Kizaru Hones his Craft (puppet making)

Kizaru unlocked the door to his small apartment and turned the light on as he stepped in. The room was small and dingy but it was a clear step up from the orphanage he was staying in before becoming a ninja. It wasnt much, but it was a place to call home.

It was late, he had spent the day training, but it wasn't time for bed. Kizaru walked over to the old table with uneven legs that currently functioned as his desk. On its dusty surface currently sat the loose pieces of his first puppet, Mochi. Kizaru worked for hours with his academy sensei just to carve the wood into bat shapes. The ribs of the wings in particular were something that he wanted to make sure was right. His father's toys always had an incredible attention to detail. Kizaru felt that the puppet wouldn't truly feel like Mochi unless he put his all into it.

There were lots of wasted wood blocks in the carving process but in the end he felt confident about the final draft. The next step would be assembling all of the loose pieces. He had to hold the parts in place while attaching metal hinges.

"A vice would help a lot here. Maybe I'll look into one."

That thought would have to wait until Kizaru made a little more money and could start thinking about things other than necessities. This puppet however could not wait. He needed it to be functioning if he was going to begin training to be a puppet master. So he soldiered through the finger pain and finished fashioning the joints. The wings could flap realistically and the mouth could snap open and closed.

Kizaru smiled and turned the wooden animal over in his hands a few times. It moved just like his toy from the past. Now that he had the puppet in somewhat working order, he needed to paint it. He had been saving up pocket change for a while and the other day he had decided that some nice paints would be worth the splurge. Two small cans one black and one brown.

He worked on the painting long through the night and into the morning. It wouldn't be seen as a work of art but to him, it was his masterpiece. He desperately wanted to try his new puppet out but that would have to wait until the paint dried.


(WC 405)

Kizaru came home the next day brimming with excitement. The day had finally came to test out his new ninja puppet. He had been thinking about it all day. He hoped he would feel the happy memories of the past coming back to him as he manipulated the puppet.

He walked up to the desk and found his masterpiece, freshly painted and more importantly, dry. It wasn't a perfect replica of the original Mochi but just the sight of it started to bring him to tears. He missed his family and this was going to make him feel closer to them.

"So I just have to do this," he said as he lifted his hand and produced some chakra threads. Three to be precise. One attached to the head to allow opening and closing of the bat's jaw as well as give him control while in flight. The other two each attached to a respective wing. With these Kizaru could flap the wings to keep the puppet in flight. Designing the hinges that controlled the flap of the wings was quite challenging. That's where his sensei from the academy came in. He also helped Kizaru improve on a lot of what he had already done.

With the threads attached Kizaru started to move his fingers gently to test the reaction. It was different than with real strings but the skills would transfer a little. Real string would never have this level of control however. Kizaru felt like he could actually feel all the hinges and joints moving while he pulled at the strings. It was almost unsettling how much he was able to feel. He shrugged off his worries and decided he wanted to try to actually fly the puppet. He put the puppet in his hand and carried it outside, threads still attached.

Now outside Kizaru could really feel the life of his creation. He held out the hand he was holding the puppet in and with his other he began to flap the wings. The creation took to the air with no small amount of effort on Kizaru's part, but it was flying. He had to move his fingers constantly to keep it in flight but the motions were so small. He knew getting this right was going to be challenging. His fingers would need to adjust to be able to make very small movements very quickly. He also couldn't shake the weirdness of being able to feel the puppets every movement.

He kept at it for a couple of hours and his fingers were beginning to ache. He was getting the motion down and the bat was flying semi realistically. Just before he decided to call it a day for training he noticed something else flying in the now dimming sky. An actual bat, out for the night hunting moths. Kizaru looked at the living bat and then to his puppet and was disappointed. He just wasn't mimicking the motions as well as he thought he was.

"Maybe there really is no way to mirror nature." He thought to himself as he pulled back in his puppet and detached the threads. He would have to try again another day, because for now his fingers were killing him and he wanted to go to bed.

(WC 547)

A few days later Kizaru figured he should get back to puppet training. He grabbed Mochi off the desk and decided that this time he would go up to the roof of his apartment building for a change of scenery. He headed up the stairs and out onto the rooftop where he was immediately met with a strong breeze. He wondered how that would affect his flying, especially being high up without buildings to block the wind.

Kizaru attached the chakra threads again and began the rapid flapping involved in take off. As soon as the puppet left his hand the wind began to carry it away. This would definitely take some getting used to. He tried not to worry and just muscle through the wind, to no avail. The wings were catching the wind too well and he couldn't make the puppet maneuver the way he wanted it to.

"Geez. Maybe today is just not the day for flying." He thought.

As he practiced his fingers started to get cramped like the last time. Fighting against the wind was only speeding up the pain. He decided to call it quits and loosened his grip on the threads so the puppet would stop fighting the wind. In the moment he did that however, the small bat began to glide not through the breeze, but on it!

"How did I not think of that!?" He exclaimed while slapping his forehead. "Use the wind like an actual animal! Duh!"

With newfound resolve Kizaru refocused on learning to fly. Instead of struggling against the wind he would need to learn how to soar the way he wanted to while using the wind. He spent hours dipping and diving and flying all over the sky above his building. He was having the time of his life!

"Its like a real bat! I'm getting it!" He yelled out excited that he was finally seeing the fruits of his labor.

As the sky grew dark and the street lights began to turn on Kizaru spotted a familiar sight. A bat flying close to his puppet. He could see now that the creature actually was using the updrafts and breezes to make flying easier. Mochi looked real flapping around up in the sky. It didn't just look real, it felt real too. No longer did he feel offput by the inner workings of his puppet, he was more focused on how exhilarating it was to be in total control.

This sense of wonder reminded him of something. It reminded him of when his dad came up to him one day holding a small wooden bat with strings attached to it. This puppet may be more advanced and intended as a combat tool, but it felt like the spirit of the original Mochi was there in this puppet too.


(WC 471. TWC 1423)

(Exit)

TWC 1423

Claiming: Mochi V1 1400 wc http://naruto-role-play-rpg.forumotion.com/t41475-mochi-v1

+3 speed +4 Chakra

Approved