Chapter 71: Fire Style – Iron-Melting Hands
It was clear: as a time-honored, enduring establishment, this shop naturally had its own unique craft.
Aside from a few laborer-level genin hired to handle manual work, only the shopkeeper showed traces of chakra on him—but even that didn't reach the level of a chunin.
With chakra that weak, there was no way he could've mastered fire-style nature transformation like you had!
Still, by observing their techniques, you might glean some insight into controlling the Flame of the Infested.
So, you casually suggested that you wanted to watch the process of refining chakra alloy.
The shopkeeper hesitated a bit, but once he heard you say you only wanted to see how the impure chakra alloy you'd brought in was purified—without prying into other aspects of their operations—he relaxed.
Add to that your offhand remark about possibly recycling damaged ninja tools through his shop in the future, and the weight of your identity as a member of the ANBU...
Naturally, the shopkeeper wasn't about to turn away such a valuable returning customer. He chalked up your request to a fear of being short-changed and quickly agreed.
He immediately ordered several skilled smiths to pause their current tasks and fire up the forge.
You watched as the workers first confirmed the alloy's weight, then selected a furnace of suitable size and placed the alloy inside.
Once the flames were lit, the furnace's specialized design concentrated the fire to a single point. At that moment, the shopkeeper stepped in personally, taking over the job.
You saw him expertly adjust the side levers on the furnace. The flames alternated between spreading and converging, eventually melting the alloy into a shimmering, strange-colored liquid.
As he continued to control the flame's intensity and focus, bits of black slag began to float to the surface. These impurities were skimmed off and discarded, while the purified chakra metal now glowed with a deep, enticing blue sheen.
You quietly activated your Sharingan and observed through an opening on the furnace's side, watching intently until the shopkeeper recast the refined chakra metal into a slightly smaller ingot.
Then, right in front of you, he sliced it with precision, collecting the shavings to reforge them into a flexible metal bowstring.
While praising the masterful technique aloud, you also relied on your Sharingan to fully commit every detail—everything you believed you could replicate—to memory.
...
Leaving the ninja tool workshop behind, you walked back to your dorm in the ANBU quarters, mentally replaying the smelting techniques over and over.
Once certain that no one would disturb you, you opened the small box containing the Flame of the Infested and began experimenting with some of the flame-control techniques you'd picked up.
Sure enough, there was some noticeable improvement.
However, lacking the various tools and equipment of the workshop, even your deep understanding of fire-style nature transformation couldn't perfectly replicate the nuances of control.
Still, even if it wasn't a perfect copy, something else had clicked in your mind—a new jutsu concept.
Perhaps… something that could be called a chakra mode.
After a period of meditation, you suddenly opened your eyes, casually drew a kunai, and drove it toward your opposite palm.
In that instant, an intense, high-temperature flame erupted from your hand—yet like a well-trained pet, the fire didn't harm you in the slightest.
Instead, it melted the incoming kunai into a pool of molten metal almost instantly.
You reached out with your other palm, summoning the same flames, and grabbed the liquid metal barehanded.
Rolling and kneading the glowing iron between your palms, you shaped it as easily as if it were clay—into a crude, pointed spike.
Gradually, you let the heat in your hands fade. The iron cooled accordingly. Soon, only residual warmth remained, and you were able to hold it without being burned.
A rush of joy surged across your face.
Originally, all your fire-style chakra mode attempts had been based on the Lightning-Style Chakra Mode used by Kumogakure—designed to enhance physical power. But that path had only led to disaster, nearly burning you alive.
You had clearly ignored the fundamental differences between lightning and fire.
But now, with your mastery of fire-style having reached a new level, inspiration had struck—and you'd finally crafted your own Fire-Style Chakra Mode.
Considering its properties—being able to melt and reshape metal nearly instantly—you decided to name it:
Fire Style: Iron-Melting Hands!
With this jutsu, your close-quarters combat capabilities would drastically improve, making up for the physical strength disadvantage that came with your youth.
If an opponent tried to use swords, shuriken, or any other ninja tools against you, they'd only end up watching their weapons melt away—giving you a distinct edge in battle.
Although you could currently only channel the jutsu through your palms, you speculated that with time and training, you'd be able to extend it to your hands, vital areas—or even your entire body. At that point, you'd be able to withstand even deadly ninjutsu with your bare flesh!
With the creation of Iron-Melting Hands, your confidence was restored. You tried once more to channel the Flame of the Infested into your palm.
Unfortunately, no luck.
This strange green flame, though not hot in temperature, burned through chakra at an alarming rate. It simply devoured the fire-style chakra you emitted, lightly coating the Iron-Melting Hands without any sign of actual fusion.
Perhaps, if you kept feeding it chakra—like the Aburame Clan fed their Parasitic Insects—it might eventually "bond" with you…
But that would take an incredible amount of time and effort.
Trying to flood it with chakra all at once would also require an enormous chakra reserve—something even that Wood Release construct you destroyed from Root couldn't achieve.
How could you possibly pull it off?
As you brooded over it, your stomach suddenly growled.
The intense focus on jutsu development had drained a significant amount of your chakra, and using meditation techniques to concentrate had also consumed large amounts of physical energy.
Maybe it was time for some Ichiraku Ramen.
...
As the sun dipped toward the horizon, the streets filled with office workers getting off duty, ninja returning from missions, and kids just out of school. The lights along the street flickered on, chasing away any remnants of the gloom that had once lingered after the Uchiha massacre.
Luckily, you arrived just as the dinner rush was beginning. A few seats opened up quickly.
You ordered three large bowls of ramen with different flavors and sat down to dig in.
Halfway through eating, you suddenly felt a chill breeze behind you.
Someone was watching.
And whoever it was—they weren't ordinary.
That instinct, forged through countless life-or-death battles during your Root training, was never wrong.
Then, in walked a dirt-smudged little boy, wearing the same bright orange jacket he wore all year round and sporting a spiky head of yellow hair.
He slapped a few wrinkled, slightly water-damaged bills and some mismatched coins on the counter and said:
"Two warm soups… and one bowl of tonkotsu ramen, please…"
Just like that, your suspicions vanished.
Wasn't this the Hokage's kid, out on another "real-life experience" trip—along with his usual invisible entourage?
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Pls Drop some Power Stones
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