Nin-to-Five : Chapter 65

Sunagakure

Ryoma, Jonin of Sunagakure, Vice-Captain of the Puppetry Corps

When ninja wanted to get something done, they got it done pretty fast. The production district had been largely demolished by a rampaging kaiju-turtle-demon and subsequently flooded. Two days after the attack, the unstable foundations of the village were repaired and re-stabilized. Two weeks after the attack, the walls, buildings, and structures of the production district had been recreated using sand-compressing ninjutsu. Two months after the attack, the district was fully operational and more efficient than ever before. 

Part of that new production district benefit was an entirely new building for the Puppetry Corps. Their old HQ had been moved out of, their construction silos rebuilt in the region, and an entire underground section for housing the more secretive projects. Other corps benefited as well- the Weaponry Corps got a new forge and manufacturing block, the Shiki corps got a fan-factory, Medical got a poison synthesis lab and greenhouse, and so on.

Older corps buildings were moved out of and then repurposed for secondary functions. Mostly administrative or civil infrastructure, from what he had been told. 

This rebuilt production district came with a new apartment complex right near the center for housing all the ninja who had jobs that specifically related to work that happened inside the production district. Mostly fellows in the Logistics Division, but there were a fair few members of the various corps housed here as well, including himself.

It was a pretty nice place. Frankly enormous for an apartment building. The production district had been largely dominated by forges and manufacturing buildings made during the second Kazekage’s reign, and were horribly out of date at this point. Rebuilding it had been an opportunity to use various improvements to construction and technology that had been made in the time since, such as giant steel foundries instead of brick ovens and a purpose built electrical grid instead of a grafted-on series of wires and transformers.

With the increased efficiency, less total buildings were needed to maintain the largely stagnant amount of output demanded by Suna ninja, and thus everything could be a little bigger and roomier. 

That and the massive amount of new space opened up underground with the drained reservoir. The water moved to the surface had been quickly preserved with compressed stone banks and large ‘mushroom’ stone structures jutting out of the new lake. The ‘mushrooms’ were each large enough to put a house on, tapering into thinner columns that went all the way to bedrock. Hundreds of these structures had been erected, collectively providing enough shade to outcompete evaporation on the new freshwater lake.

There was talks about getting bio-samples from various nearby oases and bringing it over to kickstart a native ecosystem, but Ryoma hadn’t kept up with that conversation very well. 

He was a bit busy with that project the Kazekage had ordered him to do.  

He was standing in a looming cavern. Large enough that the far wall could not be seen, save for the tiny spots of artificial lightning that dominated the floors and hung from the ceiling like stars in a night sky. The cavern was dominated by enormous pillars of stone, each as wide around as castles and disappearing into the darkness above for however many thousands of feet upwards. Scaffolding was erected around and between these pillars, forming a web of walkways and buildings that clung onto the sides like mushrooms on the trunk of immense trees. 

The lowest levels of the Suna aquifer, the fissured limestone layer, had been completely emptied and in the process of collapsing when the Three-Tailed Demon Turtle attacked. Its current state was after round the clock reinforcement by hundreds of ninjutsu specialists for weeks on end. It was in no danger of collapsing anytime soon now, but that left a great big open space with nothing in it for Suna to deal with.

Naturally, it almost immediately got turned into a space to store all the secret or long-term things Suna had. There was an office building near the three-thousand foot elevator shaft entrance that just contained a bunch of outdated paperwork regarding now-dead ninja. 

Ryoma was currently standing before a number of prospective ninja who all knew the puppetry-string technique, as well as a few Corps-Captains, and the blank-faced Kazekage. Behind him loomed two enormous puppets, both of which he had been able to put together with no real workshop.

He had been able to put them together without a workshop because they were little more than giant wooden dolls. 

“Behind me are two large puppets, Red and Blue.” Ryoma began the official military meeting with a gesture towards the two giant wooden dolls. “They’ll serve as training aids for the Kyojutsu intiative. As you can see, Red is a bipedal design and Blue is a quadrupred design, which should cover most potential Kyojutsu models.”

“Could you create a Kyojutsu with three legs?” One of the Corps-Captains asked, a man he didn’t recognize with a giant roll of cloth on his back. The replacement for Jakyu in the Sealing Corps, Ryoma figured.

“You could, I have yet to think of a reason why you’d want to.” Ryoma nodded at the question. “Its possible there’s a reason, but for training purposes these two models should suffice. You could also make a Kyojutsu with five or more legs for stability reasons, but I imagine the quadruped Blue will suffice as basic training for such designs.”

“Are the use of foot-based puppetry strings necessary to operate a Kyojutsu?” Another one asked, this time one of the prospective ‘pilots’. All of them were handpicked by either the Kazekage himself or one of the Corps Captains for their loyalty and discretion, as well as the ability to use puppetry strings and lift at least ten thousand pounds using a full set. That last requirement was something he had to add in when it became clear that everyone else forgot about that being a potential issue.

“No, although it does certainly help.” Ryoma shrugged, then brought his hands together. “The ability to keep it standing upright with feet strings gives the pilot the flexibility to use ninjutsu with their hands if they need access to a technique that the Kyojutsu cannot replicate.”

“That could be replicated with a half-decent ninjutsu using partner.” The Captain of the Ninjutsu Corps grumbled, a large cigar between his teeth. 

“It could. I didn’t always have the luxury of such a teammate.” Ryoma replied with a nod. The Captain nodded in return, rolling the cigar around in his lips. “I also frequently make use of sand clones stationed outside of the Kyojutsu, which can dismount and then use chakra strings to pull the puppet out of the way of certain attacks. It's another way to cheat additional mobility out of such massive frames.”

“That can be replicated with another ninja who makes use of puppetry strings, can’t it?” One of the prospective pilots chimed in, face concealed by a white veil. 

“If you feel like your battlefield coordination is good enough to not get into each other’s way, sure.” Ryoma wiggled a hand. “Two puppeteers operating the same puppet can often just get in each other's way rather than aiding anything if they’re not careful and clear about what they’re doing. The Kyojutsu is a big target, so messing up even once might mean the whole frame is destroyed against a large powerful ninjutsu or summon.”

“It sounds as if, rather than having teams of Kyojutsu, it would be more efficient to have teams centered around individual Kyojutsu.” The Ninjutsu Captain mused, reaching up to puff his cigar. “Primary operator, ninjutsu support, external operator, and a squad leader.”

“Do we have enough candidates to cover that many roles?” 

“The commission was for eight total Kyojutsu.” The Kazekage spoke finally, a stick of pocky hanging out of his mouth and a mug of hot coffee in his hand. “Constructing a team around each would be thirty two ninja. We have sixteen candidates here.”

“We’d need to expand the program if we make that change.” The Logistics Commander muttered, itching up to scratch at his forehead with his thumb.

“Jonin Ryoma, your opinion on this?” Rasa asked, sipping at his coffee and closing his eyes. 

Well, he was the foremost expert here, he supposed. It only made sense to ask for his input. Ryoma considered the question for a moment, glancing back at the two large puppets cast in electrical lighting. A few moments later, he had an answer. 

“It really depends on where you want to save resources.” Ryoma shrugged. “By themselves, with nothing installed, the Kyojutsu are just big dolls that you can hit things with. They’re immune to smaller weapons like kunai and shuriken, but you could replicate that with good armor or the right ninjutsu, and a few explosive tags will still blow one up. Most of what they do can be replicated with a big rock.”

“A lot of what you get out of a Kyojutsu is, like all puppets, based on what systems you have installed. Unless you already know every system yourself, you’re going to need to get experts involved, which is where most of the cost of my Great Dragoon came from. I could do a lot of the work myself, but the sensor array was beyond me, and the chakra storage array would’ve been a lot less efficient if I had been the one to make it back then.”

He shrugged. “I could replicate everything in it now on my own, but commissioning them saved me at least two years and gave me an example to reference. If you’re just installing a bunch of conventional weapons, then you could churn out a kyojutsu in a few weeks and a hundred thousand ryo at worst.”

Ryoma wiggled a hand. “An ‘off the shelf’ Kyojutsu would need a dedicated team to be effective, I think. A custom model like my Great Dragoon is something I can operate entirely on my own, but it cost me nearly twenty million the first time I built it thanks to those commissions.”

“So yeah. It’s a question of what you want to save on, manpower or money.”

“And village secrets, in case one of these Kyojutsu is captured by the enemy.” The Shiki Corps captain, a tall man with a large iron warfan slung across his back, pointed out with a scowl.

“You could alleviate that with a self-destruction feature if you really wanted to, though that would run the risk of murdering one of your operators by accident.” Ryoma pointed out dryly.

“We’ll need to have such a feature installed in all the ‘advanced’ models.” Rasa stated bluntly, taking another sip of his coffee. 

Yeah that made sense. Ninja were ultimately replaceable tools of the village, and all that, village secrets were valued somewhat more. Ryoma huffed and nodded. “I’ll put something together and have a proposed design on your desk by the end of the week.”

“We’ll want to maximize the value of each of these puppets. Expand the list of candidates to thirty two. Captain Udekabe, have a list of eight ninjutsu specialists on my desk by the end of the week.”

There was a slightly smug undertone in the Ninjutsu captain’s expression as he replied. “Yes, Lord Kazekage.”

Of course, getting one fourth of the new special squad to be members of your own Corps was something to be smug about as a Captain, Ryoma supposed. Lots of internal politicking advantage from something like that.

—

His door was unlocked. He paused at the entrance, eyes narrowing at the feeling of his key meeting no resistance. He knew for a fact that he had locked this door when he left, and set up a basic tripwire trap for anyone who entered. That the door was unlocked and there was no one here meant that someone had entered and managed to disable the trap before closing the door again.

He hadn’t installed a puppet eye on the interior of this door yet. He had no easy way of telling who was inside his apartment right now.

He pulled his helmet off the hook on his thigh and slid it on, tightening it thoroughly and attaching it to the rest of the armor. The ‘ears’ folded forwards over his goggles, blinding him to the world and thus, protecting him from visual genjutsu. 

Unsealing anything would make a noise and thus, alert whoever was in his apartment to his presence outside the door. He reached up and popped a seal on his helmet, removing one of the wooden eyes mounted around the conical top and disconnecting it from his field of vision. With a single chakra string, he moved the eye forwards while stepping back from the door. A second chakra string made the door click and swing open, and his chakra eye hovered silently inside, roaming its vision around. 

His other hand came up in a one-handed ‘Snake’ seal. Technically ‘Bird’ was the seal that was supposed to be best suited for focusing and ‘sharpening’ techniques, which is why it was commonly used with wind-release ninjutsu, but he found better results with snake for whatever reason. 

With the handseal, the vision of the puppet-eye sharpened slightly, allowing him to distinguish the dark interior with somewhat more clarity than before.

Mari’s face blinked owlishly at his disconnected eye.

Ryoma rolled his eyes beneath his helmet. “Damnit Mari, don’t break into my apartment unannounced like that.” He called out, approaching the door. His guard was still up just in case this was a genjutsu.

Mari jolted and raised her hands. “Ah- No it’s a surprise party! For your new- Everyone say surprise!” She panicked, coming out of her hiding spot behind one of his sofas and then waving her hands at other spots across his apartment interior. 

“”“Surprise!””” A chorus of voices with varying degrees of enthusiasm called out, as puffs of smoke rippled through the apartment. Transformation techniques being dispelled and revealing a small crowd of individuals in his house. 

Ryoma reached over to flick the lights on with an unimpressed look on his face, not that they could see it through his helmet. Taking the helmet off, he brought the scouting-eye back and quickly repaired the improv work. He socketed the wooden eye back into place on his helm and latched it back on.

“What’s all this, Mari?” Ryoma asked with dry amusement. A small stack of gifts and food were spread out across the living room table, and several people he recognized were- 

He paused and tilted his head. “Lord Kazekage?” If both of them were here, then who was watching Garra, the Jinchuriki, right now?

Rasa nodded stoically and placed a basket of dried fruits and wine on his table. “Rasa will do presently, Jonin Ryoma. Mari insisted on my presence despite me reminding her that you’d likely be uncomfortable with it.”

“Not necessarily uncomfortable, mostly surprised.” Ryoma reached his hand back and scratched at his neck. “I’m not really prepared to host you, and all that.”

“It would defeat the point of a ‘surprise party’ if you were prepared for it, wouldn’t it?” A familiar medic asked with a polite smile. Sugimoto shook his head and tapped a scroll on the table. “A few training manuals for basic medical-water ninjutsu. I heard you were learning water ninjutsu so I thought I’d contribute.”

To the side, Nagare nodded passionately in approval.

“Sugimoto, good to see you up and walking. I would’ve visited you in the hospital but…” Ryoma trailed off.

“But?” Sugimoto asked with a raised brow.

“I forgot.” Ryoma shrugged shamelessly. Sugimoto showed that he wasn’t offended with a merry laugh. 

“Your memory is spotty when I’m not around to remind you, Lord Ryoma.” Tsubame insulted him with a blank expression. 

“Good to see you too, Tsubame. How’s working with Captain Buki so far?” Ryoma huffed, brushing the insult off entirely. Sho was standing next to her, silently, looking quite awkward with the Kazekage’s presence in the room.

“He is callous, abrasive, and tremendously proficient as a warrior. I’ve learned much simply by observing his attempts to familiarize himself with his new prosthetics.” Tsubame shook her head. “My role in the group has been largely as a dispenser of wisdom. It’s both gratifying and grating.”

“Captain Buki speaks well of her.” Sho nodded, placing a trio of swords of varying lengths and a single scroll on the table. “It would be ungracious to not return a gift after your delivery of the Wind Swords to the Weaponry Corps.”

“The point of a gift is that you don’t owe me anything for it, you know?” 

“I am aware.”

“Vice Captain, the correct response is ‘thank you’.” Toyoko called out bluntly, walking over to his side with her silly heel-clicky walk and looking up at him. “I plan to treat you to a dinner date after this party, please be ready for it.”

“I’m looking forward to it.” Ryoma smiled, reaching down and hugging her with one arm. Her face twinged pink slightly, nodding firmly in confirmation.

“Is everyone going to get a turn to talk or- who goes next?” Tsuyumaru asked from near the kitchen, a toothy smile on his face. He wasn’t wearing his normal bodysuit and headwrap attire, which made the lanky man look entirely different, instead just clad in a long, loose shirt and normal pants with sandals. 

“Actually you don’t get a turn to talk, sorry, official orders.” Ryoma shook his head sadly, walking over to his kitchen and reaching for a glass of water. He paused near his fridge, seeing stacks of carbonated drinks, alcohols, and various fruit juices cluttering his countertops. 

“Really? Drat. Shame on me huh?” Tsuyumaru chuckled, nodding at the drinks. “The fruit juice and soda comes from me- just about everyone else brought the alcohol. There’s a couple gift cards and coupons from the rest of the Corps over there.”

Ryoma put the glass away and took one of the soda cans, cracking it open and slowly turning around in his apartment, at the various people within and all the gifts stacked up.

He’s never received this many gifts before. He’s never even had this many people in any of his homes before.

He took a moment to take it all in. Mari started babbling about something excitedly, counting things off on her fingers, but he wasn’t listening.

“This was your idea, Mari?” He cut her off.

She stopped, then laughed sheepishly, rubbing her neck. “Ah- yeah it was. Sorry if this was really sudden I just thought-”

“Thanks.” He interrupted her again, moving his veil out of the way so he could drink. A little smile clawed its way onto his face. “I appreciate it.”

Mari’s nervousness dispelled, and she immediately started a bubbly ramble again.

This soda sucked, Tsuyumaru’s tastes were awful.

Somehow, that made it even better. He closed his eyes and took another drink, as conversation kicked up around him.