Naruto: Puppet Master Undercover in Konoha

At the border of the Land of Fire.

Kakashi, Obito, and Rin Nohara had just finished a battle with Sand shinobi.

They had almost won, but more Sand shinobi reinforcements arrived, leaving them no choice but to fall back.

"Tsk! Those Sand shinobi are such cowards. Don't they understand you don't go for the verbal slap like that? No wonder they were part of Shindai's former village—it seems everyone there enjoys getting verbally clapped down. So rude!"

Obito's face was swollen and bruised.

"Alright, stop whining. Stay still, let me treat it."

Rin Nohara took out some ointment and started applying it to Obito's face.

Obito asked, "Kakashi, what should we do next?"

Kakashi pulled out a map and looked at it. "We're already deep in enemy territory. It's too dangerous here. Let's retreat first."

The trio evacuated their position and returned to Konoha's base camp.

Shindai had already arrived at Konoha's base camp earlier.

Right now, he stood nervously inside the command room of the base camp.

And the commander stationed here was Orochimaru.

Although Jiraiya, Tsunade, and Orochimaru had all been stationed at the base camp in the Hot Water Country, Shindai had only met Jiraiya and Tsunade before, never having seen Orochimaru.

Meeting Orochimaru for the first time left Shindai with an extremely uneasy feeling.

It felt as if a venomous serpent was staring at him, watching him like prey, ready to lunge and sink its fangs into him at any moment.

Moreover, although Orochimaru remained expressionless, Shindai constantly sensed a hidden malice in him.

Orochimaru glanced at a scroll in his hand. "Kakashi and the others are currently on a mission outside. We don't know when they'll return. Since Sarutobi-sensei asked you to keep working with them, you should wait here in the base camp until they come back."

Throughout the conversation, Orochimaru didn't even look directly at Shindai once, seemingly treating him with disdain.

However, Shindai understood. Orochimaru had always been emotionally distant by nature; this wasn't about singling him out. In Orochimaru's eyes, Shindai wasn't even worth his attention.

Orochimaru continued flipping through other scrolls. When he noticed that Shindai hadn't left yet, he finally turned his gaze fully toward him. "Why haven't you left yet? Do you have something else to say?"

Shindai hesitated slightly and said timidly, "Lord Orochimaru, I... I have a favor to ask."

"Speak directly."

Orochimaru frowned slightly. He disliked people like Shindai who couldn't get straight to the point—it wasted time.

Sensing Orochimaru's impatience, Shindai immediately blurted out, "Lord Orochimaru! I want to fight Chiyo!"

Upon hearing Shindai's words, Orochimaru paused momentarily. For the first time, his icy gaze warmed slightly, replaced by one brimming with curiosity.

"You used to be a ninja from Sunagakure, so you should understand Chiyo better than I do. She's an all-around ninja possessing world-class Puppet Techniques, powerful Taijutsu, Medical Ninjutsu, and Sealing Technique. She's also the archenemy of Sanshouo Hanzo, the leader of Amegakure.

You know who Sanshouo Hanzo is, right? He's a man regarded by ninjas as the peak of the ninja world. With just a word from him, I, along with Jiraiya and Tsunade, were honored with the title of Konoha Sannin.

The strength of someone who can rival Sanshouo Hanzo far surpasses those ninjas you've encountered before."

Shindai said seriously, "If it comes down to anything besides puppetry against that old woman, I'll definitely get crushed. But when it comes to puppet techniques alone, I won't lose to her at all!"

Orochimaru looked at Shindai with narrowed eyes, "Oh? And why are you so confident? To tell you the truth, I've seen many people who couldn't accurately gauge their abilities and liked to brag—they ended up dying tragically."

Shindai raised one finger: "Firstly, Chiyo's main offensive method is through puppets, and my Magnet Release naturally counters them. Once my technique enters a person or a puppet, it can completely paralyze its body, rendering it useless. Magnet Release has obvious advantages in confronting puppet masters."

Then he held up his second finger: "Secondly, regarding the puppets themselves, I admit that Chiyo's 'White Secret Technique' has some merit—but not much.

Chiyo uses ten puppets called the Chikamatsu Collection, created by Shamon, The Second Kazekage of Sunagakure, who was known as Monzaemon, the pioneer of puppet masters. These puppets can be controlled one-by-one using individual fingers and can coordinate together to perform coordinated attacks and use Ninjutsu.

But these are all outdated relics now," Shindai continued. "Lord Orochimaru, as a scientist yourself, you surely understand how crucial technological advancement is.

So..."

Shindai unfurled his scroll and summoned Kannazuki.

With great enthusiasm, Shindai asked, "May I now introduce to Lord Orochimaru the puppet I independently researched and built?"

Orochimaru had originally intended to refuse—he had his own work to do and no time to listen to Shindai's presentation about his puppet. Yet what he actually said was, "Fine, I'll listen to your presentation briefly."

Orochimaru paused slightly, then gave himself a reasonable explanation for saying that.

Perhaps it was because he saw the passion of a researcher within Shindai, which made him willing to give Shindai time to speak about his puppet.

Fueled with excitement, Shindai elaborated on the technology integrated into Kannazuki.

After listening to Shindai's explanation, Orochimaru wore an unusual expression: "Why does it feel like your puppet is using the very techniques I've researched?"

"Uh..." Shindai awkwardly scratched his head. "I did use them. I originally asked Minato-sama for some ninja tech documents that were more advanced than the basics, but I didn't expect him to give me core-tier ninja tech documents. Using those core documents, I managed to develop this newest version of Kannazuki."

Orochimaru showed slight surprise. "So you're saying you independently mastered those core tech documents in just two months?"

Shindai truthfully replied, "Some parts I still haven't fully understood—some knowledge goes beyond my current level of comprehension, making it quite challenging."

If not for the various strange ideas already swirling in Shindai's mind, he probably wouldn't have understood such high-level material at all if Minato Namikaze had simply handed them to him.

Orochimaru couldn't help but see Shindai in a new light now. Though the ninja tech documents he gave to Konoha were things he'd already thrown away, even these outdated materials were extremely hard for Konoha's researchers to fully understand.

And Shindai reached this level in just two months—all on his own. Truly a genius.

The ninja world had plenty of geniuses—masters of ninjutsu, genjutsu, or taijutsu—but very few showed real talent in scientific research. At least, Orochimaru had never come across one—until now.

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