55 Crystallized Creations

Our trip back to the village was uneventful. We only saw a couple of wild monkeys swinging around from tree branch to tree branch. Kiyoko joked that he looked like he could fit right in with them. Benimaru then told her to hit herself, which she immediately did, and started to beat him for it. I explained the two different properties that the crystals seemed to have, and just like Hanzo, his eyes lit up at the possibilities that these crystals could have.

"I'll make sure I send out a team of researchers immediately. We can't overlook this gift. I can't even imagine what the Uzumaki clan could cook up if these crystals can hold more than 3-4 seals at a time," the third mumbled to himself while turning the crystal in his hands.

"Alright, if there's nothing else, then you are all dismissed," he spoke as we rose from our spots and walked out the door.

"Swirl! Get me a team—" the door closed shut, and no other sound was heard out of the office.

"Okay, you are all dismissed as well. I will gather you all when we are assigned another mission." We all nodded and started to head in different directions.

I watched as Benimaru walked away, seemingly casually, but I saw the spring in his step and the joy and anticipation radiating off of him as he waved to us and walked back to his clan's compound. Smiling, I walked away from the group to go back to my compound as Kiyoko followed.

"Hey Shiran, are you doing anything today?"

"Yeah, I'm thinking about practicing some ninjutsu and going to one of our clan's blacksmith shops; I need a few things made."

"Oh, that's cool. Do you mind if I tag along?"

I thought about it for a second and then nodded.

"Sure, their place really isn't a secret or anything. They take customers from any part of the village, so I'm sure they won't mind another potential customer," I said as I shot a smile her way. Smiling back, she walked with me towards the Uzumaki clan compound to find the blacksmith that I was talking about.

Walking there, we talked about our training, how life was going in general, and overall had a fun time just hanging out. Arriving at the compound, I led her to the center of it, and we finally arrived at the blacksmith. Looking at the sign he had out front, 'Uzumaki Forge', we smiled and walked into the shop.

"Welcome, friends! How can I help you today?" A small, wiry, white-haired man stepped into the shop from the forging area out back. "Oh, it's you, young Shiran! How have you been doing recently? I haven't seen you come around with Haru in a little bit."

Laughing and scratching my neck, I looked away a little embarrassed. "Yeah, I've been pretty busy with missions and my training recently. I've been meaning to come and take a look at a couple of short swords, but I haven't gotten around to it yet."

"Ah, so that's how it is. I understand, I understand. I was once a shinobi, so I know all about it."

That took me back a little bit. "I never knew you were a shinobi once. I always thought you just owned this smithing shop. How long ago was that?"

Laughing at me, he looked at me and said he had been out of the shinobi business for about 35 years now. My jaw dropped. "35 years?! If you don't mind me asking, how old are you, Hiroshi?"

"Oh ho, you're not supposed to ask someone their age, young man; it's considered rude," he joked while giving me a conspiratorial smile. "Since I like you though, I'll tell you that I'm nearing 96 years old," he whispered.

Both mine and Kiyoko's mouths fell open at this. "You're lying; you can't be any older than 55."

"While I thank you for the compliment, I attribute it to our strong bloodline, Shiran. Back when I was a youngin', I knew of a woman who reached her 130s and still had more time on her plate before she used a forbidden jutsu that took her life," he sighed, thinking back on what the younger days were like.

"Wait, so that means you were around before the ninja villages, right?"

"Yes, it does, but that's a story for another day. Now tell me, why have you come to my shop? Surely it's not to talk to some old man?"

"Oh come on, you make it sound like you're bad company. But you are right; I do have something that you might find a little interesting to work with." Pulling out the 10 crystals I took from the cave, I set them on the counter, hearing Kiyoko gasp a little in the back.

"You took some of the crystals, Shiran?" She whispered while giving me a reproachful glare.

"Yeah, but it's only to expedite the process a little. I'm sure that my dad would've gotten some of the crystals to study, and I would've been able to take them from him. I just cut out the middleman in the process." I smiled as I saw her glare slowly disappear.

"Well, I still don't like the dishonesty," she said, still accosting me but without the glare or disapproving tone.

Picking up one of the crystals, Hiroshi's eyes widened immediately at what he sensed inside the crystal. "There's stored sealing jutsus in here?" He asked, maybe a little louder than necessary.

"Yeah, it's amazing right? On the last mission we went on, we found a whole cavern filled with a gigantic crystal that was at least around 60 feet tall and 18 feet wide (18.3 x 5.5 meters). Growing from the wall of those caverns were these hand-sized crystals. So far, what I've found out is they can store and release jutsu remotely and also let off a blinding light. I'm sure there's still more to find out about it, but I don't have the expertise to find out the tiny details about things so I'll just leave it to the professionals."

"This could change the way we look at sealing jutsus. We could stack seals and have them released at certain times. Maybe we could combine nature jutsu seals in them to create fake kekkei genkais. Perhaps we could put entire matrices on them, and we wouldn't have to take so much time setting them up. Maybe seal battlefields could be deployed in seconds. This is amazing, Shiran," he said, with even wider eyes as the possibilities ran through his mind.

"I know, my brain has been alight with all kinds of ideas lately trying to see what other things I could come up with on top of the ones you just mentioned," I said excitedly as I looked at Kiyoko to see her trying to keep up with what we were saying but also failing miserably to comprehend what we were talking about.

I sent a teasing smile her way and decided to move this conversation forward a little bit. "So I was wondering if you could make a few things for me out of these crystals."

"Are you

 sure I should? These seem invaluable to the village, Shiran." He gave me a very questioning glance.

"Yeah, there were thousands of these crystals inside of that cave. Plus, there's nothing saying that they can't grow back after a while," I said back, defending myself. "Just consider this a finder's fee for discovering the crystals," I said, winking at him.

"If you say so. What do you want me to make for you then?" He asked.

"Well, I was thinking about three different things. Since these crystals are able to store things inside of them, I thought they could probably enhance the effectiveness of our memory seals that we have in the clan archives. So if you could make a pair of studded earrings, that would be fantastic."

He nodded and motioned for me to continue. "The next thing I want is a pair of sunglasses. I want them to be rounded with black wire frames. I figured that I could probably find a way around having the crystal shine on both sides and restrict it to only one that way I'll be able to disorient people in close-quarters combat if I need to for whatever reason."

"Interesting, I don't think I ever would've thought to use the crystal as eye protection. Just be careful with that though because it might obstruct your vision and you know what can happen in that split second," the old man warned with his years of wisdom.

"The last thing I want is a few sets of black throwing knives." Taking out a piece of paper, I started to sketch out what I wanted them to look like. "I want there to be a good-sized crystal at the end so I can use its storage capabilities while still allowing me to utilize the light ability of it as well. These knives will be matte black with a black handle wrap on them so they can remain hidden in the darkness." Sliding the paper over to Hiroshi, I let him take a look at it.

"They would definitely be a distinctive pair of throwing weapons, that's for sure," he said looking at them. "Alright, if that's all, then I'll get started on them. When you come to pick up the tools, then I'll have your bill ready. I'd say give me three days at max to get this all done for you."

I nodded as I thanked the old man. "I would also like to buy a chakra blade if you have any in stock by chance."

Hiroshi nodded and disappeared. "Luckily we just got a shipment of chakra metal from the land of iron just a couple of weeks ago so I was able to forge up a few swords to sell. Here are the swords I made," his voice got louder and clearer as he came back from the storage area.

Looking at the blades, I decided to take the shortsword to the right. "Alright, that'll be around 450,000 ryo." I nodded and just told him to add it to my dad's tab.

"Alright then Shiran, these should be all ready in around three days or so."

"Awesome, thank you a lot Hiroshi, this is why you're my favorite blacksmith in the village!" I smiled and waved to him.

"Yeah yeah, get out of my store so I can start these, will you?"

I laughed and turned around to see Kiyoko's wide eyes staring at me. "You have just 450,000 Ryo lying around you can spend on a sword?" She asked incredulously.

I laughed awkwardly. "Yeah, I mean it kinda comes with the territory of clan heir, you know?"

She sighed and rolled her eyes. "Yeah, I forgot you're a nepo baby."

"Hey! I'm not a nepo baby. I'm just extremely talented, and my parents see that, so they give me a lot of leeway."

She snorted and rolled her eyes while smiling. "Ok, nepo baby," she said while we walked out of the store.

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(A/N: It's kind of a longer chapter for you guys. Each of these things will have their own special purpose at some point in the plot, I don't necessarily know when but I know that the knives will 100% be use a decent amount of times as well as the glasses. The earrings have a relatively niche use but they should come in handy as well.)

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