Chapter 30: Ebizō

Shimizu fished out the small bottle of antidote pills from Sasori's ninja pouch and sheepishly said:

"Here…"

"Hmph!"

Suna Captain Sazanami Yamakō snatched the bottle from his hand.

"Don't let this happen again! As punishment, the two of you will clean the entire base today!"

Shimizu and Sasori looked at each other.

"Do you know Water Release?"

Shimizu asked Sasori.

"A little."

"Good."

Water Release would make cleaning a lot easier.

"Next time, I still want to spar with you. Don't slack off."

"Huh? Doesn't that make me your training dummy? For free? That sounds like a ripoff."

Shimizu picked up a broom and mop, giving Sasori a dead-eyed stare.

Sasori slightly turned his head away.

"Grandma was worried I'd get bored, so she left a lot of books at home. If you're interested, for every time you beat me, you can read one. Until I win."

Shimizu's eyes lit up.

Chiyo's private collection?

She was a veteran Kage-level powerhouse—still at her peak. Chiyo was arguably the most formidable puppeteer in the entire ninja world.

Her library… was probably something every puppeteer dreamed of accessing.

"Ahem… Brother Sasori, in that case…"

"After we finish cleaning, come with me."

Thanks to Sasori's Water Release, the base cleanup went even faster than Shimizu expected.

Although Sasori wasn't a Water Release expert, and the arid climate of Sunagakure naturally weakened water techniques by about 30%, it was still more than enough to get the job done.

Even so, by the time Shimizu and Sasori finished cleaning the entire puppet corps base, it was already afternoon.

In a beggar's dreams, the emperor always eats white buns and farms with a golden hoe—Shimizu's reaction to Sasori's home mirrored that sentiment.

It wasn't that he had never seen luxury before in his past life, but he understood how rare it was to own a house like this in impoverished Sunagakure.

The house had a spacious courtyard made entirely of smooth sandstone bricks, radiating a warm, dusty yellow-white hue.

In a village where water was precious, there was even a pond in the center, fed by a small underground spring that constantly bubbled up. Two transplanted poplar trees flanked either side of the pond.

There were even fish in the pond, and under the poplar shade were two automatic retractable fishing rods built using puppet techniques.

It looked like a simple rural courtyard, but in Sunagakure, this was basically a palace that money couldn't buy.

"The study's over here."

Sasori opened a door on the left side of the courtyard.

Three of the walls were lined with bookshelves.

One shelf was filled with ordinary books. The one beside it held ninjutsu scrolls.

The center shelf had a mixed collection of the two.

"Don't touch the left and right shelves.

They're sealed by Grandma's fūinjutsu.

The right shelf has the books specifically curated for me."

Shimizu curiously walked over to the indicated shelf.

Advanced Black Secret Techniques,

Advanced Design and Application of Puppet Mechanisms,

Poison-Making Notes and Antidote Pharmacology,

Medical Ninjutsu Fundamentals,

Sunagakure Sealing Arts Basics,

Monzaemon's Chakra Thread Application Techniques...

Over half the shelf consisted of books on puppetry. The rest covered sealing arts, medical ninjutsu, poison-making—diverse and dazzling.

"These books all belong to Grandma, so I can't give them to you or let you take them home.

But you can read any one of them here. Even if you don't remember everything, I can bring you again tomorrow."

Sasori sat down at the desk and picked up the puppet-crafting book Ishito had given him last time, quietly resuming his reading.

Now it was Shimizu's turn to suffer from choice paralysis.

There were hundreds of books on that shelf. Any one of them would fetch a high price out in the world—some were even irreplaceable originals authored by Chiyo herself.

"Medical ninjutsu and sealing arts are must-learns for the future,

but they won't improve my combat ability right now, so not much use short-term."

"Poison-making and pharmacology require a solid foundation in medicinal knowledge.

I probably don't have enough background in that yet.

Reading one book won't make me a master—at best, I might memorize a few recipes."

"I should focus on puppetry.

In puppet creation, I'm already barely competent.

My clone is studying modern engineering in the DC world,

but when it comes to puppet control,

I still have a long way to go.

I've learned the basics of Black Secret Techniques,

but there's plenty of room to grow."

After weighing the options, Shimizu finally chose the book "Chakra Thread Application Techniques" written by Monzaemon.

He wouldn't be able to memorize the whole book in one afternoon, but he could certainly read through it once thoroughly—and more importantly, have his DC world clone transcribe it.

Shimizu would read here; the clone would record everything over there.

Monzaemon was the greatest puppeteer in history—in both construction and control. Even Sasori, with his Third Kazekage human puppet and 100-puppet manipulation, may not surpass him.

Their legacies could be compared to Newton and Einstein: one laid the foundations of science, the other achieved its greatest breakthroughs.

Human puppets were invented by Monzaemon, and puppet techniques truly became a system under his hand. The Near-Matsu Ten, his ten strongest puppets, were also his creations. Chiyo, as his heir, probably never surpassed him—at most, she came close.

Sasori's greatest innovation in puppetry was overcoming the limitation of human puppets being unable to use kekkei genkai, raising the potential ceiling for puppet combat.

To Shimizu, he could understand about 90% of Monzaemon's book. The remaining parts were partially understood—more advanced concepts.

After all, he was still just a genin who could control only two puppets, even if he could sometimes beat a chunin.

Techniques involving the simultaneous control of three or more puppets were things he couldn't put into practice yet—so his clone would record them for future study.

As the sky darkened, even after his clone had finished transcribing, Shimizu was still absorbed in reading.

Creak—

The wooden door of the study opened.

A tall, lean man around forty years old entered. He wore a white cloth around his head and had long eyebrows.

Sasori lifted his eyes to look at the visitor.

"Second Grandfather."

Shimizu also stood up from the desk, recognizing who it was.

"Lord Ebizō."

Ebizō smiled and nodded to Shimizu, then turned to Sasori.

"It's rare to not find you in the workshop. Aren't you going to introduce your guest?"

(End of Chapter)