The muscular blacksmith, Shitan, asked Ino about her requirements.
"It needs good Chakra conductivity, be easy to coat with poison, have power when swung, look good, and be imposing," she rattled off seventeen or eighteen requirements.
Shitan quickly waved his hand, signaling her to stop. "Your demands are a bit too much. I'm just an ordinary blacksmith, I don't have such high skills."
"What is the customer's budget?" he asked at the crucial moment.
Ino thought carefully.
The Village reimbursing her was a later matter; for now, she needed to pay herself. Ino calculated the money she had: "Around ten million ryo. Of course, it's fine if it's more. Give me some time, and I'll definitely get the money."
She didn't have much money, but she could just rob someone!
What was the point of learning Ninjutsu? Was it just to help Konoha's farmers with their crops?
Shitan, the blacksmith, was kind. Seeing that Ino was young, he worried that too good a weapon might cause her trouble.
"Don't worry, Miss Yamanaka's strength is not an issue," Daizō interjected.
"How does she compare to you?"
"She's much stronger than me."
"Stronger than you?" Shitan was a little surprised. Daizō's martial arts were well-known in the Land of Iron. Although he couldn't compare to General Mifune, among the generals below Mifune, he was among the best.
Ino had witnessed Daizō's martial arts last time. Facing Sasori's Puppet Mastery, Daizō could last more than ten moves. His strength was genuinely not weak; he was a bit weaker than Asuma, but stronger than the background Chunin, Namikaze Raidō.
The blacksmith nodded heavily: "I understand. Since you want a more imposing weapon, how about I forge you a great halberd using Chakra metal?"
At first glance, it seemed fine, but upon closer thought...
Ino felt that it didn't sound like a Ninja's weapon, and it felt strange.
The terminology used by the Hokage side was definitely different from her previous life, but the term 'great halberd' could easily cause ambiguity for her.
"Um, actually, a short sword would be fine, right?"
The First Hokage and Second Hokage both used swords. Currently, Ninja primarily used Kunai for convenience, as carrying a long sword was cumbersome during assassination or kidnapping missions.
Kunai were convenient for missions, but on the battlefield, they were ultimately not as effective as a sword.
At least, Ino felt Kunai were not effective.
"Alright, it's for your own use anyway. Actually, I still think a great halberd is more imposing."
"No, thank you. A short sword it is."
Seven days later.
Ino received a short sword with Chakra-conducting properties, named "Akisui." Thanks to Daizō's connections, she got it at a friendly price of fifteen million ryo. Her entire savings weren't enough. Taking advantage of a dark and windy night, she changed into Deidara's attire and robbed two temples in a row to finally pay the full amount.
The short sword was strapped to her thigh, easy and quick to draw when needed.
She tried it and found it very good.
Back in the Village, she went to Jiraiya for reimbursement.
The Village was not wealthy at the moment, so they reimbursed her five million ryo first, with the remaining balance to be settled at the end of the year.
Jiraiya didn't hide anything from her; he made it very clear that everything would wait until the end of the year! "Once we defeat Sunagakure, we'll have money! Even if they're poor, a large Ninja Village like Sunagakure, once caught, can still be squeezed dry."
Ino wasn't unreasonable; she knew that once a major war began, every department would indeed need money.
A Ninja Village had the right to demand unconditional participation from Ninja, and at the same time, it had the obligation to pay Ninja their remuneration. These were reciprocal.
A Ninja Village was a standard military organization. Salaries had to be paid, weapons provided, rewards given for victories, and pensions for defeats. They were just like feudal armies of any era.
Ninja had greater independence; you couldn't just say, "I'll give you a reward if you win this war." That wouldn't work.
Sending Kakashi to kill a hostile Ninja would be classified as a B-rank mission. Upon completion, the Village, as the client, had to pay. They could offer credit, but the money absolutely had to be paid afterward.
Sending Obito to blow up Kannabi Bridge, he indeed didn't return, and he had no direct relatives. The Village could withhold the remuneration and pension, but his mission record had to list it as an A-rank mission.
A battle between Ninja Villages was composed of thousands of missions. If the battle lasted a long time, the number of missions would be even greater.
Many of Jiraiya and Tsunade's S-rank missions came this way, from digging trenches to cut off supplies, to killing and arson. The missions were diverse. This extremely inefficient operational model was how Ninja Villages commanded Ninja.
Simply put, this was the ultimate manifestation of "pay is in place, Four Emperors are Waste."
You want me to do something, kill someone? Fine, you have to pay!
Konoha Village was able to suppress the surrounding areas because they had money and could fully pay Ninja their mission rewards, while Iwagakure and Sunagakure were being beaten down because they ran out of money—they were poor!
Otherwise, what impact would the bombing of a Kannabi Bridge have on the war? You might say Ninja Academy students couldn't walk on water, which is understandable, but couldn't Genin and Chunin who graduated years ago also not walk on water? A single bridge stopped them? What kind of river was this, the quicksand river?
Hundreds of Iwagakure Ninja stood on the other side of the broken bridge, shouting loudly: "We can't cross! Supplies are gone, the bridge is broken!"
Doesn't that seem ridiculous? Ino could even use Ninjutsu to change the terrain. How many Ninja could a broken bridge really stop?
It was just one thing: they weren't paid enough, and the Iwagakure Ninja didn't want to fight anymore!
The aging Third Tsuchikage wanted to go to war, but he had to convince the Lord of the Land of Earth. Without the Lord's support from the national treasury, Iwagakure simply couldn't afford to pay so many Ninja their mission rewards.
It was the same for Konoha. Once the war began, Jiraiya prepared to "protect" the Lord of the Land of Fire.
Ino still had a good grasp of the big picture. She knew that Konoha currently had many internal conflicts, from Ninja clans to civilian Ninja; everyone had the intention of starting a war to divert internal tensions. External war was the best solution. Now, money was needed everywhere, so year-end was fine; she wasn't in a hurry.
Jiraiya and the others were preparing for the trip to Sunagakure. Ino had nothing to do, so for Yin Kurama, she went to her cheap senior apprentice, Minato, to learn Sealing Technique.
Minato was renowned in the Ninja World for his Flying Thunder God Technique, but his Sealing Technique was also top-tier. He was extremely skilled in both the Four Symbols Seal and Five Elements Seal. He had also acquired many secret Sealing Technique formulas from the Uzumaki Clan, making his knowledge in this area extremely rich.
Ino knew how to use the Five Elements Seal but hadn't learned the Four Symbols Seal. This time, to seal Yin Kurama, she specifically came to him to learn this Sealing Technique.
One taught diligently, the other learned carefully.
Ino felt that if she wanted to reach the level of Minato Namikaze's Sealing Technique, skillfully stacking two Four Symbols Seals to form the Eight Trigrams Sealing Style to seal Yin Kurama, it would indeed be a bit difficult. Her "Seal" stat of 9 was a bit low, and she needed to practice hard for a while.
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