A week after starting training with Guy and Tenten, Max had already memorized the hand signs and could perform the clone and substitution technique.
Since Max's chakra control was almost at the level of medical ninjas, he only needed to mind the hand signs and movement of both techniques to apply them. Guy was surprised about how fast he was been, but he quickly got pass it since Max told him about his chakra control.
Tenten on the other hand got a little depress when she found that out. Her hopes since little was to be a medical ninja like the Legendary Sannin Tsunade, but had to give that dream up since her chakra control was nowhere near enough to be one.
Thankfully, she now has her own path since she discovered her talent with weapons.
Max on the other hand was not happy this. It wasn't because of the slow progress, it was because of one simple thing.
"Do I really need to use both hands to do signs? That is too much for me to do since I'm always with a weapon on hand. Can't I do them with one hand?"
Since Max focused on swordplay, his hands weren't free to do hand signs. At most, he could have on hand free.
"Been able to do hand signs with one hand is a very advance technique. You'll need years of experience to be able to do something like that." Guy said as he stop the spar to explain to Max. "There are geniuses capable of doing them with one hand, but that took them years non the less."
"Don't you have any useful jutsu in that book of yours?" Tenten said as she was listening while she waited for Max and Guy to finish their part of the training.
"There are a few, but I would need to forge my own weapons to do them. Sadly, the guys in the intelligence division told me that the blacksmiths in the village didn't gift people their materials. Even less, loan their forges." Max said as he sighed.
Max had been approached a lot by the intelligence division this week because of book. Since he was the only one that knew English, they had asked for his help. At least they try to translate most of it by themselves, maybe as a training method.
"Wait, that is why you don't use those techniques? You should have said something! I know an uncle that could help." Tenten said.
"Seriously!?" Max didn't expect to find some hope while he was complaining to Guy. The problem about making new weapons had been on his mind since he got released from the hospital.
"Yes." Tenten nodded. "Since I use a lot of weapons, I had to find a way to buy them from the ones that made them instead of buying them at stores. Apart that is cheaper that way, sometimes I need special weapons for special circumstances. Thankfully, that uncle decided to patron me.
Anyway, let's go and visit him right now. He should be at his forge at this hour which is perfect for us."
"Let's go!" Max was very hyped with the idea, so he quickly followed Tenten as they dashed towards the forge.
"Hey hey! Wait for me!" Guy didn't expect for the both of them to just run of, so he had to dash quicker to catch up to them.
***
The trio only ran for a couple of minutes to reach the forge. Max could feel the heat coming of the forge as he got closer, which made him happier every second that passed.
The trio stopped just outside the entrance and Tenten announced herself to the uncle inside.
"Uncle Muri, I brought guests!" Tenten said as she waited for Muri to open the door.
"Guest? Not many visitors come to this part of the village. Who shall be visiting this old man this day?" Muri said as he opened the door and patted the head of Tenten. He glanced at Guy and quickly recognized him since Tenten had spoken about him, but he didn't recognized Max.
"This is Guy-sensei which I had talked you about." Tenten pointed at Guy. Guy quickly made his famous pose and gave a smile to Muri.
Tenten got a little mad when she saw Guy embarrassing her, so she quickly blocked the view of Muri of Guy as she introduced Max. "This over her is Max, I brought him over since we have a favor to ask you."
"A favor? Do you need any equipment made for you?" Muri asked to Max.
"Well, I something bigger than that." Max got a little embarrassed to ask Muri, so he gave a glance to Tenten.
Tenten got the meaning of his look, so she decided to explain. "Uncle Muri, Max over her is also a blacksmith. He only joined this village recently, so he is looking for a place to make some weapons that he needs for training. I was hoping that you could lend him your forge for a while for him to make those weapons.
At the same time, you can get a helper since I know that your apprentices aren't that skill yet to help you out."
"You are asking a lot of me Tenten. No forger can just lend their equipment to anyone without any professional reference." Muri said as he was contemplating.
Tenten was about to plead some more, but Max interrupt her. Max knew that in the same place as Muri, he wont lend his equipment to other just for the sake of getting some help. He would need to get something of the same value as the things that he was lending, so he was already prepared for it.
Max took out a scroll from his bag and opened it on the ground. Seen that scroll Tenten got the idea of what Max was going to do, so she decided to watch by the side.
Guy in the other hand was shaking his head when he saw the seal that was placed in the scroll. Max had to reinforce the seal by writing more than necessary just to place something inside that seal.
Even though it could be said that Max was very talented by picking up fuinjutsu in such short time, he knew that with the chakra control that Max had it should have been even more easier for him to achieve it.
Tenten didn't have that much chakra control and she was already an expert in fuinjutsu, so he knew that Max needed a lot more training if he wanted to catch up to Tenten.
Smoke quickly came out of the scroll and a sheathed sword appear. The sword in question was the one that Max brought to the village, so it was made by Max personally.
Muri nodded as he understood the meaning of the sword been shown to him and proceeded to pick it up. Just after touching it, Muri frown and took even more care as he was picking it up.
Max nodded as he saw how Muri got careful handling the sword. This was a mini test that he made for Muri, since he also wanted to know his skill level. The sword was in a bad shape, so any mishandling could damage it further.
Seen that Muri noticed it just by touching the sword while it was sheathed made Max recognize that Muri should be even more proficient in blacksmithing than him.
Muri inspected the sword from hilt to point. As he inspected it, Muri's frown increased by the second.
"Did you really made something so complicated?" Muri suddenly asked Max.
Tenten and Guy heard this and got interested. They didn't know much about forging, but they got curious when they heard the world complicated. In their minds, they couldn't imagine why would that describe a sword which had some simple uses.
Muri noticed when Tenten and Guy started to listen in closely to what they were going to talk, but didn't mind it. He knew that the conversation was going to become complicated enough that only blacksmiths could understand, so he let them be.
Max on the other hand didn't like how Muri said that his sword was complicated, but still understood that his forging method was different from everyone else so he quickly let it go.
"The complications with the smelting are because of the technique that I use. Instead of chakra conductivity, my blades are used as storage and repellent." Max signaled Muri to give the sword to him, which Muri did. "As you can see, it becomes harder to channel chakra to the blade because of it's repellent property, but that can be bypassed with chakra control."
Max proceed to infused chakra to the sword and it started to glow. Max saw the look that Tenten and Guy were giving to the sword so he tried to explain even more clearly so that they could understand. "The blades that I make becomes something like a pen and chakra is the ink. The point of the blade has a place for chakra to be released which I use to do some of my most common techniques. It's like I'm literally drawing in air my attacks."
""Ohhh""
Guy and Tenten were amazed by what Max had said.
"That is putting extremely simple. Still, that is as close as a simple description as you can get." Muri commented as he saw how Max infused his chakra in the sword. "Still, there are a lot of complications that makes such weapon such a bother to use.
But there is something even more important that you should know."
Muri got extremely serious as he looked at the trio. The trio quickly noticed that Muri changed his tone of speaking so they listen carefully.
Muri looked at Max for a second and proceeded to say. "This weapon should not be possible to make."
Max frowned as he heard Muri mention this. Guy and Tenten in the other hand showed confusion in their faces.
"There are a lot of amazing weapons out there that can do even more that what you are describing, but those weapons were made from unique materials.
That sword in the other hand is made from some low-quality Iron. Iron can get you so far in making masterpieces, but something like holding two different properties at the same time is impossible for it.
That the sword could get so damage after been used like that isn't a problem either, since the sword shouldn't be able to stay together in the first place." Muri finished saying.
Max thought about the meaning of what Muri had said and got goosebumps. He thought of the face that the Hokage made when he saw his weapon, which was acceptable for him. But if the Hokage saw the sword again after hearing what Muri had said…
"Don't start panicking know kid. You don't have to mind it that much." Muri said as he saw the face that Max was making. "Even if swords like that are impossible to make, there is not that much uses for weapons like that for ninjas. Ninjas need weapons that they can use but don't limit their abilities in combat.
The sword in your hands could give an edge to any jounin when fighting another one with one of my weapons. But ninja fights are more than just sword fights, the use of jutsu will always dominate a fight no matter the variation. Ninjutsu, Genjutsu, Taijutsu, Kenjutsu, Fuinjutsu and more.
That is the way of the shinobi."