FREE KUNAI

[¤ SFS ¤]

From inside a small hut near the back end of the village a genin mused over his new potential. The tools of the trade were now his bread and butter, his lifeline to proper growth and financial stability. For the next month everything he did would focus on improving his skills and expanding his repertoire. For now he would he would have to stick with his guns. He didn’t have the time and general experience in crafting to learn too many in such a condensed amount of time so he came to bare a plan now all that was left was to finish its execution. It was all pretty straight forward; D-ranked secondary weapons and B-ranked accessories were his two fields of skill. The D-ranked secondary items would be far more important in the beginning.

He would use his expertise to create the secondary items that met three specific and mandatory guidelines. First He needed something that was disposable, something more or less all shinobi needed in any given mission or could make use of at any given time. But in that same right, it had to be something that they had to replace often. Second, it had to be something extremely simple so that it required very little time to craft and thus he could make plenty of them on any given day. Finally, it had to be cheap to produce. Even among the simple and often destroyed or lost shinobi weapons prices tended to vary and it was a golden rule of thumb in the crafting world that your materials would cost about fifty percent of the sales price of your final and finished item.

There were three tools in the secondary weapons class that were both often replaced by Shinobi prior to each mission as well as all three being equally simple and fast to create. But of those three tools only one had the cheapest crafting costs and required the least materials to create. In the end he decided upon the Kunai, which coincidentally, was the most common tool your average ninja would possess. Meeting the requirements was crucial for the item he chose because said item would be how he introduced himself to Iwa, and eventually to Suna as a skilled and willing craftsman. His starting sets of Kunai would not be of more quality or less quality than the Kunai of the item shops of each country, they would be equal in quality. But for the next month Sen would give them away for free.

Shinobi needing new Kunai but were short or Ryo, frugal with their funds or even those just wanted something for nothing would be entitled to a free Kunai. The Kunai giveaway would allow him to expand his customer base and spread his name as a quality vendor. By the time the month was up, all of Iwa would know of him and the custom jobs would come rolling in, along with the Ryo and crafting experience which would allow him to repay his debt to Iwa, keep a steady supply of materials for his crafting jobs as well as eventually purchase the tools mandatory for S-class crafting.

[¤ SFS ¤]

His next area of crafting study would most likely be that of the Medical Crafts. He couldn’t create those items but he knew what they were, what they did and how useful they were to the village. He wouldn’t be in much need of a medic if he were ever ambushed if he had soldier pills and blood pills. Of course the knowledge that he could create such things would have to stay between himself and Tsuchikage, if not solely to himself. Iwa was seemingly recovering but still in a fragile state, a supply of solider pills falling into the wrong hands could be problematic. He was still a ways away from being capable of being able to produce B-Class medical items but again, his Kunai giveaway would fix that.

Each Kunai only cost twenty-five Ryo in materials so he could go on creating them for some time before he ran out of overhead. Even now he’d gone for broke and purchased twenty-five hundred Ryo in D-class materials. He could create fifty packs of Kunai before he needed more overhead for more materials. But, if he was giving Kunai away for free at some point, depending on how fast and often he worked, he would no doubt run out of overhead. It wasn’t an unforeseen occurrence and nothing to worry about though as overhead was where his other form of expertise came into the plan.

His superior crafting skill in shinobi accessories allowed him to create up to B-ranked accessories such as D through B-rank blank scrolls, gourds and even world maps which were a hot commodity in any item shop. Of all the things he could craft with his current skills world maps and B-ranked training weights yielded the highest pay for that standard for craftsmanship. C-ranked training weights yielded half the pay for half the crafting time, making them the best means to acquire the overhead he needed to keep free Kunai in stock. A single sold C-ranked weight would give him enough Ryo to purchase materials for another fifty packs of Kunai and he would have just enough left over Ryo to create another C-ranked weight and repeat the process. It wouldn’t be a cake walk but would be worth the effort and toiling.

As he began to set up his workstation for his first run through with a product he intended to distribute the public he mulled over a question pertaining to his giveaway. He got the idea to giveaway only a single Kunai instead of a whole set of two. This would allow him to reach more potential customers in a shorter span of time and because they were free, no one was likely to complain about only getting one.

He tried to come up with more promotional deals, like any customers who placed orders during the Kunai giveaway would have their orders built for free, they would only have to pay for the materials it would cost and not the labor he would put in to create it. It was a steep bargain for him and It might have made more sense to offer a twenty-five percent discount instead of making it free after material costs. He liked the idea of being so in control of his budding business. To back it all up he was still an emerging genin on the front lines of Iwa. If things went south he always have missions to bail him out.

[¤ SFS ¤]

With his tools all ready he prepared the mix of water and solvent for later when the Kunai would be taken from the cast. Dumping the materials he need into a bowl of stone with a terribly high melting point he used his command of Youton jutsu to heat the bowl from underneath and melt the materials inside, the bowl itself remaining intact. While going over his plans over and over again he’d begun to work on his first set on Kunai. He shaped the cast, poured the molten material inside and allowed them to sit for a while, heating them further and ensuring they took the shape of the cast he had created. After allowing the molten material time to cool and take shape he carefully removed them from the cast using iron grips, placing them in a solvent mixed with water that would allow them to almost instantly cool and harden to the desired degree. From there all that was left was the superficial work.

He removed the Kunai from the mixture wiping them dry of the solvent. He sanded the round corners smooth and sharpened the edges to a fine point. He even applied a polish that made the metal shine, giving it that glow that all unused tools should have. Finally, he wrapped the grip area in a sturdy, tight and graspable material and they were complete. For a dash of showmanship he added a small paper tag to each Kunai labeled only with the Kanji for the number “1000”, his own insignia. Aside from the small tags they showed no signs of difference between the Kunai purchased from the standard item shops of each country. With a sigh of relief he laid them out on a shelf behind the counter and took a moment to reflect on the pride he felt from his work. It almost made him feel like a new man.

In time his new standard would be crafting Kunai and other items superior in quality to the item shops and then he would aim to create items superior to even those found in the Sando Saggar, Earthly Extrusions and the other Craftsman shops.. He could only imagine the pride and confidence his fellow Iwa-nin would feel carrying Kunai that would shatter any weapon that came from a basic item shop. It was ambitious of him but noble all the same. Without missing a beat he placed up a large sign over the hut that read nothing more than “FREE KUNAI ^{BRAND NEW AND QUALITY MADE!}” With everything set up he awaited his first two customers and went back to work, beginning his next set of Kunai for his next set of customers.

SPOILER: Click to show

Kunai (Throwing Knife)
Rank: D
Type: Secondary / Melee + Ranged
Special: 2 per Pack.
Description: This throwing knife is one of the common weapons of a ninja. It is often kept in a holster on the leg in a pouch attached to the belt. What makes it so versatile and universal is the fact the Kunai can be used in conjunction with explosive tags and other weapons to form deadly combos out of simple, easily accessible items.
Cost: 100 Ryo per Pack

[OOC: Yo, Iwa-nin! I'll be crafting Kunai two at a time and handing them off one at a time. Everybody gets one Kunai, as in, HALF of a pack. Just Enter take your Kunai do a little RP'ing and then Boom make your exit. You can add it to your profile once staff ok's it. At which point when I run out of Kunai I'll craft two more for the next two people. Enjoy Mangs and Look out for my better creations in the future! ~1000]

[Ichiro]

He was called here by the news that his friend had taken up the most intricate profession of crafting. He could consider himself quite a bit of a craftsman what with his skill to make and create various basic items but of extremely durable gold and in short times. But it wasn’t about him today, today it was about his friend sen. He walked up to sen, and in in the short time that he had quickly exclaimed. Hey! I heard that you were making items now. That is quite admirable, I hope you don’t mind me sampling a kunai? He grabbed one and then turned around while waving and leaving. He then fell on that same kunai and died.

[¤ SFS ¤]

Setting up his heating bowl and materials for the next set of FREE KUNAI he spotted someone wandering to his stand, their eyes looking upward at his sign. He hadn't really expected anyone to stop by so soon he would have liked a little more time to let the FREE KUNAI stack up. From their proximity to one another all he could really make out was her stature, hair color and eye color; slim build blonde hair blue eyes. He’d never seen the girl before but there was something familiar about her all the same. He thought for a moment that he was one lucky dog to have a kunoichi visit his stand as his first customer.

From the distance she seemed lost in thought and he was anxious to converse with her with metaphors and advice and offer the kunai as a parting with a flirtatious hint of come back soon in this thoughts. But then the distance closed and he noticed how flat chested the girl was. Her walk and her body language, her lips and her hands. Once she was close enough he frowned in only disappointment the girl was no girl at all, the girl was his buddy Jurei.

Jurei was one of the few genin he knew by name though Jurei was the only part of the name he knew. he greeted him calmly and they exchanged pleasantries. Little did he know that Jurei was a craftsman as well. In all honesty it was a good person to have as his first customer, it meant that he’d have a peer studying and testing his work, which would make for better quality assurance and in time, better kunai and better crafting in general. Handing the other genin his FREE KUNAI the Youton user poured another fifty Ryo worth of materials into the rock bowl, heating it immediately.

As Jurei took his leave, he yelled at him to join his genin team as he really needed a skilled Genjutsu user watching his back. Jurei never confirmed he was a Genjutsu user but his build said it all. Jurei was effeminate as hell in terms of his appearance, it beat the thought of him being a Genjutsu user into Sen’s head. Before long Jurei was gone and he was left to continue his work, he only had one Kunai left and had to get a few more made before the next person showed up to claim one and he was all out.

The cast were placed on the flat surface of his work bench and once the materials had melted down he poured half into one cast and half into the other. To conserve space he put the rock bowl off to the side again placing fifty Ryo worth of D-rank material inside of it for his third set of FREE KUNAI. He'd would come back to it when the second set was finished. As he left the hot materials in their kunai casts to shape and cool down he heard the approach of footsteps. Turning his head to face his potential customer he grinned and welcomed the new face. Ready to give his last FREE KUNAI until the next set was ready.

Yo. Welcome to my humble little workplace. Is there something in particular you needed or were you just vurious about the offer on the sign?

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[/blockquote]

[Django]

Xenos smoothed down the navy blue vest covering his white dress down shirt, and adjusted the tan fedora hat with the blue stripe around it that was on his head. Then he stepped into the doorway of the hut.

The first thing that struck him was how how it was inside. Almost immediately upon entry he felt his khaki slacks grow damp against his legs from the humidity, and he suddenly felt overdressed.

But the gentlemen didn't let his discomfort show. With a soft smile on his face, the Zanetsuken took in the rest of the room. A ton of machinery and tools, designed of course for smelting and iron smithery. It was all very standard, and if it wasn't for Xenos' combat training, and his instinctual knack for figuring out how to best kill everyone in the room using only the objects inside of it, the huts contents wouldn't have held his interest for very long at all.

But of course, he was on a mission of peace, not of violence, and thus it was that brought him to the sole inhabitant of the hut himself.

"How do you do, sir?" Xenos said to the craftsman, and stepped a little further into the hut. "My name is Xenos, Rojas. I've heard that you're holding a little promotion, to gain some attention for your business. A free kunai, I believe? Does that offer still stand?" He waited politely for the man to answer.

[¤ SFS ¤]

As the sweat beaded and dripped from his face Sen was glad he could manage with heat. He could manage cold too but it seemed to require less discipline on concentration on his behalf to deal with higher than average temperatures than lower than average ones. A man stepped in dressed a little to sharp tuo be a ninja, or at least too sharp to be ninja on assignment. He gave no real reaction to the growing humidity and the sweltering temperatures inside which did more to identify him as either a fellow ninja or a fellow craftsman any headband could.

He inquired about the promotion which was broadcast by little more than a sign. Taking the the last of the finished Kunai and spinning it on his finger by the ring on it's end he gave it a slight rubdown before handing it over carefully to the gentleman. With that he was out he was FREE KUNAI and would need to quickly finish the pack he was working on now to have some ready for whoever came through that door next.

You made it just time actually, that's the last one I have done for the moment the next set will take another hour or two. I plan on doing this thing little by little everyday for a while. All I ask is that no one hold me up since it's a bit hard to keep these things in stock if no one has to pay for 'em. If there something else you need me craft for you, and it's within my sills to do so, I'd be more than happy to help you out. For now though I have to get back to work. Tell your friends and please make good use of your Kunai.

[/color]

There had to be a faster way to get things done he thought to himself as he readied the solvent for the next pack of Kunai. The chemical and water concoction would cool the superheated Kunai right from their casts and cause the shapes to become permanent. For the moment they sill had to cool down enough to retain basic shape when he removed them from the casts but that wouldn't take much longer. The more he went though the process the more details of said process would become apparent. Those details would lead to innovations that would make the whole process run much smoother and kunai among other things he decided to craft, would become second nature to create. Though he doubted he would make FREE KUNAI when this month was over.

The iron grips removed the covering of each cast before reaching in to grab the still red hot, kunai-shaped metal inside. One by one he gently placed them in the solvent. It was a tricky process to place them in without compromising their shapes. Drop them in too high as if you didn't care and the banging of hitting the bottom could cause a bend in the kunai and once cooled in the solvent it would be hard to reshape them again without having to melt them down against first. There was also the steam and vapors that came from hot metal meeting cool liquid and chemicals. The effect the chemicals could have on the body were many and his desire to find out what those effects were were none. Every time he placed a kunai in, he would hold his breath to keep from inhaling the results vapors. He really needed should have had better ventilation in the hut, but it couldn't be helped, it was his first day.
[/blockquote]

[Django]

Xenos nodded along as the man spoke, though truthfully he wasn't paying attention to his words, so much as to his craftwork. Holding the kunai gingerly in his hands, Xenos repeatedly twirled it slowly like a rotisserie, examining it from every angle. He balanced it, tossed it a few inches into the air and caught it, held it in different fighting stances, and then finally, he allowed it to rest in the palm of his hand.

"I don't believe I caught your name, sir." He said, and held out his hand toward the man. Almost of its volition, like magic, the kunai gently levitated off of Xenos' hand and into the air, than floated toward its original owner where it dropped onto a nearby flat surface. "Truthfully, I don't have use for a single kunai." Xenos said, the soft smile returning to his lips. "However, if this kunai is any indication, you do good work, which brings me to the real reason why I'm here."

Xenos buried one his hands into the pocket of his trousers and began to rummage through it. "I need a blacksmith, a good one, and I have a proposition for you." He pulled his hand out of his pocket, and in it was a balled up piece of paper. He began unfolding it and smoothing it down.

"I have an assignment for you, a simple one. Make me a sword, I don't particularly care what the style is, however, it must possess these specific dimensions." He handed the crumpled paper over to the man.

"I will compensate you, of course, but if you impress me with your work not only will I pay you, and not only will I refer you to my associates, but, I will take you on as my personal craftsman."

He paused for several heartbeats to let his statements sink in, then he held out his hand. "How does that sound to you, Mr....?"

SPOILER: Click to show

Sword parameters, should you choose to accept it.

Ninjato
Rank: C
Type: Primary / Melee
Description: Short and straight, this blade takes a similar form of a katana, but without the curvature in the blade. With the blade measuring no more than three feet, and a square guard on top, this weapon has been popularized by many ninja, hence the name.
Cost: 1,000 Ryo

[¤ SFS ¤]

Wiping his hands clean of the solvent he accepted the floating kunai back into hands. He didn’t give a second thought as to how the stranger had made it float; every ninja had their talents after all. It was most likely that he was one of the clansmen of a long faded elite Suna sect that manipulated grains of metal as if they were sand by way of magnetic fields. There were a few of them residing in Iwa now, one of the other genin in his cell was one of them. The stranger asked his name and hinted at needing something crafted as well as a long term arrangement between some himself and the young craftsman. It annoyed him how a little bit how the guy acted nice while hamming up the aloof and mysterious bit.

Tokomaru. The name is Tokomaru. The guest unwrapped a crumbled piece of paper from his pockets and placed it down on the counter smoothing it out. Placing the FREE KUNAI back on the counter he came over to the paper to have a better look at it. Tunnel vision kicked in and all he could see was the job, the thing this man wanted him to craft. His fingers scrolled along the surface of the paper as if his skin was capable of scanning the blueprint for details that his eyes could not register. It was becoming his nature as a craftsman to touch and examine things with his hands. The item in question was a weapon, a ninjato to be exact. It fell under the classification of main or primary weapons, a domain of crafting study he had no knowledge of. With the desired strength of the requested ninjato, it wouldn’t be a stretch to learn enough to craft it immediately but he simply didn’t have the time to go about that anytime soon.

This is a standard Ninjato that you can purchase from not only the basic Earth Country Item shop, but also the new Earthly Extrusions crafting shop that just opened. As an Iwa-nin you could get a nice discount if you bought it from a standard item shop. They keep ‘em in stock no you wouldn’t have to wait for it to be crafted. If you’re pressed for time you could head there now and have it already for you today. The genin rubbed at his chin, not quite ready to turn down a challenge or a paying job, he did have a debt to pay after all. If you’re asking me to make this as your own test of my skills, I’ll accept the request. Primary weapons of any kind or quality are beyond my skills at this point but they won’t be for long. Give me a few weeks and I’ll have your weapon ready.

[/color]

After their business exchange he expected the man to make his exit. His customer service skills were shoddy but it was only because he needed his space to work, learn and grow. The only thing that should speak on his crafting skills were his finished products. That wasn’t to say he would be a hard person to deal with, it just meant new customers would have to learn to get used to him, as he would have to learn to get used to them.

Turning his attention back to the FREE KUNAI sitting in the solvent he removed them both and began the process of cleaning them thoroughly. The solvent could lead to a nasty rash or enflaming of the skin it wasn’t thoroughly removed from the kunai before extended use. The sanding and sharpening of each kunai was probably the most important part of the job, although in the moment every part of the job seemed like the most important part. The edges needed to be smooth so that they could be utilized properly and of these no reason to explain why the sharp edged needed to be sharp. Sanding and sharpening tended to take hours but since kunai were small and had very few sections that required either sharpening or sanding he tended to finish a set in less than one hour.

He sat with a sigh, untwisting the lid off a fresh batch of polish. The tedious and superficial work of making the kunai look brand new was the work that he could coast through. Rubbing, applying polish rubbing some more applying more polish and rubbing again. Unlike the solvent the polish didn’t smell half bad and the fragrance would allow him to lose track of time and before long all that was left was to tag them with his insignia, wrap them up, put them up for grabs and either get started on batch number three, or call it a day.

SPOILER: Click to show

Kunai (Throwing Knife)
Rank: D
Type: Secondary / Melee + Ranged
Special: 2 per Pack.
Description: This throwing knife is one of the common weapons of a ninja. It is often kept in a holster on the leg in a pouch attached to the belt. What makes it so versatile and universal is the fact the Kunai can be used in conjunction with explosive tags and other weapons to form deadly combos out of simple, easily accessible items.
Cost: 100 Ryo per Pack

[/blockquote]

[Django]

Xenos said nothing for the entirety of the man's reply. Ultimately the man, he'd identified himself as Tokomaru, had said exactly what Xenos had wanted to hear. He was a bit stand-offish, but considering the Zanetsuken's manner of dress and intentions, that was understandable.

Sensing that he'd outstayed his welcome, Xenos began to back out of the stuffy room.

"I'll be back in a month for the sword." He said, and let the obvious implication hang while he made his exit.

[Exit]

[Axcel]

Crafting and shiz approved.

1000: 116 exp (july for jobs bonus)

Tzeentch: +8 exp

Jurei: +3 exp