The commoners said that only those with iron endurance ventured into these parts of the mountains. Shizuka couldn’t disagree, but didn’t think that she was as strong willed as people made out those going into the mountains to be. All in all, she just had an advantage. She could mold chakra unlike so many others in the world. It was her safety line in this sharp edged, cold and vine-clad environment. As she proceeded with her climb, the air grew even colder, the stones sharper and her muscles sore. In the end she had to take a break. Eat a bit of the food she had packed with her and admire the sight from a flat stone she had picked as her home for the next hour or so. She also used the time to study a little map she had brought alone. According to it, a large platform could be found in the crack behind the pike she was climbing. If she wanted to make it to the legendary monastery then her journey wouldn’t end after this single climb. She would have to go way deeper into the mountains, but going there was not her plan today. The only thing she wanted was get away from people and find a safe area to train. There was a jutsu she wanted to try. Something new. Something potentially dangerous. Something she had no idea of how to control. With that in mind, she had tried to create a distance between her and any of the villagers. Anyone, in fact, that could be harmed by an outburst of wood.
Folding the map she hid it. Washed away the last bits of her ‘breakfast’ and returned to the cold rock. It took her quite a bit to get all the way to the split. An enormous gap that looked like a cut left there by a blade of a god. She watched it with awe for a bit, then crossed it to the other side. The scene there was no less breathtaking than on the other side. Deep down, in small crack she saw fog climb up the sides of the mountain. On the right there was a seemingly endless sea of dark green. The left showed higher planes, mountains and snow. A spine of divine creature resting on the top of earth’s surface.
In front of her there was a flat space, with grass. A meadow of sorts. A little lake further down. She assumed that it had formed itself throughout the time. When you looked even further you could see more mountains. There the Monastery of Raiden could be found. One day she would go there. Today was not that day.
With the help of vines and lots of sliding she let herself down into the grass. It was warmer here. Pretty quiet too. The mountains mostly protected this oase of peace. She wondered what it would be like to live there. Alone, peacefully. Drawing this sight in the morning, study the sky at night. It seemed perfect, but she knew that it was only a dream. Besides, the practical matters would soon come to annoy one. Just like reality always did.
Picking a spot shouldn’t have been hard to do, but Shizuka hesitated regardless. To face the mountains? To look toward the forest? Manifest it next to the little lake?
Shizuka nervously recalled the necessary seals. Minutes on end she thought about it, but then realized that there was only one way to know what the ‘thousand-handed statue’ was like. By creating it. If she was capable of that, that was.
Inhaling deeply the young Senju closed her eyes. There were two pools of chakra within her. By now she was able to quickly and efficiently separate them and use whatever she needed. According to the book describing the Mokuton techniques, this one required the purer chakra. The same one she sought out when she wanted to heal.
Green and golden lines of energy coiled inside of her. She felt the pool stretch. An orb of liquid gold melting and dripping like a broken yolk. Then, the chakra flowed into the ground beneath her. Rapidly it claimed more and more territory, dragging the necessary elements to form the wood. Roots were claimed, earth was turned. Water added and forcefully drawn toward the sky. Debris clung to each other forming legs, hands, a torso. More hands bloomed like flowers. Massive wooden logs were just the tips of the hundreds of fingers touching nothing but air. The ground shook and dust covered the both the field of grass and the lake. And when it settled, Shizuka watched her creation stare at the mountain ahead. The statue was enormous. It was also sucking lots of chakra out of the little Senju. With every passing moment Shizuka felt her control of the creature crumble. This one wouldn’t remain here for long.
Folding the map she hid it. Washed away the last bits of her ‘breakfast’ and returned to the cold rock. It took her quite a bit to get all the way to the split. An enormous gap that looked like a cut left there by a blade of a god. She watched it with awe for a bit, then crossed it to the other side. The scene there was no less breathtaking than on the other side. Deep down, in small crack she saw fog climb up the sides of the mountain. On the right there was a seemingly endless sea of dark green. The left showed higher planes, mountains and snow. A spine of divine creature resting on the top of earth’s surface.
In front of her there was a flat space, with grass. A meadow of sorts. A little lake further down. She assumed that it had formed itself throughout the time. When you looked even further you could see more mountains. There the Monastery of Raiden could be found. One day she would go there. Today was not that day.
With the help of vines and lots of sliding she let herself down into the grass. It was warmer here. Pretty quiet too. The mountains mostly protected this oase of peace. She wondered what it would be like to live there. Alone, peacefully. Drawing this sight in the morning, study the sky at night. It seemed perfect, but she knew that it was only a dream. Besides, the practical matters would soon come to annoy one. Just like reality always did.
*
Picking a spot shouldn’t have been hard to do, but Shizuka hesitated regardless. To face the mountains? To look toward the forest? Manifest it next to the little lake?
Shizuka nervously recalled the necessary seals. Minutes on end she thought about it, but then realized that there was only one way to know what the ‘thousand-handed statue’ was like. By creating it. If she was capable of that, that was.
Inhaling deeply the young Senju closed her eyes. There were two pools of chakra within her. By now she was able to quickly and efficiently separate them and use whatever she needed. According to the book describing the Mokuton techniques, this one required the purer chakra. The same one she sought out when she wanted to heal.
Green and golden lines of energy coiled inside of her. She felt the pool stretch. An orb of liquid gold melting and dripping like a broken yolk. Then, the chakra flowed into the ground beneath her. Rapidly it claimed more and more territory, dragging the necessary elements to form the wood. Roots were claimed, earth was turned. Water added and forcefully drawn toward the sky. Debris clung to each other forming legs, hands, a torso. More hands bloomed like flowers. Massive wooden logs were just the tips of the hundreds of fingers touching nothing but air. The ground shook and dust covered the both the field of grass and the lake. And when it settled, Shizuka watched her creation stare at the mountain ahead. The statue was enormous. It was also sucking lots of chakra out of the little Senju. With every passing moment Shizuka felt her control of the creature crumble. This one wouldn’t remain here for long.
* * *
