The bladesmith would not give his full name. He said he had forged blades his whole life. Now he was old, so just call him Blade Gramps.
Linto asked, "What about when you were young?"
"When old, Blade Gramps. When young, or just a boy, of course Blade Lad."
Linto's lips twitched a bit. In the end, he held back his complaint.
Blade Gramps was very tall. Even with a slight hunch from age, he stood over 1.8 meters straight. His arms were thicker than Linto's thighs.
He had a short buzz cut, mostly white. His nose was high and straight, his face strong and sharp. He looked a bit like Hiroshi Abe.
Blade Gramps had a nasty scar on his right arm, running from wrist to elbow.
Maybe because of that scar, from eating the rice ball earlier to now taking Samehada from Linto, he used only his left hand.
"How do you want to reforge it?" Blade Gramps asked.
"There's a method to it?"
"Of course."
Blade Gramps slowly unwrapped the bandages around Samehada. "This blade is special. It has layers."
He lightly tapped Samehada, its dense blades like shark teeth.
"Outer layer is teeth. Next in is flesh. Deepest is bone and soul."
"If its 'teeth' don't suit you, I can swap them for other blades. Even turn it into a normal big knife with one straight edge.
If it's too bulky, I can cut away extra 'flesh' to make it lighter and faster to swing.
But if you just can't get along with it..."
Blade Gramps looked at the blade in his hand with mixed eyes. "Then I can only smash its bone and reshape its soul.
But I don't suggest that. It would be no different from making a new blade. Might as well not torture it."
Linto had not expected reforging a blade to be so complex. But in his past life, he came from a tech background. He knew that as fields developed, they grew countless theories.
Blade Gramps was even more skilled than Linto had imagined.
Linto shared his issue. "I don't know which layer to adjust. My power seems opposite to Samehada's nature. It causes it serious damage."
"What attribute is your chakra? Fire?"
"Not chakra."
"Hmm?"
Blade Gramps looked up with suspicious eyes.
"Samurai?"
"No."
Blade Gramps's curiosity grew. He stared at Linto for a long while, then silently turned. From the bottom cabinet, he pulled out a dull black, unsharpened blade blank and handed it to Linto.
"Pour your power into it. Let me see."
Linto took the black blade. Ripple power flowed in.
A flash of golden lightning. The blade gained a silver edge, sharper now. With a faint ring, hot breath poured from the black blade.
Blade Gramps's eyes went wide.
He had forged blades a lifetime, seen countless ninja and samurai. Never anything like this.
Blade Gramps pulled Linto to sit. He got paper and pen, asking details one by one.
Old and young chatted from morning to noon. Stomachs growled from hunger before they snapped out of work mode.
Blade Gramps patted the thick stack of draft papers on the table. He sighed, "Wild imagination and clear thinking. More than me, you seem the real craftsman."
After a morning's talk, they agreed on the best refit for Samehada.
Remove 'teeth' and 'flesh'. Build on 'bone and soul'. Pick materials that match ripple. Reshape its body and add channels inside.
In battle, Linto used breathing to sync with the blade. They breathed as one. Ripple power and flow would beat normal weapons.
Theory solid. Now for practice.
"Leave the rest to me."
Blade Gramps patted his chest and stood. "Give me half a month. Come get it then. Best not leave the village. I may need you for tests."
"Okay."
"Also."
Blade Gramps grinned, showing big white teeth. "My fees aren't cheap."
"You know Kambara, so you should know."
Linto smiled too.
"I got plenty of money."
Linto left Blade Gramps's house. He gave the expert space. Right outside, he saw Terumi Mei leaning on the wall.
"You spying?"
"What spying? I stood here openly. Everyone saw."
Terumi Mei handed over a steaming rice ball.
"For me?"
"Yeah. I need to watch you. If you starve, I lose my subject."
"No need."
Linto wanted little contact with Terumi Mei.
"Yeah, right—"
Terumi Mei tilted her chin up, brushed back her bangs, raised a brow, voice low. "'I got plenty of money' man."
"How could he want my cheap rice ball?"
Linto: "..."
He ignored Terumi Mei's snide tone.
With Aerosmith, Linto had spotted her eavesdropping outside long ago. He did not chase her off because it seemed pointless.
She would not listen now, but after Linto left, Terumi Mei would come back to question Blade Gramps.
Even if Blade Gramps told all, a ninja's suspicion might mean some rough treatment.
Better skip that step and spare Blade Gramps pain. Easier for everyone.
After all, ripple and breathing info was like Linto knowing Akatsuki ninja used chakra. No impact on fights. Terumi Mei knowing was fine.
Linto turned and walked. Terumi Mei would not let him off. She bit the rice ball, strutted cockily behind him, and asked:
"You let two samurai go. Not afraid the local magistrate will come?"
Linto glanced at her rice ball. It was stuffed with peanuts, beef, cucumber. Meat scent mixed with cucumber freshness and rice aroma wafted over. He turned away and said:
"Kill them, and the magistrate won't come?"
Each samurai had a tax zone.
Break their legs and send back. Magistrate would see them as useless, hit a tough foe. Snowfall Village was poor. Worth a big fuss over this tax?
Linto thought not.
But kill them on site, and it changes.
Villagers talk. News spreads fast. Then come the county samurai troops and ninja.
Terumi Mei was sharp. She did not mean that. She meant—
"You could stay out of it. Just pay some money."
Linto shook his head.
If alone, he would gladly pay.
But.
Linto looked at Momo-chan, silent at his side from start to finish.
Pay, and fear's seed would root in her heart forever.
Linto would show her with actions. No one could sell her as goods again. Anyone who touched her would pay.
Terumi Mei saw the care in Linto's eyes. A gleam flashed in her pretty eyes.
They had known each other one day, but she was starting to see his true nature.
'A gentle, tough, principled man... quite rare.'
---
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