Chapter 5: The Eye of Truth

  ??The afternoon sun barely cut through the thick layer of soot on the workshop windows.

  ?Tetsuya sat hunched over his heavy anvil, a greasy rag in his callused hand, applying the final coat of protective oil to the brand new T-Series Kunai Pro. He didn't need the System to tell him these blades were absolute perfection. He could feel it in his bones. The distinctive blue-black chakra metal was cold, lethal, and completely flawless. After the hellish death-metal forging session last night, he had exactly ten of these masterpieces sitting on his workbench.

  ?The rusty hinges of his front door shrieked in violent protest, letting in a gust of dry street dust. Tetsuya didn't immediately look up. He just kept wiping the dark steel.

  ?"This is it?" A male voice cut through the quiet shop. It was cold, precise, and dripping with unearned aristocratic arrogance. "This is the 'revolutionary' blacksmith you wouldn't stop talking about, Tenten? It looks like a condemned building."

  ?Tetsuya finally raised his eyes. Standing in the doorway was Tenten, looking slightly apologetic, practically dragging a boy her own age into the shop.

  ?The newcomer was dressed in a tan, high-collared shirt and dark shorts. His right arm and right leg were wrapped tightly in white bandages. He had long brown hair tied loosely at the ends, pale, featureless white eyes, and a Konoha forehead protector worn deliberately low to hide his brow.

  ?Tetsuya didn't need the System to identify him. The comic books from his past life had made this kid's face very familiar.

  ?Neji Hyuga, Tetsuya thought, his deadpan expression not changing a single bit. The bitter, fatalistic genius of the Branch Family. The kid with a massive chip on his shoulder who never shuts up about 'destiny'.

  ?Most regular civilians in Konoha were terrified of the Hyuga prodigy. Tetsuya, however, just saw a walking, talking X-ray machine. A free quality-control inspector.

  ?Neji ran a perfectly manicured finger along a nearby wooden shelf, examined the resulting thick layer of soot on his skin, and wiped it away with a pristine handkerchief, looking physically nauseated.

  ?"Tenten, this is a profound waste of my time," Neji said flatly, not even bothering to look at Tetsuya. "Destiny dictates that a shop in this squalid condition cannot possibly produce quality. The external state reflects the internal chaos. A rat cannot birth a lion."

  ?Tetsuya almost rolled his eyes. There it is. The famous 'destiny' speech. Right on cue. Man, this kid sounds like a fortune cookie. "Your boyfriend don't look too impressed," Tetsuya grunted, tossing his oily rag onto the wooden workbench.

  ?"He's not my boyfriend!" Tenten flushed bright red, waving her hands frantically. "And this is Neji Hyu—"

  ?"I know exactly who he is," Tetsuya interrupted, his gravelly voice flat and utterly unimpressed. He leaned heavily against his anvil, crossing his muscular, soot-stained arms. "Neji Hyuga. The so-called genius. Listen, I don't need my work inspected by some rich kid whose hands have never touched a hammer in his life."

  ?Neji's pale eyes finally snapped toward Tetsuya, his aristocratic scowl deepening at the blatant, unapologetic disrespect from a civilian.

  ?"But," Tetsuya continued smoothly, completely ignoring Neji's glare, "I hear your clan buys hundreds of custom ceremonial weapons from Ryu's Emporium every single year. If y'all want to keep blowing your family's fortune on overpriced, mass-produced garbage, that's your problem, not mine."

  ?"The Hyuga clan selects its suppliers carefully," Neji said, his voice dropping to a dangerous, icy chill. "We do not purchase from... junkyards like this."

  ?"Destiny, right?" Tetsuya mocked, throwing the kid's philosophical nonsense right back at his face with a cynical sneer. "I guess it's your 'destiny' to waste good money on swords with microscopic stress fractures. Swords that'll snap right in half when you actually need to defend yourself out in the field. Very profound, bro. Real smart."

  ?Tetsuya picked up one of the dark T-Series Kunai Pro and casually tossed it underhand. It spun through the air and landed on the wooden counter between them with a heavy, solid thud. The dark blue chakra metal seemed to actively absorb the dim light of the shop.

  ?"Don't trust my words," Tetsuya said, gesturing lazily to the blade. "Trust your magic eyes. Turn 'em on and prove me wrong, genius."

  ?Neji hesitated. He looked at Tenten, who was practically vibrating with excitement, then back at the terrifyingly calm blacksmith.

  ?"Fine," Neji sneered. "I will examine it, if only to prove that destiny cannot be defied. A peasant working in the dirt cannot out-forge a master."

  ?Neji brought his hands together in a single, sharp seal. "Byakugan!"

  ?The veins around Neji's pale eyes bulged violently, creating a terrifying spiderweb pattern across his temples. His vision instantly shifted, stripping away the outer layers of reality. He looked down at the blue-black kunai on the counter.

  ?Neji fully expected to see what he always saw in civilian-made weapons: microscopic air bubbles trapped in the steel, hairline fractures from sloppy quenching, and chaotic, jagged metallic structures that would violently resist the flow of a ninja's chakra.

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  ?Instead, what he saw made his breath catch in his throat.

  ?The internal structure of the metal was... impossible.

  The internal grain of the steel was completely uniform from the core to the edge. There wasn't a single impurity or air pocket. The microscopic channels meant to conduct chakra weren't rough and jagged like standard weapons; they were perfectly smooth and straight, looking more like natural chakra coils than something beaten out of raw iron.

  ?Neji slowly reached out and picked up the heavy kunai. The weight distribution was absolute perfection. It didn't feel like a tool made by a human hand. It felt like a fundamental law of physics made solid.

  ?"This..." Neji muttered, his Byakugan still active as he turned the blade over and over in his hands. "There isn't a single air bubble. Not one impurity. The carbon distribution is flawless."

  ?Tenten grinned triumphantly, punching the air. "I told you he wasn't capping! I told you it was real!"

  ?Neji deactivated his eyes, the bulging veins slowly receding. He stared at Tetsuya. The aristocratic arrogance was entirely gone, completely replaced by profound, bewildered shock.

  ?"How?" Neji demanded, his voice tight. "Even the Hyuga clan's private grandmasters cannot eliminate all impurities from military-grade chakra metal. How did you achieve this level of uniformity in a shack?"

  ?Tetsuya shrugged, keeping his scarred face deadpan. "I know how to swing a hammer, kid. It ain't magic, it's just hustle and heat." (Which was a complete, bold-faced lie, considering the deafening death-metal rhythm game the System had tortured his brain with last night).

  ?Tenten pushed past Neji, practically drooling as she stared at the row of dark blue weapons resting on the cloth. She was a weapon fanatic, and she knew exactly what she was looking at.

  ?"Tetsuya," Tenten breathed, her eyes shining. "These are... these are made of actual chakra metal. How much?"

  ?Tetsuya’s terrifying face remained neutral, but his inner street hustler did a massive victory lap. Hook, line, and sinker. The Whale is biting. "For standard walk-ins? Fifteen thousand Ryo a piece," Tetsuya lied smoothly, instantly inflating the price because he knew Tenten came from a wealthy merchant family and had deep pockets for weapons. "But since you brought me a free inspector, I'll do twelve thousand."

  ?Tenten didn't even blink at the outrageous price. To her, twelve thousand for flawless chakra steel was a steal.

  ?"I'll take three," Tenten said instantly, reaching into her tactical pouch and pulling out a fat, heavy wallet that made Tetsuya's eyes twitch with joy. "If these channel wind chakra as well as they look like they do, I'm never shopping at Ryu's again."

  ?Neji stood silently to the side. He didn't use kunai in his Gentle Fist style, but he gave a small, respectful nod of approval. He couldn't deny the supreme quality of the craftsmanship.

  ?Tetsuya nodded slowly, masking his immense relief. Thirty-six grand in one sale. We eating good tonight.

  ?Tetsuya reached under the counter and pulled out a clean sheet of oiled paper to wrap the three expensive weapons. Tenten was happily counting out the crisp, high-denomination bills.

  ?Then, the front door of the shop was violently kicked open.

  ?BAM!

  ?A grown man stumbled into the shop, groaning loudly and dramatically. He was clutching his right hand. Fake-looking blood was dripping steadily through his fingers, splashing onto Tetsuya’s dusty floorboards. In the man's left hand, he held the broken, jagged handle of a standard iron kunai. The blade had completely snapped off.

  ?"YOU!" the bleeding man screamed, pointing the broken handle directly at Tetsuya. His face was contorted in furious, over-acted agony. "You sold me this trash! It snapped during a basic throwing drill and the shrapnel nearly took my fingers off!"

  ?The man thrust the broken handle forward for everyone to see. Etched crudely near the finger ring was a stylized "T"—Tetsuya’s maker's mark.

  ?Tenten gasped, taking a shocked step backward, the money freezing in her hand.

  ?Neji’s posture instantly stiffened. However, unlike Tenten who looked genuinely horrified, Neji’s pale eyes narrowed in deep, analytical suspicion. He looked at the bleeding man, then at the broken iron, and finally back at the flawless chakra-metal kunai resting on the counter.

  ?Outside in the street, a small crowd of civilians and off-duty ninjas began to gather near the open door, drawn like moths by the loud screaming.

  ?"Look at this garbage!" the man yelled to the crowd outside, waving his bloody hand to make a scene. "Everyone said the Iron Will Workshop made superior weapons! It's a total scam! His cheap metal shattered like glass! He's gonna get a ninja killed!"

  ?Whispers instantly erupted from the crowd at the door.

  "...shattered in his hand?"

  "...could have killed him..."

  "...I knew that scary-looking kid was a fraud..."

  "...Ryu warned us about this..."

  ?Neji slowly crossed his arms. He didn't look at Tetsuya; his cold, calculating glare was fixed entirely on the bleeding thug.

  ?"Fascinating," Neji said, his voice dripping with aristocratic disdain. "You claim a weapon from this forge shattered from a simple throw?"

  ?Neji wasn't an idiot. He was a certified genius. He had literally just examined the molecular perfection of Tetsuya's steel. A weapon with zero structural impurities did not 'shatter like glass' against a wooden training post.

  ?Tetsuya noticed Neji's reaction and let out a short, cynical snort. At least the kid has a brain.

  ?Tetsuya walked around the counter, completely ignoring the angry murmurs of the crowd. He analyzed the situation with the brutal pragmatism of a man who had survived thirty-five years in the cutthroat industrial business world in Tokyo.

  ?Metal fatigue doesn't shatter a blade at the hilt like that. It bends first. That's a clean break. Deliberate sabotage. The blood is only on his knuckles, not his palm—he cut himself with a razor to make it look good. Ryu's thugs really think I'm stupid, Tetsuya thought, his jaw clenching.

  ?"I bought this three days ago!" the man continued shouting, playing heavily to the audience at the door, completely unaware of the trap he was walking straight into. "Right here in this shop! You told me it was top quality!"

  ?Tetsuya finally spoke. His voice wasn't defensive. He wasn't panicking. It was dangerously, chillingly quiet.

  ?"Is that right?" Tetsuya asked, stopping just two feet away from the bleeding man. "You bought a T-Series Kunai Pro from me? Three days ago?"

  ?"Yes! Right here!" the man insisted, puffing out his chest to look tough.

  ?"That's a neat trick," Tetsuya said flatly, his terrifying face settling into a deadpan, murderous stare. "Considering I invented that specific model last night at 11:00 PM. It didn't exist three days ago, you clown."

  ?The bleeding man faltered. His eyes darted nervously to the crowd, then back to Tetsuya. "Y-you're lying! You're just trying to cover up your defective garbage!"

  ?"He isn't lying," Neji cut in, his cold voice slicing through the murmurs of the crowd like a scalpel.

  ?The bleeding thug swallowed hard, turning to look at the Hyuga genius.

  ?"You love talking about truth, don't you?" Tetsuya grunted, looking at Neji. "Care to do the honors, kid? Look at that broken handle he's holding."

  ?Neji didn't need to be told twice. He brought his hands together in a single seal. "Byakugan!"

  ?The veins around Neji's eyes bulged violently. He stared directly at the broken handle hidden in the man's bloody grip.

  ?Neji's expression twisted in absolute, visceral revulsion, as if he were looking at a pile of fresh dog manure. Aristocrats did not like being used as props in a cheap street scam, and Neji despised liars more than anything.

  ?"The metal in that broken handle is cheap, low-grade pig iron," Neji stated, his voice ringing out clearly for the entire crowd to hear. "It is riddled with air bubbles and stress fractures. The maker's mark was crudely carved in after the metal cooled, not stamped during the forging process. Beneath the fake 'T', I can clearly see the remnants of a filed-down 'R'. It is a pathetic, insulting forgery from Ryu's Emporium."

  ?The thug turned completely pale. All the fake bravado evaporated instantly.

  ?The crowd outside went dead silent, their expressions rapidly shifting from outrage at Tetsuya to glaring murderously at the exposed scammer.

  ?Tetsuya crossed his arms, his terrifying face settling into a dark, promised-violence scowl. He looked at the trembling thug, then looked past him toward the commercial district where Ryu's fancy shop was located.

  ?"You tell whoever sent you," Tetsuya whispered, his low voice carrying a terrifying, heavy weight in the quiet shop, "that if they want to play dirty... I can play much, much dirtier. Now get the hell out of my shop before I test my real weapons on your neck."

  ?The man didn't hesitate for a single second. He dropped the broken handle on the dirt floor and sprinted out the door, violently pushing his way through the angry crowd to escape.

  ?Neji deactivated his Byakugan and smoothed his tan shirt, looking completely unbothered by the drama.

  ?Tenten, who had been holding her breath the entire time, let out a massive sigh of relief. She walked up to the counter and slapped the thirty-six thousand Ryo down.

  ?"Like I was saying," Tenten said, grinning from ear to ear. "I'll take three."

  ?Tetsuya actually let out a genuine, albeit raspy, chuckle as he took the cash. These kids are alright.