Wheeling and Dealing

The earnings from a moderately difficult C-rank mission alleviated Daimaru's financial crunch to some extent. However, the higher the mission's level, the longer it took to complete. D-rank tasks paid less but were quick to finish, ranging from a day to a week at most. C-rank missions were more troublesome, taking up to half a month to eliminate a bandit group without rogue ninjas or ronin, with most of the time spent traveling and gathering intelligence.

In essence, higher-level tasks paid more, but the difference wasn't as significant as one might think. Relying on mission completion for wealth accumulation was too slow a process. Hence, Daimaru would occasionally seek other avenues to trade for useful items.

"This is something I've meticulously prepared, and purifying it was no easy task. If it weren't for your interest, I wouldn't have offered it so casually!"

Daimaru's face beamed with eagerness as he rubbed his hands together. Wealthy patrons were scarce in Sunagakure, and a quality customer like Kankuro was a rare find.

Kankuro cautiously dabbed a bit of the purplish-blue powder with his finger and sniffed it lightly.

"Hey, be careful... If you get poisoned and die, I can't be held responsible."

"Stop nagging!"

Kankuro wiped the lethal powder from his hand with a handkerchief,

"It's good, but it's too expensive!"

As the second son of the Kazekage family, Kankuro had already spent a fortune on collecting puppets and couldn't afford much at the moment.

"Quality comes at a price. Do you think those crude extracts from nutshells and burnt trash can match this quality? How did you find the sample I gave you last time?"

"Alchemy for the layman," Daimaru didn't know much about the complexities, but extracting a bit of cyanide wasn't particularly challenging. Mass production was out of the question with Daimaru's resources, but crafting enough poison for one or two puppeteers was feasible.

Indeed, many plants like peaches, plums, apricots, and loquats contained cyanogenic glycosides, and cassava had traces of hydrogen cyanide, though only in small amounts. Skilled Sand shinobi had discovered these natural poisons but lacked the knowledge to exploit their potential, resorting to boiling concoctions to create mixed poisons.

This was nothing compared to Daimaru's "layman's alchemy," which directly targeted the core of the poison for a purer and more effective result. Cyanide's toxicity might not be the strongest, but it was more than sufficient, especially valued by puppeteers for its speed of lethality. A regular person would die upon ingestion, and even a resilient ninja would quickly suffer respiratory failure, leading to asphyxiation without prompt aid.

In combat among ninjas, being poisoned would drastically reduce one's fighting ability, leading to a grim fate against a formidable enemy.

"I'll think about it!"

Kankuro hesitated, contemplating whether to borrow more money from Temari to afford the entire batch.

"What's there to think about? This is an essential good for home, travel, and especially for those who are up to no good. I might not have the time or patience to make more...

If you don't want it, I can sell it to someone else. You're not the only puppeteer in the village; the girl next door to me is also a puppeteer, and her family seems quite wealthy, she might be interested!"

"Alright, you win!"

Kankuro ultimately couldn't resist the temptation,

"I'll take it, but I don't have enough money on me, I'll owe you..."

"That won't do, even for the son of the Kazekage. You can't just take without paying, right?"

"So what do you suggest?"

"How about... bartering?"

Daimaru smoothly revealed his true intent.

"You planned this all along, didn't you?"

Offering such high-quality poison clearly exceeded what an average person could afford.

"Look who's talking. We'll be family soon enough, how could I possibly scam you?"

"Who's family with you! Just a reminder, Temari has had her fan refitted; the wooden ribs are now steel. If you take another hit from that, you might not survive!"

"That's... um..."

Daimaru chuckled awkwardly,

"Let's leave family matters for later and finalize our deal!"

"Fine! But just so you know, you can't trade that stuff for my puppets..."

"Why would I want your second-hand goods? I'll just trade for some materials, that should be fine, right?"

"Materials? That's no problem!"

Kankuro breathed a sigh of relief, as long as Daimaru wasn't after his hard-earned treasures, all else was negotiable.

...

By evening, Daimaru returned home with a load of rare materials, gazing joyfully at the bounty spread across the floor.

"At last, not a loss, and quite a profit, haha..."

He couldn't help but laugh proudly, relieved at the successful venture. The so-called layman's alchemy required a substantial investment, and after pouring in six months' savings, the return was finally tangible. The greater the risk, the more astonishing the rewards.

Daimaru hadn't cheated Kankuro; it was a fair trade of needs. If it weren't for the urgency, Daimaru wouldn't have risked such a venture. Fortunately, it paid off, providing a stable source of income, though its longevity was uncertain.

Never underestimate a ninja's ability to gather information; one day, this "exclusive recipe" might leak without him even realizing it. Plus, the ever-watchful Chiyo, the old woman who had studied poisons for decades, might deduce the preparation method from a sample.

A high-level ninja's capabilities were something Daimaru would never underestimate.

"With these, I should be able to create something useful."

Just as Daimaru was basking in dreams of a bright future, the doorbell rang. He grudgingly got up, muttering curses as he went to answer the door.

"Which idiot is bothering me at this hour? If it's nothing serious... Eh! Isn't this Miss Sayuri? To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"It's too noisy over here, it's disturbing my rest!"

Sayuri, peering through the open door, spotted the pile of puppet materials,

"Have you lost your mind? Why would you collect all this junk?"

"Miss, you can eat whatever you want, but you can't just say anything!"

To the offspring of the wealthy, who were so out of touch with reality, Daimaru's hard-earned precious materials were dismissed as trash?

"I never knew you had such peculiar tastes!"

Sayuri was pretty enough, but unfortunately, she was a puppeteer. While there were no written rules, puppeteers of different ranks would wear distinctive facial markings.

Sayuri's exaggerated eyeshadow and ridiculous lipstick weren't her preferred makeup choices; they were signals to her peers about her status as a puppeteer.