Chapter 256
"Itachi, when did you come back?" Obito looked at Itachi in surprise. As disciples of Lu Ni, Itachi and his friends were always taken by Lu Ni when they went out of the village for a mission.
"I came back yesterday and completed the handover." Itachi nodded slightly to Obito. He, Kabuto and Asuma often traveled back and forth between the Wind Country and the Fire Country with Luna, so every time he came back, during his rest time, he would bring his clingy brother Sasuke with him.
"Who is that?" Obito and Itachi were not too familiar with each other, but as Team 7, they were very close to the team led by Kane because of their relationship with their master.
Obito was very envious of Itachi, who seemed very steady at a young age and was praised by Rin. Unfortunately, he couldn't be as steady as Itachi.
At this moment, his eyes were focused on a puppet that Sasuke was holding tightly in his hand. Although the puppet was small, judging from the joints and gaps between the parts, it seemed very similar to the puppets he had seen in the hands of some Sand Ninja puppeteers.
"A toy I brought for Sasuke from the Land of Wind." Itachi followed Obito's gaze and looked at the crocodile-like puppet toy that Sasuke was holding in his hand, and explained softly.
Seeing that Kakashi and the others seemed very interested in the puppet, he added a few more words: "This kind of toy is very popular in the Sand Village, and many Sand Ninja children have one.
This puppet was specially made by a puppeteer among the Sand Ninjas. Some dangerous weapons have been removed, but it can be used to train chakra control, mental concentration, and finger flexibility.
Now the Ninja School of Sand Village has used this upgraded version of the pocket puppet to train students."
"I've heard that the Sand Village has set up a puppet department similar to the Technology Development Department specifically for this puppet. It is used to research puppets and improve them. At the same time, it has also launched some puppets that can be regarded as toys and sold them to the entire ninja world.
I saw a lot of these when I was on a mission in the capital of the Land of Fire." Kakashi seemed to have remembered something and said in a daze.
In the past few years, the relationship between Konoha and the Sand Village has made rapid progress and is as sweet as honey.
For example, the sale of puppet toys was a tentative product launched by the Kazekage after discussions and verification with the Konoha Village.
Using the skills of making killer puppets to make some puppet toys is simply a dimensionality reduction strike! If these puppet toys also add some cool ninjutsu, it will be a killer!
At least nobles and merchants from all over the world are very fond of this kind of toys. They don't care where the production technology comes from, they just know that these toys are very popular among children.
These puppet toys have been very popular in the past two years, and even some daring imitations have appeared. Although they cannot be compared with the originals from the Sand Village in terms of refinement and technology, they are cheap and in large quantities.
As the Kazekage, Luo Sha was furious and sent out the Anbu to clean up some of the pirated materials. But that was all.
It doesn’t matter if some small businessmen without any backing are cleared out, but those who can grow to a large scale almost all have the support of a country’s nobles behind them.
Especially since the Sand Ninja can only carry out these in the Wind Country, he has a lot to consider for other big countries.
So, following Lunie's suggestion, Luo Sha simply upgraded the puppets continuously, distinguished them from those shoddy products, made them into luxury goods and sold them to merchants and children of nobles, and also prepared a so-called puppet battle game.
Puppet battle games are very popular among nobles, merchants, and ninja children, and every time the Sand Village introduces a new puppet, it attracts a wave of enthusiasm. Now the sales of puppet toys, even if the profits are distributed layer by layer, can actually make up for the financial deficit of the Sand Village and turn losses into profits.
As for the earlier ridicule from other ninja villages that "the dignified ninjas of the Sand Village don't do the tasks that ninjas should do, but actually do this kind of childish business", the Kazekage Rasa and the people of the Sand Village have now turned a deaf ear to it.
After all, the Sand Village has suffered too much economic losses and has never lived such a prosperous life as it does now.
Money can train more ninjas, upgrade laboratory equipment, make the village's previously scarce materials no longer scarce, and so on.
The most important thing is that Luo Sha, the Wind Shadow, no longer has to use his bloodline ability to pan for gold in the desert!
"In fact, the high-end puppets of the Sand Village now have to share profits with us in Konoha." Seeing that Kakashi and the others seemed to be a little unclear about some inside information, Kabuto raised his hand slightly and took the initiative to speak.
"Does our Konoha have a part in this?" Kakashi and Obito were both stunned. They never expected that Konoha's affairs would also be involved here?
"To be precise, it is the puppet toy department of the Sand Village that needs to share the profits with the Technology Development Department." Kabuto explained: "For example, this customized rare puppet toy of Sasuke uses the ninjutsu engraving and chakra sealing energy technology of the Technology Development Department.
Until the technology is cracked, these puppet toys cannot be pirated. Now the one that cooperates most closely with us in the Sand Village is the former puppet class. "
"Ninjutsu engraving?" Obito subconsciously looked behind Kakashi. He remembered that Kakashi had a sword that had the ability to release lightning-style ninjutsu by injecting chakra into it.
Although its power cannot be compared with the thunder sword among the seven swords of the Hidden Mist, a sword that can release thunder escape ninjutsu can also be regarded as a precious ninja tool.
"It is a technique that Senior Kushina mastered based on Minato's Flying Thunder God Dagger. It is a technique that can release various ninjutsu with the puppet itself without the need for scrolls.
The puppeteer of Sand Village has selected and customized a batch of ninjutsu to be engraved on the puppets. This will help them increase their combat effectiveness and information gap during battle. "Kabuto replied.
"Is it really okay to let Sasuke play with such a dangerous toy?" Obito subconsciously looked at the puppet in Sasuke's hand.
As if sensing some of Obito's bad intentions, the young Sasuke almost immediately stuffed the puppet behind himself, and he himself hid behind his brother.
"I didn't ask for it, Sasuke, you're too sensitive!" Obito felt a little embarrassed when he realized that his intention to trick children into giving him toys was seen through, especially since Rin and Kakashi were still around...
"At most, these toys can release some small fireballs. With the chakra conversion output power strictly controlled, their ninjutsu is only for looking good and cool. Even ordinary children will not be harmed under normal circumstances.
Safety is something that every puppet toy must undergo a joint inspection by the Technical Development Department and the Sand Ninja Puppet Class before being sold." Kabuto said with a smile.
The reason why he knows so much is because he was thrown into this department by Lu Nie for training.
(End of this chapter)