"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
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.