Takuma threw another round of shuriken. His accuracy with curved throws had improved significantly.
Tenten jumped down from the railing and dusted off her pants, though there wasn't a speck of dust on them.
"Not bad. It's finally starting to look passable."
"Just passable?" Takuma shook out his sore wrist. "I started from scratch. Can't you give me a little sincere praise?"
"Praise is reserved for customers who've paid off their debts." Tenten didn't bat an eye. "How much do you owe me again?"
"...Can we move on from this topic?"
"No." Tenten pulled a small notebook from her ninja tool pouch and opened it. Dates and items were written all over the pages.
"That's enough, that's enough." Takuma snatched the notebook and shut it. "I admit it, I admit everything. You actually kept a ledger?"
"My dad says business is business, and personal favors are personal favors." Tenten took the notebook back and tucked it into her pouch, her tone dead serious. "Keeping the two separate is the way to do business."
Takuma was speechless.
There was probably a reason Tenten's family had kept their ninja tool shop running for so many years.
They tidied up the area, picking up the scattered shuriken and kunai.
As she bent to collect them, Tenten asked casually, "By the way, how's your chakra control training going?"
"Not bad. Why?"
"I've been thinking about something." Tenten put the last shuriken into her bag and turned to face Takuma. She looked a little more serious than before. "Your recovery ability is your greatest advantage, but your current fighting style isn't making the most of it."
Takuma leaned against a wooden post, inviting her to continue.
"Think about it. You can withstand several times as much damage as an ordinary ninja, and your wounds heal far faster than normal. That means you can use tactics other people wouldn't dare try." Tenten pulled out two Explosive Tags and held them between her fingers. "Like setting off an Explosive Tag at close range to hurt the enemy with the shock wave while you tank the blast with your body."
Takuma imagined it. His expression turned complicated.
"So my battle plan is to strap a bunch of Explosive Tags to myself and charge into a crowd of enemies?"
"It would make quite an explosive impression." Tenten nodded earnestly.
"...Are you trying to turn me into a suicide truck?"
"It's just a figure of speech! I'm talking about the tactical approach!" Tenten slapped the Explosive Tags against his chest in exasperation. "Explosive Tags are just the most basic option. You could also use Smoke Bombs to cover a close-range assault, launch a lethal attack in a Poison Gas Bomb-filled area, or bait the enemy into a trap by using yourself as the lure. For an ordinary ninja, these tactics are a gamble with their life. For you, they'd just cost a little stamina."
He had thought about this before.
In fact, he'd used tactics like these in previous battles.
But Tenten's approach was far more systematic than his own. She wasn't thinking in terms of Ninjutsu, but of improving his gear.
"What do you think I should do, specifically?"
Tenten's eyes lit up. She'd clearly had ideas for a while and had just been waiting for Takuma to play along.
"First, your ninja tool setup needs an overhaul." She crouched and sketched a simple diagram in the dirt with her finger. "An ordinary ninja tool pouch has limited capacity, but you could carry a lot of spare gear in Sealing Scrolls. I can take care of that. My dad recently got a batch of large-capacity Sealing Scrolls. I'll give you twenty percent off."
"...You still can't resist making a sales pitch?"
"That's called resource integration." Tenten continued without missing a beat. "Then there's the most important part: chakra conduction in ninja tools."
She drew the outline of a kunai in the dirt, then added a few lines to it.
"You've heard of Chakra-Conducting Metal, right? Channeling chakra into a weapon can greatly increase its lethality, and it can even produce special effects."
Takuma nodded. He knew about that. The sword they'd seized before was made of that kind of metal.
"The problem is that Chakra-Conducting Metal is expensive." Tenten sounded like a professional lamenting the fact. "Very expensive. Even our shop only has a small piece in stock, and it's my dad's reserve."
"Then why bring it up?"
"Because I've thought of an alternative." Tenten looked up, her eyes shining with the gleam of someone who'd spotted a business opportunity. "The whole weapon doesn't need to be made of conductive metal. We could embed a small piece in the tip of the blade and still get some of the conductive effect. It wouldn't be as powerful, but we could cut the cost to a tenth of the original."
Takuma crouched down to examine the diagram.
Tenten's drawing skills were much better than her Taijutsu. The sketch was clear and easy to understand.
If she could really make an "economy" Chakra-Conducting Kunai, his fighting style could make good use of it. It would boost his lethality by at least thirty percent.
"Do you think this could work?"
"In theory, there's no problem. In practice, we'd need to test it." Tenten was frank. "And even if we bring the cost down, mass production won't be cheap. Each one would cost about seven or eight times as much as an ordinary kunai."
"What about that twenty percent discount you just mentioned?"
"Fifteen or more, and you get twenty percent off," Tenten replied quickly. "I'll throw in a custom ninja tool pouch, too. It'll be waterproof and fireproof, with twice the capacity of the standard model."
Takuma looked at her. She looked back at him.
"You know, sometimes I think you'd make a better merchant than a ninja."
"There's no conflict." Tenten smiled. "When I retire, I'll go back and inherit the ninja tool shop. You can be a regular customer. I'll give you ten percent off."
"We grew up together, and I only get ten percent?"
"People who grew up together still have to eat."
They stared at each other for a moment, then both burst out laughing.
Tenten stood and pulled a charcoal pencil and a sheet of paper from her ninja tool pouch. She started making a list.
"I'll make five prototypes to start with. The Chakra-Conducting Metal fragment will be embedded in the blade tip and will be about three millimeters across. The kunai itself will be made of Quenched Steel, with no change in weight. I'll adjust the balance point to one finger's width in front of the handle. That way, the feel of a regular throw won't change, but you'll need to recalibrate the force you use for curved throws."
"Could you make a version specifically designed for curved throws?"
"Sure, but that would need its own mold." Tenten jotted down notes quickly. "Let's test the regular version first. If it works well, I'll make a curved-throw version customized to your habits. Oh, and do you want the same thing for shuriken?"
"Shuriken have less surface area. Wouldn't the conduction be too weak?"
"Not necessarily. With a shuriken on a straight trajectory, the contact time is short, so the conductive effect would indeed be limited." Tenten tilted her head, thinking. "But with your curved throws, the shuriken hits at a wider angle, so it actually stays in contact with the target longer."
Takuma thought back to how his curved throws hit their targets.
She was right. A curved shuriken usually struck with its side blade, at a completely different angle from a straight thrust.
The fact that Tenten could work backward from a projectile's trajectory to its conduction efficiency showed she understood ninja tools on a level far beyond simply knowing how to use them.
"Did you learn all this from your dad?"
"About half and half." Tenten proudly lifted her chin. "You learn a lot when you help out at a ninja tool shop. I figured out the rest on my own. Don't forget, I'm a woman with ambitions to become a legendary ninja tool master."
"All right, master." Takuma pointed at the list in her hand with a smile. "Besides kunai and shuriken, what else would you recommend?"
Tenten had been waiting for him to ask. Her face lit up as she eagerly flipped to a fresh page.
"Third category: trap-based ninja tools." She drew several different designs on the paper. "The Explosive Tag traps you use now are too basic. They only have one trigger method, so an experienced ninja can spot them right away. I'd suggest upgrading to composite traps: Smoke Bombs with Explosive Tags, flash bombs with Poison Gas Bombs, or Steel Wire linked to Explosive Tags in a series."
"My dad won't let me sell trap tools on my own because they're too dangerous. But if I make them myself and they're for your personal use, he should agree."
Takuma watched her earnest profile, a warm feeling welling up inside him.
Tenten spoke about all this so casually, as if they were discussing what to have for dinner.
She could have spent her time training, but instead she was willing to help her neighbor, who "never paid his debts," make equipment.
"Tenten."
"Hmm?"
"Thank you."
Tenten's hand paused, then kept scribbling on the page. Her voice was quieter than before. "What for? It's not free. I'm adding it all to your tab. Once you're promoted to Chunin and your mission pay goes up, you can pay me back little by little."
"How long will that take?"
"Let's see how you do at the Chunin Ninja Exams." Tenten winked at him. "If you get promoted, I'll give you twenty percent off. If you lose and come back, you'll pay full price, plus interest."
"Your idea of motivation is way too practical."
Before you continue