NOVEL NEXT Scientific Ninja Tools
Yuna was currently grumpily seated in her audience chamber while a middle-aged man was standing in front of her, talking up a storm. His name was Katasuke Tono, and he dedicated his life to the research of Scientific Ninja Tools, devices that combine chakra and science.
'Woe me. This is my second day of work this month.'
[Such a cruel fate.]
'I know, right.'
[Sarcasm.]
'Whatever. Anyway, I must admit that the idea this guy is pitching is quite interesting: Scientific Ninja Tools. Although I merely skimped over the report Akane gave me, I still got a rough understanding of it.'
Yuna lightly raised her hand, motioning the man, whose name she had already forgotten to stop talking.
"I honestly don't care about the technicalities. Surely you didn't come here without a working prototype, right?"
At first, Katasuke was disappointed when Yuna stopped him, thinking that she would reject his idea, but when he heard her following words, he almost facepalmed himself due to his stupidity.
'Right, why am I getting all scientific here? As a clan head, she must have tons of work to do and has no time to listen to my longwinded explanations. I should have shown her the final product from the start.'
"Hahaha, of course, I have a working prototype with me; here it is."
As he finished speaking, he took out a storage scroll, but before he could open it, someone snatched it out of his hand, dumbfounding him.
He looked around and quickly noticed the maid standing next to Yuna, opening the scroll and unsealing its content.
'Fast! I didn't even see her move!'
A shiver went through Katasuke's spine as he realized that his Scientific Ninja Tools weren't useful if he couldn't activate them in time.
Meanwhile, Karin handed the content of the scroll to Yuna: A wrist-guard-looking device and a bunch of small scrolls.
Yuna strapped the deceive to her arm, and after inspecting it and the small scrolls for a moment, she inserted one of the scrolls into the device.
After fiddling with it for a short moment, she managed to activate it, resulting in a blue ball of spinning chakra appearing above her hand.
"Mhh, interesting."
Although Katasuke was surprised at how easily Yuna figured out what to do without his explanation, he couldn't help but get excited when he heard her praise.
He had made multiple requests to the Hokage to open a new official research lab dedicated to developing Scientific Ninja Tools, but due to the constantly changing Hokage, his request always got ignored or overseen. Now, he had finally decided to let go of his pride and ask one of Konoha's clans to fund him instead of the village itself.
However, Yuna's following words quickly plummed his excitement.
"Quite the interesting toy, I have to say."
Naturally, Katasuke's face fell when Yuna called the thing he had dedicated his life to a mere toy. He was just about to complain to Yuna no matter her position when she clarified her words.
"Oh, don't get me wrong. I'm not playing down the usefulness of this thing in the slightest. For genin, this is the ultimate weapon. For chunin, it is a powerful trump card. For jonin, it is a useful tool. For Kage, this is a neat little trick. And for me, it is a simple toy."
Yuna's words dumbfounded Katasuke, and he only managed to regain his bearing after a few seconds.
"M-May I ask why it is a simple toy for you?"
Yuna chuckled in amusement as she eyes the spinning chakra ball that was still resting in her hand.
"This is the strongest level of jutsu this device can create, right?"
Katasuke simply nodded his head, not understanding where Yuna was going with this.
"A jutsu of this level, is simply meaningless for me."
As she said that, she lifted the hand holding the Rasengan above her head and injected her chakra into it, instantly increasing its size by multiple meters.
Katasuke's eyes bulged as he staggered backward and landed on his butt while eyeing the monstrous spinning ball of death with terror. The image of Yuna leisurely supporting her head with one hand while the other hand held up a gigantic Rasengan would stay with him for a long time.
'What incredible power. This will be my goal for now: I will build a Scientific Ninja Tool that can compare to that power.'
Moments later, Yuna allowed the Rasengan to dissipate harmlessly. She unequipped the wrist guard and tossed it back to Katasuke, who clumsily caught it.
"My Uzumaki clan will fund your research. I don't mind if you continue developing weapon technologies, but you need to spend an equal amount of time developing quality of life equipment."
Katasuke was about to protest, but before he could do so, Yuna said the two words that every researcher had dreamt of.
"Unlimited Funding."
Frankly, he was pretty proud of himself that he didn't soil his underwear right there. He couldn't agree faster to Yuna's offer as he nodded his head so hard one might think he was headbanging.
"Very well, seems like you accept. As for the greater details, hash those out with Akane."
Katasuke eagerly nodded his head again and again, as a large smile appeared on his face. Finally, his research could start blooming.
"Alright, where can I find Ak..."
Before he could finish talking, Yuna waved her hand, causing him to disappear.
"She should be around there... probably."
"Yuna-sama..."
Yuna glanced at Karin and saw the concern in her eyes, causing Yuna to smile.
"You are worried that wars will get even more brutal if even civilians can wield such power."
Karin simply nodded her head at that, while Yuna sighed deeply.
"Unfortunately, that's how it is. It's only a question of time until other people develop better weapons as well, so we can't fall behind. A vicious cycle filled with hypocrisies."
"Would they really dare to attack Konoha while you are here?"
"Who knows? People are stupid, after all. Besides, it's not like I plan to stay here permanently."
Karin simply nodded her head in understanding, agreeing with Yuna's words.