To keep the four-tailed beast content, Hattori stretched a 20-episode version of *Journey to the West* into a whopping 36 parts! Each episode came with added flair—Monk getting captured countless times, Pigsty lagging behind, and Sun Wukong constantly displaying epic battles that could last up to half an hour!
This way, the four tails had a new story every night, and Hattori had a new tale to tell—both of them were thoroughly entertained.
Most importantly, this storytelling method made borrowing chakra from the four tails easy—just trade a story! For instance, Hattori was now in chakra borrowing mode after agreeing to recount *Chaos in Heaven* twice over.
In this mode, Hattori would grow a tail identical to the four tails and gain access to some of its chakra. Statistically, this gave him a temporary buff with a 10,000 MP upper limit!
After gaining this buff, Hattori immediately cast the Rebirth Technique on the newly-unsealed Water Cannon puppet.
"Rebirth Technique!"
The Water Cannon puppet was level 39, needing 3,900 MP for each cast, so Hattori's temporary MP max soon reached its limit.
So, he looked to the four tails once more.
"Monkey King, I'm running low on chakra. Can you lend me another tail?"
"Alright!"
The four tails agreed easily and refreshed the 10,000 MP buff. However, it added a condition.
"This is the last time today—I don't have much chakra left myself!"
"What?" Hattori was stunned.
"How is that possible? Isn't a tailed beast's chakra supposed to be infinite?"
"Who told you tailed beasts have unlimited chakra? Even for us, there are limits."
The four tails' voice sounded tired. "Our tails determine our total chakra and recovery speed. Even the nine tails couldn't keep up with your usage."
"Uh..." Hattori paused and then asked, while maintaining his MP flow to the puppet, "By that logic, doesn't the one-tail have the least chakra and slowest recovery, making it the weakest?"
"In theory, yes, but practically, no." The four tails sighed. "Shukaku's defense is insane, and it can seal opponents. Other than Gyuki and Kurama, the rest of us find it challenging to handle Shukaku."
"Huh?" Hattori was surprised. "So Shukaku ranks third among the tailed beasts?"
"No, not exactly!" The four tails sounded slightly disgruntled. "Gyuki's true strength is underwater; in lava, I'd overpower him easily. So Gyuki is third, Shukaku at best, fourth!"
Hattori: "(ω`)"
So, aside from the nine tails, you acknowledge no one else? Knowing the four tails' pride, Hattori chose not to call it out but continued creating his reborn puppets.
After a quarter-hour, four fresh reborn Water Cannon puppets emerged.
**[Name: Rebirth Puppet – Water Cannon]**
- **Level:** 39
- **HP:** 3900
- **MP:** 3900
- **Skills:** Swordsmanship, Intermediate Water Cannon
- **Combat Rating:** C (A-)
Compared to the Waterfall Puppet taken by Chiyo, these four had much lower growth potential, aligning only with high-level Jonin.
This helped Hattori make a decision. "It seems to make reborn puppets effective, I'll need sealed puppets of at least level 40. Only then can reborn puppets reach an A-rank, suitable for Jonin-level strength."
With that thought, Hattori noticed the Water Cannon puppets beginning to stir and resealed them in their storage scrolls. Afterward, he noticed he still had plenty of temporary MP left.
With this extra MP unusable for Sharingan upgrades, Hattori brought out four Mist puppets, aiming to make them into reborn puppets. But after creating just one, he was taken aback by its stats—
**[Name: Rebirth Puppet – Mist]**
- **Level:** 19
- **HP:** 1900
- **MP:** 1900
- **Skills:** Swordsmanship, Mist Technique, Silent Killing
- **Combat Rating:** C (A)
Hattori: "???"
An A-rating? How was this possible?
A reborn 19-level Mist puppet somehow surpassed the 39-level Water Cannon puppet and even gained the Silent Killing skill!
Puzzled, Hattori realized, "Could it be skill synergy? Mist Technique paired well with swordsmanship to unlock Silent Killing, pushing its combat rating to A?"
He decided to test this further with his last type of sealed puppet—a Hardening Puppet! This low-level earth-type puppet offered little more than enhanced defense.
Not expecting much, Hattori activated the Rebirth Technique again, bringing another puppet to life.
**[Name: Rebirth Puppet – Hardening]**
- **Level:** 19
- **HP:** 1900
- **MP:** 1900
- **Skills:** Swordsmanship, Hardening Technique, Charge
- **Combat Rating:** C (A)
As he expected! The Hardening Puppet also hit A-rank and gained a unique skill, Charge.
This confirmed Hattori's next approach for puppet creation: focusing on puppet type and skill synergy to yield stronger reborn versions.
Strangely, an image of a sleek, winged figure wielding twin guns appeared in his mind, igniting a new ambition.
"My next project will be you—Wing Gundam Zero EW!"
With his decision set, Hattori began brainstorming the design, aiming to build a puppet worthy of the iconic Gundam's look and function.
"Appearance needs to match, and it must be made from metal. But I also need to consider the right chakra beads."
He thought out loud, "For high-tech abilities, I'll need lightning for energy. Speed requires wind, fire for heavy firepower, earth for defense, and water to keep it running smoothly. I need all five elements."
However, this posed a new problem: combining all five types without creating a bloodline limit, meaning he'd need a five-element ninja without a bloodline limit.
Only four candidates came to mind: Hiruzen Sarutobi, Orochimaru, Kakashi, and Kakuzu.
Of them, only Kakuzu wasn't from Konoha. Hattori didn't want to antagonize Konoha and risk Naruto or Sasuke's growth. He set his sights on Kakuzu instead.
"This guy's done plenty of bad deeds. Taking him down wouldn't weigh on my conscience, plus he's lived over a century. He must be tired of life, right?"
Meanwhile, far away in the Land of Rain, Kakuzu, the Akatsuki's treasurer, suddenly shivered. He looked up at the overcast sky, frowning.
"Is it going to rain again?"