Shocking! Hidden Inside the Blacksmith Shop...

After Dada's group entered the Land of Soup, they discovered a Blacksmith Shop in a border town. Because it occupied such a large area, they initially assumed some famous master was based there. The shinobi in the group had even planned to restock their ninja tools, only to be told that this place produced nothing but semi-finished goods.

There were no swords or blades, only metal blanks for making them. There were no kunai either, only unprocessed iron bars.

Despite being more than twice the size of an ordinary Blacksmith Shop, it only produced such semi-finished products, leaving the shinobi masters deeply disappointed.

But it caught Dada's interest. He was curious about everything to begin with, so he went up to question them—and really did uncover a treasure.

It turned out that this Blacksmith Shop had once belonged to a famous swordsmith. The swordsmith had left behind many masterpieces and achieved both fame and success. But after his death, his son, Kitano Izumi, proved rather mediocre. Although he made no major mistakes, not a single famous sword had emerged in the many years since he inherited the business. Gradually, the fame his father had left behind faded, and the shop became an ordinary Blacksmith Shop. Yet after recognizing his own limited talent, Kitano Izumi did not stubbornly force the issue. Instead, he took another path.

Kitano Izumi discovered that whether a blade was good or bad, even if it was a famous sword—there was no distinction between swords and blades here—the early stages of production were largely the same. Iron had to be smelted and hammered into roughly formed blade blanks. And no matter how skilled a swordsmith was, luck still played a role in whether they could create a fine blade. Even after painstakingly forging an excellent blank, there was a high chance that it would be ruined in the later steps.

Kitano Izumi saw a business opportunity. He stopped forging swords and began making blade blanks instead, supplying them to other swordsmiths.

After all, his father had been a renowned master, and the Kitano Family still possessed a solid foundation in basic craftsmanship. Their blade blanks were somewhat better than those made by others. Swordsmiths were also happy to free themselves from the grueling preliminary ironworking and focus on more prestigious tasks. Besides, the blanks they forged themselves might not even be as good as the Kitano Family's.

From then on, Kitano Blacksmith Shop never produced another finished sword, and its reputation remained obscure. But its semi-finished products, such as blade blanks and iron bars, sold wildly throughout the surrounding regions, bringing in a fortune.

Kitano Izumi also discovered that ninety percent of making blade blanks was manual labor. So he hired many young people to do the heavy work while he merely gave guidance from the side. He even spent a large sum to hire craftsmen from the Land of Waves to build a water-powered stamping device, greatly increasing both output and quality.

Kitano Izumi had not been particularly eager to talk when faced with Dada's questioning. Dada simply revealed his identity and said he was from Kumogakure and wanted to establish a long-term partnership.

Although Dada's age made him suspicious, he had a whole group with him. Adult shinobi such as Dodai also tacitly approved of his actions. With so many adult jonin backing Dada up—Yotsuki Ki was also considered an adult shinobi because he looked old—Kitano Takeshi finally believed Dada's claims.

These days, ninja villages were the real powers. The Five Great Ninja Villages might not match the Daimyo in soft power, but when it came to hard power and methods, they were far more ruthless. Given the chance to establish a long-term partnership with one of them, Kitano Izumi naturally took it seriously and was willing to speak properly with Dada.

Dada said he wanted a detailed understanding of the Blacksmith Shop's operations, so Kitano Izumi showed him around carefully. Dada expressed great satisfaction.

"This is the prototype of a factory," Dada said approvingly.

At present, the Shinobi World's primary mode of production was still inherited from the transition out of the Warring States Period. Almost everything was made in workshops, with families or villages producing certain goods together.

The difference between a factory and a workshop lay in three points.

1: Workshops generally aimed to produce final products, while factories could choose to produce intermediate products.

2: Factories had a highly specialized division of labor. No one participated in the entire production process, while only a small number of technical supervisors maintained overall control.

3: Factories did not rely on any one person or group of people. New workers could be trained, and once trained, they could start work immediately because standardized procedures were in place.

Moreover, Dada knew that this Blacksmith Shop was still far from reaching its limits.

Once production increased, wouldn't its bargaining power over iron and coal rise as well? Wouldn't technological upgrades become easier too?

As raw material prices fell, product prices could also be lowered while quality improved. That would fundamentally destroy workshop-level Blacksmith Shops' desire and motivation to forge their own blade blanks.

Once everyone stopped forging their own blade blanks, the techniques, production tools, and willingness to produce within those workshops would gradually be lost.

Then other Blacksmith Shops would become far more dependent on the factory. After that, wouldn't the factory be able to control the entire industrial chain simply by adjusting its own prices?

In the most extreme case, if I cut off someone's supply chain, they won't be able to forge swords. Even if they force themselves to do so, their quality will be worse than everyone else's, their costs higher, and they might not even survive.

Of course, that would only be possible once the scale became large enough.

In the Shinobi World, the forging of blades, swords, and ninja tools was a truly core industry... and now, a direct path had appeared right in front of Dada.

It was not that Dada had only remembered what a factory was after seeing this Blacksmith Shop. Rather, this was the first time he had left the village since his birth and personally seen the Shinobi World. Only then did he understand what he should do and what he could do.

If he could truly control the Shinobi World's ninja tool industry—no, even if he only controlled the ninja tool industries of several neighboring countries... it was simply unimaginable.

Just thinking about it sent his mind soaring...

Dada sucked in a breath through his teeth.

Dada told Kitano Izumi not to worry. Kumogakure would have major business with him.

Kitano Izumi only assumed there would be a large order. He never imagined that the future would bring a complete and deeply integrated partnership.

After returning to the hotel, Dada called Yotsuki Ki and Dodai into his room. He had Sister Meizi stand guard outside, then had Dodai cast a soundproof Barrier Ninjutsu. As someone who often accompanied the Raikage during confidential work, Dodai indeed knew this simple barrier.

"You're being all mysterious. What's going on?" Yotsuki Ki asked curiously.

Dodai was also very curious. He had not noticed anything unusual at the Blacksmith Shop during the day, but he knew Dada must have made some important discovery.

"What I'm about to say is very important. It concerns a major matter."

Yotsuki Ki looked like he was ready to laugh and see what Dada could possibly say. Dodai, meanwhile, had already taken out paper and pen, prepared to write it down. Having experienced this once before, he knew that Dada's grand plans were truly huge. If he did not record them immediately, he might miss something.

"About that Blacksmith Shop today, did you notice..."

As Dada explained, the expressions of Yotsuki Ki and Dodai gradually changed from "So that's how it is," to "You can do that?" and finally to "Shocking! Hidden inside the Blacksmith Shop was a power capable of overturning the Shinobi World!"

Dada also sorted through his own thoughts as he explained. At the point where the main story began, thirty years later, the ninja tool production methods shown in the story were still stuck at the workshop level. But judging in reverse from the technological standards outside shinobi circles, where there were computers, movies, and television, factories should have existed as well. It might have been caused by the disconnect between shinobi and ordinary society's production.

Still, the opportunity was enormous.

He was only six years old, and his circumstances were rather special. He did not have the time or energy to throw himself fully into this. The right answer was to make use of his knowledge from his previous life in the rear, providing high-level plans and suggestions—talking big. He could not possibly run off to become a factory foreman at such a young age, could he? Had he picked up the wrong script? This was the Shinobi World...

So this plan would inevitably need the strength of a collective to accomplish. Though I may be unworthy, I am the Raikage's son and the little ancestor of the Yotsuki Clan.

Of course, Dada had his own selfish motives. That was why he had called Yotsuki Ki and Dodai, but not Kawanishi Kyohei or Anzai Mamoru. Dodai was a retainer of the Yotsuki Clan, and there was even less need to mention Yotsuki Ki. If this venture truly went ahead, placing it under the Yotsuki Clan's name would be easier to manage than placing it under Kumogakure's.