Honing the Basics (NK)

"You see? Like this!" Mikoto chirped, flicking her finger and causing a child's little wooden doll to dance across the sand! The children, her audience, laughed and clapped, entertained by the trick! Sometimes, being a ninja didn't have to be all-business all-the-time. Sometimes, it was about showing to the little ones what you've learned, to be entertaining or, perhaps even, an inspiration. Mikoto, as a daughter of puppeteers and an aspiring one herself, relished the idea that her meager tricks might encourage these kids one day, might inspire them to defend their friends and family. As with all work, the life of a ninja wasn't all fun and games. In fact, one might argue it was a world of darkness and pain if you let it be that way.

...But, in a way, that's what puppet masters were for: To put on a show for all and convince them things weren't as bad as they seem to be!

"Heeey! How ya doin' that!?" A girl asked pointing beyond the wooden doll and towards the strings that held it up!

"Heeeey! Talk to me!" A voice beckoned! The child blinked, her eyes flicking down to the puppet whose hand limply slapped across its chest as if gesturing to itself! "I'm the star of the show here!" Her eyes shot WIDE... and Mikoto grinned. Little did the kids know, she was experimenting with a new puppet technique: Ventriloquism! Essentially using chakra to throw her voice so that it sounded like it was coming from the dummy she was making dance... and not herself!

"Huh...?" The kid asked, confused! She reached down towards the doll and, with a flick of her finger, Mikoto made the doll reach for it with both of its, taking the girl's finger in its hands!

"She's just helping me move, is all!" The puppet appeared to say, Mikoto hiding her mouth movements with the sleeve of her unoccupied hand! "She's using the Art of the Puppet Master! It makes ALL dolls come alive!" Mikoto would twist her wrist and wiggle her fingers, the doll springing back in a flamboyant flourish, spinning on the toe of its foot limply before dipping into a bow! "...You could learn to do this too, one day."

"R-Really?" The girl asked. "I... I could....?"

"Of course!" The doll assured her! "You just gotta know how! ...Tell ya what..." Mikoto would make the doll bound up to its manipulator and hold out a wooden hand as if asking for something. Mikoto would then reach into her long sleeve with her free hand and withdraw a rolled up poster advertising the ninja academy! The puppet would take it and turn back to the child, bounding back up to her and leaping into her arms with it in hand! "When you're old enough, apply here! They'll teach ya everything you need!" ...It would then go limp in the girl's arms as Mikoto severed its strings!

"Now, gather 'round, kids." Mikoto chirped, waving her hands to gesture them closer. "Make sure you get your parent's permission before you join, alright? Gotta be old enough, know what'll be asked of you... But if you try really hard, one day you too could be a puppet master! Like me!"

"Yeah!" The kids cheered before running off to do what kids do. Mikoto sighed happily, almost longingly. She remembered when she was that young. Her papa would put on little shows like that for her all the time, taking these little wooden posing-dolls and making them dance to elaborate tunes her mama would play in the background. She had never been more entertained... and she hoped she could pass along that entertainment to those kids... Who knows? Maybe they would, in fact, seek out the life of a puppet master. In the mean time, she had actual training to do.

Wandering into the Training Grounds, Mikoto would fish out a posing doll of her own, this one specially modified to have a jaw-like appendage near the base of its head. Ventriloquism was an underrated puppet-art, she thought. The ability to project your voice through your puppet had a lot of potential in luring targets... to say nothing of the puppet master being able to do uncanny impressions.

"Alright..." Mikoto sighed, sitting herself down at one end of the training grounds. Attaching several chakra strings to her dummy, Mikoto would make it dance to the full length of her strings.

"What're you doing over there?" She called to it, as if the doll were alive!

"I dunno! You sent me here!" It called back, its voice much higher, scratchy, as if emulating a child. She grinned.

"Now... What about more advanced voices...?"

WC:  784

Another fine day in paradise, hm i still wonder what made this moduel for the weather tick. zaled thought as he strolled through the edges of the training ground and noted as of his recent works there,These were finely tuned facilities to assist one in developing at keen impressive rates,All was to be expected of course.The true development of shinobi forces began induvidually, and yet it was as if it was never truly difficult.It only required effort and well that was it.

Still the fine weather proved that with a mix of tecnological advances and effort, The results would go far,It made him wonder about the one facility he had not truly gleamed into Which partook mosr of his intrest of all within the village,It was a stroke of genius and he knew just how to improve it too.

ah arubboth mixture with a feedback system will go very far.

zaled thought as he had yet to glance in detail at the simulation room. His momentary thought shifted to one lone girl among the many busy grounds as she had a puppet. The tinkerer in him reared slightly as he stopped and glanced over the puppet. Crude at the eye of his previous mastery in the art,But like all it was not the looks but the intent behind the puppet in part. A good attempt nontheless as it was not common. He however, did not have the heart to return as a puppeteer. It required much work overall for its flaws But seeing one made him curious.

The diffrence in sounds spoken from distance shifted as he spotted the idea of her practice. Ventriliquisim was unique by nature,and perhaps very simple to a tricksters eyes, Its use ambiguious which zaled respected. This one thought outside of the box, and which earned him simply approaching the grounds and strolling up to the girl.

"well the art of puppetry is rare,fine work here, and with practice it may be missleading. I once was one myself in my youth."

Mikoto was deep enough in her thoughts that she didn't hear the approach of the stranger. She needed a voice to emulate, something different, but unique... But not disrespectful! She didn't want anyone to think she was trying to mock the Kazekage if she tried to copy his voice! ...Then the stranger appeared! Mikoto let out an un-ninja-like "EEP" as the man spoke for the first time, her eyes flicking up to him... and up... and UP until she met his eyes! He was... quite tall, even IF Mikoto was standing at full height, his clothes like that of a formal robe covering his kinda-broad, but over-all average physique! He was much older than she, a couple decades at least, his face angular and firm... but also gentle...? At least comfortable. It was so ODD that she was only just now meeting this guy! He was either new (because she SWORE she'd remember his face if she'd seen it before...) or he was just that reclusive-a-guy! Mikoto couldn't hold back the soft, almost child-like giggle that escaped her lips when the man complimented her talent, going as far as to call it a "deceiving" art ... and that much was true. For as far as her little puppet-show for the kids demonstrated, this ninja art was all about entertainment. Make a little doll wiggle-walk one way, do a little trick that makes your voice come out of the puppet and not your own mouth... WAH-LAH! Puppet Master! ...In reality, Sunagakure's signature and still rare art was a complicated one indeed. Just making the darn thing work the way it was supposed to was a chore in it of itself, let alone actually using it in a meaningful capacity! ...Boy, everything was so complicated... It was like playing half a dozen instruments combined into one!

...Doesn't mean it couldn't be fun, though~!

Once Mikoto had gotten over her shock of the man's sudden (from her perspective) appearance, she would grin, directing her puppet, with a little finger-fenagling, to hop on over to the man's shoulder!

"Oh yeah?" The puppet seemed to question, Mikoto hiding her mouth with her oversized sleeve... but not quite being able to hide the smile behind it. The voice that came from the puppet sounded like a near imitation of the stranger, almost getting the tenor and tone down.... ALMOST... but not perfect... yet... She was still working on that. "Well, isn't that something! I'll be honest with you, Mister. I didn't really peg you for one!"

Mikoto then tilted her head. Wondering if she had said something offensive...

"Not that you couldn't be one, of course! A Ninja's job is to be deceptive!" ...Another pause. ...Oh geez... She's just making this worse, isn't she...? "I guess..." The puppet would mutter... before it's voice faded away, suddenly coming out of the girl! In fact, its pitch had risen, befitting the person now speaking it!

"...I should drop the act. Heya sir!" Mikoto greeted personally, hopping to her feet! ...She was right. This guy was about a foot taller than she was! "Genin! Just passed my academy exam! And you are?"

WC: 529
TWC: 1313

the little sqeak of surprise did not do much to zaled as he merely chuckled. It made sense to easily get lost amid a passion,but her remark through the puppet made him simply shake his head in slight disbelief. Zaled was still a tinker at heart,hence why contraptions within suna had garnered his curiousity much more then the personal he encountered.Defenses, and the likes played a more intriguing role, as he was one to figure why things tick, and like his arsenal of jutsu work in his mind, best make beings earn their keep instead of letting things stay as yhey are. Any conflict he casually walked away from, but more in part knowing full well so long as he had an idea how and why someone did something, he could exclude himself from the equation if needed.

"looks are deciving, a meal could be your last despite how good it tastes, or how reknowned the chef, A vial of poison goes far. Just because I used to do something and took deeper liberties in other facilities meams little to the point that a good dabble in the arts and rounded knowledge is not important. The straw body is flexible, The limbs well shaped, A good start,but let us say that purpose goes far."

zaled stated as he reached into his pouch producing a cracked ball the size of his palm, The remsins of one of his tinkering products which was the sheild, Which he destroyed upon heading down other ventures, He gazed at it and smiled at the girl introduction. A genin! nice.

"i am a simple man that travles around discovering stuff. This lovely peice was the core of my puppet before destruction. A lovely object I kerp as a reminder that hands make quiet an interesting concept a reality. But for its purpose was simple. A large spinning top composed of blades at the sides to spin clockwise or counter clockwise. Grondy, fast, devilishly destructive, Especially once this lovely thing came into play. The blades were essily sharp, But more so Through this conductive witj chakra to slice and destroy even the sturiest of chakra constructs one can image. Easily a fun project I enjoyed untill i ventured to other realms of knowledge you see."

the young girl was unfortuniatly avsorbed into her puppetry which was admireable,but she was not keen to talk or learn as much.

"enjoy the day young one."

zaled adressed the girl and left the area.

(exit)