Puppet Building: Stage One

Yuudai traversed through the village, his identity covered via his ANBU Black Ops mask, a bronze mask with a laughing expression, and his white hooded coat, which also covered the armor he wore underneath as well. One can never be too careful, especially in the outskirts of the village itself. He definitely didn't wish to be directly identified for what he is about to do by anything more than what his coat and mask would say. The project of his was far too important at this moment, as this was the first stage, and the first step into using real human features in order to create more realistic and more powerful puppets. This being the first stage, however, he would, of course, only make one that had general Human-like hair, and what better to create his newest replacement with than the very hair the theme is based on. He could very much describe in detail the occurrences of what had occurred back then no matter what he was doing as, out of everything, that moment was one of the few that gave him ideas to help improve himself in the future. These Human Puppets would very well prove to provide an added psychological effect onto another for all Yuudai knows, and as he trailed through the streets and through the gateway, where he would head to wear he buried her and her allies, he would soon find out.

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On and on Yuudai would traverse through the giant walls made of stone which he had always admired. How can walls be built so incredibly thick in so short of a time, or how can a village be made out of whatever was originally within these walls? Whoever designed this place definitely had their work cut out for them, and must have been proud to have built it, as Yuudai had known for a fact that he himself would not even waste his time creating such massive defenses. He wondered what it would look like, the day that even these walls are eroded away by the blowing winds and the sand carried by them. He wondered if Sungakure itself would still be around by then, or if it would pack up and change homes, or even destroyed. Having vowed to protect the village and the people inside it by doing whatever it means necessary, Yuudai was certainly not one to allow such a fate to occur, as it would be an utter disaster. Against nature, however, would he even have a choice in the matter?

Now, in the outskirts of the village, Yuudai would walk along the wall, his black boots allowing small particles of sand to slide in through the opening of the sandals, making the footwear slowly more uncomfortable to wear, but for the sake of his puppet, he must continue on without stopping, for he had much work to do. He already knew the name of the weapon, and that he was extremely confident on adding hair to it, as well, though what should the body-type be? He could be humorous and make it a scorpion, or a snake, though he wanted something more... sentimental and fitting. After all, to better progress in his plans anyways he might as well make the body the shape of a Humanoid. Yuudai would decide that even though it is based on a female, he would leave the puppet without breasts. He wasn't perverted, for starters, secondly it's a weapon, not a... different type of doll, and thirdly extra weight added to the chest could prove to be something that may slow the puppet down while Yuudai is controlling it. A flat-chested female puppet weapon, overall it sounds like a solid idea. Yes, Yuudai would decide on this idea as he reached the grave of this female, which consisted of a single post appearing from the ground. There, he would use his hands to start digging, knowing for a fact that the grave was quite shallow, and therefore should be rather easy for the ANBU Captain to dig up, even after the sands shifting.

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Brushing off the remainder of the sand save for one or two particles here and there, Yuudai would begin to life the lid of the wooden coffin off, revealing sunlight to the dust-covered, decayed corpse within. Surrounded by silver hairs, Yuudai would see that most of them had already fallen out of her head, or really, her skull. This is good, as it makes his job far easier in the end when he has to remove and attach them to the head of the puppet, along with false hairs as well, as most likely her hairs alone would not be able to fully complete the long hairstyle he desired for the puppet. As he glanced down upon this corpse, he would have memories about that day once more. Their breaking into her closed off hideout, defeating those loyal to her, his entering her main room, seeing her bloodied up to the wrists with various tools next to her, her own plans and ideas being muttered to herself as her long, silver hair was running wild, dirty from lack of cleaning. He remembered how mad she acted, and how even crazier her idea seemed at the time, and then nothing.

She was truly his first kill, and it didn't feel as.. right as he thought it would. It felt more like he was putting down a sick, dying animal rather than someone that actually posed a threat. She was one of the few, and Yuudai means the few, kills that really stuck out as well. Even today, looking at her corpse, she didn't deserve his plunging a Kunai into her spine, and if he could take it back, perhaps he could have found a way to help her live in peace without killing her, as she was so clearly a madwoman before he killed her, so how hard would it be to really convince her of anything? He would close the coffin, returning to where he could work on her and his newest puppet in peace.

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Having returned to the home of his Clan, where his workshop is located, Yuudai would get to work on what he needed to do. Cleaning the fallen hairs out of the coffin was easy enough, as they were not attached to anything at all. These individual follicles just remained within the dusty wooden confines themselves, waiting to essentially fall out of existence, not able to be used by anyone anymore. It was the disgusting work of removing the few he had seen trapped in her skull, as he had to carefully pluck each one out of her head. Luckily he's not some sick freak, he wouldn't dare put this corpse on his workbench, as it would be very disgusting to have known that a decaying dead body was laying there, infecting the workbench with all kinds of possibly necrotic bacteria. Instead he kept both her and her coffin on the ground nearby, where he had easy access to the things he needed, whether it was hair or something else.

He would, after plucking the hairs out, proceed off to find some more, as he knew this wouldn't complete the full head of hair he desired for his puppet to have.

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Traversing throughout the streets he would walk past many shops, though once more, he had flashbacks to when he had attacked her and her group. This time, he vividly remembered his stabbing her in the back, her body bending backwards ever so slightly as her mouth opened with surprise. Her grey eyes held bags that indicated many, many sleepless nights, and even though Yuudai had basically put down a currently harmless woman, he could still recall the subtle look of peace she had when she had begun to pass, almost as though she was finally free from her tormented state, while Yuudai was struck with one of his own. Guilt is a funny thing this way, as it can easily be passed from one to another indiscriminately. Yuudai would appear at a small puppetry shop that sold some hairs too for an aesthetic effect. Yuudai would enter the empty shop, waving dismissively at the shopkeeper, whom of which was attempted to do a bow of respect towards his leader, though Yuudai didn't wish to be bowed to. He had, which he had known for a fact for a small while now, only became their leader so he himself wouldn't be usurped.

Silently he would traverse the isles, seeing large collections of various heads, arms, legs, chasis's, and other basic parts for puppet creation, though he wasn't here for those things, but instead a certain color of the so-called aesthetics that he needed for Silver Widow. Soon enough he came across a small rack with jars of fake hair. Spotting the silver color next to the black and brown, he would take the jar, paying for it at the desk, and then returning to get to work on his project, knowing that he would need to continue it right away so he wouldn't end up late when it is time to travel.

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Use tweezers and other small tools Yuudai would begin by attaching the real hairs to the head of the puppet first. It was extremely tedious work, though he would make sure he didn't rush himself, as if he did the finished product would, too, look like a wreck. Every silver strand was a fragile piece of glass in his hands, and he must not drop or damage this piece in any way whatsoever. It would bring shame to him as a puppet master if he couldn't even correctly insert hairs into the head of his puppet, of course. As he finished with inserting the real hairs he would continue with the large jar he received, pulling out each individual one, unraveling it, and inserting it into the head of his puppet. Rinse and repeat he would do this, continuously spending what felt and seemed like hours on this one thing. The recent scar on his right shoulder throbbed from when that Shinobi stabbed him, though it wasn't a painful throbbing as much as it was a throbbing of slight discomfort. Perhaps when Silver Widow is finished Yuudai can make a puppet out of him, too.

Soon enough, the color difference of the hairs was pretty evident, though it is all right if they're different colors. In a way it adds highlights of sorts to the creation, which is something he can never go wrong with. These hairs were only meant to serve as both an aesthetic and a means of performing Yuudai's Wild Lion's Mane Technique, a technique which utilizes the hair, growing it until it is shaped like a lion, where it would then assault the enemy. The color silver and any other similar color to it merely fit the theme of the puppet and Yuudai's own graying hair color, and for someone orderly like Yuudai, such a thing is good. After a few hours the puppet head would finally have a full head of hair, and Yuudai would have completed the most tedious of the things he had to do, here. Now it is time to move onto the face itself. Using various carving tools, he would carve the sections for a movable mouth out. He recalled the process to actually make it move when he needed it to using smaller mechanisms within it so it would remain up whenever he didn't need to use it. It was really something your average puppet using Genin would know, so it wasn't nearly as tedious as this weapon's hair, only boring. After attaching the mechanism in the mouth to what he had designated as the mouth itself, Yuudai would move onto the final part of the head.

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It was the eyes of the puppet that was all that's left. Looking at the nearly complete creation Yuudai could see that it was all coming together, especially since the sockets of the eyes was already carved and refined, ready to receive the eye itself. Yuudai would recollect his memories, recalling that day once more. The grey eyes she had would most certainly work for this project, especially since it is based on her. He recalled her wearing a necklace with a silver pendant on it when she died. Yuudai had forgotten whether or not she had it on her when she was buried, but if she did it would make for a great left eye. Opening up the coffin, Yuudai would cringe the idea that he had to dig around her corpse in order to find something that may or may not actually be there. First he checked around her body within the coffin, thinking that it could have fallen off, though then he noticed that there was still a thin chain around her decayed neck, indicating that the pendant had fallen off, but not apart.

It was rather disgusting, to move a dead body, to lift of the upper torso and look under it, and then around it as well once more, though when he finally found it underneath the back of this corpse, Yuudai would quickly move to where he had some water ready. Quickly and thoroughly he would wash his hands, scrubbing the bacteria away, as he didn't wish to catch anything from this project of his at all. He needed to be physically so he can help protect the village.

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Returning to his work station with the circular piece hand, he would shave off some of it so it would fit into the eye socket. After a few tries it entered to socket, making it a snug fit, and matching the hair around it. It shouldn't be going anywhere anytime soon, Yuudai hoped to himself as he would grab a small jar of black ink and a brush. Dipping the brush into the ink, Yuudai would press it lightly against the puppet's left cheek, starting just under the eye socket and moving all the way down to the bottom of the jaw. He would then put the two items away and look at the complete head, which looked nearly exactly how he envisioned it, save for the empty left eye socket, though the hair should, for the most part, cover that. It was time to move on to the rest of the body. Grabbing some small tools, the ANBU Captain would begin inserting small bits and pieces to the insides of the body in order to better reinforce it, making it strong durability-wise than the average puppet, which is something someone of his rank needs for dangerous missions and when heading out to places where Shinobi from other lands would be present.

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More and more he worked, reinforcing the many pieces of the humanoid body. He would add spherical elbows and knees for better joint movement, allowing the puppet to move like a regular Human if Yuudai desired. He also willed it movable fingers and toes, the toes for an aesthetic affect while the fingers for use of hand signs in combat. Those two would have spherical joints. The torso, or chassis, of the puppet was a slender but strong one, keeping the slender female appearance while not adding on breasts or anything of the sort. Empty compartments would be installed within the chest and fore arms, along with the head and legs. Six in total would be designed and carved out, though left empty as they are for future projects.

Yuudai would test out the body parts one by one. He would test how each one felt when being moved, the resistance of the movement, and hopefully correcting any mistakes or exploits along the way. He would tap on the parts as well, making sure that they are indeed durable for when they get struck by an attack. He doesn't expect them to withstand anything, though any decent puppet is one that is not brittle, and for him as a puppet master he needed to make sure his main weapon isn't brittle as well, as it may be the very thing that stands between he and death. He would continue knocking on each peace, making his way from bottom to top until he reached the empty neck area.

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Grabbing a cylinder and two circular joint pieces, Yuudai would continue on with putting the puppet together. He would slide the circular pieces against the cylinder, attaching them using a series of wires and other assortments which would be stored within the cylinder itself. Closing the piece shut, it was time he finally put his puppet together, as the body as a whole is now complete. Attaching piece to piece and joint to joint, Yuudai would be satisfied with his work as a whole, and about how there's only one last thing to do, which is to dress it up in clothing, just like how a person would wear clothing in order to cover up their own body as well so they wouldn't appear naked. Having two long dark gray cloths, one of which is a cloak, and one tattered tan cloth, Yuudai would get to work, layering it from the original dark gray article of clothing to tattered tan poncho of sorts to a dark gray cloak.

Everything was complete now. Looking upon this puppet which he named Silver Widow, Yuudai definitely had his memories flood back to him throughout the entire process. In a way this would be the first of many steps in designing a puppet that would look Human enough to fool other Humans. While this one is still most definitely a puppet to even the most blind of Shinobi it still counted as the first one, as it is based upon the one that gave Yuudai the idea first. With his new puppet, which he decided on wearing over his cloak, the arms of which are wrapped over his shoulders, Yuudai would officially be ready to go the the Kage Summit and help ensure the survival of his Kage should anything occur.

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~Puppet Created~

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