A few days later, Madara was heavily poring over the Uchiha Secret Technique Scroll.
Yang’s chimera research had completely hit a plateau.
Stepping out of the busy laboratory, he clearly said to Madara, “Madara, I want to formally study your Susanoo.”
Madara replied flatly, “Susanoo is the absolute ultimate power of Sharingan.
No matter how much you intensively research it, you will absolutely never possess it.”
“That strictly remains to be seen.” Yang shook his head.
“Sharingan itself is pure Yin Release.
Yin Release is the true evolution from sheer nothingness to existence, simply put, the absolute materialization of imagination.
Susanoo is, in a sense, the ultimate manifestation of Yin Release.
So theoretically, if you train Yin Release to a certain incredible height, seamlessly bypassing Sharingan to successfully activate Susanoo should be possible.”
Madara’s eyes narrowed, and his tight grip on the scroll loosened slightly.
At times he simply had to admire Yang’s incredibly imagination.
Even though Yang’s Yin Release strictly remained purely theoretical, those brilliant ideas gave him immense inspiration.
“Sometimes I really want to crack open your skull just to see exactly what’s inside.” Madara sighed, his voice laced with a very rare, begrudging admiration.
“Hah, someone else once said the exact same thing to me.”
That man had been Tobirama Senju.
It was no wonder both Tobirama and Madara were so entirely astounded.
A transmigrator’s highly unique mindset was extraordinary compared to this closed world and this exact era.
“Sharingan is the product of Yin Release and the Uchiha bloodline…”
Madara smoothly brought the topic back.
He pondered for minutes before decisively answering.
“Using Yin Release to directly wield the ultimate power of Sharingan should indeed be possible.”
In the canon story, when Madara successfully used Rinne Tensei to entirely revive himself from his Edo Tensei state, he completely lost his eyes yet remarkably still manifested Susanoo.
This proved one could summon Susanoo without Sharingan.
However, current Madara hadn’t even thought the possibility of it.
So, completely after Yang proposed this highly bold theory, he rapidly began related research into Yin Release.
Yang constantly watched in total silence, seamlessly transmitting everything he clearly saw to the main body stationed securely in Konoha.
The main body, Kakuzu, heavily benefited from this highly detailed data, successfully using the transmitted information to successfully practice Yin Release.
Half a year later, he successfully used pure Yin Release to instantly create a black rod the thickness of a finger.
It heavily resembled the disruptive rods later wielded by the Six Paths of Pain, but with one critical difference: because Kakuzu’s new rod consisted solely of Yin Release, it required constant chakra consumption just to maintain its physical form, very much like Susanoo.
Without that steady energetic input, it would quickly decompose on its own.
Furthermore, entirely lacking the physical enhancement of Yang-Nature Chakra, the Yin Release rod was noticeably softer than a true Yin-Yang Release rod.
Despite these glaring flaws, the very moment Kakuzu created the Yin Release rod, he clearly saw the possibility of forging a Truth-Seeking Orb.
He firmly believed that with continued, dedicated research, the dark object in his hand would eventually become a Truth-Seeking Orb, it was simply a matter of time.
And now, Kakuzu lazily spun the dark rod between his fingers and let out a heavy sigh.
‘It’s a real pity.
With my current Yin-Nature Chakra reserves, I can at most create a standard kitchen knife.’
The Yin-Nature Chakra provided by his specific Yin-Nature heart was still pitifully scarce.
Generating enough dense chakra to successfully form a kitchen knife already pushed it to its structural limit, any more strain, and the entire stolen heart could violently collapse.
The profit per unit was meager, but in massive quantities, the final figures on the profit sheet became terrifying.
“No problem at all.”
As a calculating merchant, Hangetsu understood Kakuzu’s plan immediately.
Once sales volume increased, he could turn a profit without hiking prices.
“Then, a pleasure doing business.”
“A pleasure for me too.”
Cup Noodles mainly earned money from ordinary people.
To make real money, one only had to look at the wealthy Tony Stark in the Marvel Universe, selling arms was clearly far more lucrative.
In the Ninja World, arms went by another name: Ninja Tools.
The largest supplier of Ninja Tools in the Naruto-verse was the Land of Iron.
The entire nation consisted of master smiths, and most villages purchased their tools from them.
Beyond that, every ninja village housed a few Private Ninja Tool Shops.
Battered by the Land of Iron’s dominance, however, their business suffered.
Their biggest orders came from batches of training tools procured by the Konoha Ninja Academy for its students.
But if a great ninja war broke out, distant water could not quench a local fire.
Weapons shipped from the Land of Iron risked interception or seizure before reaching the villages.
In times like those, the Private Ninja Tool Shops inside the village became vital.
Right now, however, was an era of peace, and the Private Ninja Tool Shops struggled.
Taking advantage of the times, Kakuzu bought one of these shops.
On this day, he arrived at the establishment now under his name.
“Tengaku Ninja Tool Shop?” Glancing at the signboard, Kakuzu remarked, “Not a bad name.”
“Boss!” Tengaku Ninja Tool Shop’s staff bowed to Kakuzu.
Kakuzu gave a nod.
He picked up an ordinary kunai from the display stand.
Outwardly, it held no distinct features.
Kakuzu scrutinized it, weighing the metal in his hand.
“The quality truly falls short of the kunai imported from the Land of Iron.”
Beyond brand prestige, the Land of Iron’s Ninja Tools boasted superb quality in their own right.
“These are already Ninja Tools forged by the finest blacksmith in the village.”
The sole reason the Konoha ninja tool shops fared so poorly was this slight inferiority in quality.
The shop’s bestsellers were low-tier Ninja Tools like kunai, shuriken, and senbon.
In the ninja tool trade, these items held zero technical complexity, so the gap in craftsmanship was practically negligible.
The true difference lay in the materials.
The Land of Iron was a small nation, but it sat on rich iron ore.
Having specialized in weapon manufacturing, they had forged a complete industry chain.
Their metal smelting technology far outstripped any private enterprise.
“Since that’s the case, why not sell them at a lower price?” Kakuzu asked.
The shop staff gave a helpless look.
“If we cut prices any further, we won’t even break even.”
“Starting today, suspend business.
Deliver all these Ninja Tools to my place.”
The staff was bewildered, but he couldn’t defy his boss’s orders.
Kakuzu was now the wealthiest man among Konoha’s commoners.
His residence was considered quite luxurious for a civilian.
The next day, every Ninja Tool from Tengaku Ninja Tool Shop was delivered to his home.
The materials of the Ninja Tools already fell short of the Land of Iron’s, and Kakuzu couldn’t change that.
But he could add attributes to the Ninja Tools.
In short, Enchantment.
A while back, when he planned to enter the arms trade, he had researched Explosive Tags.
As a type of Ninja Tool, the Explosive Tag worked by using Sealing to trap a volatile mass of chakra within Chakra Paper.
Igniting it triggered the detonation.
Mentioning Explosive Tags brought to mind Konan’s six hundred billion Explosive Tags from the canon.
That was the single greatest display of Explosive Tags in the entire Naruto series.
It spawned a running joke: Kakuzu’s earnings were all blown by that spendthrift woman on buying Explosive Tags.
After learning how Explosive Tags were made, it was highly likely Konan crafted those six hundred billion Explosive Tags herself.
As a Paper Release user, she almost certainly knew the method.
However, the funds she used to buy Chakra Paper might have actually come from Kakuzu, unless she crafted the paper herself.
But how could she possibly produce six hundred billion sheets alone?
Unless she owned a large-scale paper mill.
Following that logic, that pile of Explosive Tags was inextricably linked to Kakuzu’s hard-earned money.
Returning to the point, Kakuzu drew inspiration from the manufacturing process.
He used Yin-nature chakra to seal Fire-nature chakra into shuriken, creating Explosive Shuriken.
Upon detonation, these shuriken scattered shrapnel, producing a grenade-like explosion that dealt area-of-effect damage.
Combined with Fire Release, the effect was devastating.
Three days later, Tengaku Ninja Tool Shop reopened, though stock was limited to just three hundred shuriken.
“Explosive Shuriken?”
The bustling atmosphere attracted several Academy students, including Hiruzen, Danzo, and Kagami.
They stared at the new shuriken in the display cabinet puzzled.
“The shop is reopening, all new shuriken are half price,” a staff member called out.
Danzo narrowed his eyes.
“Half price?
They aren’t defective, are they?”
“You’ll know once you try one.”
Kagami wasn’t short on money, but he was no spendthrift either.
He bought a single shuriken on the spot.
“Class is starting soon, don’t make Sensei angry.” Hiruzen urged.
The image of Tobirama’s stern face flashed in their minds.
They shuddered, then sprinted toward the Academy.
Kagami casually tossed the Explosive Shuriken into his ninja tool pouch and chased after his friends.
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