Konoha, reported by the Fourth Hokage at the start.

Chapter 275 The Heart of a Puppet

"sharp!"

"That's really amazing!"

Looking at the sphere before him, which resembled a mechanical heart, Li Yao's Wind Release clone exclaimed in admiration, "Truly a genius puppeteer, one in a century from Sunagakure."

My own suggestion back then was actually figured out by Scorpion.

The mechanical sphere before him emitted an aura of chakra that gave Li Yao's Wind Release clone a similar feeling to that of a tailed beast.

It's not that their chakra is the same, but rather that their life force is the same.

The feeling that Li Yaofeng used his clones was like facing a newly born tailed beast.

"Tell me, how did you do that?" Li Yaofeng's clone turned his head slightly, glanced at Scorpion, and asked with a smile.

"It's all thanks to Lord Fengying's guidance back then that I was able to see through the mystery of the transformation between matter and energy and research this puppet heart."

Scorpion's puppet-like face remained calm and stiff, but his tone was so fanatical that he spoke eloquently about the research results he had accumulated over the past year and a half, like a mad scientist.

"By studying a portion of Shukaku's soul extracted by an adult, I discovered the secret of the source of the tailed beast's chakra."

"Lord Kazekage, do you know about natural energy?" Scorpion asked.

"I understand." Li Yaofeng nodded, using his clone.

In fact, he had guessed the source of the tailed beasts' chakra during his battle with Shukaku: the tailed beasts could absorb natural energy from the natural world and convert it into their own chakra.

This is why tailed beasts can maintain a massive amount of chakra even without eating or drinking.

Sasori continued, "The souls of tailed beasts are very special. Unlike normal human souls, they are more like the souls of biological puppets, infused with special puppet seals that can convert absorbed natural energy into their own chakra."

The Tailed Beasts are essentially the Ten-Tails, and the Ten-Tails are essentially the God Tree.

The sacred tree has the ability to absorb natural energy.

The toads of Mount Myōboku helped the Sage of Six Paths seal Kaguya Ōtsutsuki in order to stop the Divine Tree from absorbing the planet's natural energy.

For the toads of Mount Myōboku who have mastered the use of natural energy, the Divine Tree's absorption of natural energy into its own chakra is tantamount to severing their extraordinary power, making it a mortal enemy.

Since the Tailed Beasts inherited the power of the God Tree, it is understandable that they can absorb natural energy and convert it into their own chakra.

Li Yao should have realized this much earlier.

"Through my research on the souls of the Tailed Beasts, I finally developed a brand-new Puppet Seal half a year ago. With just a little bit of the Tailed Beast's chakra as a guide, a puppet heart that can absorb natural energy and transform it into the Tailed Beast's chakra can be naturally condensed."

Sasori continued, "However, the chakra condensed from this puppet heart originates from the tailed beast's chakra. Therefore, the chakra obtained not only contains enormous negative emotions but is also subject to the tailed beast's control."

"After that, I re-examined the puppet seals of the three generations of humans, and finally today I have developed a puppet heart that does not require the tailed beast's chakra as a catalyst."

At this point, Sasori gestured wildly and spoke in a frenzied voice, saying, "The new Puppet Heart, as long as it has my chakra as a catalyst, can automatically absorb natural energy and condense it into its own chakra, which I can completely control."

"Furthermore, through the transmission of natural energy, puppets created with the Puppet Heart have overcome the drawback of needing chakra threads to connect them for control, and can be remotely controlled by mind."

The Puppet Pigeon is a puppet created using Sasori's Puppet Heart, and it can be controlled without chakra threads.

One of the biggest weaknesses of puppets is that once the chakra threads are severed, the puppet being controlled becomes nothing more than a pile of scrap metal.

Now that we have the remote control of the Puppet Heart, we don't have to worry about the enemy cutting the chakra threads and causing the puppet to lose power.

This single characteristic alone means that the successful development of the Puppet Heart will greatly enhance the combat power of the Sand Ninja's puppeteers, and could even be said to bring about a qualitative change.

"This...this is amazing!"

Upon hearing this, Ye Yi's mouth dropped open. Clearly, she had also considered how terrifying a puppet would be if it lost its weakness of chakra threads and could continue operating indefinitely by absorbing natural energy.

This means that the endless puppet army that the Sand Ninja puppeteers once dreamed of will no longer be just a dream.

As long as there are enough materials for various puppets, creating an army of thousands of puppets is not a dream, but a real possibility.

Ye Yi was stunned. Her gaze toward the scorpion held three parts admiration and seven parts fear.

Scorpion's power has already threatened the adults' position!

Ye Yi, who was focused on Li Yaofeng's clone, gave the clone a subtle look, trying to remind it of the threat posed by Scorpion.

Unfortunately, Li Yaofeng's clone's attention was not on Ye Yi at all; his gaze and attention were fixed on the enormous puppet heart in front of him.

Or rather, on the new puppet seal inscribed inside the puppet heart.

Within the enormous puppet heart, the puppet handprints engraved by Scorpion were complex and exquisite, much like the world seen after delving into the cellular level of the human body, complex yet possessing a precise order.

Even with Li Yao's Wind Release clone's chakra perception ability, it still took ten minutes to memorize the new puppet seal.

But what he remembered was the puppet seal engraved inside the puppet's heart, not the original puppet seal.

Li Yaofeng used his clone to turn his head, but before he could speak, Scorpion had already taken out a scroll and handed it to him, clearly having prepared it in advance.

"These are research notes on the new Puppet Sign," Scorpion said.

"Not bad." Li Yaofeng smiled as he used his clone.

He was very satisfied with Scorpion's attitude. Wasn't the reason he brought Scorpion back and fully funded his puppet research for this very moment?

"Without your support, I would not have been able to develop a completely new puppet seal and achieve true eternity."

Scorpion showed no dissatisfaction whatsoever about handing over his research findings to Li Yaofeng's clone.

Because he knew very well that without Li Yaofeng's clone's help, it was hard to say whether he would have been able to get to this point in his life.

Without Li Yaofeng's guidance on physical body and energy transformation regarding his clone technique, and without the trust shown by giving him a Shukaku tail for research.

Even if he is a genius, if he cannot come up with inspiration for the transformation of physical body and energy, and if he has no tailed beasts to study, it is difficult or impossible for him to develop a completely new puppet seal.

Therefore, Sasori was very grateful to Li Yao for using his Wind Release clone. Sharing the technology was just the beginning; he had another great gift to present to the respected Fourth Kazekage later.

Li Yaofeng used his clone to flip through the scroll as he opened it.

With his knowledge of sealing techniques, the new puppet seal was easy to understand. He also paid attention to the new basic incantations related to energy conversion, and Li Yaofeng's clone was most concerned about this part.

For Li Yao in his current form, his ninjutsu, genjutsu, taijutsu, sealing techniques, and even barrier ninjutsu are far beyond those of ordinary people, and he has no obvious weaknesses.

It could be said that he is invincible under the Six Paths of Reincarnation.

Whether it's Madara with the Rinnegan or Hashirama Senju, the God of Shinobi, both possessing Wood Release, Rinnegan power and chakra, plus black hole space-time ninjutsu, they could kill each other head-on, even if they joined forces.

Even though Li Yao was already so powerful, he still had one shortcoming.

That is natural energy, and Sage Chakra, which is formed by the fusion of natural energy, spiritual energy, and physical energy.

Unable to sense natural energy, Li Yao has never been able to master the powerful energy of Sage Chakra.

Ninjutsu performed with Sage Chakra will receive a powerful boost.

However, what Li Yao values ​​most is Sage Chakra, or natural energy, a characteristic that Bloodline Limits cannot annihilate.

Chakra ninjutsu without natural energy, except for space-time ninjutsu, has no effect on those who possess bloodline limit.

If Li Yao develops a bloodline limit in the future, and he has no weaknesses in ninjutsu or taijutsu, then natural energy and sage chakra are the most likely points of attack to defeat him.

Therefore, Li Yao has never given up on mastering natural energy and Sage Chakra.

Unfortunately, he seems to be immune to natural energy. Even though his soul perception and chakra perception abilities are far beyond those of ordinary people, he still cannot sense the existence of natural energy.

He had Sasori research the Tailed Beast puppets in the hope that he could master a way to sense natural energy in advance.

Scorpion did not disappoint him.

(End of this chapter)