Is this the real deal?

Round 3, already?

Once more Shinoskay found himself making way to the gates of kanoha. In tow, he had his strange-eyed cocoon looking creature strapped onto the back of a Clay Doll... its eyes slowly scanning the surrounding area in watch for something. He himself was also on the puppets back, his chakra suppressed, while he held himself into the form of a similar looking pod creature as that which he had been carrying all this time. His Doll projected a chakra of 50, however, and Shinoskay's chakra threads were invisible.

He had made sure to be careful of where he started this strange means of exit, taking this opportunity to once again test the gate watch while also proceeding with make way to the hillside in the forest that this cocoon was to be carried to.

The young genin proved that an underground passing could go undetected, and so now it was time to see if a disguised passing would also succeed.

He chose a time of day to pass through with others, though a crawling Clay doll with 50 chakra would still look pretty strange and for this he expected that people would question it... how they question it would be whats really important here.

[wc 207]

Higuto was on top of the village gates, his insects keeping watch from the skies, along with a shadow clone keeping watch on the ground. Higuto was in the midst of watching the clouds roll along the sky as his clone took notice of a chakra signature approaching once Shino's clay doll got within 25 meters of him. It was an unfamiliar chakra reading to Higuto's clone as he looked to see it crawling towards the village gates with something strapped along it's back. Higuto's book smarts allowed him to immediately see that what was approaching him was a clay doll as he looked around to see if there was anyone nearby within a 10 meter radius controlling said doll. He didn't sense any other chakra signatures around the area and he didn't see anyone that might've been controlling the puppet in plain sight which gave him the impression that either they were having their chakra suppressed and were somehow controlling it underground or they were having their chakra masked and they were the one's strapped to the puppet's back. Either way Higuto's clone kept watch of the puppet with hands in his pockets as he didn't know whether or not to think this was a practical joke or an actual attempt at leaving the village. Once the clay doll got close, around 10 meters or so, he would address the doll.

"Whoever you are you're doing a very good job at letting your doll be the target rather than showing your own bravery in this situation. I do not know who you are but I will not hesitate to break a child's toy."

He would draw his left hand out of his pocket as tiny electric sparks would form in arches along his fingers as he knew clay couldn't stand up to electricity. He kept his chakra senses sharp as he made mental plans within his head on how to go about the situation if the doll suddenly attacked and if the one who controlled it was actually strapped to the doll's back. He didn't want to kill whoever it was, after all, for it could've been one of the leaf ninjas. He would make certain he took careful aim as he kept his right hand within it's pocket still ready to form hand seals.

Without any real hesitation, there was a sort hard surface against hard surface clattering response that seems to come from the puppet while the puppets head shakes and it moves to strafe around higuto "doechn't p-p-pay to thhhhreaten whhhho or if-f-f ya don't know, thhhhe p-p-p-pod ich b-b-beeeeen eckorted." The pod on top of the puppet would begin to rapidly dash its eyes from the electricity on Higuto's hands to his face as if trying to scream in fear of what was occurring before it.

The crowd that had been around the puppet, who had only just gotten comfortable with the almost unnerving situation of having a strange puppet walking while transporting to pods, now quickly disperse and a few even pivot around so hard they fall over before quickly gathering their wits and moving back.

Why Higuto was so sure that there was a puppeteer on the back of the puppet, and not that the puppet itself was the puppeteer given that Higuto would have seen Shinoskay turn into his own puppets image in the past, is a mystery but for now he apparently decided to declare some half chopped reasoning as if it didnt still look like a meta that he so accurately deduced where the young genin was.

Higuto looked at the doll and was hoping his threat would reveal whoever was coming forth but it was thanks to the doll that gave him a clue.

"Escorting? Your pod?"

Higuto would give the pod another look as he gave a soft chuckle as the lightning from his left hand slowly diminished. This didn't confirm to Higuto's clone that this was where the mastermind of the puppet was but it did make him cautious over what it might have been.

"Very well, little puppet. If you are indeed on your way to escort what you're carrying then I will need to see evidence that you have been assigned such a mission."

He would block the way of the puppet as he spoke to make certain it didn't go around him.

Now moving to strafe the opposite direction, as its present path was supposedly now blocked, it would move in much the same manner as a crab. Again, the same clackety-clattering voice came out from the puppet "thhhhhat-t-t ich b-b-between you and thhhhhhe k-kage, whhhhhhe hhhhhavvve chiiiiivvven what-t whhhhhach ckiiiivvven t-to uch" the V came out in a much more grindy manner as the puppet's mouth seemed to scrape to produce a vibrating scraping noise. It was strange to Shinoskay that Higuto would only approach this puppet, though he did kind of make it stand out for a reason so it wasn't ENTIRELY unreasonable but since he himself knew how to suppress his chakra... perhaps that would be the next test... if all of these people are walking in and out of the gates without been stopped because they dont exhibit a chakra signature then perhaps he would see if he can walk in unnoticed in the same manner when he returned.

Higuto's clone listened to what the puppet had to say as he shook his head while keeping beat with the puppet in order to make certain it wasn't going anywhere he didn't want it to.

"Indeed, when it comes to ninja or anything that has to leave the village in order to commence a mission, I'm supposed to be informed by the Hokage of the person who's doing the mission. Not necessarily the mission itself but it's my business to know who is the one leaving or entering the village in the first place. And I usually find that information by one of two ways: Either the Hokage herself informs me in advance or the ninja, or in this case puppet, in question has some sort of parchment with her permission written inside along with her signature. I have not been informed of your arrival so, surely, you have something that you would like to show me?"

He would keep his right hand in his pocket while his left hand remained out as he kept watch of the puppet while his insects above kept watch everywhere.

"You are the only thing, out of all these villagers, with the higher chakra reading. This stands to reason and evidence that you are something to watch out for. If you truly are trying to leave because the Hokage gave you something to escort then surely you have the key I need to let you pass?"

The puppet, finding no way to proceed past at a normal movement pace, would make one or two attempts to scuttle faster in its attempt at strafing.... (speed 75)... but seeing as higuto has a higher base speed this is unlikely to overcome his speed, the maneuver would at least succeed in stirring the ground and causing a decent but light cloud of earth. As such in the likely event the sudden speed fails then the puppet will begin to demonstrate frustration by stepping more heavily on the ground to produce light stomping like noises "thhhe ckag-g-gee ich c-c-ckeeeaaaarrrteee bbrrruchyyy" the b and r came out as a hard and almost agitated grinding sound like it was making a hasty but elongated rubbing of wood against wood, " aaaaaddrrr yyyyoooooouuu c-c-ckeeeaaaarrrteee chooouut ch-chek," it wasnt easy to speak like a puppet... shinoskay was finding this out and he almsot felt like dropping the whole act as he scrambled in his mind how to develope lippy sounds to sound like hard clapping sounds. However, he was both amused and impressed that Higuto had managed to follow along with what was been said, relatively... or at least he seemed to be following along.

The pod that had been glancing from the gate watchers hand to his face had been particularly intent on the pocketed hand of the genin.

Higuto's clone had to admit that the puppet's latest line of speaking was hard to follow but if he was to venture a guess he was probably trying to say that the Hokage was busy. He didn't know if this was actually what the clay doll was trying to say but he could tell that whatever was being said was taking a bit of effort to do. He gave a small sigh as he recounted to one of his previous missions he had had with a puppet user as he looked at the puppet.

"Might I ask you something, little puppet? Your user wouldn't happen to be Shinoskay, would it? If it is it might do you well to go ahead and reveal yourself because you're becoming a little hard to understand. You could've used ventriloquism jutsu to change the voice you gave your doll, instead of making it sound like it's having a seizure, but I must admit I found your attempt at making it talk intriguing and amusing. And if you just so happen to not be Shinoskay then wouldn't you agree that it's time to reveal yourself so that I may have the honor to meet you properly?"

Higuto was giving a guess based off of past experiences with Shinoskay and when he had used the Clay Doll jutsu in front of him. He knew that Clay Doll was a rather common jutsu among other puppet users but he didn't know many within the Leaf except Shinoskay. It would come out as a simple yes or no question as Higuto continued to keep his guard up in case this was all just to serve as distraction.

((due to a fundamental aspect of this whole thread been done wrong... by me.... I am requesting this thread be voided or the two of us be considered exited for wc))

claiming 804 wc
4 stats and 804 to Puppetry Performance: Skillful Achievement with a Human Body

As we discussed on Discord before, you can't claim wc on voided topiics. What's the final decision here, void or claims? Let me know when you edit.