Forge of Lightning and Fire

The day had finally arrived. The culmination of all the time and effort that Anastasia had put towards making herself a new weapon, one that would truly embody who she was. All of the training that she had done recently, working with her family and the other shinobi of the village had brought her to this moment. She was confident that she now had the skills and knowledge that she needed to make her new weapon.

The weather outside was not what one would attribute to a good day; it was stormy, heavy rain, thunder, and lightning. Not normal weather for Hoshigakure, and not specifically for this season, but Anastasia took that to be a good omen from how the weapon came to her from the sky in her dream. Her chakra affinity was lightning, which to her felt that the air was being charged with the element she was born using, raising her confidence even higher.

The Akari Genin got out of bed and went downstairs to grab something light to eat for breakfast. She wasn’t going to fill up as there was no doubt going to be a lot of work to make this happen, and that it would be taking place in a very hot environment. Exerting yourself on a full stomach was a good way to incapacitate yourself, so she elected to just eat enough to satiate her hunger and to give her the necessary energy to complete the task. Once she finished eating, she would go back upstairs, get cleaned up and put on work clothes rather than her normal equipment and make her way out of her family’s home.

As she walked into the foyer, she noticed a small pile of wrapped packages on the side table. Attached to the pile was a tag with her name on it, ‘must be the materials I ordered…’ she thought to herself with a grin on her face. She’d purchased some special materials to incorporate into the blade to strengthen it. Even with the star metal that her family used as the base for all of the clan’s weapons, there was always room to improve and that’s what she was hoping these additional materials would be able to do for her. She wasn’t expecting them to have already arrived, which actually worked better because it meant she could incorporate all of it at once rather than working on the blade over multiple days. Everything was coming together exactly as she’d hoped, another sign that today would be the day that her new weapon would get made. She grabbed the bundles off the table and headed over to the Akari clan’s forge.

The rain was still coming down rather heavily as she walked the streets from her home to the market square, where her family’s forgeworks were located. The rain felt nice in preparation of the work she was about to undertake. Her clanmates were already hard at work when she arrived. They all smiled and went back to their work. No one offered to help her, and for good reason. This was a special occasion in her clan. She was obviously not the first member of the clan to forge their own weapon, but there was a reverence involved. Creating your own weapon was a rite of passage and if done right, a testament to their growth as a weapons master. Her family had left access to one of the forges for her, specifically for this purpose, along with ingots of star metal with which to forge the weapon from. This was something that was done alone, using your own strength and skill to accomplish. Anastasia would have declined any help anyways; this task was hers alone. She put on an apron, rolled out her tools, and unwrapped the bundles that she had brought with her. Meteoric Iron, some Damascus Steel, and Refined Jade. The Meteoric Iron and Damascus Steel would be alloyed into the weapon itself; the Meteoric Iron would be worked into the spine of the sword to strengthen it against wear and tear, the Damascus Steel would be alloyed into the blade to be able to allow it take on a finer edge without sustaining damage as easily. It would also allow for the blade to cause more damage. The Refined Jade would be worked into the hilt and handle where it’s protective properties would be able to be activated better.

The first thing she would do is get the forge up to the required temperature. The forge was already lit because the forgeworks ran constantly, so all she needed to do for that was make sure it was at the right temperature which she could confirm with a gauge built into the wall of the furnace. Once it was ready, she placed half of the ingots of star metal into the forge and let them melt down, prepping her workstation to start working the metal once it had been melted down properly, which in itself would take some time. This was not a process that could be rushed and she was not one to look for shortcuts. Once the metal had melted down sufficiently, Ana pulled it out and started working the metal, hammering and folding the molten metal to remove any impurities, which would flake off and fall away. While she was working the base material, she put the Meteoric Iron into the forge to let it soften. When the star metal had cooled to the point that it needed to be reheated, Anastasia would swap them, pulling out the meteoric iron and putting the star metal back into be heated while she removed the impurities from the meteoric iron. She would repeat the process multiple times until she was confident that the quality of both metals were as good as could be. She then took the two different metals, pounded them into long thin bars and placed them side-by side before placing one end of each into a vice and then twisting them around each other, fusing them into a single bar of alloyed metal. She would repeat this process several times until the metals were properly melded together into a new singular alloy.

With the alloy for the spine of her blade ready, she would put it off to one side for now so she could work on the blade alloy. Taking the other half of the star metal ingots she would repeat this process, using the Damascus Steel she had purchased as the other half of this alloy. Once the two bars were ready, she would begin the shaping process. She would start by reheating the bar meant for the spine of the sword and started drawing it out, shaping it into a long, slightly curved wedge of the sword, with a longer, tapered section at one end, which would be used to attach the hilt when construction was finished. While the one section was being worked on, the second alloy bar would be reheated and then swapped when it was time to be worked on. The second bar wouldn’t be as long but it would be wider as it would need to be wrapped around the narrow end of the wedge to form the blade itself. Once the two sections were finished in terms of their overall dimensions, she would combine the two by wrapping the blade section around the spine section and hammer them together, sealing them into one, cohesive piece.

Throughout the entire forging process, unbeknownst to the Akari Genin, her concentration and passion for the work caused her own Light Release chakra to be infused into her tools, and subsequently the materials she was working with. The interaction between the metals and her chakra caused the metal to change colour, slowly taking on the colour of freshly minted gold. Not something she had expected as part of the process, but from what she could tell, it wasn’t affecting the metal beyond an aesthetic sense, so she continued with the forging process.

Once she was happy with the overall shape and dimensions of the blade, she would quench it in a nearby barrel to temper the sword. She would then leave the blade off to one side so that it could finish cooling. This would allow her to work on the hilt, which she would be making out of wood, inlaid with gold and wrapped with white fabric. She melted down the gold and shaped it herself; where the crossguard would be was the head of a dragon, it’s mouth open, and the base of the hilt would be capped by more gold that appeared to look like flames. While she shaped the gold, she had ground down the refined jade and mixed it into the gold, so that the gold would gain the protective properties of the jade. She worked the wood and wrapped it to fit her hands perfectly, then attached the crossguard and cap. Once the blade had cooled, she went to attach it to the handle, only to find that the blade appeared damaged, that there were cracks along its length. Concerned she examined it for imperfections, only to find that the blade wasn’t damaged at all. The process itself somehow left an etching on both sides of the blade, appearing like lightning. Anastasis was even more confident in her choices at this point. The blade and handle reflected the two aspects of her power that make her Akari, a more fitting blade likely could not be found. She finished assembling the blade and let it rest so that the handle could bond properly, while she fashioned a sheath for it.

WC: 1609

OOC: Claiming Augmentation of Brightblinder:
Spending 20,000 Ryo to upgrade it from Base to S-Rank
Augmenting it with: Meteoric Iron (+50 Health), Damascus Steel (+50 to base strikes), and Refined Jade

The drops of water fell on the muddy ground as Ryumi was walking back home, her hair damp from the sudden rainfall. She didn’t expect it to rain today, the clouds had rolled in over time from beyond what she could see. It was strange almost, how the weather was so unpredictable at times. The rain only continued to gently fall onto her scarred skin, right until she opened the door to the house. She closed the dark blue door, took off her mud-covered boots, and gently threw them out the door. The boots fell right on their heels, allowing Ryumi to relax for the moment. The rain continued to gently tap against the roof of her home. Yet her timely arrival had alerted her father.

“You’re home early? Missions go well?” His soft voice could be heard on the small couch that they owned. His eyes a silvery white, showing that he still was using the byakugan to check up on her from time to time.

“Yeah, although we had to cut things short because of the weather. So I only got half of what I was promised, guess I can’t make those rolls you love so much?” Lloyd chuckled at her response. He was inspecting that she wasn't all too pleased that she didn’t have enough money from the mission itself. Yet Ryumi strode into the kitchen, placing the small bag of Ryo down onto the countertop. She knew that the money would be enough to afford some amount of food. Yet it was still disappointing that she couldn’t afford enough food unless she used part of the funds that she had acquired from doing all those missions with high-ranking members of the village. Yet the thought of money always annoyed her, how she never had enough to fully pay someone to complete Lloyd's back surgery, not enough to even have new clothing. She had spent her money on improving herself as a shinobi, and she knew that she’d have to use more money if she wanted to better her equipment. She always felt so worried for him, for his safety, for the fact that her actual parents had made him hurt so badly. She could only feel the guilt of how much pain he must have felt. Yet she could only see that she was not making enough money, more missions would have to be completed before she could feel good about herself and how they were even lucky to be alive after everything that had happened.

“I can see if I can get us some noodles. From the local shop near the old blacksmiths?” Ryumi asked, wondering if Lloyd would accept cheaper ramen than the beef rolls he loved to devour whenever she made them. Ryumi had taken up cooking ever since Lloyd had been placed into the state he was now. His legs laid on the couch, with his upper body looking around, almost like a lost puppy in search of something to keep his attention on. Ryumi moved to count the amount of Ryo she had acquired, 1500, just enough for her and Lloyd to grab those tasty noodles.

She never realized how much she liked noodles.

“You mean Pin Noodles? That should be good for us for tonight, just be careful in the rain, please! Don’t want you getting sick now!” He called towards her, and Ryumi bolted towards her room. Her arm suddenly stretched with tremendous speed to find the safe that she kept. One that held all of her actual money. She was going to try and see if she could visit that blacksmith shop, one that supposedly had been owned by members of the Akari clan years ago. She knew that Lloyd had at least some knowledge of her little safe, but not enough to know that she had a lot more money, enough to where she could actually buy him the beef rolls. Yet she had grabbed enough money, roughly 40,000 Ryo with her inside a separate bag of money that was hooked right onto her hip. It allowed her to easily move around without having to stuff all of the coins into her meager pockets.

“Alright! I’m heading out! I’ll be back!” She shouted towards Lloyd, his body moved, arm outstretched to let out a wave towards Ryumi. His other hand had acquired a book that he had been trying to grab for a while. Ryumi understood that books being at least at crawl level were a good idea, it allowed Lloyd the freedom of being able to grab something and read it. Her body slowly vanished from the small outline of the door frame, and out into the ever brewing storm outside.

The rain only grew heavier while she made her way out of the front door. A small leather coat acted as her protection from the rain. She could survive without it, but Lloyd didn’t want her taking any chances with catching any kind of cold. There was sickness beginning to spread throughout the religious sectors of the village, and Lloyd wasn't going to have her catch something that would cost them too much money to heal.

Ryumi's hair was matted around her head, the long black mane of hair acting almost as a secondary coat that she'd use to stave off any kind of natural affliction. But she was heading out for a rather simple purpose, one that allowed her to potentially get what she wanted. one of her pockets was heavy with the amount of coins she had on her person. Yet she was able to somehow escape undetected, due to Lloyd seemingly falling asleep and allowing her to also bring the chipped-up weapon That was her Devil's Bo-Staff. A hilarious name for a girl who was stuck in a part of the village with such heavy superstitious thoughts and feelings. Chakra was almost considered Demonic, especially for those whose political power had been threatened by those who had chakra.

She knew some Priests and Even practiced chakra to perform “miracles”. At an especially hefty price as well. Yet it wouldn't have been the first time someone would scam another because of their use of chakra.

Her body moved along with the motions, the muddy road taking her already dirty boots with even more mud. The rainfall continued, each drop growing slowly heavier and heavier amongst this ever-brewing storm. She knew some who could manipulate a storm, and some who could create one out of nowhere, yet there was something natural, primal almost about the coming storm approaching the village. Yet she knew that this was at least not an attack. The use of chakra to create a cataclysmic storm would be too much for almost anyone. But that didn't make the rain any more annoying while she was walking down the rocky streets. Most of the children who were running around were at home, keeping to themselves on this night within their houses. Allowing them to feel the warmth and shelter of their homes. A piping hot meal is being prepared for them by their parents. Ramen was a good meal for her and Lloyd, but she had wished she could use the money that he knew about to buy those tasty beef buns he had wanted. She knew she couldn't bargain with them, she had tried that once before and it almost got her kicked out of the shop. The owner shouted that she should never try to bargain again or else she'd be barred from coming. He was one of the religious folk, constantly spouting his talk about how the Shinobi were not helpful to them, his face was like that of a pufferfish, his neck bloated out to massive proportions along with his body. His body flapped almost whenever he moved inside the shop. Yet she also knew that he did not like her because of what Lloyd had done to one of their venerable Priests. His frown constantly met her scarred face whenever she had come through the door.

The streets that were not a part of the religious section still had a few people bustling about, mainly those shinobi who were stationed to guard the village even if there were irregular patterns of weather. Some were soaked in the rain, others however seemed to have created some kind of barrier ninjutsu that allowed them to walk through the rain without their clothes becoming wet. Her clothing was at least semi-covered if her hair was going to be a mess to clean up in the morning. The muddy streets of Hoshigakure’s village sector were much less “pristine”, yet that might have been because so much money went into the local businesses that helped the Shinobi of the village. Yet she didn’t mind the mud all that much, as it reminded her of the small road she lived on, atop the mountainside where she could see almost the entire village, even if it meant she and Lloyd were “Alone”.

There was still light in the forge when Ryumi had made her way near the Ramen shop on the other side of the road. . . it wouldn’t take her too long to help get her weaponry forged, especially if she could pay it all off within one day. Her body turned, going to face the forge of lightning and fire. It seemed that everyone would work even at this late night. A crackle of lightning and the clap of thunder eluded to just how terrible the storm would be, along with the fact that someone coming out during this kind of weather must have had something interesting to say. Ryumi took a few steps forwards, before making her way inside of the forge itself.

When she arrived, she saw many different members of the Akari clan hard at work creating different weapons of various types and styles, some were straight swords commonly associated with the templars of the religious section, while others were creating refined katana, and Wakazashi’s as well, holding the blades up into the light to see if there were any imperfections.

“Heya! I have a question. Could any of you help with. . . helping me improve this thing? I got some money. . .”

The scarred appearance of Ryumi Hiyu would be striking, even with her mostly covered by the cloak jacket that she wore, her appearance was that of a rather short woman, barely 155 cm in height. She had revealed a slightly chipped, and rather unique Bo-Staff. One that had come apart into three sections before she had suddenly been able to connect it into a long, 1.8-meter-long Bo-Staff, it was even taller than she was. . . Yet she looked a bit hopeful that she could do something with it here, or get a new metallic one instead.

WC:1799

After the amount of time and effort going into the sword itself, the sheath was child’s play by comparison. The sheath was hollowed in two parts and fused back together, with the end of it capped in gold like the rest of the weapon. She had just placed it down to cure and was in the process of inspecting her blade when she heard a voice coming from the front counter, someone looking for assistance. “I’ll be right there,” she called back. After a cursory glance to confirm that the blade was in pristine condition, she placed it down and walked up to the counter.

A short woman was standing there holding what appeared to be a three-section staff, looking to have it improved. Anastasia looked over the weapon. “I’m sure we could do something with it,” she would say to the woman. “Did you have anything particular in mind?”

WC: 150
TWC: 1759

She had been standing there for a few moments, some simply stared at her proclamation, while others simply went back to their work. Ryumi was confused, why was everyone simply ignoring her. It seemed someone would be offering their assistance to her now, it wouldn’t be long now until she could at least get this thing fixed. Her eyes turning towards the one who had approached her, Ryumi’s purple eyes staring down at Anastasia Akari before registering the question that had been levied at the topic of her 3 section staff.

“Well, I was thinking if there was a way to upgrade it at all? Like make it stronger?” She asked, her hand reaching outwards to present the slightly chipped Bo-Staff, bit’s of wood and dirt were caked upon the weapon, as Ryumi was a bit embarrassed that she had taken such little care of the gift that Atarashi had given her. It was something that she would use throughout her ninja career, yet she needed something good, something with an upgraded quality to it that she could use without having to risk breaking it due to her immense strength.

“I have money, I’m willing to pay whatever fees are included in this.”

WC:206
TWC:2005

She wanted her weapon to be stronger than where it was currently, and that she was willing to pay to make that happen. Anastasia would smile politely at the woman in front of her. “That’s good,” she would say to her. “While we don’t charge exorbitant prices for services, money definitely helps to get what you want.” She pulls a list out from under the counter and passes it to the woman. It details out different materials, and their benefits for being incorporated into weapons and armour. “I’m afraid I’ll need you to be more specific,” she says, indicating the different materials on the paper. “There are many ways to make a weapon stronger. If you’re meaning literally, to make it more resilient to damage, there are a couple options. Meteoric Iron here for example,” she points at one item on the list, “will make your staff more durable. This one here,” she points out Damascus Steel “makes your weapon hit harder.” She pauses for a moment to let that sink in. “There are also materials that will lessen the effect of various blows that you block with your weapon,“ she motions to Bloodstone and Mithril, “however those are harder to come by, and more expensive as a result. Take a look at the list, and decide on what it is you think would best suit your needs. We can discuss price once you’ve made your selection.” Anastasia would wait patiently for the woman to make her decisions.

WC: 248
TWC: 2007

The weather was particularly gloomy when compared with the previous days as rain dropped and dampened the ground below Zraix's feet- normally he wouldnt venture out in such bleak conditions unless he had important business in mind, and today was no different. He made his way into town with a large sack slung over his back, the white cloak draped over his Kisatsutai uniform drenched from the cascading droplets. He carried an expression that seemed to oppose nature as a smile of hope decorated his face unable to hide his excitement for what was to come. With a rather unfamiliar katana holstered to his right hip he continued forward towards his objective, assured that he would be able to accomplish his task.

Upon reaching his destination he would take in the sight of the blacksmithing forge he had heard so much about, 'The Forge of Lightning and Fire' Maybe i'm just getting ahead of myself but there's something about this place feels so inviting." He thought to himself just before entering the shop. He would look around the forge to see many at work as it appeared to be a forge that saw a decent amount of business- the ronin would make his way to the front in order to ask for help but before doing so he would be met with an unfamiliar and familiar face. Hmm so Anastasia works here in her spare time huh? he thought as he watched her speak to a woman of a stout build with dark hair who appeared to be presenting a bo staff, no doubt with the same intentions he had to fortify it with the help of the Akari clan's forge.

He would wait until the conversation between the two woman took its course before he would interject as politely as he could, maintaining a fair distance off to the left from both of them. "You're a pretty busy girl Ana." He said with a small wave and smile, "Pardon me for interrupting but I had heard great things about this forge and I had a weapon in particular that I need fortified. I have all the necessary materials and the ryo as well. Im not sure if itll take a while but im willing to wait if thats the case." In truth running into a comrade only served to strengthen the mood of the Hoshimura, as if it was all coming together one piece at a time. He would feel more than comfortable with Ana working on the blade, though he had no doubts that anyone employed at the forge had more than capable hands.

Grabbing his Chakra Bonded Katana by the hilt and detaching it from his waist he would place it in a free space on the counter and next to it he would place the wet sack that he had carried in with him. Lowering the sides of the sack he would reveal its contents, looking up at Anastasia as he did so. "Id like to strengthen this katana specifically with these materials. Damascus Steel, Meteoric Iron and Sands of Time. Think thats possible?" He would await her answer, for while he was confident he had come to the right place, there was no guarantee that his request would be met without issue.

WC= 547

Purchase of Materials

The pointing out of different materials and the effect they would have on her weapon was interesting to the young women. She knew that this would certainly take a massive bite out of her wallet, one that would involve her having to do a lot of missions to retrieve all of the Ryo that would be spent on this one weapon. But if it meant she could potentially rise in the ranks as a shinobi. Then she would do anything for it. The motioning of the four materials that were mentioned, Ryumi would point at Meteoric Iron, Damascus Steel, and finally Mythril.

“These three would be perfect, although they are super pricey, I hope that I can afford all of them,” She said this while fishing for the massive sack that was all the Ryo that she had brought, yet she realized she might have taken more than the 40 thousand she once had. A small smirk was plastered on her face, curious if there was anything else that interested her.

She’d continue to look over at the current selection of materials before her, right before someone else had spoken up about getting a similar reforgement done on their own weapon. She turned around, seeing the rather tall looking Zraix show themselves, someone who Ryumi had never met beforehand. He certainly was similar in appearance to that of Tsunayoshi, light blonde or silverish hair, yet it was the three headed dragon symbol, the golden broach, that signified that she was standing near a Hoshimura. Ryumi’s hand would suddenly stretch out towards the man who had appeared, opening it in order to give a shake towards him.

“Nice to meetcha! Ryumi Hiyu! I’m guessing you two know each other?” Questioned the Hiyu Clan Member, letting go of Hoshimura's hand before returning her attention back towards the Akari member.

“I think I have enough money, I’ll buy the materials and everything! Thank you so much for this, honestly!” She would suddenly wrap her arms around Anastasia for a hug, using her monstrous strength to keep the girl close before letting her go, Ryumi was excited now, finally having a weapon that could handle her strength!

WC:363
TWC:2368

As she was waiting for The young woman in front of her to make her decision, a familiar face entered the shop as well. Zraix walked in and stood off to one side, waiting for a moment before greeting her and stating that he had work he’d like to get done. She would smile at him and nod. “Hello Zraix, I am, and I enjoy keeping myself busy. Hard work is an excellent opportunity to keep yourself in fighting form, since you never know when a battle will happen. It is nice to see you again though. I’m sure we can take care of augmenting your weapon for you. I imagine that it won’t take too long, but I will be helping the young woman here first and then I have to do a final inspection on my own blade that I’d recently finished.”

The young woman at that pointed out a couple materials that she’d decided on; Meteoric Iron, Damascus Steel, and Refined Jade. “Excellent choices,” she would say approvingly. “Coincidentally, those are the same materials I had forged into my own weapon, Brightblinder.” She motioned behind her to a sword that was resting on supports on top of the worktable a little way behind her. “The Meteoric Iron will cost you twenty thousand ryo, the Damascus Steel will cost twelve thousand, and the Refined Jade will cost eight thousand. On top of that, the cost to have the weapon augmented to accommodate the materials will cost you twenty-two thousand ryo. All in all, the total will be sixty-two thousand ryo.” She would write this all down on an invoice for the young woman in front of her, who had introduced herself to Zraix as Ryumi Hiyu. She would then pass the invoice to the woman to sign. “If that works for you, we can get started on it and have it back to you shortly.”

She would then turn her attention back to Zraix. He’d placed his sword and a sack of materials on the counter. She would examine them to make sure everything was accounted for. “I don’t see why not,” she would grab another invoice and fill it out for him, pricing out just the augmentation costs as he already had the materials on hand. “To augment the weapon to accommodate all three materials will cost twenty-two thousand ryo. If that works for you, simply sign at the bottom and I’ll accept your payment and we’ll augment your blade once I’ve completed the tasks that are ahead of you.” She would take a step back and wait for Ryumi’s answer and would go from there.

WC: 439
TWC: 2446

Much to his surprise the woman with a stout figure and dark hair interjected before he was spoken to by Anastasia- she greeted him kindly and introduced herself as Ryumi of the Hiyu clan and extended her hand to shake his. Without much thought he would shake her hand and could immediately tell that her build wasn't just for show. He had a bit of knowledge on the Hiyu clan from shinobi he had met in the past and knew at the very least they specialized in physical combat so none of this came as a surprise, "Nice to meet you Ryumi. Im Zraix Hoshimura. Yeah Anastasia and I have been on a mission and even trained together a bit." He said with a smile, letitng go and directing his attention to Anastasia "Yeah its good to see you too. I take it by now you've already tightened up your control on those breathing forms?" He asked with a light hearted smile. He would nod when told by Ana that he would need to wait in line as Ryumi had arrived first and would have her weapon worked on before his.

He would leave his katana and the materials in her care while he listened to the pricing of the materials at her forge- he kicked himself as he realized he could have saved some ryo by purchasing the materials he had brought in here at the forge but was still very happy with the price of augmentation. "Sounds good, ill pay you in full and as a matter of fact Ill be back in a little while. Just gonna go grab a bite to eat across the street while I wait. Ill leave everything here with you." He would give a wave to Anastasia  and would turn to Ryumi before leaving, "Itll be the ramen shop across the street if you want to join me while you wait." With these words he would take his leave to get some food and kill some time.

WC=335