To excel, to become the one whose force of mind pressed others to their knees, would require a fair amount of support to begin and in pursuit of this ambition, as well as it prerequisites, the young Yukiin found himself lighter in purse and fuller on hope. In his hand his fingers curled around his newly acquired treasure like a bird of prey around a mouse, nails digging into as if he could extract more from its wood-pressed flesh. A scroll, acquired from the only vendor he could find within his price range as a freshly appointed Genin, which seemed as battered and useless as wet paper in the snow but which he had been assured, repeatedly, would function for the purpose of drawing the attention of other worldly beasts. The exact contents of what was bound in this scroll was unknown to him but if the merchant proved to be a liar then he could simply seek a refund.
There were many layers of uncertainty when it came to acquiring mystical papers from aggressive salesmen in taters who seemed to be either homeless or quickly on the path to it but once again - budget. Yukiin had to hope that this kindly stranger short as much on coinage as he was teeth was honest...ish. Ish would be good. Maybe he could find a half-summoning or something, worst case scenario...still, that was money he could’ve spent on his puppet, the poor thing was effectively crude wood and joints after all. Even a dummy deserved to be a bit spruced up.
Maybe if he was lucky he’d be able to conjure up some kind of fortune bird that brought down gold from the mountains, although he wasn’t sure if contracts worked that way or n- well, actually, he wasn’t sure how they worked at all. Yukiin paused, adjusting the pack slung across his back with his puppet tucked neatly inside, as he considered that he actually had no clue what he was doing, what the potential consequences could be, or if it was even safe to undertake such a task with a scroll that might just open up into a bomb or something. This entire plan seemed ill conceived…
“You have to keep going, you’re already on the way. Do you want to be outclassed by some children?” The puppet in his pack announced, although to any outside observer it would seem that Yukiin was talking to himself through a machine. This would be a wildly unfair assessment of the situation though because only crazy people talk to themselves. How could anyone call a man who’d purchased an unknown object from the destitute in the hopes that it might give him some vaguely understood power ‘crazy’ just because he used props to psych himself up?
“Only a moron.” Tsurara responded. The puppet was right, only a moron would cast such an aspersion on a talented youth like himself. How could he have even doubted himself? That was real madness, not believing in yourself and your friendly puppet.
“You’re right Tsurara, we’re going to see this through to the end.” Yukiin said, nodding solemnly.
The Genin pulled his scarf closer to his neck and reached out, grasping onto the next outcropping of stone in front of him. No, a crazy person wouldn’t be going through this type of thought and conversation while scaling a mountain because the previously mentioned homeless salesmen told him his mystery item would work best at a high altitude. He was just ambitious and not as scared of heights as he was scared of being a failure. This village, these people, they had put so much time and energy into him after all...he was the oldest graduate they had seen in a while because of the time it took for his Kugutsu training and he intended to prove to them that this investment was worthwhile. If he just had to scale a mountain or two with a 30lb puppet strapped to his back then so be it, spinal injuries be damned.
He reached into his gut, hands of the mind grasping the biochemical energy in his flesh and mixing it with the spiritual force of will until it became the essence he needed - chakra. Carefully he unfurled his puppet with one hand, allowing Tsurara to drop before being caught by her master’s strings. The puppet dangled momentarily as Yukiin moved his chilled fingers to command her, throwing the puppet above himself onto a nearby plateau in the rock. He wasn’t sure that this plan was safe but his physical strength had been much too taxed to continue to climb normally, he’d been at this for a good couple hours.
It was do or die as Tsurara clampered to the edge and extended her arm down to her puppeteer, Yukiin grabbing the hand with his free hand and dangling freely now as the puppet pulled him up to her level and to safety. With a thud onto the snow he sighed heavily, having held his breath for that entire movement, half expecting that he wouldn’t be able to lift himself in this fashion. The puppet was summarily dismissed, crashing into the snow inert as he bundled her back up and returned her to his back.
His eyes cast a wide net over the expanse in front of him, the crags of the stone cradling him from the worst of the winds as their needle-like teeth reached to the sky. With the wind dispersed he could see the small blooms of enduring plant life in the snowy clearing he found himself within, purple blossoms whose fragrance seemed as hearty as they were as it could not be snuffed out by the bellowing of the storm. This would be a perfect place to rest before the descent and it would be an even better place to see what exactly he’d purchased.
Yukiin’s snow covered hands pulled the scroll from his side with some difficulty due to the limited function of digits in extreme temperatures, something he would have to remember if he ever expected to puppeteer here again. Unfurling it was an easier task as that took no fine manipulation and the Genin cut his thumb against his canine tooth, striking it like striking a match. The stripe of blood landed smoothly on the scroll as its contents twisted their way into this plane, the puff of smoke that accompanied it being a relief to him as at least he knew that it contained something.
When the smoke dispersed what was left was a burner, a book of matches, and several branches which he could only assume were meant to be used with the burner to produce an incense. This puzzled him momentarily but as he thought, one hand falling to the ground to hold himself as he sat in front of the scroll’s contents, his fingers brushed a thorn from one of the flowering plants and he recoiled. The stray mark of a thin thorn drew little blood but caught his ire, glowering down at the plant for a moment before it all clicked in his mind.
Like the flowers, there had to be certain chemicals and scents which were powerful enough to withstand the winds and perhaps they were useless in high concentrations. If one of these flowers bloomed below it would likely smell overpowering and be considered a foul stench but here? Here it was beautiful. Here these branches could be burned to produce a scent appealing to a beast.
Yukiin smiled as he set to work, striking the flames and setting the burner out cradled from the winds, watching the black haze flow out and disperse as it crossed the threshold of his shelter to the outside storms until the local winds were speckled in black. If anything was out there, it would know that he was here and that he was waiting for them…
“You know...if some crazy mountain man wanted to kill us, he could track that scent too.”
Tsurara’s comment struck him and he took one of the burned sticks and pointed it out towards the entrance to his cave-like dwelling. His arms shook from the cold but a bit of fear came into that mixture as well, the situation dawning on him.
“I’m...I'm not scared...in fact!...in fact I am prepared w-with the finest weapon in all of Kumogakure. P-prepared to kill as many men with this blade as it takes for this to pay off.” The Genin bluffed, hopefully sufficiently convincingly enough to ward off mountain men,
[Word Count | 1440]
There were many layers of uncertainty when it came to acquiring mystical papers from aggressive salesmen in taters who seemed to be either homeless or quickly on the path to it but once again - budget. Yukiin had to hope that this kindly stranger short as much on coinage as he was teeth was honest...ish. Ish would be good. Maybe he could find a half-summoning or something, worst case scenario...still, that was money he could’ve spent on his puppet, the poor thing was effectively crude wood and joints after all. Even a dummy deserved to be a bit spruced up.
Maybe if he was lucky he’d be able to conjure up some kind of fortune bird that brought down gold from the mountains, although he wasn’t sure if contracts worked that way or n- well, actually, he wasn’t sure how they worked at all. Yukiin paused, adjusting the pack slung across his back with his puppet tucked neatly inside, as he considered that he actually had no clue what he was doing, what the potential consequences could be, or if it was even safe to undertake such a task with a scroll that might just open up into a bomb or something. This entire plan seemed ill conceived…
“You have to keep going, you’re already on the way. Do you want to be outclassed by some children?” The puppet in his pack announced, although to any outside observer it would seem that Yukiin was talking to himself through a machine. This would be a wildly unfair assessment of the situation though because only crazy people talk to themselves. How could anyone call a man who’d purchased an unknown object from the destitute in the hopes that it might give him some vaguely understood power ‘crazy’ just because he used props to psych himself up?
“Only a moron.” Tsurara responded. The puppet was right, only a moron would cast such an aspersion on a talented youth like himself. How could he have even doubted himself? That was real madness, not believing in yourself and your friendly puppet.
“You’re right Tsurara, we’re going to see this through to the end.” Yukiin said, nodding solemnly.
The Genin pulled his scarf closer to his neck and reached out, grasping onto the next outcropping of stone in front of him. No, a crazy person wouldn’t be going through this type of thought and conversation while scaling a mountain because the previously mentioned homeless salesmen told him his mystery item would work best at a high altitude. He was just ambitious and not as scared of heights as he was scared of being a failure. This village, these people, they had put so much time and energy into him after all...he was the oldest graduate they had seen in a while because of the time it took for his Kugutsu training and he intended to prove to them that this investment was worthwhile. If he just had to scale a mountain or two with a 30lb puppet strapped to his back then so be it, spinal injuries be damned.
He reached into his gut, hands of the mind grasping the biochemical energy in his flesh and mixing it with the spiritual force of will until it became the essence he needed - chakra. Carefully he unfurled his puppet with one hand, allowing Tsurara to drop before being caught by her master’s strings. The puppet dangled momentarily as Yukiin moved his chilled fingers to command her, throwing the puppet above himself onto a nearby plateau in the rock. He wasn’t sure that this plan was safe but his physical strength had been much too taxed to continue to climb normally, he’d been at this for a good couple hours.
It was do or die as Tsurara clampered to the edge and extended her arm down to her puppeteer, Yukiin grabbing the hand with his free hand and dangling freely now as the puppet pulled him up to her level and to safety. With a thud onto the snow he sighed heavily, having held his breath for that entire movement, half expecting that he wouldn’t be able to lift himself in this fashion. The puppet was summarily dismissed, crashing into the snow inert as he bundled her back up and returned her to his back.
His eyes cast a wide net over the expanse in front of him, the crags of the stone cradling him from the worst of the winds as their needle-like teeth reached to the sky. With the wind dispersed he could see the small blooms of enduring plant life in the snowy clearing he found himself within, purple blossoms whose fragrance seemed as hearty as they were as it could not be snuffed out by the bellowing of the storm. This would be a perfect place to rest before the descent and it would be an even better place to see what exactly he’d purchased.
Yukiin’s snow covered hands pulled the scroll from his side with some difficulty due to the limited function of digits in extreme temperatures, something he would have to remember if he ever expected to puppeteer here again. Unfurling it was an easier task as that took no fine manipulation and the Genin cut his thumb against his canine tooth, striking it like striking a match. The stripe of blood landed smoothly on the scroll as its contents twisted their way into this plane, the puff of smoke that accompanied it being a relief to him as at least he knew that it contained something.
When the smoke dispersed what was left was a burner, a book of matches, and several branches which he could only assume were meant to be used with the burner to produce an incense. This puzzled him momentarily but as he thought, one hand falling to the ground to hold himself as he sat in front of the scroll’s contents, his fingers brushed a thorn from one of the flowering plants and he recoiled. The stray mark of a thin thorn drew little blood but caught his ire, glowering down at the plant for a moment before it all clicked in his mind.
Like the flowers, there had to be certain chemicals and scents which were powerful enough to withstand the winds and perhaps they were useless in high concentrations. If one of these flowers bloomed below it would likely smell overpowering and be considered a foul stench but here? Here it was beautiful. Here these branches could be burned to produce a scent appealing to a beast.
Yukiin smiled as he set to work, striking the flames and setting the burner out cradled from the winds, watching the black haze flow out and disperse as it crossed the threshold of his shelter to the outside storms until the local winds were speckled in black. If anything was out there, it would know that he was here and that he was waiting for them…
“You know...if some crazy mountain man wanted to kill us, he could track that scent too.”
Tsurara’s comment struck him and he took one of the burned sticks and pointed it out towards the entrance to his cave-like dwelling. His arms shook from the cold but a bit of fear came into that mixture as well, the situation dawning on him.
“I’m...I'm not scared...in fact!...in fact I am prepared w-with the finest weapon in all of Kumogakure. P-prepared to kill as many men with this blade as it takes for this to pay off.” The Genin bluffed, hopefully sufficiently convincingly enough to ward off mountain men,
[Word Count | 1440]
