Open Spark of the Hammer

[Ranran]

Winter had come to much of the world with the land of lightning experiencing thick snowfall while the land of fire continued to suffer under a myriad of bad weather conditions but in the land of wind the sun still beat down harshly on the village though not to the extremes you would experience in the summer creating a pleasant dry heat that allowed the citizens to take on activities that would have led to heatstroke in the summer but now could be enjoyed to their full extent. On the edge of the resident district facing towards the commercial section of the village was an old but well maintained house of moderate size with the Nanjirou crest emblazoned proudly on a small tori gate at the front of the house but despite it being a clan house the owner seemed to not care for privacy at all as other than Tori gate the house had no outer walls allowing any passer by to greet the family that lived there which people often did as the family would call out to many people with friendly hello's or question about how they were doing and despite their relatively small time in the village they were already well liked within the small community around their property with many villages just walked into the Nanjirou house to visit the patriarchs of the household.

On the far side of the family house away from the gate was a small roofed patio that had been converted into a blacksmithing forge and this is where one would often find the middle child of the family as the rhythmic sounds of a hammer striking metal filled the air. If anyone looked inside the forge they would find a young girl inside her ebony locks trailing down her back while a featureless white mask hid the girls face from view. Currently the girl was wearing a yukata made of a thick dark material that gave it an almost ceremonial feel with her left shoulder bare exposing her chest wraps while the material pooled around her waist. Held within her right hand was a pair of tongs clutching a white hot piece of metal while in her right hand a large black hefted hammer was clasped being brought down by an arm that was surprisingly muscular for a child of her age doating that the girl had most likely being practicing the art of foraging from an extremely young age. The crashing peel of the hammer was accompanied by the child's voice as she sung loudly and soulfully over the metal almost as if she was singing to the metal to bring out the best results.

"Shibasi mo yasumazu tsuchi utsu hibiki
Tobichiru hibana yo hashiru yudama
Fuigo no kaze sae iki omo tsugazu
Shigoto ni sei dasu mura no kajiya

Aruji wa nadakai hatarakimono yo
Hayaoki hayane no yamai shirazu
Naganen kitaeta jiman no ude de
Uchidasu suki kuwa kokoro komoru"

Ranran continued her work focusing hard as her words continued seeming to help her keep exact time as she struck the metal again before finally the song finished and the girl plunged the metal she had been working on into a nearby barrel of quenching solution.

[Rough Translation:
The sound of the hammer continues without a pause
The sparks splash out, boiling water rising up
The bellows blow fiercely without taking a breath
The village blacksmith is working so hard.

The master is famous for his stubborn personality
He keeps early hours, maintaining his health
He is proud of his mastery from many long, long years
And he makes spades and hoes with confidence.]

[MFT]
WC: 510

 

[Tanatsu Neko]

Neko was needing something new, she was tired of playing with shuriken and wanted something to use when on her Anbu missions specifically. There were enough telling features on her that anything she could do to shift perspective on who she was and what she was doing could only help her keep the two lives separate. She had decided that she was going to get a pair of hook swords, something that was practical but also could do some damage if she closed the distance on an enemy. So, she sought a blacksmith was in order to commission some unique hook blades. Hopefully her Intel was correct on a newer student she had begun to research, with the goal of getting another AiT soon enough. If she was correct, she would be heading directly there for her commission. She approached the shop and knocked on the wall to the patio with a smile.

"Hello? Are you open? I had heard this shop was now looking to take on some work and I'm in desperate need of some new gear, any chance you or a parent of yours could help a poor Genin out? I am looking to get two swords commissioned if that has your interest?"

Spoiler: Hook blade concept

 

[Ranran]

Ranran took a deep breath and exhaled slowly bringing her hands up in prayer as her body steamed with sweat from the heat of the forge not that Ranran cared about the heat as she exalted in the feeling of recreating not just her blade but making it a representation of her growth and very soul within the metal work however her joy was short lived as a voice pierced the silence asking if her shop took commissions. Ran whipped her head around to the intruder of her sanctuary and just stared at the stranger her eyes as big as dinner plates. Standing before the smith was a hooded woman wearing some sort of Oni mask around her lower face with piercing green eyes peering from over the mask as she stood with a diagram in hand with what she wanted. "Shop!?" Ran squawked most likely alerting the few family members she had inside to the intruder that had stepped into the workshop. "Who the fucks is calling me a shop! I'll cut the dickhead from tip to to toe! I'll grind his guts into powder and use it to flavour Kimiko's ramen!! I'M NOT SOME FUCKING STORE I AM A MASTERCRAFTSMAN HONING THEIR ART!! I'LL..." As Ranran devolved into a tirade she slammed her hammer down on to her workbench denting the table with the force as she stood up. Each word being punctuated with a step as she approached Neko rage evident in her features before with a final step she caught sight of the sword designs being offered and stopped in her tracks staring at the scroll with slowly growing hunger.

Snatching it from the ninja Ranran examined the scroll humming, her earlier anger almost a lie as she focused on the hook swords mumbling to herself as she turned and stepped away. "Hmmm I got some nice black iron I could use for strength......and I could make the blade studier if I apply my new quenching solution.....KIMIKO! where the hell is your ass! I need some shit for a dumbass that stepped into our house!" Screaming for her sister Ran slammed down the sword blueprints down before grabbing her hammer and pointing at Neko before motioning to a chair left to the side between the whetstone and some sort of device that looked suspiciously like an iron maiden. "Listen dumbass the only reason I'm not flaying you over my forge is cause you brought something interesting. So sit there and tell me about yourself. I need to know the current you to forge you a weapon that matches." As she spoke Ran bent down and began to rummage in a box below her workbench pulling out ingots of metal.

[MFT]
WC: 453

 

[Nanjirou Kimiko]

Spoiler

“No no…” Kimiko looked into the cage. The bunny absolutely ripping apart its cage mate. The fox. Some would say this was against nature.Kimiko saw it as… changing the rules of the game. Although, this wasn’t what she was expecting. She spoke aloud as she wrote on her notes. ”Trial 47 failed again. Mating between prey and predator didn’t happen. Lilyrequiem interestingly functioned as a catalyst for some sort of berserk function in the prey. Funnily enough it had the opposite effect on the predator, barely even defended itself. As if it was expecting, borderline WANTING ,to be eaten. Further testing is necessary. Start planning for human trials starting with… teens between 13-16 of age. See if dominant bullies turn submissive.“ She wrote everything down excitedly. She had encountered something that could be used as a way for those without power to rise up against their oppressors and those with power to be helpless against it. Maybe this could be used as the Catalyst to start a civil war. Wipe out entire camps of troops in minutes. The potential usage for her concoction was endless.

She grabbed her purplish “tea”. Giving it a smell and slowly tasting it. She scrunched up her nose. “Needs more Nitric.” She grabbed one of the viles from her desk and poured a couple of drops into it. Sipping it she gave a slight smile. As if satisfied with the end result. Her slight, rare smile turned back into a stoic expression once she started hearing her sister scream… again… the metal probably broke again. Or some poor soul decided to ask for a discount.

Then she heard her name. She gave a big, exaggerated sigh. ”THE FUCK YOU WANT!” She yelled out. Something about some stuff about some… wait… did she say dickhead? Getting out of her own workshop she walked towards her sister’s workshop. “What dickhead?” She said as she walked into the room, poking her head from the entrance. Her mask gleaming from the heat of the fire. She looked over the direction of the ’customer’. “The fuck you supposed to be? Deer in headlights or somethin’?“ She looked over at her sister, then at the designs at the table. Oh… so that’s why she was interested. “The fuck ya want. I got important shit going on. Trying to have a mating ritual between a fox and a rabbit. ACTUALLY!” She looked over at the “customer”. “I’m sorry ma’am, rude of me. Would you like some tea? We got quite the rare blends of… leaves…”

 

[Tanatsu Neko]

These were the two students, the ones she was going to check in on to see if they were good potential. Now she was debating if they were sane let alone good potential Anbu. Regardless the one had agreed to the swords so it was at least moving her way in conversation, though this other one was well, more concerning to Neko.

"Afraid I'm not looking to get poisoned today, I do apologize though as minus whatever is sticking to the edge of the cup does smell quite good."

She smiled politely and took a seat crossing one leg over the other and looking between the pair. While it was a crude attempt at poisoning, it was clearly an effort made and the kid did know to use tea to hide the flavor. It was mostly the smell that made it obvious, that and poison mixed into tea had a tendency to leave residue around the water line that was honestly the only reason not to use tea if you were new at poisons.

"So, it's not a shop.. but you're interested in making my blade if you get to know me is that correct? Okay, so then what is something that would help you to know me for these blades?"

She was curious, she'd never been sat down about a commission before. This young one has great promise if they were using such techniques this early. Even if they showed no interest later on in the branch, there was potential for her to make a great living here. She was curious on the other one though, as she was speaking of mating rituals and then attempting to poison a stranger. That was an interesting conversation to have at minimum but she'd delay for just this moment.

 

[Ranran]

Finally deciding on a selection of ingots she was happy with Ran stood up while tossing a bar of blackened metal over her shoulder to the Anbu lady pretty sure she would catch it easily. "Channel chakra through that and tell me if blue or black smoke comes out of it." Was the simple explanation the girl gave not telling the women how long she needed to channel the chakra for as her sisters dulcet tones blared out from the house not that Ran needed to answer back as the familiar masked appearance of her sister appeared at her door seemingly upset about her experiments being interrupted but in the same breath already trying to experiment on the unwanted customer with her decoctions. Spinning around Ran stepped over to Kimiko in long strides quickly approaching the younger girl as she hooked her fingers around the alchemists mask with practiced ease pinching Kimiko's checks and pulling on them with enough force to hurt a little but not enough to do anything more than redden the girls cheeks while also being careful not knock the girl mask from her face. "Aren't you happy that your big sisters needs your help? That she called to her twin before anyone else cause only my Kimiko-chan could help me. Aren't you grateful to have such a loving big sister?" Ran eyes seemed to glow with anger from behind her mask as her voice took on a dark tone but with no actual malice as she would sooner slit her own wrists than harm her sister in anyway but it was hard to express those feeling so it often came out in forms of teasing her or pulling on the girls cheeks.

After a couple of moments of the two struggling with each other Ran finally let go of her sister. "You say you are getting them to mate but if I recall all you've got them to do is re-enact Sukasa's vore fantasies. Anyway enough about your battle with nature, remember that acid you made that softens metal? I'm gonna need it but before you complain I'm not being fair, in return I'll try the venom I said no to last week" Ran smiled as she spoke in a cajoling manner while gently elbowing her cloaked sister. "You know the one you were really proud of?" Despite talking about her upcoming poisoning Ran's tone held a genuine softness for her twin before her gaze fell back on Neko causing the girl to flinch and cough into her hands. "Not like I want to test that sludge out or anything!" Deflecting any tender emotions with anger Ran finally spun on Neko who had hopefully been channelling the chakra as she wanted. "No it's not a shop dumbass hence the lack of signs saying shop." As Ran spoke Neko would find herself poked and prodded as Ran produced a tape measure and began take various measurements involving Neko's arms and torso. "But your brought me an interesting design.....I guess....though I've seen better. So I'll grace you with the best blade ever but I need to know what your like so tell me. Have you Killed? How many? What do you want to do in the future? How do you fight? Stuff like that so I can interrupt the experiences within you body other wise the blade might not take you as it's master." Taking the ingot from Neko as she finished speaking Ran moved over to her forge as she pulled on the bellow lighting the space around her with sparks as the flames roared with intensity.

[MFT]
WC: 600

 

[Nanjirou Kimiko]

Looking to get poisoned…. You know. This was the stereotype about working with nature. People always think its poison will kill you. That’s every reaction that comes from working with chemicals ends up in a concoction that‘ll simply turn their brain into the primordial function of a duck. Swimming in the water and eating bread. Not death. Well, everything eventually led to the lethality of it. But knowing what each ingredient did would create an unlimited about of options on how to complete a contract. ‘The more options you have, the less of a chance you get caught’ Mama always said. ”Kinda mean you think I would poison you…” She spoke with a pout. “Mama said I couldn’t do anything lethal yet…” She couldn’t lie. It wasn‘t In her nature. Well, to be honest it was the only thing she knew. “it’s just tea with an extra fling in it. Like if you placed chilli peppers on your rice.“ She gave a nod as she looked over at her sister.

Asuka gave her sister a stoic expression as she took a sip of her tea. “…Big sister…” She didn’t even look in her direction, stareIng at the “costumer”. “1 minute.” And she kept repeating it. “…Big sister…” “1 minute.” “…Big Sister…” “1 minute”. She said as her cheek was stretched, pulled and moved around. She had an annoyed body expression but in reality she quite enjoyed her sisters affectionate nature. At least towards her. She pushed her away, or at least tried to as her cheeks were played with. “I got their roles reversed so that’s an improvement from last time!” She huffed with a slight smile. Her sister was always able to get her to express all sorts of emotions. Kimiko rubbed her chin as she recalled her acids. She had made a lot of them the past week. The one that softens Metal…. OH. She was about to complain. Closing her mouth when Ranran offered a compromise. Her eyes immediately brightened jumping in excitement. “I remember leaving it here somewhere…” She said looking around the shop, under the tables. OH! She quickly movd over to the costumer. “I had told you it was under the floor!” She said shaking her head as she motioned for the customer to move back. “Move move move you’re in the way.” Moving her backwards as she picked up a piece of the floor. Inside it quite. A big vial of some sort clear liquid, Encased in a some sort of solid substance covered in metal. She slowly brought it up to her sister. “Just remember to do it before heating up the metal. The acid will melt your bones if it spills on you FAST!” She gave a slight node, proud of herself. Looking over at the customer. “OH! The story of the first kill always works Wonders! Brings out the emotion on the Weak!”

 

[Tanatsu Neko]

Neko listened to them as they spoke, the pair were quite the interesting bunch. She would smile and think on how to approach the topics mentioned by each of them. "I have killed yes, though my job has not been to keep track. Admittedly that's not something I am proud to say, but only the first and most recent are the one's that stand out to me the most. Well, those and naturally the reason for the scars on my face, hard to forget the life changing events." She stared off for a moment and then held a hand out for the tea that was offered, she had a mild tolerance for most poisons at this point due to shin's teachings so the worst it could do if it wasn't lethal was upset her stomach.

"As for the other thing, I want to make a difference for the children of this village. Provide hope, teachings, make this village worth more than a hole in the desert but actually something to be proud of. Teaching the next generation to do the same, so on and so on." She'd take a sip of the tea regardless of ingredients, "I won't share my first human kill, that is something between me and whatever decides my fate when I die. But, again I appreciate your time for making these weapons for me and I apologize once again for the misunderstanding"

 

[Ranran]

Ran cocked her head to the side in confusion at Kimiko's remark that she had gotten the rabbit and the fox to switch places. "Isn't that a success in itself. I mean can't you just dump fox pheromones on a target then and watch as an army of rabbits nibbles them to death." As she questioned her twin nonchalantly on such as gruesome death, Ran continued pumping away at the bellows only stopping to throw some sort of powder on the forge that caused the flames to spark with purple and blue fire before a wave of ever increasing heat would issue from the forge. As the temperature in the workshop continued to climb Ran placed the ingot from Neko in a wooden bucket while her sister busied around the workspace trying to remember where she had tucked away the acid Ran needed until she began to bother their guest claiming the vial was in the floor beneath her. As Kimiko retrieved her prize Ran sidled up to Kimiko this time forgoing any physical punishment as she loomed over her little sister the atmosphere seemingly darkening with her anger just like her mother Katsumi when she got angry. "Kimiko......" The name was drawn out slowly with anger evident. "I told you to stop storing you acids in the workshop! What if I blow up the workshop again........You will ruin my babies!" Not elaborating any further on the said blowing up on a section of the house Ran instead danced over to a selection of swords hanging on a wall taking a moment to lovingly caresses her babies with a masked cheek seeming not to care she would most likely die in such an explosion of acid.

"AH!" Realising what she was doing in front of strangers Ran quickly took to slamming her forehead into the her sword collection, the wall shaking with the force as she began cussing out her brother. "That damn stupid Sukasa infected me with his dumbass behaviour......You two saw nothing!" Glaring from the slits in her mask Ran accepted the vial gratefully from Kimi gently patting her sister on the head with gentle motions before returning to the forge. Seemingly ignoring her sisters warning most likely to her sisters horror Ranran emptied the vial into the bucket containing the ingot before tossing the entire thing into the forges flames the bucket hissing loudly in the heat before Ran closed a blast shield over the front of the forge with the flick of a nearby leaver seemingly oblivious to the ensuing explosion within the hardened metal which was follow with an ominous groaning sound. All the while Neko had been talking about themselves and surprisingly Ran had been listening intently despite her work because her pride as a craftsmen only came second to her pride as a swordswomen. "Hmmm" Stepping over to Neko Ran investigated the scars dotting the women's face with genuine interest as if she was trying to discern their history before gently placing a finger on the women check as if she was testing if paint had been drying. Taking her finger back and touching the appendage to her tongue Ran nodded to herself. "Ok I've got the gist lets see what come out." Opening the forge again everyone would be treated to an acrid smell with the inside of the forge only being partially melted before Ran took the molten ingot from it's home carrying it over to the anvil only taking a moment to spit on the molten metal. "Anyone but Kimi talks and they die from this point on." The harsh warning was spoken with a powerful intensity and the only reason Kimiko was excluded was that her voice was fairly similar to Ran's own so to Ran it didn't bother her concentration.

Bang, Crash, Clash

The sounds of hammering soon filled the room as Ran began to mutter under her breath slowly at first until she broke into song seemingly using the tempo to measure her strikes.

"Kurai yozora ni, ro no honoo.
Hibana wa umare, yami ga nametoru.
Odoru kanazuchi, utau tetsu.
Tonkarakanto, konkinkan.
Omae wa yaiba, omae wa chikara.
Tsuchi yori idete, ki o kube, hi o hagukumi, kin o kitaete, mizu nite hiyasu.
Sekai wa meguri, shikashite komaru.
Kin yori tetsu o, tetsu yori hagane o, hagane yori yaiba o, yaiba yori ken o.
Akeru yozora ni, ken no kagayaki.
Hikari o utsushi, yami o kirisaku.
Odoru ken ni, utae ya sekai."

Ran continued working seemly invested in her smithing.

[Rough Translation:
In the dark night sky, the flame of the furnace.

A spark is born, and the darkness licks it away. A

dancing hammer, a singing iron.

Tonkarakan, konkinkan.

You are the blade, you are the power.

Come out of the earth and kindle the wood. Cultivate fire, forge metal, and cool it with water.

The world goes around, but then becomes stagnant.

Iron over gold, steel over iron, blades over steel, and swords over blades.

The shine of a sword in the dawning night sky. .Reflect

the light and cut through the darkness.

Sing to the dancing sword, the world]
.

 

[Nanjirou Kimiko]

“It is a new way on having an army of Rabbits turn on someone.” She nodded, agreeing with her sister. Her new concoction did indeed create something to be proud of. She could turn any peaceful animal into an army of bloodthirsty monsters. “But the end goal is to turn the most battle wretched warrior into the biggest baby. Imagine turning an army into a bunch of useless sacks of meat. We could turn the tide of a war in seconds!” She giggled at the thought. So much power in their hands. People would kill for her discoveries.

Kimiko gave a slight smile And laughed nervously as her sister towered over her in annoyance. She wouldn’t deny that she had been told that before. But she couldn’t exactly let her sister know that she was right. Especially in this instance. She shrugged off her complaining and looked away with a soft sigh. “I don’t have any more room and it’s not like I can store it in the wooden house! Besides, It was under the floor.” She explained with a tired expression “Perfectly safely stored Under the floor when it needed to be uncovered.” She gave a nod, proud of her safety practices. “I learned from last times incident. heck, worst case no one going to die this time.”

Looking over at the client; her stoic expression returned. Her annoyance showing at as the words were spoken. Her response being bland and full of the idea that the world was black and white. Such a pushover. First, the person drank from her tea. She did have her excited at one point. Waiting for a reaction. The most Neko would feel is a very mild stomachache, more as if her stomach screaming ‘WHAT HAVE YOU GIVEN ME YOU IDIOT!’ Rather than anything serious. Which, after a couple of minutes of waiting, quite disappointed Kimiko. Shinobi were always tolerant. She needed to up the dose. Making a mental note she continued. ”Such a hypocritical statement.” She shook her head as she started helping her sister. Barely making an effort yet somehow always knowing what her sister needed. Kimiko wasn’t the blacksmith of the family, or a blacksmith at all. But she’s spent so much time helping her sister she knows how the process works. “A murderer that uses children as an excuse to feel good about their actions.“ She looked at Ranran “What did Mama call them?… Morons? Pussies?… no… eh…” She thought for a few moments before snapping her fingers. “Two faced.” She nodded proudly. “As mama always says. Killing is ugly. But it isn’t evil. Anyone who thinks otherwise is an idiot. Anyone who gives it an excuse is even a bigger idiot.”

 

[Tanatsu Neko]

Neko leaned back and looked at the blue haired girl, "Ignorance is a luxury, hold onto it while you can" She laughs. "Your momma is right on some of that, though it's a bit much if I am being honest. It's not an excuse, its reality. I kill because I am fucking good at it." A smile hit her face, "But I still feel bad and decided that I'd make sure to help others as penance. Not because i need an excuse to commit an act that feels so good to do. Killing is something that comes as easily as breathing, I won't pretend helping children makes me any less of a monster. But at least I know what I am."

 

[Ranran]

Crash, Bang, Clash

Heavy hammer blows fell on the ingot sending vibrations through the air as Ran struck the metal in perfect timing to her song as tongs held by her sister would intercede after every strike as if her twin could read her mind, turning the metal and allowing Ran to evenly pound the slowly forming sword into shape as Kimi talked about how she had at least stored the acid under the floor where death or damage was very unlikely. Ran chose the better part of a long standing argument and decided to let it go for the moment as she was more concerned with not breaking the rhythm of her strikes which could cause impurities to taint the blades metal making it worthless in the hands of a ninja who would fracture a weak blade on the first swing.

As the two worked Ranran noticed that Kimiko had finally gotten the scared women to take a sip of her poison tea causing the dark haired girl to snort in amusement as she waited for some sort of silly affect Kimiko was known to create but after a few minutes the older ninja showed no reaction to the decoction making Ran frown under her mask and tut loudly as this women became more and more boring in her eyes. With a final swing of her hammer Ranran allowed her sister to use the tongs to take the sword to the quenching barrel as the two newly created blades were tossed within leaving Ran free to begin moving around the workshop as she debated internally what leather to use for the grips only piping up as Kimiko called Neko a hypocrite. "Oh god!" Ran suddenly exclaimed loudly with aggravation as she slammed her hands on a nearby table. "Whaaa fucking whaa I killed people, I need to take penance before I go back out and slit another fuckers neck." Ran spoke in a patronising tone before moving on to a more trademark angry tone. "Innocence is a lie cowards hide behind, People who claim they are good at killing are usually shit at it and the easter bunny was a summoned creature that lost a bet! All hard truths I know but that whole I kill people so I am a monster bullshit won't fly here when my family have been killers for generations and we are great!" It seemed Ran had blown up at Neko simply for the insinuation that her family were monster for killing people which would not fly with the little blacksmith as she turned to her sister. "Can you believe this shit? Comes in here and demands work and then bad mouths us in the same breath. Just cause we are late bloomers and haven't got a kill yet." Ranran quickly devolved into grumbles as she stamped around the forge putting the finishing touches on the sword with her sisters help before sharpening it. Soon the blade was completed and thrown roughly in Neko direction uncaring if the blade was caught her hurt the women as Ranran doused the forge.

 

[Nanjirou Kimiko]

"It's like talking too a two year old." KImiko kept moving the tongs around as her sister banged on them. Giving them shape. Seeing them work was like seeing an orchestra perefctly synched with one another. As if there was a telepathic conversation coordinating their moves. But, you could see differences. Ranran, the more brawn one. Using strength albesit unknown for an 11 year old. Her movements quick and precise. As if every hit meant something. Then there was KImiko, more agile, uncaring, as if her eyes predicted what was to come. Ying and yang and apparently the two halfs were as close as any two could be.

She nodded to her sister as if not really understanding what was so difficult to understand. Agreeing with everything she's said. She took another sip. "First off, just cause we curse doesn't mean you can. We're still technically considered children by your standards and you have the whole.... gotta set the example bullshit culture going on... we aint close enough to drop formalities yet bozo." The girl shook her head as she helped her sister with the rest of the procedure. "And come on.... you kill cause you good? See, you kill cause you're told to kill. Whether you are good at it or not is irrelevant. Besides, it's such a great job. You get to experiment with the most complicated anatomy there is. See what are the most effective ways to break it! See, monsters don't develop jutsus. They just tear and kill. WE are contractors. We do it cause we are contracted to do it. It's just a job. Nothing is ever black and white. You village folk keep forgetting that."