Naruto walked along the left wall, carefully examining every type of Kunai and shuriken hanging on the wall. These weapons were all forged from high-quality iron ore and the quenching process was quite well done. They were on a completely different level from the mass-produced standard equipment he had seen in ordinary Ninja tool shops.
But after looking around, he did not take any of them, but turned to Tenten and asked, "Tenten, does your family have Ninja tools made of Chakra Metal?"
Tenten was just taking an inventory ledger out from under the counter to prepare for bookkeeping. Hearing this, the ledger in her hand stopped in mid-air, and her eyebrows raised.
She leaned against the counter, and looked at Naruto with an "I see" expression.
"Oh, so this is your goal."
Tenten nodded, not appearing particularly surprised.
A Genin not buying standard ninja tools but coming to her shop must have special requirements.
Praise aside, as a ninja tool expert from a family of ninjas, Tenten's expression turned a bit more serious when the topic of Chakra Metal came up.
"Chakra Metal? We do have it."
Tenten tapped her finger against the glass counter in front of her.
"However, Konoha doesn't have much stock of this metal. Usually, only Jonin and Anbu come to order it to craft their own exclusive ninja tools."
"Because the yield is extremely low and it requires repeated refining to achieve weapon-grade conductivity, no one usually uses this material to make Kunai."
"Do you have the money to buy it now?"
Naruto quickly did the math in his head. Tenten was right, Chakra Metal was simply not something a Genin could afford. The reward he saved from the Land of Waves mission plus the money from the D-rank missions over the past few days wouldn't even come close to buying the finished weapons in Tenten's display case.
But he didn't need finished weapons. He only needed the most basic Kunai form, and he didn't need that many at this stage.
"I don't have much money, but I don't need to buy anything large or in large quantities."
Naruto withdrew his gaze from the locked glass cabinets and said in a calm tone, "Just a few Kunai will be enough."
"A few... Kunai?"
Tenten was stunned for a moment, then shook her head with a laugh. "I just told you this metal is so precious it's sold by the gram, and you're telling me you want to use it to craft Kunai?"
"Kunai are consumables. It's perfectly normal to throw dozens of them in a single battle."
"Using Chakra-conductive metal for consumables? Do you think this is just ordinary iron ore?"
At this point, Tenten couldn't help but look at Naruto with a look of amusement and helplessness.
Does this person really not know how expensive this metal is, or is he just a bit overconfident in certain aspects?
Naruto didn't laugh and asked seriously, "Then, if I only use Chakra-conductive metal to craft five Kunai, roughly how much would it cost?"
Looking at Naruto's serious expression, Tenten realized he was genuinely asking this question and not joking.
She took her arms off the counter and picked up the inventory ledger, flipping to the back pages, which were densely packed with the purchase prices and processing fees for various rare materials. She traced the entries line by line with her finger, then looked up.
"For five Kunai, just the cost of the metal itself plus the forging process—not counting extra custom design fees—would be roughly the reward for two B-rank missions."
She turned the ledger around to show Naruto the number. "However, I must remind you that this is only the material cost and basic forging fee. If you want a special shape or need specialized Chakra conductivity testing, that will be calculated separately."
Two B-rank missions.
Naruto subtracted the amount from his savings in his head, then pulled his frog wallet out of his ninja tool pouch and counted all the bills and coins inside. He took out all the money from his wallet and placed it on the counter.
"I'll order two. This is the deposit. I'll pay you the rest after I finish my next mission."
Tenten looked at the money on the counter, then at Naruto, and nodded. "Alright, but I have to make it clear to you in advance: basically no one uses Chakra Metal to craft standard Kunai, so the shop doesn't have ready-made molds. My dad will have to personally create a new mold."
"He's quite busy lately. Orders for Ninja tools in the village have increased quite a bit around the Chunin Exams, so I don't know when he'll have the time to do it. So you'll have to wait a while. I can't guarantee exactly when it will be finished."
Naruto nodded in understanding.
Waiting was no problem, the important thing was getting the items.
After thinking for a moment, he added, "As for the style, I want the special Kunai that the Fourth Hokage used."
The Kunai's grip was longer than the standard size, the blade was widened so it could double as a short blade, and the grip made it easier to form hand signs with both hands.
Tenten had been recording the order information in the ledger, but upon hearing the words "Fourth Hokage's special Kunai," her pen tip poked a small ink dot onto the paper.
She looked up at Naruto, a flash of undisguised surprise in her eyes. "The Fourth Hokage's special Kunai? You really have an eye for things. This style of Kunai is rarely ordered now because the grip is longer than standard Kunai and the weight distribution is different from the conventional model, not everyone can use it. But since you specified this style, I'll write it down for you."