The world I hear is completely different from yours.

After seeing off the merchant caravan from the Land of Wind, Ameyoshi paused her work and headed towards Konoha's puppet research department with Shizune. During the time Tsunade had been acting as acting head of government, Shizune had been assisting her, gradually demonstrating her considerable political talent. Therefore, upon Ameyoshi's return, she borrowed Shizune from Tsunade to handle government affairs, which could be seen as Tsunade representing the Senju clan in contributing to Konoha.

Tsunade was quite displeased at the time: "I clearly only asked Shizune to hand over her work to you, Tenqing, how can you keep holding onto my disciple? Aren't you afraid of affecting Shizune's medical training?!" It wasn't until Tenqing silently handed Tsunade a large denomination banknote and said that Tsunade would receive a 10% discount at all casinos owned by Konoha that Tsunade finally left with a smile, leaving the dumbfounded Shizune behind.

Clang! Clang! A staff member pulled open an iron door and lowered an old-fashioned elevator, allowing Tianqing to continue descending underground with Jingyin. In the pitch-black tunnel, Jingyin felt a little panicked and asked, "Hokage-sama, where are we going?"

"The underground laboratory of the Konoha Puppet Research Department," Tian Qing replied, a hint of nostalgia on her face. She had worked here for many days and nights. "We came here this time because that thing is almost finished, and we're going to test its effects."

................

P.S. Second update! Please continue to add to your favorites and recommend! O(∩_∩)O haha~

Chapter Twenty-Seven: Is the Divine Shadow Reindeer Nephilim or Jeanne Alter?

"That thing?" Shizune asked in surprise. She had been assisting Tsunade with government affairs for some time, but she never knew that there was such a hidden place in Konoha, nor did she know what in Konoha that Ame-no-Kage valued so much. Could that thing be the weapon that Ame-no-Kage thought could be used to fight against the Land of Earth and the Land of Lightning?

Click! The elevator slowly came to a stop, and the tightly closed elevator doors slowly opened, letting in a large amount of bright light. Shizune instinctively raised her hand to shield her eyes. Then, through the gaps between her fingers, Shizune saw the brightly lit space outside.

This was an enormous semi-circular space. On the vast experimental platform in the center stood a colossal figure, appearing exceptionally mysterious under the bright surrounding light. Numerous wires were attached to this colossal figure, connecting it to various instruments on the ground. Many Konoha personnel were hurriedly using these instruments to perform final adjustments.

"Is this... a puppet?" Shizune looked up at the huge puppet in front of her. Although she could clearly see the various steel puppet parts on the puppet, she couldn't understand why the puppet was made to look like a girl wearing armor.

Tian Qing raised her head and looked at the huge puppet in front of her, which was nearly ten stories high. It was the last member of the three giant puppets in her plan, and also the most crucial core part of her entire plan. It was a puppet in the shape of a girl, with closed eyes and a pale face, and was covered with black armor and skirt armor.

"The only problem now is its name. Should it be called 'God Shadow*Naphiel,' or should it be called 'Black Jeanne's Ark' or 'Black Saber'? Anyway, as the female protagonist of a Japanese anime, everyone has the same face shape and wears black armor. At most, changing the hairstyle and hair color will make it a different person. Wouldn't it be great to take advantage of this trend?" Tian Qing thought to herself, repeatedly considering the differences between these names.

Just as Tian Qing was lost in thought, a Konoha staff member pushed over a small puppet that had just arrived from Sunagakure: "Hokage-sama, it's basically all set up now. Can we begin the first test?"

“Let’s begin, let me see her power!” Tian Qing said, looking at another red-haired female puppet lying flat next to the giant puppet.

This red-haired female puppet named Little Red Riding Hood was originally a member of the "Chikamatsu Ten," a puppeteer family of the Chikamatsu clan from the Sand Village. Later, Ameharu seized it from the Sand Village and modified it. As one of the masterpieces created by Chikamatsu Zaemon, the progenitor of puppetry, this puppet already possessed considerable power. After Ameharu's modifications, Little Red Riding Hood gained powerful computational abilities, capable of extending countless chakra threads to decipher and manipulate enemy puppets. She could even network with other puppets, significantly enhancing her computational capabilities.

This time, Little Red Riding Hood will be placed inside the giant puppet next to her, becoming the core of this giant puppet. After being equipped with the latest automatic puppet core developed by the Konoha Puppet Department, Little Red Riding Hood will theoretically have an independent personality and consciousness, becoming an intelligent puppet similar to an AI assistant.

"First experiment initiated! Chakra input activated!" Following the command of a Konoha staff member, a massive amount of chakra flowed into the giant puppet along countless lines, as if nourishing a newborn. In Ameyoshi's ears, she clearly heard the giant puppet and Little Red Riding Hood almost simultaneously let out a joyful cry—the sound of something awakening!

The next moment, it opened its eyes!

Click! Click! Although it didn't make any movement, the unmanned puppets around it suddenly moved, standing up and turning their heads almost simultaneously, staring at Tian Qing with their lifeless puppet eyes! Then, a mechanical electronic female voice rang out, echoing throughout the entire laboratory: "Welcome back, Master!"

Meanwhile, from within the stone walls of the underground laboratory, the rustling of countless insects echoed—the sounds of small worker bee golems originally used to build the laboratory. Since its completion, these golems, originally only capable of simple burrowing, had been left embedded in the stone walls. But now, they had instantly become its subordinates!

Next, the puppets began to move, quickly assembling a new puppet using some broken parts. In just a few minutes, the old parts piled up next to the laboratory completely disappeared, replaced by several new puppets with somewhat strange appearances, shaking their heads and waving their heads at Tian Qing.

This is its power. As an intelligent core, it can control countless puppets, and with only basic resources, it can continuously multiply the puppets, achieving their self-evolution without human intervention at any step. Supported by this enormous body, it can even precisely control all the puppets within a radius of hundreds of miles, just like the queen of the Zerg!

This is the weapon that Ameyoshi plans to use to deal with the Land of Earth. Although she only has nearly 10,000 puppets sent by the Sand Village, with the abundant spare parts reserves in Konoha, these tireless puppets will expand rapidly like a snowball under her control, eventually overwhelming the 30,000 Iwa ninja army with their sheer numbers!

"Little Red Riding Hood, now calculate how long it would take to build an army of 100,000 puppets?" Tian Qing asked. Since she couldn't think of a better name, she decided to stick with the original name, Little Red Riding Hood.

"Instructions received... Calculation complete... With Konoha's current resource reserves, it will only take ten days!" Little Red Riding Hood replied in a mechanical electronic voice.

"That's enough! Let's get started right away! Also, send out some puppets to set up signal towers around Konoha to extend the range of puppet control!" Although Little Red Riding Hood can control a large number of puppets, her control range is only a few hundred miles, which cannot completely cover the entire Land of Fire. Therefore, signal towers need to be set up in places where the chakra signal cannot reach. This is also the biggest weakness of this puppet insect army.

Therefore, Tianqing has planned to establish a ninja unit in the future that is specifically responsible for building and maintaining signal towers. Let's call it the "Konoha Mobile Telecommunications Unit"!

"With this trump card, I can finally relax!" Tian Qing thought to herself. "But speaking of which, I made a tentative move earlier. If it had worked well, the puppet insectoid army might not have needed to be mobilized! I wonder if the Akatsuki organization has received the mission I issued?"

............

PS: First update. Please continue to add to your favorites and recommend!

Chapter Twenty-Eight: Driving in the Toilet in Public!

In a small country, Yekura and Sasori, wearing straw hats and Akatsuki's uniform Fire Cloud suits, strode in with the aura of unparalleled masters. If accompanied by a domineering background music, they would be as imposing as the legendary ultimate villains making their entrance, drawing the attention of passersby.

Then, with this powerful aura, they walked together into a lonely public restroom standing by the roadside, seemingly oblivious to everyone else. They even went into the men's restroom together, as if Yekura wasn't a woman at all, but rather a close buddy with Sasori, arm in arm, so close they could hold hands while using the restroom. This immediately caused passersby to widen their eyes in astonishment: "What's going on? Why are this man and woman walking into the men's restroom together?!" Some even gave knowing "you know what I mean" looks and gave Sasori a thumbs-up from afar, praising his bold act of "driving" in public.

"Speaking of which, can I go over there and kill those guys who're giving me thumbs up?" Ye Cang said, clearly annoyed. As a ninja, she was naturally aware of the subtle actions of passersby. And as a female ninja, Ye Cang knew a thing or two about these things, so she was quite displeased and wanted to go over and slap all those passersby with those weird expressions to death.

Of course, Yekura and Sasori weren't there to relieve themselves in the public restroom, nor were they there to hone their combat skills and become toilet warriors like Hisoka. The reason they walked into the public restroom so casually was that, while it was ostensibly a public restroom, it had lost its function. Unauthorized personnel were not allowed in, and it was constantly guarded to ensure that ordinary passersby wouldn't use it—it was now an underground mission liaison office for the black market.

"But why would the black market set up a mission contact point in a public toilet? Is it because the black market is too poor to afford a proper mission contact point? Or does the person in charge of the black market simply have some inexplicable obsession with public toilets?" Ye Cang asked, covering his nose. Although the public toilet didn't have a strong odor, the psychological shadow was still hard to shake off.

Sasori shrugged and didn't respond. After all, as long as he could make a lot of money, what did a little bit of odor matter? During his time with Akatsuki, the organization had never provided him and Yekura with any funds, so Sasori had been relying on taking on black market missions to earn money to maintain his beloved muscle puppets.

In the original story, when Kakuzu and Hidan went to the black market to hand in their mission, they met with the black market contact in a fairly clean public restroom. Although Hidan had always complained about this, the greedy Kakuzu had an indifferent expression, truly befitting the treasurer who controlled the Akatsuki's finances.

"Speaking of which, you won't ask us to catch pigeons again this time, will you? Of course, if the reward is good, I'll reluctantly go and catch them again." Scorpion said, looking at the bald black market contact, while wondering how much money he could get if he stabbed the bald man in front of him.

The bald black market liaison shrugged with a wry smile. He was very familiar with Sasori's slightly murderous gaze. As a black market liaison with many years of experience, he knew that these rogue ninjas who came to the underground black market to accept missions had more or less considered robbing the black market. So he quickly explained, "Although I've said it many times before, I think I should say it again. When we hand in missions, we liaisons only carry the reward for that mission. Nothing else. And once someone has a history of attacking a mission liaison, the black market will no longer provide any missions for that ninja and will even issue a high bounty on him, allowing all ninjas to hunt him down."

Instantly, the faint killing intent in the air vanished without a trace!

"Bastards! These damned rogue ninjas are such snobs!" The bald man's black market contact cursed inwardly, but on the surface he wore a calm expression that said, "I'm used to this kind of thing." He took out a scroll from his pocket and handed it over: "This mission was specifically requested by an unknown employer for your Akatsuki organization to carry out, and the reward for the mission is quite good."

"A mission specifically requested from the Akatsuki?" Sasori took the scroll with a questioning look, quickly glanced through it, and then gave a "Are you kidding me?" expression: "Requesting the Akatsuki to stop the Land of Earth's attack on Konoha?! Are you kidding me? They actually want the Akatsuki to deal with Iwagakure, one of the Five Great Shinobi Villages? Is this employer out of their mind? Is this something that can be done with a small reward?!"

The bald black market contact shrugged with a wry smile, indicating that he was just an ordinary contact person who knew nothing about this completely absurd mission: "So, do you still want to take this mission? Or should I go and turn it down? Anyway, this kind of mission is already beyond the scope of black market missions, so even if I refuse, it won't affect the reputation of the mercenaries."

Just as Sasori was about to agree, Yekura suddenly interjected, "Excuse me, is this mission specifically assigned to a particular person within Akatsuki, or is it assigned to the entire Akatsuki organization?"

The bald man's black market contact paused for a moment, then replied after recalling the details, "It seems... it seems to have been specifically designated for the Akatsuki mercenary organization."

“Okay, we’ll report this mission to the organization’s leader when we get back, and he’ll make the decision. We’ll then reply whether we accept the mission.” Ye Cang gave a meaningful smile. “If I’m not mistaken, this isn’t the kind of mission that requires an immediate response, is it?”

The bald black market contact nodded in surprise, a look of "How did you know?" on his face, confirming Ye Cang's guess: "Indeed, the employer said that we don't need to answer whether we accept the task immediately." Although he was very curious, he kept his mouth shut and didn't ask any unnecessary questions. As a black market contact who had worked for many years, he knew very well that he had been able to live so long unscathed not because of his intelligence or luck, but simply because he knew what to ask and what not to ask.

........................

P.S. Second update! Please continue to add to your favorites and recommend! O(∩_∩)O haha~

.................

P.S. Actually, that previous volume wasn't originally in the outline, but it was later realized that wouldn't work because Yekura was too weak; she'd be easily beaten by Nagato and Ameharu, with no chance of fighting back. Therefore, a volume was added temporarily to give Yekura a power boost and allow her to awaken her third eye. After all, such a mad character, without corresponding power, is just another patient in Aoyama Hospital.

Chapter Twenty-Nine: Even the Hokage Can Be a Neighborhood Committee Auntie

In truth, Tianqing wasn't certain whether the Akatsuki would accept his mission to "stop the Land of Earth's invasion," nor did he genuinely intend to rely on them to fight the invasion. He simply wanted to test the Akatsuki's current attitude. Regardless of whether the Akatsuki accepted or not, Tianqing would lead his puppet insectoid army to the front lines. After all, how could he entrust such a crucial matter of national survival to outsiders? Of course, if the Akatsuki could indeed defeat the Land of Earth, Tianqing would be happy and continue to conceal the puppet insectoid army as Konoha's secret weapon.

Ever since Yahiko put on an Ultraman mask and used his green-colored Haki to pacify Amegakure, the entire Amegakure has been under strict seclusion. To the outside world, it is claimed that an internal reorganization and restructuring will be carried out, and external exchanges will only resume after the restructuring is completed. During this period, no one is allowed to enter or leave Amegakure, making the Land of Rain seem like a country without ninja villages.

This is precisely why the other major ninja villages are not very aware of what has become of Amegakure and Akatsuki. Of course, part of the reason is that no one pays much attention to the small country of Amegakure and has not put in much effort to investigate.

However, Tianqing knew the potential of the Akatsuki organization, but because he was wary of Yahiko's brainwashing abilities, he did not dare to send Konoha's ANBU and spies into Amegakure to investigate intelligence, so as not to expose his attention to Amegakure in advance and alert the enemy.

Therefore, Tianqing issued this mission specifically to Akatsuki: "Stop the Land of Earth's invasion." It was a preliminary move to gauge Akatsuki's current attitude. Was it the early Akatsuki led by Yahiko, who aspired to "achieve world peace through non-extreme violence"? Or the later Akatsuki led by Nagato, who aimed to "make the world feel pain"? Although Yahiko was not dead, as the saying goes, fate is unpredictable and people's hearts are hard to fathom. Everyone's thoughts and understanding differ at different stages, so Tianqing couldn't be sure if Nagato would suddenly become chuunibyou and turn dark this time.

I'm sure the Akatsuki's response will come through the black market in a few days, right? I'm actually kind of looking forward to it! With that thought, Tian Qing got up and left the Hokage's office, heading towards Minato Namikaze's house to attend Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki's wedding.

Just a few days ago, Minato Namikaze returned to Konoha from the Land of Lightning. During this mission, he not only single-handedly destroyed the Kumogakure's chakra railgun, but also severely injured the Two-Tails Jinchuriki, assassinated the Third Raikage, and incidentally triggered a massive explosion affecting most of Kumogakure, causing heavy losses and avenging Konoha. He even brought back a design blueprint for the chakra railgun, making a significant contribution to Konoha.

Based on this achievement, all the high-ranking officials of Konoha unanimously passed a resolution to make Minato Namikaze the next Hokage. At the same time, in order to create a good public opinion foundation for Minato Namikaze before taking office, almost all the Anbu have begun to spread various stories of Minato Namikaze's great achievements in the village these days, trying to create a good impression of Minato Namikaze in the hearts of all the villagers so that he can govern in the future.

In no time, many rumors about Minato Namikaze spread throughout the village. The rumors, which were already somewhat exaggerated, became even more exaggerated as they were passed on by word of mouth. They included things like "Minato is a true man, a tough guy, who can knock down a tailed beast with one punch and kick the Raikage to death with one kick," "When the sun rises over Konoha, I am the only one who will not be defeated," and "When the Flash appears, who can compete with him? He will dominate the world for all eternity."

Even Tianqing himself came out to support Minato Namikaze, saying that Minato was an excellent young man, a pure Hokage prospect, who had inherited the complete Will of Fire. He was practically saying, "This blond-haired guy is the chosen one. If you don't elect him as Hokage, it's a sign that Konoha will be ruined. Those ninjas who didn't vote for Minato in the Jonin trust vote are utterly heartless."

However, it would take some time to build up momentum, so during this free time, Tianqing simply advised Namikaze Minato to hold his wedding with Kushina. After all, a Hokage with a family in Konoha would be more likely to gain the trust of the villagers, and after taking office, Namikaze Minato probably wouldn't have much time to worry about wedding matters, so it would be better to hold the wedding first while he had the time.

Minato Namikaze himself had no objection to this; his career was about to reach its peak, and winning the heart of a beauty at this time was not a bad thing. However, Kushina Uzumaki blushed and refused to express her opinion no matter how much people around her asked.

Left with no other choice, Tianqing had to temporarily switch roles to become a caring neighborhood committee auntie, and dragged Minato Namikaze over to give Kushina some advice.

"Kushina, do you not want to marry Minato Namikaze?" Ame asked.

Kushina blushed, completely unlike her usual dashing "Red Hot Chili Pepper" self, and shook her head.

“Oh, so you’re willing,” Tianqing concluded for Kushina very quickly. “Then do you feel like you’re facing an important choice in your life, and you’re a little unsure of what to do?”

Kushina nodded silently.

Generally speaking, it's true that some women experience anxiety and uncertainty before marriage. In her past life, when Tian Qing, a low-level civil servant, went to Qingshan Hospital to help suppress a few guys transferred from Arkham Asylum, she heard the doctors there mention this symptom, which is scientifically known as "pre-wedding anxiety"—it's said that Superman fought Batman for this reason—and of course, the doctors also provided corresponding treatment methods.

"Don't worry! Leave this to me!" Tianqing said confidently, patting her chest proudly as she assured him, "Kushina, I have a very good solution that will definitely resolve your hesitation!"

"Really?" Kushina looked up at Tensei with a doubtful expression.

"Why don't you and Minato play rock-paper-scissors? The winner gets to decide!"

Kushina: "……."

Minato Namikaze couldn't stand it any longer and spoke up to defend his girlfriend: "Hokage-sama, isn't it a bit unprofessional to decide such an important matter by rock-paper-scissors?"

Tian Qing slapped her forehead: "That's right, that's a bit too sloppy. Let's go with best two out of three!"

............

PS First update

Chapter Thirty: Even Rock-Paper-Scissors Can Be a Way to Show Affection!

Rock-paper-scissors is an important way to judge an individual's luck, and the degree of one's luck is also part of a ninja's overall strength. In other words, rock-paper-scissors, in a sense, represents a ninja's ability.

In the original story, the famously evenly matched Kakashi Hatake once said the same thing to Might Guy. So, in their 99th match, they decided to settle the score with rock-paper-scissors. Kakashi successfully defeated his lifelong rival, Might Guy, in rock-paper-scissors, bringing the score to 49-50. This thwarted Might Guy's plan to widen the gap between them and Kakashi once again cemented his reputation as the evenly matched "ninja of the ninja world."

Meanwhile, Kakashi Hatake's teacher, Minato Namikaze, had to decide whether his girlfriend would marry him through a best-of-three rock-paper-scissors game. Minato was initially reluctant, but Kushina readily agreed, raising her fist with confidence. Left with no other choice, Minato had to comply.

Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Power, all the power in my body surged up!! Minato Namikaze, with a solemn expression, began the most important duel of his life, his mind filled with wonder as he wondered why his Flying Thunder God Technique couldn't increase his chances of winning at rock-paper-scissors. At the same time, he felt a slight envy for the Sharingan of his missing disciple, Obito Uchiha. He thought that if everyone could decide whether they could marry their sweetheart through rock-paper-scissors, then every member of the Uchiha clan would be a winner in life, with only the Hyuga clan worthy of competing with them.

"One, two, three! Rock, paper, scissors!" Amidst the shouts, Minato Namikaze quickly extended his hand, silently praying for victory. After all, this was a major event in his future life! As for cheating in the game, deliberately going slow or cheating, Minato thought it over and decided against it. What if Kushina got angry? In terms of sensory abilities, the Uzumaki clan's sensory abilities were far superior to Minato's, who had no bloodline limit!

The result of the first duel was quickly announced. Minato Namikaze chose cloth, while Kushina chose fist. Minato Namikaze won, taking the lead and winning the first round!

"One, two, three! Rock, paper, scissors!" But rock-paper-scissors isn't a card game; it doesn't give either side time to think. So after the first round, both sides reached out their hands again to start the second round! And then came the third round!

"Final round, rock-paper-scissors!" Minato Namikaze revealed a victorious smile!

"Best of three, looks like Minato won!" Tianqing, standing to the side and temporarily acting as referee, announced the final result, though her heart was filled with a cloyingly sweet feeling of witnessing a romantic scene. As the saying goes, those involved are often confused, while observers see things clearly. Tianqing, standing to the side, saw very clearly that in the crucial third round of rock-paper-scissors, Kushina deliberately moved her hand faster, allowing Minato to see it first, which is why Minato was able to secure the third round.

"Was she deliberately throwing the game at the final point? It seems Kushina really has someone she likes!" As a single person, Tianqing felt like she was being flaunted in a compromising situation, and could only helplessly purse her lips, thinking to herself, "This behavior should be considered tsundere, right? Although she said she didn't want to, her body still obediently made the choice!"

This is the real reason why the rock-paper-scissors method can help with pre-wedding anxiety. Even though people's minds become muddled amidst a multitude of thoughts, their subconscious actions always reveal their true choices.

The following day, Kushina Uzumaki left the Senju clan's territory for the first time to marry Minato Namikaze. However, due to the deliberate secrecy of both parties, not many people knew about this, so there were not many guests present. Only the high-ranking officials of Konoha and close friends of both sides attended the wedding, making it a very low-key affair.

Three days later, Minato Namikaze donned the Fire God Robe with the words "Fourth Hokage" written on the back for the first time. Amidst the overwhelming cheers of the villagers, he entered the Hokage Building of Konoha and officially became the Fourth Hokage of Konoha, much earlier than in the original story.

Almost simultaneously, Konoha's former Hokage, Tensei, led a small force of nearly a hundred men away from Konoha, heading towards the Land of Earth to confront the 30,000 Iwa ninja troops stationed on the border. A considerable amount of time had passed since the outbreak of the Third Shinobi World War, and the fierce war was gradually drawing to a close. The Land of Wind and the Land of Lightning, having suffered heavy losses, had withdrawn from the war, leaving only the Land of Fire, the Land of Earth, and the Land of Water locked in a stalemate. The final battle was about to begin.

..................................

In the Land of Rain, in the Akatsuki's meeting room, Konan looked at Yahiko, whose figure had become much thinner, with worry: "Yahiko, are you really going to take on this mission to stop the Land of Earth's invasion? But your body..."

Although Ultraman Mask's "Ultimate Talk-no-Jutsu" utilizes Nagato's information manipulation ability to directly adjust the enemy's information and trust level to brainwash them, it still consumes a significant amount of Yahiko's own chakra. Furthermore, during this time, Yahiko's prolonged use of his brainwashing ability to integrate the ninjas of the Land of Rain has already caused some damage to his own body.

"It's alright, my body is perfectly fine!" Yahiko stood up with unusual determination, holding the mission scroll that Amemori had posted on the black market. "This is a golden opportunity! We've never had a legitimate reason to intervene in other countries' wars before, but this mission provides us with an excellent one! If I can successfully stop the Land of Earth's invasion, not only will we be able to end a war, but we can also spread the Akatsuki's reputation throughout the world, letting more people understand the Akatsuki's ideals! Therefore, we must accept this mission and stop the Land of Earth's army!"

“But according to the information in this scroll, the Land of Earth has a full 30,000 Iwa ninja troops!” Konan said worriedly. “Haven’t we tested it many times before? The stronger the ninja, the greater the wear and tear on this mask. Can your body really handle 30,000 ninja troops?”