Building Death Finished

-Preparation-
Makoto was walking down the dusty streets of Sunagakure. She was headed outside of the village to a nearby forest today. She had all the necessities for gathering the materials necessary for her next puppet; rope for hauling the wood, an axe for cutting the wood, seeds to replant in replacement of the cut down tree, and bandages just in case there was an accident. Makoto was alone today, she left Daichi at home because he wouldn't be necessary for this journey. She arrived at the village gates, the bright sun was shining down on her as the gate guards opened the doors. Makoto made her way out to the hot desert. The air was hot and thick making it hard to breathe. Anyone who wasn't used to the desert climate would surely dehydrate themselves. Luckily, Makoto brought a cantine of water and some food with her. Hopefully it would last the entire time she was gone, she wasn't sure how long she would be out. The forecast predicted there would be a minor sandstorm later that day. Makoto had a pair of goggles strapped around her neck along with her forehead protector. She could make it through a sandstorm if it was necessary, only time would tell though.

-The Journey- 
Makoto walked through the hot sand of the desert, the blazing sun beamed down on her face. The wind blew the sand gently against her face, it wasn't anything new and something you had to get used to if you wanted to live in Sunagakure. The forest was nearly four-hundred meters west of the village. It was rare thing to see a forest in the desert, and this one was one of the few. 

She had only been walking for around twenty minutes, but she was already sweating profusely. She took a small drink from her water cantine to re-hydrate. Only a few more meters and she would arrive at the forest. She took a short break from walking, and took her shoes off, placing them in her backpack. She continued walking, enjoying the soft warm sand against her feet. 

-Timber!-
Makoto had arrived at the forest. She began to walk around trying to find that perfect tree to cut down. She kept taking small drinks from her cantine as she walked around. Finally she came across a decently large tree, it was about twelve feet tall, and four feet in circumference. She set her backpack down on the ground, retrieving her axe from the pack. She walked over to the tree, touching it's smooth bark. "Thank you for your sacrifice," she said apologetically to the tree. Makoto stepped back and swung at the base area of the tree, the blade of the axe digging deep into the hard wood. Pulling the axe back out, she pulled back and took another hefty swing towards the base of the tree. 

A few hours had passed and the sun was slowly starting to go down. Her hands were blistered and bloody, but the tree was nearly chopped down, only a few more swings were left. "Only a few swings left." she thought to herself. "Or... One more super swing!" A light bulb flickered on in her head. She focused her chakra into her hands and arms, then she focused on the tree and took one more large swing. 

*CRACK!!*

The tree fell to the forest floor with a loud thud. "Finally," she thought to herself. Now all she had to do was haul the load back. Unfortunately, that might be a more difficult chore than she had originally planned. The sandstorm had arrived, it wasn't a large one but it would probably last at least a few hours. Before heading out she quickly dug a hole, planting a tree seed in the hole, then poured some water from her cantine on the area that the seed was planted.  Then Makoto tied a large rope to the fallen tree to make moving the damn thing easier. After that she took a drink from her cantine, then tied her forehead protector around her nose and mouth. After that she pulled her goggles over her eyes to protect them from the storm. She took the rope and hoisted it over her shoulder then began to pull, making her way into the storm and back towards the village.

-The Return-
The sandstorm was intense, but not manageable. The thick storm made it hard to breathe, and she needed to get back to the village as soon as possible. Makoto dragged the large log through the hot sand. She could feel her muscles tighten and loosen as she pulled the remains of the tree through the harsh desert. She dug her feet deep into the sand to create more torque to make the journey go faster. "What time is it?" she thought to herself. She couldn't tell if it was actually nighttime, or if the storm was so thick that it was creating a false darkness. Her instincts told her that she had only a few hundred meters before she would make it back to the village. 

Fourty minutes had passed. Makoto's entire body was sore from pulling the large chunk of wood. The sandstorm was finally starting to let up. She looked up towards the sky, the night had taken over, and the stars glimmered in beauty against the dark shroud. Luckily her instincts were right and she was only a few meters away from the village. After a few more minutes of struggling to finish the pull, she arrived at the village gates. The guards opened the gates, Makoto took a step into the village and slowly made her way back home. Her muscles were on fire, but she was almost home now.

After arriving home Makoto dragged the large pieces of wood down to her workshop in her basement. She wanted to start her new puppet that night, but she knew her body needed the rest from the hard work she had done that day. She would start first thing in the morning. Makoto walked back upstairs to her bathroom. She looked in the mirror, her face was covered in dirt. She laughed loudly. She took a shower then put on some pajamas, heading to bed immediately. She wanted to get a good night's sleep so all of her energy could be put into making her puppet. She looked over to her desk, her first puppet Daichi was sitting in the chair next to it. "Night, Daichi." Makoto said with a smile.

-Getting to Work-
The next day had arrived. Makoto was down in her kitchen making coffee. The sun had not yet risen that morning, and she needed all of her energy today. She filled a mug full of coffee then proceeded to walk to her workshop in the basement of the house. She flipped on the light switch, revealing all of her dust covered tools. She took a deep breath in, smiling. The smell of sawdust and metal shavings filled her heart with joy. This was the one area that she felt most at home, it always gave her fond memories of the past. "Time to get to work!" she said to herself.

She hoisted the first piece of wood onto the work bench, and began the shave the wood down to to the proper form. Makoto started with the arms as they would be the easiest to start with. She knew she would need four of them, so she divided the pieces of wood evenly. She sanded down the wood forming the arms. She connected the joints together to each arm piece, then carved rectangular holes in the tops of the arms where the hidden blades would be placed. Then she formed the hands, attaching them to the wrist parts. This process took about thirty minutes. Afterwards she forged the the hidden blades, sharpening them until they were razor like. She placed them inside of the arm holes she had carved earlier, then covered them with some more wood. After doing this she wired the blades so that they would come out when she activated the wiring. The arms were finished for the moment. 

Next was the torso area. This process would take less time as there wasn't as much to do. She carved the basic body shape, the torso was wide, but not bulky. First, she cut the four arm holes six inches apart from each other vertically on each side. Next she drilled four small holes in the back where the wires would come through to the back. Then she drilled two more larger holes where the scythe wings would slide into place. She placed a chakra emitter in the back where her chakra threads would flow into. Next she placed the arms into their respective slots and ran the arm blade wires in through the back four holes and connected them to the emitter. Finally she forged the bladed wings, sharpening them down to the scythe like form. She connected the blades to the main wing apparatus filling the blade holsters with a tiny amount of gunpowder, so that they could be launched in a forward motion. The wings were finished now, and Makoto had placed them in their respective back holes. She retracted the wings to flow down the back of the puppet. The torso was finished now and it was time to move on. 

Next were the legs, the easiest part of the puppet in fact. Luckily this time she hadn't added any additional parts to the legs. This would only take about twenty minutes to build the two legs. Makoto took another sip of her coffee, it was cold now. She didn't mind however, as long as it did it's job. She didn't realize how much time had passed, half of the day must have already gone by. She returned back to work, she finished working the legs and began smoothing them out with coarse sand paper. Like she expected, she finished the legs in no time. 

Lastly was the head. Forming a skull shape, she gently placed the head into the head socket. She gave the puppet a wicked, menacing smile. Easy enough, the base of the body was finally finished. All that was left would be the finer details. 

Makoto walked over to the other side of the room picking up the pale pieces of leather she had bought earlier that week. She began to give the puppet skin, as she wrapped the thick leather around the wooden pieces of the body. This would give the puppet a slight coating of armor so its important pieces wouldn't be damaged in one blow. The skin gave the puppet a frightening appearance. Finally she returned to the head. She placed a homemade ceramic skull mask on the head. The mask was creepy by all means and came down just above the mouth. It had three eye holes in it. Two in the main eye socket locations horizontally, and one in the middle of the two eyes and slightly above, but vertically. She painted in the iris and pupils, the iris a vibrant orange-red in color. It made the eyes pop and gave the puppet the image of it staring deep into one's soul. The puppet was finally finished, all that was left to do was to dress the beautiful creation. It was simple, she ran back upstairs to her room. She ran into the extra room and grabbed a deep black, beat up, tattered, old hooded cloak. Makoto ran back downstairs and threw the old thing over her new puppet. It looked incredible, and scary all at once. Just the look she was going for. She took the cloak off for a moment to test the puppet out.

Makoto stepped back from her new creation. "Time to see what you got!" She activated her chakra threads. Life sprang into the puppet, well...more like death. She moved her fingers, getting a feel for the creations movement. The arms moved perfectly in conjunction with Makoto's movements. Next to test the arm blades. She moved her middle and ring fingers inwards, and all four blades slid out of the arms simultaneously. "Perfect," she said to herself. And finally the wing blades. She moved her arms in a waving motion with her end fingers facing outward. The wings moved quickly from side to side. And last but not least the launch mechanism. Makoto pulled her arms to decide in a 90 degree motion, the wings turned into a forward motion. She quickly pushed her arms forward, and at the same time the blades launched forward, sticking deep into the walls. "Oops..." She thought to herself. She activated her chakra threads to extend there limits and retrieve the blades from the wall. They quickly pulled themselves back to the base of the wings, reattaching themselves to there respective parts. Everything worked successfully. Makoto once again put the tattered cloak back on the puppet, giving it the grim look once more. 

"You're perfect. Now all I have to do is give you a name..." She took a moment to come up with something. "How about, 'Pharos?'" Makoto smiled as the name sent chills down her spine. "Yeah...Pharos!" Today's work was complete, and she had a new puppet in her arsenal. Night time had finally arrive, and Makoto was tired. It was a day well spent.

(TWC: 2238)

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