Having had an intriguing notice. Verd had finally finally found herself off duty from her latest training achievements and adventures. Her new friend, the little polar bear cub was rolling around the castle and causing troubles to the servants of the house. Verd escaped the hand maids that tried to cloth her in 'more appropriate' outfits. Mother would be busy doing her work as the new Lady and manager of the village and Dad was in the hospital giving lectures to the doctors about various ninja healing techniques.

She gazed over the paper with inky message from her sparring partner Mokuzai. Alike many other he had agreed to peek in shortly after moving from Kiri in direction to Konoha again. Heeding Verd's call to see the castle of her ancestors. Verd moved down the long stairs towards the stone craved harbour and the slight outline of the wooden docking platform that was being rowed out. The ship that carried on the trade route from Kiri would arrive any minute now. She could see it pass the lighthouse. The shiny beacon touching the ship would open the flood gates below the mountain allowing some of the hot lava boiled fluids to gush further onto the surface. Melting some of the quick ice around the harbour and allowing the ship from Kiri to pass through and lay anchor without getting stuck on its way.

Verd would welcome Moku to this for him probably strange lands. The little village held less then 400 people. The various workers on the walls indicated, that they were still repairing and rebuilding damage that was done to this place ages ago. Beyond Heidel it could be seen that Yuki no Kuni was but a wasteland. Burned by it’s haunting demon Hao. To see even a tiny village like Verd’s home back to life was as refreshing as it was unusual. As it was about to become night Verd would lead Moku up the long stairway from the docks into the village. Past the many cute houses that were built into the walls and against the castle itself. Past the town square and into a pub. Letting him sit down and eventually wave to the barkeeper to bring some ale for their refreshment. People passing by would eventually bow to Verdandi. Supporting the nasty idea in Moku’s head that she could be an actual princess as he always enjoyed to tease her with.

She made sure he would be offered lodging in the castle later. So, he could nap like a prince for a night or two. It was the least she could do, despite the castle still being within renovations. Verd would go to lengths to explain the villages situation and how they were still barely holding by and working on setting the place back up.

“You know I will have to work on both garden and the training room at the castle tomorrow. And since you agreed so nicely to visit on your path I thought… well… you know… you could do your… wood thing?”

Verdandi laughed, it was an uncomfortable idea to ask him to steep as low as to use his family heritage as use of gardening and room refurbishing concept. But well since he’d have to stay for a few days anyway. Not like there was much to do in this place yet other then build and repairing stuff.


570

The sun was setting on Kirigakure as the sound of the numerous owls in the surrounding forest gave a tranquil melody to soothe even the lost souls of the village once known as the "Blood Mist", Mokuzai was in his now empty room packing the last of his true possessions with him in a travel bag as this would be possibly be the last time he would ever stay this long in Kirigakure, the young Senju although had learned to love and appreciate the land of water had changed him drastically mentally and physical as his once small sandy hair frame was now replaced with seventy five percent gone white while the rest of it had turned into a lighter shade of brown left on the right side of his head, he know not if it was due to stress or genetics or possibly both but one thing was clear that he was eager to return home.



However home would have to wait just a little longer as he had promised the young Lady Verdandi that he would visit her home in Yuki no Kuni, he had been promised a proper tour and a good place to lay his head during the duration of his stay but the real reason he was going was to check up on her as she had been his student once before despite it being a one time thing and was eager to see just how far she has gotten while they were apart, now packed up fully he would look around his home that he had stayed in for but only a year and a half but still it held memories of great importance to him, he simply inhaled a breath of fresh air before saying out loud, "Thanks for taking care of me, i hope your next owner treats you well." And with that he walked out the door with all his possessions on his back and left the room he once called home.

Closing the door he now did a small sigh then proceeded to walk to the ship harbor of the village, he didn't know the details of Yuki no Kuni nor did he know where it was but from how the ship reacted when they said he would like to take passage to travel their it was obvious it was quite far away from Kirigakure, now at the harbor he entered the ship before being shown to his cabin on where he would sleep and was told it be a whole day travel to his destination and simply agreed before the captain returned to his duties, Mokuzai who couldn't do much in the way of physical training decided to focus on his chakra control through the art of meditation.

A day later

Mokuzai after staying up for most of the night training himself in the way of chakra control had fallen asleep at one point and was still peacefully resting in his cabin, it would be the sound of the ships bells ringing and a man yelling out "Yuki no Kuni ahoy!" that woke him from his slumber. The young Senju sleepily rubbed his eyes before leaving his cabin with his bag too go onto the deck which was near the harbor, what he saw next surprised him as in a innovative way to solve ships from getting stuck due to the excessive cold nature of the village they seemed to use hot boiling lava boiled to melt the immediate surrounding ice allowing the ship to anchor without risk of getting stuck upon trying to leave.

As he left the ship he would see Lady Verdandi there to warmly welcome him to her home, although much smaller then Konohagakure and Kirigakure the village was hard working, as throughout the area you could see various citizens working near the walls but further more the village itself looked like it had been attacked at one point which explained why reconstruction was mid-process everyone he looked as milady lead him across her home passing houses built into walls and some even built into the castle itself. She lead him pass what seemed to be the town square and then into a pub as they sat down before she waved her hand for the bartender to bring some cherry ale, Mokuzai would take slow sips as he seemed to weak to alcohol as he learned from his previous encounter with the substance and he would notice as they sat there the people of the village would bow to Lady Verdandi causing him to snicker at the thought that in this place she was like a actual princess.

Once they left the pub Lady Verdandi offered him a stay of the night or two in her castle and made a playful joke that he would be able to sleep like a prince which caused a laugh as even the small amount of liquor in his system effected him, she would state that the castle much like the rest of the town was receiving renovations as the village itself had been left in ruins before her arrival and reconstruction plan although it had been evident from the moment he left the ship he responded as if he was shocked by her sudden news with a alerted face but then she would ask a favor of him, "You know I will have to work on both garden and the training room at the castle tomorrow. And since you agreed so nicely to visit on your path I thought… well… you know… you could do your… wood thing?”

Mokuzai looked at milady in a mischievous way before speaking, "Well you know~ That was a awful long ride to your home, perhaps if a strong enough opponent was to help loosen me up via combat i might be persuaded to help make the best garden i can~"


WC:994

Verd would ogle Moku with a playful pout and pumped her cheeks thick like a blowfish as he implied that a spar would most likely be what he was looking for. They passed by the dojo she was speaking of. The main platform had already been built but a lot of interior work was still lacking Moku would easily see that there was a lot he could help with in this room. But Verd tugged him further to the living room. The mother of Verd and new Lady to the snow country passed them on her way to her office. Giving Verd a little smiling nod as well as her companion but obviously didn't meant to linger and chat with them. She seemed to have more pressing matters and duties to attend to. Yet she couldn't help but turn her head to look at the two before making her way to the stairs towards the throne room.

Verds sisters would also pass by. Young and gorgeous ladies with long white hair. Verd's own hair had been showing white locks as well. Revealing step by step that the dark green glimmer in hers was but a mere dye to hide her real colours. Verd didn’t like to be directly associated with her family’s unique hair while she was in Kiri, but since she got home she didn’t seem to mind them returning slowly to their natural colour. Which of course intrigued her as to why Moku’s hair was turning white as well. Was he of snow blood too? Or did he just turn older? She chuckled at the possibility of him already turning into an old man.

The sisters, alike to their mother just gave away their own winks, smiles and bows to show their respects to their younger sis and the guest she had brought along. Skuld’s body was layered in armour and gave a clear picture that she was but a soldier and would not take kindly on people that would misinterpret her looks for a sign of weakness. Urd on the other hand seemed to have taken a specific interest into dressing as a scholar. As the keeper of the library she would make sure to express an aura of knowledge and intelligence instead of brute strength. Between the obvious perfection of her sisters. Verdandi sat down on the red fancy looking couch in the living room. While her appearance gave away a different feel as the certain personas of her sisters. A little shiny Chuunin badge would be visible on her clothing where Moku could have sworn to see a Genin one last time he checked. Skuld moved off to guard duty and Urd picked up some last scrolls that she had scattered in the living room before making her way to the library.

With the two of them left alone once more, Verd would gracefully pour some special herb tea into a glass each. Before handing it to Moku she would softly breath past it, the frozen breath of the princess would cool the drink. It was a speciality of the house. Frostleaf tea was to be consumed cold instead of hot and would taste like lemon spiced leaves that were well complimented by the cool taste as one would drink it. “We call it ice tea. I know that’s silly but well people tend to like that.” She chuckled. And allowed Moku to rest his body and let the beverage slowly fill himself with energy and to wash away the little sips of alcohol they sipped earlier.

Verd would proceed to small talk a bit about the castle, the Yuki family and even mentioned the one guy had had not yet seen. Verdandi’s father the doctor of Heidel and the brother of acting Mizukage Ayakashi. At the family part he still seemed interested but as soon as the small talk drifted on into politics and war, he seemed to turn bored a little. At last she sighed and after a final cup of ice tea, she would nod and lead the way back into the dojo. The carpenters had finished the floor at last and it was ready for a test spin. The tiles beneath their feet were chakra imbued and ready to withstand most damage caused by chakra up to a certain power. Probably anything A or S ranked would still lay waste to the material.

Verd would move to the armour rack and pull a sharp, beautiful training sword. She currently had a B-Rank blade in commission by no one else but Kiri’s most famous weapon smith. The Mizukage’s mother. With the blade still unfinished, she’d settle for a casual and unenhanced C-Rank Katana. Offering Moku to do the same even though she was sure he still had his own weapon with him, as he had offered it to Verd in their last battle. Moving on towards her side of the dojo she seemed to clearly enjoy the smooth surface beneath her shoes. Slowly getting in position to face Moku her stance was completely different from last time. Her Katana raised forward. Her left hand extended outward ready for handseals. Her right foot forward and her left foot in a clear line behind, down to her knees as she made this girl-move that makes the long hair whoosh from her face and behind her.

“Ready when you are, senpai.”


910 / 1480

Just as he made that offer Lady Verdandi gave him a pout while pumping her cheeks for added effect almost similar to a blow fish that made him snicker as they kept moving through the castle. they would pass what appeared to be a dojo at first glance that needed quite a bit of work done although the main platform had been built the interior needed more work before it was complexly done, however milady had tugged Mokuzai away from the area and into a living room. It was then a women that was practically swarming with charm and authority made their appearance, she had on a darker shade of blue  that slightly contrasted her lighter shade of blue eye color but it seemed to only give compliment to the long white hair she garnished for herself that was folded over her head held by a gold hair accessory, as the women pass she would give a small smile to them both but kept on moving her own way as she looked like she was busy, Mokuzai out of curiosity would whisper to Lady Verdandi who that was and she simply tell him "That is the Feudal lord of this land and also my mother." The young Senju was shocked, he had just made albeit small contact with such a high regarded  figure in another land and he hopped he had not offended her customs while in her home.

Within seconds two more ladies would pass with one who the Senju could only describe as a warrior as she had a blade attached to her hips and claded in armor with a open aired jacket on with the symbol of her village placed upon it proudly, but what really caught his eye was how the beautiful shade of blue in her eyes made her perfectly white hair and glossy red lips shine radiantly even more so then miladies mother. Mokuzai must have been daydreaming because milady leaned over to him and said, "Stop ogling at my sisters like a lovesick buffoon"  The young Senju had a sweat drop rolling down his forehead as he though "What the hell?! Did every female in her family get hit with some secret ninjutsu that makes them beautiful!" Turning towards Lady Verdandi he wondered why he hair was not completely white and wondered if she hid it purposely or the trait has skipped her altogether but he had just realized that  up until this point her genin tag had been replaced with a chunin and he grinned widely that his student had made it so far in such little time unlike he did, Now came another sister who much like the previous one's had white hair but unlike her sister she garnished a green kimono that went with her pale brown eye's and exalted a presence of wisdom and inner peace as they passed the sisters would give away their own winks, smiles and bows before proceeding to go to whatever duties they held within their home Mokuzai supposed.

Lady Verdandi and Mokuzai were now both alone again and she begun pouring what smelled and looked like herbal tea into two glasses, as she picked up one of the glasses she would breathe on it causing the drink to immediately cool and become cold before handing it to him as if she was a bartender serving the houses specialty drink as she stated, “We call it ice tea. I know that’s silly but well people tend to like that.” Mokuzai then took a sip wanting to explore the flavor and could instantly recognize it tasted like lemon but with the coolness of the drink it stood out more promptly, he wondered if the drink had healing properties as while they sat there he could feel the earlier effects of the liquor seem to melt away from his body and even filled him with vigor, "What a powerful drink your home has, its very delicious."

Lady Verdandi begun to lightly speak more about her family explaining that although Mokuzai had saw her mother and sisters that her father was Heidel's doctor and was the direct brother of the Mizukage, eventually milady would speech of politics and war and although the young Senju tried to fight against it he felt his body slowly slip into a
more relaxed position as her words seemed to become a soothing lullaby, it would be the sound of her glass touching the table that shocked him back in alertness as she got up and he quickly rose to follow her, she lead the way back into the dojo and saw that the floor had been finished unlike earlier and he snickered at the though that she had only stalled him until it's completion without him even noticing.

Upon entering Lady Verdandi went up to the dojo's armory and  pull a sharp, intricately design training sword, she offered Mokuzai to take a weapon as well and he would begun scanning the armory for something to fit his style. It wouldn't be too long before his eye's begun to scan over a scythe, although simple in design when he ran his hand over the top half of it that was shaded in black he could feel that their was writing itched out on it, although he had training with these type of weapons he never tried it out during actual combat and he felt a thrill of excitement run down his back. He tightly gripped the scythe pulling it out and took notice the shaft was sixty seven inch's alone while the actual blade was thirty inch's and the weapon seemed to be the same quality as his B-rank Ninjato, Mokuzai then walked to the same space Lady Verdandi had been standing in and on inspection she seemed to be enjoying herself and the moment he steeped onto the space he could see why as the newly made floor had a smooth surface like no other, now that they had enjoyed the floor milady slowly Slowly moved herself into position to face the Senju. He noticed that  her stance was completely different from last time as her katana was now  raised forward with her  left hand extended outward  surely ready for either countering or quick hand seals he though, and her right foot forward while the left was directly behind it and her knees slightly bent. Her right foot forward and her left foot a clear line behind,  “Ready when you are, senpai.
”

Mokuzai spun the scythe that was in his right hand with his fingers causing wind to slowly generate around him, before swinging the scythe and his body into position as his right hand hand held the top of the scythe and his left hand lower down it's length and his right foot forward while his left leg was bent and his toes pointing towards the wall, he would look at her chunin bag before snickering to himself as he spoke, "Senpai? You don't have to call me that anymore "Princess Verdandi" for now we are fighting as not master and student but equal ranked shinobi."

Just as he finished speaking Mokuzai would use the advantage of the scythe as he flipped it over with his fingers and thrusted the end side of it towards Lady Verdandi with the sharp side pointed downwards on his side, if she moved out the way or dodged he would then step in as he flipped the weapon once more causing the sharp side to come upwards threatening to slash her skin as it came back up followed by a spin  with his whole body and flip  the weapon over again causing the tip of the scythe to move towards her left side threatening to slash her from her left rib to the right, if she made any attempt to grab the weapon he would immediately let go while attaching chakra strings to it as he rushed in to deliver a low kicking sweep before tugging the strings to pull the weapon to him  gripping it tightly once more while spinning it upwards and if she would use this opportunity too attack he would block it with his own weapon or if she attacked him immediately he  would jump back with scythe in hand to the edge of the dojo, if she would try any jutsu his immediate response would to be to bend down and slam his hand onto the ground causing a jutsu of his own to rise up in defense, in either case he no longer had to treat her like a untrained genin as she was now much stronger then she had been before.


Chakra: 185/200

Jutsu used:

WC:1,435

Total WC:2,429

Verdandi chuckled to herself. The scythe was a beautiful weapon. One she did try before but was not part of her sub-specializations and hence her skill with it would be really poor compared to her skill with the blade. Her Kenjutsu abilities had already reached a Masters level, unfortunately it didn't allow her to slay all masters yet, she certainly still lacked a proper physical strength. It seemed apparent from his movement that his physical power was still above hers, but their reaction and speed weren't that far apart anymore. Verd wondered if she really had catched up with him that much but doubted it.

He began to move forward and swing his blade at her. She could have interrupted him halfway but she wanted to see his attack through. First, he thrusted backwards. Earning a little slap from Verdandi's blade made of equal quality and material. They didn't like uneven fights in this dojo so the weapons were all regarded of C-Rank sharpness. Also, to avoid accidents that weren't meant to happen in sparing. The blade started to rotate, coming at her from above, from the side, from across. There was no specific reason to try and use her natural strength to parry it. He was making small steps forward and Verd would make small steps backward. Making sure her Katana was extended. Yet she would move her blade to be held in a way that would allow the scythe to move on its path on the lowest point of resistance. Making the metal glide over each other but also allowing Verd to let the weapon pass her while she had to move her body to avoid. The straight slashes were very easy but the spin actually forced her to jump a little further back. Trying to avoid it with the blade would force her into an awkward defence position or make her actually contact the power of the blow.

His offense was over and Verdandi would form hand seals. Probably uncertain as to what would come next, he seemed to be taken back. (Assuming he's startled by the hand seals but recognizes them midway I'd guess you do not waste your chakra on a technique unneeded.) But he seemed to have recognized the technique as it was one of his own. The water clone formed itself behind Verdandi, tactically in a spot that would basically use Verd's actual body as a meat shield. Verd was raising her Katana in order to make sure she would parry any potential projectiles thrown at her. While the clone seemed to have turned busy from the very moment it got created. Forming its own hand seals to create something..... invisible to the eye. Since Verd was between Moku and the clone he didn't see the clones hand seals this time. He could maybe guess what happened. But basically, the clone could have casted any kind of technique.

Overall Verdandi would remain in a defensive stance, pretty sure he'd try to go for another scythe attack or get his itch scratched to come into melee contact. She'd have to deal with the attacks accordingly. For now, she'd keep her eyes open, be ready, analyse and watch ~


540 / 2020

Verd Chakra 180 / 200, Clone Chakra 10 / 20:

Lady Verdandi had improved. The chunin badge upon her clothing had not been given, it was properly earned a he could now see through the sparring session, his first attack was earned with her slapping his weapon away it was then at that point he realized he mis-judged the quality of the scythe and although it was quite big making it a little harder to maneuver to manage it was still a weapon a weapon worthy of a chunin and Mokuzai was starting to get use to it's movements. His follow attacks were meant with the same way as his attack from above and then the side was dealt with little effort as she made small step backwards in evasion, however it seemed his sudden spin was a little harder to handle as she made the decision to jump back meaning she felt slightly pressured by it as she jumped back at a distance of ten and a half meters, once he stopped attacking he jumped back and Lady Verdandi begun to weave hand seals and although he would be surprised at first he realized that those hand seals were for his water clone jutsu and decided not to use the earth style jutsu just yet.

Just as he predicted a water clone formed but unlike how he used the technique, it seemed she formed it behind her making sure she was in front which made Mokuzai raise a eyebrow, the fact he couldn't see the clone automatically made him assume she was tactically preparing a follow up jutsu or perhaps a attack, in either case the first time they sparred he had underestimated her capabilities of movement and planning and he was not willing to allow himself to make the same mistake twice.Milady looked ready to parry any incoming attacks while her clone did it's own plan, if she was waiting for him to attack head on like he always done he would surprise her with a new jutsu he had created, the Senju flowed chakra into the scythe to use later for substitution but as soon as he flowed the proper amount of chakra he would spin the weapon with his right hand and spun his body around before throwing his weapon directly at her that making sure if she tried to stop it the spinning force might be somewhat dangerous for her.

But as soon as the weapon reached five meters closer to milady Mokuzai did a quick burst moving at six meters a second just enough to catch the scythe before it got a inch closer as he imbued the tip of the weapon into the newly refurnished dojo floor, immediately after the tip of the scythe impaled the ground Mokuzai jumped back fourteen meters as a two feet long thin wooden branch shaped like a sword to emerging from the ground at 30m/s a meter in front of her, if she decided to block the attack it would only result in the shattering of her weapon as the thin blade pierced through it or if she tried to parry it Mokuzai would be rather disappointed as it would probably only damage her weapon in the process, she could easily avoid it by moving out the way but of course if she did that the clone behind her would be impaled instead and if they truly did have a jutsu in process like he originally though it would be canceled before they had a chance to activated it unless they did so beforehand. If both the clone and Lady Verdandi happened to evade the two feet blade, they would now have to deal with one smaller sharp branch emerging from the original that would move around milady and impale the clone as long as they remained within a fifty meter distance, Mokuzai would simply watch and observe for now as he wanted to test the capabilities of the jutsu via combat but if she should attack him he would be ready for her as he stomped his foot onto the ground sending a wave of chakra underneath, had the floor not been tiled or replaced with wood she might have been able to feel the ground underneath her foot getting moist but the newly furnished floor denied such a hint to his oncoming jutsu as water would rise from seven meters deep underground to right beneath their feet.


Chakra: 130/200

Jutsu used:

WC: 738

Total WC:3,167

Verdandi could see Moku throwing his weapon and was already forming her Hyouton seals. Something Moku would not have seen yet as this technique relied of a completely new set of hand seals that Verdandi learned basically just a few weeks ago. It was part of her new signature fighting style and hence yet lacked a lot of testing in direct combat. While Verd was casting, the initial attack Moku seemed to have designed changed in an unusual way, catching his own launched weapon to gracefully spin and hilt it into the ground. Quite a feat of physical expertise. When the wood element was launched Verd had yet already made up her mind to finish her seals. Water vapor in the air and simple fluid within the earth beneath were instantly conjured to cover Verdandi's body and by the time the wooden sword was launching forward, the fluid had turned into thick seemingly unbreakable solid ice. Since Verdandi had chosen to protect her clone she would take the full B-Rank damage of all spikes the wood tech could deliver. It certainly reminded her of her own ice spike technique.

What followed now was a myriad of well calculated movements. Even though Verd's Armor had already sustained half the damage it could take. The ice itself didn't show any visible cracks on it's surface and Verdandi would charge forward with the clone right next to her. The way she did this, would send doubt into Mokus mind as he had never seen this kind of ice armor before. Verdandi meant to show power. Intimidate the enemy. Let the enemy think that you are far stronger than him in one way or another. The way Verdandi was charging in her ice armor was specifically designed to make Moku not necessarily scared but unsure of her latent powers and potential within her element of frost. As a wood user he should know very well that unique elements had abilities barely anyone knew about.

While she was running. Verdandi could feel something in the ground beneath her feet. She didn't know what but she didn't like it. She could assume that more wooden weapons were going to raise from below and try to pierce her, in which case she would be able to take the damage with the armor still intact. But nothing happened just yet. So she'd deal with it as it came later. She had already charged her palm with suiton chakra, which was yet again completely invisible to Moku's eyes as this move wasn't based on hand seals. Verd made sure to put her Katana into position that made it veeeery obvious that she was going to slice at him. Verd was counting on him to expect a direct, frontal assault of pure physical power. Verd was counting on the fact that her whole behaviour would have made him at least insecure over her strength and hence find it completely logic that she would try to bluntly attack him like that with such superior raw power.

If the psychological confusion worked or not. He'd have to deal with the impact. It was yet not the impact of her sword trying to slice towards his weapon but a sudden premature explosion. 2 meters before impact Verdandi set off the seafoam bombs and cause a huge visual explosion all over the battle floor especially around Verd and turning her completely invisible to the naked eye. It didn't matter to her if he would figure out her position. Because all she wanted from this was a one second invisibility that would make her finish her sword strike even while she was still 2 meters away. This toggled the technique she had been preparing sending three crescent shaped water blades forward at 25 m/s while the target in question was barely 2 meters away now. Beautiful and deadly it would cause 3/4 inch deep wounds if the impact happens as planned.

Success or not. Verdandi and the clone would then retreat into the heart of the seafoam mist. Using its cloak to avoid a direct counter after Verd's charge. Especially since she didn't know of the AOE attack that was yet to be activated.


710 / 2730

Verd Chakra 145 / 200, Clone Chakra 10 / 20:

Just as his wooden blade technique was about to pierce into Lady Verdandi starting from the bottom of her feet a type of armor rose up instantly to cover miladies body, now fully covered in it Mokuzai could see figured out her own way to cast her body in a layer of ice for better protection, the concept was rather simple and easily done but the fact that he had not though of the idea for himself made it seem all the more brilliant in his eyes, with her armor she easily made sure to stop the smaller wooden branch from piercing her clone and destroying it meaning he would now have to deal with whatever jutsu she had in mind if she still did.

Although he showed interest in just how tough her armor and what other technique's she taught herself while they were apart he decided to hold those thoughts back for now and focused on the spar in front of him, Lady Verdandi suddenly rushed forward with her clone following closely behind and Mokuzai would raise a eyebrow once more as he though, "She's charging at me, but is this really a simple frontal charge? She never has done so before, could it be possible as a chunin she underestimate's me? No, she probably has some trick up her sleeve so i should just wait it out until then." the young Senju resigned himself to simply standing where he was as he twirled the scythe in his hand.

As she kept on her path towards him Mokuzai simply waited in curiosity to see what she had in store, it was evident by the slight look of worry on her face that she was concerned with something else meaning perhaps she caught on to the fact he had prepared a jutsu, but her charge meant that although she was aware of it she didn't know what it was just yet so he still held some advantage. On inspection of her movements he could see she was positioned for a obvious slash attack, although it was obvious Mokuzai was no fool, her movements were too relaxed and simple compared to her usual to the point it was clear that she was not truly putting effort into her attack meaning to him that it was all a act to divert from what she really had planned he just didn't know what yet so he kept still continuing to spin the scythe with his fingers.

Just as Lady Verdandi was pressing forward and reached the two meter mark a sudden explosion would happen obscuring many view points of the dojo and Mokuzai begun to thought, "Of course, the clone weaved sea foam jutsu. But this technique is only meant as a diversion so that means there is still another attack coming my way." The young Senju upon the explosion who had been spinning his weapon immediately let it go as he throw it straight into the air as the blade pierced into the ceiling, now in the mist Mokuzai could hear the slight sound of wind being cut as a object passes through it before being meant with three water crescents aimed directly for him meaning his suspicions were right on the mark. Once the water crescents were within a meter Mokuzai immediately activated supernatural walking technique as he used the substitution jutsu with the scythe making them switch places as he appeared standing up fully looking down at the sea foam still obscuring his vision of milady, it was unfortunate the technique would destroy the weapon but at least not by his hands.

Now that he was above her on the ceiling he would close his hands as he made the boar hand-sign causing the ground below where he had just stood within twelve meter radius around it to collapse immediately burying Lady Verdandi almost completely with only but her head and some part of her chest showing, he couldn't see her but that didn't stop him from talking as he yelled out "Alright, you win. I surrender, you gave me a good time so ill do the garden and fix the dojo for you."

WC:706

Total WC:3,873

After Moku had ported himself to safety and sacrificing the poor training weapon instead. A serious of very very loud noises would erupt from within the large dome of seafoam. By the time the seafoam would disperse Moku would eventually see the nice, half frozen swimming pool that revealed itself below him. A large frozen hand that extended from it and was about to grip for his body and of course Verdandi in the middle of it all.

A bizarre mixture of broken earth shards and a heavy, messy body of water that looked like it crushed into the technique. Where surrounding Verdandi who stood at the frozen centre of it all. Before impacting into the crushing trap of the earth technique, Verdandi must have summoned in insanely large body of water. Considering its sheer size and the huge mess it had left behind, it must have meant she had summoned way more water than was even possible to fit inside the 7m hole of the trap and hence was spilling all over the training dojo into the open courtyard. The water must have slowed down the closing effect of the trap by quite a few m/s but seemed to have been ultimately unable to completely cease the technique from reaching its target.

In the centre, basically just a few steps next to where Verdandi was standing now, a little hole could be seen, one that looked like some sort of mole had dug out. Proving that Verd must have gotten actually trapped inside the technique despite her try to counter it with her own water jutsu. But in that hole where she was supposed to be trapped at, little ice shards could be seen. Indicating further that, all the pressuring earth that was crushing down on her had impacted on Verdandi's remaining body armour instead of her actual body.

As the nature of her body armour is to remain solid on the outside and retain a liquid surface on the inside, the moment she started to get trapped by the earth. Verdandi would willingly allow her armour to crack on the face and neck part which wasn't buried underground. The clone nearby had come to help as well but wasn't necessarily needed as the pressure on Verdandi's shell gave an instant physical reaction that pushed Verd out of her ice armours cracked hole. The concept being that if you grab a fruit, pressure its body, dig a hole in its skin, the liquid and any movable objects within the fruit that were small enough to pass through the hole would immediately spill outside supported by the slippery surface within the fruits skin and driven on by nothing but the crushing force of the earth pressuring onto the shell from outside.

As she landed with her feet back on the normal surface she felt like the earth itself had given birth to her. It wasn't a particularly pleasant experience. The remains of her armour slowly crackled to dust within the trap-hole and Verdandi was going to prepare her counter attack, probably pissed off by the way this all was not going by plan at all. Supported by the insanely large mass of water around her. Verd's palm had reached forth, commanding the water to raise from the ground.

As the seafoam dispersed, Verdandi wanted to make her water surround Moku and freeze him inside a prison of ice. But as he called for cease fire or, rather a finish to the spar itself. Verdandi had stopped her attack halfway. Forcing the Hyouton chakra that she had already pushed into the water to solidify where the water was right now. Ending up into a scary large sculpture of a frozen arm that was aiming with its claws in Mokus direction. Verdandi's clone would disperse now for good being of not much use despite for the seafoam within this all. Jumping on top of the scary frost palm to get a little closer to Moku.

"Awww. It was just about to get fun ~" she would imply, probably a bit cocky. But certainly not the type of person to simply kneel towards a superior opponent. Nor accept a win that was not really won at all. Such a thing would be regarded as a humiliating insult to her pride. "Lets call it a draw then...." she said and was more content with that prospect as it'd properly sooth her harmed pride a little.

750 / 3480

Verd Chakra 105 / 200, Clone Chakra X:

Once Mokuzai uttered the words to end the sparring he would be meant with a giant claw made of water in front of him, Lady Verdandi had stopped the assault by freezing the water before it reached him making it a giant icy claw colder then even the area around them, he wondered if he actually had a technique to stop it but he somewhat doubted if he could. Milady jumped on her own creation as she spoke, "Awww. It was just about to get fun ~" the Senju could notice the slight cockiness in her voice but he didn't mind, although he had stopped the battle if it continued on he may have been in trouble himself, but Lady Verdandi was quite the prideful and stubborn type as before she finished speaking she made it clear that she wanted their match to end in a draw clearly a little bit hurt by the fact Mokuzai just "gave" her the win as if she didn't earn it, he be sure to keep that in mind for their future encounters.

"Sorry Verdandi, if we continued the dojo would have been more damaged than it is now. But as promised i will help you make a beautiful garden, first lets fix the dojo. Can you please remove all the water from the area?" After Lady Verdandi completed what he asked he would make a awkward face that basically spelled the amount of damage they caused to the dojo as there were water stains everywhere you looked and then the hole Mokuzai himself created, he let out a nervous chuckle before he used earth style by weaving the ox hand-seal to close the seven meter deep hole making it appear as it was never created and then switched to the snake hand-seal being sure to fix the surrounding structure by reinforcing the entirety of it with his chakra infused wood that would last alot longer than any natural wood found in nearby forests, the chakra cost was quite costly to do so draining nearly half of his remaining chakra.

"My apologizes Verdandi, but it seems im nearly out of chakra. How about we call it a day and tomorrow we can work on making you such a lovely garden even the five nations would acknowledge, okay?" If she would agree he would let her show him to his quarters for a well deserved rest until the next day.

WC:414

Total WC:4,287

Verdandi slowly helped Moku remove the water down into a nearby well. The remaining could be simply fed to the thirsty earth below. Him being able to use doton element was really useful considering the way they needed to fill the hole. Fascinated by the way his wood technique would slowly furnish the new corners of the dojo’s platform. Eventually giving it some sort of outline and fixing the roof. With the help of Verdandi and some carpenters that brought the chakra resistant plating, they would eventually cover the field far enough to not only undo their damage but also fix up the place for good. Verd was content. But she could see that this type of technique didn’t come cheap on the wood user. Exhausted as he was, Verd would re-invite him to join her back inside.

Once returned to the living room. The servants were finishing up their carpentry work on the first basement floor. The end of the day was drawing near and they would slowly go home, one by one. In time the other princesses would make their way home. Tease the two about spending all day together. Especially Skuld could be annoying meanie sometimes. But they were obviously exhausted from their days work as well. Verd would proceed to chit chat with Moku about sparing techniques, ideas and tactics. Her being still very new to actual fights tried to find a deeper baseline within all the combat process. She’d even go as far as to scribble down some of his ideas into her notebook.

Verd’s Dad would come home along with mum, he probably gave mom a visit after clinic duties. The two of them awfully chatty and flirty with each other. Verd didn’t particularly enjoy watching her parents be all lovey dovey with each other but she had learned to control her urge to burn down the house while confronted with it. But it was a signal. For the two of them to head to bed as well. Moku’s energy reserves wouldn’t allow him to stay up much longer anyway. Verd would show him to one of the royal guestrooms. Basically, the same type as the ones the princesses had gotten. On the other side of the living room.

As he would step inside, the room itself barely reminded of the cold stone walls from the main hall. It was completely coated in fabrics and wooden pieces of art. Like little tribal masks and clan symbols. Various reading scrolls were piled as a complementary study material. One of them in particular would probably interest him as it contained deeper explanations about scythe techniques. In case he got bored in the morning.

As morning came. The snowstorm that was most common for these lands had returned to the city. Knowing that it would prove to make things much harder to work with if they had to deal with wind and snow. Verdandi used her limited powers to influence the storm. She could somewhat manage to create an eye-of-the-storm kind of hole around Heidel. Which was a fascinating view to behold of. Seeing the frozen ice and heavy wind roam powerfully outside the city walls. While the sun was shining like on a spring day onto the village of Heidel.

Moku would be greeted by complementary ice tea in the living room. As well as a bunch of clean clothes and a yukata within the choices if he wished. The castle was stockpiling fancy stuff like that so it was an easy gift. Verdandi herself had already made her way from the balcony out into the courtyard. By the time Moku would arrive outside the castle’s main entrance. He would be able to see her dance around in a green kimono with a katana at hand. A blade dance. The very basis of Verdandi’s very own combat style she was working on. It was yet unrefined. Many moves were lacking fluid motion. Too much unnecessary body movement was still within. She had to learn and combine both the dance parts and the Kenjutsu kata parts that straight forward just aimed on doing most damage with least amount of effort.

Yet a combination of the two would maybe, someday, combine the agility and reflex complimenting parts of the dance, as well as the perception and strength-based power of the Kenjutsu kata. Combining it all with an increasing speed the more she would practice those moves. The more they would become refined and deadly. But training was not on the menu at this point. Verd bowed to her guest as he arrived in the courtyard. She would sheath her katana and ask him if he had a pleasant sleep along with the usual chit chattery one does to politely care for in the morning.

Verd would lead Moku on towards the west part of the courtyard. The east part was claimed by a very funny looking maze of bushes and the north part would lead down into the village. The south was directly melding the walls into a large tower that would give the edge to the castle, leaving not much space for anything else besides it other than some pretty flowers on the way there. Within the east part. Moku would find that the servants had emptied a large portion of already. The space where the garden could be settled was huge. A whole stadium could be built in this spot. But it was all empty. Verd looked a bit worried at Moku. “Well this is where I reserved a spot for your…. Art…. I guess not all could be filled at once but I thought to give you, above all, the honour to leave your very own mark here. So, it might be remembered by others as Heidel’s Senju Garden… what do you think?”

She grinned. Hoping her idea was still appealing to him. To actually leave sort of a an artwork in form of wood, trees and plants…. Maybe pretty flowers… it would certainly remain for a long time and a large glassy dome above them implied that it was also well protected from the nasty weathers of the north.


1040 / 4520

Once agreeing that the day had both worn them down after sparring and then fixing the dojo Lady Verdandi offered him back into the house for the night stay. As they walked through the halls of miladies home Mokuzai kept note of all the carpentry work the servant's did and mentally praised them on their hard work and dedication, not long after night came about and the fellow princesses arrived home and started teasing Verdandi on hanging out with him all day but the day had been excessive for them as well and it took little time for them to go their separate ways. Now with her sisters gone milady started a conversation about tactics,idea's and technique's she could apply in combat, Mokuzai gladly conversed with her as this type of talk was much more preferable to him then the boring politics that he had sat through earlier during the day.

Before the young Senju knew it a good hour had passed while they had their conversation, it was then he heard the sound of the door opening and was meant with the sight of miladies mother flirting and chatting quite openly with a man that showed no self-control towards showing his romantic side back, it was obvious to him and by the reaction of Lady Verdandi herself to this that the man was indeed her father that he had heard about earlier but didn't get the chance to see. Mokuai felt curious and was planning to ask him how it felt to be wedded with a feudal lord of the land but that idea quickly disappeared as he felt like his strength was being sucked out of him, milady seemed to catch his situation and  excused both of them to bed offering to show him to the guest room before he had a chance to thank both her parents for their warm hospitality, once at the entrance of the room Lady Verdandi opened it and the young Senju would be pleasantly surprised at the decorations and items collected in the room but even more so then that a copy that seemed to explain a deeper concept of scythe technique's was on one of the tables in which he would enjoy the following morning after wishing milady a goodnight.

Mokuzai eyes shot open as he woke up in utter confusion, he looked around a nicely flourished room and then back at the ceiling directly above him until he remembered that he was visiting Lady Verdandi in her home country, he quickly got off the bed brushing aside the scythe technique book he had read the night before briefly but offered no information he felt useful, perhaps he was actually the type to learn from experience and not from books. He decided too go to the window to see how Heidel looked in the morning, upon looking out the window he would display a idiotic yet astounded face as he could see the raging storm outside the village going on but the actual village was bright and peaceful as he let out under his breath "Scary."

The young Senju begun to pack his things as although his time here had been fun it was time to go after miladies request had been fulfilled, it took him a few minutes but he was now fully packed and ready to leave the country whenever he could but first his promise. Although he would become annoyed as the castle's servants offered food,clothing and other gifts to him as he walked but such things would only weight him down during his travels so he rejected every last item, by the time he was at the meeting spot he could see Lady Verdandi dancing with a blade in the hand and recognized it as a type of training so stayed back and watched peacefully until she was finished, it made him think about his own approach in fighting and his technique's but for now he needed to focus on his task.

After patiently waiting for milady to finish she finally noticed him and sheathed her blade before starting light chit-chat and asking how he slept. Now that pleasantry's were out of the way she begun leading him down the west of the courtyard, on the way she claimed that the east side  was claimed by maze of bushes and the north part  lead down into the village, for the south all she could say that there was but a tiny space left for only some pretty looking flowers but once they got to the east side Mokuzai knew it was his time to shine as he stared out into a rather large empty space for him to work on. It wasn't until he heard Lady Verdandi speaking did he snap out of his new found excitement to hear her speak, “Well this is where I reserved a spot for your…. Art…. I guess not all could be filled at once but I thought to give you, above all, the honor to leave your very own mark here. So, it might be remembered by others as Heidel’s Senju Garden… what do you think?”

Mokuzai simply stared deeply into her eyes before he starting choking up a bit, his slight choking escalating into full on laughter for several seconds before stopping as he calmed his breathing before answering, "Ah Lady Verdandi, your skills are great but your naming sense is lacking a bit.You can go with whatever name you like but i would personally be happy if you called this place "Heidal's Eden Forest, now please leave me to my work alone if you be so kind." After making sure milady was actually gone Mokuzai walked to the center of the empty lot and got into a basic meditative position while focusing his chakra, but it was clear by the sheer space that this would take a couple of hours.

Three hours passed by and the once empty space was now a beautiful garden full of a assortment of plants, the young Senju had used a good portion of his chakra but still had quite a bit despite being covered in sweat. at the entrance of the garden on both side's a  Beech Tree was formed with  vibrant green leaves that seemed to boost to fresh air of the area, behind each tree was a straight line section of Camellia flowers that  displayed shades of red, pink, coral, white that also could be taken and extracted to make medical herbs to heal burns or scalds that might be prove to be useful to some of the village, in the center of the garden was a small encircle of winter jasmine that were a bright yellow that was attached to a dark green branch that could also be used to relieve the pain of others or increase sexual appetite for procreation if some had that trouble.

To the left side of the garden lied a patch of red and green holly bush's that could relieve and eventually heal the flu along with certain other alignments and to the right lied winter berry holly that were a mix of orange,red, and light yellow that helped with both minor and chronic skin conditions, as his great finishing touch Mokuzai added to the back Japanese maple leaves of bright pink that along with the other flowers would create a beautiful colorful scene to all those who witnessed it's beauty. After finishing his main work the young Senju filled out the empty spaces of the garden with other winter beauties that were able to survive the colder climate of Yuki no Kuni, if Verdandi came back he would put a hand on top of her head and say goodbye for now but if she never did he would simply leave without a word as goodbye's were never easy for him.

-Exit Thread-


WC:1,334

Total WC:5,621



Bukijutsu A-rank to S-rank: 2000/2000 (3,621 Words Left)

(Used 2000 from this thread plus another 2000 from another thread)

B-rank Jutsu: 1,350/1,350 (2,271 Words saved)

Verdandi would watch the magic of the wood element do it’s thing. Flowers raising out of nowhere. Trees growing from little branches into full age. A multitude of herbs and medical plants raising into view. It would take it’s time for him to create his magic and the chakra strain on it was visible. As much as it was a wonderful technique it was certainly not something you could do all day without expecting any drawbacks from it. It felt to be very alike of how Verdandi controlled the snowstorm around Heidel or how she would contribute to the frozen walls outside the regular stone walls. Or well, even make her little glassy ice buildings when they would be of temporary use. In any other climate than Yuki, most of her creations would yet someday melt away with the sun. On certain days even here, it was possible. One of the reasons she allowed the snowstorm to remain along and outside the walls. Its frost would keep all those structures permanently in their frozen state until they might turn into ‘ever-frost’ a basically glass like thick ice that would even resist the warmth of the sun.

But wood element was different. It literally brought light and life to surface. Give birth to living organisms of nature and even produce continuous goods that may be reaped for all kinds of medicine and teas. Verd smiled even though she would realize that her own element was more of a destructive kind like fire, she still thought unique elements were something the world needed more of. Despite the fact that she knew there were already plenty of them all over the place. Knowing that she had encountered like four or five of them herself but aware that many more existed. But still. All of them were a rarity all in all in the shinobi world. Verd would sometimes forget that she was unique in that regards already. Taking things for granted like this was unhealthy. One had to measure it all and keep themselves level headed and humble. This was the way that her ancestors had chosen for the Yuki family to behave like. Verd wouldn’t be so low to fall towards arrogance.

So Moku’s continuously patronizing attitude was something that could aggravate Verdandi in many ways. Some of her pride would make her wish to punch him again but… he was working for her at the moment… basically free off charge and hence she kinda could at least give him some slack in that regard. Verd was, after all intensely intrigued by the heavy amount of beautiful garden he had summoned. Even Avalanche seemed overjoyed by the prospect, he ran into the new garden and rolled himself in the grass. A funny view, considering the young bear had never seen much naked nature. Growing up in the snow, this climate would be different to whatever he was used to all his life and yet he felt a natural connection to it. Something beautiful to watch.

However, Moku seemed exhausted and yet also like, that his job was done here. Verd would wink after him as he went. He obviously wasn’t a person for long goodbyes. It almost made her feel heavy hearted for a minute. Despite his seriously annoying ego he was someone she would certainly call a friend. Smiling to herself as she could see him face into the streets and make his way down to harbour. Eventually boarding the ship that would take him back home or back to Kiri? Who knew what his next plans would be.

Verd sighed. A little creepy feel of loneliness would crawl up her neck and slowly overshadow the prettiness of the situation. It was odd. She was surrounded by an almost endless number of subjects that would cater after her every whim. She had her loving family, her sweet and teasing sisters, her somewhat challenging father and her mother that seemed to be successfully leading this little community into a new age of prosperity. And yet, sometimes she missed her friends from Kiri. It probably would soon be time to return and get back to her duties. After all she was supposed to prepare. The charge into suna territory would be not much further away.

It would soon be time to ready all weapons. The foot soldiers already had made their way into the suna territory and were preparing the launch forth into the depths of the wind country. Eventually trying to influence the heavily burdened situation they were living in. But Verd was still not sure if they would really go there as liberators or would end up being the oppressors that would claim the territory on behalf of either Kiri or one of the other great nations. An annoying prospect to think about it like that.

It wasn’t her fight, she thought. Not her position to go and wage war on people. But she would go and see what the people there would really be doing. There was no sense to worry about it right here and now. Avalanche would eventually jolt past the new garden to jump in Verd’s lap. She would sit down into the grass and stare into the multitude of flowers and trees before her. Caressing her loyal little bear cub on its fur. He was getting heavier as he was aging. Certainly not the way she had found him first time and carried him all the way here. She wouldn’t be able to do that anymore. He was weighing way too much now. Verd would make sure that her suiton chakra would keep the new garden well preserved. Actually, she’d have to appoint one of the castle servants as the new gardener. Someone to take care of this new little treasure. Garden of Eden? Eden forest? Something like that would it be after all. Dandi would move forth into the little tree covered forest and find herself a nice spot in it’s midst to take a long sweet nap. What a wonderful magical world to live in.

[EXIT]

1020 / 5540

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