"You are right, but that was his limit. He also wanted to win against Konoha, to free the village from the desert sands."
"Then who should be blamed for the deaths in the village?"
Although not explicitly stated, Shizuku knew that Sasori implied that his parents' deaths should be blamed on someone.
In theory, this was not something a mere low-ranking ninja like Shizuku should know.
The Elder Chiyo had always kept Sasori in the dark about his parents' deaths, only telling the young Sasori that his parents had gone far away and would return after a long time.
However, as Sasori grew older, his natural intelligence could no longer be kept in the dark.
After a moment of silence, Shizuku carefully considered his words, trying to avoid saying something inappropriate, and finally came up with a correct but essentially meaningless statement.
"Blame those who killed, if it was Konoha who killed, then blame Konoha."
"But the one who started the war was the Third Kazekage. If he hadn't started the war, people wouldn't have died."
Why is this child so stubborn!?
"No, people would still die, and even more would die."
Sasori tilted his head.
"Because we are very poor, the village is not wealthy, surrounded by vast deserts. In the Land of Wind, deserts and wastelands occupy over seventy percent of the land, and over eighty-five percent of the land is unsuitable for cultivation. Yet most of the resources and wealth are taken by the daimyos and nobles to sustain their lavish lifestyles, even cutting back on the village's budget for this purpose."
"The annual budget of our Hidden Sand Village is the lowest among the Five Great Nations. Without funds, the village cannot develop and may even regress. While other villages are progressing, ours is regressing. In the end, the village will become a small ninja village that can be bullied by anyone, leading to its destruction. And if the Land of Wind loses the village, it will also perish."
"At that time, many people in the Land of Wind will die, far more than you will see in your lifetime, multiplied by ten. So, to prevent this situation, the Third Kazekage can only lead us to fight outside, seize more resources, better land, and feed more people."
Explaining concepts like war and productivity to a child, especially one who has not received a proper education and has been trained as a ninja, is quite challenging. Shizuku could only try to explain these things from a ninja's perspective that they could understand.
"Why not take back resources from the daimyos and nobles?"
Sasori asked again.
"Because the daimyos and nobles of the entire ninja world stand together. If we openly turn against the daimyos, kill them, then all the other daimyos will demand their ninja villages to attack the Hidden Sand Village, as the actions of the Hidden Sand Village undermine their ruling class. We would have to face the entire ninja world, but if we go after the Land of Fire, we only need to deal with Konoha."
Sasori fell silent, feeling the need to sort out his thoughts.
For someone who hadn't even completed two years of schooling and had been taught how to kill people as a ninja, this knowledge was completely different from what they had previously considered.
After a few seconds, Sasori decided to set aside these thoughts and get back to the main topic.
"Let's talk about those things later. Today, I want to compete with you first. The puppet you made that can fit a person inside is quite special, different from the mainstream puppets in the village. I want to test the power of that thing."
Shizuku looked deeply into Sasori's eyes and said with emphasis, "Alright, after the match, I hope you can think about what I said and if there's anything you don't understand, you can come to me."
To prevent being turned into a puppet in the future, Shizuku believed it was necessary to guide Sasori's thinking.
At least teach him to think in a more normal way, so that these self-proclaimed geniuses, who have not been taught by anyone, don't come up with all sorts of chaotic ways to solve problems.
The two walked out of the room and arrived at the puppet army training ground, releasing their respective puppets.
The hands flicked out, connecting the chakra threads to cover the fat puppet onto oneself, controlled by the right hand, while the left hand's chakra threads drilled out through the gaps in the fat puppet's glove, connecting to the little boy.
Manipulating puppets with chakra threads doesn't completely affect one's body posture.
At thirty-five years old, Scorpion could control hundreds of puppets simultaneously with just a piece of meat-released chakra thread.
The key to puppet manipulation lies in controlling the chakra threads.
Of course, the posture and movements of fingers and arms can also enhance the control of puppets by chakra threads, maximizing the combat effectiveness of individual puppets.
Of course, Shizuku couldn't reach the level of mastery in puppetry like Scorpion did in his prime. Normal puppeteers would only use their fingers to emit chakra threads to manipulate puppets.
He didn't need to be so complex; he only needed to use the technique of black ninjutsu skillfully while controlling the fat puppet in battle, using the fingers hidden under the puppet's glove to manipulate the little boy.
That is, using five chakra threads from one hand to control the little boy and five chakra threads from the other hand to control the fat puppet, coordinating the movements of various body parts.
Scorpion also connected chakra threads to the Black Ant and the Sansho Fish. One hand controlled the Sansho Fish to protect the main body, while the other hand controlled the Black Ant to launch an attack.
"Black Ninjutsu: Hand Manipulation Dance."
It was the move he used during a mission before. The six arms of the Black Ant instantly elongated, not only much longer than the White Ant but also with the tips of the arms turning into metal, resembling six collapsible long spears.
"Black Ninjutsu: Rapid Performance."
The little boy also revealed mechanical claws and rotating saw blades, starting a fierce battle with the Black Ant.
The former was clearly faster than the Black Ant, but the latter had more claws and other mechanisms.
The battle between the two was evenly matched, quickly changing pace—cutting off the opponent's chakra threads to disrupt their control over the puppets.
Shizuku raised an eyebrow, looking surprised at Scorpion.
"Black Ant, Sansho Fish... There should be a crow in the future, and with Scorpion's abilities, he will likely upgrade the puppets."
In the Chunin Exams, Mirai Kanekuro used the Black Ant and the Crow, and after becoming a Jonin in Shippuden, he added the Sansho Fish.
Being continuously used up to Jonin level indicates that the Black Ant and Sansho Fish were upgraded to Jonin level, showing that the foundation of these two puppets is quite solid.
At least in Shizuku's judgment, the Black Ant puppet should also rank among B-rank puppets.
Both using black ninjutsu, although Shizuku's puppetry has made considerable progress compared to the past, there is still some distance compared to Scorpion.