Naruto sighed as he added more coal to the furnace. He loved helping the knights of the kingdom of Konohagakure by giving them their weapons, or even helping weapon mistress Tenten to train on a new weapon design she came up with. It wasn't glamorous or anything, but it was certainly better than starving like he had when he was younger. It was his side job that caused him to sigh.
Only the King Sarutobi knew of his secret job as the spiritual protector of the kingdom, and frankly as far as he was concerned it could stay that way. True the blacksmith he helped might have some inkling of an idea about what his young helper got up to late at night, but Iruka was a good man of warm smiles and friendly words, unless Naruto screwed up with something, and then he was vicious with his words. However, Naruto noticed that while others might get lumps with the words, he never did with Iruka. That in and of itself made Iruka the greatest man next to the King himself, in Naruto's books.
Turning away from the furnace he gathered up some scrap metal chunks that had fallen out of an earlier ore shipment, tossing them carefully in the glowing hot liquid metal before him. There was much he had learned in this job, and each of them in turn helped him better protect the kingdom secretly. Walking over to the bellows he began the steady pumping, just as Iruka had taught him, getting the coals nice and hot. Just right for what he was forging.
Today was the day; he was being given his first chance to forge something. And in a surprise to Iruka, he had chosen a simple broad axe design, rather than something fancier, like silver crafting, or something more delicate, such as a sword. No, this was an axe, and it was meant for brutal efficiency. That was something Naruto could appreciate.
Pouring the molten ore into the mold, he kept a careful eye to make sure there were no air pockets forming, and that both sides were even through the entire pour. The next step was flash cooling it, releasing a huge cloud of steam into the air after the mold submerged into cold water he had filled earlier. Using a tongs, he pulled the axe head out of the water, and looked at it with a smile. It was beautifully formed, and now he just needed to stick it on the shaft, and sharpen it.
Sliding the wooden shaft easily, he smiled at the nearly perfect fit. Next he took a few small wedges of wood, and hammered them in to lock the head onto the shaft. In a few years, he might learn the trick of making hooks down below to help hold it, but for this time, he would use the wedges.
After wedging the head into place, he took it over to the sharpening wheel. Leaning the cutting edges against the spinning wheel of coarse stone, he marveled slightly at how the sparks would fly, careful to make sure that they were angling away from the dry hay and wood. Wouldn't do to have a fire on his attempt at becoming a full smith apprentice, now would it? After a few minutes, he inspected the blade of the axe, smiling at how nicely formed it was, that it looked to cut the light itself.
Taking a few test swings he nodded at the feel of the balance, thinking that it was good. No real pull to either side. Looking up, he smiled widely at Iruka who had been watching him the entire time. With a smile of his own, Iruka indicated the target for his final test. The length of hard wood had to be split by the axe in order to pass. Gulping Naruto walked carefully over, and lined himself up as Tenten had taught him during practice. He was too lowborn to be a knight, but like the weapon mistress, he had worked hard to get out of the orphanage and become an apprentice to one of the other commoners that helped with knights. This was it, hefting the newly formed axe up, he brought it down on the length of wood, and was stunned as the axe head not only split it cleanly through, but also bit deep into the stump below. Turning his head, he saw his shock mirrored on Iruka's face, and then it faded into a smile with pride shining at his apprentice.
He heard clapping behind him, and turned to see the King and Weapon Mistress Tenten standing there, clapping at him. That's when it hit him, he was not a full-fledged smith apprentice, and in only five years. Grinning widely he bowed to the King, before he felt warm arms surrounding him and hugging him close. He heard Sarutobi whispering softly, "I'm so proud of you Naruto..." which brought tears of joy to his eyes.
Shortly after Sarutobi released him, he was tackled by Tenten who started dancing around the yard with him and laughing, loudly congratulating the blonde on passing. She also claimed ownership of the axe for her own, which caused a little exasperation on the part of Naruto, turning to embarrassment for the two friends as the adults mused about the possibility of wedding bells in the future. Anyone else would have been shouted at by Naruto, which Tenten would scold him for, but not these two, but not the two who had given him so much growing up. So he just took the embarrassment with a grumble and worked to pull the axe out of the stump. He had to give it to Tenten properly, didn't he?