It was snowing. Beautifully intricate, silvery white snowflakes drifted from the heavens above, their origins hidden by the veil of mist that hung over the land. The temperature had decreased past it's normal chill, and even the active animals which had long since gotten used to the lower temperatures of Mizu no Kuni had gone quiet, only the occasional crowing of birds could be heard. Soft crunches were audible to keen ears as the brown sandy hair of a male  walked through the dense forest, black sandle's compacting the snow on the ground with every step that he took, leaving visible footprints that would be covered within moments by the heavy snowfall. His pace was hasted with excitement, a white coat of  snow gently piled onto his head and down to his hair  making it more uniquely colored,  his white v-cut shirt and long blue coat almost disappearing into the snow only contrasted by the slight tan of his skin as he traveled the snowy plains  around him, as he continued the snowfall and mist increased with every step he took.

Mokuzai was headed towards the lake, he had been to this place many times before in the pursuit of bettering himself as a shinobi and the increase of snow would make no difference towards that goal. Even as the snow drifted from the very heavens onto the ground the lake still held beauty unmatched compared to his home that would have surely gave him more warmth, it was not only the beauty of this place that attracted him but the prospect that all of Kirigakure's No Sato greatest ninja had once trained in this very grounds, to others  it may have seemed quite crazy  that he was training in such a place in heavy snowfall  but to this Senju it was only but a minor convince that would only toughen him for the tedious missions in other lands to come.

Today was meant to be the continuation of training that he had promised two genins that he had been training for weeks now, they showed great progress in their last sparring session by hitting him with a two fold fuuton nature attack that had did quite a bit amount of damage despite him being  more trained at the time, that prospect had only made him more excited and eager for the training that was to befall him this day. Perhaps due to the heavy snowfall or some other unfortunate external factor he was not aware of, the genin were already twenty three minutes late according to their promised arrival time that they had agreed upon that was set at the end of each training session by Mokuzai himself, the young Senju was not one to wait idly unless he had to for the sake of a mission.

So while he waited for the genin to show up if they would at all he would do preparations in the form of a pre-workout, this would loosen his stiff muscle's that had been stiffened while he was asleep just hours before as well as providing his body some warmth from movement as despite his conviction Mokuzai's clothes held little protection in the wake of the assault of snowfall raining down on him from the very heavens above. He decided he would start with light exercise, this way he could keep his body moderately warm as well as loosening himself and still be able to keep up with the possible more rigorous training he would undertake with the genin if they still showed up, the young Senju quickly dropped his body into the snow with both his hands outstretched as his body was now poised in the push-up position. His heads lightly stung from the cold sensation of the snow on his palms, but this only proved to make him more eager to wash it away with the increasing heat of exercise that was to come, he slowly lowered himself all the way down until his stomach nearly touched the snow before lifting himself all the way back up as much as his arms would allow completing one push up, however for someone like him not even sixty seemed to be enough and he would try to do a hundred on the spot.

WC: 719

It was a good day, with good weather. On days like these the Yuki clan members had an unusual presence to them. As if nature was giving them a sudden, unfair advantage. Verd prepared herself the same way as usual though, despite not taking the shower at home. She had other plans on the washing part. Slightly uncaring towards her hair this way, she just grabbed her kimono and jacket and made her way towards the lake. She was a bit over excited by the weather. Hence, she was here much earlier than planned. Verd would yet use the chance of being lone here to slide out of her Kimono and slowly descend her frame into the frozen water of the lake. She wasn't immune to the cold but the threshold for her to feel freezing was way higher than for a normal person. The temperatures allowed Verd to enjoy nature as it was perfectly fine like this.

Getting a bit lost in time she would yet suddenly hear voices coming along. Two young genin arrived and were about to spar with each other. They were noisy and annoying. It continuously broke Verdandi's calm meditation to hear them scream their battle cries about. Descending deeper and deeper into the lake in hopes their nasty noises wouldn't reach her down there, the passive breathing would lead to more and more bubbles coming from Verd and slowly raising to the surface. Making the Genin curious as they would hear and see the bubble blopp up to the surface. Finding Verdandi's clothes next to the spot made them wonder even more. Maybe a civilian in need had fallen into the lake? It was about that moment when Verd came back to the surface to get some air. Staring at the suddenly deeply scared Genin. She'd screech in surprise and close her eyes. Water would naturally spill its way from the lake, encase the Genin and casually freeze them into fine thin layered statues of ice. It wasn’t something very harmful. Only ninja’s like Verd’s aunt had the power to freeze people to a degree that could kill them. The way Verdandi’s chakra was encasing them under soft layers of water and ice could only keep weak people in check…. Which was sadly a bad thing for the young genins, or at least it didn’t compliment them this way.

Scratching the back of her head she'd look up to what she did there without necessarily intending to do so. Sliding her frame out of the lake to dry her skin in a towel she brought with her and casually take her time with putting her clothes back on. They already were frozen, unfreezing them quicker wouldn’t make much of a difference now. Once she felt refreshed and all ready for the next part of the adventure she wondered what to do with her new friends. In a sudden rush of mercy she decided it’d probably be better to let them go. Tapping the ice layers on their bodies, it slowly started to melt their prison until they were free once again. These young kids were scared even more so after experiencing Verdandi's wonderful ice practices. Soaked in the melted water and obviously getting colder and freezing they yelled things like 'Witch!' or 'Monster' before they hurried and ran away. Probably home or somewhere off to dry their cold bodies. Verdandi chuckled to herself. Despite feeling a bit embarrassed for attacking them in the first place, she knew they’d be fine. That’s what you get for disturbing the ice princess while she’s taking her bath!

Walking around the training grounds and obviously enjoying the snow. Verd would practice some basic movements that she needed to refine when it came to her ice and water techniques. Controlling the water chakra was still something one had to properly train. Especially as an ice user. Verdandi would see Mokuzai roaming around the southern platform of the lake. As if he was waiting for someone and couldn’t find them. She came here today on his invitation anyway. So, she'd make her way to the Senju and bow to him in her usual way. "Wonderful day for training, isn't it? You mentioned you have some techniques up your sleeve for me to see?" she chuckled. Obviously in high spirits after the amusing meeting with the kids. Roaming her fingers into her somewhat still wet hair to fix it back in it’s ponytail with a hairband. Wondering what Moku would show her.


770

The young Senju had reached the halfway marker of his pre-work out goal, the two genin he was to train against had still not showed themselves but yet again he had not finished so he was ever patient, he would chuckle at himself as his palms felt slightly numb from the snow underneath them but he refused to stop his training just because the weather conditions were unfavorable to him. For quitting to him meant that he had failed, and as a ninja of chunin rank and above failing could possibly lead to death making his need to self-improve all the more important to him. Now that he was alone and had the chance he focused harder on the feeling of his body, no longer was he the small child with a big attitude as he could now feel each muscle around his body working as he did his exercise that only made him remember just how long he had been away from home and his wish to return back soon.

Once again Mokuzai would slowly lower himself all the way down until his stomach nearly touched the snow before lifting himself all the way back up as much as his arms would allow completing the one hundred push up that he promised himself he would do as a warm up, just as he was rising back up he would hear the soft crunch of snow under the weight of someone's foot and looked up to see Lady Verdandi standing there, "Wonderful day for training, isn't it? You mentioned you have some techniques up your sleeve for me to see?" The young Senju would look up blankly for a second as in honest truth Mokuzai had forgotten the promise he had made with her as he did not think someone of such stature would actually consider his proposal to train, the genin duo who he was suppose to train was now more than a hour late and he would now give up on the idea of them arriving for today's training and now focused on Lady Verdandi as his confused look now became replaced with a heart warming smile as he stood completely up right now.

"Glad you could make it Verdandi, thats right i do have some technique's i could show you but first...i would like to have a quick sparring match. Last time we meant you mentioned that you also use the art of the blade in close combat, i simply wish to test all aspects of your training if only for the purpose to increase my own." His eye's would slowly glance to the bladed weapon placed on her hip that he recognized as possibly a blade of poor stature, He simply reached for his C-rank katana that was on his right hip along with his Ninjato and kindly presented it to her. "Although im sure your weapon is decent i would prefer for you to use one of mine while i use nothing but hand to hand combat, if you would be so kind" Sure that the prospect of this training would entice her Mokuzai immediately jumped back three meters, he quickly re-positioned his body in a combat ready stance with his right leg straightly forward and left leg to the back slightly bent ready for a kick at any moment while his right hands fingers were slightly bent into a open palm eager to catch any attack that would befall him as his left hand was curled completely into a fist ready to attack the very instant he defended himself. "Feel free to use ALL your skills you have in your arsenal without remorse."

WC:643

Total WC:1,362

Verdandi nodded and gazed upon him. As usual his attitude was confusing. A mixture of showing his pride in the superiority in strength he seemed to have and a respectful if not even submissive behaviour towards Verdandi's standing. The ice princess shrugged it off. Eventually she'd come to terms if she would like this guy or not at last. She would inhale a few times deeply. The fresh air would fill her lungs. The snowflakes placing themselves on her skin would casually melt in a way like she was absorbing them into her body. Certainly, she was feeling very good.

Her palm would snake around the handle of the weapon offered to her. It seemed very similar in most regards to her own blade. A little lighter, better balanced and slightly sharper. But compared to what she had seen at Sero's mansion it wasn't that unique. She slid it a few times over her wrists, balancing the blade as she made some slight curls, feet stepping along as she tossed the blade up and quickly catched it after a spin around. Content that she would be able to use it for her technique she went into an offense stature. Waiting for Moku to give away the signal that he was ready. Verdandi would speed forward. Her technique was very refined. Training with skilled masters had given her the ability to launch her strikes directly towards the human’s weak spots. But not only that. Verdandi's blade was directly aiming towards the point of highest mass. For example, the stomach. This way she would force the highest amount of physical motions out of Moku in order to evade the blade. While Verdandi could stop her piercing movement, slightly adjust the blades sharp end to another direction and keep slicing towards the body of mass.

In a game where Verdandi's movements force inhuman quick motions to avoid, their difference in speed or reaction time didn't matter as much as usual. Verd was smart enough to know that she'd require more than a few nice slices to measure up with the difference in physical power. So the very moment Moku would show the slightest amount of distress coming from avoiding the never ending pressure of offensive slices, Verd would simply tug her own katana from her belt and slice straight forward in a completely new pattern of movements. Attacking her target from left and right, up and down and even combining slicing and piercing motions forward. If he ever dared to actually grab for one of the blades she's tug just enough to cut his palms and let go of the weapons to punch him right in the guts. If he remained to stay in defensive positions she'd continue her dance of dual blades until they both would tire from their first round in battle. If he dared to go into offense. Verdandi would make sure that every punch thrown at here had to be paid by going past an X shaped defence with a very high chance to slide at any incoming limbs thrown at her.

This time wasn't so important to her as to whom will win. She had no intentions to beat her superior. But he had asked for a fight with the princess of blades from Yukigakure. Physical differences put aside he wouldn't get away as easily as aunt Aya. She was far from civilian levels in strength and technique. If Moku didn't stay 100% concentrated at all times. Verdandi would make him pay with a cut to his skin. After all... he told her not to hold back now, didn't he?



615 / 1385

Just as he predicted Lady Verdandi was up for the sparring session as her acceptance was given in the form of a nod as she gazed at him, he would simply wait as she inhaled and exhaled deeply as if to loosen her bodies muscle's in the presence of the continuing snowfall around them, she then begun to examine the blade he had given her and he would think that she possibly though of him as arrogant but this was not the case as the workings of her current blade wouldn't be able to harm him in anyway and all he wanted was to even the playing field if only slightly.

It seemed her preparations were now done and she gazed once more at him as if waiting for a single and he would proudly give it to her, "Come!" With those simple words she rushed towards him at a moderate speed with blade in hand, unfortunately they were so close that Mokuzai's eyes could see every movement her body was making in crystal clear detail as he could see she was clearly aiming for her stomach, he also noticed how her hand had the sharp blade of the blade slightly tilted as if preparation for another attack. He would kindly smirk as although they were only seconds into their spar he could see she held more prowess than the other two genin he had been training combined, once she swung the blade forward he would bend the upper half of his body backwards tilted slightly to the left as he put his right hand onto the ground and if she swung once more he would use the slightly tilted advantage to push his body away towards her left with that same right hand on the ground before with quick speed he would switch by putting his left hand on the ground for balance and then proceed to swing his left leg around in a sweeping kick motion aiming right for her left foot as well to disturb her balance, although she had much prowess in her technique's it seemed she had been entirely too focused on overwhelming him with pure offense with her upper body and lacked some amount of observation for her lower.

Just encase he had been mistaken and she jumped back or jumped upwards in preparation of a counter attack, his immediate reaction would be to either flip backwards using his left hand placed on the ground or quickly use his right foot to kick directly towards her stomach area with full speed and some amount of power(C-rank speed and D-3 strength)in hopes that she would use both her blades in defense that would only result in her being pushed back one meter away in which he would stand fully back on his feet in any case, once he was standing again he would burst straight forward going at eleven meters per second seemingly vanishing and reappearing before her eye's while jumping into the air to perform a mid-air round house kick of lower power(D-rank strength) as he was not trying to harm her as this was just a test of ability to see if she could also evade his advance's yet.


WC:552

Total WC:2,005

Verdandi watched Moku's refined movements. She was here to copy that stuff into her physical memory. Each evasion of his body. Each step. Probably not as perfect as her aunt's motions but certainly better than her own... for now... The rain of blades was a test to her own endurance. The motions had to remain quick and forced sweat into the corner of her forehead. Moku yet didn't remain on the evasion side for long. His movements were bold but certainly effective. As he slid to the floor to sway his attack against Verd's feet, the princess lowered here weapons slowly. She'd smile at the blades touched his incoming leg, but on her last motion she reversed the blades so that the dull ends would just basically tap against him, unwilling to let the sharp ends slice into his skin.

Still, she had to jump backwards to eventually avoid from his feet tripping into her own. As he used his stance to launch himself like a rocket at her. Verdandi would toss her own, original blade right at him like a heavy and slow kunai of sorts. It'd miss him. But not necessarily by failure of skill but maybe on purpose? His feet would hit the side of the one blade she was still carrying. Verd had slid it sideways in front of her. Allowing her to parry the physical attack but the force of his kick would still send her flying backwards a bit. Too bad that the force also made her drop the second blade to the floor. Leaving her defenceless in the nature of a Kenjutsu specialist.

He kept on his attack. Launching towards her. His leg directly aimed to hit her at high speed. Verdandi was prepared. Prepared to take this hit. Prepared to swallow some pain. But he'd have to pay for it if he wanted to go through with it. Cause Verdandi started to pull both of her hands backwards. Making soft silver lines slowly appear visible to the eye now. She had wrapped chakra strings onto both blades that were in her palms and now. She was calling her weapons back to her. The strings were able to cut slightly into anyone who dared to stand in their path. But what was more important. Two swirling blades were aimed at high speed, flying towards Verdandi. Her strings would allow her to easily catch both weapons by the handles. But anyone else in between would need a very keen eye and high speed to intercept the incoming blades. However. Verd was sure Moku could catch them. But he had to decide. Abort his roundhouse attack and defend himself against the blades. Or go through with it and take the hit just to inflict the damage on his willing target. Interesting decision ~


475 / 1860

As he watched his leg move towards Lady Verdandi he realized he made a mistake, he greatly overestimated his own abilities as well as underestimating hers. Sure enough when he planned out his attack in his head he though milady was a great deal weaker as well as slower but he was wrong. He could not stop his leg from going towards her foot in which she had already lowered the blade down to intercept his attack, she was even skilled enough to flick the blade around so that she wouldn't cut the young Senju. Mokuzai was feeling angry at himself for undervaluing Lady Verdandi's combat ability and yet happy that she was more than he expected it, although he was suppose to be teaching her, he could also learn and grow from studying her movements to improve his own.

Verdandi then jumped back but he had already planned this and pursued a straight forward kick to her stomach, milady decided to throw one of the blades straightforward but despite the close range she missed, she had to be up to something as she was skilled enough to make that hit even if they weren't so close. Mokuzai's kick ended up hitting directly into the center of the other blade she had slanted sideways in order to intercept him, only would it be due to the amount of strength he used that his kick was still powerful enough to send her flying backwards and made her grip on the blade loosen as it dropped to the ground.

Not ending his momentum Mokuzai would practically rocket himself at as she was now defenseless with no blade's to block with, it was at that moment milady started to pull both of her hands backwards, it took him a second but he could now see soft silver lines clearly around his eyes and knew they were chakra strings. His immediate though was that the earlier blade throw was a setup as strings were shooting pass him to behind his back, it also occurred to him that she had dropped her blade earlier which was also now behind him, in haste Mokuzai pulled his leg back in quickly and tucked his body inwards as he sucked in his gut so that as the two blades came flying back to Lady Verdandi he would not get cut while he was in between them as he had to let the idea of that roundhouse kick go.

Upon landing on the ground he would flip back with a wide smile while slipping into a relaxed position, "Your way better than i though Lady Verdandi, you must be doing some high quality training. As far as combat abilities ago you get a full mark! Now like i promised i will teach you some water ninjutsu, the first one ill be teaching you is Wild Water Wave, i used the jutsu once before when we were on that mission and it should fit your needs perfectly to set up your ice jutsu. Shall we begin?" After Verdandi said yes he would walk to her and stand 3 meters away to her right side before performing the Dragon, Tiger, Hare hand-seals at a slow pace so she could see it in crystal clear detail before inhaling and letting out a gushing waterfall from his mouth traveling ten meters away before it became a puddle on the ground, he would then turn towards Verdandi. "Your turn. Take your time if you need to."


WC:594

Total WC:2,599

Verdandi was panting, breathing heavily. The show was certainly aesthetic in display but it cost her more endurance then Moku. Despite him praising her for her skills, the moment Verd catched on both blades in her palms, she'd sit down on butt for a while. Indicating that a continuous attack from Moku's side would have finished her off anyway. She was scratching the back of her head, obviously embarrassed by the high praise he rained down upon here and certain she didn't deserve it. But being humble put aside. Verd would allow herself to be helped by Moku. Putting both blades to the edge of the sparring spot.

She inhaled a few times deeply as she got herself in position next to Moku. Staring at the lake at first to relax herself and make sure she was returning to her strength enough to concentrate on the teachings to come. Verd ogled Moku and tried to mimic his stance, despite it being not necessary as the more important part was to do the hand-seals. She watched him do them a few times for her.

Dragon, Tiger, Hare.... Dragon, Tiger, Hare... Dragon, Tiger, Hare.. she mumbled over and over as her fingers kept moving until they series of signs seemed to look as perfect as he displayed it to her. On her first try she must have miss-moulded the chakra on its way up her stomach. The amount of water dripping from her lips was so low one could barely call it a refreshment drink. On the second try she overdid it to the point that she depleted more chakra and shot an unnecessarily large gush that would disperse way too quick into the mist. Moku must have watched in certain entertainment as the student kept failing the simple technique in various was. At least he'd found it amusing until Verd splashed her water at least once if not twice all over him. Soaking the teacher as well as the pupil sooner or later in suiton chakra.

After a multitude of adaptions and Moku showing Verd how to properly meld the flow to resemble a proper streaming gush of liquid, Verd seemed to have finally grasped the concept, forming the seals one last time as water began to exhale from her lips and drip to the floor like an A grade human watering can. She couldn’t help but laugh to herself. Some techniques, as useful as they would end up being, were just silly in their design.

But there was a technique Verdandi was more interested in then spewing water. This one seemed too similar as to what she already knew within the water trumpet. It certainly would be useful to summon some basic grounds of water. But what really intrigued her was to be able to make a physical clone. She had seen Moku use the technique of a water clone during their mission. She even used its body as a means to imprison an enemy against a wall. If she could use a mobile body of water like this.... not to mention the basic idea of duplicating herself in a battle against multiple enemies....

She wasn't too shy on asking straight forward what was lingering in her mind. "Mhmmm this technique is fun and useful. But can you show me how to make a body clone from water? I'd really like to be able to use that.... and who knows what might happen if I can infuse some frost into its body!" she spoke, enjoying the idea of doing experimental ice jutsu based on water techniques. Being close to the lake anyhow would surely help them in their deed to train with what was coming next.



625 / 2485

After his assault was over and he slipped into a more relaxing position after giving Lady Verdandi some praise, she would immediately fall onto her butt in some exhaustion, he would make a note of that to tell her later as having a weapon in battle require's quite a bit of stamina to wield for long periods of time although he had no doubt she was already aware of that, but for now he would let it slide as she had just took on the force of his attacks without so much as a single scratch. As he got next to her he could hear her heavily inhale some air which was a good thing, proper breathing is good for training to avoid you tiring yourself out due to a lack of sufficient oxygen intake, she would then slip into the same stance he took which made him sort of happy as he begun to showcase how wild water wave jutsu was performed.

He could hear as she mumbled the name of the seals over and over as if engraving them into her mind while her hands fumbled to make them, it didn't take very long until she got the movement of the hand seals to look exactly like his but there was still a slight problem, as she did her first attempt the amount of water coming from her mouth would look more like a light sprinkle then a gushing waterfall, she must have made a slight error in the chakra molding. He would watch silently in respect at her dedicated efforts as both a teacher and a fellow shinobi, once more she attempted the jutsu and this time she got closer, but again she must have mis-matched the amount of chakra she put into it as the water that came flowing out was excessive and quickly disappeared into the mist but not before some of the water landed on him soaking his clothes and onto hers. The water on him combined with the snowy weather made him colder, so to keep himself warm he would start doing jumping jacks which may have seemed really random to Verdandi, but he didn't want to die of hypothermia at such a young age.

After completing at least fifty jumping jacks he would walk over to Verdandi and give her a tip, "Imagine the flow of water like a river stream that flow's through you, it helped me when i first learned." Rather if it was through his tip or not it seemed she was able to grasp the concept as she was now able to perform it perfectly, she would start chuckling with caught him off guard before turning to him and asking a question with a straight face, "Mhmmm this technique is fun and useful. But can you show me how to make a body clone from water? I'd really like to be able to use that.... and who knows what might happen if I can infuse some frost into its body!" Even if she tried to hide it he could hear the obvious excitement in her voice as she spoke about how she could incorporate the technique into her ice jutsu's, he nodded in response as he smiled, "Of course i could, clone technique's are kinda a specialty of mine."

Before he started he loosened his body some more but then spoke, "Listen closely, this jutsu unlike wild water wave is more simple in it's activation, but the dangers involved in using it can possibly be more dangerous as every clone formed takes one tenth of your whole chakra and you can make up to six at a time, for now it be best to only attempt to make one during combat until you get used to the technique." With his warning out the way Mokuzai would only make the tiger hand seal before the cold water on the ground would rise and take the form of two identical clone's to his left and right side, "Simple enough right?"


WC:695

Total WC:3,294

Verdandi would watch him do the jumping motions but admired the fact that his body pretty quickly adjusted to the wetness and weather. Seeing him heat himself up was quite a feat to watch. Verd who didn't only grow up in the land of snow but also had pulsating ice pumping through her chakra flow wouldn't feel much of a difference just yet. She was not immune to the cold anyhow. So, while he was doing his jumps, Verd used a stoney circle that with prepared little wood pieces to light a fire. The campfire would idly burn away next to the lake. She just had to be careful not splashing anymore of her techniques around like before. With a source of warmth, they would get together next to the lake. Allowing Moku to properly show off his natural skill in the water elements.

Verdandi was impressed by the easy and clean motion he showed as he concentrated. Watching the figure of his own shadow copy itself onto the water surface before it would turn solid and take his shape again. Verd prepared herself by practicing the simple art of normal academy clone techniques. Placing them one by one to sit around the campfire, telling each other stories about Verdandi's glorious victories in battle. Before they would eventually evaporate into thin air again. Having completed the perfect re-modelling of her own body and shape into the shadow of a bunshin. Verd was certain that she could pour her chakra into it next. Making the seal as Moku had shown. The shadow of her body would slowly above the lakes surface until the frame slowly filled with suiton chakra and fluids from the lake.

Watching the clone rise she seemed overjoyed by the fact of being able to put them together. But she must have forgotten to give him the appropriate amount of chakra to allow him to keep his form. Never had she used a technique that was specifically bound to her chakra pools limit. It didn't make much sense in her head but she tried. Raising multiple clones, one after the other. As she rarely pushed enough chakra into their bodies, she didn't really get tired of it, but certainly she grew annoyed by the fact that they just didn't want to obey her the way she imagined it. It probably took a good further 20 minutes of weird looking clones that started to mock her by mimic'ing themselves dying in gruesome ways as yet they were just dissolving back into water.

Watching her body melt into the lake time and time again until she finally, pushed the right amount of chakra into one, she could feel her own pool depleting over it but she could also understand now how it works. The suiton chakra would create the body structure, the actual chakra would complete the surface and the core of the clone, whilst the water would fill the space within the frame, allowing the creature to take a proper physical form and interact with its world.

Sitting down to the campfire and watching it slowly dimming in the few little wood that was available, the clone quickly hurried off into the nearby forest. Allowing Verdandi and Moku to contemplate over which technique they should look into next. While Verd was hearing him out for suggestions. Her clone had returned to add some firewood to the campfire. Sitting down next to Dandi and looking at him like she was the actual original. Certainly, Verd would had to work on her clones personality but for now it seemed to behave and at least act after what Verdandi had told her.

Over time, while sitting in proximity, the clones body would become thicker and shinier. Without much noticing it, the outside layer of the clone had slowly become a little frosty. Showing the first signs of what might someday be an ice clone instead of a water clone. Verdandi watched her own miscreation with fascination but didn't really understand yet how she was doing that. Her aunt would probably have to answer to this. There wasn't really anyone else around who had the abilities of the ice clan as much in check as auntie.

Anyhow, training had to go on. Next tech would be chosen by Moku once more.


715 / 3200

Whilst Mokuzai had been doing his jumping jacks to maintain his body heat in the face of the snow falling from the heavens above, Verdandi quickly got to work in creating a circle made of stone's and proceeded to gather small pieces of wood in the surrounding area to start a fire, the glow of the fire was clear as day even too those with poor or deteriorating eyesight as it was  like a beacon in the center of a white storm.The campfire would idly burn away next to the surface of the lake as he would quickly finish off his mini workout session, now that he was finished he would sit next to the warm cozy fire because even  though he know how to  regulate his body heat the glow of the fire attracted him like a moth to a glowing light in the shadows of the night.

With efficient and slow clean motions the young Senju would show Lady Verdandi how to form the single seal required for water clone's, he was happy that she was interested as he figured by the fact her gaze was entirely focused on his hand movements while he performed it, on the nearby water surface his reflection begun to  turn solid and take his shape and then another would do exactly the same. Milady not feeling one hundred percent confident in her skills decided to do a practice run that worked nearly the same as the water clone technique, she had decided to use the academy's clone techniques and did it with not one ounce of trouble as was expected. The next part of what she did somewhat confused him as each clone took sits side by side as she started telling stories of the battles she had weathered thus far in her shinobi career, he honestly didn't know what was the point of it but didn't mind as surely she was either tired or getting tired by now and he believed a small break was in order, not long after she started the clone's would eventually evaporate back into the  thin air they were created by. Now more confident in her own abilities milady now decided to perform the water clone jutsu, she had made the seal easy enough and he could even see the surface of the lake start to rise and take form as the shape of a body, Lady Verdandi's face lit up with excitement as she begun to do it all on her own, but it seemed she had made a slight error as the clone that was formed quickly fell apart back into a puddle of water falling onto the snowy ground.

Mokuzai would simply watch as his student would persistently try and try again to perform the water clone jutsu as she made multiple clones, one after the other. Each clone after the next would also fall apart and by now he was sure she wasn't putting enough of her own chakra to form them correctly, he wanted to intervene, but in order for a flower to grow you must water it and give it proper fertilizer and hope that with it's own ability it rises from a seed into a magnificent flower. Eventually he could see her face become warped with irritation of her own inadequacy to yet form and maintain her own clone's, but after twenty minutes passed of watching her form deformed clone's that would mimic her before disappearing in odd and rather unsettling ways as they turned back to puddle's of water, she finally had a break through.

She made the seal once more and this time it seemed she was able to push the right amount of chakra into it as it kept and maintained it's form of her, she looked rather tired compared to earlier no doubt due to have using alot of her chakra in trying to perform the technique but she also held the face of someone who had just grasped a concept they had long since trouble with."It seems you were able to figure it out Verdandi, be proud of yourself for now you have two new jutsu's in your arsenal."

Now that a moment of piece had come, they would simply sit near the campfire watching it burn slow as it's strength withered due to the lack of presence of actual fire, Lady Verdandi's clone quickly hurried off into the nearby forest to procure some more wood for the fire although such a thing wasn't needed as Mokuzai himself was a walking source of firewood. He would close his hands together in prayer before separating them as a long piece of wood that was three inch's thick and five inch's long formed being held between his two palms, he immediately broke it in half and then throw it into the fire so that they wouldn't lose it before the clone returned, he had faith the clone would be able to find some but it was getting darker and the snowfall may prove difficult to spot some out.

He would cough before speaking up, "Well if you have anymore chakra left i have but one more technique to show you before i end the training session for the day, it's a technique very well known throughout the land but has it's uses in battle, it's called "Ninja Art: Tile Shuriken". it works by spreading your chakra to ten different objects that are either flat or long that start to become compressed, sharpened, and levitated all at the same time in nearly a instant, although the downside is you can't control where the weapons go once you throw them, the upside is that it provides a opening for another possible attack or evasion of one." Lady Verdandi's clone now  returned with some more firewood and added it to the stone circle before taking it's sit next to her, he somewhat chuckled at the fact the clone also seemed to start paying attention to his words before continuing to show her the required seals for it, his fingertips would now expel ten tiny thin but long pieces of wood before he hands would begin to weave making the Dragon, Rat, Horse, and  Tiger hand seals as the ten pieces now begun to levitate into the air as they became compressed and sharpened before he launched them towards the lake, he would make ten more pieces just like the previous one's, "Now your turn."


WC:1,110

Total WC:4,404

Verdandi watched her clone with fascination. In return the clone watched Verdandi with fascination. It was... well fascinating. Then again Moku would probably feel like he's sitting in the wrong movie. Verd must have yet to figure out how to properly control her new twin. The water clone watched poked against the wood Moku had produced by himself. As if the clone had forgotten that it was... a water made clone. This was odd. Did she put too much personality into her chakra? She was watching him closely as he was about to fiddle with the next technique, just as attentive as Verdandi herself.

Following the motions of his fingers, both Verdandi and her new clone twin were forming the hand seals as shown by their teacher. Both would grab on various objects around them. Trying to bend them with the chakra as advertised by Moku. Soon it started to become some sort of competition. While the water clone seemed certainly more motivated and determined, Verdandi's advantage was clear. A human would have all the wits a mere clone would never have. Proud of her work Verd turned a leaf into a flat and sharp object. But turning her head to the side made her realize that clone-Dandi had already shaped one of Moku's woods from the fire pile into a kunai of sorts.

As the race of dominance began to pick up further, the objects they created out of whatever they found piled up. One of them had eventually turned a squirrel into some sort of weapon, before the confused animal ran away clearly upset by the humans attempt to use it for their vile games. At last they had to admit that neither of the two had fully grasped the nature of melding their powers into those objects. The piles slowly fell apart. Until at last the clone would poof and dissolve into a puddle that crawled back into the lake. Sharing its insights suddenly with Verdandi as their minds reconnected. She tried the technique once more and to her own surprise the combined knowledge acquired would be good enough to actually set the leaf in her palm into some sort and form of weapon.

Afterwards Verdandi would proceed to continuously shape and experiment with the objects around her, until she could satisfy her curiosity properly and throw a full ten of objects towards the next best tree. Verd celebrated her achievement for a while by forming some origami ducks out of leaf’s. Tossing them into the lake while enjoying the warmth of the campfire in front of her. But by the end of this, she was yawning big time. Her strength was depleted. She had underestimated the costs of her clone practice. Her pool was pretty empty. Her stomach would growl in hunger and Verdandi would realize that it was, indeed, time to call it a day for now.

Ogling Moku once more who had patiently endured all of the weird ways that Verd tended to call training, she would notice him smiling in an odd way, probably amused by the slight insanity shown from the ice princess just here and there along the lines of todays meeting. “Hmmm I guess I should take a rest now. This clone thing will be very useful… as will the water flow and the improvised ninja tools… I guess you wouldn’t have anything on hand for home studies, now would you?” Verd asked sheepishly. She was greedy to finish through the series of techniques he had promised her during their mission. Learning more techniques was of utter importance at a weak level as hers.


610 / 3810

Whilst putting his hands close to the fire Mokuzai would simply watch as both Lady Verdandi and her clone begun to compete against each other in a race to see who could learn the jutsu the fastest, it was very amusing to see just how hard they were trying but even more amusing to know that Lady Verdandi's competitive spirit was lit by no other then herself, eventually after watching the two use a myriad of items in a attempt to weaponize them the clone which had been running off the chakra Verdandi had given up ran out and ending up poofing away while dissolving back into a puddle of water. He would watch as her eyes lit up as if she had just connected the dots, Mokuzai could have explained earlier that any information a clone absorbed would be transferred back to the user upon disappearance but he figured she would have learned it anyway like she had just now, Lady Verdandi once again attempted the technique and found now with both sides of knowledge she had been able to completely weaponize the leaf she held in the palm of her hand.

He would watch in awe as she was quite the curious student, now that she had mastered being able to perform the technique she would keep trying it with different items before using all ten of whatever she found and aiming them towards a nearby tree, proud of her accomplishments she begun making
origami ducks out of leaf’s and tossing them into the lake with utter glee. She let out a yawn after her small celebration, Mokuzai was not surprised as she had wasted alot of chakra alone with just her shadow clone practice and even he felt weakened although not as much as she must be feeling.

Upon realization of this Lady Verdandi would speak,“Hmmm I guess I should take a rest now. This clone thing will be very useful… as will the water flow and the improvised ninja tools… I guess you wouldn’t have anything on hand for home studies, now would you?” Mokuzai simply laughed out loud, even in near exhaustion she wanted to train, in that aspect they were nearly alike but he would begin to explain himself. "Ah sorry i didn't mean to offend, i just realized that your just as much a training maniac as i, perhaps we both have a sort of addiction to it. As for your question indeed i do, i have two more technique's i had yet to teach you so ill be writing it down for you to take home."

Just as he said he would Mokuzai pulled out a piece of paper,he begun to write water style sea foam jutsu at the top and put under it the instructions of simply breathing in while infusing suiton nature chakra in your stomach before exhaling causing two globes to form. Right below it he put water palm blade which was even more simply as all she had to do was gather suiton nature around her hand and visualize it cutting like a blade of water before throwing it like a projectile, his way of describing it was vague but part of training was figuring out your own unique ways of doing things and thats what he wanted to teach her if she had not already learned the lesson.

Finishing the note he folded it before handing it to her, "It was my absolute pleasure in training you today, if you would be so kind i like to see you in two weeks time after you trained some more, at that time ill test your combat abilities again to see how much you improved. Until then Lady Verdandi." With quick movement he would jump over he before running home.

-Exit Thread-


WC:650

Total WC:5,054


Stats

Speed:
C ~> C-1, 575 words and 100 Ryo. (4479 Words Left)
C-1 ~> C-2, 600 words and 125 Ryo. (3879 Words Left)
C-2 ~> C-3, 700 words and 150 Ryo. (3179 Words Left)


Strength:
C ~> C-1, 575 words and 100 Ryo. (2604 Words Left)
C-1 ~> C-2, 600 words and 125 Ryo. (2004 Words Left)
C-2 ~> C-3, 700 words and 150 Ryo. (1304 Words Left)

(saving 1000 Words and wasting 304)

The training day had come to it’s end. Verdandi bowed politely in thanks to her sensei and exchanged the usual politeness required as well as giving her good bye’s and fare well’s. Putting out the fire on base of some very basic water technique to wash away the remaining ash, wood and stones of the campfire into the lake, leaving nothing but a little black spot in the grass that would eventually be overgrown very soon. She didn’t like to damage nature for long term. It didn’t fit her belief in aesthetics. Or her addiction towards aesthetics one could say. Moku would soon make his leave and wave bye bye to get on to his way home.

Verdandi was studying the paper on her own way home. Wondering how to put them into application they yet didn’t seem as complicated as the clone one. Thinking of it, the clone tech was pretty awesome. Especially if put to use within training. But for today Verdandi’s energy reserves were empty. She couldn’t really go on any further even if she was still motivated to go on. Once at home she’d quickly fall to her bed, probably even in her own same dress and snore off away into dreamland. Thinking about making a thousand clones to annoy her auntie with.

The next day she’d spend hours on going through the paper given by Moku. Sometimes cursing him for not giving more pointers. Yet funny enough it would be that she’d end up her first successful cast on the bubble technique in her bathtub. Creating a huge mess in her bathroom. But well… it was very ZEN to go with the flow of things. So she kind of simply enjoyed her new and fun bubble bath at home. One her way back to the lake she’d keep practicing some bubbles, annoying some of the passengers along the way.

Today she’d be alone, aside from the usual suspects that roamed around the proximity of Verd’s favourite training spot. She practiced through all the techniques she had learned. From the waterfall over to the improvised shuriken technique. Creating her clone once more, certainly one of her favourite techniques in that regard. Together with the Dandi clone she’d linger around the woods and try her best to get back into the spirit of the last technique. It was supposed to be about creating chakra blades made of water that are shot at high speed from the casters palms. Verd and clone stood both in front of the tree as they started to use the seals Moku had written down and wave their palms accordingly, trying to expel the little water attack forth. As usual the first few tries not more then a few gushes of water splashing from their palms would happen. Interestingly enough the clone seemed to be, once more, more successful than Verdandi, probably cause its complete existence is based on being one huge pile of water in the first place. Verd used this to her advantage and watched how the clone easily formed little balls of water, as if the palms were sweating it out, before using the specific motions to basically grab on the water and throw it forth towards their target.

After several minutes of getting to terms with creating the water requirements in that kind of sweaty motion Verd would be easily able to form the blades. Now she only had to watch her clone on how to throw the blades to become as deadly as the technique intends to. It didn’t take much time and her weaponry skill or natural talent at that, allowed her to use the water blade like a normal weapon at that, easily aiming it perfectly at the target desired. With this achievement complete. Verd was done for the most part. She’d continue to go through the series of techniques she had learned with these short few days. The coming week she’d have to practice them more in order to perfect their usage and make sure no failures would happen in battle as they had happened during training.


[Exit]

700 / Total wc: 4510

Training: