"Tell me again, just why do you keep carrying around vegetables just to cut them in every cutlery store you come across?!" Kun barked outraged at his friend. He had been following Shuu for over three hours now, who kept doing that strange rite of his religiously. He couldn't understand why his friend would keep doing this if he had perfectly good silverware at home. He wondered why Shuu wouldn't cut his raw vegetables like everyone else, this process was all too awkward.
Shu sighed and idly replied to his friend, while cutting a cucumber with a snapping motion of his arm, using a kitchen knife. "It's to check the quality of the blades. I'm looking for a blade with absolutely no blunt parts, perfectly even. I can check it by cutting the vegetables, if there are any smashed bits, even if infinitely small, then it's not the blade I'm looking for. It's by the quality of the tools that I find how good a blacksmith is... After finding the best smith, I can have him forge me a new katana... You know what happened to the last one, Kun." Indeed, his last sword had broken down in the middle of a fight. During the mission's course, Shuu had ended up trading blows with another sword-wielding shinobi. Unfortunately for the young man, his katana's blade shattered, something that almost cost him his life. Were it not for Kun's quick thinking and cold blood, Shuu could no longer be with the living.
"Yeah, yeah, I remember... You still owe me one for that. Why don't you go for the safe site and just get two swords from the usual smith? You've got the wind element for crying out loud, if your sword doesn't cut it, your chakra will! You know, that wouldn't have happened if you had coursed your chakra through the blade." Kun replied in a calmer but still disapproving tone of voice. Despite not agreeing with Shuu, at least now he knew the reasons. He wouldn't argue, knowing full well that once Shuu made up his mind there was no reasoning with him. Never the less, he would still tag along his friend, in hopes of getting a free meal out of it.
"Hmm? This cut... It's too clean... Oi, miss! Who crafted this one?" Shuu wondered, speaking to himself at first and then directing his voice to the clerk who was by the counter. The reason of his wonder was a potato that he had cut cleanly and then reunited the two halves. Much to his surprise, the two halves when put together fit in perfectly against each other, to a degree where the cut wasn't even visible. After a brief talk with the clerk, that lasted only about 5 minutes, he found out that the knife had been imported from the Wind Country. This was to his dismay as he didn't want to have to cross the nation's borders over a sword. In addition, there was no guarantee that he would get the blacksmith to make the sword for him, not to mention finding the blacksmith in the first place.
Kun on the other hand was relieved. This meant an end to his friend's quest to find a good blacksmith and that he would get a regular sword. Or so he thought. A few moments later, Shuu looked to Kun, with a scheming grin on his face. Kun's face went immediately pale and his smile changed to a gape. That was the moment when he realized what his friend was planning. He then shouted, still overcome by disbelief of his friend's mentality "No! Hell no! For everything good NO! We are NOT going into the Wind country just to get you a bloody sword! Forget it!"
Faced with Kun's response, Shuu merely chuckled. He knew his friend well and he knew even better how to get him to tag along with his plans. Needless to say, just two hours later the duo was jumping from tree top to tree top, making their way to the Wind Country. As they traveled, Shuu told Kun, smiling. "You're my best friend ever!"
To this, Kun replied with a hint of annoyance in his voice. "Oh, shut up..."
