As a puppeteer, Kankurō understood the principle that a craftsman needed the right tools for the job.
With Konohamaru throwing out suggestion after suggestion, Kankurō began building his specialized puppet.
The two worked themselves half to death, attacking the project day and night.
At last, Kankurō succeeded in combining ideas from Crow, Black Ant, and Salamander to create a puppet entirely of his own design.
He named it—Roast Chicken.
Technically, he claimed it was based on all three puppets.
In reality, most of the design came from Black Ant.
Crow was an offensive puppet.
Salamander specialized in defense.
Only Black Ant was designed for capture.
Black Ant's usual method of attacking was to open its enormous body and trap an enemy inside.
If Kankurō needed the prisoner alive for interrogation, he could simply leave them there.
If he did not, he could use his Puppet Secret Technique—Black Secret Technique: Machine One Shot.
Blades would stab through gaps in Black Ant's body and kill whoever was trapped inside.
It was basically the magician's trick where swords were pushed through a box.
Except Kankurō's version actually stabbed the person.
If necessary, Kankurō himself could also hide inside one of his puppets, creating an effect somewhat similar to the Substitution Technique.
Roast Chicken, which had been modeled primarily after Black Ant, possessed the same enclosed structure.
Under Kankurō's control, he climbed inside and sealed himself within the puppet.
This time, however, what awaited him inside was not a collection of blades.
It was a collection of… considerably softer mechanisms.
Konohamaru stood outside and watched Roast Chicken tremble continuously.
Even without hearing anything, he could tell Kankurō was putting his heart and soul into the process.
For the sake of his dignity, Kankurō had even built the puppet using soundproof materials.
Whatever noises he made inside, Konohamaru could not hear a thing.
And only now did Kankurō finally understand something.
His original technique, Black Secret Technique: Machine One Shot, had been badly named.
This new Roast Chicken puppet?
This was what deserved to be called Machine One Shot.
Click.
Thud.
Several minutes later, Roast Chicken's front panel opened and dropped heavily onto the floor.
Kankurō stepped out, immediately sat cross-legged, and began attempting to gather natural energy.
If one looked closely, his hair was slightly damp.
While designing Roast Chicken, Kankurō had even thought to include a cleaning function for afterward.
Otherwise, if he still felt uncomfortable all over, he might enter the post-training sage-like state yet still be unable to calm his mind enough to properly enter Sage Mode.
Naturally, he could only afford such a feature because the Land of Wind's environment was gradually improving.
In the past, water had been far too precious to waste so casually.
Konohamaru opened his mouth, intending to ask how things had gone, but stopped himself.
He could not interrupt.
This was the critical moment.
Success or failure would be decided now.
With nothing else to do, Konohamaru began inspecting Roast Chicken's internal structure.
He had watched the puppet being built from beginning to end and had even helped design it, yet seeing the finished product still left him impressed by the craftsmanship.
Konohamaru could not help thinking that if a puppet like this were used against someone such as his grandfather Sarutobi Hiruzen or Jiraiya, it would still be a terrifying weapon even without using it to assist Sage Mode training.
Just trap the enemy inside.
That alone could become devastating.
…
Kankurō's training had finally gotten onto the right track.
Gaara and Naruto, however, were making almost no progress at all.
The reason was similar.
Gaara had originally been specifically chosen by Rasa because his body was suitable for becoming a jinchūriki.
His physical condition was naturally excellent.
That meant Gaara faced the same problem as Kankurō:
He could not enter the necessary state quickly enough.
In fact, Gaara's problem was even worse.
Kankurō might have painted his face strangely, but mentally he had always been a relatively ordinary shinobi by the standards of the old ninja world.
Gaara was different.
He had genuinely suffered severe psychological problems in the past.
Even after becoming Kazekage, he had only overcome most of those issues.
The scars themselves still remained.
Naruto spent the entire day accompanying Gaara through repeated training attempts.
Every time, it took Gaara far too long to reach the proper condition.
Because the preparation process lasted so long, the useful window afterward became too short.
He simply could not properly enter Sage Mode.
Gaara had no choice but to keep trying on his own.
As for Naruto?
Naruto had fallen asleep on the sofa.
Unlike Konohamaru, he could not come up with some ingenious solution to Gaara's problem.
His head was currently occupied by a much more important question:
What were they eating tonight?
Yes.
What should they eat?
Judging from the way Naruto had once taught Konohamaru the Rasengan, nobody should have expected particularly constructive teaching advice from him.
Naruto's famous unpredictability only seemed useful when applied to himself.
Gaara would have to find his own solution.
And now—
The perspective needed to shift briefly to the original story.
Anime Episode 252, The Kazekage's Return.
It was the ending of the Kazekage Rescue arc, after Granny Chiyo sacrificed herself to revive Gaara and Naruto's group prepared to leave.
When Naruto was saying goodbye to Gaara, he scratched his head awkwardly and said:
"I guess we're supposed to shake hands here, huh? I'm not very good at handshakes."
That sentence was ridiculous when one actually thought about it.
What did it even mean to be "bad at shaking hands"?
The way Naruto said it somehow made him sound strangely coy, almost as if he were waiting for the other person to take the initiative.
And Gaara, hearing him, merely smiled knowingly and extended his hand first.
If Naruto would not make the first move, then Gaara would.
But Naruto still stood there without moving.
So Gaara became even more proactive.
He controlled his sand, pushed Naruto's hand forward, and made the handshake happen himself.
That sand was Gaara's legendary Mother Susanoo.
It represented Karura's power.
Almost as though his mother herself had watched Gaara finally find his closest friend and gently helped him reach out.
Any normal person watching the scene might have felt a suspiciously strong sense of—
Wait a second…
Still, nothing had ever been said outright.
Everyone could only admit there was a very powerful vibe.
…
Now, back inside Gaara's room.
After hesitating for a moment, Gaara walked over to the sofa.
Just as he had during that farewell in the original story, he controlled his sand and used it to move Naruto's hand.
Gaara was obviously trying to shake hands.
Right?
Obviously.
…
The sand represented his mother, Karura.
And then there was Naruto's hand.
The two most important people in Gaara's life.
Soon afterward, Gaara successfully completed the preliminary step of the Sage Mode method.
He sat cross-legged on the floor and began calmly sensing natural energy.
Outside the window, however, Tokiwa had witnessed everything while secretly monitoring them.
She clutched her head with both hands and desperately wished she could erase the image from her memory.
She had assumed Naruto, as Konoha's infamous bond-type shinobi, would be the aggressive one.
Instead, it was the exact opposite!
She had heard rumors about this before.
The naturally shameless Uzumaki Naruto only took the initiative at the beginning.
Once he successfully won someone over, he immediately started acting clueless and passive, making the other person do all the work.
Uchiha Sasuke had been like that.
Now even Kazekage Gaara was the same.
Terrifying.