Darui walked down the path that led to the basement of the Raikage's building. Here was where the two most protected areas of Kumo were, besides the secret training area where Jinchuriki practiced to control their Tail Beasts, the Vault and the Library. The Vault held important tools and weapons that master blacksmiths had made, prototype weapons developed by their scientists, and legendary tools found over time while the Library was where they kept all the scrolls B-Rank and above.

After reaching the bottom of the stairs, there was nothing but an empty room with an old man sitting behind the desk in the middle of it. Behind him were two doors, one labeled Vault and the other labeled Library. Even though he wasn't a sensor, Darui's experience let him feel the presence of the various shinobi guarding the main entrance to the two rooms. But they were not the real threat. The man behind the desk was.

This man was the former Head Ninja of Kumo during the 2nd Raikage's day as well as a veteran of the 1st Shinobi World War. Anyone who had gone through the amount of violence and bloodshed he had lived through meant that they were dangerous, but especially someone who was able to hold the title of Head Ninja. The Head Ninja of Kumo was the 2nd most important and powerful person in the village, right behind the Raikage. He acted as not only the Jonin Commander in other villages but he was also the head diplomat for th village as well, going to other villages to discuss treaties or alliances.

Darui walked up to him and gave a small bow.

"Hey, Jiki. I got two passes today. One for the Vault, the other for the Library," Darui said before passing over both of the passes. He didn't say exactly what each pass gave him as he didn't want to let others know exactly what he was planning on getting. Even if all of the guardians were loyal to Darui, he knew it was better to keep a few trump cards hidden from everyone to be used.

The old man looked at both the passes before collecting them and nodding to Darui to go by him.

Darui walked past the desk and made his way into the Library. The room was of average size and had scrolls covering the entire wall. He walked straight to the opposite end of the room where the S-Rank scrolls were stored. And there was not much to look through. The village had very few S-Rank scrolls within it, numbering only 7. If Kumogakure had one weakness, it was that they lacked the number of high-level techniques that the other villages had. Even the Raikage's famous techniques were only B-Rank, but they were refined to the point that they could keep up with S-Rank techniques.

'And I get one of the few S-Rank that we have,' Darui was excited to get one of the abilities.

He had never looked at the techniques before because he knew he would need major accomplishments in order to be able to get one and did not want to get ahead of himself. Darui had always been about steady and realistic progress instead of having dreams of the far future.

He read over the small plaques in front of each scroll to get an idea about each one of them. 4 of the techniques were powerful lightning release techniques that he had never heard of, a space-time technique, a kenjutsu style, and the last had the basics of the Swift Release Kekkei Genkai.

Darui was initially planning on getting another lightning release technique or teleportation jutsu but when he saw the Swift Release Kekkei Genkai, he felt reluctant to take either of the other ones.

Swift Release was a kekkei genkai that allowed users of it to move with incredible speed, becoming nothing more than a blur when in motion. Therefore, taijutsu became ineffective if the opponent was not fast enough. Swift Release was a combined nature transformation kekkei genkai created by fusing Wind Release with Lightning Release. The Swift release allowed the user to move at speeds commonly shown in the Lightning Release: Chakra Mode, but at a tier lower than Space–Time Ninjutsu.

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'Shit! Being able to master a new S-Rank technique in less than a year is pretty much impossible unless I am a genius like the 2nd Hokage or have infinite chakra like Naruto, of which I am neither. But Swift Release is different. If I can master the basics in less than a year, that would allow me to use a powerful technique and have the potential for more later. And it's not like I can't get another chance at the S-Rank techniques later. I can get accomplishments during the war and have a good chance of coming back here once again.'

After talking himself into it, Darui decided to get the Swift Release scroll. As soon as he picked it up, it was replaced by another identical scroll. This was how Kumo gave out their scrolls. They would give each permission for a temporary copy that was good for a temporary amount of time, based on the rank of the scroll. The higher the rank, the longer a person could keep their copy due to the difficulty of the scroll making it harder to learn the basics of the technique.

After putting the scroll into his backpack, Darui held onto his chest as he felt a sudden pain in his chest. Cold sweat began to drip down his face. While C had provided basic aid to Darui, his injuries were too deep and Darui should have gone straight to the hospital after giving his report.

Darui began taking deep breaths until the pain finally went away. Once it did, he wiped the sweat off his head and walked out of the Library and into the Vault.

Once he got inside the vault, Darui was greeted by a different scene. Instead of there being a single room with walls filled with various weapons, it instead had 3 seals on the ground. The seals were used to transport the shinobi to the real room where each item was stored. They each had the kanji for what type of tools were held there.

Darui skipped past the Expert and Masterpiece seals. Instead, he stepped right on the Sacred seal. The vault was also divided by grades, the same as the scrolls. Expert tools were crafted by great craftsmen over the years and were the lowest rank. These could be weapons that could be mass-produced or were of the highest quality and in low numbers. Masterpieces were the next highest rank. These were mostly individual items that had some fame or renown, some mass-produced weapons that were of high quality, or weapons that their Scientific Division had created but never mass-produced due to cost.

The one that Darui stepped on was the Sacred Grade seal. These were the most powerful tools in the village and maybe the world. The only items that were allowed to be in here were those with mystical abilities as well as some sentience. They would only allow certain people to use them based on their potential, strength, chakra, or even just the flavor of their blood.

The most famous weapon that would be in this room but did not belong to Kumo was Samehada of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist. That sword had the ability to drain chakra out of others and ninjutsu as well as selected its wielder based on the flavor of their chakra. Kumo had actually been eyeing that sword for years and was planning to try and steal it during the next war.

But as for the tools Kumo did have, there were only 6 in number. They used to have 12 but 4 were stolen by the Gold and Silver Brothers and they were never recovered, 1 was destroyed in battle against another sacred tool, while the last one was a one-time use item and used to protect Kumo when all of the small villages around launched a surprise attack on the village.

But the last 6 tools were each impressive in their own right. Boots that let a person run on air, a jar that sealed whoever responded to the owner, and a pair of tide-blue earrings that gave one control over water release that was on par with the 2nd Hokage.

But none of those are what caught Darui's eyes. Instead, it was a simple-looking staff. The staff was black with golden covers that had images carved into them on each end. But this was the only tool that Darui wanted. This was the Nyoi Bo and one of the Treasured Tools of the Sage of 6 Paths. It was indestructible, had the ability to change its thickness and length, and also be used as a chakra blade which would allow Darui to channel his chakra into the tips to increase the destructive power of his strikes.

'But more importantly, it's a staff! Everyone here will make a sword, a knife, a fan, and a spiked, metal ball that weighs over a ton! But not one person makes a staff besides those chubby guys from Konoha.'

With all the abilities it had, plus the fact that it was a staff, made Darui pick it up immediately. Darui felt something go through his body for a moment before returning back to the staff. Darui held the staff in his hand and swung it around a few times.

'Guess that means it chose me,' Darui thought jokingly to himself

The Nyoi Bo was also semi-sentient just like every other tool in the room. It was very picky about the owner and if they were not chosen, the shinobi would suddenly find themselves holding a 50-ton rod, breaking their hand and most likely leg in an instant. In his hand, the staff suddenly began to shrink until it was the size of a kunai. After shrinking it, he placed the weapon in his bag before walking out of the room and back to Jiki.

The man looked him over, then eyed the backpack. He raised an eyebrow and shrugged his shoulders.

"So those are what you chose. If it was anyone else, I would take them away but knowing you, you won't waste them. Remember, that was a lifetime scroll. Don't let a kid of yours think it is a family heirloom."

Darui nodded even though it was 6 or 7 years too early to start thinking about kids. But Jiki was talking about the time limit on tool rental. Aside from being limited by the grade that the Raikage assigned, they were also given time limits. The time limits were between 5 years, lifetime, and ownership. The first two meant that the tool still belonged to the village while the last meant that it truly belonged to the individual shinobi and they could give it to whoever they wanted. The former two also meant that if the tool was lost, stolen, or given away, the shinobi would be punished by the village, depending on the grade.

Darui left the room and left to take get on the next boat to Genbu, the living turtle that hosted an environment similar to Konoha's Forest of Death.