Yūshin was walking on water.
The boundless ocean easily made one perceive their own insignificance, leading to a sense of emptiness and displacement—as if one were utterly dispensable to the world.
But after getting used to it, this feeling actually brought rare tranquility.
Because it was the truth—most people really were dispensable to the world.
Ninja had been fighting and killing for so many years, yet the surrounding scenery remained eternally unchanged. Yūshin rarely had such moments of detachment from complexity, quietly appreciating the landscape.
Setting aside all pressures, his mood finally became pleasant. Nothing particularly special—just pure happiness.
Escaping everything and living in seclusion might also be a good way of life... Yūshin suddenly thought this way.
Just like that weapon master hidden on a solitary island.
But the problem was that people could escape temporarily, but couldn't escape forever.
Well, don't overthink it—just consider this a relaxing trip. After all, the recent Uchiha expedition had brought Yūshin considerable mental stress.
Several hours later, Yūshin landed on a small island hidden among the deep sea waves.
After arriving on the island, he quickly discovered a small house.
"Is anyone there? A guest has arrived."
Yūshin kept in mind the principles of being civilized and rule-abiding. He didn't directly barge into this small dwelling, but stood at the door and called out loudly.
"Who is it? Who recommended you? Don't you know I don't receive outside guests here?"
The other party's voice was like a lit firecracker. With a bang, the house's door was pushed open, and an old fellow wearing coarse cloth, with a mass of hair, eyebrows, and beard covering his head and face, strode out.
This person was dressed shabbily, moved energetically, and looked completely unkempt—like a cutting-edge avant-garde artist.
Unfortunately, he had a pair of slanted eyes, and the mean expression on his face diluted his master's aura.
Yūshin observed the other party and found that though this person was quite old, he was robust, and you could clearly see that one arm was thinner while the other was thicker... No need to ask—master or not aside, this person was definitely a good blacksmith.
"I heard from the Fūma Clan that you live in seclusion here, so I came to pay my respects."
Yūshin remained polite. Though the other party's attitude wasn't great, that might just be morning grumpiness. They had just met—Yūshin hadn't reached the stage of breaking rules yet.
"Fūma Clan?" Kamizuki seemed to be recalling, then raised his eyebrows and continued, "There does seem to be such a ninja clan. Haven't they been exterminated yet?"
Yūshin: "..."
The old guy had quite a sharp tongue, and crucially, what he said was quite accurate—the Fūma Clan's situation had indeed been very dire before.
This Hōzuki Kamizuki old gentleman originally didn't plan to bother with Yūshin, but for some reason he changed his mind at the last moment.
Perhaps he once had an old flame from the Fūma Clan?
"Today I'm in a very good mood. No matter what you're here for, I'll give you one chance to make a request... Kid, do you have a summoned beast?"
Yūshin hesitated slightly, but ultimately nodded, because he felt if his answer was "no," this conversation would very likely end right there.
"I can barely say I have one."
Xiao Qi was Shichimi's summoned beast, but Yūshin could borrow it.
Kamizuki stroked his beard, seeming quite satisfied, and continued: "Very good. As long as your summoned beast can defeat mine, then I'll give you an opportunity for exchange."
Yūshin understood immediately—lonely elderly people always need some hobbies, right? This old gentleman couldn't just forge iron all the time, could he?
Square dancing with old ladies? There weren't such conditions here.
From this perspective, Kamizuki's hobby was probably cockfighting, dogfighting, and such.
Summoned beast battles also belonged to this category.
In the shinobi world, this could be considered extremely upright entertainment.
As he spoke, he formed hand seals and summoned a large summoned beast nearly two people tall.
"Uh..."
Looking at this thing, Yūshin felt his scalp tingle.
This was a giant toad with iron armor covering certain parts of its body, and its skin was covered with pustules—clearly a poisonous variety.
This was definitely a "private toad," with no connection to Mount Myōboku.
As everyone knows, just like Scorpion Lai Lai isn't a scorpion and Cockroach Bully isn't a cockroach, Mount Myōboku's toads aren't actually toads—they're frogs.
Or more precisely, frogs are one type of toad, while the other type is called chan—commonly known as warty toads.
Like the one before Yūshin right now.
"I can summon a summoned beast, but I can't guarantee it will be willing to participate in battle."
Yūshin performed the Summoning Technique, and the next moment, Xiao Qi appeared here.
Xiao Qi's combat ability was no problem—after all, it had fought against such large summoned beasts before. But the question was, would it be willing to fight against something covered in pus?
At this time, Xiao Qi had obvious changes. When Yūshin first saw it, its four-legged height could only reach Yūshin's waist, but now compared to Yūshin, it was already shoulder-high.
Not only had its body grown larger, its face wasn't as square as before—it seemed to have finally become an elegant fox.
What was this growth rate about? Could it be that fighting giant summoned beasts had brought such gains?
If this were a "physical beauty" competition, Yūshin's side would definitely win completely.
However, what both sides were comparing was combat power.
Yūshin supported Xiao Qi's chin with his right hand, gently scratching its fur with his fingers while saying in a negotiating tone: "Xiao Qi, help me out—take care of this toad."
Xiao Qi glanced at the pus-covered toad, its eyes full of distance and rejection, even turning its head away from Yūshin's palm... The meaning was obvious: you're a toad, I'm a fox—we'd better not interfere with each other.
However, this toad was quite violent. After seeing Xiao Qi, it croaked once and immediately leaped up, pouncing directly.
Xiao Qi had no choice but to engage in battle.
Yūshin finally had the opportunity to carefully observe its fighting style.
Xiao Qi also leaped up, its entire body covered by high-density chakra. Just as it touched the toad, it seemed to transform into a streak of light, instantly penetrating the toad's body.
Yūshin frowned. After this strike, there were no wounds on the toad's body at all, yet Yūshin sensed that the toad's chakra and part of its life force had been instantly taken away by Xiao Qi.
This chakra-stealing attack method—why did Yūshin feel it seemed familiar?
In just one exchange, the previously somewhat arrogant toad instantly collapsed. Its limbs twitched uncontrollably a few times, then disappeared with a pop.
Xiao Qi just elegantly flicked its tail, and after reluctantly completing the task, it immediately ended the summoning voluntarily, transforming into white smoke on the spot.
Old man Kamizuki watched dumbfounded. Where was the biting? The blood? The agonized screams from toad poison erosion?
Wasn't your summoned beast's victory method a bit too understated? How should this old man compensate for the lack of tense, exciting competitive process and stimulation?
"Is your summoned beast for sale?"
Yūshin was almost amused: "Old gentleman, what do you think?"
Kamizuki's face showed slight embarrassment, but he didn't intend to break his word: "Come in with me."
Yūshin followed the other party into the house. This was where the other party had always lived, so there was the possibility of traps. Therefore, though his face remained composed, he had already heightened his vigilance internally.
"You came for weapons, right? I do have several painstakingly completed works on hand, but... they're quite valuable."
"It's not that I'm reluctant to part with them—it just depends on whether you can produce exchange items that move me."
Kamizuki sat down boldly on a stool, then pointed to another chair, indicating Yūshin should also sit.
Yūshin pretended to think, then stated an exchange item the other party could never imagine.
When trading with this kind of person, you certainly couldn't propose paying money, or you'd just be thrown out.
"Lifespan... how about it?"
Yūshin's light words were like temptation from a demon.
Wasn't the other party quite old? Then he would definitely worry about various problems from time to time, like whether the coffin would be cramped, whether winter would be cold, and such things.
So targeting this pain point, Yūshin offered an unquestionable exchange item.
Of course, he wasn't here selling health products.
Lifespan was a byproduct of the Cursed Grudge Fear secret technique. The secret technique would change the user's constitution, plus the ability to continuously replace hearts—it could indeed achieve life-extending effects. This was supported by typical cases, absolutely not false advertising.
Though this secret technique was quite good, Yūshin had never planned to keep it tightly in his hands. Instead, he was accustomed to using it as hard currency or even a general equivalent in ninja transactions.
Using one secret technique to continuously exchange for items or ninjutsu of equal value—for the impoverished Fireflies organization, this was definitely more beneficial than harmful behavior no matter how you looked at it.
Occasionally taking losses, sometimes gaining advantages—there was no need to be overly calculating.
"Life—life... cough, what do you mean?" Kamizuki's small eyes widened because of this.
Yūshin directly handed the manual to the other party, saying:
"You can understand it first, but it's necessary to explain that this thing's success rate is only about ten percent—it has an extremely high probability of directly causing death."
Kamizuki didn't speak. He quickly finished reading the Cursed Grudge Fear manual, still feeling it was somewhat unbelievable.
"Is this real?"
Obviously, though he had lived a long time, he had never seen Earth Grudge Fear before.
"Of course it's real, but I have no way to prove it."
As he spoke, Yūshin took out a Cursed Grudge Fear tissue bud from his ninja tool pouch and handed it to the other party.
Kamizuki took the tissue bud and observed it carefully. After examining it thoroughly, he seemed to sense the life force contained within.
Then he suddenly said: "Come on."
"Come on what?"
"Didn't you say you couldn't prove it? I can help you prove it... If the transplant succeeds, it means we've reached a deal; if it fails and I die, everything here will be yours after my death. You definitely won't suffer a loss."
Yūshin felt somewhat incredulous. Was this person serious?
You could say he wasn't afraid of death, but he was quite interested in life-extending secret techniques; you could say he was afraid of death, but he immediately requested experiments on himself.
This personality could no longer be explained by simple terms like eccentric temperament or unpredictable moods.
"Are you sure? This thing will most likely kill you." Yūshin confirmed again.
"Of course, don't be wishy-washy."
What more could Yūshin say? He really wouldn't suffer a loss anyway.
So according to the other party's request, he immediately transplanted the Cursed Grudge Fear tissue bud using standard procedures.
"Here it comes, here it comes—damn, this thing has such strong invasiveness?"
Old gentleman Kamizuki's facial features twisted together, and now his entire face was completely covered by hair.
The tissue bud was rapidly eroding his body, causing this old gentleman to start cursing uncontrollably.
Yūshin shook his head. Very regrettably, this old gentleman seemed unable to adapt to the Cursed Grudge Fear secret technique.
"So why didn't you take my warning seriously? Honest as I am, everything I said was true. A ten percent success probability isn't so easy to encounter..."
Yūshin hadn't finished speaking when he saw Kamizuki suddenly remove his upper garment.
The Cursed Grudge Fear tentacles that had already eroded and proliferated into a large mass on Kamizuki's arm suddenly slowed their growth rate...
Because his arm had turned transparent.
"Holy... Hydrification Technique?"
Tissue buds could erode the body, but what if a person had no physical form?
"Kid, good eyesight... Wait, I've developed this secret technique from beginning to end and only a few people know about it. How did you recognize it?"
Yūshin shrugged. I won't answer—guess for yourself.
"Never mind, I taught Hydrification Technique to others long ago anyway... Your secret technique is very good. Our deal is concluded—come with me."
Saying things like "if I die from the secret technique, everything here belongs to you"—that sounded nice, but he was actually confident... This old guy clearly had the assurance to control the Cursed Grudge Fear secret technique.
The old but not dead are indeed thieves.
Yūshin followed Kamizuki into the workshop behind the house. The other party pointed to several weapons placed on a table and said:
"You can choose one from here... no, choose two as exchange for this secret technique. This is very fair—neither of us suffers a loss."
The workshop was messy everywhere, but those few weapons were arranged like artworks.
Yūshin's gaze was first attracted by a long blade. Not counting the handle, the blade alone was over 1.2 meters long. Its curvature was neat and exaggerated, like a crescent moon—not the typical form of a katana.
Yūshin picked it up, thinking: just because I always say "nothing special," you're giving me a crescent blade?
"I'm not cheating you—what you're holding is my most satisfying work in recent years... This is a chakra blade."
"A chakra blade?"
Yūshin drew the curved blade from its specially designed scabbard with a side opening, thinking chakra blades weren't particularly rare.
"You kid really don't know good stuff."
Seeing the treasure might be cast before swine, Kamizuki snatched it away, then his chakra instantly covered the blade.
"Do you understand now?"
Yūshin's eyes widened. After seeing the other party's demonstration, he took the long blade back.
"I understand—it... can conduct elemental chakra."
Yūshin gripped the handle firmly, and fire-attribute chakra flowed along the handle to cover the blade, instantly turning it orange-red.
Holy shit, the joy of fire.
Then Yūshin switched to yang-attribute chakra, and the blade shimmered with green light.
Look, not a killing blade—Tenseiga.
This thing seemed quite good.
Yūshin sheathed the blade and tucked it behind his waist. Since it was a good item, naturally he wouldn't put it back after picking it up.
"Old man, excellent craftsmanship."
Chakra blades weren't rare, but elemental chakra blades were different.
"You... forget it, I hope you can use it well."
Having taken the best one, Yūshin still needed to select a second weapon, but the remaining ones didn't seem particularly impressive.
Suddenly, Yūshin saw a pitch-black straight-edged longsword. Its length was quite normal—really just a blade without any fittings.
The sword tip had no sharpness, just a semicircular shape, and the double edges looked completely unsharpened.
"What about this one?"
Yūshin reached out and grabbed it, discovering this thing was extremely heavy.
"This must weigh twenty kilograms, right?"
Its length and width were ordinary, but its weight was extremely exaggerated. Normal ninja wouldn't use such a heavy weapon—this was comparable to armor weight. But Yūshin was different; he could use Boil Release-enhanced strength to control this heavy sword.
No need to think about it—something this heavy would definitely feel especially satisfying to swing.
"That's not for sale... This is a 'sample' my teacher specifically made when I was learning sword forging as a child. Apart from hardness and toughness, it has no outstanding qualities—it's not even a weapon, just a teaching tool."
As he spoke, Kamizuki tried to press down Yūshin's hand.
Yūshin was quick-eyed and fast-handed, snatching the so-called "teaching tool" into his hands while pressing the other party's wrist with his other hand.
Kamizuki shouldn't have said anything—now that he had, Yūshin decided this was the one.
The other party completely didn't understand modern young people's rebellious psychology. Yūshin was actually being quite reasonable.
As everyone knows, if you're selling tea, fools will want your teapot; if you're selling furniture, fools will want your planes, axes, and saws...
"Choose any two—that's what you said, right? No other constraints besides that, correct?"
"Correct, but..."
"Then there's no problem. I've already chosen."
"..."
Who said Hōzuki Kamizuki had an eccentric personality? Fūma Gorō? Fūma Gorō gets a major demerit.
This was clearly a reasonable, kind-hearted old gentleman. Yūshin wouldn't allow anyone to damage his reputation.
The deal was concluded. Yūshin had nothing more to say. He left only a simple farewell, then ignored the other party and turned to leave this remote island.
"Wait, slow down—I haven't told you what that sword is called yet."
This made Yūshin walk even faster. Come on, why should you get to name my sword?
Since there were two swords, Yūshin immediately came up with names for them... Well, one would be called Reed Sword, the other Fish Rod Sword.
The question was: which should be called Reed and which should be called Fish Rod?
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