joints provided supplemental force. He held it there for a moment, testing his grip, then set it down gently.
This was probbably about fifty percent strength increase, not as dramatic as the speed boost. He'd deliberately limited the power output. Too much force amplification would damage his real body through recoil. The armor only had so much protection. Push too hard and he'd break his own bones from the feedback.
Besides, raw strength wasn't the point.
The armor's real purpose was solving a very specific problem. When he used Mind Body Switch, his real body lost consciousness. That left it completely vulnerable. He needed a way to protect his unconscious body while still being able to move it around the battlefield.
"Hey, I need you now."
The clone appeared and immediately moved to the side of the courtyard, putting distance between them.
Kenji walked over to the corner and picked up his usual test subject. The rabbit was used to it by now, and just sat there calmly in his hands.
He set it on the ground in front of him.
"Mind Body Switch!"
The jutsu activated. His consciousness slammed out of his body and into the rabbit's tiny frame. It was still disorienting as always, like getting shoved through a too-small doorway.
His real body, still standing in the armor, went completely still. But the armor held him upright.
Then his clone moved.
Chakra threads extended from the clone's fingers and connected to the armor's control nodes. The puppet jerked slightly, then started moving smoothly. The clone walked the armor over to where Kenji's rabbit body sat.
"Release!"
His consciousness snapped back to his real body. Sensation returned in a rush. He gasped, stumbling slightly as his brain readjusted to being human-sized again.
The clone dispelled itself without being told.
Kenji stood there for a moment.
This was the answer. When he used Mind Body Switch in combat, a shadow clone would act as the puppeteer, control his armor-encased body from a distance, keeping it safe and mobile. The clone wouldn't need to fight directly, just operate the puppet. That reduced risk of getting dispelled quite a bit. Meanwhile, the enemy he'd possessed could coordinate attacks with his "puppet body."
Most of the time he wouldn't even need a clone. He could just have the possessed enemy use puppet techniques to control his own armor.
He'd originally considered having someone control his unconscious body directly with chakra threads, like how Chiyo had puppeteered Sakura during the Sasori fight. But that was too risky. Any mistake in coordination could injure his real body, especially during evasive maneuvers or high-speed combat.
The armor solved that problem. Extra protection, stable control interface, and it looked way cooler than just flopping around like a meat puppet.
The only real downside? The armor required constant chakra to function.
Which brought him to the next feature.
He reached around to the back of the armor and found the access panel. It clicked open, revealing two recessed slots. Each held a sealed scroll.
He pulled one out and channeled a tiny bit of chakra into it, checking the reserves.
"Half an hour of testing used about ten percent. Not bad."
The scrolls were basically chakra batteries. He'd created them using sealing techniques, storing his own chakra inside for later use. The armor drew power from these instead of his active reserves. As long as he wasn't spamming high-cost jutsu, the batteries would last for hours.
"Alright, last test."
He commanded the armor to open, stepped out, and sealed it closed again. Then he walked it back into the workshop using chakra threads and mounted it on the wall rack he'd built specifically for storage.
He returned to the center of the courtyard. Bit his thumb hard enough to draw blood. Smeared it across his palm. His hands blurred through the sequence.
Boar → Dog → Bird → Monkey → Ram.
"Summoning Technique!"
He slammed his palm against the ground.
Black marks spread outward in a circular pattern. A loud boom echoed through the courtyard, followed by a massive puff of white smoke. When the smoke cleared, the External Armor Puppet stood in the middle of the summoning array.
"Yes!"
The summoning contract worked perfectly. He'd bound the armor the same way you'd bind a summoning animal. Which meant he could call it to his location whenever needed. No more hauling the heavy thing around everywhere.
He didn't have a summoning animal yet anyway. Might as well use the slot for something practical. And since the contract was with an inanimate object, it wouldn't conflict with any future summons. Orochimaru could call both the snakes from Ryūchi Cave and the Triple Rashōmon. That was the same principle.
Technically, he could just store the puppet in a scroll. But scrolls had to be carried, and battlefields were chaotic. One good hit and the scroll could be destroyed or lost. Leaving the armor safely at home and summoning it when needed was way more reliable.
As for security...
He glanced back at his workshop. He'd set up a basic barrier using the sealing techniques he'd been studying. That should be enough to keep out casual thieves or curious neighbors.
If someone strong enough to break the barrier came along? Well, that sucked, but he'd deal with it.
"If they want to steal it, they can have it. I can always make another one."
That was the real advantage. The puppet itself wasn't irreplaceable. The knowledge of how to build it, the skills he'd developed, the design principles he'd figured out... that was what mattered. You could steal a tool, but you couldn't steal competence.