28 Sunagakure Genin Corps Market

After Muto Tomuki's restaurant and meeting his father's team that survived once again, Kaito and his friends headed towards the Sunagakure Genin Corps Market.

After every joint operation, especially one that involved looting and killing, there would be a market organized by the Sunagakure Genin Corps leaders. There, you would be able to purchase all kinds of things, from kunai to katanas made of chakra conductor alloys coming from the land of iron.

The team earned a lot of money, from the B-rank mission they completed in the Land of River with the Golden Turtle Merchant Union, and only spent roughly half of it to upgrade the shuriken launcher. Although Kaito was tempted to create another puppet, he realized that his effectiveness in battle would not improve just because he could use more puppets. A strong puppets was better than five useless ones.

Thus, instead of improving the puppets this time around, Kaito was looking for some things that might improve the strength of the whole party. Items raising stats were an option. Before, he was too poor to afford these items, but this time around, it was worth trying out.

[Smoke Bomb - E-rank Tool]

[Ninjato Sword - D-rank Weapon]

[Chakra-Infused Kunai - D-rank Weapon]

[Scroll of Concealment - D-rank Tool]

[Stealthy Boots - E-rank Footwear]

[Silent Throwing Stars - D-rank Weapon]

[Tanigakure Cloak - D-rank Garment]

[Mystic Mask - C-rank Accessory]

[Poison Dart - D-rank Weapon]

[Seal Scroll - D-rank Tool]

[Ninja Grappling Hook - C-rank Tool]

There were plenty of items that caught Kaito's eyes. Some of them were unbelievably useful, like the smoke bombs that could help you escape a battle. However, they also happened to be very costly, considering that they could only be used once.

"Look at this", Eiji exclaimed while looking at the stealthy boots, "These boots are perfect for me! You always complain that my footsteps are too loud, but with these things, you won't even hear me anymore, hehe!"

Kaito nodded, as it would improve the party's stealth during infiltration missions. Naturally, he approved the 130000-Ryô purchase.

[Jaito - Lv. 12 Sunagakure Genin]

Just like Kaito, Eiji and Aki, Jaito attended the Sunagakure Academy and joined the Sunagakure Genin Corps. He was also 14 years old, and came from a civilian background. His chakra reserves were pretty average, so he turned to taijutsu instead. Back in the days, he was pretty strong, but his progress paled quite a bit in comparison to team 146. 

Aware of this, he was looking for ways to become stronger.

"60 000 Ryô?", Jaito shouted in despair, "Do you have an ill family? Why would you want to rip someone as hard working as me?"

Kaito did not let Jaito's acting skills get the better of him. 

"We took it from a taijutsu specialist who reached the elite genin rank. He was pretty tough to take down, and these gauntlets were resistant enough to parry the shurikens from my shuriken launcher, so they are definitely not ordinary", Kaito explained while telling the story of his team defeating the Lv. 19 Taijutsu specialist from the last operation.

Everyone present in the market had heard of them. The team of newcomers who suddenly managed to rise to the top contributor of an operation, team 146, led by the son of Yaito. As unpleasing as having hundreds of eyes assessing you was, reputation was a tool that could be used to your advantage. Kaito smiled as Jaito ended up taking out 6 bills of 10 000 Ryô, without much negotiation. 

"Humph, you'd better not lie! If I die because of you, you will have my death on your conscience", Jaito said before parting

"Whatever you say", Kaito said with the devil's smile on his face, "Should I have sold it for 80 000 Ryô instead?"

Making a bit of money on the side was not bad, especially since it was not the only item he got from the operation. Scrolls, sharpened shurikens and kunai were abundant, and even if individually, they were not worth a lot, by the end of the day, Kaito managed to get 40 000 Ryô out of them. The smoke bombs sold particularly well.

Of course, all of these items could not even compare to the scroll he had stolen from Chunin he had killed in the last operation. Judging from the name and rank of the scroll, along with the fact that she was being carried by a high-level genin, meant that she was pretty strong and came from a particular background. However, Kaito did not plan on selling this scroll. He planned to monopolise it, and learn it in secret.

[Katon: Emi Clan Petrifying Smoke Breath - E-rank [Potential : B-rank]

This hidden art passed down by the Emi clan has been used for generations to generate a noxious and poisonous smoke using Fire Release chakra manipulation. When executed properly, it releases a cloud of toxic smoke that not only obscures vision but also poisons anyone within its reach.

Although there exists plenty of smoke-based katon jutsu, the Emi clan has written details on how to petrify enemies through this fog. However, this feature is only available upon upgrading the jutsu to B-rank]

This was a B-rank jutsu, one that made the Emi Clan into one of the 8 shinobi clans of Tanigakure. It was a hidden art of Tanigakure, and surely he would face repercussions if he used it recklessly. However, it was only E-rank for now and its potency was still very much limited. Unless it reached B-rank, it would not be recognized as the hidden art of the Emi clan.

Just thinking about mixing paralysis gas with the petrifying smoke breath with his puppet would increase his fighting prospects by leaps and bounds.

So the question remained.

'How can I make the party stronger?'

The mission with the Golden Turtle Merchant Group made him discover that the [Rashka Meat] was a good regent to increase stats. If he wanted to reach the peak, he could not slack off, especially in physical stats. Although he could no longer be considered below average, he would still lose to mid-level genins specialized in kenjutsu or taijutsu, even though his stats were more than decent.

It could be easily explained by his lack of techniques.

'Perhaps I should ask Eiji for pointers in taijutsu? I guess it wouldn't be a bad idea to train Aki as well, so that we become more well-rounded', Kaito analysed, 'So to further progress, I guess I will have to invest'

[Rashka Meat - E-rank food]

[Vitality Pellet - E-rank recovery pill]

[Stamina Pellet - E-rank stamina pill]

[Yellow Beetle Juice - E-rank alcohol]

...

As for Aki, she spent a whopping 550 000 Ryô, most of what she owned, to purchase a pair of fans. 

[Kameyo Clan Twin fans - C-rank weapon

Hailed by all wind ninjutsu specialists in Sunagakure as the greatest fan manufacturer that ever existed, the Kameyo clan is one of the 8 noble clans in Sunagakure. Besides their craftsmanship, they have produced many strong wind jutsu specialists, including Hyoshi, one of the strongest ninjutsu specialist in Sunagakure

Effect: +40% damage when using a wind jutsu]

With such excellent gear, team 146 became stronger once again. Looking back, their progress rate had become incredible in the past few weeks. Level-wise, technique-wise or gear-wise, they were incomparable with the teens they were a year ago. 

Everyone in the market was aware of this fact: Team 146 had become one of the elite genin teams in the Sunagakure Genin Corps.

However, neither Kaito nor his teammates had grown complacent. Their eyes were set much higher...much much higher.