On the certificate, Hardy's name and photo were clearly visible.
Below that was the mission record: 68 D-rank missions, 26 C-rank, and 63 B-rank.
The biggest difference from before was that the number of A-rank missions was finally no longer zero—it was now one. The S-rank missions were still two.
"Congratulations, Hardy! Although we knew when you joined the Puppet Corps that you'd reach this step soon, I didn't expect you to become a Special Jonin in less than a year. With your abilities, you'll probably be a full Jonin before long," Ishido said, patting Hardy on the shoulder in congratulations.
After this mission, he truly saw Hardy in a new light.
He'd heard that Hardy's strength was close to jonin level, but had been a bit skeptical. Now, though—
Oh wow, that's an understatement!
Whether it was the mysterious wind-style ninjutsu that he could barely comprehend, or the long-duration high-altitude flight ability, these weren't things a normal jonin could do.
Baki, Pakura, and Kurokawa also offered their congratulations.
The first two, in particular, were filled with envy.
Baki's hard stats were still a bit lacking, but PAkura was almost there—just one more A-rank mission would do it.
"By the way, there's another extremely important piece of intel to report. We must immediately send someone to inform the Third Lord and Master Ebizō, and as soon as Lady Chiyo returns, she must be told as well," Hardy said seriously to Kazami Chiran, putting the certificate into his vest pocket.
"Hm?"
"We encountered Konoha's Tsunade during this mission."
Kazami Chiran's expression instantly grew serious.
"Tsunade?! That's right—there's been no news of Tsunade in this war or in previous operations. She may very well have withdrawn from the Land of Rain. But… if you ran into Konoha's Tsunade, how did you all get away unscathed?"
"Ahem, actually… the one who got away unscathed was Tsunade. Based on my own observations, Tsunade's condition was very off—there's a high probability she's developed hemophobia."
"Are you sure?"
Hardy nodded slowly.
"If you don't believe it, you can devise some methods to test her—like picking some scapegoats from the bounty office. But I'm at least ninety percent certain," Hardy said seriously.
"If that's really the case, you'll probably have another S-rank mission added to your record," Kazami Chiran sighed.
The value of this intel was in no way inferior to most S-rank missions.
"In any case, it's good news. If the intel is confirmed, you'll probably become a Special Jonin soon too," Hardy said with a grin to Pakura, arms crossed and head tilted.
...
Demon Slayer World.
Peach Mountain.
At the foot of the mountain, Hardy had already converted a small hut into a workshop.
The era here was far too backward.
Although there were machine tools in the early Taisho period, in this era of Japan, not only were they expensive, but ordinary people couldn't buy them.
With the Uesugi family's wealth and connections, they could definitely get one for Hardy, but after some thought, he decided to make his own machine tool by hand.
The machine tools here were too imprecise.
With the skills Hardy possessed, he could completely build a high-precision machine tool powered and driven by chakra threads and puppet techniques to process materials.
The machine tool had just been completed; the puppet hadn't even begun to be forged.
Currently, Hardy had designed two plans. One was to build a pneumatic armored puppet like Kurogane or Formentor—strong enough to send bricks flying. He'd just need to swap the fists for ones made of Gorilla Scarlet Iron.
No matter what kind of demon he encountered, he could just smash its head with a punch.
But the problem was that the level of industry here was still primitive. There weren't suitable materials like in the Naruto world to make airtight cylinders, so the performance ceiling of any pneumatic armor would be locked—possibly even inferior to the early prototype Kurogane.
In that case, the upper limit would only be about chunin level.
Unless Hardy was willing to spend a lot of time analyzing the various materials of this world, climbing the technology tree, and advancing industrial development...
For now, Hardy had no such plans. If he rose to a high position in the future, maybe he'd do something for the sake of gaining merit and fortune.
The second plan was to make a lightweight exoskeleton armor.
It wouldn't even be called armor—more like a suit.
Besides providing some protection, it would also include some mechanisms for killing enemies or saving his own life, as well as a chakra hub.
Because it was simple, it would only require one or two chakra threads to operate, and at critical moments, the mechanism shield could be activated for defense.
Methods.
The puppet's rating might not be very high, but if it's only used as a semi-enclosed exoskeleton suit for auxiliary combat, it can greatly enhance this body's combat ability.
Whether I can defeat a Hashira is uncertain, but taking on an A-rank swordsman just below the Hashira level should be no problem.
Just as Hardy was about to start making the puppet, a heart-wrenching scream came from the grassy area outside the house.
"No! Ryoko, she—she promised to elope with me! She even took all my money! Ryoko, Ryoko! How am I supposed to live without you?!"
"So noisy…"
Hardy felt like there was a lovesick fool howling outside.
Pushing open the door, Hardy immediately saw the scene outside.
An old man in yellow with a very high hairline was dragging a half-grown teenager who was sobbing uncontrollably toward him.
"Senior Kuwajima, I am Uesugi Hardy, recommended by Senior Morioka Nen of the Wind Breathing school. I would like to learn Thunder Breathing from you."
Hardy respectfully addressed the old man, who had lost a leg and could only walk with a wooden prosthetic.
If you want to learn skills from someone, respect is a must.
This man was once the Thunder Hashira of the Demon Slayer Corps, and his strength far surpassed Morioka Nen.
"Oh? Oh! Now I remember, that monk Morioka did send me a letter some time ago. So, you're the one who mastered all the Wind Breathing forms after seeing them just once, and left Morioka with nothing left to teach you after only a month."
Kuwajima Jigoro leaned on his cane, looking Hardy up and down with curiosity.
"Come with me. This kid here is my newly caught—er, newly accepted disciple, Agatsuma Zenitsu. He was tricked by the girl he liked, who took all his money and ran off to elope with someone else. Now he's deep in debt, being chased by loan sharks. But this half-grown kid managed to outrun a whole group of people—this explosive power makes him a great candidate for Thunder Breathing."
Kuwajima Jigoro patted the still-wailing Zenitsu on the head and chuckled.
"There's another of my disciples, Kaigaku, up on the mountain. I'll introduce you all later."