The village of Artisans, thankfully wasn't very far from the Katabami Gold Mine. It was directly north actually, and was only a days walk away, but running there at a steady pace, only took a few hours.
It was actually near the northern border of the Land of Rivers, which lead into the Land of Rain.
Spooky to think he was so close to the Akatsuki Headquarters, 'Maybe I should see if I can find their little cave safe house here in the Land of Rivers while I'm here?' Daiki mused.
That could come in handy later.
It seemed the most likely place any Jinchuuriki caught in the Land of Fire or Land of Wind would be taken to at least, and it actually wasn't that far from the Waterfall Village either, a direct line, so it was probably where Fu got sealed in the other timeline as well.
He put that out of mind for the most, he was currently at his destination, taking a stroll through the village towards the main square, where a helpful nice lady running a stall told him, the leader of the village's residence and main office was located.
Besides, it had been a fruitful few hours. His clones had put in a lot of work, with the help and advice of Isobu…and his chakra making sure they constantly had enough to train as they pleased.
He had gotten a handle on the abilities of his new eyes. Granted, it was made much easier by the fact he knew exactly what they could do and only had to puzzle out how to activate them, but still.
'Gotta admit though, this place is amazing.' Daiki mused, head going from side to side as he walked through the village, idly taking in all the shops and stalls he could see.
It really was a village of artisans, everywhere he went he could see stores selling paintings, stalls selling elaborate pottery, tons of weapon shops and he'd counted dozens of smithey's.
It was a place entirely dedicated to the trade. He could respect the grind-set.
It wasn't long later that Daiki arrived at the Village Leader's main residence and entered. He was directed to a large office area, with a small waiting room outside, a secretary waiting behind a small desk.
"Hello, may I help you?" she asked, a slender, rather petite and short, pretty lady, looking to be in her mid-twenties with brown bob-cut hair, light brown eyes and a kind smile.
"Hey, I'm from the Leaf Village," Daiki greeted her with a friendly smile of his own, "I've got a delivery for your leader."
"Ah, I see," she nodded in understanding, "The fire alignment ore. If you'd like to take a seat and wait, I'll let Tomio-sama know you're here once he's done speaking to his current visitor."
Just as she finished, he heard a loud bang come from within the office, followed by a shout, "When will you see sense you old fool! This is our sacred duty!" a man shouted angrily.
The secretary winced, giving him a shaky smile and not commenting.
He decided to do her a solid and not ask about it, "Fire alignment ore? What's what?" he asked instead.
Her smile turned a little bit more genuine, and a tinge thankful for the topic change, "It's a special type of ore that reacts very well to fire type chakra," she was happy to explain, "Do you know about chakra blades?"
"Yeah," Daiki nodded, "I'm wanting to take a look at some while I'm here, get a feel for the prices."
"Good, good, I can recommend you some shops that have good deals then," she beamed, "But anyway, I'm sure you know about elemental affinities, the ore your delivering is a type of ore that for all intents and purposes has its own affinity and will make for for forging fire alignment chakra blades. The reason why this is, is because the Land of Fire is known for the fact that the vast majority of the common population have an innate fire affinity and it in a sense, resonates with the land itself, and the land absorbs this chakra, and in turn produces this ore."
Huh, so that was how chakra blades had their unique properties then? That was really interesting to know.
"So does that mean you import lightning alignment ore for instance, from the Land of Lightning?" Daiki asked, curious.
"For the most part, yes," she confirmed, "Though, it's not like you can't find water alignment ore in the Land of Fire, it's just much more common where the Water Affinity is much more prevalent such as the Land of Water."
"I see," Daiki stroked his chin, "Then what about chakra blades that aren't aligned to any specific element?" he wondered, he knew those were a thing after all.
"The ore for those are a bit rarer," the secretary shrugged, "We generally only get those from the Land of Iron, and chakra blades from them usually cost a lot more as well."
That did make sense to him.
"Thanks a bunch for explaining this to me, you've cleared up quite a bit for me," he grinned at her, leaning lightly on her desk, "I'm Daiki, and you?"
She smiled prettily at him, "Ochako," she introduced herself, "And thanks for not asking about…that." she trailed off, glancing slightly over her shoulder at the office, where he could still faintly make out a pair of male voices arguing.
"Eh, I'm much more interested in you," he winked, "How about once I'm done here, I take you out to dinner and you can show me the best shops to check out for chakra blades?"
She giggled lightly, cheeks flushing, "Well, I do finish for the night in less than an hour," she revealed, looking him him over, lingering particularly on his muscular arms, revealed fully by the black tank top he as wearing, he had to show off the gains the grind had bestowed upon him after all. Her gaze drifted to his face and she studied him a bit, cheeks darkening as he wiggled his eyebrows…only to suddenly frown, "Wait, how old are you Daiki?"
"…13?" he revealed hesitantly, once he graduated and got his headband, he was legal after all.
Ochako winced, "…Ah, let's shelve that dinner, I can still show you some weapon shops if you want though."
Well, that sucked, "If it's about the age, I'm a shinobi you know." he pointed out, but, he wouldn't push beyond that.
"We're not a shinobi village, haven't been for over fifty years, Civilians aren't of legal age until sixteen here," she replied, "Sorry, you're just a bit too young for me."
Lame, but understandable, "Fair enough, don't want to make you uncomfortable." he shrugged and let the matter drop.
Just because they lived on the same continent, and not really that far from each other, didn't mean their culture would be the same after all. And the world looked very different to a civilian, than it did to a shinobi or kunoichi who had to be prepared to die young, or die even the first time they ever left their village.