Chapter 82: Water Breathing Second Form: Water Flow Hammer!

"I won't elaborate much on the method of refining using charcoal and magma, as most of the Blacksmiths on Forging Island are familiar with it."

"I saw you using it before."

"You've mastered it well."

"The key lies in the Lava Forging technique, which requires at least ten-fold steel forging, and reaching an Excellent level."

"Arafuni, can you achieve that?"

Arafuni shook his head.

"Chief Uehara, I can only manage up to eight-fold."

"Then practice more. There isn't a big difference between eight-fold and ten-fold. Your talent is not bad."

Uehara Soma was familiar with Arafuni's Forging Technique and talent.

Among the younger generation on Forging Island, he was quite good.

According to the rating standards of the Blacksmith System, Uehara Soma felt that Arafuni's Forging Technique was close to Good, just one level lower, and during this time, with his guidance, Arafuni had improved.

Now, he wasn't far from being rated as Good.

But this was a hurdle, and overcoming it wasn't an easy task.

"Yes, Chief Uehara."

"After forging, it's shaping, quenching, and blade sharpening."

Uehara Soma said, "Compared to ninja tools, surgical knives need to be sharper and thinner, so shaping and blade sharpening must be done well, and quenching can be done with cold water."

"However, the water should be as clean as possible."

"Arafuni, calculate the approximate cost."

Arafuni quickly calculated in his mind.

After a short while, Arafuni looked up.

"Chief Uehara, excluding labor, the cost of a surgical knife might be around 200 Ryo, including high-quality metal materials, smokeless charcoal consumption, and freshwater for quenching."

"If I forge them alone, it will take me about three days to forge twenty knives."

"Converted, that's a little over an hour of labor per knife."

Uehara Soma also calculated in his mind.

A bowl of ramen, 60 Ryo.

Naruto can eat his way through the street with just 300 Ryo.

A D-Rank Mission ranges from 5000 to 50000 Ryo.

As for a Chunin, let's calculate with Iruka. Considering the total number of missions over 14 years, the average annual mission reward is about 1 million Ryo. However, missions are not done by Iruka alone; they are shared with comrades.

Most ninja missions are carried out by multiple ninjas together.

Here, let's calculate Iruka's share as one-third.

That leaves 330,000 Ryo.

Since this 330,000 Ryo is earned through the village's platform, it's fair for the village to take half, right?

Therefore, there's less than 170,000 Ryo remaining.

Arafuni follows the technical path. When he can independently craft surgical knives, he will undoubtedly reach the level of a Good-ranked Blacksmith.

At this point, if Arafuni's income is lower than that of an ordinary Chunin, it wouldn't be fair.

170,000 Ryo a year.

Excluding holidays, with 250 working days, Arafuni's daily income is 700 Ryo.

In about an hour, it's roughly 100 Ryo.

So, the comprehensive cost of a surgical knife is around 300 Ryo.

But there's still an issue: taxes need to be paid to the village.

Unlike ninja missions, taxes won't be as high, but at least 10% is required.

Plus, another 20% for profit.

So, all in all, a surgical knife needs to be sold for over 400 Ryo to break even.

That's already equivalent to the price of 7 bowls of ramen.

Uehara Soma pondered over it.

"Would this price be too high for the medical department? After all, surgical knives are consumables..."

In terms of volume, surgical knives are not even comparable to Kunai; they just have higher technical content.

"Perhaps, we can consider using blade inserts now."

Initially, Uehara Soma's plan was to refrain from using blade inserts at first and instead directly forge integral surgical knives. Then, when there are more blacksmiths on Forging Island, proceed with that approach.

That would be easier to handle.

After all, right now, Arafuni is the main one in charge.

Uehara Soma can only take care of a small part of it; he can't spend a lot of time here.

But if we don't use blade inserts, the cost won't come down.

In that case, the medical department might buy once or twice, but they definitely won't buy again later and for Forging Island, it's harmful and not beneficial.

One shouldn't be too greedy.

If the first customer is disappointed, what future can we talk about?

Although it's not that Forging Island is too greedy, it's more about the cost; the price is indeed high.

"This price is too high."

Uehara Soma looked at Arafuni and said, "I'll redesign the surgical knife later, change it to a combination of handle and blade, make the handle durable, and only need to replace the blade regularly."

"This way, the cost for the medical department will be much lower."

Saying so, Uehara Soma took action.

Taking out pen and paper, he began to sketch.

Having witnessed the complex structure of God's Hand, a separation design like that of a surgical knife wasn't difficult for Uehara Soma, and sketching was just as easy.

With the enhancement from God's Hand, Uehara Soma's drawing ability could be said to have reached the level of a printer.

At the very least, it was on par with advanced sketching.

Soon, the complete blueprint of the surgical knife was drawn.

Arafuni was stunned.

"To come up with a new design so quickly..."

"And to draw the blueprint in such detail..."

Uehara Soma handed the blueprint to Arafuni.

"Arafuni, follow the blueprint and complete the entire process. I'll be watching silently on the side to see how far you can go. Then, we'll decide how to allocate the work."

"Yes, Chief Uehara."

Arafuni immediately sprang into action.

Previously, Arafuni thought he was just learning, but now he knew he was about to become a true official member of Forging Island.

Someone useful for Forging Island's cause.

Uehara Soma divided the time outside of training into two parts.

One part was spent observing water flow.

The other part was watching Arafuni forge.

During this process, Uehara Soma noticed that the number in the reputation column on the semi-transparent screen in front of him was rapidly and steadily increasing.

Three days later, Arafuni finished forging.

A set of surgical knives was placed in front of Uehara Soma.

Naturally, it couldn't be compared to what Uehara Soma forged.

But it was still superior to the assembly line products of the Land of Iron.

"Melting, quenching—Arafuni, you have no problems with these. As for shaping and polishing, you're slightly lacking, but with more time and meticulous work, it won't be a big issue."

Uehara Soma paused.

"Let's do this: besides forging, I'll leave everything else to you."

"I'll take care of the forging."

"After it's done, you'll take it to the medical department and negotiate the price with them."

"We're all part of the same village; we shouldn't lose out ourselves, but there's no need to profit too much from them either."

Arafuni nodded.

"Yes, Chief Uehara."

Arafuni took out the metal and began to melt it.

Same technique, but different users produce different results.

For example, the time and temperature control during melting, the ratio of charcoal to magma, the force of the wind input, the number and frequency of flips... all these factors can affect the melting outcome.

"It's a bit inferior to what I produce, but it's still good."

Once the melting was done, Arafuni placed the metal on the forging table.

"Lava Forging!"

Once, twice, thrice...

Gradually, Arafuni began to struggle.

Not because he lacked strength.

As an Eligible Blacksmith, he still had some strength.

The main issue was the inability to control the force, timing, angle... so that continuing to strike could not improve the quality of the metal and could even damage it.

By the eighth time, Arafuni stopped.

Uehara Soma took over.

Using the same Lava Forging technique.

But as Uehara Soma forged the eight-fold steel into nine-fold steel and prepared to continue, he realized that with the current state of the metal, Lava Forging was no longer sufficient.

Because the foundation provided by Arafuni was insufficient.

"In that case, we'll have to use that."

With a thought, Uehara Soma changed the forging technique.

"Water Breathing: Water Drop Hammer!"

A sensation completely different from Lava Forging swept over.

After seeing Uehara Soma's movements, Arafuni couldn't help but freeze for a moment.

"This isn't Lava Forging!"

"Could it be the legendary Breathing Forging Method that hasn't been seen on Forging Island for a long time?"

"I didn't expect Chief Uehara to..."

"But hasn't this Breathing Forging Method been lost?"

"Could it be that Chief Uehara comprehended it himself?"

Arafuni looked at Uehara Soma, feeling somewhat complicated.

Previously, Arafuni thought that the gap in Forging Technique between himself and Uehara Soma might just be two levels.

He was one level, his sensei, who was also Uehara Soma's sensei, was one level higher.

Uehara Soma was then one level higher.

Even though the distance between these two levels was not short.

Even though bridging these two levels is very difficult.

But Arafuni can still see this distance.

Yet now, Arafuni realized that the gap between himself and Uehara Soma is much larger than he anticipated.

"So, how big is the gap between Chief Uehara and me now?"

Arafuni couldn't see this distance anymore.

"Ten-fold!"

"Eleven-fold!"

"Twelve-fold!"

Uehara Soma stopped and inspected the metal ingots on the forging table.

"The upper limit for ordinary metal is ten-fold."

"But, relying on the Breathing Forging Method, I forcibly raised the upper limit to twelve-fold. However, this is still not the limit; it can go even higher."

Uehara Soma stopped not because he couldn't continue.

But because he felt it was enough.

"This is the Breathing Forging Method!"

"And, moreover, it's just my rough comprehension of the Breathing Forging Method."

"In the future, there's still a very large room for improvement."

Uehara Soma's eyes flickered for a moment.

"Before, I relied on materials to create extraordinary ninja tools."

"Forging technique is important, but not so crucial, only reaching the level where it can forge such ninja tools."

"If it were Arafuni, even with the blueprint and materials provided, he wouldn't be able to create them."

"In the future, do I have the ability to turn the ordinary into miraculous, to forge impressive ninja tools with just ordinary materials?"

"That possibility may exist."

"But, with a higher level of forging technique, using higher-grade materials to forge ninja tools will definitely be better than using ordinary materials."

"There's no need to be too attached to ordinary materials."

"Using ordinary materials to forge a Ninjato is probably only useful for showcasing my forging technique level to others and gain more reputation."

Uehara Soma stepped aside.

"Arafuni, I'll leave everything to you from now on."

"Yes, Chief Uehara."

Uehara Soma returned to his own forging room.

"With the hammer, mimic the flow of water."

"The characteristic of a water droplet is that the closer it gets to impact, the faster its speed, and at the moment of contact, the force explodes, then disperses."

"While the characteristic of water flow is endless, it's not just one instance, but a continuous flow."

"This means that the frequency of my hammer strikes must be fast enough."

"In terms of continuity, the hammer can never compare to water flow."

"But as long as the frequency is fast enough, it will create a feeling similar to water flow."

In layman's terms, it means making the metal being forged feel like the hammer never left.

It doesn't need to be truly continuous.

Rather, it needs to make the metal being forged unable to react in time.

"At the beginning, I may not need such great force."

"Lower the height, reduce the force, and first pursue frequency."

Uehara Soma closed his eyes, imagining in his mind.

Soon, he opened them.

Uehara Soma lifted the hammer, standing just a few centimeters above the metal ingot.

Then, it fell.

"Thud!"

"Thud!"

"Thud!"

One strike after another, without any pause, at his fastest speed.

Continuous.

Uehara Soma's arm and the hammer in his hand had become like phantom entities, so fast that an ordinary person here would surely be unable to see clearly.

They would only see a blur.

A surge of water attribute Chakra automatically spread from Uehara Soma's arm to the hammer.

However, this also brought about a different effect below where the metal ingot was being forged compared to Uehara Soma's previous forging, with a more precise structure and more impurities being expelled.

"Water Breathing: Water Flow Hammer: Novice!"

Uehara Soma paused, flexing his sore arms.

"Compared to Water Drop Hammer, this requires much more from the body."

"Fortunately, my basic attributes have significantly improved."

"Additionally, I've gained a Good-level talent in Taijutsu."

Suddenly, Uehara Soma had a thought.

Compared to Taijutsu, he had clearly practiced more in forging.

And strictly speaking, forging could also be considered a form of Taijutsu.

Could it be that after mastering the Breathing Forging Method, he could not only use it for forging metal but also for combat?

"It seems like it's possible."

Uehara Soma glanced at the semi-transparent screen in front of him.

Suddenly, the number in the reputation column jumped up.

It increased by more than two hundred in an instant.

Uehara Soma's eyebrows twitched slightly.

"Is it Juzo-senpai, or someone else?"

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