The beginning of Devinchi's workshop

Okane had already ordered the beginnings of his work shipped to his home. A mere thirty pounds of steel and an anvil. It had cost him half of his start up allowance for the month but the truth was he needed to get back into practice. It had cost him twenty nine thousand five hundred ryo. Of which the shop owner had been thrilled with. Even offering free delivery. Okane was spending an awful lot right off the bat to be perfectly honest. It was closer to three fifths than a half. Still it had been brought in by two burly men in three trips. The first was bringing the heavy anvil and setting it up on his work station in the basement. It was dry there. No excess moisture or air flow. Suna did seem to have some of its perks after all. After that it was the thirty pounds of steel. One of them asked what this strange man was doing with all of it to the other but was quickly hushed. They didn't want to ask questions of loyal customers. Not ones likely to repeat attendance. Even a pretty boy like this one. Of course the pretty boy had been careful not to leave any valuables out. He didn't have much in the way of security yet after all.

Okane would run his hand over the anvil and his hammer after they left. The forge already burning as he let it heat up. How long had it been? How long had he squandered his education and talents? This village was a poor excuse for a city for now but by summer he will have made a difference. He could be a playboy and a business man. He could prove that to his father. The business his family had created virtually ran itself down by the ocean but here he would be like a king. He would take a deep breath as he shifted to the side of the room. Taking off his fancy coat and tie. His crown and breaking his outfit down to a thick black t shirt and black pants with steel toed boots. He would tie a green headband around his forehead to keep the sweat out and even slip on some heavy gloves before rolling out a couple of the simplest blue prints. This was going to take time and effort. However he knew where he was going to start. Over the next twenty four hours he would build a pair of steel arm guards and a pair of steel shin guards. Once that was done he would move on to two steel kunai. Those two would also take twenty four hours. So in two days he would rest but only after he had proven again he could craft.

Okane would rise from his spot on the sofa downstairs and stretch. He had taken another nap while the last of the pieces began to cool. He would stretch and move over to the kiln before stoking it back to life. The heat scorched across him but didn't burn. It made his lips feel chapped as he stirred it and added more fuel to the fire. It had to be hot enough to heat up steel after all. And a lot of it. He had proven to himself he could make light, decent quality material but he had learned how to mold it. To form it into something more and to craft it as needed. For now he wanted to start on a bigger project. Something to hang in the showroom for now. Of all things he decided on something that would take ten pounds of steel. For now he set it to heat up and moved back to his original projects. hammering them into the perfect shape and attaching the straps where needed. Grinding away the excess and sharpening the kunai. Only once it was all shaped as it should be would he set to polishing it. Rubbing away the scorch marks and giving it a proper shine. These were only the first of his many works but they would sell. He smiled as he held out each piece and examined it. Oh they would sell alright. At the very least someone would want something of quality below the market price. After he finished with those it was back to the glaive.

The larger piece he had made was nearly complete. He had finished with the mold and shaping and was now onto letting it cool before he would begin the sharpening process. It was turning out to be a promising piece. Okane however had gotten very little sleep so he would take a couple hours to nap again. He was so focused in his work that he was finding it difficult to distract himself long enough to sleep or eat. However for now he would set the steel to begin heating for his next three pieces. He would take his time with them but they would still not be masterpieces. Simply better than your average shops work. Six pounds of steel set aside for a heavier pair of steel arm braces and a pair of heavier steel shin braces. The most commonly demanded pieces of armor of what he had seen. Still his work would include something less common but more ceremonial. Yes indeed he would be making a wakizashi. Smaller than a katana but it needed to be just as sturdy. The metal would heat longer this time to allow him to make more quality material. They would be heavier but they would also be solid.

For the moment everything was going really well. His wakizashi had finished and his arm and shin guards had come out nearly flawlessly. He could still do better he thought to himself. Not many could complain about the durability of this steel but he was ready to use a stronger material. He would wait on that though. His shipment of wood and cloth had arrived first as it was easiest to get to him. He hung up the weapons and armor on display and would move outside to the larger working space. A sort of garage. Mostly a covered space with ragged cloth but still it would do to keep his work hidden from the elements. This craft was more of a soft and direct attention. He saw these simple materials differently after all. A vision of a new mode of transportation across the desert. He smiled as he set to work. Moving the logs apart and beginning to mark measurements and cutting. A simple design that had a smooth surface underneath curved up at the front to allow easy sliding. The cloth rigging would attach to a pole one could turn to adjust direction slightly. For now he was making three of them. One for personal use and two for sale. This was going to be a wonderful first step.

The three skiffs were finally done and he had finished puling out a fair share of splinters. Okane would sigh as he brought his bandaged fingers back to a work bench. He would be going out to his side yard later today to put together a green house. Food a plenty to grow there for him and his neighbors. The glass was already shaped and later he would set up the pipes and everything to set it to water the plants and keep it moist inside without letting the water easily burn off in the open desert wind. After which he would head into the village and finish carving a path through it. Placing the pipes as needed and in two days, Suna would have a river. Beyond that he was also setting some ebony he bought to heat. It would take two days to even start the tanto, another three for the Wakizashi and then finally another three for the katana.

It had taken a great deal of effort on his part and time but his three weapons of perfect craftsmanship were finished. He would admire it for the time being. A fine finish to show his art was more than a grade above the rest. Now when his materials were to be finished he would be able to make weapons of the like that the world had rarely seen. Making himself into the legend he had dreamed of becoming. His father would likely hear of him even from the coast now. Knowing that Okane had begun to bring the family legacy to a whole new peak. First though he would be moving on to a new order that had come in. Six pieces of ebony armor. A whole samurai suit that would require his entire remaining stock of Ebony. He would smile and wash up before setting thirteen pounds of ebony into the smithy to heat to a mold able temperature. Ebony Pauldrens, Ebony Grieves, Ebony Helmet, Ebony Tassets, Ebony Bracers, and finally an Ebony Breastplate. All fine crafts work for certain and with a need for a keen eye. A good eighteen days before the whole set would be done. If Okane didn't enjoy this work it would be a sad thing indeed.

Okane would check the finished product of all the armors before it was sent for delivery of course. Taking until the product was good enough for his approval before it was sent away. Now he was going to smelt the four ebony he had for the time being for the next twenty four hours. After which he would chemically treat all four pieces as in pairs of two they were melted together within the chemistry station. Slowly turned into two pieces of Midnight Metal over another twenty four hours. The first he would set into a pair of X rank Sai he had received an order from a generous customer in Kumo. Those wouldn't take long but they would truly be his masterpiece. He was already preparing the enchantment on them that he would have Kai stop by at some time to empower them with katon chakra. As for the second midnight ore. It would be slowly shaped into Chokuto, a 32 inch straight edge blade with a boxy angled tip, single edge running down the length of the blade. It's handle is made of a light blonde wood sandwiched over the full tang of the blade, matched perfectly with its scabbard. The blade is made from an Okane Tomi special, Midnight Ore, crafted to perfection, taking its signature star-filled night sky appearance, dark with spots and dots of 'light' almost spread along the blade's length. The Kanji for 'Thunder' (雷) is etched into the Habaki (Collar) of the Chokuto, on the opposite side about the same size, an intricate Stag Head insignia, mark of The Stag Emporium. It lacks a Tsuba (Hand Guard), and has a somewhat unconventional wooden handle, but is surprisingly comfortable, and may be wrapped in cloth or leather for extra comfort without sacrificing control. When mated with the scabbard, the blade simply looks like a wide and flat cane or board to the less perceptive, only a thin barely noticeable line separating the blade from its holder to tell the lethal potential hidden inside. Hidden in the handle, flawlessly integrated, is a spindle with 300 feet of Ebony wire wrapped around it, available for various uses, limited by only the user's imagination. That would take a week if only for turning two more units of ebony into three hundred feet of sturdy yet flexible Ebony wire.

It would not take long for Kai to arrive, the tall genin with black sunglasses that hid his deep green eyes from the world would walk into the workshop after getting the request from Okane to donate some fire natured chakra to a weapon project. As a user of all five basic elements, he was particularly well suited to the task of donating any elemental nature the crafter required and he didn't have any issues with helping. Besides, the man was paying him wasn't he? That was how things worked, one traded goods and/or services for payment. Even on his world it was the same. As the tall, muscular genin arrived he would turn to see Okane busy at work with a Chokuto, that was Azuma's preferred weapon if he recalled the man's blade choice correctly. The Stag Emporium symbol etched into the piece. Kai would take a moment to admire the man's work before looking around for his task. Okane had told him earlier what exactly he needed to do so that Kai wouldn't accidentally disturb him while he worked on orders.

The Sai he had been tasked to charge were sitting on a nearby table, ready for him to assist with. Nodding to himself Kai would stride over to the table and take one of the Sai in each hand and run off with them channel fire element chakra into the weapons. He didn't know exactly when he'd be done but he figured it would be fairly simple to know. As he channeled more and more chakra into the equipment he'd see what looked like runic script to him, but in reality was simply the fuinjutsu etched into the equipment. The script glowed bright blue for a few moments before Kai noted that he no longer felt a drain upon his chakra. Done then, that was simple enough. Setting the Sai's down where they had originally been placed, he would turn and leave. Trying not to disturb the craftsman at work.

--Exit

All the other weapons had been finished and delivered and a new project had come in less than a week after the fact. With two more units of Ebony in hand Okane set about chemically crafting the midnight ore over the next twelve hours. Only once that was finished would he spend the next week crafting the weapon as the blue prints requested. Holes in the blade and all for a whistling noise. Inscribing the enchantment needed along the blade to glow green when introduced to wind chakra. He had asked Kensai to come along and imbue it with a little of his wind chakra to give it it's power.

Exit thread

Mitsu was not usually in the habit of picking up extra work, if she could help it. Not that she was lazy, far from it in fact, she would just rather do things like practice her dancing on the walls or make sand angels, paint something. Anything creative. But here she was, checking the missions board and looking for something to do. She spied a beautiful piece of paper with a request from a fairly well known weapons crafter. I just need the wind element huh? Well that works for me! Snatching the paper off the board she would march over to the tallest building in Suna, possibly the whole world. Probably the whole world.

As she was directed to the workshop she would shiver a bit in her small dancing outfit, the AC was nice but a bit cooler than what she was dressed for. She warmed up once she entered the workshop proper though. In true Mitsu fashion she would ‘oooh’ and ‘aaah’ at all the things she saw, touching everything as long as she wasn’t yelled at or stopped. Walking up to who she could only assume to be The Grand Merchant she would hold out the piece of paper and announce her willingness to help. It wasn’t difficult to spot the work she was supposed to be doing, and with some trial and error as to how it was to be done she would begin to channel her Wind Chakra into a of beautiful looking Katana. And runs off with it.

After what felt like forever she would see the runic script glow on the weapons and would cease channeling her chakra. She was happy to help and it made her laugh a little to think that a tiny piece of her would be running around stabbing people. Hopefully bad people. With a giggle she would wave to Okane and without waiting for any sort of response she would bounce out the door humming a song she just made up.

[Exit]