Wisps of smoke curled upward, drifting toward the setting sun.
The crimson afterglow seeped like blood across the horizon, dyeing the entire Sunagakure in a hue of red.
"This is already the third group withdrawn from the front lines this month."
Sitting at the table, Shimizu looked out the window at the group of defeated, injured soldiers walking by and couldn't help but sigh.
His name, Shimizu (Clear Water), carried a meaningful connotation in the Land of Wind, a place where water was scarce. It was given to him by the director of the orphanage.
The current year was Year 37 of Sunagakure.
Since all five major hidden villages were established in the same year, Year 37 of Sunagakure corresponded to Year 37 of Konoha.
At this point, the ninja world was embroiled in the Second Great Ninja War, which had already reached a fever pitch.
Sunagakure was fighting on two main fronts. One was to the northeast, in the Land of Rain, commanded by Elder Chiyo. Their objective was to suppress Amegakure, prevent Hanzō from leading it to become the sixth great hidden village, and seize its resources.
The second front was directly eastward, led by the Third Kazekage, targeting the Lands of Rivers and Fire, aiming to secure fertile territory for Sunagakure.
However, since two of Sunagakure's high-ranking officers were slain by Konoha's White Fang two years ago, the upper hand they had once held on the battlefield had gradually been lost.
None of this had much to do with Shimizu for now, as he had just returned from the Rain Country front last week.
He wouldn't be redeployed immediately.
It had been eleven years since he transmigrated into the world of Naruto.
When he first arrived, he was just a baby. It wasn't until he turned three, as his brain developed, that fragments of his past life began to return.
As far back as he could remember, he had always lived in the Sunagakure orphanage.
Because of that, he displayed maturity and intellect beyond his years from an early age. He passed the entrance exam to the Ninja Academy with ease and was ahead of most of his peers during the early stages of training.
However, in terms of innate talent as a ninja, he wasn't considered exceptional—just average. Compared to classmates with elite ninja backgrounds or clan support, he had no advantages.
So when he noticed that others were catching up to him in progress, Shimizu made the strategic choice to specialize in the unique ninja profession of Puppet Master in order to maintain his competitiveness.
In resource-scarce Sunagakure, everything had to be fought for.
"My leg injury will take at least another month to heal. The internal damage will take even longer. For now, I can only take side jobs like repairing puppets to earn some cash. Looks like I won't be doing missions anytime soon. At least… I'm not on the battlefield."
"But before anything else, I should finish the puppet repair task assigned by the village."
Shimizu shifted his focus back to his workbench.
He had graduated from the Ninja Academy last year.
To be precise, he had been forced to graduate. Seeing that Konoha had done the same, Sunagakure followed suit—sending senior academy students directly to the battlefield.
Still, the higher-ups showed some level of humanity. They didn't treat the students as cannon fodder. Instead, they were tasked with guarding warehouses, escorting supplies, or delivering low-level intelligence—duties that didn't place them on the front lines. While still dangerous, these missions weren't deadly.
Sending these senior students to support the second line of battle allowed the military to free up actual soldiers and also gave the students some early combat experience.
But if the front lines collapsed one day, they'd be cannon fodder after all.
Being a Puppet Master was one of Sunagakure's unique professions. It had a complete system of inheritance, solid combat capabilities, good growth potential, and decent social standing. The only downside was...
It was expensive.
Especially in a place as poor as Sunagakure.
Puppet crafting and routine maintenance were enormous financial drains.
"This task... seems a bit suspicious."
Shimizu pulled out the mission scroll and frowned.
Puppet maintenance was a normal mission—typically ranked D, sometimes C. But even C-rank missions usually only paid the minimum: 10,000 ryo.
This time, however, the village was uncharacteristically generous. The task he was assigned paid 60,000 ryo. And it wasn't a team mission—he didn't have to split the reward with anyone.
What's more, he only had to repair one puppet. Any repair costs below 10,000 ryo would be reimbursed by the Puppet Brigade.
A job this lucrative—why would it be assigned to an ordinary Genin Puppet Master with no background like him?
"Too generous to be normal…"
While pondering this, Shimizu turned his gaze to a nearly human-sized puppet leaning against the wall. A data window popped up in his field of vision.
[Puppet Name]: Fatty
[Overall Parameters]:
Height: 1.5 meters
Weight: 40.22 kilograms
Material: Reinforced wood and lightweight alloy
Power Source: None
Control Method: Chakra Strings
[Puppet Rating]: C
[Overall Evaluation]:
Modified from a basic D-rank instructional transport puppet. Low cost. Possesses standard Genin-level combat capabilities but requires a certain level of skill from the operator.
Fatty was the only puppet Shimizu owned—modified from a school-bought instructional model by dismantling it and upgrading the materials.
With a mental command, a new window appeared, showing a three-view diagram, exploded parts layout, and detailed specifications, including identified flaws.
With all this data, it was easy to draft an optimized improvement plan. Thanks to this, Fatty had evolved from a D-rank teaching puppet into a proper C-rank combat puppet.
The interface was a unique ability that Shimizu had possessed ever since transmigrating. It only worked on objects he crafted, providing detailed information about them. So far, he hadn't found any other use for it.
At the bottom of the interface was a progress bar, currently about 80% full.
Shimizu didn't yet know what would happen when the bar reached 100%, but he had a few theories on how to raise it.
Normally, the bar grew very slowly over time—perhaps only 0.1% per month.
But occasionally, it surged.
So far, it has happened twice:
The first time was when Shimizu received his acceptance letter from the Ninja Academy.
The second was when he graduated and officially became a Genin.
This led him to believe that it might be tied to his ninja rank or social standing.
Turning his head, Shimizu looked toward another puppet beside him.
This was the puppet for the current repair task.
It was a short humanoid puppet. Its left arm was made of interconnected wooden segments ending in a long mechanical claw. The palm of the right hand had a small opening capable of firing explosive kunai or switching to a spiral drill.
Although the interface had activated for this puppet too, it only displayed its name—no data.
That was because Shimizu hadn't personally built it.
He picked up a tape measure and a screwdriver, took the puppet apart, studied it closely for a while, and then reassembled it.
Doing so technically counted as a creation under his hand.
(End of Chapter)