At Sasori's home, a round table was set up in the open space of the courtyard.
Chiyo, Ebizō, Hardy, and Sasori were gathered there, sharing dinner together.
"Haha, it's been a long time since we all sat down for a meal like this, hasn't it, Sasori?"
Chiyo raised her wine cup and drank heartily.
"No, Grandma. Just a week ago, on the night of Hardy's second visit to our house, we had dinner at the restaurant run by Komushi's parents."
Sasori looked at the cactus juice sweetened with sugar in front of him, his expression indifferent.
He and Hardy were both underage and couldn't drink alcohol.
"Hahaha, looks like I've been so busy lately that I even forgot about that."
Chiyo's face was flushed as she laughed.
In private, her personality was actually quite cheerful.
It's just that she devoted most of her time to official duties, leaving little time for herself.
"Speaking of which, how is Komushi doing? If I remember correctly, he should be graduating this year, right?"
Chiyo put down her cup and asked Ebizō curiously.
Komushi was Sasori's childhood friend, and aside from Hardy, the only peer he could really talk to.
Even after Sasori's parents died and he spent a long time withdrawn into his own world, Komushi could still be considered his friend.
"Next semester, Komushi will be in the graduating class at the Ninja Academy. Starting a month ago, his family hired two chunin to tutor him in ninjutsu, hoping he'll graduate smoothly."
Ebizō took a sip of his drink and spoke slowly.
If they had to hire tutors just to ensure graduation, Komushi's talent was clearly nothing special—at best, average.
"Komushi?"
Hardy raised an eyebrow.
In the original timeline, due to being terminally poisoned and once saying to Sasori, "If only I could be as amazing as the puppets you make," Komushi ultimately became one of Sasori's human puppets.
"Ah, he's Sasori's friend. If there's a chance in the future, I'll introduce you two. After all, you're the same age."
Ebizō flicked out a chakra thread and triggered a mechanism on the table, causing a puppet arm at the center to bring a dish over to him.
That's what he said, but in truth, he didn't really think Komushi and Hardy would become friends—at most, perhaps acquaintances who nodded in passing.
Even Sasori and Komushi's friendship, Ebizō wasn't particularly optimistic about.
With Komushi's level of talent, even becoming a chunin in the future would be a challenge. As the gap in strength, status, and rank widened, it was inevitable that he and Sasori would drift apart.
"All right, we've almost finished eating. I propose we have a little exercise to help with digestion."
Chiyo stood up from her chair with a cheerful smile.
"After tonight, it'll probably be hard to find such free time again. Sasori, Hardy, why don't you both come to the back mountain and spar with me?"
She called it a spar, but it was really more of a lesson.
"Okay! Master Chiyo!"
Hardy eagerly picked up the sealing scroll by her chair.
Chiyo was the foremost puppeteer of her era. As her newly accepted disciple, Hardy was very much looking forward to learning from her.
Exiting through the back door of Sasori's house led directly to a barren hill. Aside from the brownish soil, there were only scattered weeds and a few shriveled bushes and branches.
It was a perfect place to practice ninjutsu and test puppets.
"All right, I won't bully you two. Since I'm facing both of you, I'll only use two puppets. Let's see what you're capable of."
A sealing scroll slipped from Chiyo's sleeve. With a puff of smoke, two human puppets dressed in white robes appeared.
The Chikamatsu Collection of Ten Puppets!
Created by the legendary puppeteer Monzaemon, each of the ten human puppets was a masterpiece. If all ten were used to their full potential, their power would rival even the Five Kage.
The two puppets Chiyo revealed both wore masks.
One was tall, nearly two meters, with a bull's head mask adorned with long horns. The other was shorter and slender, about 1.6 meters, with upright yellow hair and a red cat-faced mask.
*Bang!* *Bang!* *Bang!* *Bang!*
More puffs of white smoke appeared.
Hardy and Sasori summoned all their puppets. After exchanging a glance, they launched their attack in unison!
The two were teammates, had worked together on missions, and often sparred in private. They knew each other's abilities well and cooperated seamlessly.
"Black Secret Technique: Manipulated Performance!"
"Black Secret Technique: Swift Play!"
In an instant, six long arms shot out from Black Ant, shielding the young boy as he charged at Chiyo.
Chiyo's fingers twitched slightly. The bull-masked puppet's sides opened up, sprouting four new arms, which, along with its original arms, grabbed all six of Black Ant's limbs.
The red cat-faced puppet extended long spikes from its arms and engaged in a fierce battle with the boy, moving even faster than him.
Hardy and Sasori exchanged another glance.
The next second, the fat puppet instantly enveloped Hardy, and she charged at Chiyo like a tank.
Sasori took out a string of kunai connected by steel wire from his ninja tool pouch and, avoiding Hardy, hurled them at Chiyo.
"Puppet Technique: Manipulated Blade Assault!"
If puppets could be controlled by chakra threads, then so could ninja tools like kunai and shuriken. Manipulating kunai in this way could even rival the Uchiha clan's shuriken manipulation techniques.
Chiyo raised her right hand and gave a slight tug.
The bull-masked puppet locked Black Ant's arms and spun like a windmill, knocking away all the kunai and hurling Black Ant in Hardy's direction.
Sasori's eyes flickered. He used chakra threads to separate Black Ant's body parts, allowing it to narrowly avoid—
Clear Water.
"Boom!"
The fat puppet's pneumatic punch was blocked by the bull-faced puppet's thick, powerful hand.
A shockwave rippled out from the point where their fists collided.
Chiyo nodded slightly in approval.
The force she sensed through the bull-faced puppet was indeed impressive, but it was only because this puppet itself was one of the most advanced in this world that it could withstand such an attack so easily.
Of course, Chiyo was not unleashing the full power of either of her puppets.
Otherwise, not to mention Hardy and Sasori—even if two ordinary jonin were sent in their place, they might not be able to win.
Hardy swung his other fist, launching into close combat with the bull-faced puppet.
Meanwhile, the scattered Black Ant puppet was reassembled by Sasori using chakra threads. Its six slender, barbed auxiliary limbs switched targets, attacking the red-faced cat puppet.
Even though Chiyo had limited the cat-faced puppet's speed to just barely faster than the boy puppet, she still maintained a decisive upper hand.