Chương 35: Chapter 23

Sunagakure Ryoma, Jonin Getting an ANBU at your door very early in the morning was never a very good sign, and the paranoid part of his mind told him that there were no coincidences. The larger part of his mind told him he had already gone through his 'scared of the ANBU' phase and that this was probably just a routine secret meeting. It had taken him about half a minute to get dressed, another half a minute to take a morning piss, and he was ready to follow the obscured figure patiently waiting in his kitchen.

Ryoma gave a massive yawn as he followed behind the masked man, eyes bleary at having to be awake at five in the morning. The masked man glanced over at him briefly as they hopped over and across rooftops, before reaching into a vest-pocket and pulling out a pill. Ryoma caught it as the ANBU flicked it over and made a handsign.

'Dash Extract', which was sign-language code for a caffeine pill. He probably could've figured that out on his own, just by looking at it and the numerical code etched in the back, but he was still feeling a bit mentally sluggish. Ryoma nodded gratefully before munching down and swallowing the offered chalky tablet. The chances of it being poison and this ANBU being an enemy in disguise trying to kidnap or kill him wasn't zero, but it wasn't all that high either.

In the time it took for them to reach the central HQ, Ryoma could already feel the energizing power of the caffeine running through his veins. Thank you, faceless ANBU escort, he will remember this kindness but not who to direct it towards. The doors were opened and he was led into the deeper chambers of the HQ, through spiraling hallways and down a few staircases until reaching a space normally reserved for ninja of rather high rank.

Several guards were stationed, each holding a long iron-banded staff and looking straight ahead, motionless and stern. The ANBU paused in front of a red door, granite instead of sandstone, before stepping back and turning to nod at him. Ryoma could take the hint, he reached up to lightly slap himself in the face, knocking the lingering sleep out of himself. Once done, he stepped forwards and pushed open the doors, eyes roaming as he entered the chamber.

It was one of the smaller meeting chambers, with a round conference table in the center and flanked by sturdy flat walls. Overall a fairly uninteresting room save for the people inside it. The Kazekage was present, as was Captain Gentai, as well as Honored Elders Chiyo and Ebizo, another ANBU who bore a bold 'Captain' on his face-veil, as well as two other people he didn't recognize. From their uniforms, apparent veterancy, he guessed these were other corps and division captains.

Not all though, there were twelve seats in the Sunagakure council, one for the Kazekage, one for the head of ANBU, another for the head of Logistics, and nine more for the various Corps. There were seven people here, not including himself, and two of them were supposed to be retired. That meant this wasn't a council meeting, this was something that was probably more secret but less important. Ryoma stopped after entering the room and shutting the doors behind him, turning and dropping into a proper bow.

"Lord Kazekage, Honored Elders, Councillors."

"At ease, Jonin." Kazekage Rasa inclined his head, the wide-brimmed Kazekage hat slightly obscuring his eyes. Ryoma fell into a relaxed stance, wrists brought together behind his back and standing straight up.

"You were called about your most recent contribution to puppetry. The relevant subject matter experts have some questions for you, and a demonstration will be required afterwards." He stared blankly at the Kazekage for a few moments, brows slightly furrowed in confusion.

"... Lord Kazekage, the Mk2 isn't complete enough to demonstrate anything- I don't even have springs yet."

"The replacement limbs." The Kazekage clarified.

"Special Jonin Mari has already been interviewed pertaining to her experience with the object."

"Ah. My mistake." Ryoma tilted his head forwards, still slightly confused. He wasn't sure if there were any real questions to be had about it- everything he could think of was in the scroll he prepared. Though the chances of everyone present having actually read the scroll was probably low. Still, everything else they would probably want to know could have come from Mari or Chiyo right over there. The magic of bureaucracy making redundant meetings out of brief letters.

"What would the gathered like to know?"

"The replacement arm- what are the limits of replacement? Can only arms be replaced in this manner- or can legs be replaced as well?" The only other old woman in the room- not Chiyo but one with dark brown hair and light brown eyes, asked him quickly. This was something answered in the scroll.

"Theoretically speaking, Almost everything save a handful of vital organs could be replaced." Ryoma answered calmly.

"I don't have the required medical expertise to tell you what those organs are- but so long as you maintain the ability to produce chakra strings from your tenketsu, a sealed jar containing the brain, heart, and maybe a few other things would be more than enough. The skeleton, muscular system, eyes, ears, and vocal chords at minimum. I'm not certain how well other senses would be preserved in such a manner, however."

"Eyes and ears?" She immediately asked, her old and scratchy voice maintaining an even tempo and tone.

"You can maintain vision and hearing through a puppet?" Ryoma didn't attempt to hide his mild confusion, glancing over at Chiyo before turning back to the woman and answering. Chiyo looked distinctly blank at the moment.

"The vision for certain- I've been using such to gain omnidirectional awareness on my puppetarmor for several years now. I know it's a technique that Sasori learned well before me as well- he laughed at me when I requested advice related to improving visual fidelity. The ears I know are possible, again from him, but I haven't had a need to develop such a skill myself yet."

"Clarify, what do you mean by 'visual fidelity'?"

"The sight gained through a puppet's eye is poor- rather blurry. It's enough to discern color, shape, and motion- but reading text and fine detail is exceedingly difficult except at very close ranges. I haven't been able to meaningfully improve the visual quality with wood and paint thus far- I theorize that a glass eye may be superior but I haven't had the time to test this."

"The example limb provided to Special Jonin Mari was attached with a padded base and a series of leather straps. What can be done to improve the limb-body connection?"

"That would require medical knowledge that I don't have to answer with any confidence."

"I have no further questions." The woman declared, leaning back and allowing another old person to lean forwards. This time it was Captain Gentai.

"Your earlier statement- 'So long as the ability to produce chakra strings from your tenketsu is maintained' as well as your clarification that other limbs are possible to replace. Together they imply that chakra strings can be produced and maintained from any tenketsu! The standard technique for producing chakra strings necessitates the use of tenketsu in the fingers. Can you clarify that this is indeed possible?!" Gentai was as loud and direct as ever, face still set in his standard glare and scowl.

Ryoma was pretty sure he was just asking for the room here, because Gentai would've absolutely read through his report and saw that this question was answered there too. Ryoma nodded and raised one foot across the other leg, letting the gathered see the accumulation of vibrant green chakra at the base before it stretched out and grabbed at his straw hat, pulling it off and putting it back on in a slightly clumsy tip of the hat.

"Chakra Strings through the soles of my feet is how I operated the mk1 puppetarmor's legs and balance. It's difficult to perform, and I'm less practiced with them overall, but they are possible. I can only reliably produce and maintain one string from each foot, not a full set of ten." With that he allowed the string to dissipate before dropping his foot back to the floor. Gentai nodded at that before immediately jumping into another stern question.

"In the scroll that outlined the process and its potential uses, the topic of 'integrated weaponry and techniques' was addressed. Can you clarify the term 'integrated weaponry and techniques'?" Ryoma raised a brow, before bringing his hands around for a visual demonstration. He raised his left arm and used his right to pat at the bracer.

"It's as it sounds- presuming an individual had to replace their limb with a puppet-limb for whatever reason, there is little preventing them from operating the limb like a puppet-in-miniature. Puppets usually contain one or more weapons hidden within their structure, and there is no reason a puppet-limb cannot do the same." This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. He outlined a rectangle on his forearm.

"The structure is maintained by the outer shell of the puppet limb, the interior could easily be filled with anything that can fit within a forearm. A blade, a spool of ninja wire, a kunai or senbon launcher, and so on. Even assuming that one wished to avoid compromising structural integrity or additional weight- a Jutsu Shiki somewhere on the limb's outer facing is equally possible." He dropped his arms before continuing.

"With the inability to perform handseals, the most pragmatic option would be to load such weapons or shiki upon the limb to partially compensate for the lost ability."

"Elaborate upon the inability to perform handseals." The old and weathered tone of the ANBU Captain called out, low and smoothed with age. A male by the voice, and pretty intimidating with the orange tint to his small-lens goggles.

"Handseals require chakra to move through the tenketsu of the hand. A puppet hand does not have the requisite tenketsu required." He then performed a small and professional shrug.

"It's possible that artificial structures could be built to replicate the tenketsu- but the most efficient solution would probably be to simply saturate the hand of a corpse in non-stiffening preservatives and use it. This would allow the user's chakra to flow through the appropriate tenketsu required to perform handseals once more." As expected of professional ninja, not one of them blinked at the suggestion to use the hand of a corpse as a prosthetic. The ANBU Captain nodded.

"I have no further questions." The Kazekage's eyes wandered over the gathered for a few seconds more, then he nodded and turned back to Ryoma. He stood from his desk as he spoke.

"If there are no further questions, we will proceed to the Theater Chamber for the demonstration." All the gathered ninja rose from the table and organized themselves into neat lines, the Kazekage taking the lead and gesturing for him to do the same. Soon they were back to walking in the winding halls.

"Jonin Ryoma, you will be demonstrating the entire process of creating a set of puppet limbs when we reach the Theater Chamber." Rasa stated plainly, hands folded behind his back as he walked.

"An appropriate beneficiary has already been made aware of the situation and is currently waiting for your presence."

"A full set, Lord Kazekage?" Ryoma asked for clarification. A full set and a single beneficiary would mean there was some poor bastard missing all four limbs. Assuming that they lost those limbs in an actual battle, then the fact that they survived long enough to actually be recovered strained believability. Most of the time, a ninja who loses a limb will die very quickly afterwards. There were vanishingly few ninja who actually lived long enough to return home a cripple.

So unless they lost the limbs in a training accident or exceptional circumstances… Rasa tilted his head forwards shallowly.

"38-102 participated in a battle in the in northern Land of Rivers during the last month before Iwa announced a cessation of hostilities and an abandonment of their ambitions in the Land of Grass. The battle spilled over into the Land of Rain, whereupon the gathered ninja were met with Hanzo the Salamander." Hanzo had the kind of name that chilled the room whenever it was spoken aloud. The Kazekage continued after a moment, as they rounded and began down another staircase.

"The battle lasted exactly one minute longer. At the fifty four second mark, 38-102 was captured in the mouth of one of his summoned Salamanders. At the sixty second mark, Hanzo ordered his summon to spit her out, commended the handful of survivors on their ability, and left. The remaining ninja mutually agreed to cease the battle indecisively and leave."

"In the six seconds she was captured, the corrosive venom of the salamander had rendered her hairless, caused extensive chemical burns all over her body, and rendered her limbless. She was stabilized by a present medical ninja and returned to Sunagakure for intensive care. She has since recovered from the chemical damage, save for the missing limbs." Rasa glanced over at him, tone as calm and flat as someone discussing the weather.

"Her repeated requests for assisted suicide have been postponed until after the full details of her encounter with Hanzo the Salamander could be extracted- and may be summarily rejected if partial functionality can be restored through puppetlimbs." What a distinctly horrifying story. Ryoma's tone was relatively bland as he replied.

"With all due respect Lord Kazekage, you could've simply said 'Hanzo' and I would've understood." He felt bad for the lady, of course- in that sort of abstract way that people feel bad about tragedies happening on the other side of the world. It was difficult to get all that worked up over someone who he didn't know about until a couple seconds ago. Rasa gave a mildly amused exhale through his nose.

"You will be compensated fifty-five thousand ryo for the demonstration." A middle of the road C-rank then. Made sense, this qualified as a mission that had little to no chance of combat with enemy ninja. Ryoma would've done this for free, but he was hardly going to refuse extra money.

"Understood, Lord Kazekage." They stopped before a door, upon which the words 'Theater Chamber' was prominently displayed. Rasa nodded at it.

"Enter and wait for my word to begin. The rest of us will proceed to the Viewing Room." Ryoma nodded and pushed the door open, moving inside as the rest of moved on through the halls. Inside was a large and mostly featureless chamber, with black tinted glass on one side of the room overlooking the chamber. The middle had been filled with tables, little puppetry workstations, a few scrolls, and a single bed. Upon the bed was doubtlessly the beneficiary. He could tell because she was basically a nugget.

Legs and arms both ending in well-bandaged stumps midway through the biceps and thighs. Short black hair, pale gold eyes, and somewhat drained and lifeless expression. Except the creepy, highly-focused stare she was silently leveling upon him. That seemed pretty life-like. Well, he supposed he'd be pretty focused too if he was a nugget and got told he might get some limbs back. It wouldn't be polite for him to get bothered by it.

He nodded calmly at her before turning his head towards the black tinted glass and waiting. The room smelled like rocks, salt, pine wood, and whatever chemical they had used to clean it. After a few moments, the Kazekage's voice came through one of the speakers installed in the corner of the room.

"You will find all required tools and material in the room, more can be brought in upon request. You will find all relevant medical details in the scroll on the central desk next to the patient. You may begin when ready." Ryoma nodded, walking forwards and deciding to just ignore the woman's stare as he picked up the mentioned scroll and started reading. There was a lot of information he didn't need, of course, but most relevantly was a diagram and exact measurements about her pre-maiming proportions.

That was important, he needed that to make correct-scale limbs. He nodded and set the scroll down, before thinking of something. He hesitated for a moment before turning back to the woman on the bed.

"Do you know how to produce a chakra string?" She stared for a few long seconds, just enough to make the silence uncomfortable, before her lips parted and a dry voice came out.

"... I did." You did? What, did you forget? He pushed aside his irritation and continued.

"Do you know how to produce a chakra string from tenketsu other than your fingers?" He asked blandly, reaching up to pat himself in the arm. Another long period of her staring.

"... No." He huffed.

"You're going to need to figure it out. Here-" He reached into his vest-pocket, tapped a storage seal, and pulled out a kunai. He set it down on the bed next to her, underneath her left arm stump.

"It's going to take me awhile to make your limbs, in the meanwhile practice with this kunai. Produce a chakra string from the base of the amputation and move it to the other side of your bed. Then produce a chakra string at the base of that stump and move it down to your legs. Repeat the process until I'm done." There, she could be working on that while he was working. Best case scenario she figured it out before he was done, and at the very least she wouldn't be staring at him the whole time.

With the kunai placed and her gaze utterly fixed on it, Ryoma walked back to start work. He glanced at the list of measurements again, then started looking for the wood and saws. He made sure to stretch and twist, cracking his back and limbs with loud pops, before taking hold of the wood and bringing it back to the table. As he set it down, he glanced at the measurements again. Most important part, really, he'd be glancing at it constantly before he started cutting anything.