Tinkering with metal

[Zao]

On a small mountainside that overlooked the dark blue see, a small blacksmith forge that was connected to a small rock constructed building that was far removed from society and relatively untouched from the long war that had plagued the rest of the continent. It was here that an old man in his late sixties worked away with hammer and tongs as he carefully forced a red hot piece of metal against the black steel of an ancient anvil. Pausing as he sense something the man turned around to find a monk like figure with flowing snow white haired that reached past his waist standing in the doorway. "Young one, it has been quite sometime since you last came to visit." The old man's voice was enough to put a smile on the solemn face of the recently freed bannin as for the first time since regaining his consciousness and body from the demon he felt a feeling of warmth.

"Old man Juu, it has been a long time." Zao spoke back with a respectful tone to the senior before him, the last time he had ventured out to this remote part of the world to visit this hermit who hailed from the Suna village many moons ago was to ask him to help construct a chakra tempered weapon to create a spirit weapon. Back then he had watched as the man's old body moved with such youthfulness and pride as the man combined traditional blacksmithing techniques with secret techniques and chakra that he'd learned from his travels around the world after retiring from the life of a shinobi. "What do you have for me today?" The man could only assume that his young friend had come to conduct business like the times in the past but he would be in for a bit of a surprise when the slender monk replied to him. "Actually, I came here to ask if you could teach me about the art of forging weapons."

The response peaked the old man's interest almost instantly as the Suna Bannin did not appear to have the physical attributes of someone who enjoyed the fruits of their manual labor but the experience told him that something was off about the shinobi before him as well but it didn't feel the right time to probe. "Well, I don't just take any bum who manages to find me all the way out here." Laughing a bit the old man placed his piece of hot metal back into the forge to warm it as he then turned back to Zao and spoke. "But, I'll give you a chance to see if you have any sort of talent. After all, there would be no use teaching someone if they don't have the knack for this..." The bannin shook his head and smiled, giving a gentle nod of his head, he'd come to learn about crafting as he felt that if he could devote himself and his mind to something it would help him to realign himself and process everything that had happened to him over the course of the last two years.

A short while later the monk looking man had swapped out his flowing robes and ornaments for a rather plan looking set of heavy clothing pants and shirt, a blackened leather apron was draped over his front now as he stood side-by-side, the old blacksmith being a few inches taller than the spiritualist even which his back slightly hunched over from age. Off to the side on one of the workbenches one could see an yellowed scroll that contained the basic instructions for making the standard shinobi tools such as shuriken, kunai, ect. This was the basic techniques that the experienced blacksmith had first started his apprenticeship making back as a genin in Suna. "We'll start with this. Follow my form and use the template here to construct ten kunai. This is the most basic of weapons you will create and it is also where you will begin to build your form and skills in order to create larger and more complex weapons.

Soon the forging began as the pair worked side-by-side while the bannin attempted to mimic the old man's fluid movements as he heated the steel while maintaining the proper forge temperature before rapidly removing the hot steel and forging it carefully. A process that required patience and skill forged from years of blood, sweat, and tears from the blacksmith as his calloused hand gripped the hammer perfectly and every impact from heavy to light struck the metal with the utmost of precision. Zao was trying to keep up but he had always been a bit weaker than others when it came to sheer physical strength and found himself falling behind the stout looking old man who was attempting to teach him these basic techniques that were required to establish the basic ground work if the bannin wished to truly become a forgesmith. After a few rather ugly looking creations were made the old man made the white haired monk take a break as he spoke to him. "You need to find a better rhythm my young friend and I can tell that your hands are probably to soft this kind of man's work. Perhaps you should reconsider this."

He was not trying to talk down to the bannin, but was one who had always spoken bluntly and nothing would change the personality of the retired shinobi. As the older man spoke to him Zao turned over his hands to see the blistered and bloody hands that had been wrapped in some first aid bandages for the moment. It was truth that he wasn't the typical build for such a task but his patience was one that was as strong as even the experienced forger before him. It was in that moment that he managed to think of something, this was that there was almost always more than one way to solve a problem and thinking outside the box had always been a specialty for Zao in dealing with spirits and experimenting with his spacetime techniques. "Perhaps I have something." While doubtful the old man couldn't help but see some of the same stubbornness in the bannin as he saw in himself years ago.

Shrugging the old man and the bannin moved back to the forge after their break and began once again only this time Zao brought his bandaged right hand up forming a single hand seal which made Juu raise an eyebrow in suspicious at what his young comrade was up to this time. From each finger tip a slender blue thread of chakra extended as each reached for a tool or helped with maintaining the forges' temperature. While his physical abilities were somewhat subpar his chakra control was second to none that he'd ever met allowing for him to easily control the secret chakra thread technique of the sand village to follow along with Juu's teaching. Each time the pair completed a kunai Zao's began to become more refined and closer to that of the old man's to the point that even the blacksmith gave a nod of approval to their last one as the sun was starting to set out across the ocean. 'Perhaps he has some talent in him after all...'


1200/400

Shinobi Tool SetShow

D-Rank Technique = 1400 words
250 stats = 2500 word discount

[Weapons Crafting • Shinobi Tool Set]
D-rank Weapon Crafting Discipline
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 weapon for the price of 5.

[Zao]

The pair finished up for the night, eating together and speaking about the events unfolding within the chaotic world at the moment before washing up and laying down for a well deserved rest. A rest that was of the more peaceful that the middle aged man had been able to have as of late due to his imprisonment. He rose with the sun to the east the next morning to find the old man already awake, Juu was outside slowly practicing sword kata with a short bladed sword going through a variety of different techniques on how to swing the blade to attack and defend. When he noticed Zao the man came to a stop and wiped the sweat from his brow and smiled, 'The sword is truly the weapon of man." With a smile he came down from a rocky outcrop and the pair fixed a small breakfast before they were once more back off to the forge.

With the pair back in blacksmithing attire, Zao still sporting the bandaged hands that ached from his troubles the day before. This time the old blue print was that of the identical sword which Master Juu had been using that morning to train in an old sword art. "This is one of the most basic types of swords a smith can make and one that serves as the basis for him to construct other larger or more complicated styles of blades." Zao nodded quietly as he took several minutes to look over every aspect of the old, stained scroll that was rolled out on the work table as he was one that enjoyed the knowledge of the past and absorbed information well from books and parchments.

"Shall we?" The working in Juu couldn't wait to get started, he was on the opposite end of the learning spectrum where he learned best from actually doing instead of reading how to do it through books or instructional parchments. Soon the flames were stoked as the heat began to radiate from the forge washing over the two men. 'It's hotter than yesterday.' Zao couldn't help but speak to himself about how the heat was like being back in the burning desert's hot wind. He watched as the first seemed to change to a darker red orange today before the pair began to heat up their rectangular blocks of steel. Juu of course proceeded on as a traditional blacksmith while Zao once more focused his chakra and used the puppetry technique to control the tongs, hammer, and stoker. Slowly their blades began to take shape as Zao did his best to mimic the movements and techniques of the old master.

But it felt like, even with his precise control of the tools that the old man was still hard to follow as the rythmic sound of the hammers hitting the heated metal continued til into the afternoon. Each man had drawn out their metal into the fine shape of a blade, though only Juu's would be an exact match for that one in the diagram. "Not bad for your first blade. The next one will be better." Without passing the man put aside the handless blade and took out another set of metal blocks. It seems the pair would be working into the night as he wanted to ensure that his new apprentice was able to fully commit his techniques and teachings to heart, mind, and memory as they started to produce one sword after another for the next three days...




583/400

SwordsShow

D-Rank Technique = 1400 words
250 stats = 2500 word discount

[Weapons Crafting • Bladed Weapons Swords]
D-rank Weapon Crafting Discipline
A common weapon among shinobi and civilian fighters alike, swords can be a valuable piece of equipment. This smith has specifically learned how to craft various type of blades weapons including various swords (Daggers, short swords, katana, ect.), reducing the cost for them by half and setting the complexity of any sword they craft to 1.

[Zao]

A few weeks seemed to pass as the man taught Zao about the art that was forging and crafting. Today the two man were returning from a trip down to a coastal port where Juu was able to acquire most of his metal needs and also sell off his own productions at a rather nice profit. Usually the man could only bring a limited amount on his person and with his horse drawn cart but with the help of Zao and his mastery of spacetime and fuuin they were able to bring almost everything that Juu had wanted to sell for sometime down to the mark. In turn they were able to also bring back much, much more than he normally would have been able to by himself. While they were there the old blacksmith took note of what the merchants were needing the most and used their needs to tailor what he was going to instruct Zao on when they returned.

Not long after they returned the old man had already dragged the slender framed Bannin back out into the heat of the forge. The hunk of metal that they were heating up was easily three times the size of the ones they had used to make swords and the old man took great care in heating the metal to ensure that it heat was being drawn through the metal evenly now, something he was explaining to Zao as it happened in real life. Allowing him to see and experience how the metal needed to be cared for in order to it to meet the point at which it would be malluable enough to draw out. On the workbench was a diagram that explained the dimensions and forging process of a standard buckler shield. "You need to adjust the heat and constantly be rotating the metal in order to get a good heat before we can start making the shield, making these are quite a bit more time consuming that simple weapons like kunai or short swords.

As the Zao mimiced his mentor, he could tell that it was a bit more awkward persay with the hunk of steel than the normal slender bar of metal being held by his tongues via his chakra threads at the moment. Finally the metal was a molten orange and the pair quickly retrived the ore and began to utilize the flat of the two anvils to draw out the thick hung of metal outwards in each direction. Causing the formerly large hunk to slowly become thinner as its edges were pulled out by the constant steady hammering. Before long the metal was tossed back into the forge to reheat, but one could already see it slowly starting to be formed from its square starter shape into more of an oblong egg shape, in Zao's case, while the older man laughed a little as his was more circular as experience was something his young apprentice didn't have under his belt quite yet.

It would take a number of times before the metal was fully drawn out into the shape of the buckler shield without the metal being drawn to thin which would effect the strength and integrity of the metal itself. Then the old man would move on to using the circular horn of the anvil as he started to slowly and carefully curve the edges of the shield to really give it that precise shape and curve that would allow for the shield to brush off blows to either side of the shield allowing for them to follow the smooth curve of the shields surface. Taking the marority of the day the Bannin was able to make only two of these shield, but both were far behind the craftsmanship of Juu. The first one was even scrapped and would be reforged later much to the embarassment of the Suna-nin. But through these shields and the ones he would make over the next couple of days the apprentice slowly began to perfect his technique and committ the techniques to memory as he grew better with each creation.



684/400

ShieldShow

[Weapons Crafting • Shields]
D-rank Weapon Crafting Discipline
Somewhat rare among shinobi, shields can be a valuable piece of equipment. This smith has specifically learned how to craft them, reducing the cost for a shield by half and setting the complexity of any shield they craft to 1.

[Zao]

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[Zao]

The pair had taken a break from forging and were in the workshop polishing the metal with wet stones and refining the edges of the various swords that they had been making over the last couple of days. Zao's pile of acceptable good was of course quite a bit smaller than the number of creations of his new master Juu, but none the less one could see that his smithing experiences had allowed him to grow tremendously in a short period of time. Almost like comparing night to day with some items, but others maybe not so much. As they sat quietly with only the sound of the stones scraping along the edges of the blades old Juu spoke up to his young friend without even looking at him but instead held up a blade. "Can you see any different between this blade and this other blade?" The question caught Zao a little of guard because it seemed like their was some sort of teaching point of lesson that the old smith was pointing out but even as the man's crystal blue eyes gazed at the second blade his master had picked up he couldn't see anything different about it.

In fact they two could have been a perfect set of twin blades in the inexperienced eyes of the Bannin, reaching up to touch his chin in thought over the matter he could only shake his head and speak frankly to his senior. "I can't tell a difference, they both look like perfect swords to me." The old man only chucked a little as he turned one of the blade analysising it with a gaze as deep as the ocean. "In truth they are identical but very few weapon creations ever turn out perfect even with skill as refined as my own. Each type of weapon while strong and resilent has weak points due to the design of the item and the type of materials used in its creation." He then drew one of the blades back and chopped down with the center of the first blade onto the meaty center portion of the second blade causing a ear ringing metal ping to echo throughout the workshop and into the nearby area. "A sword is always strongest in the center where the thick spine of the weapon acts as a backbone that holds it together and keeps it straight much like for our own body." He spoke as the ringing of the blades faded and one could only see a white mark on the surfaces of the blades despite the rather high level of strength he had used to strike the blades together. "But.."

After speaking the single word he drew back the blade in his left hand and came down once again on the blade in his right hand which was gripped tightly in his rough hand, this time he struck the blade right before the hilt and knuckle guard and to the amazement of the bannin the one sword broke the second sword off right at the hilt. It caused the young man's eyes to narrow a bit and even his lips opened without a sound exiting them, amazed as his mentor began to speak again. "For most sword style weapons, the weak part is right here at the transition point between the spine of the blade and the thinner portion that become the hilt of the weapon. Striking it here gives you a high chance to damage the weapon or even break it like I just did. As we begin to craft different types of weapons I will start to also speak more about the faults in these weapons that allow an experienced fighter to take advantage of." Zao could only nod his head as he looked down at the broken blade on the stone floor and back up to Juu as he finished speaking. If a fighter's style was highly dependent on a certain weapon or type of weapon, taking that away from them during the fight could create a large advantage for their opponent.

This was something that as a spirit master he had never really stopped to consider but with the times changing the man could only smile as the old smith expanding his mind and way of thinking once again. The conversation went on as the man spoke about the faults in other types of weapons, even the shields that the pair had been forging just a few days ago and what the best manner to attacks certain weapons to gain an advantage. Not only was his mind being broadened but he was becoming a more complete shinobi that would be able to stand alongside his fellow village members and protect what was still precious to him. Yet, returning back to the village was another difficult task that he had not yet figured out how to do...their was much uncertainty for him on the road ahead to redeeming his former life.


829/400

FaultsShow

[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 structural integrity of the equipment by -3, requiring less strength to break or destroy them.

[Zao]

It was early and both the old man and the middle aged bannin were up with the rise as its warm rays were a welcome to the cold morning air that swept in from the ocean off to the west of the high mountain cliffs, each man seemed in sync with one another as they worked through a series of slow but flowing sword kata as a type of method to war up the body and mind for the tasks ahead that day. This time also served as a sort of bonding time with the old man who had shut himself away from the problems of the world in order to just live out a simple life in his remaining years after his retirement. Soon the pair were finished as they moved to set across from each other on a pair of carved stone seats that were made from the natural bolders in the area. "Zao, today I thought that we could take a break from just forging and I could give you a different set of lessons." This statement of course peaked the intrest of the white haired bannin as he allowed the short sword to rest across his lap. "What was it that you had in mind old Juu?" He lightly poked back at the old man which caused his master to smile and simply shake his head, the pair had been able to develop a deep relationship despite the pair only having spend about a month together forging weapons and taking about the art of being a blacksmith.

"To be a competent fight one has to know more than just how to deal with an opponent's weapon, as some opponent will be either to skillful or just outright to strong to fight with your own level of strength or skill. They will use this to attempt and destroy your weapon and then target you directly." This statement made sense to the bannin who had quite a bit of battle experience between himself and that which he had acquired from the mmemories of the Demon that had possessed him. "Today I want to demonstrate what it means to truly know everything about that weapons that you crafter with your own two hands." A smile formed upon the man's dark skinned, wrinkled face as he slowly stood up and brought out a second blade from a sheath on his back now and took up a fighting stance as he spoke softly again. "I know you aren't to strong so I want you to instead use the chakra thread technique to attack me with you blade. As a forger of this style of blade now you know that they are only able to withstand a certain level of impact strength before they will simply break as the construction method and materials can only manage so much. So, go ahead and strike this blade in my left hand with a powerful blow."

Focusing shakra into one finger a single chakra thread extended from it and attached itself to the hilt of his short sword before he then released the grip upon the weapon allowing for it to seemingly float before the Bannin. With a nod to show his understanding the man's amr and fingers moved in a whip like motion as the blade cut through the space between to two men in only an instantly worth of time as Zao only held back a little. Striking the blade with his own at such a level of strength that he could generate with his high level of chakra control and the secret technique his master's blade was broken into three pieces from the attack. "Good. Now I want you to try the same attack on the other blade now. Pay close attention to how I defend against this attack." Zao's concentration rose as even the old man could detect a certain sense of sharpness from the younger man's gaze at him and his actions. Once more without holding back to much the short sword whipped around in an intricate attack pattern before clashing into the large man's weapon with the impact sending him sliding back several feel until gravity and friction brought him to a full stop. The blade was still intact but still had a noticable crack upon its surface.

"A weapon can be the user's life in their own hand and as a blacksmith you know all the intricate details of the weapons and armor that you create which allows you to use the strengths of them to deal with an attack that might normally break them. Though as you can see, the blade was still damaged from the clash but it can still be used to attack with." The studious side of Zao wanted to write down every word the black smith said to him as he was replaying the movements in his mind of the man as he deflected the blade using his body positioning and causing the strongest part of the blade to take the brunt of the impact while also allowing his body to absorb some of the impact as well which ultimately left the blade mostly intact. "You really are something else, old man." The two laughed as they started to clean up their mess as they had another day of forging ahead of them still...



891/400

IntegrityShow

[Weapons Crafting • Integrity]
D-rank Weapon Crafting Discipline
Masters of their craft are able to recognize their own limitations and weak points. This smith has learned to protect weapon points of their own weapons and equipment. When wielding weapons they’ve made, this crafter’s weapons are able to remain in-tact when they receive a strike that would break them, but will break if they continue to be used. For example, if they have a sword with 15 strength that blocks a 40 strength strike, it would not shatter, but if they used it to block another strike it would immediately shatter. This allows the crafter to avoid losing weapons.

[Zao]

After the pair has cleaned up from their morning warm ups and gotten a bite to eat for breakfast the two men changed into their normal blacksmithing attire and transitioned over to the forge where the old man brought out a couple different scrolls. The material today was also more than just steel as long strips of tanned leather were drapped over the workbench while the old man got started by building a fire in the forge and tendrils of smoke could be seen starting to escape from the outside chimney pipe. "You've grown pretty comfortable with the basics of metal work and you're even starting to get the hang of what types of wood make strong hilts but today we're going to make something a bit different." With a smirk the man unrolled one of the scrolls which was rather simple in appearance as it spoke about how to make and combine chain links in order to create different sized chains for weapons and other uses. Then he unrolled the second scroll which spoke about the intracies of combining metal, wood, and leather for creating whips. "There really is more than I thought there was that goes into being just a basic well rounded blacksmith let along a master craftsman like yourself Juu-saam." Zao spoke with respect as he studied the first one, that didn't seem to difficult but more so rather time consuming with the constantly repitition needed to create any decent length of chain.

As the fire warmed the forge the two men prepared a number of small lumps of metal that were the smallest pieces that he'd worked with yet before they started to place them into the fire. After they reached a beautiful glow they brought them out one at a time and began to draw each of them out length wise creating a long straight bar of steel that was rather thin before they were replaced into the fire to be reheated. After being drawn out and reheated the pieces were brought back out and using the horn of the anvil, near the point they two men began to hammer each rod into a tight oval shape before clipping off the oval and once more drawing out the piece remaining and forming another and another. Carefully linking each oval with an already completed one as a length of chain began to form. In the evening the pair stopped to each and rest before returning to the workship as the man began to gather up five strands of leather that was easily three meters in length each. He then used a intricate pattern of fastening knots to adhere the trands to a premade wooden hilt before he then placed the hilt in a wedge and started to braid the five pieces together similar in method to how a rope might get braided together.

The progress on it seememd slow, but the old man's work had a certain fluidity to it that caused one to loose track of time as the man casually explained to his young apprentice that the manner in which one braids the whipe and what material they choose could make the different between a whip used on animals and a weapons grade whip used by the rare few in combat. Even how one could add steel into the braids or as little claws along the length of the braid to increase its strength and lethality. The thought of adding claw like additions to the whip caused the man to think about his former plant spirit, Toge, and it was at that point he had decided to craft a special whip in order to seal what remained of the spirits soul within after he was able to remove the marjority of the demonic chakra that had taken over the spirit's physical body. At least in the form of a whip the former thorny vine plant spirit would at least have some feeling of familiarity toward it and it's own body. Soon Zao was seated beside the old man and began to start on a whip of his own as the old man would watch with an ever observant eye and stop the man to correct something or to give him a tip on how to increase his perficiency or technique along the way. Before either of them realised it the pair had been working till the last rays of sunlight broke through the western facing window opening of the open forge...where had the day gone?




753/400

Cord and ChainShow

[Weapons Crafting • Corded Weapons and Chains]
D-rank Weapon Crafting Discipline
A uncommon weapon among shinobi, corded weapons such as whips or whip swords, chains, and traditional ninja wire, can be a unique and hard weapon set to fight against. This smith has specifically learned how to craft various type of corded weapons through diligent practice, reducing the cost for them by half and setting the complexity of any corded weapon they craft to 1.

[Zao]

As the pair practed sword kata this morning, off in the distance each of them noticed a small cloud of dust upon the single winding path that lead up this part of the mountain to the blacksmith's forge, but who would come all the way out here? It was hard to guess but one could only assume that one would make such a lengthy journey in order to request something from the blacksmith hermit that was old Juu. "An old friend comes to visit." The older man only commented that he already recognized the distant traveler approaching them as an old friend and his words would come to pass as the rider came to a half and even the Bannin knew the man. He was a very well off merchant trader from the nearest port city who sold a lot of rare items and was also a big purchaser of Juu's specilty items. The man set down with his merchant friend inside the house were the pair shared a drink and talked about business. He had come at the request of one of his noble clients who had requested two commisions from the famed blacksmith hermit, one was a perticular set of heavy arm and the other was a large war hammer.

Juu only shook his head as he left, turning to his apprentice to speak,"I normally don't do commisions but as a favor to my old friend I decided to accept for two reasons. One was that I can't turn down a challenge and this set of armor can be a challenge and number two was this is an oppertunity for you to learn about some advanced blacksmithing." Advanced? Had everything the Bannin had been forging up to this point have been considered just the mere basics of blacksmithing and weapon forging? It would seem that he really did have a long way to go under the tutalege of this old hermit. Sighing a bit the pair moved to the forge to start preparations as a small convoy of wagons could be seen winding up the trail now, it would seem that the merchant was confident enough that his old friend would take the offer that he'd already sent the materials as he rode to make the offer and it didn't hurt that the rich man paided over half the commission fee up front.

Zao quickly realized that armor was quite a bit different than the simple weapons and attachements that he'd been forging up to this point, not only did armor require a larger quantity of high quality steel but each piece had to be perfectly hand crafted to work with each other. Small pieces had to funtion and allow movement of the wearer inside the armor. The Bannin didn't only watch his mentor make the armor he was put into full apprentice mode as he stoked the fire, helped hold and temper the metal, Juu even put his precise control to the test through the shaping of the smaller pieces that made up the guantlets for each hand. Just making a single guantlet took the pair the entire day due to the precise nature of each linkage and the fastening of the pieces together along the fingers and wrist. As a shinobi it was had to find an appreciation for heavy armor like this when speed was one of the lifelines for a shinobi to escape if things went sideways. But for a standard civilian or soldier, if one had the strength to use it, it offered a rather high level of protection against many kind of weapons and allowed one to fight against multiple unarmored foes in battle.

Slowly it began to come together as both gauntlets and greeves were designed and pieced together, the rest of the upper and lower body armor went much more smoothly as the two blacksmiths worked hand and hand as Zao allowed Juu to guide and critic his techniques and methods along the way allowing for him to improve. Thing continued to progress as greaves were connected to the armored leg sleeves that joined up with the chest armor before the arm sleeves were affixed and the gauntlets were fully complete. Juu took great time and put a lot of efort and detail into the helm, ensuring the best mix of it serving its function to protect the user's head while also giving them a good enough field of view that it didn't encumber the knight more than it needed too. Over all, the entire armor set took nearly two weeks of work back and forth between the master and the apprentice as they diligently forged forward with each small piece of the armor bringing them all together for this final magnificent production before them. The heavy armor was polished and all the edges worked on over the course of an entire day before Juu finally gave his seal of approval on the new armor. It had been a tough challenge but one that the old hermit fully welcomed as it was one of the things that allowed for him to feel alive while he was making it...


859/400

ArmorShow

[Weapons Crafting • Armor Forging]
D-rank Weapon Crafting Discipline
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 cost for them by half.

[Zao]

After the pair had worked so diligently on the armor set foe the old man friend each took a well deserved rest over the course of the next two days. At least a rest for their physical bsoies as old Juu spoke in great length about other aspect of armor creation and how the tedious process was truly a benchmark that master craftsman apart from one another. As Juu put it to him...'really any fool can slip and forge a mediocre weapon'. It was obvious to Zao just home much passion and how mich of the man's heart was put into each and every creation forged by the man's rugged hands.

Two days felt like sich a short time as Zao's own chakra supply was finally returning to its normal levels from the armor's forging process. "Today we will create a one of a kind war hammer." One of a kind? The younger Bannin wasn't quite sure about the man's words but he also knew that his old mentor was not the boasting kind and waited for him to explain himself. "The material we are using is a rare metal from the former Star country, something that even those with money...it meant that the true buyer of this armor and weapons was not only rather wealthy but also someone with quite a lot of influence. This mysterious figure was truly beginning to become interesting.

"Anyways this is the diagram for the production method..." Not even the experienced blacksmith could hold back his excitement as Juu grinned from ear to ear at the blueprint before him. First the special metal alloy needed to be heated much hotter than normal steel due to it own internal composition but the end result would be a much stronger and durable weapon. Zao fell right into work as his chakra threads came alive and firewood was placed into the fire with tender and before long a cherry red fire engulfed the forge and it heat radiated outside the little forge structure.

Sweat dripped from the mans face as the thick leather outside garments he wore only made it worse but the old man didn't even seem to notice as he quickly helped Zao by using a second air pump to inject more outside air into the flames along with the one the bannin was operating and then when the flames seemed to hot to even stand close to he tossed the purplish metal deep within the flames which immediately engulfed it. Even with the powerful flames it took some time for the metal to reach forging temperature. Unlike normal steel it turned a hot blue color before Master Juu quickly removed the large hunk and began to temper and shape the metal allowing his younger apprentice to carefully observe each strike and technique.

This was a repeated cycle and before long the weapon began to take shape as the head of the war hammer came to like with a blunt side and a spiked side nearly as wide as a normal man's shoulders. Several hours passed as the sun had started on its final leg in the sky before hitting the horizon when Juu and Zao finished the head of the war hammer and the metal rod that would be its handle. The star country alloy left an amazing wavy pattern through out the entire surface of the weapon. He was certain that he could forge such a weapon one day...

576/400

Hafted WeaponsShow

[Weapons Crafting • Hafted Weapon Forging]
D-rank Weapon Crafting Discipline
Though the tutelage of a forging master, the user has learned the method of producing different types of Hafted weapons such as maces, bo staffs, flails, and hammers. This smith has specifically learned how to craft these various type of blunt force weapons through diligent practice, reducing the cost for them by half.

[Zao]

That night Zao was outside after dinner, simply laying on the cool grass as he looked up at the vast starscape that stretched to each side of the horizon as the stars themselves seemed to vast to count. It reminded him of his personal realm but moreso than that it reminded him of his home, family, and friends. He needed to return soon and accept whatever his fate might be for all that he was responsible for. Shaking his head the man closed his eyes drifting off till the early morning hours where he awoke with a thought about something dear to him and Suna, puppets.

Without even returning to the small living quarters he went over and entered the workshop and lt a few of the oil lamps to illuminate the interior of the building. Pulling two work benches together the man pulled out a scroll out of thin air with his spacetime technique before forming a single hand seal. The scroll unrolled and the fuuin seals upon its surface were released with poofs of chakra smoke as a number of puppet parts piled up on the table about a foot high and covered the length and width of body tables that had been pushed together. Inspiration was a funny thing and you never could be truly sure when it might strike you. As the man was going over many of the methods and techniques the old blacksmith had been teaching him about crafting mainly metal but also other mediums he was reminded of his past as a young shinobi who helped build puppets. The tiny details, the crazy animal like bodies, hidden mechanisms and weapons. Crafting was an all encompassing title that applied to anyone who constructed things from their own hands and heart.

The night would slowly tick by as the Suna Bannin began to sort through the various extra parts as he started to pull out a number of different pieces before he also used his one hand to start prepping the forge. In this shop he had learned to work various types of wood, leather, and metal. Each seemed to have aspects that intertwined with one another in Zao's mind as he found himself smiling as he began to head up some rectangle slabs of steel using the time that it took to break out his puppet tool kit and begin removing small pieces from a puppet arm and assemble a puppet torso. He would go back and forth between forging new pieces to fit the idea in his head and working on the intricate parts of the puppet, ultimately attempting to combine both arts of crafting that he'd learned along with his skills in woodworking and crafting to the mix.

Inside the living space the old man rose slightly hearing the beloved sound of hammer striking metal in the workshop, but he didn't both to check on the young man as he knew the kind of mindset and feels that were going on with his apprentice and he only smiled and was lulled back to sleep by the tinging that echoed from the forge. Night turned into day and the old man finally rose and journed over to his forge to inspect just what the young man had been tinkering with all night. He found a rather magnificent specimen of a puppet body fully assembled on the table with crafting aspect he'd never seen back during his time in the village....perhaps it could have been considered to be a masterpiece to those who utilized this type of ninja tool. Glancing off to the left in the chair he found an exhausted looking Zao slumped over asleep after forging and crafting the puppet parts all night. Shaking his head and with a light laugh he decided he should take a day off and rest, perhaps ride down to the port and check on things as he smiled and quietly shut the forge door leaving the man to sleep.


662/400

Puppet FrameShow

[Weapons Crafting • Puppet Frame Crafting]
D-rank Weapon Crafting Discipline
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 these various type of frames through diligent practice, reducing the cost for them by half.

[Zao]

Another morning came as the two men awoke and went through their daily morning routines of warming up their bodies in the morning sunlight through various slow and methodical sword kata before enjoying a wholesome breakfast. Then the pair were once more back at it as they dawned their normal smithing attire and entered the small smithing area. On the work bench was a couple round buckler shields that each man had finished crafting the day before and Zao looked over them as it was finally beginning to be a bit difficult to tell his shield apart from the one that his mentor Juu had crafted. It was a testament of how much he had managed to improve himself with the constant corrections and guidance from the old man who had truly mastered the art of blacksmithing over the number of decades that he'd been doing it. "I think that I'm starting to finally catch up to you old man." Zao joked towards the older man who merely smiled and turned to the two nigh identical shields resting quietly on their workbench. "Well, I can say that at least you aren't a novice anymore, I guess." The old man prodded back lightly as he picked up his shield and used his own high level of strength to actually flex the shield slightly before he put it back down.

"Lets get started today." With just those few words the two men went to work starting up the forge and raising its temperature before the old man began to speak as the heat started climbing within the smithery. "We'll be working on reforging both of the shields this morning to increase their strength and durability, as what good is a weak shield after all?" Laughing a little to himself the man and Zao would soon find the forge hot and ready as Juu went first placing his shield into the forge allowing for it to slowly heat up until it glowed almost a molten reddish orange hue before it was removed and he began to hammer out the tiny imperfections that the normal eye would have missed. Then as it cooled during this process the man once more placed it back into the first for a time, "We take out all the imperfections in the metal first, while also reheating the metal to temper it and make it stronger. Then..." As he spoke the man walked over to their materials bench and pulled out a dark metal that was in a powdery form and brought it back over to the anvil as he removed the heated shield again and began to coat the outer side of the shield in the powder before placing it back in the forge to be heated more.

"This powder by itself is kind of weak, but if we heat it up with the finished shield the metals begin to bond together allowing them to become one and inturn strengthening the integrity of the shield as a whole." The man spoke to his young mentee, explaining the reasoning behind his actions before his hands went back to work with the tongs and hammer removing the hot metal shield from its prison of flames and beginning to reforge the shield against to help fuze the two seperate metals into one. "The process can also be done with your own chakra as well, if you have tempered the weapon with your chakra during its creation process. There are several ways to increase the integrity of the weapons and items that you'll make in the future my young friend. This is just a couple ways, I'll go over more after lunch but for now you should go ahead and temper your own shield so we can test them out later." The words woke the scholarly looking smith from his slight daze as he smiled and nodded in reply before he went to work as his chakra threads materialized into reality at this point taking up a hammer and placing his own shield from the day prior into the flames to be reheated...

680/400

StrengthShow

[Weapons Crafting - Reforge: Strength]
D-Rank Weapon Crafting
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] stat by 5 points. Due to the crafter's level of proficiency they are able to perform this crafting enhancement at half the normal cost.

[Zao]

Today was suppose to be a rest day for the two smiths, one the master and the other the young apprentice, and yet despite this the younger of the pair was out this morning in the workshop but their was no sound of falling hammer strikes or smoke rising from the exhaust of the forge. Instead it was strangely quiet but the old man knew that his young friend had already waken and moved to the shop after a small bite of breakfast. Inside the forge the workbench was covered with not metal but different types of wood and fibers. Zao's desire to be a craftsman expanded far outside just the realm of blacksmithing as he wanted to be experienced and knowledgeable in all aspects to include the use of all materials available to him. Currently he was testing the resiliency of one piece of wood as he bent it gently from both end around the edge of the anvil's shaping horn, slowly bending it before releasing it and then bending it again as the ends were bent closer and closer into the arch like shape one might find in a bow.

Of course he could have used one of the more lightweight, flexible metals to construct a bow but their was just something about the feeling a wooden bow had in the hands of an experienced archer that was hard to replicate even with some of the more expensive and exotic types of metal. A light cough could be head behind him causing the long white haired man to flinch and in turn bend the light colored wood just a bit to far as a loud crack was heard through the shop. A long split appeared in the piece of wood as the Bannin sighed to himself for reacting in such a way, having lost a sense of his surrounding allowing for Juu to enter the workshop area without him even noticing...or perhaps the old man hadn't lost his touch as a shinobi just yet. Either way this piece of lumber was just firewood as this point as he stood up and tossed it into the wood pile near the currently cold forge.

"Trying to find a good piece?" The old man stroked his rough looking grey beard as he glanced back over different wood samples that his friend had brought back from the port market just a few days ago, now it made a bit more sense to him. "I'd recommend that darker wood on the left side, Juniper wood is a bit hard to get but many of my friends believe it to be in the top ten types of wood to carve a good bow from." Zao turned his bright eyes back to the pieces of wood before nodding and picking up the piece of wood as he could feel that it had slightly more weight to it and he gently bent it around the shaping horn now to find that it had a rather high level of resilency compare to the other. "Interesting...oh what? Only top ten?" Zao turned his gaze back to the old man who simply nodded as this piece of wood was truly expensive on its own and he began to wonder about the other top ten materials for making bows.

Shaking the thought he started to get to work as he began to craft a steam box that he'd used to make the wood easier to bend and keep it from breaking, steaming the wood to fill it with heat and moisture, one might call it a type of weird wood forging. This was used to help shape it into the appropiate shape along with actual carving before a piece of string and a curve mold was applied as the wood would cure to form its arching shape. "Most crafter's I've met like to braid horse hair and such for the string but I once ran across a man who spoke of a certain spider that produced a unique silk webbing that was nearly as strong as steel and made for one of the top five best bow strings..." This even caused for Zao to raid an eye brow in interest...it would seem that Juu knew so much more about the world of crafting then he'd even let on...

721/400

Projectile LauncherShow

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

[Zao]

A single horse drawn cart came up the winding mountain side path that led up to a small rock structure and a simple looking strong forging shop, these two men were of course Juu and Zao. The pair had made their weekly trip down the mountain and across a stretch of land to the western ocean to sell some of their smithing products and of course by new supplies for the shop and themselves. As they could see their home on the cliff side of the mountain the old man glanced back at the covered materials in their cart and then over to his young apprentice. "I saw that you brought some rather expensive metal, though that usually isn't used to forge weapons. Did you have something else in mind?" The old man had a thought but just wanted to confirm it as he questioned the Bannin who walked on the opposite side of the horse, one hand on its reins as he guided it carefully up the rocky path in front of them. "Oh. I had planned to try my hand at trying to make some simply jewelry. It seemed that those local shop owners wives are always on the hunt for something nice for themselves."

This response gave the old man a chuckle as he waved his hand and shook his head towards Zao's response, for Zao this was partially true as he did plan on making some jewelry to sell but at the same time the man reached up and felt the imperial ring that hung under his blouse by a simple piece of thin rope. This simple looking ring had the powerful ability to affect the motion of anything he pointed his hand at when worn, something that even difficult for Zao to explain what kind of enchantment must have been placed on the ring in the past as it had been found deep in an old ruin he'd been exploring. One day he hoped that he'd be able to craft something on a similar level to the Evil Weapon's power. Not long after arriving back the white haired apprentice had put away all the new materials for the shop and their living quarters before he went out to the forge and brought out some gold. He had learned that the soft metal was truly worthless for crafting any type of normal weapon as it was simply not durable enough and was mainly used to accent pieces that were for ceremony or items to be given as gifts for different occasions.

The forge for this reason was not nearly as warm as normal as he began first by warming the handful of metal in a iron cup that wouldn't melt like the gold at such a low forge temperature as he observed it slowly turn from a solid chunk of ore into what appeared to be a golden liquid tea. With the gold in this state Zao went ahead an prepared one of the simple ring molds that he'd also purchased. It was a mold consisting of two halves that one filled with sand and then clamped together leaving only a small opening to pour in the metal of their choosing. A few moments later Zao was carefully pouring the heated gold like it was tea from a tea kettle into the opening until he could see it beginning to reach near the top of the chute. Then one had to allow the metal time to cool before the mold was unsnapped and split back into halves revealing the small golden ring encased in the sandy shaping mold. Carefully removing the still slightly warm metal he then brought it over to a sizer that allowed for him to reheat the metal lightly and either stretch or temper the metal ring to a smaller size. He would also bring out a set of special detailing tools that he used his precise hands to engrave unique shapes and designs into the metal, even words onto the inside of the ring's band. Though this was the simplest ring production method it was enough of a start for the man who planned to expand out into more expensive types of jewelry in the future...



700/400

JewelryShow

[Weapons Crafting • Jewelry ]
D-rank Weapon Crafting Discipline
Though the user's own efforts, the user has learned the various production methods off different type of jewelry, both for simple wear and others that can be transformed into weapons. This smith has specifically learned how to craft these various type of weapons through diligent practice, reducing the production cost for them by half.

[Zao]

On this day, the old man was neither practicing Kata or forging weapons with his student Zao but instead the pair sat at the workbench as a handful of different weapons that the old man had forged over the past couple of months had been placed out on the table top after having been refined, reforged, polished, and sharped to ready the high quality weapons for sale in the next few days when the pair was going to travel down to the port city. "Each and every weapon has its own strengths." Juu was in the teaching mode at the moment as his calloused finger touched each of the weapons that were laid out one at a time. A katana style sword, a double edged dagger, a pole-arm, a war-hammer, and a mace. Each of the weapons had been crafted with the highest level of skill from the old man and would definitely sell for several times the cost of the materials used to for each of them. But Juu was not here to show off the quality of the weapons to his student who was getting closer and closer to his own level of skill and proficiency in weapon crafting.

No, in fact it was more so the opposite as Juu began to point at the Katana. "I've spoken to you before back when you first started your crafting journey about the weaknesses in each type of weapon, this is something that all weapons will have in common no matter how masterfully they are crafted and forged they will also have a weakness in their structure just because of their design and the forging methods available." Zao nodded as he glanced between each of the present weapon types as they were the most common type of melee weapons used in both the civilian and shinobi worlds. "Yes, through your pointed discussions and the forging scrolls of yours that I've read I have been able to understand this to be true, as well." Juu was more of a hands on kind of learner and teacher so the studious Zao threw him off a bit at time with the amount of studying and late night reading of the old scrolls in his possession. Never the less he smiled and continued on with his short lesson for this morning. "Indeed, as I've taught you before, each of these points in the future when you fight against another will be the keys for your success in any engagement where you must cross swords or any weapon for that matter with another fighter."

"Now, my student. Pay close attention as I am going to go through and identify the exact places of each of these weapons that you'll want to strike at to have the largest effect on the integrity of your foe's weapon of choice. Our previous lessons were on how to identify the weaknesses of the weapon but in this one I will show you where to force the attack and the kind of attacks that work best to degrade their weapon when combined together." Juu unsheathed his own personal sword as he handed the first weapon over to Zao, slowly he began to walk through each kind of strike that was effective against the Katana blade, pointing out that the tip of the blade and near the hilt along the thinner blade side were the striking points that would help destroy the blade for someone like Zao who didn't possess a high level of strength like the master blacksmith did whose strength in itself was enough to shatter most weapons. One by one the old man would hand a weapon to the white haired Bannin and calmly discuss and demonstrate how to best attack each of them using not only a sword but other weapons, talking to which weapons matched up best against what kind of weapon. The shinobi's eyes remained sharp and focused as he absorbed the lesson from his master as he could feel his own insights growing....



669/400

Refined FaultsShow

[Weapons Crafting • Refined Faults]
C-rank Weapon Crafting Discipline
Perfectly crafted weapons are rare, few and far between. A highly skilled smith is able to recognize and strike effectively against the weak points in other weapons during armed conflict. At this level, striking against these weak points reduces the structural integrity of the equipment in question by -6, requiring less strength to break or destroy them.

[Zao]

Another morning and another series of refine sword kata movements, as the two men both practiced with new swords each had recently crafted and refined to increase their integrity before enhancing the sharpness of the bladed edge. Both weapons were approaching the borderline of masterpieces in their own right. It made the old man smile that he had such an apprentice who grasped his teachings so rapidly and that his rate of progression was beyond expectation, but truth be told Zao had also been a quick study and a diligent worker in everything he had set his mind to. If one were able to look at the efforts of his spirit exploration and achievements in spacetime technique it would have been easy to see. But out here the man used none of that and simply acted like a normal person whose sole focus was on the art of blacksmithing and weapon crafting. It helped to ease the darkness in the weary travelers mind and heart as it was helping him make up his own mind on what his new path in life would be and how he would walk this path.

Both men came to a pause at nearly the same time as the sun warmed their bodies as it broke through the clouds in the east, today would truly be another good day for the man who escaped from the darkness. Each man's eyes met the others in the moment and with a smirk on the lips of the two shinobi each suddenly rushed towards the other as the two swords collided causing for a metallic clang to echo through the mountainside as the white haired bannin was sent skidding backwards through the dirt training circle. One thing that Zao could never understand was how the seemingly frail looking man in his seventies had such power behind his swings. Just from the single clash the Bannin could already feel his hand and fingers going a bit numb from the impact of the two blades. Senior Juu must have truly been a formidable force during his prime as a shinobi for the Hidden Sand and it caused him to wonder why he'd never came across his name except in mentions of his crafting skills and exploits.

Pushing that thought aside he glanced down at the length of the curved scimitar style blade that had a small crack in its broad side even though the ninja had been able to parry most of the strength from the man's first strike like he'd been taught to do in order to help preserve the integrity of the blade against a stronger opponent. Shaking his head he looked back up to Juu who spoke "You're form is better and your weapon's strength is commendable, but I doubt you'll be able to take two consecutive blows from my sword." The bright eyes of Zao had a certain sharpness that projected confidence in his blade and skill as he spoke back, "I think you're wrong about that, if you don't break my sword next swing then you're cleaning the forge next week instead of me." A challenge was issued as the old man even laughed lightly to himself at the confidence of his student but it was imperative that a student be kept in check and he would need to disappoint the Bannin and his already damaged weapon. With a fluid motion the old man easily crossed the distance created from the first strike moments earlier and brought down a powerful chop from high above.

The spirit tamer brought his sword up to defend as he used the perfect amount of angle and momentum exchange to push aside the blow and altering its trajectory enough to send it smashing into the ground below as it formed a small crater on impact, almost definitely the result of the old man's Shinden style of swordsmanship despite the use of a lightweight blade. New cracks had formed in the young man's blade but it was still in one piece to the point that it even surprised the old swordsman who had to stop and take a close look at the man's blade. "Hah, seems this old man must be getting week to not break your blade in just two hits..."


700/400

Enhanced IntegrityShow

[Weapons Crafting • Enhanced Integrity]
C-rank Weapon Crafting Discipline
Masters of their craft are able to recognize their own limitations and weak points. Knowing this the smith has learned to protect the weak points of their weapon(s) and equipment. When wielding weapons they’ve personally crafted, this crafter’s weapons are able to remain intact even when they receive two strikes that would exceed the normal structural integrity and break them, but will break if they continue to be used. For example, if they have a sword with 30 strength that blocks two 40 strength strikes, it would not shatter, and would suffer growing structural damage to the weapon but if they used it to block another (third) strike it would immediately shatter. This allows the crafter to avoid losing weapons.

[Zao]

In the workshop after dinner, Zao sat with various small weapons laid out on the work bench before him now. His bright blue eyes simply scanning over each before would turn to the sketch pad that had plain white sheets of paper before he would begin to draw each of the weapons. Little arrows were drawn off to the side of each weapon as the now accomplished blacksmith jotted down small notations about each weapon. Ranging from basic dimensions to the difference in forging types and methods, difference in materials used. The man had always been the scholarly type since childhood and it was easier for him to see things once they were put down on paper with all of his thoughts about the subject attacked. Soon designs had been drawn up for shurkien, kunai, senbon, and different type of arrows. These were all the most basic types of disposable weapons that were used and left strown about intense clashes on the field of battle between shinobi. For Zao this was truly an expensive waste as he calculated in his head the amount of Ryo each of the weapons cost make material wise along with time and effort required for each one.

He was attempting to create a refining craft that would reduce the waste in creating each of the weapons and thus as an end-state allow for him to create more of the said weapon with the same amount of material. Something that might sound unreasonable or impossible at first. Zao used his powerful intellect as he placed each of the schematics for the weapons he'd drawn out by its respected weapon now as he began to draw new ones based on his deductive reasoning and experience gained from working under the hand of probably one of the top five blacksmiths in the world currently. He spoke to himself as he scribbled and drew on new sheets of paper. "Yes, I could draw the meter out more here without damaging its integrity by using this new forging technique Master Juu showed me. If I do that..." His mind seemed to be thinking about several aspects at once as he began to smile and soon the forge was alive and the refreshing warmth of the flames began to wash out across the workspace biting back against the cold mountain air that was trying to get in from outside at the moment.

"This is the same amount we normally use to make ten shuriken..." The man pulled out two bars of high quality dark iron, the normal material used for crafting shuriken as he knew that normally he'd get about five shuriken from either block but he planned to use his new template and the new forging techniques to craft up to hopefully fourteen or fifteen throwing stars instead of the normal ten. Soon the man's chakra thread technique came to life and he operated with two hammers at once and began to cut, shape, and draw out the metal needed for each shuriken as the four pointed throwing stars began to be produced one at a time and the two blocks of metal started to dwindle away slowly but surely. Ten, eleven, twelve...the blocks of dark iron became smaller and smaller as the man carefully managed the amount of iron that he was using in order to maximize his production of the shuriken. Thirteen, fourteen...in the end there were small scraps left over as he finished the fourteen shuriken as he looked at the remnants of the black iron and gathered the pieces. "I think this will be enough.." He spoke briefly to himself before her brought the scraps together and placed them into the forge as they grew hotter and hotter before reaching their own melting point and started to forge weld themselves together into one chunk of ore.

This chunk was then forged carefully under the guiding chakra threads as it was shaped and drawn out until the middle aged man let out a long breath and looked at the fifteen completed shuriken on the table before him, yes they needed some finally refinement but his calculations and plans had been correct in the end even if just by a hairs width that he could accomplish this feat....

700/400

Advanced Tool SetShow

[Weapons Crafting • Advanced Shinobi Tool Set Construction ]
C-rank Weapon Crafting Discipline
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 one third the normal price, allowing them to buy 15 of the weapon for the price of 5.

[Zao]

Coming Soon

/400

Enhanced StrengthShow

Weapon Crafting - Stat Increase: Enhanced Strength
C-Rank Weapon Crafting
The user uses their refined knowledge of special blacksmithing methods and materials to enhance a weapon or item by increasing its [Strength] stat by 10. Due to the crafter's level of proficiency they are able to perform this crafting enhancement at half the normal cost.

[Zao]

"Little Zao, you're form and techniques have truly reached an incredible height. Soon you might even have the skills to rival myself." The old Juu bragged a bit on his newest apprentice at the moment as they both were straightening up the workshop area in order to prepare for this morning's activities. Zao simply shook his head, the old man like to brag like this even though Zao could still clearly see the defined difference in the two when it came to crafting weapons, no matter how talented or how be much he studied to understand and develop himself as a blacksmith and weapons crafter there was no shortcut to make up for the decades of literal experience that the master blacksmith had on him, having been crafting weapons long before the Bannin had even been born. He could only joke back with the old man, "Perhaps in a decade I'll be close enough to compete with you old man." The pair had a strong relationship, even bordering on the relationship that a father and son might have, there were able to speak freely from one another and the shinobi held the upmost level of respect for his senior and his abilities.

"Today we'll work on something that you might actually excel at more than myself." The statement caused the younger man to actually stop his actions of staging firewood by the forge to shoot the old man a questioning look at the moment alluding for him to go ahead and explain the rest of his statement that was left out when he paused after speaking. "Heh, so I have your attention it seems. Yes...we'll discuss the process of chakra tempering while forging weapons. Many think this is more along the lines of enchantment, but it truly comes from the bone between the blacksmith and the weapon they are creating. Injecting their chakra slowly, bit by bit, into each piece of the weapon with a high amount of control." It was beginning to make sense to Zao now as the man mentioned control of ones chakra being a key item for the chakra tempering of weapons and items. Though Juu truly outstripped him in blacksmithing technique and experience there were very few he'd ever met that were at the same level of knowledge of chakra or his level of pure control over it.

He couldn't help but smirk slightly as the left corner of his lips lifted a little, finally there was something that he might be able to be better at than his master. With his interest peaked the men began to forge a new weapon, a simple sword shape started to emerge before the old man began to speak. "At this point, you'll need to fill your hammer's striking surface with chakra and every time you strike attempt to push some of your chakra into the surface of the metal just as the head of the hammer strikes the hot surface." The concept was simple but it took a little bit to find the timing and rhythm needed, slowly but surely with each hit the Bannin's purest chakra was 'hammered' into the metal as the sequence helped infuse the body of the sword with chakra tempering the meter to better accept other enhancing or enchantment techniques after the process was complete. Though it didn't appear any different in the hands of the Suna-nin but as he flowed his chakra into the weapon through a basic channeling skill the man could instantly tell that it was able to accept his chakra much easier then before. Chakra and blacksmithing working hand in hand, what could be better really?

600/400

TemperingShow

*[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 weapons made by this crafter are tempered and do not require a static strength.

[Zao]

Weapons Crafting • Master of AlchemyShow

S-Rank Weapon Crafting Technique
Prerequisite: Art of Medicine
A crafting skill on the opposite end of the normal spectrum of weapon crafting, pulling from the natural weapons that exist within nature the user is able to use their medical knowledge and combine it with their skill in crafting to concoct various types of beneficial and harmful concoctions which includes various types of potions, tonics, toxins, venoms, and poisons up to S-rank in strength/complexity. This crafter is able to do so at 1/2 the standard price, needing only to buy or acquire the materials to craft it concoction.

The man used his time with the old, retired shinobi as a means of rehabilitation one might call it as he settled into the daily rhythm of life at the smithery and with the old man as his mentor became more like a grandfather like figure to him instead of just his teacher. Often times the man would pull the one-armed shinobi away from the forge to speak with him about general life and remanence about his own time as a shinobi. Being treated as though he was family was something Zao hadn't felt in quite some time as his father had been mainly preoccupied with running the trading company that moved goods across Wind country and to the neighboring countries as a youth, only his mentor even back then acting more of a fatherly or grandfather like figure. But as adept as the old man was in talking or smithing, he wasn't really of much help when it came one of Zao's own personal goals which was to increase his knowledge and abilities in crafting poisons and toxins.

After losing three of his young friends during the mishap of spacetime travel due to his inability as a medical shinobi, especially in the area of poisons, Zao had begun to diligently train in the medical arts after surviving the unfortunate events and had slowly built up the foundation that he was attempting to climb at the moment. While his old friend was out in the smithery, the young man had what some might consider a chemistry set that took up several tables inside the small home that he shared with his mentor and friend. Over the past several months Zao would go out and return with various rare herbs, or poisonous animals or insects to study. These in the field studies over the course of the past six months and his own knowledge over nearly a decade of medical experience the man had reached a level of which he was able to break down the basic elements of different poisons and toxin, then combine them with compatible materials to create different concoctions.

But in the process, he also discovered that he was able to create more than just harmful poisons, as an extension of his long road of learning and experimenting he also came across a number of beneficial substances that were the yin to the poison's yang. Suddenly the door opened as the old man, covered in dirt and suet called for the shinobi, "Haven't you been playing with those plants long enough today? I need a handout here with this order I'm working on." The white haired bannin shook his head and laughed, before nodding his head. The world of alchemy was truly vast...


456/400 with event discount

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Weapons Crafting • Master of EnhancementsShow

S-Rank Weapon Crafting Technique
The smith has learned a numerous variety of methods and techniques on how to add additional enhancements to a weapon and objects, reaching the peak level allowing for him to create enhancements up to S-rank in strength/complexity. Due to this outstanding level of knowledge and tremendous skill, they are able to forge these enhancements on a weapon or item for half the normal production price.

Putting away some of the more dangerous items that he been out on the table in their proper containers the man took care of a couple quick things with the chemical compounds that were in various vials and then left the small stone constructed living structure as the smell of burning coals and hot iron assaulted his nose. It was honestly a welcomed smell; one he had become accustomed to over the months that he'd been living here with his blacksmith mentor. Pulling his long locks of white hair back and donning a leather apron he opened the door as a wave of heat rushed out and the sweaty old man simply gave a nod of his head towards his young companion. Chakra threads formed from the man's only hand as they attached to a pair of hammers and some tongs as he called over to his old friend now, "What are you doing with the spears?" The old man didn't even look up as his main focus was on the forging of a rather elongated sword blade, but he still replied. "Those need the serrated tip that I showed you how to make and those two long swords need the edges and tips refined."

Though both tasks sounded relatively easy to the normal ear, but Zao had already learned over fifty different types of enhancement techniques that could be applied to various weapon types, as a scholarly individual he had even took the time to write about each in depth and even to the point of classifying them with a letter grade based on the difficulty of actually performing the weapon enhancement. The sharping was a relatively easy task at the rank of C. This was because when one sharped a blade and its tip, you were attempting to balance the edge to increase its lethality in not only cutting but piercing attacks. But one couldn't refine the edge to such a thin section that it would become to brittle to withstand impact damage from clashing with other weapons or armor that the opponent might be wearing. Thus, it took time combine with a steady hand to go through the sharping and tempering process with each of the swords, using the grinding, sharping, and refining stones while managing the heat tempering of the edge and point.

Zao took nearly two hours, about an hour per weapon, to take care of the easier task of refining the lethal edges of the two swords to his upmost limit with his steady hand and sharp eyesight. Taking a bit of rest to gather himself and sip on some warm water the man returned to the next task which was the flashy looking spear that his mentor had already forged that was nearly seven feet in height with a rather elongated spear tip of nearly a foot in length itself. The bannin couldn't help but wonder just whom this rather unique weapon was for, especially someone who was able to not only but the precious materials that he could see had been used in this weapon's construction but also requesting such a difficult enhancement that could damage the spear tip due to the high level of craftsmanship and precision needed to complete it. Though he knew the difficulties associated with the crafting, the faith that his mentor and friend put in him by allowing him to perform the crafting technique spoke about the level of skill Zao had been able to slowly temper in his months here.

Starting with a common file the man began to make the rough marks for the serrated edge along both of the spear tips cutting edges, only shaking his head about what would happen to the flesh of someone wounded by the blade when he was finished with it. Then he moved on to the use of direct heat and a tempering hammer to strengthen and refine the edge to withstand the shaping process. Next came the rough, course, and fine sharping stones which each took time and required the metal to be warmed by the fire during each of the processes before being quenched in oil between each. To do just one side of the blade took over an hour and a half to complete before he started on the other side of the spear tip. Partially this was due to the sheer large size of the blade compared to a normal spear tip and secondly was the difficulty associated with the S-rank refinement process. It was well after dark when Zao gently put down the serrated spear on the worn-out worktable and plopped down onto the hard wooden stool behind him. Though his body was tired from the manual labor combined with his unique form of chakra blacksmithing, his mind felt at ease finally with the completion of his task and the confirmation of his skills that he'd learned in his time here under the teachings of the master blacksmith.



825/400 with event discount