Buying Ninja Tools (Please Bookmark)

Ever since the first exam, another half month had passed.

Uchiha Kiyoshi had been living a very fulfilling life during this time.

Every day in class, Uchiha Kiyoshi would take out his novel—ahem, reference materials—and read them attentively.

It was not as though Uemura Naoki had failed to notice Uchiha Kiyoshi's behavior, but after calling on him several times and asking a number of deliberately difficult questions, Uemura Naoki had accepted it.

Uchiha Kiyoshi already knew it all. There was really no way for him to discipline the boy.

Uchiha Kiyoshi had temporarily stopped researching hand seals. Apart from class time, he spent all his time practicing the Three Basic Techniques, taijutsu, and kunai throwing.

In just half a month, Uchiha Kiyoshi had basically mastered the Three Basic Techniques.

By "basically mastered," he naturally meant that he could use them.

However, he was still lacking when it came to the fine details needed to make them convincingly real.

The Three Basic Techniques were fundamental techniques, so Uchiha Kiyoshi planned to train these three Ninjutsu seriously.

If he could master the Transformation Technique proficiently, it would have a wide range of applications. If his defense-oriented tactics could be paired with a body shape that changed at any time, it should be quite disorienting for his enemies.

"Hehe, you thought you hit my heart? Sorry, you missed."

Then there was the Clone Technique. Although Uchiha Kiyoshi would inevitably cultivate other tangible clone techniques in the future, the Clone Technique was the foundation of all such clones, so he needed to master it well. Moreover, when combined with Genjutsu—or with movement techniques like Shisui—it could produce excellent results.

Finally, there was the Substitution Technique. While it was not a prerequisite for any other Ninjutsu, Space-Time Ninjutsu alone was enough to warrant Uchiha Kiyoshi devoting a great deal of thought to it.

It was perfectly reasonable for the Substitution Technique to be Space-Time Ninjutsu. As a life-saving technique for ninja, if it were really nothing more than a trick to fool the eye, that would be rather absurd. Based on the scenes in the original work, the user was genuinely present before activating the technique. In other words, at the instant it was activated, the caster and the target were swapped.

If it were not Space-Time Ninjutsu, then it would simply be a matter of speed. That would mean instantly pulling the caster to the corresponding location—but how would the body withstand that? Such an instantaneous pull was not something a Ninja Academy student could endure. Even with Chakra protection, the Chakra required for the process could not possibly be so "little."

Therefore, there was nothing wrong with classifying it as Space-Time Ninjutsu. (That explanation was clear enough, right?)

As the only Space-Time Ninjutsu Uchiha Kiyoshi could currently access, the Substitution Technique naturally interested him the most. While practicing, he would also think about how to improve it. If he succeeded, perhaps the foundation of his future combat style would be secured.

Uchiha Kiyoshi guessed that when the Substitution Technique had first been developed, it had probably been intended to become Space-Time Ninjutsu. However, something might have gone wrong along the way, preventing its creator from completing it. A flawed Space-Time Ninjutsu was too wasteful to discard yet too weak to be satisfying to use, so it gradually spread and became a life-saving skill for low-ranking ninja.

Even incomplete Space-Time Ninjutsu had value. As for why such a technique had been allowed to spread, Uchiha Kiyoshi guessed that it must have been during the era of the Ninja Sect. Only then had Ninjutsu undergone such rapid development. It was not just the Substitution Technique; the various Kekkei Genjutsu clans had also formed during that period.

No matter what had caused the Substitution Technique to remain incomplete, Uchiha Kiyoshi intended to try solving some of its issues. At the very least, he wanted to be able to use it properly himself.

Unfortunately, after researching it for so long, Uchiha Kiyoshi had concluded that it required extremely advanced Sealing Jutsu. His current abilities did not seem to be enough.

Still, Uchiha Kiyoshi did not give up. He quietly made a note of it and resolved to study it again once he had achieved something in Sealing Jutsu.

Besides, to be honest, it was time to put Sealing Jutsu on the agenda. He had spent roughly the same number of years studying both fields, but compared to Sealing Jutsu, Uchiha Kiyoshi's progress in Medical Ninjutsu had been much faster due to the foundation from his previous life.

Now, with insufficient Chakra preventing him from training and Medical Ninjutsu having reached a bottleneck, it was time to shift his focus to Sealing Jutsu.

After a full day of classes today, Nawaki was listless.

Unlike Uchiha Kiyoshi, Nawaki was a textbook poor student. It was not merely a matter of whether he studied seriously—his learning ability itself was worrying. At the very least, he was not very efficient at absorbing lectures.

However, in order to avoid giving his sister a chance to beat him senseless, Nawaki could only do his best to listen.

What? Report his sister for domestic violence? Go ahead, go ahead. His sister was waiting for him in the Hokage's office! Let's see whether the Hokage would side with him or with his own disciple.

In truth, Tsunade's high demands were also partly because of Uchiha Kiyoshi.

The young master of the mighty Senju Clan could sit beside an Uchiha, fine—but he was actually worse than the other boy, and utterly crushed at that. Anyone would find that unbearable to watch.

Poor Nawaki still had no idea that his hellish life was entirely thanks to his deskmate.

If events had followed the original work, Nawaki would have been held back a year because of his grades, arranged by Tsunade.

That was right, held back a year. After all, he belonged to the privileged class: the young master of the Senju Clan, with a sister who was a disciple of the Hokage.

Unfortunately, everything had changed because of Uchiha Kiyoshi's arrival.

This was also the first time since coming to this world that Uchiha Kiyoshi had affected an important figure from the original work.

Uchiha Kiyoshi did not know that, without his awareness, the changes he had brought to the Ninja World had already quietly begun.

Today, Uchiha Kiyoshi was going to buy a batch of ninja tools. The kunai he had mooched during special training had all been scrapped, so he could only spend his own money now.

This time, besides kunai, Uchiha Kiyoshi also planned to buy some shuriken and senbon.

When Nawaki heard that Uchiha Kiyoshi was going to buy ninja tools, he clamored to come along. After listening to lectures all day, he wanted to relax.

As a poor man with no source of income, Uchiha Kiyoshi could only choose a cheap store. At Nawaki's recommendation, he chose a privately owned Ninja Tool Shop.

In Konoha, Ninja Tool Shops were mainly divided into those established by clans and those run by private merchants.

Clan-owned Ninja Tool Shops generally had guaranteed quality. With large ninja clans behind them, they also had ample stock.

In comparison, smaller privately run Ninja Tool Shops naturally could not guarantee quality, but they were cheap.

Of course, selling war supplies such as ninja tools in Konoha required official approval from Konoha, so basic quality standards were still maintained.

Therefore, Uchiha Kiyoshi had set his sights on these smaller Ninja Tool Shops.

However, having never bought such items before, Uchiha Kiyoshi did not know which place offered the best value for money, so he could only listen to his deskmate's advice.

As the young master of the Senju Clan, Nawaki had more spending money than he knew what to do with, and he occasionally bought things for himself to play with. Moreover, to avoid his sister giving him trouble, he deliberately avoided clan-owned businesses and sought out small shops instead.

After going back and forth like that, Nawaki had become familiar with which shops offered the best deals.

When they arrived at the shop Nawaki recommended, Uchiha Kiyoshi looked at the hundred-square-meter storefront before him, bearing the sign "Field Ninja Tool Shop," and quietly wondered, Did I misunderstand the word "small" somewhere?

Turning to look at Nawaki beside him, Uchiha Kiyoshi gave him a look that said, Are you sure this is a small shop?

Unfortunately, Nawaki could not understand what Uchiha Kiyoshi meant.

Still, Nawaki introduced the shop.

"Kiyoshi, this is the largest privately owned Ninja Tool Shop in all of Konoha. The product quality is guaranteed, and the prices are very reasonable."

Uchiha Kiyoshi was doubtful, but he entered the Ninja Tool Shop anyway.

Once inside, Uchiha Kiyoshi saw the shop owner sitting behind the counter, working.

As for how he knew she was the owner, all he had to do was look at her clothes. Compared to the staff in the other sections, the woman behind the counter wore a full Chinese-style qipao, and she was not doing a cashier's job.

After entering, Uchiha Kiyoshi fell into deep thought when he saw the owner's outfit.

"A qipao? This Chinese-style outfit looks rather familiar. Could this be the future Tenten Ninja Tool Shop?"

Before long, a staff member came up to Uchiha Kiyoshi. After asking about his needs, he led him to the ordinary ninja tools section.

Yes, the ordinary ninja tools section—the cheap goods section. The ninja tools there were all made of ordinary iron, with none specially crafted by master smiths. They were about the same as the standard-issue kunai Uchiha Kiyoshi had used before.

They were only for training, so Uchiha Kiyoshi did not need expensive ninja tools. Naturally, he chose whatever was cheap. In fact, compared to sharpness, he valued durability more. Under the staff member's introduction, he selected one particular model.

Fifty kunai, twenty shuriken, and twenty senbon would be enough to last Uchiha Kiyoshi for half a year. The kunai cost one thousand ryo each, the shuriken eight hundred each, and the senbon five hundred each, for a total of seventy-six thousand ryo. Nearly half of Uchiha Kiyoshi's little savings vanished at once, making his heart ache terribly.

After painfully paying up, Uchiha Kiyoshi put away the scroll handed to him by the staff member.

For customers like Uchiha Kiyoshi who bought ninja tools in bulk, the Ninja Tool Shop provided a disposable storage scroll to make carrying them easier.

Storage scrolls were expensive. Even disposable ones cost tens of thousands of ryo, so Ninja Tool Shops naturally would not give away proper ones. What they gave away were defective products created through mistakes during production. They still had storage functions, but aside from only being usable once, they also had a time limit. After about a day, the scroll would become unusable, and the items inside would be damaged as well. Thus, the Ninja Tool Shop gave these failed products away to help customers carry their purchases. As long as they got home promptly and took out the ninja tools, it would be fine.

After accepting the scroll, Uchiha Kiyoshi did not leave immediately. Instead, he asked to look around the other sections.

Out of consideration for Nawaki, a regular customer, the staff member did not refuse. Besides, he could clearly see the Uchiha Clan crest on Uchiha Kiyoshi's clothing. In Konoha, no one dared to impersonate the Uchiha Clan's crest.

Led by the staff member, Uchiha Kiyoshi arrived at the high-end section.

There, Uchiha Kiyoshi even saw a kunai made with Chakra Metal.

Of course, it was not entirely made of Chakra Metal. Only a certain amount had been added to its materials, and the proportion was not high.

Even so, the kunai's price was astronomical—one million ryo. In any case, Uchiha Kiyoshi could not afford it.

Chakra Metal was a high-grade resource and scarce throughout the Ninja World. Unlike ordinary metals, Chakra Metal had excellent Chakra conductivity. As long as some Chakra Metal was added to a weapon, a ninja could easily coat the weapon with their Chakra, greatly enhancing both offense and defense.

Besides occurring naturally, Chakra Metal was supposedly able to be produced artificially. As long as a ninja completely enveloped a piece of metal with Chakra and soaked it for a long period, Chakra Metal could be created. However, the Chakra consumption involved was immense. Maintaining Chakra twenty-four hours a day, even for a piece of metal only the size of a fist, was something only an Elite Jonin could barely manage. Furthermore, it could not be completed in a day or two; it took years.

In other words, even if an Elite Jonin gave it his all, spent years on it, and never interrupted the Chakra output, he could only produce a fist-sized piece of Chakra Metal! This alone showed how precious Chakra Metal was.

"One million ryo? Wouldn't it be better to buy something else? At least if it were a sword, maybe. Who would spend one million ryo on a kunai? Even if it has Chakra Metal, nobody would buy it, right?"

The staff member beside him smiled and answered Uchiha Kiyoshi's question.

"This kunai is actually displayed here as a demonstration. It shows our shop's capabilities—that we can produce ninja tools containing Chakra Metal."

As he spoke, the staff member proudly lifted his chin.

Uchiha Kiyoshi nodded. So it was a display piece. He understood that, but he still casually voiced his doubt.

"Um, then doesn't making something nobody will buy just waste that piece of Chakra Metal?"

At this point, even Nawaki beside him looked at his deskmate in confusion. Wasn't he supposed to be smart? Why was he asking such a meaningless question?

"What is it?"

Seeing Nawaki's expression, Uchiha Kiyoshi was baffled. He had no idea what it meant.

When Nawaki saw that Uchiha Kiyoshi genuinely did not know, he could not help laughing.

"Kiyoshi, I always thought you were pretty smart. How can you not understand something this simple? Just because the Chakra Metal has been added to this kunai doesn't mean it's been wasted.

"Not to mention what was just said about attracting customers—if it is needed someday, the Chakra Metal can be refined back out of this kunai."

Uchiha Kiyoshi froze when he heard Nawaki's words, then asked, "Hasn't the Chakra Metal fused with the other metals? From what you're saying, it can still be separated again?"

"Of course. Otherwise, with how little Chakra Metal is produced, if every bit used was gone for good, how much could possibly remain? Who could afford to buy it?"

Nawaki rolled his eyes, sounding unconcerned.

Uchiha Kiyoshi came to his senses. He seemed to have learned in his previous life that it could be separated; he had simply failed to remember it. Still, he was a medical student. It was not wrong for him to forget something from chemistry, right?

Then Uchiha Kiyoshi seemed to think of something. His face lit up with wild joy, and he muttered, "Separate... separate... How did I not think of that? Hahaha, so that's how it is!"

Nawaki was startled by Uchiha Kiyoshi's crazed appearance. Had his deskmate gone stupid? He stretched out a hand and waved it in front of Uchiha Kiyoshi's face.

Uchiha Kiyoshi slapped Nawaki's hand away irritably, but he still explained himself. Otherwise, he feared he would truly be mistaken for an idiot. The expression on the staff member's face made it clear that he was already looking at him like one.

"Ahem. Um, I'm fine. I just suddenly figured something out and got a little excited."

However, Nawaki still did not look convinced. After all, Uchiha Kiyoshi had asked such a stupid question and then burst out laughing. Was that not exactly what a fool would do?

Thus, under Nawaki's strange gaze, Uchiha Kiyoshi said goodbye to him and hurried home.

Because of their clans, it was inconvenient for Nawaki to escort Uchiha Kiyoshi home. After they parted ways, he returned home himself.

Please bookmark!!!

I have class this afternoon, so I might not be able to update, but there will be no interruption tonight. Updates will proceed as usual—either five thousand words or two chapters.