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He paused. "Of course I want every Konoha ninja to have the Complete Version. But once you read the technical documents, you'll see that the manufacturing process is too complicated, the barriers to mass production are too high, and the key materials are both scarce and expensive. There's no way to equip everyone."
Orochimaru stared at the things on the table, his eyes gleaming.
"Mass production is pretty much out of the question in the short term. Unless the technology takes another major leap and brings the costs down far enough."
"Even equipping just the jonin would cost a fortune. Our best bet is to keep refining the process and bring down both the production difficulty and the cost."
Although the village had built up some reserves by attracting investment, it still couldn't afford to burn through money like this.
"I understand."
Orochimaru licked his lips, his gaze fixed firmly on the stack of documents as he nodded repeatedly.
He understood all of this even without Xunjing explaining it.
For combat suits used by ninja, performance wasn't the only consideration. Cost-effectiveness was the key.
Something outrageously expensive simply couldn't be rolled out or widely adopted.
As for selling them to other villages?
Out of the question.
Technology this crucial could never be allowed to leak.
It was a lifeline that directly determined the village's fighting strength.
"All right, that's settled. I'll be going."
Seeing that he understood, Xunjing nodded in satisfaction and vanished with a Body Flicker.
"Heh... let me take a good look at what secrets you're hiding. Hehehe."
As soon as Xunjing left, Orochimaru eagerly snatched up a Combat Suit Container, pulled out its accompanying technical documents, and buried himself in research.
A little over a month earlier.
The Rock Ninja had planned to ambush the Sand