CHAPTER 29

* At least I can make my own kunai out of this 'leftovers'. - Yuske didn't need weapons as such, for he felt it was foolish to even consider the path of a swordsman under the conditions he was in.

Even the thought of being a swordsman or anything less than a ninja who could utilize the magical essence of chakra during combat while keeping a safe distance from his opponent disgusted him.

It had been proven by experience that the strongest shinobi of this world often 'strangled' their enemies with a continuous influx of ninjutsu, rather than picking up a blade and throwing themselves at an opponent like mindless swordsmen, knights, or whatever else was trendy years ago.

Yuske considered the weapon as a way to hide his abilities in ninjutsu, but creating his own unique weapon out of black substance directly contradicted the original intention, so it wasn't worth the hassle.

He couldn't even explain to his family how he got a weapon like that, forget about other shinobi and the villagers. One could guess what the reaction of parents who run a business selling ninja weapons and items would be.

Refusing to create a certain number of weapons for them to sell, much less explain the reason for the appearance of the black substance, would leave a bad taste in his mouth, so Yuske decided to avoid problems and simply conceal the presence of the 'special material'.

He was going to repay them in the future in the form of financial aid for all the years of providing for him, while continuing to spend their money sparingly, denying himself excessive luxuries.

Yuske also wanted to verify whether others could create a connection with his substance, but he didn't have much worries about it. The amount of chakra and time it took to reconnect with the substance he had 'disconnected' from, made it impossible to use such a method in combat.

If someone manages to connect his chakra with the black substance, he will have to keep a strict account of his stocks, and it will be necessary not to leave items made of it anywhere.

- All right, it's time to run a quality check.

*thud*

- Not bad, how about this.

*thud*

- Almost three times as deep. - Approaching the tree Yuske inspected two objects, one was a simple kunai, while the other was made of a black substance, almost the same shape but slightly heavier as the substance itself was denser than many metals.

The tree must have cursed dozens of times whoever had planted it in the backyard of this monstrosity of a child, who had first pelted the poor sapling with stones, followed by the clipping of leaves, and now it was destined to be a target for sharp throwing tools.

* I guess it's all about the shape of the kunai. – Checking both kunai, one of which had sunk three times deeper into the tree, Yuske concluded that it was most likely the shape of the kunai, which implied a widened center of the blade that prevented it from going through.

Regardless of the reason for such an occurrence, the sharpness of the kunai was of particular importance, which was clearly a source of curiosity.

* Much sharper than a normal kunai, I wonder how that works. There's only one possibility that comes to mind. I'll have to check it out.

* Clang** Clang*

- Now this one.

* Clang** Clang** Clang**Clang**Clang*

- It's no use, my strength probably isn't enough to damage the substance. - All the commotion in the backyard was caused by an attempt to test how fast the blade of the kunai dulled.

In this case, Yuske was conducting two simultaneous tests at once. He alternated between striking with a regular kunai and his unique kunai, so he put them on the ground and started striking.

The first two clangs of strikes were delivered by an ordinary kunai against the one created from the black substance. The other five by unique kunai on the regular counterpart.

As a result, the ordinary kunai became dull after the second strike, while the one made of black matter didn't lose any of its sharpness.

After the fifth attempt, he stopped further efforts to blunt it, realizing that his strength would not be enough to do such a thing.

Each blow to the ordinary kunai by his unique one had to be made to a new spot, because the kunai would have a deep scratch on it, and Yuske was sure that if the same spot was hit again, the kunai would simply break. And he had to change a few ordinary ones, as this throwing weapon is quite short and there is not much place on it.

Yuske gave up the moment he realized that five well-applied blows had not dulled the kunai of unique substance, let alone rendered the weapon useless.

* Hmm, and I'm only six years old. Sure, chakra gives quite a boost to growth, and my strength far surpasses that of a normal civilian child, but what would happen if those strikes were delivered by an adult shinobi or someone with monstrous strength. If the durability is higher, I can now understand where the extra sharpness comes from. - Yuske knew that there was a direct connection between durability and sharpness when it came to metals.

The thing is, if you sharpen metal, there is a moment when the next sharpening action cuts the very tip, separating it from the blade, thereby determining the highest possible sharpness.

To explain it even more simply, you need to imagine a knife that only needs twenty sharpening motions to bring the sharpness to the highest possible degree. If you perform a thousand sharpening motions with the same knife, you will find that the knife has become shorter, but its sharpness is exactly the same as after twenty sharpening actions.

Since the black substance is much more durable, you get a longer blade tip on a micro level, which will allow you to sharpen it to more extreme values than regular metal permits. It's about the same deal with chakra metals.

Neither should we forget about the equally important factor in the form of the way the black substance kunai was formed. Ordinary weapons are first produced without its sharp feature, and only after sharpening do they acquire their lethal traits.

The black substance, on the other hand, immediately creates a kunai of perfect sharpness, adding some touch of magic by extending the blade to its maximum sharpness through sheer power of will.