As soon as Kimura Masao closed the soundproof door behind him, he changed his facial expression and barked furiously at his assistant.
"What are you lounging for? Hurry and bring the analyzer!" Masao said, compensating for his obsequiousness toward superiors with anger toward subordinates.
"Yes, Masao-sama." the forty-year-old man replied, and immediately slipped into the back room.
Meanwhile, Masao skeptically began examining one of the katana, already pondering how to refuse this esteemed Nakayama Family man without losses, as even he couldn't just make trade deals with other suppliers. But the more he looked at the katana, the more his skeptical gaze turned to surprise, then outright shock.
"This is a master's work!" Kimura Masao exclaimed inwardly. He could unerringly spot decorative katana meant solely to adorn collections of rich and influential people.
Seeing all the katana were made superbly, he was even more surprised why this man brought purely antique items to a pavilion selling combat blades.
He pondered for a moment returning to clarify details with Kenshin, but almost immediately changed his mind, recalling his commanding attitude threatening to turn to displeasure.
Besides, Kimura Masao was an excellent specialist in his field and knew good swords well, so he quickly noticed properties uncharacteristic of antiques. Even at a glance, the katana showed perfect sharpening, which simply couldn't be applied to antiques for preservation reasons.
Masao carefully took the katana in hand and gently ran his fingers along the blade, then again and again, applying a bit more force each time. At some point he got so carried away that he forgot caution, but the katana neither dulled nor cracked even when he applied his full peak Genin strength.
"WHAT?!" Kimura Masao exclaimed mentally. He couldn't believe his eyes; the katana effortlessly sliced his chakra-infused flesh without a single micro-chip.
Unable to contain his excitement, he rushed to the storeroom after his assistant and literally snatched the sword quality analyzer from his hands, built on pure fuinjutsu. Numerous varied fuin evaluated just three parameters of the blade inserted into the device.
After Masao inserted the blade into the analyzer and activated the one-use fuin, he waited for the result. His assistant was utterly bewildered and didn't understand what had come over his boss, but decided to stay silent to avoid getting on his bad side.
"Ha-ha-ha-ha! Suddenly Masao laughed, seeing the results from the analyzer."
The small metal device had just three tiny windows with archaic internals. It was built like ordinary wall clocks. The mechanism inside output a number to the window based on data, precisely showing the analysis results.
Durability - 10
Hardness - 10
Sharpness - 9
Seeing the perfect results, Kimura Masao suddenly understood that man's confidence and his words that these swords were better than anything in his pavilion. This katana was on the verge of being a priceless relic never seen for sale.
Overjoyed, Masao grabbed the katana and stack of shuriken, hurrying back to the guest, knowing he couldn't keep him waiting beyond the allowable time.
Meanwhile, Kenshin sat relaxed on the luxurious-by-this-world's-standards sofa, simply waiting for the manager to return. He still hadn't fully gotten used to the role of a respected and authoritative person, but tried to act the part.
"Nakayama-san, forgive me for making you wait." Masao said with a fawning smile upon returning, then continued: "Your blade is magnificent! Not only is it a true work of art, it's also genuinely superior to everything sold in this pavilion. May I know the name of the master who forged it?" he asked breathlessly.
"That person doesn't wish to reveal his identity. I'll say only this—he is a member of my Nakayama Family." Kenshin replied calmly. And though he was sitting on the sofa at the moment, it didn't stop him from looking down on Masao.
Hearing the fairly soft refusal, Kimura Masao smiled contentedly and said: "Of course, Nakayama-san, I understand completely.
"Good. Now that you've verified the quality of my blades, we can get to business. One hundred thousand Ryo per blade, and five hundred Ryo per shuriken. Price is non-negotiable, as is your store's subsequent markup." Kenshin declared authoritatively, looking Masao straight in the eyes.
"S-sir, the price for these magnificent blades is more than acceptable, but... The price for shuriken is a bit high... With all due respect, I can't buy consumables at such a high price..." Masao replied embarrassedly. Usually his pavilion bought shuriken for 50 Ryo each and sold them with a small markup of 30-50 Ryo on top.
"It's not just consumables. These Shuriken are higher quality than any you've seen in your life," Kenshin replied confidently. He had no doubt that even in the Uzumaki clan, filled with fuinjutsu masters, there weren't enough resources and wealth to produce Shuriken of this level.
"Mm... It's awkward to admit, but my old eyes didn't see anything special in them," Masao said with a hint. He was simply obliged to maneuver and try not to anger the respected guest, which this time was extremely difficult for him. The interlocutor seemed to see right through him and was completely indifferent to any tricks accumulated over many years of negotiations.
"Want to know what's special about them? Fine, I'll show you," Kenshin said, taking one Shuriken from the stack, and at that moment Masao was greatly frightened but maintained his outward composure, hoping for the hot-tempered guest's common sense.
"S-Sir..." Masao began, but fell silent when Kenshin swiftly threw the Shuriken aside.
There was a small pop from his swing, and a gust of wind strongly shook the curtains in the room. Masao, meanwhile, belatedly turned his head in that direction and stared in shock at the small crack in the sturdy stone wall. His strong genin's eyes allowed him to see it in all details, and the old manager couldn't believe what he saw.
"Now look at what happened to this Shuriken," Kenshin said calmly, and only after his words did Masao snap out of his stupor.
"I-I'll be right back," he said with a smile and quickly went out the door, expecting to see the Shuriken in the next wall, but it wasn't there. Just an identical perfectly even crack. Masao was inwardly amazed at how sturdy and incredible these Shuriken were and was already ready to buy the entire batch. However, there was no Shuriken behind the second wall either; only a small crack indicated that it had flown further.