***
Just two uses of the Shadow Clone Jutsu had consumed more than half of his chakra, forcing Daigan to be cautious.
Ninjutsu was powerful, but the risks were not to be underestimated. No wonder the Multi-Shadow Clone Jutsu was classified as an A-rank forbidden technique.
Creating too many shadow clones not only affected the user's combat ability, but the mental shock upon their dispersal could instantly knock a person unconscious, leaving them completely defenseless.
*That's enough jutsu practice for today. I'm just recovering from serious injuries; it's not wise to overexert my stamina and chakra.*
There were still nearly twenty days to prepare. If the events he remembered played out, Uchiha Sasuke would likely be late, meaning his fourth-round match with Temari might be moved up unexpectedly.
To what extent should he fight Temari?
First, he definitely had to conserve enough chakra to ensure he had sufficient fighting power for the impending storm of the "Konoha Crush."
Second, he couldn't lose too disgracefully. No one should doubt the seriousness of the match, and more importantly, he couldn't leave a bad impression on Temari.
Finally, he had to control the pace as much as possible, ensuring he held out until Uchiha Sasuke arrived.
In short, it had to be a fake fight, but not too obviously fake. It also had to be entertaining enough to leave others with nothing to say.
In that sense, it was more of a performance than a battle.
Not only did he have to exercise restraint, but Temari also needed to cooperate tacitly.
The tactics would require careful consideration.
Of course, there were more important things to do: he had to strengthen his combat abilities by any means necessary, to fight for a better chance of survival for himself and for those he cared about.
His Sand Manipulation Technique was limited by his physical talent and lineage, so there wouldn't be any major breakthroughs anytime soon. Wind Release and the Shadow Clone Jutsu would be the focus of his training. Additionally, he couldn't neglect his Puppet Technique, in which he had already gained some proficiency.
The Puppet Technique was a very practical secret art; otherwise, the Second Kazekage Shamon would not have developed it into one of Sunagakure's pillars of strength.
However, constrained by a strong sense of survival crisis and a short-sighted training approach, the actual development of the Puppet Technique had been slow. It had focused solely on the path of the Puppet Master without any fundamental advancements. Only the Human Puppet secret technique had some merit, but it was unfortunately designated a forbidden jutsu for practical reasons.
While turning a knife on others was unacceptable, puppeteers who turned the knife on themselves were even more foolish. For all its flaws, the human body's potential was incomparable to that of a cold, lifeless Human Puppet.
Sasori of the Red Sand had many eccentricities that were hard to accept, but there was one point Daigan strongly agreed with:
The Puppet Technique is an art!
To treat puppets merely as weapons was a vulgar notion.
He waved his hand, and the Substitute Puppet walked over, bowing its head slightly to present its expressionless face to Daigan.
"My first attempt. I wonder if it'll work."
His palm brushed across the Substitute Puppet's face, and a meticulously crafted eyeball appeared in his hand, leaving the puppet's left eye socket empty.
Creating such a realistic puppet, even at the cost of forgoing many of the mechanisms commonly used by traditional puppeteers, which greatly reduced its combat power, was not a decision made lightly.
For both the Substitute Puppet and the Temari puppet, the choice of materials for vital organs was extremely particular. So even though most of the materials were common, the cost for Daigan to build a single puppet was by no means small.
The material for the eyes, for instance, was harvested from giant insects and reptiles hunted in the desert. Through countless experiments, he had found the optimal method for crafting the eyes of both puppets. They had excellent chakra conductivity and could even basically simulate the complete structure of an eyeball.
A mass of chakra welled up in his palm, enveloping the puppet's left eyeball. He placed it in front of his own left eye, infusing the puppet eye's structure with chakra while connecting it to his optic nerve.
"Success!"
The puppet eye, now with a noticeable trace of life, was placed back into the Substitute Puppet's left socket by Daigan.
Immediately, Daigan connected to the puppet's eye via chakra threads, and a view from a different perspective flooded his mind.
*A Puppet Technique version of the Third Eye!*
Daigan looked at his Substitute Puppet and Temari puppet, which now held a distinctly different meaning, with a mix of excitement and apprehension.
*No, this is the Human Puppet Technique. The only difference is that the materials used weren't a living person or a human corpse.*
How did Sasori of the Red Sand, who had turned himself into a Human Puppet with his body reduced to a mere lump of flesh providing chakra, see the outside world and perceive it visually?
The living proof was right before his eyes.
It was a near-perfect replication.
*I knew it. There are no coincidences in this world. All jutsu have an origin.*
Daigan temporarily severed the neural connection between himself and the puppet's eye. He opened the window of his hospital room and took a deep breath of the slightly cool air.
No wonder the secret technique, Third Eye, felt so awkward. Its core principle was connecting the nervous system to an external object to gain perception beyond the body.
Under what circumstances would such a secret technique need to be developed?
Any puppeteer with even a little knowledge of the taboos surrounding Human Puppets could guess the answer.
Who borrowed from whom was still unknown, but it was unlikely they were unrelated.
Experimenting on one's own body was a tradition among Sand puppeteers. Chiyo's grandson, Sasori of the Red Sand, did it, and Chiyo herself had modified one of her hands into a puppet arm to use a powerful defensive jutsu called the Mechanized Light Shield Seal.
Captain Otokaze, not being a puppeteer, probably didn't understand the deeper issues of this reconnaissance jutsu, which was nominally performed using sand as a medium.
"Alright, I'll set this aside for now and just let it be. I'll pretend I didn't discover anything. But I'll still use it..."
In any case, Daigan hadn't made any Human Puppets, nor did he intend to experiment on his own body. He had merely used animal materials to make a few "useless" puppet parts. In essence, he hadn't broken any taboos.
If someone discovered the issue, he would just claim ignorance.
The top priority now was to escape and survive the chaotic battle between Sunagakure and Konoha. Forget a mere secret technique with questionable origins; if it came down to it, Daigan would use a true forbidden jutsu without hesitation. The potential punishment could be dealt with later.
As Daigan was lost in thought, a knock came at the door.
"Who is it?"
"It's me, Daigan. I heard you were injured, so I came to see you."
A familiar voice came through. Daigan opened the door to find a smiling Sajin standing outside.
"Sajin-senpai, what are you doing here? Please, come in!"
Being a stranger in a strange land, having a familiar countryman to talk to was the best thing he could ask for.
-----
Read up to 20 advanced chapters on my P@treon.
[email protected]/fanfictionsimp