'Playing With Dolls': The Union (Open - HE Event Thread)

Chika sat at a large round table leaning back in her seat a little with a large grin on her face.  Behind her stood her favorite Faithful Karakuri, the splitting image of her papa.  Right now it was unmoving and more importantly unarmed.  She hadn’t come to this room for a fight but for something else entirely instead.

As a budding user of the Kugutsu arts she naturally wanted to meet more people like her.  Because Puppets tended to be one of the most expensive classes of Shinobi tools around fellow users where few and far between.  She’d seen the festival where many ninja would be gathered from across the entire continent as a covenant way to gather people who were like her.

She’d even gone so far as to put out an ad in the weekly HE paper calling for the inaugural meeting of the Puppet users association.   She was sure people would show up, if nothing else then for the chance to be a founding member.  It wasn’t like there were membership fees involved so what harm could there be by showing up?    

Many people might dismiss them as just playing with dolls but frankly she was ok with that. It certainly made the work she sometimes had to do easier since people who didn’t know any better would be more likely to underestimate her.  For now she patiently waited for some of her fellow puppet users to arrive.

[1]

It seemed that in her absence the Heavenly Emporium had changed, and now there was some sort sort of large event going on. Personally she wasn't that interested as she had come to purchase some imports from the minor nations. Nothing she couldn't get in Iwa, sure, but given she was tied down in the Stone Nation for the time being, getting items from places she had visited was comforting.

Her plans for the day had changed though when she caught sight of a flyer for a 'Puppet Users Association', whatever it was. Diana had been trying to learn the art since she woke up, as they would be able to compensate for her body's limited capacity of movement. It would also allow her to, at least in theory, make automata that could manufacture items for her in her shop. Sure they wouldn't be as good as when she made them, but with Titania at the forge so much while also working the shop, she deserved a break or three. So, given her independent studies were going at a slower rate then what she had hoped for, well a group of puppeteers would be the next best way to learn, right?

It took her longer then she had anticipated to find the meetup. It was less a matter of knowing where it was but more navigating to the place. The Heavenly Emporium wasn't clicking with her today, and she had wished she had brought along Titania as she was much better at navigating urban environments. But she did eventually arrive, and as she entered the room she'd see that there was only to-wait, no; one person there with their very lifelike puppet. The puppet seemed familiar, like she had been told of someone who looked just like it, but she couldn't place where she had seen it nor the person it looked like. A shame, but that was how life was.

"Ah, do I have the wrong room? This is where Kugutsu users are meeting up, correct?" She'd hold up the ad to the girl, hoping that this was indeed the correct place and that she wasn't spooking a small child, using her sensory to check just in case there were any indicators that silent strings were about. "I apologize as while I am not familiar with how to create or manipulate them, I am looking to learn how to do so and assumed this would be a good place to learn."

---

185/185 CP
Sensory Technique; -0.5 CP
184.5/185 CP

Chika was practically bored out of her mind waiting for someone to come and join the meeting. She knew there weren’t exactly a ton of other puppet users out in the world which was one of the reasons why she wanted to start this association in the first place, but at the same time she figured between the five major villages she’d get at least someone from Suna which was supposed to be some kind of mecca when it came to puppets and their uses.

She was just starting to think that nobody was coming when out of the blue in walked a woman with such ethereal beauty that she looked like she might be a living doll herself. It almost made Chika tempted to poke her just to see if she was real flesh and blood and not some advanced synthetic being used. If she was a puppet could it be someone wearing it as armor like Chika and her papa did occasionally or was the user operating it remotely? It was hard to do that through obstacles like walls but Chika knew first hand it wasn’t impossible either. She herself often relied on her Byakugan to perform stunts most normal puppies would find to be extremely difficult.

“No no, You have the correct room miss. Thank you very much for coming.” replied Chika as she used a chakra string to have the facsimile of her father give a polite wave of greeting. “Puppeteers in the ninja world are few and far between. The association is more than happy to greet any who wish to learn the trade. Is there anything in particular you have questions about?” she asked.

For someone who usually wasn’t very talkative Chika was being very chatty right now. Perhaps she was just that excited to have her first guest, especially since it was such a nice looking one. Maybe she could get a few fashion tips from the woman so that she wouldn’t look so gloomy all of the time.

[2]

Diana gave a small smile as she listened to the child's words, grateful that she had indeed found the correct location. She really was expecting more people, but perhaps she was just early. She'd take a seat a few spots away, far enough to give the child space, but close enough that she wouldn't seem standoffish. Hopefully none of the seats were already taken, but if they were she could cross that bridge when she came to it.

Listening to the child's voice, she'd absentmindedly pick apart the word choices in her mind to try and understand. The young one likely set the event up themselves, many young adults were doing that these days, and their gratitude enforced that assumption. That or she was a representative of the association and she wasn't expecting people to show up.

"I cannot think of any questions regarding the art of creating puppets as of this moment, but I am curious as to how one creates strings of chakra like yourself. I have tried on several occasions to do so, but I cannot seem to get it quite right."

She took a moment to think, when she berated herself mentally. The person behind here wasn't a person, but a puppet, and a very well crafted one at that in terms of detail. Diana had often been regarded as a living puppet a few times due to her bloodlines being more pronounced in her physical appearance, but this was different. There were rumors of puppeteer who made lifelike puppets, and she wouldn't put it past the powers of chakra to create puppets from any sort of material, but it looked to be made of normal-enough items.

"Oh, there is one question that I can thing of, a question regarding the puppet you have behind you. Is it based on someone? It looks familiar, like a fleeting dream made corporeal, yet I am not sure why that is."

She'd take out a bota bag and a small korikane crystal glass to pour her water in. Sure the Heavenly Emporium was neutral grounds, but she still needed to be safe, though as head of the Korikane Clan she had slowly acclimated herself to using crystal items out in the open. Her sensory told her that the woman before her didn't have any elements to her name, so they likely weren't of an elemental bloodline, but that didn't rule out dojutsu or innate ones. She had the child's chakra signature though, so she could cross-reference it later. It was a shame she looked at the one before her this way, but shinobi were dangerous. Hopefully she could unwind herself with the cool liquid.

"By the way, my name is Diana Moneta, it is a pleasure to meet you."

---

184.5/185 CP
Sensory Technique; -0.5 CP
184/185 CP

Chika had said the association was happy to great anybody interested in learning the trade and that was true. However she wondered how the beautiful woman would react if she told her that it was essentially an association of one at the moment.   It would be kind of pathetic to admit that especially since doing so might dissuade the woman from joining up since it was hard to take a long younger person like Chika seriously.   She’d almost been tempted to come wearing her  Aiko puppet but she’d had enough common sense to realize that if people barely took her seriously now when she looked like a teenager they’d wouldn’t at all if she looked like a young child.

Now she felt like she was being a bit put on the spot by the question the woman had asked.  How DID she form chakra strings to begin with? For a spider like her forming threads was such second nature to her that she never really thought about the process much, at least she hadn’t until now.

“Do you know about Tenketsu?” asked Chika answering a question with a question in turn.  “Everyone has them, tiny little nodes from which chakra can be released.  The human body in particular has 361 but the 10 you’ll want to use to create strings are at the tips of your fingers. It’s usually just a matter of expelling a  small amount of chakra from those spots”  Chika explained as best she could while holding out her index finger to demonstrate making sure to keep the new string she was generating visible to the naked eye.     It took very little chakra to make a string and even less to maintain it which was why even someone with only an average amount of stamina like Chika could perform the technique.

She wasn’t aiming to attach it to anything in particular though since she didn’t have the raw strength to pick up much beyond a sheet of paper with it.   The only reason she could move puppets around was the internal mechanisms inside them that did the heavy lifting for her.   She wouldn’t dare try and pin it to the woman since attempting to manipulate another person without their consent was considered to be beyond rude.

When the woman asked if the puppet Chika  was using had been modeled after someone and that it seemed familiar the question made Chika blink in surprise.   Chikamatsu hadn’t been the most prolific of ninja back in his day.  He had been the head of the Hyuga clan but he hadn’t had the chance to get his name out much before he was cut down before his time.  Had this woman met him at some point before that had happened?  If that was true then talk about a small world running into her like this. Perhaps it was fate that had brought the two of them together this day.

“Yes you have a keen eye miss. This puppet was based on and built by my late Papa,  Chikamatsu Momo Hyuuga.”   The fact that she used the word Papa and not father was a small indication of her true age.  Some people might say that making a puppet based on yourself was an exercise in vanity but it was surprising how handy having a doppelganger around could be.  Or at least that’s how Chikamatsu had explained things to her at any rate.

When Diana introduced herself Chika broke into a cold sweat. All this time she’d been so excited to have someone, anyone to talk to about puppets that she’d been neglecting her basic manners which was very unbecoming for a member of her clan.  As the host it was only proper that she should have been the first to introduce herself.

“Chika Cerise Hyūga at your service. A pleasure to meet you Diana.” said Chika as she broke into a wide guileless smile.  She was a ninja sure but a very atypical one.  Other than proving that her Papa wasn’t a traitor she didn’t really want to do anything besides build puppets.    The ultimate puppet in particular if she could manage that.   As shy as she was she loved watching people and would report back on what they were doing if asked by a higher authority but she barely had a malicious bone in her body.   She hated Nyg and Satomi and could barely play pranks on them right let alone mean them or anyone else any actual harm.

A knock came from the door followed by a face that Chika recognized from earlier in the festival.  The man who was now an acquaintance of sorts seemed to be as flamboyant and friendly as ever, the only difference from before was that he’d seemed to change his outfit at some point since the last time she’d laid eyes on him.   If she had to say it, even Chika would admit that Gold suited him well.  She had no idea how much of their conversation he might have overheard but she figured it wasn't a problem since she hadn't spoken about anything that needed to be particularly private to begin with.

“Hello again Gyo. Thank you for your help earlier. “ said Chika as she and her puppet both gave the man an energetic wave.  He’d been really good to her, offering her advice  so she saw no reason not to return the gesture.  Her eyes were practically sparking in admiration as she gazed over the puppet he had brought in like it was a fine work of art that one might see in a museum.

“Wow that’s so badass” she muttered loudly as she privately wondered what it would take her to match such a creation, let alone exceed it.   She hadn’t realized Gyo was a fellow puppeteer before but clearly he was a very skilled one if his puppet was an indication.

“Welcome to the Puppet Users Association... Not what you were expecting was it?” asked Chika having caught the look on Gyo’s face.  Like her he must have been expecting a room bursting with their fellows but the sad truth was that there likely weren’t enough around to fill up such a room to begin with.  At least not enough live ones but it’d be kind of creepy if they padded the numbers by shuffling in corpses or something.

“As you can see the problem is that Puppets are so expensive to build and maintain that Kugutsu users are becoming something of a dying breed.  I created this association so that those of us that remain could work together to keep our art from going extinct.”   If there were only a handful of them spread out across the elemental nations then she figured it was better to stick together then work apart.

[3]

Diana stayed silent as she listened to the child do their best to explain the process of making chakra strings. It wasn't the best explanation, pretty on par with what she had learned, but to someone that was just learning how to become a puppeteer, it was still useful information and lambasting a child for information she knew was not a thing someone did. "I am aware of the existence of tenketsu, as my clan has some experience with to opening them to improve out jutsu, but not how to manipulate them. While we aren't as skilled as the Hyuga in that field of knowledge, I shall take your advice and do what I can to build upon it." She wondered just how widespread the knowledge of tenketsu was when it came to the wider ninja world. Unless the person was an intellectual, she could only think of a few clans that dabbled in that area. Maybe it was a field of study puppeteers studied out of necessity.

Diana continued to make small mental notes on the girl as she listened, the blink perking her interest a little as well as the choice to use the word 'papa'. Papa was usually used by very young children, yet this girl before her used it, giving her a better idea as to the girl's age."Ah, yes that name rings a bell, though only faintly. While I did not personally know them, my condolences as to his passing." Diana would give a small bow to the girl in respect for the dead man. How faint that memory was of him, she only knew bits and pieces regarding their existence before she fall into a deep slumber, and afterwards a lot of her informants had tightened up when it came to getting info on shinobi. It was likely due to the war's toll that she wasn't receiving as much info, which was a shame. Information was power, and power kept her safe. It did explain why the child knew tenketsu though, a child of the Hyuga would've learned what they were due to their dojutsu.

Diana almost felt bad when she saw the Hyuga sweat a little, not having intended to put the child on the spot nor make them feel uncomfortable. Perhaps her time in the crystal had warped her ability to make others feel comfortable around her, the crystal had modified her body, so it made sense it could've also altered her mind as well. "That is a lovely name miss Chika, I shall make sure to remember it." The crystal princess relaxed a little as she saw Chika give a big smile. Maybe it was just her imagination.

As she was thinking of what to say next, her thoughts would be interrupted by the sound of knocking, followed up by a man appearing from the doorway. Even with her using her ability to sense chakra, the density of people in the Emporium blurred the chakra all together, making it trickier for her to sense individual people. As such she was caught a little off-guard and had to squeeze her glass in order to not jump in surprise. She set her internal sights onto the man, and noted that he didn't have any elements to his name either. She did make a note of his eyes though, and made a mental note to remember his chakra signature.

"I am doing well, thank you for asking. I hope you are also doing well today sir." She was quite glad she was using her ability to sense chakra, as seeing the large puppet would have surprised her even more then the man if she hadn't been using it. It had it's own unique style to it compared to Chika's replica, and as a crafter found both to be beautiful in their own ways.

It seemed that the two puppeteers before her knew each other in some fashion, and as such waited for the two to exchange pleasantries as she took another sip of water. Then, as Chika gave an explanation as to why puppeteers were as rare as they were, it made more sense as to why there was little information on puppeteers. It also answered the question as to Chika's role in the Association, and Diana couldn't help but be impressed the kid did all of this at her age. It was a good thing the child had mentioned how pricy puppets were, as while she was sure she could make plenty without dipping to far into her coffers, she wasn't rich either.

Standing up she'd turn to give the man, gyro, a friendly handshake. "It is a pleasure to meet you Mister Gyro. My name is Diana Moneta, and while I am not a proper puppeteer yet and instead just a humble crafter, I have been doing what I can to learn how to become one."

---

184/185 CP
Sensory Technique; -0.5 CP
183.5/185 CP

Chika tilted her head slightly and put a hand on her chin as she wondered how much of her explanation Diana had understood. That was the problem with words and the reason she didn’t like to talk very much. It was often hard to convey what she was thinking verbally. If only there was some way to connect their thoughts with a string or something so that she could convey the feeling of projecting chakra from her fingers directly to Diana.

Instead she had just performed a visual demonstration coupled with what was more than likely a lackluster explanation. Unless someone was a total natural like Chika herself it was unlikely they would be able to learn how to produce Chakra strings with so little to go on. A proper tutor would have been able to do better but Chika had so little experience teaching others that she’d probably done the best she could under the circumstances.

“Most ninja can use the tenketsu on their hands and feet even if they aren’t aware of their existence so you don’t need to worry too much about those. The Chakra string technique itself is fairly basic, you should be able to pick it up fairly quickly with a little bit of practice.” said Chika trying to sound reassuring. She figured that if Diana was half as smart as she was pretty she’d have the technique master in no time.

Chika blinked in shock as Diana gave her a small bow not knowing how to properly respond to such a gesture. It was one thing to be paying respects to Chikamatsu who had been the head of the clan but nobody really bothered to pay much to Chika herself. The rest of the clan didn’t treat her badly or anything but most of them barely gave her the time of day and she’d been too shy to really stand out at the academy. It was only after graduating that she’d worked up the courage to start taking the task of making friends more seriously.

“Please raise your head Diana. I’m nobody special.” said Chika, waving her arms wildly in the air in a fluster even as she blushed deeply at being told that she had a lovely name. Her flailing only increased as Gyo also bowed to her and she wasn’t able to fully calm down until she got excited for a different reason entirely as Gyo complimented her puppet and for putting the meeting together. Hearing that from a person that made such fine puppets himself was one of the highest compliments she could receive, at least as far as she was concerned anyhow


“I don’t have a lot of experience but I’m more than happy to help her in any way I can!” replied Chika enthusiastically to Gyo’s question about lending Diana her expertise. Chika might have been a genin but she was a fairly fresh one still wet behind the ears. At the moment she had no teacher assigned to her or any teammates and she certainly hadn’t been on any missions yet. Honestly with how weak she was physically she shouldn’t have been a ninja at all but a civilian. If her Papa hadn’t taught her to use puppets she would never have graduated. It was by using Puppets after that she compensated for her deficiencies.

“Diana I think that you being a crafter is a good thing. A person doesn’t need to be able to craft necessarily to use puppets but without a crafting skill of some kind they’d never be able to make high end puppets on their own.” Explained Chika. Normally she had a hard time stringing more than a few words together but when it came to puppets she could talk passionately for hours.

Puppets were expensive enough as it was even if you could make them yourself. She couldn’t even begin to imagine how expensive it would be to have someone else like Okane make one for you instead. It might give the phrase top dollar an entirely new meaning. She herself just wanted to make the best puppets she could and would happily build them commission if it meant getting the funds she needed to build some for herself. It would be like killing two birds with one stone since making puppets for others would give her chances to experiment that she wouldn’t be able to afford on her own.

“Since this association is so new I figure we should start with three primary objectives in mind and expand from there as we grow. The first would be to support and train new members such as Diana.” She said. That one was simple enough to understand the more Puppeteers in play the more power and influence the association would have.

“The second would be to find ways to reduce costs. If we could standardize the use of certain parts in construction it would make them cheaper to produce. Making puppets more modular could also simplify maintenance.” she said. Mass production would make a lot of things easier. Imagine if the arm of a puppet was damaged and you could simply eject that arm and pop in an identical one that had come from an assembly line. It would be so much quicker and cheaper than having to build a new arm entirely from scratch.

“The third would be to put our brains together to find new ways to push the artform of puppets themselves. In my experience the vast majority of puppets are humanoid in design, both in size and function but they could be so much more.” The reason for that was simple. Because puppets were so expensive a lone puppeteer wouldn’t have the money to experiment much and would default to what worked.

Even a somewhat rich man like her father, someone who had been a clan head had only managed to make two non-humanoid puppets out of the six he had left her. One spider and one shaped after a dog statue. The lone puppet Chika herself had made so far had also been human in shape due to the necessity of wearing it like a set of armor. She was still planning to make humanoid puppets in the future but she had no intention of limiting herself to those kind either.

[4]

Diana listened to the back and forth of the two puppeteers, but the one Cerise had called Gyo had continued to catch her attention, and had decided to focus her senses properly on the both of her companions. While faint, she was able to note the small differences in the scents they gave off. Nothing too big, but she made sure to memorize them as having to use sensory all the time was still a drain, so using her natural senses would be more useful in day-to-day life. And seeing Gyokusho's nod, she'd respond to him.

"I am not what many call normal in my clan, let alone my village, so I can understand the surprise. My desire to learn the art comes from a practical need for my newest designs." While she had no reason to create them yet, She had made a few designs for 'Anti-Eikon Warmachina' as having a way to hold off a Bijuu would be useful, but they were closer to fantasy then reality at the current time.

She did feel a bit like a third wheel as she watched them converse. Sure she was a part of the group now (at least she assumed she was), but whe was the only one of the three who didn't know how to make, manipulate or operate a puppet. "Thank you for offering your expertise, and if you need any assistance in learning the finer points of the other fields of crafting, I will gladly offer my own knowledge." Yes they were offering assistance, but how long would it take for her to learn the style? Cerise was saying that her knowledge in crafting would already give her an advantage in the art, but it was only half of the art. Until she could get down how to use the strings, she'd be stuck.

And as if the little girl was reading her mind, the primary objectives of the organization were shared. Each of the three held merit and she could find no fault in them. However... "Those objectives are satisfactory to me, though finding a balance for the second and third points will not be easy as innovation can cost a fortune if one isn't careful, even if that innovation is used to make your creation cost less down the line." She pulled out her Tombstone Device and began writing down the objectives, as well as small notes for a possible 'puppet production facility'. "I can see if my experience in engineering can assist in creating devices to assist in both of those objectives, but it will take some time to design and fund." It wasn't much, but it was at least something she could offer.

---

183.5/185 CP

Chika tilted her head wondering what type of designs Diana was referring to that needed testing and why using puppets was a practical way of doing so? Did she simply need targets for weapons testing or something akin to crash test dummies for new vehicles. Chika had a few ideas for vehicles herself since she figured she needed ways to transport and deploy puppets other than carrying them around in a scroll. Not everyone had fuinjutsu and could seal things so it was always good to keep alternatives in mind.

She silently considered Diana’s offer of help learning other crafting disciples. Chika was an engineer and weapon maker herself but still very much an amature on both fronts. It would take some time for her skills to reach what she considered professional level so getting tips from a more experienced person in those fields would be a godsend. Eventually she was hoping to learn more crafting arts like Armor smithing and Chemistry and become Master craftsman so she wasn’t about to snub assistance.

“Wow, what is that?” asked Chika openly gawking at the device that Diana had pulled out while they had been talking. She had never seen anything like it before and was highly intrigued. Her soul as an engineer was screaming at her that this was something that she should be paying attention to. Something she had to learn from.

“Well you're right about it being hard to find a proper balance Diana. But if it was easy we wouldn’t need an association to accomplish it in the first place” Chika pointed out. Nessiasty was the mother of all invention and all that but not all innovations had to be big, flashy and expensive. It thrilled her that Gyo seemed to understand where she was going with this so well. Improvements didn’t even need to be for the puppets directly since it was fully possible to equip them with different gear.

“I never intended this to be a one time meeting to begin with Gyo-senpai. Once I have gathered enough funds from my village salary and my work for Okane-san I intend to invest in repairing my Papa’s store and using the revenue from that to support the association in the short term while we look for other streams.” It wasn’t like she knew a lot about the world of finance and yet here she was talking like some big shot investor. Considering she was willing to put the bulk of the inheritance her Papa had left her with, she really was putting her money where her mouth was on this.

“Eventually I hope to attract a large sponsor or two” Okane was interested in puppets. Heck he’d even hired her to work on them. If she could get him on board the association that might be enough to solve their funding problems while the association in turn could help Okane with his special project. As far as Chika was concerned that seemed like a real win-win situation.

Baring that there was also the option of finding someone else who was setting out to make their own large corporation. It wasn’t for everyone which was why Chika herself wasn’t intent on taking that route. Her people skills weren’t the best, it was already a minor miracle that she was running this meeting so well. If it had been about just any other topic she wouldn’t have been able to speak even a quarter as much as she had.

“What would you suggest would be an appropriate membership fee?” she asked. She hadn’t asked for one for this meeting because she felt doing so would have been counterproductive. The last thing she wanted was to scare off potential members who were likely just as cash strapped as herself.

“Do you have a particular location for a base in mind?” she added. Puppeteers were so few and far between she wanted the group to be above petty village disputes and nationalities. Having it in Konoha would make it more convenient for her to attend meetings but she didn’t want it to seem as if the association was favoring one particular village over another so she’d never suggest building near her own home.

“On the topic of innovation My Papa’s main focus was on automation and artificial intelligence. While I agree with him that a certain amount of assistance would be beneficial I find the idea of puppets that can move themselves to be self defeating. What use would the world have for us then?” Chika asked half rhetorically. She wanted a certain amount of job security after all. Finding a way to pilot a puppet remotely without strings was one thing since you’d still need a Puppeteer to control it but once they didn’t their art would become all but obsolete. She had created the association because she felt automation was the wrong path to take and also because she didn’t think she was smart enough to stave off obsolescence on her own.

“One example of where we can improve puppets is range. Even if you can use a more advanced version of the puppet strings technique that won’t help much if you can’t hear or see things around the puppet you’re using.” explained Chika. She herself could see through walls and use a puppet to infiltrate a building from the outside which wasn’t an option for most but the most difficult thing was if someone spoke to the puppet she wouldn't be able to hear what they were saying and respond accordingly.

“But if you do place a small radio receiver inside a puppet that’s half the problem solved.” with this Chika took out a small bag of components. It was little more than some plastic, copper wiring and watch batteries but after some quick hand movements she had assembled a set of four RF bugs and a Radio receiver to listen to them with.

“I can make one of these for less than 5000 ryo a pop. They are a bit crude but effective.”
The cost wasn’t exactly penny’s on the dollar but compared to making a full C-rank puppet it was fairly negligible. She could easily slap a bug onto a small E-rank puppet and end up with a fully mobile and better yet disposable spy device that she could deploy anywhere within her visual range. They weren’t anything fancy but they would get the job done. Just imagine what she could create once she learned to encode the signals.

“The tricky part is visuals, most cameras on the market don’t boost the highest quality and transmission can be tricky. I hear that Darhk industries produced some kind of camera drone that could float around in the air and broadcast from quite a long distance but with Darhk dead it’s been difficult to procure a unit for study.” Chika lamented with a sigh. She was working for Okane and had a connection to Kara now two of the top crafters in the world and yet she still thought what a waste it was to lose someone of Damian’s calibur considering how much she could have learned from his devices.

Many of which had never gone into mass production and as such had become much sought after collectables. It was rare that a piece went on the market and rarer still that it had a price tag someone like Chika could afford. Kara apparently retained many of the patents but she didn’t necessarily produce them all at her company. She was a busy woman so it was hard to find the right timing to approach her for more matters like this that must seem trivial to her.

[5]

Radio Frequency (RF) bug x4
Radio Receiver
https://gladiusnarutorp.forumotion.com/t5131-chika-s-cogs-and-crafts#40382
Wen Aug 11, 2021 12:20 pm
Fast Tinkering: Chika has spent most of her life making, modifying, and messing with building things and plans. She may decrease the time required to craft an item by one rank, however as a result reduces her Coordination by one tier for the purposes of the craft, as she's rushing through the process.

When Chika expressed interest in her work, Diana perked up, a faint hint of emotion escaping in her normally monotone tone for once. "Oh, this is a tombstone device. It is similar enough to a phone, but I have made my own improvements to its design. Here, you can take a look." She'd tap her wristwatch a few times, connecting it to the other device to lock out her personal notes not related to the meeting before handing the slab of tech to Chika. "It is an older model, but for the common person it is more then enough." Even if it was one of her old models, she was still proud of it, and thanks to it's design nearly unreplicable. Having one's designs be based on a clan's unique power had it's advantages after all.

When the topic of future meeting and fees were brought up, Diana considered the financial situation of Iwatomics before speaking up. "I think we should wait until we have more members before we introduce a membership fee, preferably until a proper base is established. While having a central pool of funds would be useful and I agree that a sponsor would be beneficial, until we have proof that we are worth backing  we should focus on the groundwork first." There was also the small fact she didn't want to put too much funds into a group that may dissolve shortly after it's creation, but she wouldn't abandon their desire either. "As for a base, I am not sure where a good location would be, but my immediate thought would be to try and find a minor nation to set it in, such as Bear."

Chika's father must have been a protégée and forward thinker if he was trying to create autonomous puppets, it was a shame he wasn't here, but life was unkind and unfair at times. Still, she couldn't forget she was in the presence of two shinobi who likely didn't want to lose their jobs and, by proxy, purpose. "There is always a use for a profession, the question just becomes how does said profession adapt to the changing world. Even if they were autonomous, someone would still need to build and maintain the puppets even with a factory, and then there would be people needed to direct them as non-humanoid puppets would be foreign to normal commanders."  She'd need to think on this information later, as it could prove useful. Knowing that one person was able to create a type of craft meant it was likely replicatable, the question was how much effort she'd need to put in.

When Chika pulled out her radios, Diana perked up and set her glass to the side, listening intently to wait for her moment to step in. "I have a similar device as that, of which I can make much cheaper." She'd pull out one of her Advanced LinkPearls and show it to the group, setting it onto the table and then connecting it to her wristwatch as well. "However while I can make these cheap, they also require the use of materials other would find extremely hard to obtain, nor are these on the same network that most radios are on, which while useful is counterproductive for us at the current time." It was likely obvious enough what the material was and the reason she was able to easily obtain it, but they didn't need to have it stated. "I do not wish to overstep my bounds, but I can also look into designs for a visual & audio device that could be used specifically with puppets."

"It should not be that hard to replicate the flying cameras Darhk supplied as I have been working on that tech front in my spare time, but I have had to put it on hold thanks to some associates." While she knew it wasn't necessary, not having her clan's kinjutsu to easily study flight had put her progress at a slower pace then desired. "I will see if I can make any breakthroughs on it when possible, but I cannot guarantee anything with the current workload I have."

---

Gear Shown:

“This isn’t even the latest model? But it looks so cutting edge!” exclaimed Chika as Diana handed the device to her.   Telephones weren’t everywhere but she’d seen more than a few among the residences of the Hyuga clan and at some stores while out shopping.  This was the first time though that she’d seen one that wasn’t theatherd to a cord of some kind.

“Do you not have to plug it into a Telephone jack?” she asked, her voice full of awe at the idea that someone had invented an untethered phone.  Sure she’d literally just done that for some simple radio receivers but radio and phones worked differently enough that it was like comparing apples to oranges.

Chika gently played around with the device a bit trying to wrap her head around how it worked. It wasn’t that she was trying to steal the design or anything, she was simply curious about the physics behind it and wanted to learn as much as she could so that she could become a better engineer.  She had the feeling this particular device wouldn’t be something that she could easily replicate even if she did understand the particulares.   The fact that it was more then just a phone but that you could also store information on it like some kind of notepad was blowing her young mind.  Not only that but it also acted as a watch and a calculator all in one neat package.     It was so amazingly convenient that she had to imagine just anyone would want to have one.

“This is so revolutionary you could build an entire telecommunication empire off of just this.” she said thinking out loud.  The only reason that Diana hadn’t done that so far was that there must have been a scale problem of some kind preventing mass production.   Chika didn’t know much about clans outside of her village. Heck she didn’t even know much about some of the one’s in her own outside the Uchiha and the Senju since pretty much everyone in Konoha knew about them.

Even then it was only a vague idea at best.    The Uchiha had swirly-swirl eyes that could see Chakra and the Senju were good with growing Trees.  That was about the extent of what she knew about their powers.  In any case if Diana was from a Clan with special bloodline powers, Chika could understand why using those to make devices would bottleneck production.

Both Diana and Gyo seemed to be in agreement that they should hold off on membership fees until they got more established.  Well if they both were on the same page then Chika figured they were probably right.  They were both so smart and wise, she felt like she was learning a ton just from being in the same room as the both of them.

“Yes, we might as well hold off until we’ve grown a bit.  Speaking of new recruits, do either of you happen to know any puppeteers from Suna we could invite?” she asked.  Suna was supposed to be like a mecca for puppets so she’d figured she’d have gotten at least one person from there for this meeting.     They had to know all sorts of secret puppet stuff that Chika couldn’t even dream of.  

Chika wasn’t learned enough to know about the existence of the Human puppetty tech, but if someone had told her about it she’d be practically drooling at the prospect of learning it.  Not that she was particularly interested in killing anyone to acquire a human puppet or anything but knowing how they were made would expand her options for even making regular puppets, especially for when making ones that looked as realistically human as possible like Aiko.

Then again if a powerful person near her were to die in an accident or something and she knew how to make a human puppet she wouldn’t so much as hesitate to turn their corpse into one.   She figured it was better than letting the body just go to waste. Maybe that made her a bit of a sociopath or maybe she was just a little different from normal due to being a spider.  In any case a normal person wouldn't consider desecrating a corpse in such a manner.

“The land of Bear or the land of rice.  Either would be a good location since they are both fairly centralized on the map making it easy for any of us to travel there, plus they are currently both neutral territory which is ideal for a multinational organization like ours.”  she said.   It would be hard to put puppets first if they were fighting over other interests after all.

“Papa told me that his main concern while working with artificial intelligence was what would happen if one became self aware.    Once they can start improving themselves it won’t really have any need for us anymore.” said Chika her body giving a slight shudder at the idea of reaching a singularity point.  Humanity had better pray that the ai was benevolent or they would be pretty much screwed.

“His Puppet armor had an AI system built in but his armor was destroyed when he died.  I do have a back up with me that you can examine if you’d like.  The only problem is I haven’t figured out how to turn it on yet.” explained Chika as she took a floppy disk out from her shoulder bag.  Hey if a Floppy disk is big enough to fit Optimus Prime then this program should be no sweat.   After all this was what may be the most powerful storage medium that humans have ever produced in this world.

It seemed Diana had more then one device to show off as the amazing woman casually pulled something out that blew the Radio bugs Chika had been building out of the water.   Most people would get jealous at being show up but Chika only grew more excited about the sheer depth of Diana’s skill and the newfound knowledge of how much room she still had left to grow herself.

“Yes please! There’s no rush to produce results or anything but I for one would be thrilled to see your work in that department.  Do you think it would be better to go with a Mono-eye design with the Camera’ for the prototype?” she asked.   On one hand the puppets would lack depth perception but on the other it would be cheaper then having two cameras just to mimic the human form more closely so there were pros and cons to each approach.

“About range…. My papa my have left us covered, at least to some extent in that regard.” said Chika replying to Gyo's concern as she pulled out a custom technique scroll that her father had left for her in storage. She already knew how to do half of it and soon she’d be skilled enough that she could perform the other half even if not for long due to the higher chakra cost requirements.

“If the standard range of the Puppet strings technique is sixty meteres then we have the Advance puppet technique which is double, the long reaching technique that is triple and finally the National Lampoon technique which is seven times the range at two hundred and forty meteres.  They aren’t perfect, but they should give us some options for the moment.” she said as she spread out the scroll on the table for everyone to read.

[6]

Learning
Long-reaching Puppeting Technique
National Lampoon's Puppeting Technique
https://gladiusnarutorp.forumotion.com/t3751-chika-s-custom-made-techniques#31833

1244 /650 words

Diana was a bit surprised to hear that her tombstone device was considered to be high tech, but the more she thought about it, since she had t with her for so long it had become second nature to her, and as such needed to recontextualize her viewpoint. "Revolutionary, yes. The problem is that they require Korikane Crystals to function in its current form. I do not know how much you know about them, but in Iwagakure anything that is made with the crystal is distrusted by the community, and not without good reason. While my supplier has found a way to preserve the crystal, even after the death of the creator, until there is a way to use regular crystals at a cheaper price or some sort of other means it is likely they will not become mass-produced." She'd gotten close to figuring out how to replicate them, but it was too costly for her right now to continue that line of study at the current time.

She'd take a quick moment to grab another sip of her water, thinking more about how it wasn't as revolutionary as one would think. "There is also infrastructure that becomes an issue, and until I can find a way that does not threaten an immediate rework of the information networks already established, It will likely stay niche for the time being, even with it not needing a jack plug." It was a tricky line to toe, and it was why she hadn't attempted to go global with it. Sure she ran a business, but she didn't have the immersive knowhow of the trade like Darhk, Kara, or Okane.

When Chika asked if she knew of any Suna nin who used puppetry, she shook her head. "Unfortunately I do not know anyone from Suna who is a puppeteer, but I will keep an eye out for any that I may run into." She had thought of a few people she had run into from Suna in her travels, but they didn't practice the craft back then and they likely wouldn't be doing so now.

Gyo had brought up a good idea with Rice, and it seemed like Chika agreed that it was a good location other then bear. "In that case one of us should try to take some time to scout the locations. While I would like to, I will not be able to do so for several months as I have prior commitment I cannot back out of, but If I am able to opening a shop there would be a good source of income like you are saying Gyo."

The Hyuuga's point of AI becoming self aware was one she hadn't thought of, and after a second dismissed it. Maybe if they were the only sentient species that would be an issue, but the existence of non-human life that would regularly make contracts with people gave her a more hopeful outlook. When the child pulled out the floppy disk though, Diana would take a curious glance at it, noting the stagnant smell of ink and dried blood. "Hmm, I am no master at the art of decrypting, but I am sure that even they would need a fair amount of time to decypher it without the key." It wasn't that she couldn't reverse engineer it, no, that was likely the easy part. The problem was, like seals, undoing the lock in such a way that it didn't destroy the formula & contents inside wasn't easy do if you didn't know where to start. "I can look at it later if you would like me to, but I will not promise that I can unlock it."

Diana was glad to see she had not overstepped, and gave a few seconds to think about the puppet design. "If it is for a prototype, a single camera should be plenty." Her own devices were decently small, so it could likely mix well with a puppet, even if she did not have the skill for making them right this second.

Gyo had a point, range was always important, and before Diana spoke up Chika was already on it, the clever girl. It also seemed her father innovated in more then just machines, but also jutsu; hopefully his daughter picked up that habit as well, which looked likely. "Four times, not seven. Seven times would be four hundered and twenty meters. And while it is not a way to increase how far one moves a puppet, I would advise looking into Archery if you have the time. While they are not puppets, being able to fire a bow with a puppet you normally could not would be useful for distant targets."

Chika continued to play with the borrowed tablet for a little while while she listened to Diana explain the logistics behind why it was such a limited production item.    Some of which had Chika blinking in confusion.  Were Korikane Crystals typically very fragile or something? Why would they vanish if the creator died?    As a member of the Tkalac cast Chika could weave Spidersilk and craft with it.   Anything that was made that way like say a Scarf or something could last for decades or longer regardless of anything that happened to her.

Was that the difference between something made with chakra and something that wasn’t? If so  then how the heck do you explain Senju wood?   It was one of Chika’s favorite materials to craft with precisely because it was so durable, well that and the fact that as a Tsuchigumo spider she couldn’t use metal weapons and armor directly which limited her options.   Of course nothing was stopping her from equipping her puppets with those kinds of things.  It wasn’t like she was allergic or anything.

“That’s a shame, I would have asked to buy one but it sounds like it won’t be much use at my home village since it lacks the inflistructor.”  Chika lamented as she held the tablet out for Diana to take back.   If only there was some cheaper way to stabilize the crystals they could do something but at the moment she didn’t even know where to start with something like that.  

Her best guess would be to use her webbing as a binding agent somehow but that was super impractical for a lot of reasons.  Like how would you even inject it into the crystal to begin with?  Even if they could, any solution that depended solely on her in particular was doomed to failure since they wouldn’t be able to scale up.   Finding other members of the Tsuchigumo now that she’d lost contact with them could be tricky since they were shapeshifters and could blend almost seamlessly into human society.

It seemed neither Diana or Gyo knew any puppets from Suna.  If Gyo was right about that Coutry being a mess right now that really was a cause for concern.  Suna had once been known as the Puppeteers paradise thanks in no small part to the first Kazekage Shin Kazehana being famous for using them.  If his teachings had been lost to the literal sands of time it would be a major blow for the insular community as a whole.

Chika had originally wanted to call this gathering the Puppet Society but had switched to Association due to a certain notorious terrorist group.   Now with less than a handful of members she had to wonder if she had acted too little too late to stave off the extinction of their escotric skillset.    Now with the top puppeteer in the world missing in action and assumed dead and Suna in disarray, where even enough of their kind left around to fill a room?  One thing was for sure, she had some awfully big shoes to fill compared to her Papa who had been a pioneer in the field blazing new trails into the darkness.

“As long as it doesn’t interfere with my job working for Okane I can scout The land of Rice.  I’m just a genin myself too, but I doubt the Hokage would mind giving  a Hyuga permission to go on that kind of mission.”   While she wasn’t quite at her Papa’s level yet with her eyes she was naturally dispositioned towards the role of scout.

“I believe it was primarily meant for combat assistance though an Identification friend or Foe system making it easier to select targets.  It also provided an anti-theft function.  His notes said something about reading blood to Authenticate the user.  I’m guessing that if anyone but him tried to wear it they would be in for a nasty surprise.”  If she was his biological daughter she might be able to cheese the system but sadly she was merely adopted and being part Hyuga likely wouldn’t be enough.

“Don’t worry about damaging the program in the process of trying to unlock it Diana. That disk is merely one of several copies.” One of the nice things about programs on a computer was that even if you couldn’t open them it was still possible to copy and paste them.   The only real problem here was that Chika wasn’t smart enough to understand a good chunk of his notes which meant she couldn’t unlock the program herself.

Case in point she felt sweat drip down the back of her head as Diana pointed out her mathematical mistake.  Chika wasn’t the best with numbers and even she had to wonder for a second how she’d managed to bungle that one.  Frankly it was embarrassing enough that she blushed a red as deep as what she had originally been named for before assuming her father’s name.

“Well knowing my papa, he had a continuance plan for just about anything.  I wouldn’t be surprised if he had  his mind backed up to a floppy disk or something." Chika joked to lighten the mood and to distract them away from her multiplication error.    She almost wanted to say something about how her Papa had died but she snuck a glance out of the corner of her eye at Diana and decided against it.  Given that the subject involved how Konoha had tried to conquer Iwa it might be a pretty sore spot.

“Just about everything I have, I was given by him.” Admitted Chika.  It was shameful how little achievements she could claim of her own but it would be disingenuous to take credit for someone else’s work.   “The only puppet I’ve made so far by myself is this one.” she said as she extended a nearly invisible chakra string to behind the Faithful Karakuri.  A moment later a small child stepped out from behind the larger puppet’s shadow.

“This is Aiko.  I’ve built her to be as life-like as possible so please keep the fact that she’s a puppet a secret.”  pleaded Chika.  She couldn’t reveal that Aiko also doubled as puppet armor without revealing her own secret so for now she kept her mouth shut about that timbit.  Aiko was the very definition of form over function.  Instead of having any hidden traps or gimmicks the fact that she was so lifelike WAS the gimmick.  

She could only conceal the fact that Aiko was a puppet thanks to using clothing to cover up the hinge points on the arms and legs but that was no big deal.  Chika was already trying to think of ways to improve on the next model.  Aiko was great for trolling people but she needed a adult figure around for supervision which is where the next modle would come in.

“When I build her big sister I’m thinking of weaponizing the breasts by hiding some missiles in them or something.”   said Chika lightly.  She just couldn’t understand why men were so fascinated by what amounted to a couple lumps of fat.  As a shapeshifter she could have made her larger as well but had chosen not too since the added weight would have only slowed her down even more.  Not to mention the potential back problems.  At least this way if someone ever told her to calm her tits she’d be able to blow them up.

“On the other end of the spectrum I’ve been thinking of designs like this.” said Chika as she showed them a blueprint of a centaur puppet that had multiple arms and fought with crossbows as well as one for a Bike shaped Puppet that could transform into a more humanoid form to act as armor. “This Sagittar is what I intend to use for the prototype.  Ultimately I’d like to build one with a docking mechanism so that the torso can separate from the legs.  And for the Cyclone I’d love to enable flight but I haven’t gotten that far on my engineering studies yet” she said feeling a mix of pride and sheepishness for how out there her blueprints were.    

The sheer complexity of even the prototypes would require her to make them as a B or maybe even A rank Puppet, neither of which she had the funds for currently, well not if she was going to repair her papa’s shop anytime soon at any rate.   And so the Trio merrily continued to talk about Puppets long into the night until Chika became too tried to continue and retried from the meeting.



[7]

[exit]

"Oh? I was not aware of Sunagakure becoming a vassal state to Iwagakure. I wonder why that came to be." She couldn't help but frown when she heard him speak. Iwa had a history of being overrun and taken over by others, the main conqueror being Konoha, so why did Suna serve Iwa now? Something she'd need to look into more when she went home.

Seeing the look in the Hyuuga's eyes as they spoke, Diana quickly responded. "I can still get you some Korikane Crystal if you desire it, with all of the other projects that I will be taking care of I am sure I will have some back stock you would be able to purchase." Maybe she was holding her cards to close to her chest, hoarding knowledge that could be used to help others. It wasn't safe to reveal she was the supplier though, best leave that knowledge in the background, she didn't need another reason for people to try and hunt her down.

As Gyo spoke up and Diana waiter her turn, she pondered what he said, as she wasn't aware of Kara making a home for herself in Bear country."You are not imposing, and I shall try to look more into it. I just hope that I am given enough time to do so as I am rather tired of supplying weapons." Sure studying puppets was a bit hypocritical, but Chika Sr. had seen a non-war use for them, and so would she. Ninjutsu could be used for more then combat, the Emporium and Iwatomics's 'commoner' items were proof of that.

Diana would nod as she took the floppy copy, still curious as to what it held. "If he used blood as a password of sorts, having a backup of who he was is more likely then I would have originally assumed, speaking as one who has had experience with that sort of technique." It would be an interesting cypher, that's for sure. Being able to differentiate between friend and foe meant it was on par with how the Iwa Kinutsu C-Series worked in a non-combat enviroment; the stories at least.

The twin-bloodliner admired the puppets Chika showed her and Gyo, noting that while she could see the small signs that gave away it's puppet design from her years of crafting and honing her senses, if she hadn't been told it was a puppet she likely wouldn't have tried to pick it's design apart at all and assumed it was alive. The blueprints as well were fascinating and she hoped Chika would be able to pull them off, though she wouldn't voice it, only giving an approving nod.

Diana took another sip of her water, her eyes unfocusing for a moment, then noted the look in Chika's eyes, that of a sleepy child. "I think we should wrap this up for the day. It is clear that some of us need rest. I look forward to hearing back from the both of you." Making sure to get her tombstone device back, Diana would pack things up before making her way back to her temporary room for the day. "If you need to get in contact with me, I still am able to be reached by bird. Iwatomics Incorperated specifically."

{Exit}