"Mm, dry leaves do burn easily."
"..."
Who asked you that?
Asuma stared at him, utterly speechless. He didn't believe for a second that Chiba truly didn't understand—but the longer he thought about it, the more ridiculous he felt.
No matter how gifted this boy was, he was still just a child.
How could a twelve-year-old possibly comprehend something as vague and profound as the Will of Fire?
Besides—he himself wasn't really thinking about the Will of Fire either.
The Jade General.
His fingers brushed across the ring on his hand, memories long buried resurfacing because of Chiriku.
Chiba hadn't gone through the things he had.
The fact that the kid already understood what teamwork meant was impressive enough—how could he demand more?
Asuma stood up, ready to leave.
But Chiba suddenly said, "I don't understand the Will of Fire, but for a plant to grow, it first needs roots, a stem, and a good environment. Only then can it have lush leaves."
"Haha, true enough."
Asuma chuckled at first—but then froze, falling into deep thought.
Roots, stems, and environment…
"What are the roots?" he muttered.
"The root system, of course. A plant has to take root before it can sprout and grow leaves," Chiba replied matter-of-factly.
Asuma blinked, then realized he had just voiced the question buried deep in his heart.
But Chiba was right.
What are roots?
They're the foundation of everything.
Without roots, how could a great tree stand tall?
kid's so-called philosophy of "Root" suddenly felt narrow—shallow even.
Asuma smiled faintly, raising a hand to pat Chiba on the head—but—
"Hey, it's rude to touch someone's head, especially a smart person's," Chiba said flatly.
"Hahaha, fair enough. I'll make it up to you—dinner's on me next time."
Asuma laughed .
Somehow, even though he had more questions now than before, his heart felt lighter.
Chiba watched him leave and quietly let out a breath of relief.
So even Konoha has its own fire-bearers… how strange.
Forget it. The Will of Fire had nothing to do with him anyway.
Better to shut the door and keep training.
Back inside, Chiba communicated briefly with his shadow clone.
After that, the clone departed—heading toward the Forest of Death.
According to Chiriku, the energy concentration near Entrance No. 37 was the best.
He silently thanked both Chiriku and Asuma.
As for himself—
to make the clone last longer, he tried allocating more chakra to it.
Right now, his limit was around seventy percent.
That left his real body with only thirty percent of its stamina and chakra reserves.
Still, his recovery rate was excellent.
Of course, with so little energy left, practicing ninjutsu or barrier techniques was out of the question.
After a moment's thought, Chiba decided to check on Tenten's progress instead.
It had been a while—she should have made some headway by now.
Tenten's house wasn't far away.
It was in a more secluded part of the village, but it had a spacious courtyard—complete with forge, furnace, and all kinds of blacksmith tools.
A small cart sat at the entrance—used for transporting weapons and ninja tools.
As Chiba approached, he saw faint smoke curling up from behind the wall.
She's firing up the forge?
That was odd. Normally, the Tenten family did their smithing in the morning or early afternoon, not at dusk.
Could she be trying something new?
Chiba quickened his pace.
Clang—clang—clang!
The rhythmic sound of hammering rang out from the courtyard.
He peered inside—
and sure enough, it was Tenten.
She was alone, working the forge.
The crisp jingle of a bell trap suddenly sounded.
"Who's there?"
Tenten turned toward the gate.
Chiba hopped over the wall with a grin. "It's me. Didn't expect you to set traps too—I almost didn't notice."
"Chiba-kun! You—weren't you super busy lately?"
Tenten's surprise turned into curiosity. She'd heard from Kakashi that Chiba's negotiations with the Fire Temple had wrapped up recently and that he hadn't had much free time at all.
"Yeah, just finished everything up," Chiba said simply.
Tenten seemed to understand.
So the project was complete—that explained why he suddenly had time.
"You can keep working. I just came by to see how far you've gotten. Chakra tools are precious—we should make the most of the time we have."
"Yes, I've read through the manuals and have been focusing on improving my technique."
Tenten continued hammering at a half-forged blade.
Judging from the shape, it looked like a sword.
Chiba didn't comment.
He'd read plenty about chakra weapon design, but forging itself was another story. Even in his past life, he'd only ever seen it online.
He knew the basic idea, but not the process—and who knew if Earth's methods even applied here in the shinobi world?
Better to keep quiet.
"Whew… I used to just think about forging techniques, but my father reminded me—thinking alone isn't enough. You have to practice and swing the hammer."
Tenten gritted her teeth and kept working. Sweat dripped from her forehead. "Now my hands can handle the Limit State perfectly."
"That's how it should be. Everyone's progress looks different."
"By the way," she said between strikes, "I've been thinking more about that weapon you wanted."
"Oh? Let's hear it."
"I studied the concept. To meet the standards of the Infinite Armor would be nearly impossible. I don't think anyone in Konoha has that level of craftsmanship."
"I only need the storage function," Chiba said calmly.
"Exactly! That's what I thought too! If it's just for chakra storage, we can start testing right away."
Tenten's excitement rose as she struck the final blow, setting the roughly formed blade aside.
Then she handed him a notebook, pages filled with sketches and annotations.
Flipping to the last page, Chiba found a detailed design diagram.
He wasn't a blacksmith, but after reading so many related books recently, he could at least recognize the basics.
Structurally, there weren't any glaring issues.
However—
Tenten's grasp of sealing techniques was limited, and her inscription layout had several impractical flaws.
"You keep forging. I'll make some adjustments to this blueprint. Tomorrow, we'll ask Third Hokage to approve a prototype."
"Ah? That soon?" Tenten widened her eyes.
"Soon? The village's research on those four chakra tools has been going on for ages. If we don't act fast, we'll be too late to even sip the soup."
Chiba perched on a stone stool, notebook on his knees, and began to redraw the diagram.
Tenten scratched her head. "But… what about the materials?"
"Obviously we'll ask the village for them. You think we should pay out of pocket? My chakra metal is meant for actual weapon crafting!"
Chiba spoke with full confidence.
He'd contributed plenty to Konoha—asking for materials to develop something useful wasn't too much to ask.
If the Third Hokage turned stingy…
well, there was always kid.
As that old man himself said—when it came to ninja tools, their goals were the same.
"Then I—"
"No need. I'll handle it. You focus on familiarizing yourself with the design; you'll be the one forging it."
Chiba handed her the newly drawn blueprint.
Tenten glanced over it—and froze.
This wasn't a revision.
It was practically a *complete
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