บท 551: Chapter 545 : A 'Fair' Trade
[A/N: Apologies for the delay, guys. I had to plan out a few things for the upcoming arc to make it interesting while ensuring that there are no inconsistencies in my plans. Took a bit longer than expected...]
Hiruzen's eyes widened. Immediately the image of the Third Kazekage appeared in his mind. Unlike most of the people, Hiruzen was well aware of Sasori's human puppets and that they could retain some of the abilities that they had when they were alive.
However, if Sasori had made the Third Kazekage, who had been missing since before the Third Great Ninja War began, his puppet, then it would send shockwaves throughout the Ninja World!
Hiruzen asked, "Did you see what the puppet looked like?"
Fujin shook his head and said, "No, I was fighting from a distance and couldn't see him. I retreated right when a large amount of iron was floating outside Yamakawa town.
So I can't say whether he has made the Third Kazekage his puppet or if it is some other ninja who had awakened the Magnet Release. Irrespective, Sasori's threat is much higher than what we believe. If he can retain Kekkei Genkai in the puppets, then there is a chance that he could have several such puppets. He'll be difficult to deal with."
Hiruzen agreed. Sasori's threat had to be reevaluated. Just the Magnet Release was extremely troublesome to deal with. He asked, "The reports stated that over a hundred puppets attacked the town at the same time. Is that true?"
Fujin answered, "Yes. He could control over a hundred puppets at the same time while he was standing outside the town. And from what I saw, his control over all his puppets was extremely good. Even Elite Chunins might not be able to take on a single puppet considering the various traps and poisons involved. However, Jounins should be able to destroy his normal human puppets as long as Sasori isn't nearby."
Hiruzen nodded and asked, "So, how did your fight go? And what happened in the town?"
Fujin explained the events since he reached the town until Sasori's attack. He continued, "I took advantage of the distraction caused by Sasori's attack to sneak attack and kill the Yamakawa family head and Suna ninjas. I am not sure, but it is possible that one of the Suna ninjas was a Grandmaster in Fuinjutsu. If you find some new seals from his memories, please let me know."
Hiruzen was shocked to realize that a Fuinjutsu Grandmaster of Suna could have been killed! Every country treasured their Fuinjutsu Grandmasters. It was extremely difficult to kill them as they would rarely leave the village and even when they did, they would move in secrecy and be with at least 1 Elite Jounin. The death of 1 Fuinjutsu Grandmaster, 1 Elite Jounin and 20 Jounins and Chunins would be another huge blow to Sunagakure.
Fujin continued, "As for Sasori, I fought him using the new technique I created. I'm sure you might have seen it a few times. I call it the Wind Domain."
Hiruzen felt slightly awkward about being called out on his spying. Even though everyone was aware that he would do it, no one ever mentioned it on his face. Luckily, he was shameless enough to not let it affect him. His expression didn't change and he just nodded.
Fujin cursed internally at his shamelessness before continuing, "My Wind Domain can sever his chakra threads. So Sasori lost control of all of his puppets within my Wind Domain. I stole 64 of his Human Puppets before escaping."
Hiruzen's eyes widened in shock once again as Fujin claimed with a mischievous smile, "Even though I am not a Puppet Master, I believe that I have the second strongest collection of puppets. If I train for a bit, I will become one of the top 5 Puppeteers in a few months."
Hiruzen thought in disbelief, 'That jutsu where he played around by emitting wind chakra is this strong? It can sever chakra threads? And he used it to steal Sasori's Puppets?
The puppet masters treat their puppets as their children. And he stole as many as 64 of them and managed to escape from Sasori?'
Hiruzen was stunned. This was probably the first time something like this had happened ever since Puppet Masters came into existence. While there were some incidents of one or two Puppets being stolen, they would generally be when the Puppet Master abandoned them to run away. What Fujin did was unprecedented!
As if he just recalled something, Fujin added, "Ah right, I almost forgot. Sasori never saw my face. He doesn't know that it was me who stole his puppets. So please keep this news a secret as well. I don't want that freak chasing me around."
Hiruzen's disbelief increased further as he exclaimed internally, 'And Sasori didn't even see who stole his puppets!'
Hiruzen was completely speechless. For a moment, he didn't know what to say. He quickly gathered his thoughts and praised, "Great work, Fujin. I didn't expect something like this to happen when I assigned you this mission. What are you planning to do with the puppets?"
Since Hiruzen couldn't find any words to describe Fujin's feats, he decided to stop thinking about it and directly focused on the puppets. He thought, 'There are a few ninjas in this village who like puppetry. Unfortunately, our knowledge in this aspect is very lacking as compared to Suna.
However, with 64 ready-made puppets of high quality, I can raise a few Jounin level Puppet Masters. Not to mention, we can also research these puppets to improve our knowledge.'
Fujin thought for a bit before saying, "I am not sure. I did check a few puppets and I am not a fan of Human Puppets. Even by our standards, this technique is incredibly cruel. However, if the situation is dire, then there is no harm in using dead enemies for this technique.
Regardless, it'll be a waste to ditch these 64 puppets for that reason. I'm planning to train a bit and become a Puppet Master myself. It'll add another aspect to my abilities."
Hiruzen was surprised. The way Fujin had said it earlier, he thought that Fujin was joking. He didn't expect him to be serious. Hiruzen said, "While mastering chakra threads wouldn't be a challenge for you, being a Puppet Master involves a lot of other things. For starters, you need to be able to make puppets with a lot of traps in them.
In addition, you need to be an expert at Poison to make those traps deadly. You will also need high Medical knowledge to make any modifications to those 64 puppets considering that they were created from dead humans."
Fujin nodded and said, "Yes. I am not too worried about creating traps as I should be able to handle them. As for Medical and Poison knowledge, I was planning to take on Yoshi-sensei's offer to improve those aspects in any case. So I should be fine."
To Hiruzen's dismay, Fujin had already thought of everything needed to become a Puppet Master. He sighed and said, "Fujin, you have already reached rank S. While it's fine to diversify your abilities, becoming a full-fledged Puppet Master won't do you any good.
I'll recommend keeping a few of them and giving me the rest. There are a few ninjas in our village who are extremely interested in puppetry but unfortunately fall short due to not having access to good information on it. I can create a few Jounins and hopefully one or two Elite Jounins with those puppets. This way, our village will benefit more."
Fujin looked at Hiruzen and thought, 'Wow! Good speech. His words are true but that requires me to give things without getting anything in return. While it's true that Hiruzen helped me in the past, he didn't spend money on anything other than my swords. In fact, he probably earned more than that by betting on me in the Chunin exams!
I would have still given them if I needed a lot from Hiruzen in the future. Unfortunately, there is not much he can give me anymore. He won't give me the Edo Tensei right now. If he dies against Orochimaru, then obviously I can't take anything from him. If he survives, then the fame I gain during that war will be sufficient to ask for what I want from him irrespective of our relationship.'
Hiruzen looked at Fujin and asked, "Well?"
Fujin sighed and said, "I was planning to use the 64 Puppets as a trump card. If I fell in a situation where my squad had to retreat, I could have my Shadow Clones use the puppets to hold back enemies while we retreated to safety. I might not be able to do the same with a few puppets.
That said, I understand your view. Getting more Jounins and perhaps Elite Jounins will be beneficial for the village. How about this? I'll keep just 10 puppets with me and give you the rest. However, I want a forbidden technique to have another trump card."
Hiruzen was surprised. He thought, 'I should have known. I guess he is still upset that I didn't give him the scroll of sealing.'
He asked, "Which jutsu do you want?"
Fujin said, "Spirit Transformation Technique."
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