Chakra Metal Ore

"Jiraiya was still too soft."

Liu Yun leaned against a tree trunk, a blade of grass between his teeth.

The merchant stubbornly refused to admit that he had misrepresented the mission's rank. When he realized Jiraiya wasn't going to lay a hand on him, he grew downright brazen, even threatening to complain to Konoha that they had intimidated their client.

Liu Yun couldn't help marveling at his nerve. These people were every bit as bold as the troublemakers back in Konoha.

Escort missions were a common type of assignment in all the major hidden villages. Generally, the fee depended on the client's identity, the value of the goods, and how dangerous the destination was.

There were always people who tried to slip through the cracks, concealing information to lower the mission's rank and pay a smaller fee.

But low-ranking escort missions were handled by genin teams, whose strength was limited.

If they ran into enemies they had no reliable intelligence on, the entire team could easily be wiped out. All the major hidden villages, including Konoha, had suffered losses this way.

This time, for instance, they had encountered three rogue ninja from Takigakure. Even an ordinary jonin could have died on this mission.

Liu Yun spat out the grass and walked toward the Takigakure ninja's corpse.

Shluck!

He pulled the ninja blade out of the Takigakure jonin, casually wiped it against the body, then inspected it for a moment and nodded in satisfaction.

His chakra had fully recovered.

Blade in hand, he walked toward the merchant.

The merchant's gaze trembled when he saw Liu Yun approaching.

He hadn't seen Jiraiya fight, but he had watched Liu Yun kill several ninja with ease.

To him, Liu Yun was the most intimidating of them all.

"W-what are you going to do?!"

The merchant's expression changed. Fighting to keep his legs from buckling, he shouted, "Are Konoha ninja going to murder their client?"

Jiraiya winked at Minato.

Minato caught on immediately and sighed. "You wouldn't talk when we asked nicely, and now you've angered Liu Yun..."

He gave the merchant a pitying look and added, "You're on your own now."

Nawaki looked solemn, struggling to keep a straight face. "Right. You're on your own."

Seeing how serious they seemed, the merchant's mind went blank for several seconds. By the time he recovered, Liu Yun's blade was already resting against his neck.

The cold gleam of the blade was almost blinding.

There was also a faint smell of blood.

Before he could think, his legs buckled. A wet patch appeared on his trousers and continued to spread.

The merchant quavered, "I'll talk! I'll talk! Don't kill me!"

Liu Yun covered his nose. "Then hurry up."

The merchant hemmed and hawed for a long while. When Liu Yun's brow furrowed, he dared not hesitate any longer. Steeling himself, he pointed at the box off to one side.

"Those men came for what was inside that box..."

Liu Yun gave a meaningful glance.

Nawaki nodded in understanding. Rather than approach the box rashly, he hurled several shuriken at it.

Thud, thud, thud.

The box toppled over, spilling its contents.

Aside from a grayish-black stone the size of a fist, everything inside was an everyday necessity.

Jiraiya narrowed his eyes, then darted over and picked up the stone to examine it. "Chakra Metal Mine ore!" he exclaimed in surprise.

Liu Yun froze at his words.

Unlike ordinary metals, chakra metal conducted chakra efficiently. With extremely limited production, it was an exceptionally precious and scarce resource.

A ninja blade made entirely of chakra metal could easily cost tens of millions of ryo, and sometimes couldn't be bought at any price.

No powerful fighter would turn down a chakra metal weapon.

He remembered how his uncle had been unable to hide his pride when telling him that the Hayate Clan owned a chakra metal blade.

They had emptied several generations' worth of savings, borrowed a considerable sum, and relied on a stroke of luck to forge a ninja blade made entirely of chakra metal.

There were very few of them in all of Konoha.

Confusion showed in Minato's eyes.

Nawaki's eyes widened. He knew just how precious chakra metal was and found this equally unbelievable.

Jiraiya hefted the ore, estimating its weight.

He darted back to the merchant's side, his voice solemn and even a little urgent. "Where did you get this ore?"

A piece of unrefined Chakra Metal Mine ore was worth roughly three to five million ryo.

Even to him, that was no small sum.

But what truly set him on edge was that the known chakra metal lodes in the shinobi world were extremely rare and almost all controlled by the major hidden villages. An ordinary merchant could never bypass all those restrictions and get his hands on the ore.

So... this piece of Chakra Metal Mine ore might point to an undiscovered Chakra Metal Mine vein.

Noticing Jiraiya's urgency, Liu Yun quickly understood.

If a single chakra weapon could drive a powerful fighter mad with desire...

Then a completely new chakra metal lode could do the same to an entire hidden village. The struggle to claim it might even spark a war across the shinobi world.

The merchant shrank back and hesitated for a moment. "I... I found it."

"Tell the truth!"

"I am telling the truth. I really did find it," the merchant said helplessly.

Liu Yun was skeptical.

He just found Chakra Metal Mine ore lying around?

Was he really that lucky?

Why had I never found any?

Jiraiya asked, "Let's say you did find it. If the Takigakure rogue ninja were hunting you because of this, how did they know? Who knows you have Chakra Metal Mine ore?"

"...If I tell you, will you give the ore back?" Having noticed how much Jiraiya valued it, the merchant tested the waters.

Liu Yun pressed a hand to his forehead. The man had wet himself in terror just moments ago, and now he already dared to bargain.

They couldn't let him keep pushing his luck.

He shifted the blade to the merchant's shoulder and said coldly, "I'll count to three."

That familiar sense of dread returned, and conflict filled the merchant's eyes.

Should I gamble that these ninja cared more about the information behind the ore? That they wouldn't dare hurt their client?

"Three!"

Liu Yun's voice fell.

A faint chill spread across the merchant's shoulder. The blade had already sliced through his clothes and touched his skin.

The merchant froze, his eyes full of terror. "That's not right! You said you'd count from one to three!"

Liu Yun merely smiled.

He really had no fondness for people like this.

Concealing vital information, misrepresenting the mission's rank.

If an ordinary genin team had taken this mission, they would all have died for this stupid merchant and his endless demands.

"I'll talk, I'll talk," the merchant hurriedly said. "I don't know how the Takigakure ninja found out. I'm the only one who knows I found chakra metal ore. Nobody saw me."

Jiraiya took a deep breath. Unwilling to listen any longer, he said decisively, "Let's go. We're taking him back to Konoha."

There was no telling whether anything this man said was true, and the matter of a chakra metal lode was far too important.

Leaving him to the Yamanaka Clan would be safer.

The merchant's expression changed. "No! I'm going to Kusagakure! I'm not going to Konoha!"