"Phew, finally finished!"
"Doing this kind of delicate work is really exhausting!"
"That original body really knows how to exploit people…"
Early the next morning.
Inside the training room of the Akira household.
Several Wood Clones were complaining.
But when they looked at the newly completed puppet in front of them, smiles inevitably appeared on their faces.
It was a humanoid puppet, a little over 1.8 meters tall.
Its entire body was white and looked rather plain on the surface.
But in reality, its head, neck, chest, back, limbs, and other parts were all fitted with precise mechanisms.
Hidden within were countless concealed weapons.
A true killing machine.
"Let me try it out!"
One of the Wood Clones stepped forward and spread his fingers.
From his fingertips, thin chakra threads shot out.
They connected to the puppet.
"Click… click…"
In an instant—
The puppet's eyes suddenly opened.
It began stepping in place, moving.
"Swish—"
The Wood Clone moved the fingers of his right hand.
The mechanisms on the puppet's arms opened.
Blade structures resembling Demon Wind Shuriken appeared.
"Whooo—"
The blades suddenly began spinning violently.
Afterimages flickered as they sliced through the air, generating powerful wind pressure.
It was enough to make one's scalp tingle.
In the next moment,
the windmill-like blades retracted.
"Click… click…"
The puppet's ten fingers bent.
Tiny blades quickly emerged from them.
They gleamed coldly, shaped like hooked claws.
In the next instant, they shot out like rockets.
Thin but strong steel cables extended from the puppet's wrists.
Their targets—
the other two Wood Clones.
But the two clones reacted quickly.
Large amounts of wooden vines burst from their arms.
They wrapped around the incoming claw hooks.
"Not bad!"
Looking at the restrained hooks,
the two clones nodded with smiles.
The clone controlling the puppet said,
"It's not just 'not bad'…"
"Swish! Swish!"
The five fingers on each claw opened again.
They fired out once more.
They circled around the two clones and began closing in.
Thin, nearly invisible steel wires glinted faintly in the air.
A sight that made one break into a cold sweat.
"Whoosh!"
The two clones reacted instantly and jumped up.
Their feet stuck to the ceiling.
The wires missed them entirely.
"Retract!"
The chakra threads were pulled.
The ten steel wires rapidly recoiled along with the detached fingers.
Even the wrists were dragged back by the cables, reconnecting with the puppet's arms.
It was dazzling to watch.
Next—
The head, arms, chest, abdomen, thighs…
Numerous mechanisms opened layer by layer.
Spiral-shaped blades appeared across the puppet's entire body.
Cold light flashed everywhere.
It looked terrifying.
"Click… click…"
The Wood Clone's fingers moved slightly.
Under the control of the chakra threads,
the puppet's legs actually merged together.
They transformed into a cone-shaped structure.
Meanwhile, blades appeared on all sides of its arms.
The white puppet spun rapidly like a top.
"Whooo—!"
"Bang… bang…"
"All aspects of its performance look pretty good, but we can't keep testing…"
Looking at the messy room, the clone nodded in satisfaction.
"If we try every mechanism and hidden weapon, we might destroy the entire room. The original body would scold us to death."
Meanwhile—
Ren returned from Yuhi Kurenai's house, feeling refreshed.
As for breakfast, the virtuous Kurenai had already taken the initiative to take care of it.
He didn't need to worry.
Yesterday, he had given the Genjutsu scroll to Kurenai.
Although she had repeatedly refused at first,
she eventually accepted it under Ren's insistence.
For Ren, the information recorded inside had already been memorized.
Keeping the scroll was pointless.
And besides—
For his self-proclaimed "Sister Kurenai,"
he had no intention of hoarding such things.
On the contrary, he wanted to do everything he could to improve her strength and increase her chances of survival.
The ninja world was cruel.
All kinds of ninjutsu, secret techniques, and forbidden techniques appeared endlessly.
Even people at the Kage level could fall if they were careless.
And the price was often their lives.
Not to mention someone like Kurenai—
an elite chūnin whose strength was considered average.
"If Sister Kurenai can successfully master those advanced Genjutsu—including the Technique of Bringer-of-Darkness—her strength should reach jōnin level."
Ren thought to himself.
"With the illusions left behind by my great-grandmother and those valuable insights, and with Kurenai's decent talent, once she gradually digests all of it, becoming an elite jōnin in the future shouldn't be a problem."
Hearing noises from the training room,
he first helped his grandmother Akira Nao—who had woken up but whose health was worsening—wash up.
After settling her on the living room sofa,
he headed straight to the training room.
"All done?"
Looking at the messy surroundings,
and the humanoid puppet that looked almost identical to the design blueprint he had drawn,
Ren's mouth twitched slightly.
He looked toward his Wood Clones.
"Yeah, we did our best. The rest is up to you, original body."
The three Wood Clones spoke in unison.
Then they each transformed into wooden forms
and merged back into Ren's body.
"Phew…"
After receiving the memories from the clones, Ren exhaled deeply.
But unlike the time he had practiced dozens of Genjutsu,
he didn't collapse from exhaustion.
After sitting down to rest for a while,
he inspected the puppet the clones had completed and corrected some minor imperfections.
"Not bad. Let's call it Ren No. 1."
After thinking for a long time—
naming clearly wasn't his strong point—
Ren finally decided on the name for the new puppet and stored it away.
By the time Yuhi Kurenai arrived with two servings of hot breakfast,
he had already fully recovered.
All traces of fatigue had vanished.
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