In the Sand Village, the clones are everywhere, and the Arkham game begins

Chapter 487 Chiyo's Joy
a few days later.

The Sand Village has released its latest standard-issue armored puppet.

The price is not high, only 800,000 taels, which is comparable to the reward for an A-level mission.

However, the prerequisite for purchasing is that the ninja has enough merit. It can be said that this purchasing privilege is a benefit provided to ninjas who have made certain contributions.

For an average genin, it might be difficult to come up with the money, and it's almost impossible to satisfy that honor. But for a chunin who has already participated in B-rank missions and is capable of leading a team to carry out the next level of missions, as long as they are willing to spend their savings and grit their teeth, they can still buy it.

I'm certainly capable of meeting the merit requirements above. Even if I'm currently penniless, as long as I'm willing to spend time saving money, I can buy it in one or two years if I complete tasks diligently enough.

Chunin have the authority to lead C-rank missions independently and also meet the standards for participating in B-rank missions. Even if the final mission reward is shared with the team members, they can still complete quite a few missions over the course of a year.

Soon, the ninjas of Sunagakure discovered that the performance of this armored puppet was incredibly strong.

After being equipped, even special jonin who have reached the jonin standard in some aspects and whose overall strength is a level higher than theirs may not be able to defeat them.

With its superior mobility and energy output efficiency, even a Jonin with all-around abilities and no obvious weaknesses compared to a regular ninja would have to put in a lot of effort to deal with a puppet wearing the latest standard armor.

At the same time, the spies planted by various ninja villages in Sunagakure also learned of this news.

This thing will definitely be equipped on a large scale in the future. Since the last Shinobi World War, the major ninja villages have greatly strengthened their intelligence gathering efforts against Sunagakure.

Things like the Freeze Bomb and the New Puppet Technique are things that outsiders definitely want, but they also know that stealing them is extremely difficult. However, at least if something similar appears again, they should know its function so that their own ninja village's ninjas can be prepared in advance when they encounter it.

Sunagakure naturally guards its truly important possessions with utmost vigilance. Ebizo and Rasa, along with their ANBU, secretly investigate and capture spies every day.

But no matter how much you try to cover it up, some things that are out in the open will inevitably leak out. Sunagakure is economically prosperous, with a huge flow of people coming and going every day. Some things are impossible to hide, so there's no need to hide them. It's better to just be open and honest and show them off.

I've shown it to you, what can you do about it?

In a single day, Sunagakure openly produced and sold thousands of standard armored puppets that could elevate the combat power of an ordinary Chunin to that of a Special Jonin.

The necessary protective measures are in place, and the eligibility requirement for purchasing is set at Chunin who have completed at least twenty B-rank missions.

However, even if it were leaked, other ninja villages wouldn't have the ability to crack it.

Although Shimizu considered the technology to be of average technical content, other ninja villages without sufficient industrial base would not be able to produce it even if they cracked the code.

The new puppetry technique of Sunagakure shone brightly in the Third Shinobi World War, even more amazing than the medical ninja force that Tsunade had established. Other ninja villages also began to study puppetry after that, but this was not something that could be achieved overnight.
From the Second Kazekage and Monzaemon, to Chiyo and Ebizo, and finally to Shimizu and Sasori, the foundation that the Third Puppet Master spent decades building for Sunagakure is not so easy to catch up with.

Even Konoha, currently the village with the strongest financial resources and research capabilities, with Kushina, a master of sealing techniques, and Orochimaru and Tobirama Senju, two top-tier research geniuses, can only barely create Jonin-level puppets at best. Moreover, the materials required are several times that of Sunagakure, and only Tobirama Senju and Orochimaru can create them.

Let alone compared to the Chikamatsu Ten, even if they were placed in Shimizu's group, they would only get an A+ at the moment.

If these two top scientists in the ninja world were given enough time, they might not be able to catch up with Sunagakure in the future, but they would certainly achieve some results. However, at most within the next ten years or so, they would only be able to reach the level Sunagakure had before the invention of the new puppet technique.

The development of science and technology must follow objective laws and is independent of human will; it cannot be accelerated simply by Konoha or other ninja villages.

Even if Konoha were to actually build such a thing someday, there wouldn't be an energy source like the Arc Reactor to use.

It would be truly a losing proposition to force a Jonin to use their own chakra as an energy source.

The day after this batch of the latest standard-issue armored puppets began to be sold to the village of Sunagakure, a special selection process was held.

Thanks to the influence of the clear water, Sunagakure Village gained access to more resources, along with new breathing techniques and puppet techniques, allowing each ninja to receive better training and strengthening, and the proportion of strong ninjas continued to increase.

Three years ago, Sunagakure had more than 5,200 Chunin, 733 Special Jonin, and 144 Jonin. In the past three years, many of the better Chunin and Special Jonin have been promoted after being strengthened.

The number of special Jonin in Sunagakure has now risen to 1,084, and the number of Jonin is 202, an increase of nearly half.

As for the genin who are promoted to chunin, there are even more.

This is because the accumulated strength of Sunagakure has been concentrated and erupted in the past three years, and it is unlikely that the growth rate will be so high in the future.

However, that only applies if things remain the same.

In the training ground, apart from those on missions and maintaining the village's daily defenses, hundreds of Sand Village ninjas of special jonin rank and above secretly gathered at a training ground next to the Emerald of Wind to watch two ninjas fight.

One was a veteran Jonin in the village. Although he was not an elite Jonin, he was not mediocre at the Jonin level. The other was just a newly promoted Special Jonin.

Logically speaking, the latter should have been defeated without a doubt, at most managing to hold out for a while and see if there was any way to escape unscathed from the former's clutches.

But in reality, the two were evenly matched at that moment.

The reason for all of this was simply because that special Jonin was wearing a puppet armor.

"Air combat is highly mobile. Even though Jonin generally have all-around combat capabilities, they are still ground units and will be at a disadvantage. In terms of destructive power, this puppet armor exceeds the standard of Jonin. If Jonin Kiriha wants to defeat Takeda, the best way is to destroy the energy core of that armored puppet."

A middle-aged Jonin watched the battle unfold and stroked his short beard.

"I'm afraid it won't be easy. Takeda can fly with his puppet armor, and he's fast, making him hard to hit. Besides, he's also a special Jonin specializing in Earth Release, and if he's careful to protect his vitals, unless Kiriha has some very strong trump card that can give him absolute suppression in a short time, he won't have a chance to break the energy core." "That's probably unlikely. Elite Jonin like Kurokawa or Ishido might be able to, but Kiriha... It's not that I look down on him, but I know his abilities. Although he's not bad among Jonin of our rank, he clearly doesn't have that ability."

"Then let's see whether the puppet's energy core runs out first, or Kiriha runs out of chakra first."

……

A group of Jonin and Special Jonin gathered around the field, discussing the matter animatedly. On the high platform, several high-ranking members of Sunagakure were also watching.

"Given the current surplus production capacity of the puppet troops, the annual output of this puppet armor is about forty sets. As long as the manpower trained by Scorpion can keep up, the production scale can continue to expand."

However, the true core of the second-generation arc reactor requires a particle accelerator to manufacture, and like the first-generation arc reactor, the metal reaction strips need to be replaced when the energy is exhausted.

According to my plan, given the village's current financial situation, and without affecting normal development and the large-scale war puppet construction plan, the surplus funds should be enough to maintain four particle accelerators. Therefore, considering the production capacity of the particle accelerators, the number of puppet armors should be kept below four hundred.

Shimizu sat in the main seat, looking at the battle between Kiriha and Takeda below, and spoke.

"In other words, given enough time and resources, the village can raise four hundred special Jonin to the Jonin level, or further strengthen existing Jonin. There's also another, lower-cost puppet armor that can be mass-produced among Chunin, giving them combat power comparable to special Jonin... then..."

The Third Kazekage, who showed signs of aging compared to the past, gripped the armrest with some excitement.

Therefore, a conservative estimate would be that Sunagakure would have 600 Jonin-level combatants and several thousand Special Jonin.

This is an extremely terrifying power, comparable to the combined strength of the core members of four or five major ninja villages.

Before Amegakure became the top ninja village, each large ninja village had more than a hundred Jonin. Konoha, the strongest village at the time, even had more than two hundred Jonin during its peak before the Second Shinobi World War.

Before the end of the Third Shinobi World War, even though the five great ninja villages were in decline, the number of Jonin never fell below one hundred. In particular, as the reserve force of Jonin, the number of Jonin remained steadily above five hundred, and the size of the army was maintained at more than ten thousand for a long time.

In addition, the ability to cultivate Kage-level shinobi and the ability to consistently produce Kage-level shinobi Jinchuriki are the foundations that allow the Great Shinobi Village to maintain its position!

Although Amegakure now has Hanzo, Kakuzu, and Nagato, and has also obtained the Seven-Tails, meeting the standards of a major ninja village in terms of high-end combat power, its position is not actually very secure.

Because there isn't enough manpower, there isn't enough core personnel available.

No matter how much Hanzo cultivated talent, consolidated his power, and recruited talent, he only had a few dozen Jonin under his command, barely over fifty, and the total number of ninjas was only six or seven thousand.

This fighting force is enough to influence the situation in the ninja world, but it is still much weaker than other ninja villages. It can only be ranked at the bottom among the major ninja villages, sitting at the same table as Iwagakure, which was crushed in the battle of Shimizu.

Iwagakure has lost two tailed beasts, resulting in a severe shortage of high-end combat power. It also lost thousands of people on the battlefield of the Third Shinobi World War. Although the total number of ninjas is still over 10,000, the number of Jonin has dwindled to just over 100.

These two are truly the weakest ninja villages, with only about 160 or 170 Jonin combined.

Konoha suffered significant losses in the Second Shinobi World War and even greater losses in the Third Shinobi World War, but its foundation was still very strong. The number of Jonin was about the same as that of Sunagakure three years ago, with about 140 or 150 remaining. Kumogakure suffered fewer losses in this Shinobi World War and developed vigorously, with the number of Jonin now comparable to that of Konoha.

Add to that the Mist Village, which, despite being badly defeated by Fugaku Uchiha, still maintains the facade of one of the Five Great Ninja Villages. The total number of Jonin from these villages is probably only around six hundred, or even a little less.

While there are some differences among Special Jonin, the gaps are not too significant.

Shimizu had previously estimated that 60,000 ninjas would be needed to maintain a relatively stable rule over the ninja world. However, given the current rate at which Sunagakure is building up its army, no matter how optimistic the situation is, training ninjas will take time, at least seven or eight years.

However, if we look at it from another angle, using technological capabilities to significantly increase the average strength of the current ninjas in Sunagakure, so that 20,000 people can be equal to 60,000, is also a viable method.

Although manufacturing these puppet armors also takes time, it is much shorter than taking the conventional route.

This wave could directly cause a tremendous qualitative change in the overall strength of Sunagakure, which made the Third Kazekage excited.

Old men usually only see things like this in their dreams; they never imagined that one day it might actually come true.

"These puppet armors are available for purchase by all Jonin and Special Jonin. For those elite Jonin who are relatively strong, the armors may not cause a qualitative change in their strength level like they have now, but they can still provide a certain boost."

At least the ability to fly is very useful.

Jonin-level ninjas don't have any obvious weaknesses, and even their anti-air capabilities are not bad, but they generally don't have the ability to fight by flying.

In addition to the other functions of the armor, it can also play a good supporting role for Jonin.

"However, I will have to trouble you elders to find a way to properly distribute these puppet armors among the Jonin and Special Jonin."

Shimizu turned his gaze away from the battle below and addressed several senior members of Sunagakure.

Scorpion also spoke up:

"In addition, these puppet armors can be further upgraded, but only a few of us top puppeteers have the ability to upgrade them. Shimizu is busy continuing to improve his strength, and I also need to build large war puppets, so if someone makes enough contributions, we can only ask Grandma and Uncle for help."

Chiyo glanced at her grandson, who had become the Kazekage's apprentice, then at his handsome and equally outstanding son, who had surpassed his master in talent. A smile spread across her old face, filled with satisfaction. She spoke:

“Young people, go ahead and do your work. Leave these trivial matters to us old folks. Your time is of much greater value.”

(End of this chapter)