[closed] As a shadow crosses mine

[heavenly_earth]

Who: Neji and Adela
When: June 17th
Where: Milani Forge
Notes: A Jounin needs a set of custom weaponry..


He was reaching the point in his taijutsu training where his lack of a proper weapon was becoming readily apparent. For the past few weeks, Neji had considered many different types, thought through how he might work them into his developing style. Tenten would have great advice he was sure, but unfortunately, he couldn't ask her without arousing even greater suspicion. So in the end, he dropped by Konoha's armory and looked through, tested a few different weapons and obtained a list of suppliers.

Milani forge.. He'd heard of it of course, but never thought too much about it until now. He was wary of visiting a friend he occasionally shadowed on missions for a unique pair of weapons, but when Konoha's other suppliers didn't seem to have the material he needed in stock, he eventually made his way over to Adela's family forge.

Her bright red hair made her impossible to miss.

"Adela," he greeted with a small smile. "You take custom orders, don't you?"

Comments

[abileunaspada]

Well that was a face she wasn't expecting. Adela blinked, a little surprised to see Neji and perking upon seeing him. Granted, their last meeting hadn't exactly been... Pleasant, but even so seeing him around let her have a lot of trust in him. Hell, she could probably call him one of the few that she could really, truly, fully trust...

It made her happy to think about.

"Yeah, we do. Didn't think you'd be interested in things like that, though," It was no secret in the village that the Hyuuga Clanmates in general preferred hand to hand, but hearing that they could appreciate a good weapon as well was sort of a relief - that they knew they couldn't just rely on their pride, as great as it was.

"What'd you have in mind?"

[heavenly_earth]

Neji hummed his amusement, because the implications were true. Hyuuga were taijutsu experts and rarely used a real weapon for a substantial period of time. But he was changing that.

"Well, I've mastered Jyuuken," he said with a smile that was well aware of his lack of modesty. "So I've decided to adapt weaponry into my fighting style."

Not quite true, but not a lie either. He glanced around at the assortment of things on the wall.

"Something like a pair of tanto," he answered after a moment, flipped a kunai in his hand and effortlessly switched the bladed point from his chest, to pointing out. "Short, sharp, with the ease and interchangeability of kunai." And naturally, the handle custom fitted to his hand.

"More pressingly however.. I need to be able to channel chakra through the blades in order to utilize Jyuuken in controlled application." A significantly less gentle variation, to be sure. "I understand it's a rare material, but can you get a hold of it?"

[abileunaspada]

A tan to...

Adela frowned at him then, quite suddenly and scrutinizingly, "I'm gonna hunt you down in the afterlife if I find out you're killing yourself with them."

It was a teasing comment as she quickly enough shifted expression, clearly in a decent mood. Granted... She was only in a good mood because Neji was there to begin with, but she wouldn't say that, "We can do that. It was harder a few years ago, but now we've gotten our hands on a good supplier for chakra-conducive metals. You sure you just want tanto, though? They're kind of small to do anything other than a quick stab, so if you want to try to fend off enemies with a blade a wakizashi might be a little better."

[heavenly_earth]

Neji huffed with a shake of his head, because that was as amusing as it was ridiculous. But he considered her suggestion, relieved that the metal he needed would be available. It would be pricey, but that wasn't the only factor when it came to choosing a weapon. Granted, Wakizashi blades were about twice the length of tanto.

"Blades like that would require a significant change in my fighting style," he mused. He could do it, but it would take several years at the very least. Short jabs would have to turn into coordinated, sweeping movements, and he didn't have that kind of time right now.

"In fending off kenjutsu wielders, I only need something other than my hands to redirect the movements of their blade. Every point I touch on an enemy slows them, and if they're bleeding, I imagine they'll do that a fair bit faster. I don't believe much more than tanto should be necessary. I just don't find an appeal for longer blades at the moment. Perhaps in the future.."

But right now he was in a rush to pull together his new fighting style for ANBU and make himself field-effective.

[abileunaspada]

"... Then on top of chakra conducive steel, I'm going to have to make them with thicker spines. Blades that can be supported against your palms without falling against them to the flat so that they're better suited for your Jyuuken, right?" Still evaluating, Adela's smile faded into something more thoughtful as she was going over just how that would work. She'd have to start with a thicker slab of steel, cut out the shape and sharpen it down to size, but how thick would work? She could likely use her own hands as a baseline, but she'd have to keep in mind that his probably weren't as used to hard steel as hers... Hm...

[heavenly_earth]

It wasn't a consideration he would've thought of himself, but it made sense. Adela was a smith, after all.

"That sounds about right." Seeing her thoughtful and vaguely puzzled expression, he added, "If you need to experiment, I can afford a set of regular steel prototypes before you work with the conducive metal." No need to risk imperfection and potential for costly waste.

[abileunaspada]

She hummed at him, looking him over before moving to one of the side shelves. That was when she took down one of the display pieces, a simple tanto with no particular designs before she handed it off to Neji.

"Here, see how this feels in your hand. I'll know what I have to do if you tell me how it balances in order to make one more suited for you."

[heavenly_earth]

Neji took the simple blade with a nod- examined it a moment, and flexed his fingers around the handle. He couldn't seem to get them comfortably secure, but she already knew she'd have to make one to suit, so he didn't comment.

Testing the weight, he flipped the tanto over in his hand, made a jab like he might be reversing on an enemy slipping up from behind, and turned in another reversal to switch back to the front, eyes fixed on where his imaginary opponent's shoulder might have been. A sharp burst of chakra would have temporarily cut off use of that whole arm, not to mention the physical damage it'd take from being stabbed. A few short, interwoven slicing motions as though blocking kunai and changing hands on the sly, Neji hummed and straightened, handing it back.

"Both blade and handle could use a few more centimeters at least," he said after a moment. His hands weren't broad, but his fingers were long and thin and very dexterous. "But not too long, as I need to be able to twist and flip the weapon without issue."

[abileunaspada]

"So a few millimetres wider along the spine and a centimetre or two longer. That and a better grip on the handle for your hands," She nodded, pausing to take a closer look at his grip on the weapon before she took the blade and placed the handle back in his hand, prodding around a little without hesitation as she did a side by side comparison of her hand on his while she used her free hand to point out the parts of the sword she was talking about, "Okay. I think I can do that, with chakra steel running through the tang to the pommel so that you can easily have a channel running through all of it, with bronze for the hilt and guard. Anything particular you want on either of them? Like an engraving or design?"