To Meet a Master ft Saya, Niko

Niko awoke to the sound of his alarm clock ringing the sound was just as irritating as the day before and the day before that as well. Since his entry into the shinobi corp of Kiri he had only met three nin and none of them to Nikos knowledge where puppeteers. In all his days Niko had never met another pursuer of his chosen field of warfare. He himself only found out due to his mothers text and even she wasn't a user of the specialty. Niko had always assumed that the art was rare as he never saw any other people use the art. Hell maybe he was the only user of the art. 
    Well putting those thoughts aside he got ready for the day covering all of his basic necessities he left the house to train and hopefully meet someone new and, entertaining. Heading towards the training hub he makes sure to stop at his favorite store though it was the only store he knew of beside the produce store, that being Johnson's supplies and hardware. When he enters the clerk or Johnson acknowledges his presence asking if I was planning on buying something this time, Niko responds with a not yet and after browsing for a few short minutes leaves and completes his journey to the military training center. 
    Just after arriving at the center and gathering what little information there was to find in the room he headed of to his favorite room room twelve. After arriving and getting his bearings he started to practice some katas. While he lacked puppets due to his entry exam he could still practice his limited taijutsu. during this he was using chakra strings to levitate two branches to the side of him practicing his manipulation abilities. maybe after practicing for an hour or two he would head and see if he could find someone to talk too his admittedly lame social status was quite hard to deal with. Or maybe if he was lucky people would find him.
(WC so far 239)

Despite literally every one of her wishes, our dear protagonist found herself up early, fed, and sitting in one of the training rooms of the military training area. She'd tried everything. She'd bargained, complained, and even hidden for about an hour to throw her guardian off the scent, but all to no avail. Somehow he'd managed to find where she was, and half convinced half dragged her to the training facilities to work on more ninjutsu. She hated this part. For whatever reason she wasn't meant to have any fun in this life, and despite the number of missions and various training topics she'd completed already she needed to... Ahem. 'continue practicing more advanced techniques because when things get more dificult she would find herself wishing she'd learned a jutsu to help her out'. Rediculousness.

She was on break when Niko entered the facility. In her hands she held a football sized circle of wood and her  carving tools. She'd been working tirelessly in her off time on what would be her greatest creation since... well, her sister. She could see the puppets face in her dreams. Pinochio left the room they'd been locked in, traveling down the hallway to grab another bottle of water when he accidentally bumped into something. One of these day's Saya would remember that her puppets couldn't see for herself, or find some way to solve that problem. Her habit was, as always, to use her memory of the place she was in to try and move the construct to where it needed to be, but that didn't account for the ninja who happened to be walking to room twelve.

"Oh. Sorry." He waved at niko, the brilliant blue chakra threads visible as they snaked down the hallway to room thirteen, just across from where neko was intending to go. Without another thought the puppet found the end of the hall, and opened a very conveniently placed refridgerator, taking several cold bottles of water out before returning to his student.

(335)

Niko stood there practicing his kata for merely a few moments, when he was lightly struck in the back, looking ever so slightly to his left he saw what looked to be a small child, knowing that such a conclusion was quite unlikely in a shinobi restricted area he disregarded such an idea. He then noticed the small albeit hidden creases in the Childs skin. Soon after getting struck he was called out to by a voice of unknown origin. Niko jolted immediately after being called out too, had the nature not been friendly Niko would probably tried to attack the origin of the voice. Turning around he found said origin, in the form of a small brown haired woman. He was merely trying to dust himself off after hit by what he thought and hoped was a puppet. After acknowledging the voice he speaks " you wouldn't happen to be this ... things user would you" pointing at what he thought was a puppet. He in his heart had wished for the puppet to be hers hoping to maybe learn more regarding his art, as he had to admit his knowledge was lacking at best and awful at worst. though if the puppet hitting him was to say anything the puppeteer of said puppet must be quite clumsy and the fact was irritating but seeing as the user had a puppet while he himself did not shows some amount of preparedness, as he stood there awaiting a response he finished dusting his clothes and relaxed the chakra strings which where violently swinging the sticks. Awaiting a response he thought unto the topic of a higher power seeing as he was just acknowledging his lack of "friends" and knowledge of puppeteering. But remembering his past he cringed and put such thoughts aside.
(300 words)

[b]"EXCUSE YOU?! what exactly do you mean by this thing. If i didn't have a hand full of water bottles right now I would whop you!!" As Saya peeked around the corner to see who had just addressed her, pinochio let loose with a hate filled reprimanding. Now that she could actually see where he was, his movement was night and day. He'd been moving more slowly to account for the lack of visuals, but the moment he began yelling he was up to this new boy in a moment, moving at a speed of ninety three.

"What? Oh Pinochio? Um... he's.... He's my ninjutsu teacher.... Why?" A unique situation had presented itself. Where it would have been easy before to assume that the voice of the small water holding puppet had simply come from the room where Saya had been in, Now that they'd both spoken, it would be clear that the sound was coming from the puppet itself. Through the Ventrilloquism technique she threw her voice perfectly, adding to the overly animated puppets expression of outrage. Turning to her left, she offered the wood she'd been carving to a girl that looked exactly like her, though the new girl's hair was black where her own was blonde. The Ai puppet sat beside her sister, chakra threads clearly visibly moving her body, but without that clear bit of information it would be too easy to assume this third member of team puppets was a living girl. Her eyes shifted back and forth between Saya and the boy, her brow furrowing as soft pink lips parted to speak before deciding against it.

"Sis... Could you keep working on that. I think Pinochio is trying to start a fight with another ninja and I really need him not to." She nodded, eyebrows raising impossibly on her face. The skin like material wrinkled as you'd expect a real girls to, and even had a bit of the rosiness of life behind it. It was silicone, of course, but without looking closely there would be no way to tell she wasn't living asside from the lines of blue that captured her features.

"Sorry. Uh. PInoch.... Please stop trying to fight people. Aren't we supposed to be studying?! I'm Sayatria Se--" She was cut off just before she could give her last name by pinochio. What would follow was her attempting a second last name, only to be cut off once again, ending in her leaving it at just her first.
"Sayatria. But you can call me Saya. My goal is to be the cosplay queen of the village hidden in the mist"

(TWC 774)

Niko sat there puzzled how had the puppet spoken. Originally he had thought the voice had been that of the small woman or her compatriot. But now he could tell quite easily that the voice had originated from the puppet. but then he thought back to the scroll in which he had learned puppeteering from. in the scroll he had seen a linguistic technique in which a puppeteer throws their voice and uses it to mimic sounds. Maybe the puppeteer had used said technique. Soon after the puppet spoke it ran at him with speed that shocked Niko, said speed dwarfed his own he could only attempt to copy that speed with a puppet that of which he was lacking. Shocked by the show of skill he sat there stunned as the puppet berated him. Still confused on why the puppet spoke as if it was an individual he realized that the girl had responded to his question. After observing the puppet for a mere moment or two he addressed the woman saying "your Ninjutsu teacher? but he is just a-" cutting himself off he then continues "never mind that" He then notices additional strings floating from the little girl to another puppet? taking the time to listen to the girl interact with her puppet in a sisterly manner he saw the puppeteer approach him slowly and introduce herself, during this the puppet was still working away on the wood in her hand. Acknowledging what was said after momentarily questioning the sanity of the puppeteer he says "Greetings Miss Sayatria, I am known as Niko Kazan it is certainly a pleasure to make your acquaintance" waiting a few moments for acknowledgment he continues "I find myself wondering if you can impart some of your vast strength and wisdom unto me". Knowing that his knowledge of the art must be limited due to the vast display of power shown he wished for some teachings from the obvious master. He also wished to learn more about the questionable sane girl seeing as she is the most amiable kiri nin he had seen so far.
(Wordcount 352)

"HE ALMOST DID IT AGAIN!!! why I oughta...." Pinochio had dropped the water bottles on the ground as Niko stopped just before commenting that he was somehow less then because he was 'technically a wooden construct that didn't have free will or sentience'. THe nerve of some people.

"Coach could you please... I think it's about time for a certain small mentor to take a time out..." What resulted was a sight to be sure. A third puppet peeked it's head out from the room. It's body was much larger then the other two with rippling wooden muscles and a literal barrel chest. It's dress was....Unique in that it looked exactly like a middle school gym coach with a silver whistle hanging from his neck. Palming the Pinochio puppet by the head he lifted him up to eye high. In one fluid motion he turned, the hatch between his shoulder blades popping open, and he deposited Pinoch directly into the opening, where he bounced twice before finding himself in the chest cavity of the coach puppet.

"this will not stand. You cannot just shove me inside coach because you don't want to deal with my Tria. That is NOT how this works. We've had an entire talk about this remember? How it's disrespectful to chuck your teacher into the chest cavity of a trap puppet just because he said something you don't like?!" Pinochio's small wooden hands tapped on the internals of the coach puppet, and Ai let out a soft laugh.

"Yanno Pinoch. Maybe if you were nicer to my sister you'd find yourself trapped in a puppet cage less often. " As Ai spoke, Saya's eyes shifted back to her. She kept glancing back and forth between her new student and the girl carving wood, making sure that she had full control over the crafstmanship of her work. Coach stepped back into the room, taking a seat in the back most corner out of sight.

"Sorry. Uh. Pinochio can be a little intense. It's nice to meet you Niko. I dunno what exactly I could teach you but uh... Sure I guess? I'm always glad to help out where I can." She motioned for him to enter, walking back into her training room and having a seat so that she could see both what Ai was doing with the head of her newest masterpiece and the newcomer who was interesting to learn. Forming several hand seals she'd conjure a black void. Slipping her arm into the storage displacement jutsu she pulled out a long bit of cloth she'd sewn at home and a bag of some sort of white feathers. Pulling a needle and thread from a pack at her side she began the slow and meticulous process of joining feather over feather like scale mail, weaving thread into the base of each to combine them onto what looked to be a large black cloak.

"He probably wants to learn about us sister. I bet he's looking to pick up some knowlege on puppetry. " Ai chimed in again as she finished the occular cavity on the left side. SHe never looked up.

(1297)

Niko was amused to say the least watching the scene unfold, he knew that his search for entertainment was at an end. Listen to the child like puppet with an unusually large nose talk nonstop was quite the annoyance. But he was taken aback when a third puppet a muscular puppet appeared? wait could puppets be muscular, never mind. Niko's usually stoic face cracked a grin as the puppet opened and the now named Pinocchio puppet was shut inside of the Coach puppet. Niko let loose a quick sigh hoping that the loud and obnoxious puppet would be trapped in there for the rest of Niko's hopefully long life. Niko did take notice of glancing done by the girl between himself and her sister? Niko whispers to himself "Maybe I should create some sort of visual technique." Though after taking a quick glance at the sister puppet and her work he could discern some features, puppet like features. The thought that she could do such work with mere glances and a puppet was simply wonderous. After getting lost in thought for a second of two he realizes that the now named Saya had responded to his question with a hesitant affirmative, while the hesitation was noted he still exclaimed "Wonderful I believe I will have much to learn, sensei master, teacher your choice" giving the artist a moment to respond he acknowledges the sister puppets theory and confirmed said theory with "you would be correct in such an assumption, Ms?" though the puppet may not be sentient playing into such thoughts would more than likely be a requirement in his future training. Awaiting for a response from either the puppeteer or the sister puppet, he relaxed his posture which had become stiff from the many surprises he had dealt with today. 
(WC 301)

"Uh.... ok. So. Usually I believe that its considered propper to use one honorific to show respect to someone you consider a teacher or elder. Using three different ones its very long winded and a little over the top though don't you think? You can just call me Saya. Second.... I... I don't think it would be very helpful for me to choose what you learn. How could I even know what you know or what you need to figure out?! No. It's way better if you ask things and then I help in that way. Do you know how to use Chakra threads already? I don't see or hear a puppet around so I have to assume that you don't have one of those yet? I can teach ventrilloquism or Skillful artistry with a human body if thats useful? Can't give you the deets for most of my puppets though. Super classified information. " She had clearly misunderstood what the boy was trying to say. Obvious enough to the rest of us, He was unsure what she'd preffer to be called, and offered her the choice. She'd somehow broken the statement into two separate things, thinking that the title he'd chosen was three words long, and that he was giving her the choice as to what he wanted to learn. A totally normal and not odd way to have taken that at all. My dear listeners, our protagonist is smart but... She can miss things quite often. We forgive her these small details.

"Heads done Aya. Needs hair and coating of course, but we'll get Ita to take care of that. She honestly has more experience in that stuff anyway. We have to drop by this afternoon to check on the shield anyway..." While Ai had talked to Niko earlier, she seemed focused on the task at hand. So focused, in fact that she'd forgotten there was an additional body in the room all together. Saya nodded, turning her attention to Ai for a moment before focusing her full attention on Niko.

"So if you need puppets I can totally give you the blueprints for my Pinochio puppet. It's the first one I made and it seems to work pretty well when I need it. Not as complex and Ai or coach, but it's got a weapons launcher that can do some serious damage if you have weapons to load into it. Just be aware you'll need to take it to a fuin user to get the reloading mechanism to work properly if you don't already have fuinjutsu knowlege. "

(TWC 1726)

Niko did not expect such a response, maybe the puppeteer was as socially dead as himself maybe even more so. Well disregarding the obvious mistake, Niko replied with "just Saya I can work with that, I am aware of chakra threads as I actively use them but my only puppet Oni was destroyed recently so i find myself weaponless." Continuing further he responds with "Well Saya I think that vocal technique you use would be helpful in many ways, though I must ask what is this other technique you speak of."  Waiting a brief minute continuing with "of course i would not ask for such privileged information from an obvious master" Upon hearing the mention of the Pinocchio blueprint he was shocked, he himself would be hard pressed to offer a blueprint for his oni though the puppet was not complex and very simple. He had always thought that blueprints no matte how simple where kept secure, maybe this  Saya was the norm or maybe she was simply nice albeit weird. Taking note of this and wiping the shock off of his face he says "I would be honored mast- i mean Saya" Niko thought briefly of the usefulness of fuinjutsu in the puppet arts. sealing would be wonderous for mechanisms and transportation for his puppets. He knew he would eventually have to pick up more skills to make it in this tough world but he had always wished for more time to practice the art. Sitting down on the nearest rock and briefly admiring the rough puppet the Ai or sister puppet had created he took note of the name Ita maybe such a stylist could be of use in his more humanoid escapades. Niko then says "well where do we begin the vocal technique or this human body technique its your choice Saya."
(word count 305)

He asked about Skillful artistry with a human body. The crazy puppeteer actually did it. I mean you hear about people asking questions that often end badly, but you don't like.... see it yanno? My dear listeners, when I say Saya's eyes lit up when she was asked about the skillful artistry with a human body technique, I do not mean she was slightly excited. Her entire body exhuded a force of pure unadultarated joy the likes of which hadn't been seen in some time. Without even thinking she allowed the power of her senju blood to flow through her. For anyone with chakra vision she would literally light up like a christmas tree. The blue light was impressive, albiet not noticable by anyone without special eyes, but what happened next was something on another level. Five chakra threads flowed from her thumb, wrapping Niko up with a speed of one hundred and five. His body was held tightly by the threads, but then something unique happened.

She took a step back around the corner for a moment. No sooner had she gained sight on the hallway then Niko was off running at a blistering one hundred and thirty three speed. His body slid five feet as she pulled back on the threads, stopping him just before he'd hit the refrigerator that Pinochio had been going to earlier. At the same speed his hands found four bottles of water, closed the door, and in a flash he was standing in the center of the training room. Finally the threads released him, and he was free to move as he wished.

"Skillful artistry with a human body is a fundamental technique in a puppetmaster's arsenal. Just as we can control puppets in order to fight for us, we can hold actual people with our strings, manipulating their bodies as quickly as we do with puppets to fight with them as weapons, or to get them out of harms way. It's like the most important technique I know by far. So many times I've gotten out of trouble because I was able to wrap myself and move out of harms way, or I already had threads on a teammate when someone threw something that athey couldn't get out of and BAM just a quick shift of my wrist and they're way out of the way and safe to continue fighting. It's like. So incredibly important to puppetry." As she finished her explanation she dug around in the messenger style bag at her side. Pulling a small scroll she'd offer it to niko. The seal on the front wrappings was black with the kanji for puppet in the center.

"That would be the schematic she used to make the pinochio puppet. Don't worry. She has an eidetic memory... When she can figure out which of us holds the knowlege, so she won't actually need it in order to craft a new one if Pinochio ever gets annoying enough tthat we need to take him out for a while." Ai smiled as she spoke, indicating that the comment was less of a declaration of danger to the puppet and more a joke.

(TWC 2254)