Following Iō, Hyūga Yu quickly passed through the workshop in the backyard used for forging ninja tools and arrived at the showroom where the master kept his collection.
As they walked, Iō sighed with emotion, "I really didn't expect that in this day and age, there would still be a ninja thinking about using this kind of weapon."
To the side, Shōseki tilted his head, a bit confused, but hung excitedly behind Iō and Hyūga Yu. He seemed eager to see what this ninja tool, which had taken eight years to craft, actually looked like.
At this, Hyūga Yu shook his head and said, "Although it isn't made of precious materials, the manufacturing process is extremely tedious. It has to balance the sturdiness required for close-quarters combat with the flexibility needed for use. Thinking about it, in the entire Hidden Leaf, only you, Master Iō, could craft such a tool."
"After all, it is a weapon eliminated by the times."
"Haha, only an old stubborn fool like me would be willing to make this kind of 'toy'... I'll accept your praise!"
Iō let out a loud laugh, took out a key, and opened the door to the showroom, leading Hyūga Yu inside.
Inside the rather spacious showroom, a uniquely shaped ninja tool was displayed on the shelves every meter.
Ninja swords, iron staffs, cleavers, steel wires, tonfas, chain staffs, iron chains, explosive tags, spiked iron balls, giant chained iron balls, Fūma Shuriken, blast spheres...
All sorts of common and uncommon ninja tools were displayed there. If opened to the public, it could even serve as a small museum of ninja tools.
Soon, the three of them reached the end of the showroom. Iō lifted a massive wooden box, two and a half meters long, down from the innermost shelf.
He opened the wooden box.
Inside lay a large Japanese bow (Yumi), taller than Hyūga Yu himself.
The bow was about 2.2 meters long overall, asymmetrical with the upper part long and the lower part short, similar in form to the Hama Yumi used in countryside rituals. It was made entirely of maruki wood, with white gohei streamers adorning the ends. Several key parts—such as the upper curve nodes, the grip nodes, and the himezori recurve nodes—were fitted with modules that could be activated by chakra. If encountered with close-quarters combat, matching iron bow plates could be slotted into grooves, allowing it to be used to whip people. (Though generally, doing so is not recommended.)
Iō took out the bow and proudly showed his apprentice, Shōseki, the four characters for "Crafted by Iō" inscribed on the limb. He then looked at Hyūga Yu and explained:
"This bow has a draw weight of 150 pounds. The effective range is within 150 meters, with a maximum limit of 300 meters. It isn't heavy, but it is very long, making it quite troublesome to carry. Furthermore, it can only use hemp strings. Arrows fired with this kind of draw weight... well, it's very difficult to recover and reuse them."
Hyūga Yu nodded and estimated, "In other words, it will be scrapped after about 100 to 200 shots?"
"Exactly. Using tanned elastic ninja wire is an alternative, but it affects the handling of the bow. Since you commissioned this specific type of bow, you should understand that, right?"
Hyūga Yu nodded.
The Japanese bow has a specialized shooting technique. The hand holding the bow must master the vibration amplitude of the bow when the arrow is released, predict the reaction force generated by the difference in length between the upper and lower limbs, and use this reaction force to calculate the arrow's launch direction and the amount of force applied.
As long as one can properly utilize this reaction force, the trajectory of the fired arrow can undergo various changes, such as controlling the range or the parabolic arc.
Therefore, only specially made hemp strings can be used.
In other words, this weapon takes a long time to build, has high maintenance costs, and the bowstring has a short lifespan.
coupled with the fact that the explosive speed of ninjas during combat is comparable to a locomotive. Once a battle starts, the distance between both sides closes rapidly. Bows and arrows quickly lose their effectiveness and can even become a burden.
Thus, the bow and arrow became the tears of the era.
In the entire history of the ninja world, one could barely find anyone named who used a bow, perhaps only Kidōmaru, who was beaten to death by Neji Hyūga.
For ordinary ninjas, having the time to practice with such a thankless tool would be better spent practicing the Body Flicker Technique.
However, if one adds the Byakugan, which starts with a visual range of one kilometer, and the Wind Style: Vacuum Blade, which can be attached to ninja tools to increase range and enhance penetration power—
Then everything changes completely.
With this thought in mind, Hyūga Yu took the bow, his heart filling with anticipation.
Of course, the path of [Bow + Byakugan + Weapon-Infused Nature Transformation] was just a concept he had calculated based on his knowledge; the actual combat effectiveness still required concrete testing.
Moreover, the jutsu Wind Style: Vacuum Blade was currently non-existent for him.
Although he had decided to make contact with Danzō Shimura, whether Danzō would accept him, a member of the Hyūga Branch Family, was another matter entirely.
Hyūga Yu's current positioning was very awkward.
Unlike Might Guy, who tried to join the Root for Kakashi's sake but was rejected on the grounds that "there is absolutely no darkness in your heart," Yu belonged to the completely opposite extreme.
Although Hyūga Yu was momentarily filled with ambition and had a very spirited desire to live a significant life, he ultimately still bore the "Caged Bird" seal on his forehead. In a substantial sense, he was already considered a dog of the Hyūga family. At any time, he could be forced by the Main Family to leak intelligence.
Given Danzō's character—suspicious, cautious, trusting no one (not even his own subordinates), and only daring to use people after branding them with a Cursed Seal—it was likely... very difficult for him to accept Yu.
But then again, people's thoughts differ vastly at different stages of life. Just like how children always want to be adults, but adults always envy the time spent playing in the mud as children.
And Danzō Shimura, who was stuck in an even more awkward period than Hyūga Yu right now, might... just hold his nose and convince himself?
While Hyūga Yu was preparing to step onto the battlefield on one side, the S-rank mission intelligence posted by Hyūga Yu quickly began to ferment on the other, being prioritized for delivery to the Jōnin Council, the Anbu, and their subsidiary organizations.
Setting aside whether the mission grading was reasonable, simply looking at the content of the mission release, some sharp-minded and well-informed ninjas had already sensed the incongruity of this task—
Wind Style: Vacuum Blade.
Currently, only two people in the entire Hidden Leaf Village knew this ninjutsu.
One was the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, known as the "Professor of Ninjutsu," who had mastered over a thousand techniques.
The second was the high-ranking official of Konoha, leader of the Root, and one of the Hokage's advisors, Danzō Shimura.
Between the two, it was obviously Danzō Shimura who was more proficient in this technique. Or rather, this was precisely the secret Wind Style ninjutsu of the Shimura Clan.
Similar ninjutsu existed, of course, such as the Shirakumo Clan's hereditary Wind Style: Vacuum Sword, the Wind Style: Shuriken techniques mastered by some small ninja clans, or the Sarutobi Clan's Wind Style: Verdant Mountain Gale, all of which possessed similar effects.
But this mission specifically named and required Wind Style: Vacuum Blade.
What this implied inevitably led some people to indulge in wild fantasies.
However, before the intelligence could spread to a wider range, and just as the mission delegation process reached the Hokage's desk, the few ninjas paying attention to the matter were stunned to discover—
The mission had been taken down.
And very quickly, all documents related to the mission process, recorded files, and even the intelligence regarding the employer Hyūga Yu's appearance at the Hokage Residence were wiped clean.
It was as if this mission had never existed.