Chapter 64: Konoha Also Has a Linker of the Fire

"Well, dry leaves are indeed flammable."
"..."
Nobody asked you about that.
Asuma did not believe that Chiba didn't understand, but upon second thought, he felt utterly ridiculous.
No matter how smart the boy was, he was still just a child.
What could he possibly understand about the Will of Fire?
Besides.
What he had been thinking about wasn't even the Will of Fire, anyway.
"The King."
He rubbed his fingers together, a fragment of memory returning to his mind because of Land.
Chiba hadn't experienced many things; it was already quite remarkable that he understood the concept of a team. How could one demand that he comprehend those deeper matters?
Asuma stood up, preparing to take his leave.
Yet Chiba spoke again, "I don't understand the Will of Fire, but if a plant wants to grow, it must first have roots, a stem, and a good living environment, and only then can it have lush leaves."
"Haha, well said."
Hearing this, Asuma first chuckled, then froze, falling into deep contemplation.
Roots, stems, and a living environment.
"What are the roots, then?"
"The roots are the root system, of course. Plants grow roots first before they sprout and leaf."
Chiba explained.
Asuma was momentarily stunned, realizing that he had accidentally spoken the question from the bottom of his heart.
Yet Chiba was right.
What were the roots?
The foundation of everything.
Without roots, how could there be a great tree?
Danzo's rhetoric was truly extremely one-sided.
He smiled, reaching out with the intention of patting Chiba's head, but...
"Hey, patting someone's head is impolite, especially the head of a smart person."
"Hahaha, my apologies. I'll treat you to a meal another day."
Asuma smiled.
Though a few more doubts had arisen, for some reason, his mood was much better than before.
Chiba watched him leave, letting out a slight sigh of relief.
Even Konoha has a fire tender.
How bizarre!
Whatever, the Will of Fire is none of my business; closing the door and focusing on cultivation is the best course of action.
Chiba returned indoors.
After communicating with his shadow clone, the clone departed for the Forest of Death.
Earlier, Land had mentioned that the vicinity of Exit 37 had the best conditions.
My thanks to Land and Asuma!
As for himself.
To make the shadow clone last longer, Chiba tried allocating more chakra to it.
Currently, the limit was seventy percent.
Thus, his true body now possessed only thirty percent of his stamina and energy.
Fortunately, recovery was fast.
However, training in ninjutsu or barrier techniques was out of the question.

Chiba pondered for a moment and decided to check on Tenten's learning progress.
She should have made some headway by now, given how much time had passed.
Tenten's home wasn't far away.
Her house was in a relatively secluded location, but it featured a large courtyard equipped with furnaces, blacksmithing tools, and everything else one might need.
A cart sat by the entrance.
This was what they used to haul ninja tools and weapons.
After walking for a bit, he spotted wisps of smoke rising into the air in the distance.
Was the furnace lit today?
No, normally Tenten's family forged weapons in the morning or at noon, not around dusk.
Could she be experimenting?
Chiba immediately quickened his pace.
"Clang... clang..."
Rhythmically echoing sounds drifted from inside the house. Chiba poked his head in to take a look.
It really was Tenten!
She was forging alone in the courtyard.
Jingle...
A bell rang.
"Who is it?"
Tenten looked toward Chiba's direction.
Chiba leaped in, laughed sheepishly, and said, "It's me. I didn't expect you to set up a trap; I completely missed it."
"Chiba-kun! You—aren't you supposed to be very busy lately?"
Tenten was first pleasantly surprised, then inevitably bewildered.
She had heard from Kakashi that Chiba's dealings with the Fire Temple had seemingly been finalized and that he hadn't had any free time recently.
"Right, it just wrapped up."
Chiba didn't elaborate.
Yet Tenten roughly understood.
It seemed the cooperation had concluded, leaving him with free time now.
"You focus on your work. I just came by to see how your progress is coming along. After all, chakra ninja tools are extremely precious, so we need to hurry."
"Yes, I've pretty much finished reading the books and have been practicing my techniques lately."
Tenten continued hammering the iron billet.
Judging by its shape, it was likely going to be a blade.
Chiba had nothing to offer; he had only read some books on the manufacture of chakra ninja tools, remaining an absolute layman when it came to actual forging.
Even if he had picked up some information from the internet in his past life, he didn't know the proper procedures—only the rough concepts—and had no idea if the ninja world's methods would accept them.
Therefore, silence was golden.
"Phew, I kept pondering over forging earlier, until my father reminded me that thinking alone is useless; you have to practice and strike the metal."
Tenten gritted her teeth and continued hammering.
Sweat poured from her forehead. "My hands can now perfectly master the over-limit state."
"It should be done that way; everyone's circumstances are different."
"I've been having some thoughts about that ninja tool of yours lately."
Tenten spoke while swinging her hammer.
"Let's hear it."
"I've studied it, and meeting the requirements for the Infinite Pore Armor is extremely difficult. Such craftsmanship probably doesn't exist in Konoha."
Tenten's tone was steady.
"I only need the storage function."
"Precisely! That's what I thought, too. If it's just storage, we can start experimenting right now."
Tenten said excitedly.
With one final hammer blow, she set the initially shaped blade aside.
Then, she handed over a notebook.
It was filled with her preliminary drafts.
Flipping all the way to the back, Chiba spotted a design blueprint.
He didn't understand forging, but these...
Having read quite a few related books lately, he actually understood a thing or two.
Structurally, there weren't major issues.
However.
Tenten lacked a deep understanding of barrier jutsu, leaving her somewhat lacking when it came to the arrangement and integration of the sealing formulas, rendering some parts impractical.
"Keep at it. I'll modify this blueprint, and tomorrow we'll ask Lord Third to forge one for a test."
"Huh? So soon?"
Tenten's eyes widened.
"Soon? The village has been researching those four ninja tools for a long time. If we don't act now, we won't even get scraps to eat."
Chiba squatted down on a nearby stone stool, placing the notebook on his lap to begin making revisions.
Hearing this, Tenten realized he had a point.
She scratched her head and asked, "But where are we going to get the materials?"
"From the village, of course. Did you expect us to pay out of our own pockets? My chakra iron is meant for making weapons!"
Chiba spoke with righteous confidence.
Since he had rendered immense service to the village, asking for some materials for research wasn't too much to ask, right?
If the Third Hokage was petty to that extent...
Then he would just go to Danzo.
As the old man had said, their goals regarding ninja tools were aligned.
"Then I—"
"No need, I'll go talk to them. Just look over this modified diagram, since you'll be the one doing the forging later."
Chiba handed the blueprint over.
Tenten took it, looked, and was instantly astounded.
This...
Rather than a modification, it was practically redrawn from scratch.
Though it looked somewhat similar at a glance, the reality was entirely different.
"Chiba-kun, why did you change it like this?"
"Your plan was very good, but you overlooked one issue."
"What?"
"The production cost is too high, and it's not suitable for practice. The first version shouldn't aim for perfection; that's biting off more than we can chew."
Chiba explained.
He hoped to popularize this kind of chakra ninja tool. If every single one required chakra iron, the entire village wouldn't be able to forge even a few.
"Then how will it store things?"
"Shadow clones."
Chiba reminded her.
Tenten froze slightly before waking up as if from a dream.
Ah, right!
The reason she thought chakra iron was necessary stemmed from the requirements of the storage medium.
If the medium utilized a shadow clone, precious materials weren't needed at all. As long as the absorption barrier could be properly matched and transformed, the difficulty would plummet straight down.