Umino Yoru didn't aggressively monopolize Konoha's fish market right away. Instead, he took a slow and steady approach—like boiling a frog in warm water. As long as the seafood kept flowing in from the Land of Waves, it was only a matter of time before he dominated Konoha's fish trade. Becoming the "Gao Qiqiang of Konoha" was well within reach.
As a shinobi village, Konoha had an enormous demand for meat—even surpassing the Daimyō's court in the Land of Fire. The first batch of high-quality, affordable seafood from the Land of Waves sold out almost instantly. The newly introduced fish-flavored meat floss also made a strong debut, quickly gaining popularity.
Upon receiving the news, the Land of Waves had already begun constructing factories. Processing seafood into meat floss not only fetched higher prices but also reduced transportation costs, significantly boosting profits.
At the same time, Umino Yoru partnered with Akimichi Torifu to open a "Haidilao"-style seafood restaurant, which became an instant hit.
With the fish market as their foundation, the Umino clan gradually solidified their position in Konoha and began training clan shinobi.
Umino Yoru was initially opposed to becoming a shinobi, preferring an elite-only policy. However, after learning about the benefits and privileges of being a shinobi, the clan members elevated the status of shinobi to that of samurai, eagerly wanting to send their children to the Ninja Academy.
Faced with this fervor, Yoru finally asserted his authority as clan head, suppressing the idea and opting for internal training instead. Only two promising clan members were sent to the Ninja Academy.
Training shinobi was expensive, and after squeezing all the value out of the Kubikiribōchō (Executioner's Blade), Yoru turned his attention to the Exploding Blade: Nuibari and the Twin Blades: Hiramekarei.
Unfortunately, the Kubikiribōchō's ability to regenerate by absorbing blood had its limits. After collecting less than 6,000 jin (≈3,000 kg) of broken blade metal, its regenerative power began to decline sharply. Now, it was barely worth the effort—selling shinobi blood on the black market was more profitable.
Though the broken blade metal had decent chakra conductivity, it wasn't pure chakra metal, so its value wasn't as high. Still, it had its advantages—being semi-forged, it was easier to work with. There was no need to seek master smiths from the Land of Craftsmen; a simple reforging could turn it into a fine weapon.
The only downside was losing the Kubikiribōchō's self-repairing ability. However, its other trait—wounds inflicted by the blade being resistant to healing and causing severe bleeding—remained intact.
With thousands of jin of broken blade metal left, Yoru forged nine heavy swords similar to the Kubikiribōchō. He then used another hundred jin to craft nine longswords.
Three of these swords were given to Shirakumo Yama, Namikaze Raidō, and Uchiha Shun—all skilled swordsmen whose combat prowess rose significantly with the new weapons. While Raidō's improvement was modest, Yama and Shun reached elite jōnin-level strength.
Touched by the gifts, the three became even more loyal.
"Clan Head, aside from their unique materials, the Exploding Blade and Twin Blades are indeed linked to sealing techniques," reported Umino Hari after studying the two weapons.
The Exploding Blade's uniqueness lay in its material—the explosive tags and replication seals inscribed on it weren't particularly complex.
"Hari, are you saying the explosive tag side of the blade is made from Yin-release chakra metal?" Yoru asked.
"Yes, Clan Head. Chakra metals aren't limited to Earth, Water, Wind, Fire, and Lightning natures—there are also Yin and Yang types, though they're much rarer. The market usually only sells Wind, Lightning, and Fire-natured chakra metals."
"So, if we find Yin-release chakra metal, can we replicate explosive tags?"
"That's possible, Clan Head, but selling them commercially wouldn't work."
After Hari's explanation, Yoru abandoned the idea of mass-producing explosive tags for profit. The replicated tags, much like Konan's paper bombs, were chakra-based and had a limited shelf life—expiring after just a few minutes. While research could extend their usability, they'd never match the longevity of hand-drawn explosive tags.
"Keep researching. Even if we can't sell them, producing them on the battlefield for the Konoha Hundred could save us a fortune."
"Understood. Extending the shelf life to a few hours shouldn't be too difficult. As for the Twin Blades, their sealing techniques are too complex—we'll need more time."
Hari returned the blades to Yoru, continuing her research to ease the clan's financial burden. She assumed Yoru's interest in explosive tags stemmed from economic pressure.
Aside from replicating explosive tags, she also studied the Twin Blades' ability to amplify ninjutsu. Having copied their sealing formulas, she no longer needed the physical blades—they were better used on puppet armor.
Meanwhile, Yoru needed the Exploding Blade's tags to train in the Mutual Multiplication Explosive Tag technique with shadow clones.
One day, while practicing Mutual Multiplication Explosive Tags and the Flying Thunder God Technique, Yoru detected a faint spatial disturbance from the Twin Blades. His recent training made him highly sensitive to such fluctuations.
"Mutual Multiplication Explosive Tag!"
Almost instinctively, he activated the technique on one of the explosive tags inscribed on the Twin Blades. Instantly, countless tags were summoned and vanished.
"Samehada, give me chakra!"
With Samehada's supply, Yoru rapidly produced a massive number of explosive tags, funneling them into the Mutual Multiplication technique. In under a minute, he exhausted his chakra, sending hundreds of thousands of tags through the spatial link.
"Wonder which poor bastard summoned the Twin Blades… Probably one of Hoshigaki Kisame's political enemies."
Since the three former Swordsmen of the Mist were well aware of the danger, anyone reckless enough to summon the blades now was likely being set up.
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