Three days later.
What was Hii Kōri doing the one who, having single-handedly inflicted over 2,500 casualties on Konoha's forces, earned the fearsome alias 'Crimson of Agony,' and undoubtedly been placed at the top of Konoha's most-wanted list?
He was lying on his bed in just his underwear, stuck full of needles like a hedgehog.
Even after treatment with the Reverse Cursed Technique, his chakra meridian and tenketsu had mostly recovered, but the deficit from chakra exhaustion wouldn't be replenished anytime soon.
His Yin Release chakra core had burned away assisting the cursed energy in applying the curse. His Yang Release chakra core, however, thanks to the Seven Essence Release Gates, could still be salvaged.
Taking this opportunity, Hii Kōri planned to re-adjust and optimize his Yin-Yang chakra circulation pathways, and by the way resolve the Yin-Yang balance issues that had been difficult to address before.
The external mimetic nerves Spirit Thread Nerves hidden in his hair precisely inserted slender silver needles along his chakra meridian to regulate chakra flow, then rolled up the nearby report and flipped through it, replacing his temporarily immobilized arms.
These Spirit Thread Nerves and the neural connection system installed in his giant puppet were two products from the same lineage, differently adjusted for different usage scenarios.
Though initially designed with 'Ether Light Fiber' as the prototype, in the Naruto world, Hii Kōri simply couldn't produce 'the Fifth Pseudo-Element: Ether.'
Though Yin Release did have the property of 'turning imagination into substance' creating something from nothing the precision required to create needed materials was far too high.
Probably easier to brute-force construct a Susano'o with pure Yin Release chakra (×).
So, considering materials science factors and application scope in the Naruto world, Hii Kōri had drastically reconstructed the design philosophy of this weapon system.
He peeled off biological neural tissue, processed it with Yin Release chakra, stretched to micrometer dimensions, then wrapped the exterior with chakra thread fibers and soaked it again in Yin Release chakra to ensure conduction and strength for 'spiritual energy.'
This not only replaces chakra threads to control puppets, but physical strength and ductility were also greatly enhanced.
Hii Kōri chose to directly connect these to his cranial nerves, enabling not only more control over these 'Spirit Thread Nerves,' expanding sensory range and spiritual energy influence, but also serving as auxiliary cooling device when Divided Thinking operated at full capacity.
He'd even begun trying to use them to free ninjutsu.
Honestly, at this point, they had little connection to the original prototype. But since it was the inspiration, Hii Kōri kept the name.
The neural connection system, as the core operating system for giant puppets, didn't pursue flexible movement or other functionality only the fastest transmission efficiency needed.
Though personal preference influenced Hii Kōri's giant puppet design, more consideration went to situational assessment.
Sunagakure possessed only the One-Tail. Large summoned beasts were a complete blind spot. In this regard, Suna's disadvantage was quite huge.
Though large creature combat power couldn't be measured by quantity alone, to the vast majority of ordinary ninjas, any large ninja beast was a natural disaster that was difficult to fight against.
Countless examples from previous battles confirm this.
Assuming giant ninjutsu could also master ninjutsu, the weapons carried by giant puppets offered no real advantage. And puppets, as machines, are necessarily inferior to living beings in reaction speed and movement flexibility.
Under these circumstances, Hii Kōri's proposed solution was...
Full Surround Screen Man-Machine Integrated System (×).
Correction: a puppet framework closer to human body structure, operated via direct neural connection.
Directly transmitting human brain thinking and reactions to the puppet though inevitable delays remained was still the optimal current solution.
What Hii Kōri was now reviewing was the final data downloaded before detonating Shukaku Zero, occasionally using Spirit Thread Nerves to roll up a pen and annotate.
Since Shukaku Zero's various parameters were all set based on Hii Kōri himself basically unusable by normal people—he was now adjusting it, e.g., installing auxiliary G-force reduction devices, adjusting neural connection system conduction rate, limiting intelligence data return volume.
After all, downgrading from 'performance monster' to 'normal unit' was always easier than strengthening a normal unit to godly levels.
This was also Hii Kōri's experience talk. If worried about waste, just configure the 'original functionality' as some last-ditch maximum output liberation mode.
"Working on some more high-end technology, genius?"
With a creak, Chiyo pushed open the door, wearing her usual teasing smile. Back in the village, she'd often 'disturb' him like this in his workshop.
But for Hii Kōri, whose Yin Release proficiency had once again improved to the point of slightly reading emotions, Chiyo's forced ease was almost too pathetic to witness.
How long had she wandered outside composing her expression? He could 'see' it clearly.
"Since I'm preparing to leave the front, I need to leave something behind."
Not revealing his foster mother's disguise, Hii Kōri responded as usual.
"This is the modification plan for Unit One. I'vep repared the corresponding components in advance. Follow these instructions to adjust, and find a jōnin in the Puppet Corps, they should be able to pilot it."
"And this: key points summary for communicating with Shukaku. With Master Bunpuku there, coax him a bit and that big tanuki will be willing to help."
After handing the modified giant puppet piloting guide to Chiyo, Hii Kōri pulled a booklet from a scroll on the cabinet: "Also, remember to apologize to Shukaku for me. Blowing up the puppet modeled after him he'll probably sulk for a while."
"And then... ah, seems that's all I have to leave. Oh, regarding the prisoners, did we get any secret techniques or Blood Succession Limits?"
"Actually, yes. The Nara Clan's Shadow Imitation Technique. Perfect for you to see if you can learn it."
Chiyo cooperates with exaggerated mouth sounds, pulling a small booklet from her pocket and presenting it to Hii Kōri with a showy expression.
"Wow, seriously? Something actually useful?"
This wasn't cooperative Hii Kōri genuinely hadn't expected to extract anything good from the prisoners brought back.
"Nice. Once my Yin Release efficiency recovers, I'll try practicing it and see what's up."
"...I'm sorry."
Her forced smile gradually dissolved. Chiyo lowered her head, gently stroking Hii Kōri's mottled curly hair as she abruptly apologized.
As the pinnacle of Sunagakure's medical ninjutsu, how could she not see how much her foster son's body had aged? Even when she found him, his chakra had been nearly exhausted, and even now he'd only barely recovered.
"The Uzumaki Clan lives long. I might not live to old age anyway, so using a little doesn't matter."
This kind of conversation I know you know, you know I know you know was far too awkward, but they had no way to switch to a more normal state.
Hii Kōri's teaching level had improved alongside instructing the Barrier and Sealing Corps, but his comfort skills remained as terrible as ever.
Rather, having only gradually found a sense of 'home' here, and constantly needing to maintain extreme emotions, Hii Kōri was the one who needed comforting.
When it came to expressing positive emotions, he was pretty clumsy.
"You always say such negative things so chalantly..."
"That's probably because I've never been a very positive person. Otherwise, as an Uzumaki, I wouldn't be so good at Yin Release, would I?"
Chiyo remained silent.
"...Do you really have to go?"
After a long silence, she muttered quietly, head still down.
Hii Kōri had requested to leave the front lines citing 'poor physical condition.'
Naturally, no one in command disagreed. After all, Hii Kōri had already created enough results. Considering the effect of various equipment he'd prepared in advance, many felt keeping him off the battlefield and in the rear would actually create greater gains.
But Chiyo knew Hii Kōri probably wasn't returning to Sunagakure at all.
Compared to 'revenge,' there was something more important to do what Hii Kōri had meant probably wasn't just about her commanding troops. And what he meant by doing what he was better at wasn't limited to single-handedly attacking Konoha's stronghold.
Only now did Chiyo realize this.
Resurrection techniques—though mentioned casually like a joke when returning to base—obviously, neither Chiyo nor Hii Kōri probably treated it as any joke.
After all, 'resurrection techniques' had precedents in this world. Tobirama Senju's Impure World Reincarnation, paired with his Mutual Explosive Tags, was notorious across the ninja world. And Hii Kōri himself was a genuine isekai reincarnator.
"You know you can't stop me now."
Closing his eyes, feeling the touch through his hair, Hii Kōri admitted this quite frankly. "And old hag, you have no reason to refuse, do you?"
"How could there be no reason?! After losing Mataza, I don't want to lose another son!"
"Mataza was my big brother too."
A curse user who had lost family, with these words pierced the heart of a mother who had lost a child.
"If you're worried about me, then you should work even harder commanding Suna."
A smile playing at his lips, Hii Kōri tilted his head to meet Chiyo's gaze, elaborating on his 'sophistry' understatement: "The more pressure you put on Konoha here, the safer I am operating alone, right, Mom?"
"...Don't call me that... You know I can't refuse... Don't make me even more mean, Kōri."
She should detain him as a mother, not wanting to lose another child.
She should order him as a commander, Suna can't lose his bloodline.
But as Hii Kōri said, deep in Chiyo's heart, she also hoped Hii Kōri could find a way to bring back Mataza.
This contradiction and suffering—how could it not leave Chiyo feeling powerless?
She was Suna's elder, inheritor of puppetry secret techniques, yet now she felt she could do nothing, achieve nothing.
"What are you saying? Even if we're talking mean, that's my responsibility."
Expelling all the silver needles from his body, manipulating the Spirit Thread Nerves to roll up a blanket around his waist, Hii Kōri sat up and gently pulled Chiyo's shoulders, letting out a demonic whisper.
"I'm the one forcing you to push others in Suna as chips onto the table, buying me time to find a way to resurrect big brother."
Freshly refinedY in Release chakra mixed with cursed energy, transforming into bewitching curse.
"This is my selfishness. Nothing to do with you."
Sense of responsibility, professional ethics, moral bottom line as a human, personal feelings... If you can't balance these aspects, sooner or later the ninja life will drive you crazy.
Everyone is a prisoner of their own emotions. Trapped by thoughts and sensibilities, no one has time for others.
But in human connections, all love and hate are just shackles confined to appearance. Love and hate, joy and anger—in blind venting, the source often can't be found. Only the 'caring' itself is visible to the naked eye.
Just as Chiyo was now so entangled, just as Hii Kōri abandoned the war situation and chose to act alone, just as he now used such drastic measures to reverse Chiyo's mental state.
Of course, such handling does carry the risk that 'though temporarily solving the problem, it could come back doubled,' but such developments often result from not resolving the source of worry even after getting through that period.
But since doing nothing and just internal friction wouldn't bring good results anyway, might as well try some emergency measures first. It wasn't that Hii Kōri was so bloated that he aimed to directly steal Impure World Reincarnation from Konoha's main village his actual target was Konoha's Spirit Transformation Technique.
As it happened, the elite jōnin who mastered Spirit Transformation was active on this very battlefield.
Conducting a solo raid was more stealthy than commanding large-scale army operations, and more 'ninja-like.'
"If the process falls apart, then the result must be even better, right?"
***
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