This must be a production base for puppet materials in Sand Village.
An hour is more than enough time.
The real test should be the subsequent puppet creation.
Two hours for puppet creation is quite tight. Although many of the materials here are of good quality, most require extensive processing before they can be used.
This means he needs to find materials that are easy to process, or even better, ones that can be used directly, all while ensuring their quality.
The best choice would definitely be animals with Chakra, because Chakra flows within them, and Chakra conductivity would certainly be the best.
Just like the powerful Human Puppets of Sand Village, all of them were created from powerful ninja who were alive previously.
However, they are very troublesome to process. Dissection, drug soaking, and curing all take time, and he would also need sufficient knowledge of the species' anatomy. Therefore, this wasn't Qingshui's best option.
"But… that doesn't mean I won't use them at all."
He threw a kunai, accurately hitting the vital point of a venomous snake hidden in the bushes.
He only needed to take the usable parts from these creatures.
Qingshui walked over, broke off a branch, and poked it towards the snake's mouth.
It wasn't completely dead, as expected. Though brain dead, its nerves were still active.
After ensuring the dead snake wouldn't attack him again, Qingshui quickly pulled out its fangs and cut off its venom sac, then turned and left.
Other things weren't worthless, but the weight he could carry was limited, so he could only choose the most valuable parts.
"The quality of the materials can't exceed fifteen kilograms, which means I can only make micro or small puppets. So, the puppet's skeleton can't be made of heavy metal. And in this situation, there's no time to collect and smelt metal. It's best to use bones from small animals that have Chakra, as their Chakra conductivity would be better. Otherwise, I'll have to find some bamboo or something similar as a substitute."
Qingshui manipulated the Fatty Puppet, extending the gear blade from its wrist, and swiftly cut down a tree.
At the same time, Qingshui collected the tree's seeds and conveniently planted them around.
The people of Sand Village all have this awareness of cutting and planting trees.
This tree is called White Ironwood. Its wood is hard and solid, like cast iron, yet relatively light with excellent toughness. It's often used for weapon handles and similar parts, and can also be used to make puppets. It was also the primary material Qingshui chose for making the puppet later.
Opening the Fatty Puppet's back compartment, Qingshui placed the collected wood inside.
Fatty was originally modified from a transport puppet used for teaching, so it naturally had storage and carrying capabilities. Usually, it carried survival supplies like gauze bandages and anti-inflammatory medicine.
There was also a secondary compartment connected to the wrist-mounted projectile launcher, used to store Senbon and kunai.
"Next, I need to find something that can serve as the puppet's skeleton."
Qingshui walked, following the low-lying terrain.
If there was water flow, it should be there.
Slightly larger animals cannot survive without a stable and sufficient water source.
And any animal that can dominate a water source must be relatively powerful, and likely possess Chakra.
Other Puppet Masters from Sand Village had similar ideas. By the time Qingshui reached the river, he had already found traces of other Puppet Masters.
Fortunately, the Emerald of Wind oasis is very large. Its status in Sand Village is almost comparable to Konoha's Forest of Death. By simply going around a bit, there's more than enough for seventy-nine Puppet Masters to gather materials without needing to compete or clash.
After all, this is most likely an important puppet material production base for Sand Village.
"There are no traces of large animals surviving nearby, mostly small animals like otter rabbits and sand foxes. It must be the territory of some powerful creature."
Walking upstream along the river, Qingshui quickly found traces.
Feces.
And there was also a smell of urine under the nearby trees.
This must be a territorial marking made by some animal.
This also gave Qingshui a clue for tracking.
Tracking animals is much simpler than tracking ninja, because every qualified ninja has an anti-tracking awareness, deliberately erasing their tracks, and even providing misleading clues to trackers. But animals don't.
"So… is it that cat?"
Qingshui stood on a tree trunk, looking at the large cat crouching on a rock in the distance.
It was a lynx, with black fur standing erect on its ear tips, looking like a pair of horns. Its fur was brownish-yellow, interspersed with some white, and it was a size larger than a normal lynx, nearly 1.5 meters long.
"This is the one."
Qingshui lowered his gaze, reached for his waist, and took out kunai, shuriken, and steel wire. He quickly set up a few traps, then spread his fingers, shooting out Chakra threads that accurately connected to the Fatty Puppet's limbs and torso. Driven by Qingshui, it slowly crept towards the lynx.
It proved that controlling a puppet to sneak was much harder than sneaking oneself.
When the Fatty Puppet was still twenty meters away from the lynx, the lynx vigilantly stood up, crouched low, and let out a low purring sound unique to felines towards Fatty.
This wasn't the comfortable purr of a kitten being petted, but a warning.
"Sand Secret Technique: Poison Needle Senbon."
The Fatty Puppet's face opened, revealing a launching surface covered with black holes. A row of Senbon shot towards the lynx, while its left arm's gear blade popped out, and it lunged towards the lynx.
"Aow—!"
The lynx howled, its body rapidly pouncing, dodging the Senbon, and attempting to flank, avoid the strange creature's claws, and attack its weak points like the neck.
Qingshui twitched the corner of his mouth.
The lynx's cries were unique, reminding him of a certain blue cat.
The thought flashed through his mind as the lynx's body lunged onto the Fatty Puppet.
Although its direct combat ability was decent, the Fatty Puppet's speed was its weakness.
Fortunately, it was a puppet, and its neck wasn't its weak point. Qingshui had also designed control-type tools specifically to deal with agile enemies like this.
"Sand Secret Technique: Branch Manipulation!"
The Fatty Puppet's arms instantly detached, and several thick ropes sprang out from them, coiling around the lynx.
"Aow—! Aow—! Aow—!"
The restrained lynx cried out in terror, its body struggling incessantly.
Footsteps sounded as Qingshui emerged from the tall grass. He pulled several Senbon from his ninja tool pouch, which had been treated with the sap of poisonous cacti from the desert, and flicked his wrist, shooting them at the lynx.
It was a neurotoxin, capable of acting as an anesthetic.
As the toxin took effect, the lynx's cries gradually weakened, and it stopped struggling.
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