All the World's a Stage - Chapter 13 (Patreon)

“That has to be our target,” Inoichi insisted.

“Are you sure?” Choza was less certain. “I’m almost certain that our target is a woman.”

“Our target is a mad puppeteer. How many of those could be in Field country right now?”

“I don’t know if I’d call him mad.”

“He was having a conversation with his puppets. And making it talk back!”

Choza huffed. “He was also doing a song and dance routine. Maybe he’s just a performer. You of all people should no about not breaking character, or was all that infiltration training for nothing?”

Inoichi grumbled. “Shikaku, what do you think?”

The Nara breathed out. “...He might be our target. We weren’t given a physical description, just their abilities. The briefing said ‘most likely a woman,’ but it could have been wrong. Personally, I have a few questions for him regardless. Like why his dog puppet was wearing a Konoha hitai-ate.” He grimaced.

“I’m still not convinced,” Choza said, folding his arms. “For all we know he might be a loyal Suna-nin.”

“He wasn’t wearing his headband,” Inoichi said.

“Neither are we at the moment,” Shikaku pointed out. “This is already getting confusing, I just know this mission is going to be troublesome.”

Inoichi looked over. “Well, are we following him or not? Because he’s leaving now.”

Shikaku scowled. “Already? Fine, let’s go. Inoichi--”

“Follow from a distance, I know.”

“Good. Then let’s go.”

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The thing about chakra threads… one of the things about chakra threads is that they didn’t like to be interrupted. Obviously, if you broke your connection, the thread breaks with it. But if the interruption was brief enough, the threads only sort of ‘blink,’ causing at most a minor hiccup in control of the puppet.

Ondori leapt from tree to tree, and alongside him was Kermit, leaping like the frog he was. The bamboo constantly cut off the thread controlling him, and the instant he passed he reconnected again. It was practice. He was going to be fighting another puppeteer, and that meant fighting someone who knew all the weaknesses. He needed to be able to take back control as quickly as possible.

It was also a test of Kermit’s movement. Kermit wasn’t just more complex appearance-wise, he also had a proper skeleton that Wilkins had lacked. It wasn’t much, just a--aha--bare-bones wooden frame to give the puppet more structure. It made him more responsive and able to put more force behind his movements; letting him jump further, faster. And the added weight was negligible.

As the bamboo started to be replaced by pine, Ondori brought Kermit back and put him away to conserve chakra. He didn’t know if he was going to fight Jiki today, but if he was he needed to be ready.

He stumbled and missed the next branch. “Crap.”

Another chakra thread lanced out and attached itself to a higher branch. He started swinging in an arc--but then the branch broke and he fell to the forest floor.

“Ugh.” The broken limb fell beside him, missing him by inches. “I miss Wind. We don’t have to worry about tree sprinting there, you can just ride the dunes.” Well, it’s a good idea to branch out sometimes.

Onodir dusted himself off, paused, and pulled out a notebook. “That’s a good one,” he murmured. “Perfect for Fozzie. Oh, and next, ‘I don’t wanna go out on a limb.’ Genius.”

That done, he put it away and walked towards the river he’d been following. He could see the bend in the river further ahead, and while he couldn’t see the potter village, if he was seeing the direction of the bend correctly he was on the wrong side.

He walked across the river. Walked, not ran, because there wasn’t much chance to practice water-walking in Suna. Then it was up the cliff face on the other side. From there he continued following the river, and it wasn’t long before he found the village. There were huts along the water, and trenches cut through the earth where clay had been stripped out.

The huts were conspicuously silent, but there was one man trawling for clay right then, and Ondori walked over to talk to them.

“Hi there!”

The man jumped and looked up, startled. “What? Where did you come from?”

“I just came from Takenoko,” Ondori said. How are things in the pottery business?”

The man’s expression flattened. “I dunno, do I? I’m just pulling the clay up. Whatever happens to it after I drop it in the cellar is none of my business.”

Ondori tilted his head. “That’s an… odd attitude to have in a potter’s village.”

He sighed. “Apologies. Things are strange right now.”

“Strange how?”

The man groaned and stood from his trench, wiping his hands off on his pants. “If we’re going to talk, let’s talk in my home.”

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The Konoha team entered the village and looked around. It wasn’t anything extravagant, but it was exactly what the title promised. Simple houses and simple roads, and pots of every shape and style absolutely everywhere. There were chairs and tables on porches, benches in the middle of the road, and on every single flat, level surface in town there was a clay pot, set out to dry.

The people looked up as they passed, but most of them were more focused on their work. Painting, glazing, firing, molding, even the children were clumsily playing with loose clay.

“They definitely know what they’re about here,” Choza observed. “Maybe I should get something for Hina, or mother.”

“We’re not here to buy souvenirs,” Shikaku said, looking away from a bowl being painstakingly painted with deer heads. “The puppeteer was heading this way for a reason.”

“Oy,” someone called. The trio looked over towards a middle-aged man painting a cup in a spiral pattern. “You lot going to buy something or not?”

“Oh let them look, Shen,” a nearby woman said. She was painting an identical pattern on a plate. “Sorry about him, he doesn’t get out much.” She paused. “Are you buying something?”

“I’m afraid not,” Inoichi said. Choza huffed. “He might,” he corrected. “But we’re actually here looking for someone.”

“Course you are,” Shen muttered. “You must be looking for the hime.”

“Who?”

“Oh, she’s wonderful,” the woman said happily. “Our best customer in years. She showed up a couple weeks ago and wouldn’t stop buying!”

“She’s got the elders embroiled in a major project,” Shen added. Somewhat reluctantly, he added, “She’s… okay. She hates molding the clay herself but she’s a good painter. Some of the most even glazes I’ve ever seen.”

“She came here looking to learn the art of porcelain and after seeing her talent the elders practically fell over themselves to teach her.”

“The fact that she pays well doesn’t hurt.”

“This ‘hime.’ She’s wealthy?” Shikaku asked for clarification.

“Oh, incredibly,” the woman asked. “Won’t go anywhere without her pearls on. Very classy.”

“Don’t know where she gets the money,” Shen said. “She always seems to have more.”

“I see. Thank you for your time.”

The trio pulled away behind one of the houses and huddled up.

“Well we know what the puppeteer is here for,” Inoichi said immediately.

“Do we?” Choza asked.

“Obviously. He’s here to rob this ‘hime’ person, just like he keeps stealing from wealthy travelers. Someone who insists on wearing pearls, in Field country, while working with clay has got to be an irresistible target.”

“What do you think, Shika?”

Shikaku threaded his fingers together. “...Not enough information. It certainly seems like we’re on the right track, but something about this seems wrong to me.”

“So you don’t think the mad puppeteer is coming here?”

“I didn’t say that,” Shikaku said quickly. “...I think we need to talk to this lady. Maybe she can shed some light on things.”

“Sounds like a plan to me,” Choza agreed. “But first--”

“You are not going shopping right now.”

“I saw you looking at that deer bowl.”

“If we have time we can look around before heading home, after the target is captured,” Shikaku ordered. “Now let’s see if Shen can introduce us.”