Constructing a Masterpiece (Solo)

Tue Mar 22, 2016 10:59 am

Yoshi had just learned an new wind based ninjutsu. With it, came the knowledge of being able to bend wind to her will. Ideas of new jutsu came and when just as quickly as formed inside her head. Yoshi was transformed into a barque chef and was tailing him mimicking his every step. He was carrying a large box of seasonings and while Yoshi did not have such a box, she held her hands in front of her anyway. A moment later, the chef turned around.

”What are you doing – following me around like that? Go on shoo!” the chef said setting down his box and waving his hands for Yoshi to go away.

Yoshi immediately released the jutsu as the chef turned around and scratched her head. She turned and gazed up into the air as if something had caught her attention. Her eyes widened when the chef told her to 'shoo'.

”Huh? Me? Oh, uh, sorry. See ya!” Yoshi said frantically.

Yoshi scampered off and found herself walking back to the Yoshinaga compound. It consisted of a few dome houses all of which belonged to members of the Yoshinaga clan. Their owners were all respected artisans in their chosen field. There were painters, carpenters, blacksmiths, jewelers, tanners, musicians, singers, dancers, paper makers, potters (like her father), and wavers (like her mother), just to name a few. Her parent's house stood somewhere in the middle of the compound. Yoshi was greeted with many smiles and waves as she entered the compound. In truth, she was something of a celebrity in the eyes of her fellow clansmen. She was one of the one of the only Yoshinaga who could mold chakra and pursue a life as a ninja. Yoshi finally reached her parent's dome house and stepped inside.

”I'm home!” she announced when she finally arrived.

Both of Yumi's parents were in the kitchen as their daughter entered the room. Her mother was cooking something, which smelled quite appetizing, on the stove, while her father was knelt down by the table. He was looking over a scroll of some sort.

”Daddy! What are you reading?” asked Yumi who ran over to hug her father.

”Welcome home, my little 'Cactus Flower'. How was your training today?” Yumi's father reached a hand and hugged his little girl right back. ”Oh, this? They are plans for a new potter's wheel. I'm about due for another one. With it, I'll be able to sculpt much larger pots. So, did you see your boyfriend today?”

”He wasn't there, Honey. Or that's what Yumi told me this morning,” Yumi's mother butted in.

Yumi began to blush, ”Salzem is NOT my boyfriend! A-and besides, he's a w-wandering n-ninja! It wouldn't work out!”

”Heh, heh, my daughter is in love!” her father teased. ”Do I need to have a talk with this boy?”

”I am not! And it isn't necessary to have a word with him,” Yumi said as she clenched her hands nervously into fists. ”I'll be in my room!”

Sheesh, my parents are terrible this evening! Yumi thought as she stormed down of the hall.

Yumi was thoroughly embarrassed by what her father had said. It was true, she was beginning to be quite fond of him, though. And on occasion, Yumi found herself daydreaming of the two times spent training together. Something drew her towards him but she wasn't exactly sure what it was. She wasn't exactly attracted to him, but there was something about his eyes. They were genital and caring, yet something darker lingered behind them – as if he were holding something back. And his story, growing up as a kid, touched her. Yumi wished to know more. When Yumi entered her room, her eyes light up with excitement. In the center, stood a giant box.

Could it be? Yumi wondered opening up the box with a knife.

As she opened the box, to see what was inside, a note laid on the top. Yumi picked up the parchment paper and took a look at it. It appeared to be a list. As she read the note, Yumi quickly realized it this was a parts list and chose to forget her father's teasing. All of the items that she ordered had finally arrived. According to the note, the box contained screws, nuts, bolts, lengths of wire, springs, washers, metal plates, and other various small components. Wrapped in several sheets of tissue paper was all of the weapons. They were made out of carbon steel – these items were the puppet's beak, its talons, and the blades which were going to be apart of the puppet's wings. No doubt they were sharp and needed to be handled with care. There were several metal bars also listed they would connect to each other and form a skeleton that would give the puppet shape. There were also metal ball joints. These large joints were going to allow the puppet bend and flex like it was suppose to. Since her puppet was designed after a bird there were several ball joins that were going to allow the wings to flap about. The planks of wood were also listed. The planks were made from Cebil trees, one of the hardest hardwoods known in the ninja world. They were suppose to come pre-cut. Dowel of the same material was also listed as well as synthetic fur. They would be used to make feathers. A few bottles of resin were also listed. They would be used to glue most pieces together. Yumi peeked inside to check the bottles. Luckily their caps were still secured and none of the resin had leaked out. Everything seemed to be in order. Yumi placed the items list back down upon the box and ran back into the kitchen.

”Mom, it came! My parts finally came!” Yoshi exclaimed excitedly.

”Yes, dear. Your box arrived when you were out. We were going to tell you, but you stormed off,” her mother replied. ”That box is very heavy. We had a heck of a time dragging it to your room. Now before you get started on that, I want you to promise me you'll be careful with it.”

Yoshi rolled her eyes, ”Of course, Mommy.”

”Also it is time for supper, so your construction will have to wait. Go wash up and pull up a cushion. Its time to eat,” her mother added.

The three of them knelt down to have a lovely meal. It consisted of, rice served with snow peas and water chestnuts, egg rolls, and shrimp tempera. Her father also had a bottle of chilled sake sitting next to his plate. Yoshi was still not yet allowed to have any of the fermented rice drink. There was also a teapot with warm green tea. The pot itself had been sculpted by Yoshi's father. It had a relief of a coiling dragon upon it. Her father also sculpted matching cups and saucers to make a set. To the Yoshinaga clan, the pieces were priceless. When Yoshi was finished eating, she cleaned up the dishes and any utensils used during the mean as well as the ones which made them.

”Yumi, dear, please don't stay up too late, okay?” her mother asked her daughter as the young girl exited the kitchen. ”We all need our sleep. We don't need you causing a ruckus throughout the night.”

”I won't,” Yumi replied.

When Yumi finally entered her room she was so exited she almost couldn't contain herself. Yumi closed the door and knelt beside her box opening it once more. After going over the list one more time to make sure there weren't anything missed, she set the items list upon her bed and began laying everything out upon her bed. Everything was put in a special place so that she could have order, though if anyone were to watch her do this, they would call it an unorganized chaotic pile of odds and ends. She then grabbed her sketchbook and flipped to the correct pages which her puppet was sketched on. After studying her drawings for a while, Yumi sat upon her workbench, which stood in the corner of her room (because her bed was now covered in puppet parts), and contemplated about which part of the construction she would start on first. It seemed rather obvious, but the kouichi wished to make sure all the same. She finally decided to pick the obvious choice and work on the skeleton.

Yoshi placed her sketchbook down and hopped off of her workbench and went over to her bed. There were several cloth bags which measured around thirty centimeters in length and were labeled, Frame Pieces. Yoshi grabbed the bags and brought them over to her workbench. She also acquired the bags marked, nuts, bolts, and washers. The puppet's skeleton was to be made out of metal rods. They each had various holes at the ends so that they could be screwed together. There were also holes down the length of certain pieces so that the puppet's outer covering had something to screw into to hold it onto the frame. While Yoshi did not have the foresight to make each piece uniform so that it did not matter which piece connected to which, she was at least smart enough to have each piece labeled. Each metal rod had engraved on their ends a letter followed by a number. For instance F1, or Frame One, connected to F37, or Frame Thirty Seven. The problem was there so many pieces! It was like trying to complete a one hundred thousand piece jigsaw puzzle. At least with jigsaw puzzles, one only had to worry about two dimensions - Yoshi's puppet would exist in three. Yoshi quickly realized this project was not going get completed before she had to go to bed. There were simply too many pieces to look through before finding the correct one. The only good thing about it was, was that once one piece was bolted onto the frame, that rod was no longer in the pile of rods which Yoshi constantly had to sort through when looking for the next rod. Four hours passed and Yoshi barely had any work to show for it. Frustrated, Yoshi gave up on the task and collected all of the pieces and gently set them back in the big box so she could go to sleep.

After breakfast, Yumi when straight back to her room to continue working on her puppet. She had only manged to get the bottom part of the puppet's frame completed. It still sat in a pathetic state. Flat. One-dimensional. The problem was that there were too many metal rods to look for – there were literally a couple hundred. Yumi upon her bed and thought for a moment.

How's the best way to do this? If I continue like I did last night, it'll take me weeks to get this assembled. I need a system. If only my clone technique made physical copies of myself. I would have a few extra hands to help me with this. But that's out of the option, Yumi thought as she stared up at the plaster ceiling. What if I organized them? They're all numbered. If I put them in order I'll know exactly where the correct piece is when I need it.

Yumi got up from her bed and grabbed the cloth bags which contained the metal rods which were used for the puppet's frame. After pulling all of the rods out of their pouches, Yumi began sorting them placing them in groups. F0 (Frame Zero) though F9 (Frame Nine) were placed in one group while F10 (Frame Ten) through F19 (Frame Nineteen) were placed in another. This grueling task ended up taking the young nin a couple of hours, and no progress was made on the puppet, but there was progress of a different sort. Yumi could now start work on the frame knowing exactly where the frame pieces were and not have to spend extra time searching for a specific piece.

I should have specified this when I placed my order. They could have sent me numbered bags with the frame pieces already separated to speed up the process. What a bunch of Block-Heads, Yumi thought as she frowned looking at her piles I will keep this in mind for future creations.

Yoshi took a look at her sketchbook and took a great interest in which frame pieces she needed next. F7 bolted into F82 and F61 while F95 connected to F33, F56, and F91. Slowly a form was starting to take shape. Instead of looking like the bases for a strange picture frame, it was looking more like basket. Yoshi then grabbed a protractor from one of the workbench's drawers. It was needed to check that angles of each piece. She had already made some mistakes. Though better to make them now than try to fix them later when more pieces were attached. Yoshi loosened some of the nuts and made adjustments to the frame as needed, then tightened the nuts once again. The next frame piece that needed to be added was first bolted and lightly tightened by hand. Once the piece was correctly in place the nut was tightened further. By lunch time, Yoshi had completed the body's frame. Though the frame for the feet and wings still needed to be assembled.

After lunch Yumi went back to room again. She was in the zone and nothing could prevent her from working on her puppet. Her friends would have to wait. Her training would have to wait. The only party who she feared would not be understanding was Suna's Ninja Head Quarters. It was expected for genin to complete missions on a regular basis. Yumi had yet to go and ask for one. The young girl wondered if they were mad at her. She wondered if they could be understanding. They had to be. Her strongest strength was her ability to use Chakra Threads. Without a puppet, she could not use them effectively. Without out her puppet, she was put at a disadvantage. That was why she secluded herself.

Yumi began work on the frames for the wings. Unlike the body, which looked kind of like a loaf of bread, minus the head which was attached on a ball-bearing track which allowed it to swivel, the wings had to have a special shape. They had to take on the form of a teardrop. Big at first, then they would taper down into a point. This would give the bird some aerodynamics. This shape would let the bird lift when soaring in the air. Each wing had two separate pieces. When each section of the wings was completed, Yumi sat them down beside the body.

The last part of the puppet's frame was the puppet's legs. They too had two individual sections. They were certainly not least either, as they needed to be able to bear all of the puppet's weight as it hopped around on the ground. They were cylindrical in nature. By now, only a few frame pieces remained. Once all of the frame pieces were bolted together, Yumi took a step back to see the progress she had made. Yumi could tell her project was underway. Real work had been accomplished. That was also around the time she heard her mother call for supper.

Yoshi wished to start on one of the puppet's internal components after supper. But which one to start on? After some calculated thought, Yoshi decided to start with the bomb compartment which would be placed inside the puppet's main body. It would be the easiest to work on since the openings in the the frame were the largest there. It would consist of several internal compartments, fifteen to be exact, which all contained their own special door which could be opened and closed when a chakra thread was connected to it. On the outer shell of the puppet, a bay-like double door would open and close as well. The first door would prevent the bombs from falling all at once if the outer bomb-bay doors were open. Yoshi would have to remember what was stored in each compartment when in the field, but if a specific bomb was needed at any given time, Yoshi wouldn't have to worry about the releasing unwanted bombs, thanks to her two-door system. That was the theory at least.

Yumi dug into her big box and until she found the wooden pieces which were going to be used for the walls. When properly constructed they would form a simple shoot. The fifteen separate compartments would be placed along the shoot. She also grabbed a cloth bag that was full of spring hinges to be used for each bomb compartment door. They would stay locked in the closed position until it was given input via chakra thread. Yumi tested them each to make sure each worked correctly before installing them. To her shock one such hinge would not open no mater how many chakra threads she attached.

Oh no! Those Block-Heads gave me a defective piece! Yumi thought as she studied the hinge. But perhaps I can fix it. Perhaps if I use the power of my dotted hands. I suppose here's no harm in trying...

Yumi closed her eyes and calmed her mind. Reached out with her sixth sense was still rather new to her and was tricky to do. Slowly the atomic structure in the hinge came into view. Though nothing in particular seemed to jump out at her that would indicate as to why the spring hinge wouldn't open. Yumi then tried looking at one of the springs that was working correctly. Its atomic structure was fine as well. Then Yumi tried looking at the faulty hinge for a second time. That was when she realized where impurity was located. The hinge itself was bent. Perhaps it came that way, perhaps it was smashed while on its way to her parent's dome house. It was bent none the less. Yumi held it in her fingers and brushed her thumb over its surface.

I will make you straight again, Yumi thought as she molded her chakra onto her thumb.

Slowly she could see the atom re-align themselves. Slowly the hinge became straight once more. Yumi tried attaching a chakra thread onto the hinge to see if it would respond to input. This time it did. It sprang open just like the rest had done which caused Yumi to smile. The only thing she now had to worry about was for the off chance that the block-heads who put the box together to not include a part she needed. Yumi could correct impurities of the items, but she could not form them out of thin air. The only thing should mold like that was air itself, but even then, she was only molding the air around her when preforming jutsu. Yumi placed all of the hinges upon her workbench and decided to go to sleep.

The next day was spent continuing the work of the bomb compartments. The wood needed to be sanded to insure that the bombs would travel down their shoot like they were suppose to do and not get stuck. Yumi did not want her puppet to accidentally blow itself up! With pieces of sand paper Yumi began the process of sanding down the hardwood to give it a smooth surface. A pile of wood particles started to form on the floor under where she worked. But once that was finished the pieces of wood could be glued and screwed together. A small dab of resin was applied to the surfaces where two pieces of wood fit into one another. They were then screwed together and left to set up. Yumi used this time to look at her sketchbook to make sure she was doing everything correctly. Most young girls her age would be developing their social skills, talking about boys, but not Yumi. She stayed at home and was hard at work creating an intricate weapon of war.

When the resin had enough time to set up Yoshi continued work on the compartments. Their doors had to be fitted. They were already cut to size and holes had already been drilled. All that was needed was to assemble them. Yumi made sure that the doors swung the correct way. The doors on the right of the shoot had to swing right. The doors on the left of the shoot had to swing left. If the did not, the bombs would never travel down the shoot properly and Yumi's puppet would explode. When the hinges and doors were installed on each compartment the top needed to be glued down and screwed. To launch the bombs Yoshi installed a special plate. With it Yoshi could mold her chakra which would repel any loose object away from it – a perfect method to propel bombs to their targets. The whole thing finally needed to be attached to the frame. It would be attached onto the frame with brackets. The brackets would be bolted onto the frame and screwed into the compartments. Things were coming along rather nicely.

Attaching the wings seemed to be the next logical route. They would be attached with ball-joints. Such joints would give the puppet the necessary range of movement needed for the puppet to fly. They were big and heavy, but they moved freely. The joints themselves were made hollow to allow various components to run right through each segment and be protected from the outside. Yumi bolted a fastener onto each section of the wings and tied a length of wire running them into the puppet's main body. Yumi then inserted pulleys along each wire so that the wire could move freely when the wire needed to bend. Upon the bomb compartment box Yumi mounted four spools. She then attached the wires to them and snipped off any access wire with some wire cutters. It was time to test out the wings. She attached a chakra thread to each spool and sent inputs to each one separately slowly the wings began to move up and down.

Attaching the weapon mounts inside the shell of the wings was next. These mounts would be capable of holding senbon shaped weapons. There was a problem with this, though. Yoshi did not have such weapons to test them out. She did have all sorts of paintbrushes, which one could argue were senbon shaped. In another drawer of her workbench was a rectangular box of paintbrushes. Yoshi opened the drawer and pulled out the box. Sure enough certain paintbrushes were able to fit in the mounts. A locking mechanism fit inside each mount. If something of appropriate side was shoved up inside the mount it would not be come back out unless an input from a chakra thread was given. The question remained - did the weapon mounts work? Yoshi tested each one by shoving a paintbrush inside the mount and releasing it with her chakra threads.

They were suppose to fit in the direction of the feathers. Each weapon mount would be attached by two brackets and bolted onto the frame of the wings. There were twenty mounts total so five weapon mounts were placed along the wing sections. Inside another cloth bag were more metal plates which chakra could be molded onto. The plates were installed above the weapon mounts so that when the weapon mounts released their weapon, an amount of chakra could sent that weapon whizzing in the air to its target. It was late by the time Yoshi had finished installing the last metal plate and decided it was time for bed.

The next day Yumi recruited the aid of her father to help her install the carbon steel blades. They measured to be fifty centimeters long and ten centimeters wide. They were ridiculously sharp and Yumi's mother insisted that her father be on hand when the time came. Even though she was a ninja of Sunakagure, Yumi's mother still worried for her daughter's safty. While it seemed like pain to be constantly watched over, Yumi was thankful to have such caring parents.

”Wow, Yumi, you've done quite a lot of work on it so far. I'm impressed,” Yumi's father said after breakfast. ”You bring great honor to our family and to our clan. You are truly a Yoshinaga.”

”Aw thanks, Daddy,” Yumi replied. ”I'm only this good because you introduced me to so much at an early age! Now will you help me with the feather blades?”

”Of course I will, sweatie. Now, I'll hold these blades in place will you bolt them onto the wings.”

Together Yumi and her father fastened the feather blades onto the wings. Each blade had its own pivot point. Five blades were fitted on each wing. They stacked beside each other and were able to open and close like a switch blade. Once they were installed, ten lengths of wire ran to each blade and attached to a spool in the main body. The spools were attached to the bomb compartment box like the other spools that were installed the day before. To an outsider, the project would look like a jumbled mess. But in Yumi's mind, everything made complete sense.

”Okay, everything looks good. Be careful with them, Yumi. If you accidentally slice off one of your fingers or worse an entire hand, your mother will have my head!” Yumi's father warned.

”Tee hee, I'll be careful!” Yumi said with a grin.

Playing with a dangerous toy was one thing, but this was not a toy. This was a weapon. Yumi was making a weapon with the intent on harming others – even if it was in self defense. It was a weapon which had the potential to kill. Though Yumi did not really see it in that light. As an eleven year old, Yumi continued to see it as a work of art – a different medium, a very complicated sculpture. Perhaps if she understood what she was truly making, she would not have started to begin with.

It was time to give Yumi's bird some legs. Yumi reached into her box and grabbed the rest of the ball-joints and grabbed the metal talons. They attached very much like the feather blades in the wings. A metal rod was slid threw the talons and lengths of wire were attached to each. The ball-joints were attached to each segment of the legs and were then attached to the main body. After that, the wire was allowed to run threw each joint and attach to a spool on the bottom of the bomb compartment.

It was looking very much like a bird at this point. But there was still one thing that was missing that all birds had. It was still missing a beak. Yumi peered inside her giant box and found it wrapped in parchment paper. It connected on hinges which let it open and close and attached with wire and pulleys and ended in a spool like everything else. Once the beak was attached to the head, Yumi's puppet looked liked very bird like. Though a bird without feathers. It kind of looked like a roasted chicken which made Yumi giggle.

At this point, Yumi's puppet was complete enough to try to make it walk. While it did not look pretty in any way shape or form, its locomotion could be tested. Yumi attached her chakra threads and set the puppet onto the floor. It was heavy. Much heavier than she realized. How in the heck was such a construct going to be able to fly? It couldn't fly until it had wings, but that was for another day. Today's test would be to see if she could control walk. Yumi began to move her fingers very slowly – bending and flexing each finger separately to see which string was connected to what. Yumi's puppet jerked to the left, then to the right. It was out of control! Yumi panicked and suddenly the puppet's wings spread open along with its feather blades. Yumi closed her eyes and canceled her chakra threads. Immediately the puppet fell on the floor. The first test run was a complete failure!

The next day Yoshi went to Suna's library. She was curious about how a hawk moved. There was a particular book that gave an excellent example of one walking and one in flight. Yoshi had checked the same book out many months before, but wished to look at it again. At the vary least the book had great pictures to look at. The artist had drawn every page with care and put so much detail into it, it looked like you were looking at the real thing. Looking at other people's work always managed to give the young girl inspiration.

After exiting the library, Yoshi took a stroll around the village. There were birds flying overhead which made her only think of her puppet. She was very close in its completion, but it seemed like it was just out of reach. Out of reach like the birds which circled overhead. Yoshi jumped onto a dome-house and walked up to the top. It was not her parents dome-house and this made the young genin uneasy.

This is a ninja village. The locals are used to us walking on their roofs. Its not like I'm fat or anything! Yoshi thought. What was I thinking? Making such a complicated puppet? The ones at the ninja academy were basic – simple. All I had to do was move my fingers around and I could make them dance across the room. Why is my creation so different? Was it because the academy puppets were models after humans? They had frontward facing knees. Birds have backwards facing knees. Human puppets have hands, where as my bird puppet has wings. But wings are like hands. Fingers are like feathers. Hmmm my stomach is grumbly. I better get home.

Yumi slid off the dome-home like it was a water slide and walked home. By the time she arrived it was supper time. Her parents were already eating without her. Yumi was silent during the entire time eating only answering her parents when questioned, keeping her answers as short as possible.

”What's wrong?” Yumi's mother finally asked.

”Nothing,” Yumi replied.

”Nothing? Are you sure?”

"I'm just thinking, that's all.”

”How's your puppet coming?” Yumi's father asked. ”You were pretty far along when we got the blades attached.”

”All it needs is the outer coverings and the feathers.”

”Did I hear you making it walk earlier today? I heard some loud noises.”

”Yes,” Yumi said after a long pause of silence. ”I tried to make it walk. I didn't do so well. I may have caused a large gash in a plaster wall. I went to the library to look at that book again.”

”I see, well we're glad it was the wall and not you,” Yumi's mother said in a motherly tone.

”You're the first Yoshinaga in a long time to decide to be a ninja. There's going to be some setbacks. But you need to remember that the whole clan has got your back!”

”Thanks, Daddy.”

Yoshi laid in her bed with her puppet sprawled out on the floor beside it. She let down her long brown hair and let it fan out wildly over her pillow. Even though the evening was still relatively young, Yoshi found herself slowly closing her eyes. After a few moments the young ninja was fast asleep. That night, her dreams came and went. They were chaotic and hard to focus on. Yoshi dreamed that she was a hawk who was trying to fly in the sky. But for some reason she had a difficult time doing so. There were other hawks in the dream as well. They were all bigger than she was and they loomed over her like they were judging her. Judging her for not being able to fly as high as them. And then Salzem, the wandering ninja appeared in Yoshi's dream. Yoshi asked him if he would help her fly higher, but the masked ninja kept shrugging without saying a word. That was when Yoshi awoke.

”Salzem,” Yoshi muttered as she lazily opened her eyes. ”What were you doing in my dream?”

Yoshi stretched her arms sat up in her bed. It was still rather early as she had dozed off early the evening before. Yoshi got up and fixed herself a cup of green tea and sat in the kitchen for a while. It was peaceful. No one could yet be heard out in the streets. Only the subtle sounds of sandy winds and the constant sound of locusts chirping away in the dawn.

”What are you doing up so early?” her mother asked when she stepped into the kitchen.

”I went to sleep early last night, and consequently, I awoke early as well. I couldn't go back to sleep – kept having strange dreams. Is Daddy up, yet?”

”I believe so.”

Yumi nodded and went over to kiss and hug her mother. After doing so, Yumi went back to her room. She wished to try operating her puppet again, but did not wish to do so in her room. There were too many things that could get broken. She risked hurting herself. Yumi grabbed her puppet and took it outside. It was quite heavy and thus had to be placed down every so often to give herself a break.

This thing is quite heavy. There's no way I'm carrying this on my back! I'll need to seal this in a scroll at some point, Yumi thought as she drug her creation outside. Right, let's try this again.

Yumi sat her creation in the sand and reached out with her chakra threads. She figured she needed five threads in order to control it properly. Yumi took a deep breath and began to wiggle her fingers every so slightly. Her puppet slowly came to life. This time, Yumi did not freak out – perhaps it was because it was still early in the day and the young girl was still sleepy. Her puppet wiggled around on the ground like a pathetic caterpillar. Yumi needed to get her puppet upright. Was its weight distribution off? Yumi had been as calculating as she possibly could. One foot was all she needed. If she could get one foot underneath the puppet she could try and stand it up. Yumi wigged her fingers some more to activate the puppet's wings. By using the wings like a crutch, Yumi realized she had an easier time getting the puppet to self-right. A moment later, her puppet was standing. Its movement was wobbled, but Yumi managed to keep her creation standing on two feet and two wings. But real birds did not use their wings in the same manner as Yumi was using her puppet's. Further balancing would have to be done without, though Yumi would do so in baby steps. Yumi moved her fingers and caused her puppet's wings to stretch outwards. She would now try and walk her hawk puppet like a tightrope-balancer. This too felt awkward to witness. Thankfully no one was watching at the time as it was still relatively early. But Yumi was finally getting the hang of maneuvering her puppet. Yumi could make it walk across the sandy terrain without it going out of control. Yumi could make it move without it falling over every ten seconds. After a couple of hours, Yumi finally mastered her puppet's locomotion. She was able to have it run up and down the street without the use of its wings or any other thing keep it upright. And the more Yumi played with her puppet the more natural it became. Instead of a puppet, its movements became bird like. Yumi could make it hop about as birds often did, and she could make it strut, though doing so caused her puppet to look more like a chicken than an actual hawk. Feeling pleased with herself, Yumi decided to walk it back to her room. When Yumi opened the door to her parent's dome-house, her father was up and sitting down at the table enjoying a cup of green tea.

”Hey, our little girl is making her 'chicken' walk on its own!” her father teased when she reached the dome-house.

”Its not a chicken, Daddy!” Yumi insisted.

”Ha, ha, but it has no feathers!” yumi's father teased some more. ”We could roast it and eat it for lunch! What? No?”

”I'm going back to my room to put the coverings on it now.”

Yoshi rolled her eyes and walked her hawk puppet down the hall and back into her room. Yoshi placed her puppet aside and peered into her big box of parts. There were hardly any pieces left. All that remained were the Cibel hardwood planks which would be used to cover the frame and protect the internal components. Each piece had been pre-cut and warped to fit the contours of the frame. Each piece interlocked with the piece next to it and would be glued and screwed into place. Like the frame, the wooden coverings also had a specific spot which they were suppose to be fitted to and instead of Fs they used Cs which stood for Covering. This time Yoshi remembered from her mistake and decided to place each piece into piles before fitting them together. But first, they needed to be sanded. Sanding them would cause them to fit slightly loose, but that was a good thing in disguise. Since they were pre-cut, it was possible that whoever cut them, could have been off in his or her measurements. Sanding off a few milometers insured that each plank would fit. Any noticeable cracks would filled with resin. As Yoshi finished sanding down a plank, she would look at its proper lettering and numbering and placed them accordingly - C0 (Covering Zero) through C9 (Covering Nine) would be stacked in a pile while C11 (Covering Eleven) though C19 (Covering Nineteen) would be stacked in another. By the time the young ninja was finished sanding down all of her pieces which would cover up her puppet's internal components, she was completely worn out. Her arms were aching and decided to take a much desired break.

When Yoshi enough time had passed to give her hands a break, Yoshi decided it was time to work on her creation once more. The end was near. Yoshi could feel it. With every passing moment, Yoshi longed for her puppet's completion, but what was exciting was the fact that Yoshi knew her project would be a success. Yoshi flipped the page of her sketchbook to see part where drew in the details about the coverings. She drew her puppet many times and in several different positions to keep track of various stages of its development. Like the frame, each covering piece had pre-drilled holes to make it easier for the screws to screw into. This also reduced the chance of the wood splitting on her. That was something she could not afford – to get so close and yet have to wait for several more weeks until a new piece was delivered. Each piece screwed onto the frame. When a piece was screwed in place, a dab of resin was spread onto its interlocking edges. The edges also screwed into each other. On one side of the coverings, its interlocking edge would face down. On the opposite side, its edge would face upwards. In theory, such a design would cause a blow to distribute the shock evenly to surrounding pieces, allowing Yoshi's puppet to 'breath'. It quite a long to attaching all of the pieces. Each piece had several places were it needed to be screwed in.

When all of the coverings had been screwed in placed and had time for the resin to dry, Yumi when back over her puppet and sanded any area were the resin had bubbled or clumped up. The last two pieces of the coverings did not get glued together, however. They were the two outer bomb-bay doors which released the puppet's egg bombs. They were attached with one-way locking hinges which would respond to chakra thread input. When the last door was screwed in, Yumi took a step back to look at her work. She was finished! Her puppet no longer looked like a skeletal monstrosity it looked like a hawk. But when she looked at it again, something wasn't exactly right.

Oh crap, its missing its feathers! Yumi thought as she placed her hand on her forehead.

Yumi still needed to add the bird's feathers! And not only did she need to attach them onto her puppet, she also needed to construct them. Yumi peered inside her parts box and noticed a long, cloth bag which had a tag that said dowel and another bag that was labeled fur. The dowel rods were cut in halves and tapered on one end. When Yumi was designing her puppet she realized very quickly that red-tailed hawks did not get as large as her puppet and that she'd need an alternative to feathers. She could not simply use real feathers as the amount necessary to cover her puppet's wingspan would put a hawk on the endangered list. Yumi's solution was to make her own. The dowel rod would be used to represent a feather's middle section that ran down the length of the feathers. It was known as the Quill. The fins would be composed of several tiny strands of fur. Every piece of fur would be glued onto the dowel. When every strand of fur was in place the other half of the dowel rod would be glued and placed on top. Yumi would then cut the strands of fur with scissors to give the feather its proper shape. This process was long and grueling and took several days to complete them all. When all the feathers were constructed, they were glued into their designated holes which were along the puppet's wins. This process was also used to do her puppet's tail feathers. The only difference was the tail feathers used a different color fur for the feather's fins. Finally Yumi's puppet was complete.

Yumi stood back and looked at her completed puppet. There was still one more thing that Yumi wished to do with it. Yumi wished to invoke her clan's bloodline. While she had sensed object's atomic structures, and even altered one of her puppet's hinges so that it could work properly, Yumi had never tried to strengthen an object before. It was what made items of the Yoshinaga clan so famous. Their blacksmith was renowned for making the finest blades, Yumi wished to become a renowned puppet master! Not only did she wish to produce a fine work of art, she also desired to create the strongest puppets known throughout Sunakagure.

Yumi closed her eyes and cleared her mind. With one hand she held her puppet upright – holding it so that it would not fall over. With her other hand, she placed it upon the hawk's back and reached out with her sixth sense. First she began to inspect her puppets plating. Each panel was made of Cebil wood. Soon its atomic structure came into view. Its atoms were organic in nature. They seemed to flow and ripple along with the wood's grain. But Yumi then noticed that there several knots in the wood. Wherever a knot existed, the atom density also increased. And while more atoms meant a stronger piece of wood, the areas around the knots were much weaker than planks without knots. Yumi took her time directing the atoms from knots and spread them to weaker areas. While this decreased the knot's strength, it improved the wooden plank's integrity as a whole. When all of the planks were looked over, Yumi moved onto the metal weaponry.

Ah, the blacksmith did not strengthen them for me, Yumi realized.

She did not expect him to. After all, he forged the pieces for free. They were a gift to a raising Yoshinaga ninja. Yoshi felt honored to have such encouragement from others. And the fact that he did not mold them himself, meant that Yoshi could strengthen them herself. Yoshi began with the bird's beak. It was made of carbon steel. And when working with steel it was necessary to quench it in oil to rapidly cool the metal which gave it strength. But it was a process that required exact timing. Quenching the metal too soon or too late would cause the metal to become weak and brittle. And while the timing of the blacksmith was exceptional, Yoshi noticed there were impurities in the metal. If they were not addressed, these areas would likely rust or weaken after repetitive abuse. One by one Yoshi willed the atoms in place. One by one they moved and formed impenetrable rows. Next were the bird's talons. They too were made of carbon steel, and like the beak, they also had impurities in the metal. They already had a few nicks in them which were most likely caused by the transportation of the box. Bumps and nicks were easy to smooth out. It was like ironing a sheet, only her hands were the iron. Finally her puppet's most important weapons needed looked over. They possessed true cutting power. If Yoshi needed to get scrappy, Yoshi would rely on her puppet's wing blades. They were finely constructed – each of them a work of art. Yoshi applied her chakra threads to her puppet and slowly opened each blade individually. Each blade's atoms were rearranged ever so slightly to form a stronger blade than before. When each blade had been checked over and strengthened, Yoshi flexed her finger to fold them back into place.

Yoshi sensed deeper and looked at the frame underneath. It too was made about of carbon steel and needed to be perfected. After all, her puppet's frame was what gave it shape. Each metal rod was checked over. Each rod, Yoshi moved their atoms ever so slightly. It task required a steady mind. If her thoughts wondered, her power over the atoms also seemed to fade. Many breaks were taken as the mental stress it placed upon Yoshi was great. Luckily green tea helped calm the mind. The caffeine also helped give the young Yoshinaga focus. Though the trips to the bathroom did not make the task go by any quicker. After several cups of tea and several trips to the bathroom, Yoshi finished the frame.

The only thing left to strengthen was the feathers. Yoshi took a moment and looked at the feathers. After a moment, a strange desire to fine a real feather emerged. Luckily she already had one tucked a way in one of her drawers of her workbench. Yoshi placed it in her hands and reached out with her sixth sense. Yoshi studied how the atoms grouped together. They were also organic in nature but different from the wood's atoms. Yoshi made a mental note of this and went back to her puppet and began feeling the feathers one at a time. Yoshi wished to reform her puppet's fake feathers to match the structure of the real feathers. Something told her to do this, but Yoshi could not understand what it was – a gut feeling. It was telling her that if she re-structured the atoms this way, that the feathers would catch the wind better. After finishing a single feather, something amazing happened. The feather's fur, which was used to create its fin, did not droop and wilt like free standing strands of fur. Instead they sat out straight, and when Yoshi ran her fingers through the feather, the fur bounced back into position. A movement very similar to the one if she ran her fingers in the real feather. Yoshi immediately began to reshape the other fake feathers in the same fashion. After several hours the entire process was completed. Yoshi had expended a large amount of chakra and felt drained. But for the first time, Yoshi felt as if she had truly produced a work of art. It was a hawk, an enlarged Red-Tailed Hawk!

”I will name you Hawks,” Yumi proudly announced.

Yumi promptly attached five chakra threads to her creation and walked it back outside. It was the moment of truth. Could this thing actually fly? Could this thing actually be useful to a ninja? Those questions had swirled inside the young ninja's head for many days now. There was only one way to find out. Yumi began by getting everyone's attention in the Yoshinaga clan's compound. Yumi asked every clan member to clear the street. Yumi needed a runway to see if the her bird could actually fly and she didn't want anyone to get hurt. Other clan members 'ooed' and 'ahed' but eventually complied with the young ninja's request. They were just as excited and curious as she was to find out if it could take flight. Yumi gave it a running start and wiggled her fingers to flap the wings. It was clunky at first and Yumi's fingers did not obey her commands. It was like having trouble with her hand seals all over again. Yumi walked it down to the opposite end of the street and turned her puppet around. She then yanked on her threads and caused her puppet to lurch forward. Faster and faster Yumi made her puppet run. Faster she made her puppet flap its wings, and to her astonishment, on the second try, Hawks was in the air. It was graceful. It was majestic. Yumi was accompanied with cheers and applause. That was when she noticed her father standing beside her. He placed his hand upon her shoulder and smiled.

”That's my girl,” he said in a proud voice.

This is art, Yumi thought as she looked up at her creation. With every flap of its wings, with every barrel roll, with every loopy-loop, with every dive – this is art!

Yumi let it fly high above the village to seventy meters off the ground. Saring above it, it looked as if it were just another bird in the sky. A bird the at circled overhead. Yumi gradually brought her puppet back down to a more comfortable level of flight. As was hard to get used to as Yumi had to stand on the ground. It was sometimes confusing when circling it around and sending it into too much of a dive made it difficult to keep from going out of control. But letting it glide in the wind was the most enjoyable. It could be left in a warm updraft and while Yumi had control of the threads it would stay up in the sky almost indefinitely. Yumi then noticed a hand full of birds began to take notice with Yumi's strange creation. Were they curious? Did the birds feel threatened towards it? This questions began to flood the young ninja's head. But Yumi could not help it. A new lesson in flight was about to begin. Yumi decided to follow the birds as long as possible. As they dived and dipped, so did Hawks. Though when Yumi accidentally opened her puppet's wing blades the sound of rubbing metal seemed to scare off Hawk's newly acquired friends.

”Oops! Sorry birdies!” Yumi called out to them.

After Yumi's first lesson in flight seemed, Yumi decided to bring her puppet back down. It was all well and fine that she could control her puppet in the air, it was like flying a kite. But now Yumi needed to land her creation, and unlike a kite, Hawks was a very expensive piece of weaponry. Yumi had spent days working on it. Yumi flew it back around to make it parallel with the street. Yumi was going to try to land in the same area that she had it take off in. Yumi made sure that each bade was tucked away so that they wouldn't catch anyone. She also told her fellow clansmen and clanswomen to clear the area. After they complied, Yumi began to drop Hawks' speed - slower and slower it traveled and lower in altitude it flew. It was still coming in too hot! But it was still too late! Hawks crashed smack in the center of the street and skidded to a halt several meters further. Yumi's eyes were wide and Yumi's hand was covering her mouth. She then ran as fast as she could to inspect the damage. Luckily nothing was hurt. Nothing was damaged thanks to the ability of the Shokunin. Yumi was feeling rather embarrassed her entire clan witnessed her first crash landing, but felt relieved that her puppet was also a success. Yumi walked her puppet back home and set it on the floor. She had had enough excitement for one day.

(Exit)

(WC = 8867, claiming Hawks Puppet (+10 puppet Health and +10 puppet Sharpness due to Shokunin Bloodline), +44 stats)

Tue Mar 22, 2016 11:03 am

Approved <3

Constructing a Masterpiece (Solo)

Constructing a Masterpiece (Solo)

Re: Constructing a Masterpiece (Solo)