Current Cursed Spirits:

- Orimoto Rika (Activated - 67.9%)

- Sukuna Ryomen (Activated - 52.6%)

- Smallpox Deity (Activated - 52.6%)

- Choso (Activated - 50.6%)

- Hanami (Activated - 20%)

- Guilt (Activated - 13%)

- Jogo (Activated - 30%)

- Kenjaku (Activated - 30%)

From the rankings, Rika, Sukuna, and the Smallpox Deity, each above the 50% threshold, already possessed power equivalent to a normal jonin in the shinobi world.

But without a doubt, Rika and Sukuna were even stronger than typical jonin.

This was because they were cursed spirits born from extreme emotions, making them far more powerful than those born from ordinary emotions.

[Copy Technique Template]

[Yaga Masamichi - Cursed Corpse Manipulation: UNLOCKED]

How many days has it been? And you're only giving the notification now? This delay is seriously bad. Did you forget and only just now remembered to remind me

He always assumed the worst about this system.

[Notification timing calibrated to host stress levels. Current assessment: Relaxed state detected.]

He looked at his current state, lying in bed, arms and legs spread out.

Excuses.

[System functions operate within optimal parameters.]

"..."

He immediately turned his attention to the newly acquired copy technique template.

Masamichi's Cursed Corpse Manipulation?

He had just copied Akasuna's puppet mastery, and now he'd acquired Masamichi's version of puppet manipulation.

What a coincidence!

The puppet techniques of the shinobi world and Masamichi's Cursed Corpse Manipulation each had their own strengths and weaknesses.

The advantage of puppet mastery lay in the powerful combat capabilities and comprehensive functionality of the puppets, but the downside was that they lacked independent will and required chakra threads for control.

The Cursed Corpse Manipulation's advantage was that the puppets had independent movement and combat ability. The more cursed energy and emotion infused into them, the stronger they became. The downside was that their strength depended entirely on the amount of cursed energy infused.

If these two techniques were to be combined… Perfect!

With inspiration blooming in his mind, he leaped out of bed.

Three seconds later, he lay back down.

[Query: Project development postponed?]

Not even a bit. I have to get up at 4:30 tomorrow.

As if his life force had been instantly drained, he immediately closed his eyes and cherished every second of rest. Don't send any more notifications. I'm going to sleep.

[Notification system: Suspended until 04:30 hours.]

---

The next day, After finishing the usual training, Shiratori arrived at the only tree in Ame.

He put his hands together and bowed three times toward the tree. "Forgive me!"

Crack.

The tree let out a groan as it was chopped in half by Shiratori.

He hoisted the trunk onto his shoulder and carried it to Tetsuma's blacksmith shop.

Along the way, he attracted the attention of many ninjas, who warmly offered to help him.

Not wanting to dampen their enthusiasm, he let them feel the weight of the tree trunk. After doing so, they all forced awkward smiles and politely bid him farewell.

Shiratori knocked on the door.

With a creak, Tetsuma opened it, and saw a huge tree... and Shiratori, who hadn't even grown as tall as the tree's lower branches.

He had to look around for a while before he finally located him.

Not because Shiratori was too short, but because the tree was just too big.

"Shiratori?"

Seeing the contrast between his small frame and the massive tree, he feared the boy might get crushed under the weight. He quickly rushed to grab the tree trunk and tried to lift it off Shiratori's shoulder.

He acted so eagerly and moved so fast that Shiratori didn't even have time to stop him.

As Shiratori had predicted, Tetsuma had overestimated himself and underestimated him. The moment he took the weight, he stumbled under it, nearly falling flat on his face. The tree trunk dropped from Tetsuma's hands, but Shiratori caught it again.

His arms sank from the weight: "..."

Maybe don't 'help' after all?

Thankfully, he reacted quickly, or Tetsuma might have been seriously injured by that fall.

Tetsuma steadied himself and didn't mention helping again. Instead, he opened the door wide and led Shiratori to place the tree trunk in the storage area where he usually kept materials.

Looking at the tree trunk, which now occupied half the warehouse space, he asked curiously, "Why'd you bring such a big tree back?"

Shiratori knocked on the trunk. A deep, solid thud echoed in response.

It was clear, the tree was excellent quality.

With top-tier raw material, he was already halfway to successfully crafting a puppet.

"I'm going to use it to make a puppet."

Since he would need to use Tetsuma's forge in the future, he figured there was no point in hiding it from him, better to be upfront.

Tetsuma's eyes widened, stunned. He stared at Shiratori speechless.

A puppet?

Since when did he know how to make puppets?

Even though he didn't say anything, his face and expression gave away everything he wanted to say.

"On a recent trip to the border, I fought a puppeteer from Suna. I want to become a puppeteer too," Shiratori explained.

"But... but there's no one in the village who can teach you…"

His secret trip to the border had already become common knowledge among Ame's ninjas. Tetsuma had heard about it too.

But he hadn't expected it to be so dangerous.

Shiratori actually fought a puppet master!

Still, him wanting to learn puppet techniques made things difficult.

In the entire shinobi world, only Suna had puppet users.

If he wanted to learn, he had no teacher to turn to.

"No need for a teacher. I already learned it during that battle," Shiratori told him.

As he turned the idea over in his mind, he noticed Tetsuma had gone completely silent. When he looked over, Tetsuma's mouth was open wide enough to fit a duck egg.

"A… amazing!"

It took a while before Tetsuma found his voice again.

"I want to ask a favor."

Before Shiratori even finished his sentence, Tetsuma replied without hesitation, "Sure!"

"I'd like to use your forge to make puppets in the future. Is that okay?"

Tetsuma nodded with the certainty and force of a hammer striking an anvil. "Of course it is!"

With Tetsuma's full support, Shiratori began heading to the forge daily after finishing his training. Using the tools and equipment there, he dove into puppet crafting.

But he wasn't making puppets like Akasuna's, lifeless machines controlled by chakra threads, nor like Masamichi's, fluffy, doll-like cursed corpses.

He wanted to combine the best of both worlds and create a high-combat puppet that needed no control at all.