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.
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.