"Lady Mito wants to see me?"
"Yes, she asked me to go with you after work. I don't know what Grandma wants. It might be about Kushina. Be careful when you go."
After reminding Takashi to wait for her after work, Tsunade hurried away. The Medical Department still had too much work for her to handle.
Strange. Takashi couldn't quite understand. If it was something important, she could have simply told him to go now, instead of waiting until after work to go to the Senju Clan Estate together. This could easily lead to unnecessary misunderstandings.
He could foresee that as soon as he set foot in the Senju Clan Estate and met Mito Uzumaki, the Hokage's office would definitely be on edge. Mito Uzumaki's identity was too sensitive; every move she made was scrutinized by the Third Hokage and others.
Forget it. Why bother thinking so much? It was Mito Uzumaki who wanted to see him, not the other way around. Why worry about it? It was just adding unnecessary stress.
In the break room, Takashi assembled various materials, and a brand new puppet took shape in his hands. Perhaps due to it being his first attempt, the puppet's appearance was somewhat…unpleasant.
"Damn, that's ugly!"
Takashi knew he had successfully created his first puppet, but he was also disappointed. It was a flawed product, one he couldn't even bear to look at. Even if puppets were meant to be expendable, they shouldn't look so abstract, neither human nor animal.
After studying it for a while, Takashi, unable to stand the sight of it any longer, decisively dismantled the puppet. The materials used were the cheapest available, so he didn't mind the loss. Wasting a few materials was better than creating a pile of ugly things.
After dismantling the puppet, Takashi began to reflect. After a moment, he realized he had fallen into a trap. Puppet masters were rare in Konoha, as scarce as pandas in his previous life. Relevant books and scrolls were also few and far between, mostly obtained by the village through various means from Sunagakure.
And the puppets made in Sunagakure were grotesque. Because puppets needed to possess various functions and attack methods, the resulting creations were far from aesthetically pleasing.
Takashi wasn't a puppet master, and he didn't need to follow Sunagakure's style. Possessing the Tenseigan, he didn't even need to control the puppets directly. He could simply grant them life and give them orders. Therefore, the puppets didn't need so many functions or all those messy extra parts.
With a new idea in mind, Takashi continued assembling. Soon, a humanoid puppet, no taller than fifty centimeters, stood on the table. Limited by the materials at hand, the final product wasn't entirely satisfactory.
He needed to find an opportunity to buy more parts and materials. And there was no need to limit himself to humanoid puppets. He could also use the carcasses of powerful animals to create puppets.
This train of thought seemed promising. Puppet masters were scarce in Konoha, making materials relatively expensive. Furthermore, due to the general environment, anyone who used ninja corpses to create puppets would undoubtedly be labeled as dark and sinister. Takashi had no interest in using ninja corpses for his puppets.
Compared to ninja corpses, the powerful animals of the ninja world were undoubtedly the best choice. They offered good mobility and could even be used as mounts.
Having made up his mind, Takashi decided to collect some animal carcasses. After lunch, Takashi went to the Hokage's office building and posted a mission to collect animal carcasses. The reward would be based on the strength of the animal.
Due to the influence of chakra, there were many powerful creatures in the ninja world, such as house-sized wild boars, train-like giant snakes, and birds of prey with wingspans like fighter jets. Such creatures were not uncommon in the ninja world; in fact, they were quite numerous.
Konoha issued missions every year for the village's ninjas to eliminate these creatures. Aside from their strength and enormous size, these creatures had another characteristic: their meat wasn't palatable.
Ninjas who accepted these extermination missions would only kill the creatures, bring back the required body parts as proof of completion, and discard the rest. This meant that, apart from some research value, the carcasses of these creatures were worthless.
After posting the mission, Takashi returned to the hospital for work.
"Lord Hokage, these are the mission requests compiled by the Mission Department today."
The Mission Department would compile the daily mission requests and send them to the Hokage's office for the Third Hokage to review. He would personally assign appropriate ninja teams to important missions, while less important ones would be left to the Mission Department for ninjas to freely accept.
For ninjas, the income from missions and requests supported many of them. Even in Konoha, if a large number of external missions and requests were lost, more than half of the village's ninjas would face unemployment and starvation. Ninjas didn't engage in production, and the village didn't have enough positions to support so many of them.
Too many failed missions and requests would damage the village's reputation, leading to a decrease in external missions and requests. This would be a disaster for those ninjas who relied on completing missions and requests for their livelihood.
This was why, even during wartime, even when the front lines were tight, the village would still assign a group of ninjas to carry out missions and requests. Whether it was a small ninja village or one of the Five Great Ninja Villages, none could afford to lose their reputation or neglect missions and requests.
Sunagakure had become increasingly impoverished since the Second Shinobi World War. The fundamental reason was that the daimyo, angered by the perceived waste of his investment and the perceived weakness of Sunagakure, reduced his funding and entrusted a large number of missions and requests within the Land of Wind to Konoha. This directly led to Sunagakure having to tighten its belt and live frugally.
Therefore, the Third Hokage attached great importance to the Mission Department's requests and missions, personally reviewing them every day. Simple, low-paying missions were left to the Mission Department. Missions that required attention were assigned by him to suitable teams.
As usual, the Third Hokage quickly sifted through the various missions. However, when he came across a particular request, his hand holding the document paused.
"Collect a large quantity of powerful creature carcasses. Mission reward commensurate with the animal carcass. This mission is valid indefinitely."
The Third Hokage read the mission details aloud while puffing on his pipe, then stared at the name of the requester, lost in thought.
Hyuga Takashi!
Why would this child issue such a mission? Long-term collection of powerful creature carcasses…was it for research?
In his application to study in the Medical Department and become a medical ninja, Takashi had stated his reason: to find a cure for the bloodline disease. It wasn't unusual for someone to conduct research for the sake of curing a disease. Many ninjas even conducted experiments to research ninjutsu and improve their strength. Orochimaru often did such things.
A long-term mission like this was undoubtedly a boon for the village and its ninjas, especially one involving the collection of powerful creature carcasses.
After a moment of thought, the Third Hokage said to the Mission Department personnel, "Go to the Medical Department and find Tsunade. Show her this document and confirm with Hyuga Takashi the corresponding rewards for the different creature carcasses."
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