This puppeteer is a bit... well...

Chapter 1

The Land of Wind.

Deep in the desert, in the ruins of a dilapidated city.

A boy leaned against the wall, snoring in the shadows.

The boy was about fifteen years old, with short reddish-brown hair and delicate features. He looked very handsome and capable in his black ninja outfit.

"Ryuji, Ryuji..."

A girl's voice rang out from afar. The sleeping boy raised an eyebrow but did not wake up.

The shouts grew louder as they approached.

A short while later, a scantily clad young girl arrived.

She frowned slightly when she saw the boy sleeping soundly.

"Ryuji!"

The girl called out again, but seeing that the boy still didn't wake up, she remained silent for a moment, then suddenly produced three kunai in her hand. "Ryuji Ayaki, if you slack off again, I'll use you as a target to practice kunai."

The threatening words had barely left his lips when his snoring stopped.

The boy opened his pure eyes, filled with helplessness. "Ye Cang, can't you let me rest for a while?"

Ye Cang raised an eyebrow, looking down at him. "The Third Kazekage has been missing for several days now. It concerns the survival of the village. Everyone is working hard to find the Kazekage. Even the border troops have mobilized a large number of people. How can you be so lazy and slack off?"

"I'm searching hard too!"

"Lying here and struggling?"

"Of course." Ryuji rolled over and stood up, brushing the sand off himself as he said, "I'm a puppeteer, how could I possibly go looking for someone myself?"

"?"

Seeing the girl's puzzled expression, Long Er smiled and pointed into the distance, saying, "Look, the spies I sent out have returned."

The girl looked in the direction Ryuji was pointing.

The vast desert was shrouded in dust, with no signs of any biological activity.

"Are you kidding me?"

The girl turned around abruptly, staring at him with an unfriendly expression.

Ryuji chuckled softly, his gaze falling to the girl's feet. "No, they're here."

"they?"

Noticing the boy's vocabulary, Yecang was puzzled for a moment, then suddenly felt a rustling sound coming from the sand beneath his feet, as if something was about to emerge.

"careful"

Yecang gave a reminder, then jumped back, simultaneously forming hand seals, ready to strike with lightning speed as soon as anything hiding underground emerged.

At this moment, one by one, fist-sized scarabs emerged.

Long Er stepped forward, blocking the scarab beetle. "Don't be impulsive, it's my puppet."

"puppet?"

Ye Cang was stunned.

Long Er chuckled softly, raised his right hand and extended it in front of the girl. A scarab beetle crawled up his foot onto the back of his hand, lying obediently.

The metallic sheen of its mouthparts allowed the girl to discern its true identity... it was definitely not a living being.

"You should have explained yourself earlier!"

Ye Cang breathed a sigh of relief.

In the ninja world, many animals and insects have undergone mutations.

Even a ninja would find it difficult to win against a swarm of scarabs in the desert.

"I just wanted you to see it for yourself!"

Long Er said this without blushing or skipping a beat.

Actually, he was annoyed by the girl's previous arrogance and wanted to scare her with insects, but it backfired.

Although these scarabs were coated with heat-resistant material, he wasn't sure if he could survive the scorching heat that could instantly evaporate the moisture from a human body.

"After all, autonomous puppetry is a secret technique I invented exclusively. I don't know how much I would have to waste explaining it to you to make you believe it."

Upon hearing this, Ye Cang nodded in deep agreement.

A puppeteer must manipulate a puppet from a distance using chakra threads.

It is truly the first time in history that Ryuji has been able to control a puppet without using chakra threads, allowing it to move on its own far from the puppeteer.

If she tries to explain verbally, she'll just think the other person is making up an excuse for being lazy.

"As expected of someone who, along with Sasori of the Red Sand, is known as the most talented puppeteer in the history of Sunagakure, he actually developed such a secret technique." Yekura couldn't help but admire.

She didn't immediately realize the deeper strategic significance of a self-disciplined puppet.

However, the profession of puppeteer... compared to puppets that are covered in weapons and have hard bodies, puppeteers themselves, who need to be distracted to control puppets, are easier to deal with.

Therefore, in battle.

Enemies often bypass the puppet or the puppeteer's teammates and go straight for the puppeteer, making him their fatal weakness.

If puppets can be remotely controlled in battle, then the puppeteer's own body will no longer be a weakness, greatly increasing the puppeteer's margin for error.

"Enough with the praise. My darlings have found a clue. Go take a look," Ryuji said solemnly.

Are there enemies?

"Yes, and a formidable rival."

Long Er turned around, jumped onto the broken wall, and looked around.

In the boundless desert, smoke and dust billowed, and the air was so distorted by the high temperature that it was difficult to see clearly.

But Ryuji ignored all the unfavorable conditions that obstructed his view and saw the end at a glance.

It is located in a Gobi Desert cliff 300 kilometers away.

A handsome young man with short, reddish-brown hair is modifying a corpse in a cave filled with parts and bodies.

The corpse resembled the Third Kazekage.

"Hopefully, it's not too late."

Turning his gaze away, Long Er murmured softly.

He knew from the beginning that the Third Kazekage had been assassinated and taken away by Sasori, a genius from the same village.

They also knew that such a search operation involving almost all ninjas would leave the village and its borders vulnerable, potentially triggering attacks from neighboring countries.

but.

He couldn't explain the source of the intelligence, and as a newly promoted Jonin, he had no say and couldn't stop the search operation.

They could only participate, hoping to find the whereabouts of the Third Kazekage before neighboring countries attacked the village.

Yes, Ryuji Ayaki is a time traveler.

In my previous life, I came from another world, Earth, and watched an anime called "Naruto".

After transmigrating, I also got a salted fish sign-in system.

There were no tasks, and no punishments.

You can receive rewards simply by checking in on the system every day.

Of course, the reward won't be anything special.

It usually comes in the form of 10 points or experience points, or it could be materials or knowledge books that don't exist in this world.

Points can be used to purchase items in the mall, and experience points can be used to improve one's skill level.

but.

Ten points can only buy a bottle of red wine or a precision screw.

With 10 experience points, you can't do anything.

Even the most basic throwing weapon... it takes 100 points to go from beginner to basic mastery.

Those knowledge books weren't exactly rare either; they were not only diverse in type, but also included many novels and comics.

To win the grand prize, you need to check in a certain number of times.

Long Er has been signing in for almost ten years and has only won the grand prize three times, which is quite frustrating.

Because this world is full of fatalism and bloodline theory.

Without a good background, you can't even be cannon fodder; you can only appear in the background.

It doesn't have a name yet.

(End of this chapter)