Absurd!
He hadn't even received the goods yet, and the other guy was already asking him to write an IOU and pay upfront. In all his years, A had never done such a bizarre deal—and the worst part was, he actually wanted to sign it and see what would happen.
He wavered.
In terms of strength…
Rationally speaking, he did feel that Kyoichi was a bit stronger than him. And this was Konoha. If he tried to strong-arm him and snatch the IOU by force, the other shinobi villages would laugh their teeth out when they heard about it.
So…
Once he signed it, there'd be no going back.
He fell into deep thought.
After a long while, A suddenly raised his hand, ready to slam the table—but at the last second, a warning about compensation flashed through his mind, and he gently lowered his hand instead.
"…Fine! I'll sign!"
A picked up the pen and scrawled his name, but after writing it, he pressed one hand firmly on the paper.
"If you can't deliver something that satisfies me, I'm tearing this up."
"Fair enough. You're not a regular customer, so you don't know my reputation yet. I'll let this one slide."
Kyoichi couldn't help but miss Ōnoki a little.
At least when Ōnoki paid, he did it decisively.
But then again…
That pleasant exchange with Ōnoki might've had something to do with his son currently being a guest in Konoha…
So never mind.
Kyoichi cleared his thoughts and continued, "Your strengths lie in taijutsu and kenjutsu. Your ninjutsu is relatively weak—but that's understandable. Kumogakure just doesn't have the resources."
"Exactly!"
A's ears perked up. Now this was sounding reasonable.
If Kyoichi had started spewing nonsense about training multiple chakra nature transformations, he would've punched him right there.
Of course they wanted to train ninjutsu—what, like they didn't know how useful it was? The problem was, they didn't have the money or the resources. Their other ninjutsu options were subpar, so they had no choice but to double down on what worked.
In a way, Iwagakure faced a similar situation.
Among the Five Great Shinobi Villages, only Konoha boasted the highest degree of versatility—thanks to its abundance of resources and wide variety of clans. Pretty much every type of ninjutsu had a clan that specialized in it.
Especially the Sarutobi clan.
Back in the day, Sarutobi Sasuke's mastery of the Five Natures was famous across the shinobi world.
So…
That "jack-of-all-trades" path? Completely out of reach for them.
Kyoichi said, "You know about my ninja Kenjutsu, right? If you don't have a strong foundation in ninjutsu, why haven't you developed ninja kenjutsu more thoroughly?"
You might not know fancy magic, but you can still enchant your sword, right?
Kumogakure was too big for it to make sense that nobody even understood chakra nature manipulation. A fell silent, deep in thought.
Ninja kenjutsu…
That might be a path worth exploring.
"How do we even begin with ninja kenjutsu?"
"You're asking me that? Figure it out yourself. What, you thought I was going to coach you personally? You bought strategic consultation, not a full jōnin-level mentorship. That's not the same price."
Kyoichi snapped.
Freeloader, huh?
He's always been the one freeloading off others—when had it ever been the other way around?
The Fourth Raikage stayed quiet.
Fair point. But still… just a few words, and it cost him twenty million? He couldn't help feeling like he'd been scammed.
"You're probably thinking you've been ripped off right now," Kyoichi said with a smirk. "But strategies like this often boil down to just a few key sentences. And… do you really think that was all I had to say? Don't you think there's more that you could figure out if you actually put your brain to work?"
Kyoichi sneered.
A was silent for a while, then nodded in reluctant agreement.
He had to admit, it was just that simple. The issue was, almost no one in Kumogakure really focused on ninja kenjutsu. Everyone was obsessed with training their bodies or honing the Lightning Release Armor.
But…
The Lightning Armor had its limitations.
It was weak against Wind Release. And more importantly—
Too short-ranged.
"Your Lightning Release could actually pair really well with ninja tools. Why haven't you leveraged that? Sure, ordinary steel doesn't conduct chakra all that well—but it's still a great conductor of electricity."
Lightning Release paired with ninja tools.
That combination wouldn't require training new chakra transformations, and could help patch some of their weaknesses in ninjutsu. And yet…
It seemed like no one in Kumogakure had ever tried it.
"You're saying if everyone used… team coordination, the effect could be pretty solid. And if we used custom-made chakra-conducting wire, the results would be even better…"
Finally, a pleasant surprise!
Upon hearing this, A felt like his money had actually been well spent.
But then…
He immediately regretted it.
As soon as he heard Kyoichi's explanation, his mind jumped to the Konoha's technique of combining steel wires with the Dragon Fire Jutsu.
The answer had been right in front of him.
And yet he didn't think of it at all!
Damn it!
"You see? I even demonstrated it once, and none of you thought it through. Don't you think you should pay for that? Consider it the price of a valuable lesson."
Kyoichi grinned.
This was his favorite kind of expression to see.
The more A regretted it, the happier he felt—especially since A had actually paid for it.
Right now, A was practically slapping his own thigh raw.
He deeply understood what Kyoichi meant.
Some things might seem simple, but if you can't think of them, then they're useless.
His thinking just wasn't flexible enough!
He sighed, loosened the IOU, and said, "The money's yours. Kumogakure will send it over soon."
"Straightforward—I like that. In that case, let me give you one more tip. Your village is situated in the mountains, which makes farming difficult.
But some alpine medicinal herbs are rare across the shinobi world. You can cultivate them artificially—that could be a major source of income!"
Kyoichi offered the suggestion casually.
A fell silent in thought. Kumogakure had indeed been growing such herbs, but only with the mindset of self-sufficiency—they had never considered selling them to the rest of the shinobi world.
But if you think about it…
Wouldn't selling them to other villages bring in extra revenue?
They really could scale up production.
Why didn't he think of that?
At this point, those twenty million ryo no longer felt like a loss—of course, only if all of Kyoichi's suggestions could be properly implemented and spread throughout the Land of Lightning and Kumogakure.
After thinking it over, he asked again, "What about education? Any suggestions there?"
"Education, huh… A lot of what you might try to learn from Konoha may not work out. The conditions are just too different. But if you really want to imitate the Konoha, you can conduct a period of closed-group training using elite genin standards before graduation."
"Closed-group training?"
"Basically, gather a bunch of students in one place and train them under high standards. The main goal is to build teamwork and improve the fundamentals of being a genin."
Kyoichi explained patiently.
A nodded repeatedly. That was actually a good idea. Group training might waste some time and resources, but the cost wouldn't be too high.
Time-wise, it was flexible too.
They could schedule it for periods when missions were light…
Truth be told, there were tons of suggestions one could give for Kumogakure, but Kyoichi mostly focused on shinobi and education-related aspects. When it came to livelihood and economics, he only mentioned the alpine herbs.
Because the people of Kumogakure were wild and fierce by nature—every one of them fought like lunatics.
They were this ferocious without money—if they had wealth, wouldn't they overturn the heavens?
So in that regard, Kyoichi wasn't going to teach them too much.
Always hold back a card.
Besides…
It was just twenty million ryo—how much could he really teach for that?
A left feeling very satisfied.
Kyoichi saw him off, then turned to glance at his system panel.
He had heard the notification earlier.
But…
He hadn't had time to check it. Now that he looked—
[Completed: "Shinobi Village Development" Instruction]
[Evaluation: Good]
[Reward: Lightning Release Armor - Underlying Principles]
Huh?
Not the jutsu itself?
Well, that works too…
Kyoichi thought about it. Just having the principles was already a great deal.
After all, Lightning Release wasn't his main combat style, and his current defenses were sufficient. Looking at the reward again, he realized that just understanding the principles was already a huge gain—
It gave him an idea for the next evolution of the Seven-Day Breathing Method.
Defense!
The Lightning Release Armor was really just an extension of the Lightning Chakra Mode.
Kyoichi already understood that much.
But…
How to actually do it? Before, he only had a vague theory. Now, he basically had it figured out.
High cellular activity, combined with compressed chakra!
This technique didn't necessarily require Lightning Chakra to work—though it wouldn't have the same synergy. But the Seven-Day Breathing Method could be adapted to this mode.
Of course…
To achieve that would go beyond the current Seven-Day Breathing Method. It would essentially become a fusion technique incorporating cellular activation, the Hundred Seals technique, and the chakra armor concept.
If he could pull it off, that would become the fifth layer of the Seven-Day Breathing Method.
More importantly, the base version could be "reverse-engineered" and taught to Shisui and Kakashi.
At that thought, something occurred to him.
He hadn't checked in on those guys since the Chūnin Exams. Now…
He activated his chakra sensory technique.
There were no shinobi from other villages nearby. Looks like the ones who were supposed to be found had been found, and the ones who weren't meant to be found wouldn't come anyway. Perfect time to check on them.
---
Police Force Training Grounds...
After the exams, the group gathered once again in Uchiha's private training field.
When Kyoichi arrived, he saw a few Uchiha whispering outside. When they spotted him, they quickly bowed, greeted him respectfully, then made themselves scarce.
To say the Uchiha Clan had no resentment would be a lie. But those who did hold grudges were kept in check by Fugaku and Inahori—especially Inahori, who was basically the leader of the younger generation.
So…
Even now, everyone kept training here without causing trouble.
Still…
Grievances had to be bottled up.
If push came to shove, they'd just have a match—especially now that the "integration faction" had gained ground. The Uchiha clan was no longer united as a single iron wall.
He stepped inside.
Shisui and the others were gathered in a circle, seemingly discussing something.
"What are you guys doing?"
"Sensei! We're reviewing some of the exam scenarios," Asuma said as he stood up.
"What's the point of reviewing that stuff? Simulated warfare is still just a simulation. It can't compare to the real battlefield. The rules are completely different out there."
Kyoichi said as he turned to Asuma.
Then, without holding back, he asked bluntly, "Do you know why you lost to Shisui?"
"Because I wasn't as fast as Shisui," Asuma replied.
"I knew you'd say that. Idiot! It's because you were too fast!"
"Huh?"
Asuma looked completely baffled, unable to grasp what Kyoichi meant.
The others scratched their heads in confusion too.
"Why?" Obito asked.
He might be a bit dense, but one thing he had going for him was asking when he didn't understand. He wasn't the least bit embarrassed about it.
As far as their teacher was concerned, his dignity was already in the gutter anyway.
"You kept accelerating, but could you actually control that speed? Shisui has the Sharingan—he can perfectly manage his own speed. But you?"
"I…"
Asuma was at a loss for words.
Obito thought for a moment and quickly got it.
"Sensei, you mean his reactions couldn't keep up with how fast he was going? In that case… wouldn't Minato-sensei's Flying Thunder God have the same issue?"
"Not everyone is Namikaze Minato."
Kyoichi glanced at him.
This kid…
Was surprisingly sharp in some areas.
But still…
It had only been a few days of teaching?
And already—
This brat was calling him sensei like it was official!
Minato would probably cry if he heard about this.
***************************
Read advanced chapters ahead of everyone else on my P@treon.
P@treon/GodDragcell