Crafter of Blades

[Joker]

A mission was never quite so simple a task at the end of the day, was it? Raizou wondered just where things had gotten so mixed up? A solo escort mission was supposed to be easy, but now he had a dead client, and a bunch of items to deliver, still; he had made it this far. There was a temple in the south of Fire Country, far enough south that he could smell a whiff of the sea, but not so close he could see it.

A shame.

But, as he delivered the goods up the temple stairs, instead of running into a group of monks, or even acolytes cleaning, he didn’t see a singular person. It didn’t even feel as if any people lived in this place, were it not for the incessant sounds of metal beating against metal. It was a sound that was almost to be expected; he dragged the large case behind him before following the sound. ”Hey, got your order here.” He said as he pulled apart the thick metal door which rumbled, the heat washed over him instantly, it wasn’t just warm in there, but hot.

”Oi oi, you’re letting all the heat wash out ya brat, close the damn door.” He heard, and for some reason, Raizou did exactly as he was told. It slammed shut before he placed down a scroll on the nearest surface.

”I’ve been cha-”

”Yeah, I know who you are. The ninja that’s supposed to deliver my apprentice, and my order, but you only have one of ‘em.” The man said as he stepped on a…Thingie, but it seemed to fan the flames of the forge even hotter.

”He unfortunately died during the mission, I’ll take this as a failur-”

”Don’t worry about it, Apprentices die all the time, hell I went through four of ‘em during your lil failed war.” The man said as he put the blade down into a quench, the steam rose for a while before he pulled it out, and began to beat on it again. ”Still, I’m out of an appre-”

The man stopped as he looked over at Raizou, an eyebrow rose in the air for a moment as he threw the blade of his over his shoulder and into the bin.

”Huh. Who the hell made this.” The elderly man, easily in his sixties if not older, evaluated the blade that was at Raizou’s side, the Chuunin put a hand to his sword, without a sheath, a product of his Kokouton.

”Terrible, you’re missing way too much there. Ninja and their darn jutsu, you think just cos you can make a weapon with some chakra, and make it hella tough, it’s a real sword, huh?” He said as he looked into Raizou’s eyes, it was more of a glare than anything else, from what was clearly a civilian, but the intensity behind it was enough to make the younger man take a step back.

Old people were terrifying.

”Aye, I can’t really call it anything special, but it is made from my chakra, a special kind of…Jutsu. It’s not just a sword, but…” He didn’t explain much else but allowed the man to take it from him, to hold and swing.

”Its awkwardly balanced, like it doesn’t have real weight. The blade’s sharp, but you ain’t making the best of this thing here…Better than an amateur, you got some experience?”

Raizou scratched the back of his head,

”Only from books and stuff.” He said sheepishly, it felt embarrassing to admit that in front of a professional, but the man just nodded. You’ll end up failing the mission, but if you help me out for a month, I’ll let it slide. Until my next apprentice arrives.”

It was a tempting offer, to avoid having to deal with losing some respect. He really had no reason to say no, and if he could learn to improve his Kokouton jutsu here? Then he’d really get away with a lot. Raizou allowed a subtle smirk on his face before he provided a nod, the man looked him up and down.

”Stop smirking, and start working, you’ll be pumping the forge.”

That was all the man said, and Raizou got to work, he was a ninja, and his conditioning was better than most people his age could attest to, he went towards that furnace and began to pump at it, fanning it with the large fan that was in his hand, allowing the heat inside to reach a higher level.

It was hot, it was tiring work, but Raizou didn’t mind, he simply followed the instruction, move this there, take this here; pick this up. It was like that for a number of days, back breaking work that had him passing out at the end of each day; the orders they were receiving were at a ridiculous number…

But it made sense, they were in wartime, and war demanded a lot of weapons from everyone. Even if the war had officially finished, skirmishes and attacks were ever present, people were losing their weapons, vagabonds were everywhere. Tough times were for monsters, and monsters in the shape of humans needed the claws and teeth known as weapons.

But the time came…

”Oi brat, pay close attention alright? This is how your shuriken and crap are made.” It wasn’t an easy thing to follow, but Raizou did it. HIs eyes were peeled and paying close attention to the movements of the smith. It was a shuriken at first, the stars weren’t easy to understand in terms of process; but they were smooth.

He could make them with Kokouton, but it was a matter of getting the shape right. In this case, the shape had to be beaten into it, and Raizou followed the man’s instructions while following his movements. Beating on the metal a few times before turning it subtly, before doing the action once more.

Then putting it back into the flames until it became red hot, pliable once more; until a shape could be found. Folding it on itself, before beginning anew, he did it once more before he quenched it in the dark fluid. Steam rose up, it bubbled, and then he finally brought it out; the lines were off. He could tell already that this wouldn’t fly straight, a waste of met-

”Not bad for a first one, but start again until you have it down.” Raizou had expected to be insulted, not complemented. He nodded before he got to moving again, things weren’t ever going to be easy here.

He started once more, with a piece of metal of the right size; there were heavier machinery around that he could put to use, but the flames came first as he put it into the fire one more time, before bringing it out to sit in the open air, a hammer over the anvil; he hammered the metal into it in order to bring out the inner ring by puncturing it.

That was an easy part in the step, before he placed it back into the flames and then out onto the table, before he beat on it one more time. It was tiring, he could feel his arms growing weary, and tired once more, but he continued on.

There came the folding, the hardest part in this; usually only needed for poorer metal it became common across the elemental countries, or so the old man had told him. Culture of smithing was important as well, but he did until the five stars had begun to flatten out before he took it to the grinder.

He could spin it with his foot, the mechanism was fine before working on the imperfection, he didn’t have the whole world, but it was an attempt; sharpen it, thin it out, until the metal was shiny, and sharp; it wasn’t perfectly balanced but it was already a significant improvement.

”Keep doing that over the next couple days, we’ll move onto swords next.”

That was how his first week had ended.

trained 1383/400Show

*[Weapons Crafting • Shinobi Tool Set]
D-rank Weapon Crafting Maneuver
The most common secondary weapons used by shinobi are shuriken, kunai, senbon, and arrows. Having spent so much time producing these specific weapons, this smith is able to produce said weapons at half the price, allowing them to buy 10 of the weapons for the price of 5.

[Joker]

”Alright brat, you’ve mastered butt scratchers, and leaf cutters, here comes the real work; you’ll be learning more than one thing at a time so be prepared.” The warning came simple as the man gave him simple instructions. What was needed before the end of the week, a secondary room was opened in the temple.

”Here’s what I’ll need, I wrote the instructions down for ya. I don’t have all week to teach you, I’ve got some orders from some poor lil farmers tryna play samurai…Make sure these weapons don’t kill ‘em.” That was all he was told before the man left the room.

”Sounds easy.” He didn’t believe the words he spoke for a second, acting tough so anxiety and a fear of failure didn’t end up eating away at him. But he took in a deep breath, cleared his mind. The simple processes were doable for him, a Katana couldn’t be more complicated than a shuriken…Definitely not more than a Senbon, he hated those demonic little things even if he had gotten them down.

A sword, it was also the second type of Kokouton weapon that he learned. Raizou couldn’t help but smirk at himself for that fact before he shook his head and began to work away, he made a light clone to help him with his work, deliver the things that he needed. Some practice steel, more like slag that could be worth reforging to start.

He began to work away at it; flames, and then beating away at it; the process of folding was more important for a sword. To create the intricate waves that they were so famed for; but at the same time, he couldn’t allow himself to simply see it as part of the work. He had to work on it, again and again until the moment that it began to take proper shape in front of his eyes. He took in a deep breath right to his core, and put it back into the flame.

It was a repetitive process, but all of this was going to be one. He didn’t particularly care, but his mind did wonder. ”Farmers huh?” To think even life givers were being drawn into conflict, and felt the need to protect themselves. He looked over his shoulder as his clone began to move some wood into the place, as well as string and cloth. The sheath and handle would need doing. But he could focus on such things another time. He placed the sword into the quench, and went to the belt grinder; manually powered it seemed to run well as he began to sharpen the sides of the blade; giving it a good sheen.

It was a process, but this part was as important as the rest, before he began to make his work on another set of swords, he followed the process, again, and again. It was constant work, but he was satisfied with it as he looked upon a row of swords right in front of him, but that didn’t mean he was quite done yet.

There was the spears and naginata that needed doing as well, these were for housewives, especially the naginata. But not noble ladies, but the woman living in the countryside for when some local lord drafted their husbands and sons. It was a terrifying thought, but he knew that war made beasts out of every man…

”No…It just brings out what’s already there.” The more he made these weapons, the more he thought about what they would be used for, what hands they would be held in, and what lives they would take. He enjoyed his work, but his joy might only bring despair to others…

But the biggest thought was that it might fail them, he began to look over the spear head as he quenched it once more before he placed it down on the side and began to work on the pole itself, the wood that would bring out the best…These had advantage in being able to use their leverage, their weight distribution provided an advantage to even a lesser skilled user.

That meant putting more weight on that fact, and making sure that he gave everything in creating it. He began to move back to the blade head before grinding it down to sharpness, and then tying it tightly to the shaft of the polearm; he had made small punctures so the string would link into the shaft and spearhead, even if it unfurled, it wouldn’t fail them. A small design change to what he was offered even if this polearm would most likely end up being a failure; wrapping the length of the wooden shaft was his job, lining the glue and then following it with the cloth that he cut as he went.

Never easy, it was an uneven end; and it didn’t feel comfortable to hold whatsoever. But Raizou smoothed it down by rolling it over on itself, over the anvil until it felt more comfortable and smooth; at least using force. It felt as if the shaft might have broken at times, but that wasn’t his problem, or so he liked to convince himself.

But it was his problem in the end, Raizou was the one making this, and it would be the old man that he disrespected by bringing these out into the world so he threw it out before starting again; he made another light clone to send it off into the woods to retrieve some large sticks, but realized that multiple light clones would be needed, and so he sent them as a group.

This was already draining, but he forced his way through it until he had a set of spears lined up at the table, and the sun dipped below the sky, it would be worthwhile to continue this in the morning. ”So…Much.”

Jutsu Trained994/800Show

*[Weapons Crafting • Sword Weapons]
D-rank Weapon Crafting Maneuver
This smith has specifically learned how to craft various type of normal sword type weapons including daggers, short swords, and katana, reducing the production cost for them by half.
x
*[Weapons Crafting • Hafted Weapon]
D-rank Weapon Crafting Maneuver
This smith has specifically learned how to craft various types of Hafted weapons such as axes, blunt weapons, flails and the like, reducing the production cost by half.

[Joker]

Another day.

But now he was working alone, looking over drafts, plans and trying to figure out just where he could improve on things, where he could get better but at the end of the day, Raizou couldn’t quite figure that out. He looked at the weapons he’d made, what would be the point at which they’d fail? How would they end up, he had made the shape well, but there was more to it than just shape, he realized as he looked over at the Katana in front of him.

He went through a set of hand seals as he had made his Kokouton Katana, and then once more to make one of his chains; sword on sword would have to be the goal here; clash weapons untll he could be satisfied, he beat his weapon against the hard light sword; but there were differences in sound depending on where he struck, he listened out for them until the point he could feel hear the sound increase in volume right until the moment he heard the crack…

”Is that difference in sound…The weakpoint?” He thought back to his crafting process, and why it’d be weaker there. Uneven folds, the answer came to him in a second as he thought about it, as he looked at the two halves of the blades, and then shook his head. He had messed up here, and he knew it; the rest of the swords might as well be in the same place.

Tempering was never going to be an easy process, but before that he had to increase the base strength of the weapons, no-one out there was going to be trained in the use of cha-

No, that was an arrogant thought as he picked the two halves of the katana up and allowed his Kokouton weapons to disappear into motes of light. ”I’m going to have to reinforce every part of this.” He told himself as he looked at the weapons and then at the forge in front of him, he’d remelt it until it began sludge, and so he placed it into the large crucible on hand before placing it into the forge.

He knew the tempering process, because it wasn’t that different from a lot of jutsu he’d worked with, even the Ki Sabre he had thought about practicing in the past. Raizou took in a deep breath before he looked over at the forge and withdrew the crucible using large tongues, and placed the molten steel into a block mold, to return it back to its original shape. He allowed it to cool before he looked at the rest of the weapons…

”They’re all crap. I’m starting again, if I’m lucky I can get to the armour tomorrow…” There was an unusual order as well, Raizou knew that. He had too much to practice still.

He melted the rest of the weapons down, the shafts of the polearms were fine enough, passable. But the bladed part of the weapon was what mattered, those couldn’t be allowed to fail so easily.

”I’ll get working on this now.” Just before it cooled, and yet while it was still red hot, he began to beat on it again; reforging the sword, and following the process before taking the large amount of steel in the crucible, and putting them into various sand molds he had prepared.

The process of making these weapons stronger, starting with this katana was simply, evenness, and taking that to the higher limit. Beating his chakra into it right until the point that it began to even out again; until the metal gave an almost identical sound all over…That was the first step, and then he did it again the second time he reheated it, before folding it on itself to begin the process anew.

With each time he did it; the weapon came out even stronger and stronger, tougher. As if he finally just now understood why he folded it. It wasn’t to beat imperfections out, but so that each layer was perfected before piling them on top of each other…Was what a philosopher would say, but that was what it looked like to him.

Imperfections and quality were always going to matter in a weapon, but he could make up for at least some of that. So Raizou would, he poured more chakra into it, channeling it, feeling out the make-up of the weapon, and then fixing what he had forgotten earlier in this layer, thinking of how it would be folded twenty steps in advance, where each smack’s position would be in fifty folds.

It wasn’t easy, and this wasn’t the last step to making this weapon worthwhile.

Next was the step of tempering.

It was already filled with Chakra, but that chakra had to be made to work, run through it almost like veins. One so it could be used for chakra flow, but the second point was so that it didn’t simply chatter. Raizou sighed aloud as he thought about it, there was no point in going to this length for some bumpkins out in the country, but they were people too. They weren’t supposed to fight, but the circumstances of their world forced them into this state, so Raizou wasn’t going to complain about this.

It was the difference between orphaned children, and a happy future.

There were important steps for this. He had to create a consistent flow within the weapon itself, with the chakra now already within it, he had to pump more into it in order to allow it to flow on its own within the weapon. It was not as difficult as it sounded, as momentum mattered, the rest was allowing the alloy to remember it, and steel wasn’t terrible for this, it was a commonly used metal for a reason.

As he felt his chakra flow through it, Raizou urged it to continue in the path; it was the weak points that still existed within the weapon that would be reinforced. Now it all depended on the strength of the wielder, the rest would come in the future. But the second part of it was a little more difficult, having the chakra become still while remembering its flow; it was a matter of repetition, that much he guessed. So he did the only thing he could do, and had been doing for so long, repeating the process until it became natural to him, until it was the one thing he could do in that moment.

A flow state wasn’t rare, but in something he was so new in, Raizou would’ve been surprised, but every step began to make sense for him as he worked through the weapons, one at a time, reforging them attaching them, decorating them, and finally placing them on the side. He’d get the old man to look them over at some point. At this moment in time, Raizou had to do his final checks, and see the weapons, he swung it, and the weight in his hand began to feel just right, the tempering was well enough…

Maybe, he was actually pretty talented at this?

But he shook that away, talent was a cursed word.

Jutsu Trained 1214/1200Show

*[Weapons Crafting • Faults]
D-rank Weapon Crafting Discipline
Perfectly crafted weapons are rare, few and far between. A skilled smith is able to recognize and strike against weak points in other weapons during battle. At this level, striking against these weak points reduces the Endurance of the equipment by -1.

*[Weapons Crafting - Reforged: Strengthening]
D-Rank Weapon Crafting Maneuver
The user uses their refined knowledge of special blacksmithing methods, their chakra, and other materials to enhance the capability of a weapon or item by increasing its [Strength] and [Endurance] stat by 5 points each time the technique is used on the item. Due to the crafter's level of proficiency, they are able to perform this crafting enhancement at half the normal cost.

*[Weapons Crafting • Tempering]
D-rank Weapon Crafting Discipline
Prerequisite: 5 Control
While often thought to be an enchanting process, the process of creating chakra tempered weapons is known to most any smith who has basic chakra control. The skill represents the smith’s ability to recognize minerals and ores that are good for accepting the tempering process, and know how to temper weapons with chakra. This ensures all equipment made by this crafter is tempered and does not require a static strength.

[Joker]

The next part was difficult, this was where his mettle would really be tested. The rest of the week might fall to the second half of the order; it seemed far more complex when he gave it a real thought. Armor, parts that looked like they would be for a doll, a super large weapon, and then the crossbow?

That wasn’t too difficult on its own when he looked at it, but he hadn’t made armor yet, so he worked on that first perhaps that would open the doors to making the doll parts, once he knew how to mold metal around that of a human. The part sizes were exact as Raizou looked down. The first part he needed to work on was the chest plate. He began to heat up a block of metal, it couldn’t be allowed to be too thick, but he still needed to keep the quality up and so he heated up the forge until it was roaring hot.

He had Hiton Bunshin around him again, simply passing him the various things around the room as he worked on them. The metal was put into the heat, then smacked into shape using his hammer, he used the end of the anvil to help him shape it properly, the flat end and the rounded one. He needed it to be molded step by step until it was set then beat more flat once more.

He knew now to mix his chakra into the mix, and he had folded the metal repeatedly already, it was coming more and more natural; as if it was just another part of the process to him. The other parts of the armor began to grow more difficult with each set he got into, more fine in control and time. He would have to do the fingers in halves before melting them together and then grinding them. So that was what he did, taking them to the lathe in order to hollow out, grind it into shininess, and then put it to the side. The movement of the parts when together seemed to work out as well. It wasn’t the ideal kind of armor, but this one was his practice round before he began to melt it down again. He had work to be done, and he did each part piece by piece once more.

But the next part was the doll, it was supposed to be large and so he used the second armor he forged in order to size the various parts; so that the could move. A part of him noted it was pretty similar to a puppet in creation, perhaps it was functionally just a puppet in creation? Well, there was little point in him just thinking about it.

A lot of these parts could be metal, but they could be wood as well. It was time to work on his crafting when it came to it. Wood, especially that from around Konoha, was especially good at channeling chakra, so he worked on that. The tempering was different in this case, wood had existing veins and so he would have his chakra travel through their as he tempered it, heat treated it, and then water shocked it before grinding it into shape. The lathe was the best thing to use here for the more fine parts such as the fingers before he connected each digit, and then the digit to the hand.

He needed it to be able to separate, working and fixing parts in the future would be easier in that sense. The rest of it was simply piecemeal, following the instructions, he added a retractable spike into the palms and mouths of the doll, pulled by a string, but theoretically it could be pulled by chakra as well.

It was getting more intricate by the step. ”No way this is for some random guy.” He muttered aloud to himself as he looked at the doll’s parts that were laid out in front of him, the most vulnerable were shielded by armor, but the rest was made of wood. It was without a doubt, a puppet. A ninja puppet used by those who were trained in controlling them properly.

This was interesting, perhaps there was an ex shinobi in this community?

Well it wasn’t his place to question, he simply clicked the parts together before hammering them in properly. Rather than nails, it was the friction between parts that kept them together and from falling apart. It wasn’t hard, at least to him this was the easiest part to do, like fixing together puzzle pieces.

But then again, it was a masonry technique.

”Guess if I ever wanna build my own house, I’ll be able to now.” He said with a wry smile as he looked at the next item on the agenda, the oversized sword.

It was huge, perhaps as big as this entire room to begin with. Raizou wasn’t sure how he was going to do this, maybe the first part came by taking as much steel as he could before moving rooms, but none of the rooms could accommodate something like this. The weight distribution had to be different as well…This definitely wouldn’t be easy, and so he looked around.

There were divets in the ground from where it had been disturbed, and there was pieces that looked like a kiln…”Guess the old man wants me to do it from scratch scratch, huh?” If he used the forge, it wouldn’t be impossible for him to do so, but then he’d have to do it in small layers. He began to take a shovel, and groove out a layer from the floor, until it was three feet deep and then used the end of the shovel to cut into the ground, piece by piece until he was satisfied.

Then he took the steel he began to belt down, before pouring in a thin layer, only half a centimeter thick as he allowed it to cool before repeating the process. His chakra flowed with the metal as it ran forward into the mold he had made into the earth itself, reinforcing it, and each layer would show him where imperfections laid. After three, he could see differences in the steel.

He began to make it bottom heavy to account for the weight at the head, and allow it to balance better. ”With something this size, I might as well make it like this.” He muttered to himself. ”But I can’t let it stay mediocre.” What could he do in order to allow it to be the best version of itself?

That was the question, maybe the alloy? Nah, that wouldn’t work. Maybe…He could work on the force distribution. If it was bottom heavy, the top had less steel in it, and was likely to be weaker for it. The curve of the blade itself could also use some work, if force was distributed equally throughout the sword, then he could…

So he worked on the idea that had hit him, pouring layer upon layer until it began to set properly, step by step until he could feel the sun set over him, but he wasn’t finished just yet…

There was still the crossbow that he needed to work on, and it was the part that used the least metal, it was mostly lathe work, but the first part was the bow string. Animal hide alone wouldn’t be enough to utilize the required draw strength, nor was sinew. The strength of this crossbow was stupid as he thought about it, what kind of person would be able to use it?

What had he learned in physics? There was leverage that he could, well…Leverage to his advantage. By having multiple gears, it should be able to turn on its own, and it’d allow him to work on the forge, a win-win.

So he began to work on the various gears that he needed that would most likely only exist inside of the crossbow, like a pulley system. It was his own idea, moving beyond the outline that was set out for him.

Becoming a master crafter took years, but Raizou was beginning to get it, the needs of the customer weren’t something the customer themselves knew. He worked on the casing, the outside of it, as well as the string. The string was the most difficult part, so he had to layer it while still keeping the elasticity, then temper it like he had done with the rest of the items he had worked on.

The wood was going to be held together by tempered reinforced steel, and so he focused back on the internal mechanism that he began to set up, piece by piece until he could feel himself growing tired, he slapped both of his cheeks before he set back into work. This was something he couldn’t allow himself to fail on, and so he pushed past his exhaustion until everything began to come together.

The hardest part was making sure that the wood didn’t began to decline, strengthening parts with steel alone would only hide the strain and stress, as he turned the dial to the side to allow it to pull back, he loaded it with an arrow he had prepared during one of his practice sessions and then shot it at a tree; the shock did reverberate within it, so he needed dampers.

”I’ll figure it out in the morning, I’ll just fuck it up now.”

Jutsu Trained 1616/1600Show

*[Weapons Crafting • Armor Forging]
C-rank Weapon Crafting Maneuver
Though the tutelage of a forging master, the user has learned the method of producing each different piece involved in creating a complete suit of armor. This smith has specifically learned how to craft various type and pieces of armors through diligent practice, reducing the production cost for them by half. Armor and shields have a base starting strength of 15 at initial creation.

*[Weapons Crafting • Projectile Launchers]
C-rank Weapon Crafting Maneuver
Though the tutelage of a forging master and researching various types of launching devices over the continent, the user has learned the method of producing different types of Projectile Launcher weapons from simple ones like as long bows, to crossbows, and even the complex launchers that can be found hidden within puppets. This smith has specifically learned how to craft this various type of weapons through diligent practice, reducing the production cost for them by half.

*[Weapons Crafting • Large Weapons]
C-rank Weapon Crafting Maneuver
Not normally a common weapon among shinobi and civilian fighters, but those with the strength to wield giant weapons can devastate a number of enemies in a single swing, making them a valuable piece of equipment to some. This smith has specifically learned how to large or giant-sized versions of normal weapons reducing the production cost for them by half.

*[Weapons Crafting • Puppet Frame]
C-rank Weapon Crafting Maneuver
Though the tutelage of a forging master and the combination of his in-depth knowledge in the intricacies of the puppet creation process, the user has learned the method of producing different types of puppet frames. This smith has specifically learned how to craft this various type of frames through diligent practice, reducing the production cost for them by half. Puppet frames have a base starting strength of 15 at initial creation.

[Joker]

He sat across from the old man as he showed his works, and what he had made in the week; it was an interesting little discussion that was going on between them. But what was more interesting was the fact the older man didn’t even need to pay a lot of attention to know the faults, and how Raizou had begun to work on them. ”Not bad, not bad for an amateur. My old apprentice didn’t even get this far after years.” The man said as he rubbed his chin, before looking back at Raizou.

”Your comrades at Konoha are going to like these.” Which made Raizou’s eyebrow shoot up, it made some things make sense but others…

”What? It’s a simple lesson brat, treat your customers like they’re your allies, everyone deserves the same chance to survive. The weapons we make, are the chance. A well made weapon is the difference between an early grave, and being able to make it to their child’s wedding.” That was what the old man had told him before he lifted a weapon and threw it over to Raizou. It wasn’t one of the ones that he had forged, but the old man instead.

”Fuck.” Raizou hadn’t been growing arrogant, but there was a part of him that thought he had gotten good. Looking at the sword in front of him, swinging it in the air, and then feeling the distribution told him that he still had a long way to go before any of that would be happening, he was still just a fledgeling.

”The flow of chakra is amazing, the tempering process was done perfectly, the spine is transferring the force fine, and the sharpness of the blade is perfect.” It was like he could see numbers, but that wasn’t it, was it? It was more his own experience that told him this much, and the old man began to nod.

”You did better than expected. I didn’t expect you to get past the polearms.” Was the simple explanation but Raizou only nodded before he gave the weapon back. There was something as he looked over them, like the hairs in the back of his head tingled at some and not at the others, it was something that was coming naturally to him now. A secondary nature perhaps? He’d have to learn more.

”What’s up with some of them, it’s like I can sense they’re tempered.”

”Stop playing dumb kid, you can. You’ve been working on tempering the whole week, if you couldn’t I’d be disappointed.” That was all the man said before he turned around to get to work.

”It’s time to get cracking, work on a series of chain links, I need them to naturally ball up around a hand, I’ll work on the end.” That was all the man said before the two of them began to get to work.

Raizou knew that each link had to be forged separately, there was no other way to do this. He looked at the metal he began to belt, and then at the anvil, as he moved on over to it, and beat the red hot steel until it began to bend around the Horn of the anvil, and then did it to the second link until he interlocked the two of them. It wasn’t a particularly hard process, the hard process was making sure that they rolled together well, and so he began to alter the shape more with each and every link he traveled down.

Each link would have to be able to naturally rest on the next instead of just simply being interlocked, and then stuck in that shape. He looked around, and then checked on how it rested on itself. It wasn’t easy to work on, but triangles were out, four sided shapes were the best, and he settled on doing a Trapezium shape as it settled further down. Making sure that it wasn’t awkwardly weighted, he alternated the thinner and thicker sides as he went with each link.

It wasn’t ideal just yet, but a counter weight at the bottom was the most important part for him. Steel or pig iron wouldn’t work, so he looked at other metals, thicker, denser metals that he then made into that shape, before he tempered the entire length before he passed on the chain onto his master, who fitted a small scythe on the end of the weapon, making sure that it fit before giving him a nod.

The last part wasn’t quite as simple, a strange order…Or so the old man had said, but Raizou knew that whatever the old man considered weird, was going to be especially weird. Experienced people didn’t just call any old thing strange, but it would have to do in this case.

”An umbrella, but they want it to have a spike, and a weapon shooter.” The elderly man said as he got to work. ”I want you to work on the umbrella itself, get it properly made for the mechanisms. I’ll show you how to make more complicated stuff later.” It was a simple statement, but Raizou merely nodded to the man as he looked on at the difficulty of the upcoming task.

A hybrid build that included various different materials, he could do the metal braces well; so he worked on those first; but using a mold to accelerate the process, and then forging them together in order to avoid seams. He felt his muscles grow increasingly more taut from each strike that he did, and then moved onto the fabric, far more easily since he had the frame from the upper part of the umbrella, these parts required no space for a mechanism within them.

But the shaft was different, it needed the strength to be able to be used similar to a small polearm, and the flexibility to act as a projectile shooter. He had worked on two of those things before, so he simply created the shell first, and the various parts inside.

It couldn’t just be hollow, he had learned with the crossbow that it was less than ideal to have it as such. It made it weaker in the long term, and so he created internal grooves with the lathe, and for the head of it, he created a manual load; the rest would be done by the older smith.

He watched as the old man began to put the various parts inside, Raizou only just noticed the man didn’t even need to measure out the sizes, he had been watching him the entire time, and getting to work around him.

A true professional.

The parts began to click into place, and then he spun it around as the senbon began to shoot from it, then came the spike at the top that ejected with an easy button. The weight seemed to be even, and Raizou took it into his own hands as he inspected it over, before making a few simple motions with it.

”Looks like it works.”

”Looks like it does.”

Jutsu Trained 1208/1200Show

[Weapons Crafting • Chained Weapons]
C-rank Weapon Crafting Maneuver
Through the tutelage of a forging master, and his own hard work, Raizou has learned how to create chained weapons, such as chains, Kusarigama, Morning stars, and the like. This smith has specifically learned how to craft these various types of weapons through diligent practice, reducing the production cost for them by half.
x
[Weapons Crafting • Alternate Weapons]
C-rank Weapon Crafting Maneuver
Through the tutelage of a forging master, and his own hard work, Raizou has learned how to create alternate weapons, such as scythes, whips, and other weapons that don’t fall into the usual concentrations. This smith has specifically learned how to craft these various types of weapons through diligent practice, reducing the production cost for them by half.
x
*[Weapons Crafting • Evaluation]
C-rank Weapons Crafting Discipline
A skilled crafter, this user is able to look at any weapons or armor and immediately recognize if it is tempered or not, and if not, the static strength of that piece of equipment. This can serve as an enormous advantage in battle as the user is able to abuse weakened weapons and more easily damage them.
x
[Weapons Crafting • Chained Weapons]
C-rank Weapon Crafting Maneuver
Through the tutelage of a forging master, and his own hard work, Raizou has learned how to create chained weapons, such as chains, Kusarigama, Morning stars, and the like. This smith has specifically learned how to craft these various types of weapons through diligent practice, reducing the production cost for them by half.
x
[Weapons Crafting • Alternate Weapons]
C-rank Weapon Crafting Maneuver
Through the tutelage of a forging master, and his own hard work, Raizou has learned how to create alternate weapons, such as scythes, whips, and other weapons that don’t fall into the usual concentrations. This smith has specifically learned how to craft these various types of weapons through diligent practice, reducing the production cost for them by half.
x
*[Weapons Crafting • Evaluation]
C-rank Weapons Crafting Discipline
A skilled crafter, this user is able to look at any weapons or armor and immediately recognize if it is tempered or not, and if not, the static strength of that piece of equipment. This can serve as an enormous advantage in battle as the user is able to abuse weakened weapons and more easily damage them.
x

[Joker]

It had been weeks now, Raizou knew the time was coming for him to leave and he got the feeling that his master did as well; but at the core of it; he just had to grit it his teeth and continue to learn. His newly bloomed perfectionism was really at stake in this place, and he had to make it work, but the old man had called him to the main gate. ”Hey, what is it pops?” He had gotten used to calling the man that, but it wasn’t just the man here, an number of others were also there.

”You’re done now. Shoo.” It was an almost distant kind of call, but Raizou just smirked, it was just like this guy to do this after spending weeks together, but at the same time he couldn’t begrudge him for it. ”Haaa…So Cold.” He said with a sigh, and his new apprentices, at least that’s what he assumed they were, agreed with Raizou.

”That’s fine, but don’t count me out.” He said as he ran through a set of hand seals. He formed a Kokouton weapon but then continued to run through handseals as the shape of the sword subtly changed, stronger, harder, but overall better made. There was changes to it, and Raizou allowed himself to smirk as he looked at the old man.

”Passable. The spine’s too overt, the weight is still too light, and the handle doesn’t feel completely natural for your hands.” The man said as he looked at the weapon without pausing he continued. ”But far better than before, I can let you go now without embarrassing this school.” Was all the man could say as he passed Raizou a pair of scrolls, the Ninja looked at it with some confusion.

”One of them is for your village to say you completed, the other…Well it’s garbage, can’t make heads or tails of it, but maybe you ninja might get something outta it.” Was all the man said before tu-

”Oi, old man. Thanks for having me.” Raizou said as he bowed, a deep bow. But then he realized something, his eyes opened wide, and he stood up straight as he opened his mouth.

”Don’t bother. I don’t need to know your name, you don’t need to know mine. Our tools already said everything we need to. We’re crafters, not daisy pickers.” And then he departed, his apprentices following closely behind as Raizou just smirked before turning, he sat down at the temple stairs and looked at the scroll he was given.

It wasn’t a singular scroll, not at all; a sealing array was the thing that greeted him, and he ran his chakra through it giving a pop as a number of scrolls appeared, but he went for the one that was numbered as one.

Runes.

The name popped up on the sheet, he had heard of them, but considered them older Fuuins, basically outdated, pointless. It didn’t make sense for him to pursue it as long as he had a good foundation in fuuinjutsu. But the moment that he opened it, it greeted him with a simple question anyone who used chakra asked themselves.

What is chakra?

It caught his attention immediately, and the following explanation even more so, this wasn’t just fuuinjutsu, it was a style of writing different from their own. A language that had been lost at some point in time regained, and used…On a permanent basis.

”The hell is this” He stood up and began to walk as he read it, other scrolls safely tucked away. It spoke of arrays, of lines, and of chakra. It was almost like a charge fuuin at times, and an augument fuuin at other times. The more he read, the more Raizou understood, this was a bigger fish than he had given it credit for.

And he had read almost nothing so far.

The first scroll didn’t provide a single piece of instruction on how to make runes, simply what they were, and his mind began to spin as he made his way back home. A rune was what? A seal was what? Why were hand seals needed for some people and not for others? Why could one construct remain behind, and not another?

It didn’t make sense to him, not quite; but as he read along he understood more. Tempering was part of the reason, a constant supply of chakra, but as he began to reach the end of the scroll, as the questions continued to pile up, he looked at the answer to the first question posed by the scroll.

Chakra is a sacrifice.

Jutsu Trained 812/800Show

[Weapons Crafting • Kokouton Alteration]
C-rank Kokouton Crafting Maneuver
Raizou is able to use his Kokouton in order to craft alterations onto weapons he’s already made with Kokouton Jutsu, at this level he’s capable of adding up to two modifications onto them so long as he has a technique for a specific modification. Still, these modifications only last for around five rounds before they become Inert.

*[Ancient Rune: Scholar]
D-rank Taijutsu Discipline
Prerequisites: [Charge & Augment Fuuinjutsu Concentration]
Not an actual fuuinjutsu technique, this discipline is the first step in a fuuinjutsu user being able to utilize 'Ancient Rune' techniques. A highly sought after talent, Runes are an ancient form of fuuinjutsu much stronger than the standard fuuinjutsu and are used to embed jutsu effects into things on a permanent basis. This discipline shows that the user has the knowledge to understand Runes, and can interpret what a Rune does through visual inspection. This technique is required to learn any [Ancient Rune] technique.