It was another afternoon.
The Amegakure, uncharacteristically, had no rain.
Senba Suzume took a scroll from the Hidden Sand Village off a Ninja hawk's leg.
"Lord Hanzō."
Senba Suzume presented the scroll.
Seeing the Hidden Sand Village mark on the scroll, Hanzō's brow furrowed slightly. He opened the scroll and quickly scanned its contents.
Bang—
The scroll slammed against the wall and rolled onto the floor.
Senba Suzume was startled and looked at Lord Hanzō.
Hanzō took a deep breath, calming the surging anger in his chest.
"Summon the Jonin for a meeting."
Hanzō looked at Senba Suzume.
"Yes."
Senba Suzume immediately exited the office to notify the Jonin within the Amegakure.
A crow perched on a pipe not far from the office pecked at its feathers, its dark feathers almost blending with the pipe.
A moment later, Hanzō's office was filled with the Jonin of the Amegakure.
Hanzō's gaze swept over everyone. The scroll had already been picked up and was back by his hand.
"Just now, the Hidden Sand Village initiative sent word, agreeing to sign a contract with us, acknowledging the status of the Amegakure…"
Before Hanzō could finish speaking, a cheer immediately erupted in the office.
"That's great!"
"We can finally end the war completely!"
"…"
Listening to the laughter and cheers in the office, Hanzō did not stop them until they quieted down.
The Rain Ninja gradually realized a problem.
If it were really that simple, why would Lord Hanzō summon them for a meeting?
Sunagakure had always been greedy; how could they sign a contract with them so easily?
Hanzō handed the scroll to Senba Suzume: "Let every one of them see it."
Senba Suzume took the scroll, his gaze falling on the handwriting.
His breathing suddenly became heavy, and the knuckles of his hands, holding the scroll, turned white. He wished he could tear the scroll into pieces.
As the scroll was being passed among the Ninja, Hanzō began to speak: "The Hidden Sand Village is indeed willing to sign a contract with us. The conditions they proposed are…"
"First, after the contract is signed, the Hidden Sand Village will extract one-tenth of the delegated missions undertaken by the Amegakure."
As soon as these words were spoken, the Rain Ninja's expressions all changed.
"Second, allow Hidden Sand Village Ninja to move freely within the Land of Rain, and allow Hidden Sand Village Ninja to reside in the Amegakure, with no time limit."
"They are going too far!"
"If we agree to their terms, does the Amegakure still have any sovereignty left?"
"Is this still called the Amegakure? We might as well change its name to the Hidden Sand Village!"
"…"
The Rain Ninja could not hold back and began to denounce them one after another.
"We will not sign such a humiliating contract!"
The voices of the Rain Ninja converged, the anger in their tone almost threatening to lift the roof.
Hanzō looked at them. He stood up, his hands clasped behind his back, his eyes as calm as an abyss: "Then we fight! Prove to the Hidden Sand Village with our strength that the current Amegakure is no longer the Amegakure of the past!"
"Post the scroll on the Amegakure's public notice board, so that all Ninja of the Amegakure remember the humiliation we are suffering now!"
"We will reclaim our dignity with our strength!"
…
Various precise tools were laid out on the desktop, densely arranged by Shiratori Rin's hand, gleaming coldly under the light.
Shiratori Rin stood in the center of the room, holding a screwdriver and a small hammer steadily in his hand.
Before him lay a Puppet that had taken on a rudimentary human form.
At this moment, the Puppet's chest cavity had been opened by Shiratori Rin, and its interior was filled with precise metal machinery.
The screwdriver turned, embedding a deep blue transparent crystal into the Puppet's chest cavity.
"What is this?"
Iron Hail could not help but ask aloud.
Shiratori Rin placed a wooden board over the Puppet's chest cavity, twisted the screwdriver, and tapped with the small hammer.
"That is its heart."
Shiratori Rin explained.
In fact, it was the Curse Power core.
"Heart?"
Iron Hail looked at the Puppet in surprise.
"Do Puppets also have hearts?"
Iron Hail had never heard such a statement.
But he did not know much about Puppets, only having seen Lord Hanzō fight against that female Puppet master from the Hidden Sand Village.
Since Rin could create Puppets, he must know more than him.
Shiratori Rin put down the screwdriver in his hand and nodded: "Of course."
Without a heart, how would his Puppet move?
He looked at Iron Hail, pointing at the Puppet's eyes: "See, with a heart, doesn't it come alive?"
Under Iron Hail's shocked gaze, the eyes, embedded with black iron balls personally polished by Iron Hail, actually lit up with faint black light.
It was as if a Soul had truly been awakened.
Iron Hail's breathing even stopped.
He watched with wide eyes as the black light in the Puppet's eyes steadily focused, falling directly on Shiratori Rin's face.
Shiratori Rin looked with anticipation at the Puppet he had personally created.
The Puppet's gaze had no warmth, yet it carried a chilling penetrative power.
Previously, Shiratori Rin had worried about the failure of the Puppet's creation and had input a large amount of Curse Power into the crystal.
Later, as the Puppet was perfected, he realized he had worried too much.
The rule of Puppet manipulation was to imbue Curse Power to control the Puppet.
It might not be possible to create a perfect living being—after all, even the master of Puppet manipulation, Yaga Masamichi, only created Panda as a representative work—but it would certainly be possible to create an obedient Puppet.
The various joints of the Puppet's body made extremely faint yet unusually smooth "click" sounds, as fluid as human breathing.
The Puppet sat up under Iron Hail's incredulous gaze, jumped off the table, and came before Shiratori Rin.
"I should give you a name."
Shiratori Rin glanced at the Puppet, stroked his chin, and mused: "What should I call you? You are my first work…"
"Number One then!"
"Let's call you Number One!"
Shiratori Rin was really not good at naming things.
When his skills improved in the future and he created more and more Puppets, he could just call them Number Two, Number Three, Number Four…
He would not have to think of names anymore!
It was simply a permanent solution!
"Is this name okay?"
Shiratori Rin observed Number One's facial expression.
Number One's face was covered with dense metal brackets and connectors underneath, their density no less than human facial nerves.
Although the brackets and connectors were so messy that Shiratori Rin himself got them confused, at least they allowed Number One to control its face to make some simple expressions.
To Shiratori Rin's disappointment, Number One showed no expression.
"…"
Had his facial nerve reconstruction plan failed?
Number One's head moved up and down.
It startled Iron Hail.
"It…"
Iron Hail pointed at Number One, swallowed, and tried hard to find the Chakra threads connecting to the Puppet on Shiratori Rin's fingers, but no matter how he looked, Shiratori Rin's fingers were empty, and his fingers did not even move.
"Number One, shake hands with Brother Iron Hail."
Shiratori Rin gave the command.
Number One turned, walked briskly to Iron Hail, and extended its hand towards Iron Hail.
Although it could not speak or show expressions, it could understand human speech and obey commands.
Number One could be considered a success, barely!