Chapter 60: Forging Zanpakutō

Ren slowly poured his chakra into the crystal stone. The stone's color deepened, becoming like a magnificent sapphire. It wasn't until Ren's chakra was almost entirely consumed, leaving only one-twelfth, that he finally felt the chakra crystal in his hand was full. It could almost store the amount of chakra equivalent to a Jōnin-level ninja! Ren felt a pleasant surprise.

He instantly thought of a ninjutsu: Tsunade's Strength of a Hundred Seal. The Strength of a Hundred Seal involved accumulating chakra on the forehead in advance, forming a diamond-shaped mark. When needed, the seal could be released through the "Strength of a Hundred Release" jutsu to unleash a large amount of stored chakra. The Strength of a Hundred Seal was the prerequisite for Tsunade to release her two forbidden medical ninjutsu, Creation Rebirth and Mitotic Regeneration, providing vast chakra for these techniques. The Strength of a Hundred Seal was an S-rank auxiliary ninjutsu!

And the chakra crystal stone in Ren's hand clearly achieved the same effect as the Strength of a Hundred Seal with ease! And it was even more convenient and user-friendly!

Ren placed the newly forged chakra crystal stone into the Forging Table. Then, he added other materials needed for forging more chakra crystals. Inside the Forging Table, imitating Ren's previous forging method, it began to automatically forge chakra crystals. Ren, meanwhile, was already sitting cross-legged aside, closing his eyes, and beginning to digest another forging blueprint in his mind: the blueprint for the 6-star difficulty Zanpakutō – Daiguren Hyōrinmaru!

After imprinting every detail of the forging process into his mind, Ren suddenly opened his eyes. He then strode to the Forging Table and picked up the hammer. The flames were lit, and the forge glowed red from the scorching heat. Ren had meticulously prepared hundreds of forging materials, even labeling each with a corresponding number. No. 1 Heavenly Sound Profound Iron, No. 2 Cryolite, No. 3 Cloud Crystal Ore, No. 4...

If any businessman were to see the materials Ren was using for this forging, they would surely go mad with shock. Each of these materials was incredibly precious, and many were priceless, enough to make one's eyes glint with gold and their mind reel. Only Ren's father, a major businessman like Tatsuo, could gather all the materials Ren needed in such a short period. Several of these materials weren't even available on the market and had to be found on the black market!

Ren began to place these minerals into the Forging Table in sequence. The flames consumed them, and the entire forging table glowed fiery red. The materials were burned into a solution-like substance at high temperatures, emitting a bright light. Simultaneously, Ren injected his chakra into the mixture, wrapping each of the different minerals in chakra. They were then drawn into thread-like shapes, and solutions of the same material intertwined in mid-air.

As early as four years ago, after being promoted from a junior blacksmith to an intermediate blacksmith, Ren's forging technology had completely surpassed the forging level in the Naruto world. Even Mifune, the most skilled and powerful ninja blacksmith from the Land of Iron and the embodiment of the "craftsman" spirit, likely couldn't compare to Ren's forging strength. But now, Ren was dedicating 200% of his spiritual power to this Zanpakutō, which could truly be classified as an artifact! He doubted there were more than six ninja tools left in the Naruto world that could compare to it!

"Drink!" Ren roared, bringing the hammer down. His eyes were as calm as still water, unperturbed by the intensity, as the heavy hammer struck again and again. He shouted a few more times and gestured towards several materials in the distance. The released chakra immediately wrapped around them, drawing them towards him to land on the Forging Table, where they melted into a solution at high temperatures.

Forged by the heavy hammer, impurities in the original minerals were removed one by one. The color of the minerals themselves was completely transformed. After being extracted and calcined by the flame, they became a particularly crystal-clear sky blue, as bright and captivating as a deep-sea crystal. Such solutions continuously converged, entering the forming body of a long sword, like a sky-blue brocade seamlessly blending into the ice-blue form. This scene was truly gorgeous, a kind of wonder.

As the continuous process of forging, burning, re-attributing, and filling the blade with one type of material after another progressed, the prototype of the entire blade emerged. The ice-blue sword body shone with a silver-white light, as if it hailed from the icy northern realm.

The corners of Ren's mouth twitched slightly. A hint of impatience crept into his heart. Although this was Ren's first time forging a 6-star difficulty weapon, in terms of forging skills, he had already reached a level of perfection. The only thing that made Ren feel a little tricky was probably the consumption of mental power during the forging process. Weapons with higher forging difficulty had increasingly complex forging steps. Like this Zanpakutō, Daiguren Hyōrinmaru, it involved hundreds of forging materials, and the process of forging, quenching, and extraction spanned thousands of steps. Every step had to be perfect, and the entire forging process had to be done in one continuous flow to forge the most perfect weapon. This demanded a very high level of mental power from the blacksmith.

With Ren's current strength, when he reached the final critical moment of forging, he felt dizzy, and the sharp pain of mental power depletion spread from his mind.

"Give it to me!" Ren gritted his teeth. The heavy hammer in his hand slammed down. Resisting the needle-like pain in his mind, Ren stood over his Forging Table, his eyes wide with intense focus, not allowing for any mistakes.

Suddenly, a burst of energy fluctuations emanated from the Forging Table. It was a terrifying energy coming from within the weapon. When this energy appeared, it signified – the artifact was complete!

"Hoo..." Ren let out a sigh of relief. After concentrating so intensely, he suddenly relaxed, and the exhaustion across his entire body washed over his mind like a tide. He didn't even have time to examine the Zanpakutō he had successfully forged. He quickly withdrew from his spiritual space. Then, his eyes went black, and he fell directly onto his bed, succumbing to sleep.

When he woke up, three days had passed. As he opened his eyes again, a vast expanse of white filled his vision. The scene gradually became clear, and then he realized the white expanse was just the ceiling. At this time, he had an IV drip on his right arm. As soon as he woke up, he realized he was lying in the Ninja Hospital!

'How is this going?'

As Ren pondered, he heard a loud cry from beside him: "Brother! Brother, he's awake!" It was TenTen, who was the first to rush over. She hugged him tightly on the hospital bed, crying out: "Brother, you're finally awake! Did you know we were all worried sick!"

Ren rolled his eyes. He wanted to push TenTen off him. 'Holding me so tightly, are you trying to strangle me? Murdering your brother!' But Ren found at this moment that he couldn't do it at all! He had no strength in his body and couldn't even push this little girl away!

It was his mother, Keiko, who came over, gently pulled TenTen away, and said softly, "Your brother just woke up and is still relatively weak, don't hold him like that." Then she ordered TenTen in an orderly manner: "TenTen, go and bring a glass of water, then bring the prepared food. Your brother hasn't eaten for three days, so he must be hungry."

TenTen nodded obediently, "Okay, I'll go now!"

After drinking some water and eating some food, Ren felt some strength return to his body. Ren, understanding his current physical condition, couldn't help but chuckle wryly for a moment. Unexpectedly, because he had consumed too much mental power while forging the Zanpakutō, his mental power was seriously depleted, causing him to sleep in bed for three days. And his family, not knowing the reason, worried sick when he didn't wake up, and sent him directly to the Ninja Hospital!