Naruto: The Puppeteer in Konoha

When Shindai regained consciousness, he was being carried by his own people, tightly bound and slung over someone's shoulder, heading to an unknown destination.

Shindai didn't dare to speak.

For the past few days, whenever he woke up and tried to say something, he would be knocked unconscious with a chop to the neck.

He felt the back of his neck was swollen.

Shindai couldn't understand what had happened. Why had the Third Kazekage knocked him out? Why had they said nothing and forcibly taken him away from Sunagakure?

It was obvious that they were no longer in the Land of Wind because the land here wasn't sandy, and there were many rivers and trees.

The first few times he woke up, his first question was always where he was and where they were taking him.

But these two ninja never answered him, only responding with a hand chop.

This time, Shindai didn't say a word. He was trying to figure out the reason for his situation. 

No matter how hard he tried to recall, he couldn't figure out what he had done wrong.

He spent his days locked up at home, never having the opportunity to do anything wrong.

He tried to assess the ropes that tightly bound him, rendering him completely immobile.

He wanted to cry but couldn't—he wished he had learned rope escape techniques.

Escape from ropes was a basic ninjutsu that all ninjas had to learn.

It was a skill that involved untying knots or loosening body joints without using chakra. Though it was quite complicated, it didn't require chakra.

Ninjutsu was something Shindai had always been free to study at his own pace—no one forced him to learn specific techniques.

Techniques like escape skills were extremely painful, so Shindai had never bothered.

Now, when he needed it, he realized he had never learned it.

Shindai suddenly noticed that there weren't just the two Sand ninjas anymore; three more Sand ninjas had joined them.

He overheard their conversation.

"The Iwa ninjas have reached the Land of Rivers. We're going there to make the exchange."

"Have you informed them?"

"Yeah, the alliance scroll with Iwagakure has been received, and they've dispatched many ninjas to the northern part of the Land of Rivers. They must be planning to corner the Iwa ninjas."

"Alright, once we get the military supplies, we'll retreat."

Shindai, who had lost his memory, was confused.

The Land of Rivers?

Iwagakure and Sunagakure formed an alliance?

What were they trading? Military supplies?

The alliance scroll had been received by them? Who were "they"?

And why was he being taken along?

Shindai felt his mind was almost overwhelmed. He couldn't make sense of any of it.

After traveling for a while, the five Sand ninjas carrying Shindai suddenly stopped in the middle of a forest.

One of the Sand ninjas shouted, "Come out."

Five Iwa ninjas slowly emerged from the ground, standing in front of them.

The Sand ninja asked, "This is the Magnet Release Kekkei Genkai user, the one we promised to give you. So, where's the stuff we asked for?"

The Iwa ninjas unfurled six scrolls, summoning six large boxes.

"Two boxes of kunai, three boxes of shuriken, and one box of explosive tags. These are the military supplies we agreed to give you."

Shindai froze as he heard this, a cold shiver running through him.

So, this was a trade?

The Iwa ninjas were exchanging these six boxes for him?

Did the Third Kazekage think he was too useless and thus wanted to use him as a pawn to gain resources from Iwagakure?

No matter how Shindai thought about it, this seemed like the only possible explanation.

He suddenly felt a deep sense of despair, of sorrow.

He never wanted to fight. He pretended to be useless, staying at home all day, either studying ninjutsu or researching puppetry, just trying to survive.

He never imagined he would end up as a mere sacrifice.

In his heart, Shindai swore to himself: once he got to Iwagakure, he would turn dark, show them how strong he really was, and make the Third Kazekage and others see how wrong they were to treat him as expendable. He would show them what a big mistake it was to lose someone like him.

The five Sand ninjas opened and checked the six boxes, confirming that everything was in order before sealing the boxes back into scrolls.

The Sand ninjas placed Shindai on the ground, signaling for the Iwa ninjas to take him.

While the trade between the Sand and Iwa ninjas was taking place, four pairs of eyes were watching them from the surrounding area.

These four pairs of eyes belonged to Minato's team.

Minato gestured to Kakashi, Obito, and Rin.

Kakashi, Obito, and Rin nodded and spread out.

As a medical ninja, Rin had weak combat abilities and would not directly engage in the fight.

Kakashi had reached his position.

However, when Obito was heading to the location Minato had indicated, he accidentally stepped on a stone and fell flat on his face.

The noise of Obito falling immediately drew the attention of the Sand and Iwa ninjas.

"Who's there?!" 

Two Sand ninjas and two Iwa ninjas charged toward the sound.

Kakashi, Rin, and Minato covered their foreheads, looking exasperated.

"Such an idiot!"

Kakashi immediately used Body Flicker Technique to appear behind one of the Sand ninjas, plunging his short blade into the ninja's back, with blood splattering across Kakashi's face.

The other Sand ninja quickly drew a shuriken and threw it at Kakashi.

Kakashi withdrew his blade and leaped backward, dodging the shuriken.

Meanwhile, two Iwa ninjas charged toward Obito.

Obito, terrified by the sudden confrontation, fumbled his hand seals in panic. He managed to complete them just before the Iwa ninjas closed in.

"Fire Style! Fireball Jutsu!"

Obito gathered chakra in his throat and launched a fireball toward the Iwa ninjas.

"Earth Style: Earth Flow Wall!"

An Iwa ninja formed hand seals, pressing his hands to the ground, creating a massive earth wall that blocked Obito's fireball.

After blocking the flames, one of the Iwa ninjas continued to charge at Obito, who pulled out his kunai to defend himself.

Hidden nearby, Rin shouted, "Obito! Watch out behind you!"

An Iwa ninja suddenly emerged from the ground behind Obito, lunging at him with a kunai.

The sneaky Iwa ninja was one of the two that had originally charged at Obito.

While one Iwa ninja blocked the fireball with an earth wall, the other used Earth Style: Earth Dragon Hidden Technique to sneak underground, turning the soil into fine grains and moving like a subterranean dragon. The ninja had gotten close to Obito without being noticed.

Suddenly, the Iwa ninja appeared behind Obito, scaring him stiff as he watched the kunai come toward his neck.

.....

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