The stare-down between Gaara and the eagerly hopping puppet didn't last nearly as long as he felt it did, because before long, he was arranging his arms beneath Takumi to avoid tangling any of its strings. The venomous spikes and traps were less of an issue; he'd seen the puppet in action enough that he knew he'd been shown at least half of its capabilities, and that was more than enough that he could hold onto it without triggering anything too violent or expensive. Its limbs were another matter, but it wasn't too much trouble to have wooden claws scraping over sand with the sounds of a chalkboard.

When Kazue began reading a scroll large enough that it could only contain Socchan, he moved to hold Takkun more securely. Just in case she wanted to reattach his threads to the larger tanuki to conserve chakra.

Also because Takkun was doing its level best to hit him in the ear with its tail. Two sets of eyes watched Kazue work, one attached to a wriggling puppet and the other set calm and evaluating. The third set's owner was sleeping.

"What's wrong with your current compounds..?"