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

Chapter 77 Trying to pull strings behind the scenes? No way!

The meeting ended, and everyone dispersed.

Ryuji sat there deep in thought for a while before finally going to the newly built temporary studio.

Without observation instruments or 3D printers, only ordinary processing tools available in this era, it was naturally impossible to produce anything cutting-edge.

But Ryuji only wanted to make two "ordinary" puppets.

Tomorrow's duel... Silver and Black will both participate as independent entities, and neither the Machine Bird nor the War Fortress is suitable for use in the duel arena.

Although "Type A" has powerful performance, Minato has already witnessed it.

Even if Konoha makes targeted preparations, victory is not guaranteed.

Therefore, he needs to take out an insurance policy.

Ryuji himself has no ninja talent and knows very few ninjutsu, but where did most of the experience points and points he gained from signing in for nearly ten years go?

That's right, they were mostly used in puppetry and mechanical engineering.

He would initially use it to upgrade basic ninja skills such as the Three Body Techniques, Taijutsu, and Hidden Weapons.

But as these skills were all leveled up to the maximum and no other ninjutsu were learned, Ryuji realized that his talent was at best limited to making him a cannon fodder Chunin who could only throw kunai and use explosive tags.

From then on, he stopped wasting his time and devoted himself to becoming a puppeteer.

He used all his experience points to upgrade his puppeteer skills and knowledge, and used all his points to buy materials. With the help of materials provided by the village, he practiced almost day and night, and by the age of ten, he had become the most outstanding puppeteer of the era.

Even the first puppeteer, Monzaemon, might not be as powerful as him.

Ryuji was making preparations, and Konoha was also there.

Many people are busy on this quiet night.

Tonight, I'm destined to be sleepless.

……

The next day.

The weather was fine and the sun was shining brightly.

The Sand Village delegation, led by the Konoha envoy, arrived at the dueling arena located in the north early in the morning.

This place, resembling a Roman Colosseum, is the venue used for the Chunin Exams. Above the walls are tiered seating areas for spectators, where high-ranking officials from various countries and ninja villages come to watch the matches.

However, since today's duel was decided on the spur of the moment, there weren't many spectators. Only the Konoha high-ranking officials and the Sunagakure delegation were present.

In the audience seats, the people of Konoha, with the Third Hokage at the core, had been waiting for a long time.

Upon seeing the arrival of the Sand Village members, Sarutobi and the others immediately stood up to greet them. "Jonin Ayaki, you've become even more radiant in just one day."

"The Hokage looks even more radiant!" Ryuji said politely to Sarutobi, but his gaze was fixed on the person behind him.

The two advisor elders did not come.

Behind him was a group of ninjas whose powerful aura could be felt without even looking at them.

Long Er only knew a few of these people.

I don't recognize any of them except Minato Namikaze, Setsuna Uchiha, and Tsunade.

But their identities can be roughly guessed from their clothing and appearance... the chieftains of various tribes.

(Konoha is way too strong right now!)

Ryuji was very surprised.

Although we knew from the beginning that Konoha was strong, the strength that Konoha displayed was much stronger than we had imagined.

Although we haven't fought each other and don't know their exact strength, judging from their aura alone, they are not weak either.

Even the weakest are at the elite Jonin level.

This is only because most of Konoha's top ninjas went to the front lines. If all the top ninjas were there, there would probably be twenty or thirty elite Jonin!

This is horrible.

Thanks to the three Shinobi World Wars, all the ninja villages targeted Konoha first. And thanks to the fact that not long after the three wars ended, Konoha was hit by the Nine-Tails attack and the Uchiha massacre.

Otherwise, if Konoha had continued to develop smoothly, unifying the ninja world would have been just a matter of time.

Ryuji was sizing up the Konoha people, and the Konoha people were also sizing up Ryuji.

He became the leader of a puppet army at the age of fifteen; he fought ten elite Jonin, killing nine and letting one escape; he repelled tens of thousands of enemies with three shots; he single-handedly defeated Minato's team; he left Shikaku helpless in diplomacy; he stunned Uchiha Setsuna, who had awakened his Sharingan, with a single glare... All these things happened to one person, making his life story quite legendary.

But after looking around, they only felt disappointed.

Because they simply couldn't see anything special about this boy.

Well, it's not without its highlights.

He's at least very handsome, even more so than Minato.

But it has no other advantages.

One of the Hyuga clan followers, in particular, secretly observed the leader of the Sunagakure delegation with his Byakugan. The leader's chakra was pitifully low.

While a ninja's strength cannot be judged by the amount of chakra they possess, this is far too little; they can't even use shadow clones.

(Perhaps they possess some kind of special ability that they can't see!) the clan leaders thought to themselves.

……

"This incident was an accident, and I hope it won't damage the friendship between Sunagakure and Konoha." After exchanging a few pleasantries with Ryuji, Sarutobi ushered him into the main stands, while the others found seats around them.

"Of course, this is just an accident and will not affect the friendship between Sunagakure and Konoha."

"So, this duel..."

"Of course we have to continue."

Seeing that Sarutobi wanted a peaceful resolution, Ryuji decisively refused, saying, "Although this matter will not affect the friendship between Sunagakure and Konoha, if the grudges that have already been formed are not resolved as soon as possible, they will only fester and grow, and may have an impact in the future."

Upon hearing this, Sarutobi fell silent.

Ryuji's meaning was clear: if this matter could be resolved satisfactorily, everything would be fine. If not, then Sunagakure's intentions would be uncertain.

"...In that case, let's settle this grudge with a duel!" Sarutobi was silent for a moment, then said, "This duel has no winner or loser, no life or death, and no rules. After the duel, regardless of the outcome, all past grudges will be wiped clean, and no one is allowed to seek revenge against the other privately."

"That's natural."

Ryuji readily agreed, glancing at Uchiha Setsuna beside him and the old man in front of him.

Uchiha Setsuna's expression was somewhat unpleasant, but an elderly Uchiha man beside him was quite satisfied and nodded, saying, "My Uchiha clan also accepts the conditions."

"In that case, let's send out our respective players and decide the matchups by drawing lots."

"This is too much trouble."

Seeing everyone looking at him, Ryuji smiled and took out six playing cards from his pocket. "Hokage-sama, we'll each have three cards. We'll each write down our chosen fighters on the cards, then we'll draw cards from each other. The order in which we draw the cards will determine our fighters and the order of battle, shall we?"

"this……"

Sarutobi looked at Tsunade and Minato, who shrugged helplessly, indicating that there was nothing they could do.

In the end, I had no choice but to agree.

"Let's begin!"

Ryuji handed the three playing cards and a score to Sarutobi, then picked up a pen and began writing with his back to the people of Konoha.

(Hmph, trying to pull strings behind the scenes? No way.)

My sleep schedule has been completely reversed lately, so I've been updating in the afternoons and evenings. I apologize to those of you who are used to updating in the mornings and evenings.

(End of this chapter)