Stuck Between a Rock and a Hard Place

[ThatGuy]

Abari started his second morning in Iwa like he would any other day, by going to the training grounds and practicing his kenjutsu. It took him a while to find a nice spot away from other people, but once he did, he performed his daily ritual. Even if he was planning on learning smithing, he couldn’t let his skills with the blade dull even a little bit. It was hard enough to just keep up with his peers!

After training, the red-haired swordsman went back to Kanade’s restaurant to eat once more. It was slightly less embarrassing to order such a large meal the second time around. This time, however, he would steer clear of the alcohol and instead decide to give coffee a shot. Abari had never really tried it, but from what he understood, it was great at helping you stay awake. So after his small feast, the red-haired man drank a little bit and then took a cup to go.

The full force of the caffeine he had drank at the restaurant hit him on the way back, causing Abari to feel a slight surge of energy. He still had a few hours to go before meeting up with Kanade, but he definitely needed to find a way to burn off some of this energy. He didn’t want to do more exercise as he might risk getting tired mid-lesson. So he figured he’d do a bit of exploring around the town. Perhaps it was time for a little shopping?

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At the appointed time, Abari would arrive at Kanade’s forge, ready for his lessons. The woman would be greeted by a very rare sight: Abari wearing something other than his usual kimono. The red-haired swordsman stood wearing a pair of plain black pants with a tank top. After announcing himself and giving a bow before entering, he set his bag on a nearby table and pulled out his tools, the book Kanade had given him, his personal notebook, a container filled with the coffee from earlier, and finally, a leather apron that he promptly put on. With a smile, he turned to his teacher.

“Thank you again for offering to teach me! I promise I’ll be a better student than I was yesterday.”

Abari was clearly excited to get started. Today marked the first real day of his blacksmith training, and he was determined to make a better impression this time around. Realizing that he might have been a little too energetic, the red-haired swordsman quickly apologized.

“S-sorry for just barging in like that. I must admit I had a little bit of coffee on the way here and it turned out to be a lot more effective than I had anticipated.”

[Kanade]

Kanade moved through her usual morning routine after completing the steps she had told Abari that she would be doing and yawned, stretched, and brewed some coffee. Weaving some hand seals, she sighed in relief, feeling the fatigue melt away from her as she started her second day, sans-sleep. She would be able to show him the shuriken as a token of his sparking her interest. She decided that she would be giving it to him at the end of the lesson. Perhaps with a little jutsu of her own thrown into the mix. That would really shake things up. She would ask him whether or not he wanted her to show him how to put ancient runes on it, and if he said yes perhaps she could put a little bit of the jutsu that she knew for retrieving such objects onto it, so that he never ran out of, well, one shuriken.

As she moved throughout her morning routine of baking the bread that had risen in the bread cabinets, she let her thoughts drift to the training she would be doing with him, and how she could improve the craft, herself, so that she could make more spectacular objects going forward.

It was with this mindset that she started prep work for teaching him, properly this time, how to craft weapons. She had a blank notebook with a half dozen pens. She had arranged them so that there were 3 on each side, since she hadn’t really noticed whether he was left or right handed. As she also rearranged a good ten scrolls on the desk in front of the notebook she was startled to find that he had chosen to show up like a smith and not like a shinobi.

Kanade, by comparison, looked rather beat up. She had put on the long leather apron, similar to his but more care worn, with rips here and holes burnt in it there. She had put her hair into a bun of sorts, tying it together with a wire made of steel that was a dark red-hot. Kanade wore steel toed combat boots, into which her leggings were stuffed and into that a dark tanktop of indeterminable color was stuffed non-chalantly, half hanging out of her drawers. Every time she moved, she showed the sports bra that was underneath, black, which clearly had its place here in the forge as well.

She extended her hand as he came in and put on the apron, announcing that he would be better yesterday. She silently hoped she would be too. Tossing the poor little minnow into the deep end like that yesterday was too harsh, perhaps. Kanade put her hands on her hips and nodded, “Alright, so, what do you want to learn. I have ten scrolls there on the subjects that I thought you would want to start out with, but we can go into advanced theory if you’d like first, jumping into the deep end as it were.” She shrugged, “But normally people start out with the little stuff like, ‘let’s make a knife’ and work their way up to the more intricate stuff.” She shrugged and put her hands up in a placating gesture, “It’s more about your style than anything else. Some people love making hammers, some people love making knives, I, I love making armor.” She grinned.

Then she acknowledged the coffee, “Strong stuff eh? I’m on my fifth cup today.” She had to keep up with her student, and wanted to make sure he learned the right way, the first time. “So, this time we’re going to make sure you get your hands dirty. You left without a coal smudge on your face, or sores on your hands yesterday, and that’s just not natural for someone trying to learn the trade. You might get burnt, you might hit your finger with the smithing hammer, hells, you might catch yourself on fire, but don’t worry, you won’t go home missing anything you came in with.” Kanade chuckled and nodded then amended, “Except maybe your confidence that you know anything about smithing.”


[WC: 686/???? Nanowrimo]

[ThatGuy]

Abari looked around at the things that Kanade had arranged for him. It was funny considering that he had already come prepared to take notes. He didn’t want her kind gesture to go to waste, however, so he put his notebook away and looked at the ten scrolls that were laid on the table. As she started speaking about where to start, Abari had to force down the panic that had built in his chest.

“No, no, I’m nowhere near ready for anything advanced. I haven’t even completed my first lesson yet! Maybe my style will develop as I learn, but for now, I want to stick to the basics. I wrote down everything I could remember from last night when you taught me how to make shuriken, so maybe we could finish that lesson? Or if they’re not quite ready yet, then perhaps I could learn kunai next?”

When Kanade mentioned being on her fifth cup of coffee, Abari’s eyes widened. He couldn’t imagine drinking more than two, let alone five, before they’d even started their lessons! Perhaps his parents had been right in keeping him away from the stuff. As she mentioned that he would no doubt be leaving the forge with some form of injury, the red-haired swordsman simply smiled. He was no stranger to calluses, cuts, and bruises. Plus, he was an active shinobi, he risked his life on missions somewhat regularly. He chuckled with her as she mentioned leaving with everything but his confidence in smithing before replying.

"Oh, trust me, I am well aware that I know nothing when it comes to the craft. I’m not worried about injury either, I’ve had my fair share of scars. My skull has been cracked open more than once, so I’m not afraid of losing a finger or two.”

Abari knocked on his head and gave a laugh after speaking. There were many times that he should have died in the past. His lack of scars was mainly thanks to the skilled medical attention he had always received. While Abari didn’t have much memory of the first time he received a skull fracture, he knew that he wasn’t supposed to have survived the injury. So a third-degree burn or two wasn’t something he was worried about. Plus, even though it might not have been smart, he trusted his mentor. Sure, they were from two different villages, but when the woman spoke of being a healer, Abari believed her. With one more smile, he spoke again.

“I’ll do whatever you ask, though. If you want me to start with something else, then let’s do that.”

[Kanade]

"You can learn kunai now if you would like." Kanade nodded and pulled out a scroll that described the way to make a kunai, placing it in front of him, "Read this first and then you will walk me through how to make a Kunai. To teach is to learn twice as they say." She grinned, her white teeth a contrast to her dark hair and complexion. Her eyes glowed with the inner fire that matched the forge she was working on, "The shuriken we can continue with." she nodded, "But if you just keep writing things down, you'll never get the feel of it. Best to stretch your muscles and get those lungs full of the forge smoke." She nodded, "Best smell in the world, trust me."

Kanade looked to the fire, then to him, "So, my forge is your forge, you tell me what you need, and I'll get it for you. Think of me as a safety net, I'll let you work the steel, and tell you what you're doing wrong if you do anything that could be catastrophic, but I guess it's like pottery." She shrugged, "Not that I have made more than a couple pots, but if you don't get your hands in the clay, there's no way to know how to make a pot. Same goes for sticking your arms in the forge."

[ThatGuy]

Jutsu TrainedShow

*[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.

Abari nodded his head as Kanade encouraged him to just get started. Pushing through his nervousness, he made his way over to the metal and picked out a piece of steel.

“So you start by choosing the right composition of metal. I believe it was 1084 that you used yesterday."

The main method at this point would be to melt the metal down and then pour it into a mold. But Abari felt like there might be a good way to save time. It was presumptuous of him, but Kanade did tell him to find his own style of smithing. So why not give it a shot?

“It’s uh… Not what it says to do, but I’d like to try something.”

With that, he secured the metal in place with a vice and stood a couple of feet from the metal. Closing his eyes, he brought his focus to his blade. With a flash, he unsheathed his sword and cut along the lines he had drawn on the metal. The rough shape of a kunai emerged from the hunk of metal as the red-haired swordsman sheathed his blade. This was not an option that most people had access to, but for someone who spent their life training kenjutsu, cutting steel was not out of the realm of possibility.

“Obviously the cuts aren’t perfect, so I’ll need to work on the edges a bit with a sharpening wheel and sandpaper.”

So he did exactly that, smoothing out the edges and removing the minor faults in his cuts. When finished, he made his way over to the forge, using the tongs to put the kunai directly into the flames.

"Next, I heat it to the right temperature, cool it off in the water, dip it in some oil, and then apply some polish.”

After leaving the metal in the kunai in the forge for a while, he pulled out the red-hot metal and dunked it into the water. Steam shot out as the knife cooled, and after a sufficient amount of time, Abari submerged the blade portion in oil, and once he felt it was ready, he pulled it out and started evenly applying polish. Once finished, he got some small strips of cloth bandage and wrapped them neatly across the handle for a more comfortable grip. Spinning the blade around in his hand, he turned it over and handed it to Kanade.

“Pretty much the same process for shuriken, I imagine. I’m sure I messed up, though.”

D-Rank: [1400 Words Base - 1910 Words Discount (191 Statsx10) = 400 Words]
(416/400 Words)

[Kanade]

Kanade watched as he picked the right metal, giving him encouragement and agreeing that it was indeed the metal that she used yesterday. She didn’t have a ‘useless’ metal in her workshop, but it said something that he didn’t pick a useless metal like silver to make the thing out of. While pretty, Silver would be next to useless for keeping any sort of a point.

She nodded and watched as he cut along the lines he had drawn. Lacking the physical brawn to pull off such a feat, she smiled, “That certainly is your own way.” She praised, the smile turning into a bright beam, “And isn’t ‘incorrect’ very well done.” She watched him from afar, noting the way that he had cut thorough the metal with ease. Perhaps there was something to be said for those who trained in the way of the sword. She could not be bothered with it, as she was too busy developing and learning new jutsu, but it stirred something within her, a primal Enkouten want to handle a blade like he did.

She nodded to him, “The cuts don’t have to be perfect, just good enough to work with, I am sure that you will get better once you know where to cut on the metal. There is always a grain to it, that makes it easier to cut along when you get a knack for where it is, almost like woodworking, you never whittle against the grain.” She got him the sandpaper and brought it to him, watching him work. It was nice to be able to watch someone else for a change rather than doing all the work herself. Having an apprentice felt somehow right, like a cog that had been missing in her wheel had just fit into place.

She waited for him to be done, and shook her head a bit, “Dipping it in the oil cools it slower, and prevents cracking.” She reminded him, “But close.” A nod from a teacher to an apprentice as he looked at the Kunai, because of the cuts that he had made and the temperature that he had heated it to, it wasn’t a large enough temperature difference to break the metal, it did slough off a lot of the ash from the fire though, she noted as she looked at the water.

She watched as he polished it, and took it in her hand. It was brittle but would work, especially for throwing, “The only thing that I would say is that it lacks flexibility. It can’t be used to defend yourself, but throwing it at someone or using it for a projectile would suit it very well.” She nodded, “And for making Shuriken, you’re correct that would be the technique that would grant you the easiest way for making a lot of them in a short time.”

She handed him back the Kunai, “Would you like to learn how to forge a sword, next?” She asked, looking at his sword, “There are many ways to forge a sword, and I would like to take a look at yours, if I may, to see what kind of sword you use.” She hadn’t been able to get a good look at the thing when he had cut the metal, the sparks flying and her concentrating on the actual shape of the metal when he was working his Kunai into existence had distracted her. She held out a hand, palm up, waiting for his sword.