Daily Grind

[Zao]

The second-year classes functioned a bit more like college classes, in that the schedule of each was set by the teacher and weren't normally back-to-back every day like a normal school. Most had a day or more break between them and today Ziv's current class schedule was his morning class about ancient runes and a four-hour break between the forging class.

Trying to make use of his downtime the youth had arrived early at the equipment room, summoning his ten-meter-long wood dragon puppet as it came to rest upon a couple pushed together work benches. Though they couldn't borrow to many of the school provided materials they were always welcome to check out and borrow tools for their own personal endeavors, as long as they were returned in a normal time frame. Perhaps he should consign some special tools in a request to the school and pay through the merits he'd racked up so that he wouldn't have to always be using someone else's things.

The youth had rather ambivalent feelings about Sky Reach, yes, he enjoyed the learning atmosphere but felt they kept them 'too safe' instead of letting them adventure out and forge their own character. Perhaps it was due to the war between Iwa and Suna that was near their own border, but it was still frustrating none the less.

Not expecting to run into any of his fellow students the slender framed kid went about snagging up a few tools in each of his small hands before placing them all on the table. A chakra thread grabbed a nearby chair and slid it over behind him as he sat down quietly right in front of the dragon's large maw. Already starting to work on removing some of the panels that connected the toothy dragon head to the neck of the puppet.

[Trusted Grader]

Yume was far too young for this, he knew what he was reading but had trouble keeping all the information in his head, Yami on the other hand worked as if he was some sort of personal computer and just soaked everything in. It was almost as if the stronger the due got, the more he knew of the world. Yami seemed to be something far more than just his twin but he couldn't put words to it. It had only been a year since he first heard his twin speak yet here he was reading books adults were supposed to understand, his thirst for knowledge seemed to overshadow Yume's ability to grow in strength.

"At least one of us is enjoying this..." Yami looked over at Yami who was reading a book about Crescent Coalition's history."No, no, no, that's not how it happened... Well... Not exactly like that but... Sure..." Yume tilted his head to the side as he heard his brother speak, how would he know how things happened? Perhaps his umbral brother had a better memory than he did, or maybe it was all those discussions with their teachers that had led him to know more about Crescent's history than he did.

There's a lot I don't know about Yami. Yami looked over at Yume, as the white-haired brother tried his best to look away, seemingly forgetting that the two of them could read each other's minds, a chuckle escaped the shadowy twin's breath as he continued to read the history book, while a sigh escaped Yume's. After a while he rose to a standing position and moved over to Ziv who seemed busy with his puppet dragon, he scratched the side of his head before pointing back at Yami. "I can't believe that he knows so much about Cresent's history... Reading 2nd Year books as if they were pocketbooks... What are you up to?"

[Zao]

“Reading is something everyone should do.” Ziv couldn’t help but comment to his young friends, glancing up from where he’d seemingly pried open the large tooth filled mouth of the puppet as he had numerous tools tossed about on the desk in front of him, on the puppet’s body itself, and even some inside the mouth of the puppet. As the puppeteer grew in strength, he quickly realized that his puppet’s were dragging down his own level of chakra manipulation, thus he wasn’t able to truly bring about the full extent of his own power or that of the puppets he wielded. Thus, it was what led him here today to originally work on this puppet of his own creation based on the spirit beast he’d seen while within the personal realm of his fathers.

Ziv paused, seemingly lost in thought as his hands touched the left side of the upper maw, this puppet and this type of workshop caused the young ninja to be drawn back into his past. He was standing upon the softest of grass that was as thick as hair upon the ground to the point one couldn’t see the ground they sprouted from. Yet floating in front of him was a massive dragon like puppet with a fierce appearance and deep jade green eyes that looked almost like some type of precision stone or jewel. Beside him was the Spirit Saint, the man gently controlled the movement of the draconic puppet frame with such ease and fluidity that it appeared extremely lifelike in its movements despite its puppet like appearance.

The boy couldn’t help but stare up in awe, his head tilted back allowing him to look up as the puppet circled around above their heads with the backdrop of the endless starscape in the personal world of his fathers. He’d only been back with his dad for a few days but everything Zao spoke about or did in relations to training him seemed almost at a level that was to profound for him to understand and even still the white haired man simply smiled and continued to speak and work with Ziv to help him develop. A genuine large smile was on the kid’s face as he reached up with both hands, mimicking the hand and finger movements of Zao as he continued to control the puppet as he spoke about the strengths and weaknesses to being a puppeteer.

Ziv blinked and realized that his own eyes now were moist, almost on the very of shedding a tear and he was back in the workshop with his two brothers. Though the time he’d spent with his father after reuniting with him was only a short six months, it was enough for him to understand the love which his father and late mother both held for their son. He only wished that it could have continued for at least a while longer than it had. Shaking his head he used the back of one hand to wipe the corner of his right eyes. “The dust in here.” He mumbled loud enough to himself that the twins could make out his words incase they saw him as his briefly saddened face returned to the normal appearance. Again, his gaze returned to the inside of the giant dragon’s mouth, he’d already upgraded the material of the puppet frame increasing its strength and now he wanted to add on some true firepower.

But he was at a bit of a crossroads as to what he wanted to use. After all, he could easily install a hidden launcher, something that the young man had become quite adept in building after his craftsmanship had rapidly improved under the tutorage of the Sky Reach top blacksmiths and weapon smiths. Yet, he was also quickly advancing in his ancient runes and perhaps it would be beneficial for him to carve an elemental run into the mouth of the puppet. The dragons in myth and legends were able to breath fire, right?

[Trusted Grader]

Yume helped pry open the mouth of the puppet as his brother spoke, a small chuckle escaped his breath as he continued to inspect the thing, he was always awestruck by the creations of Ziv. The only awe-inspiring equipment Yume carried was his gunblade, a marvelous technique, but it was nothing compared to the various weapons Ziv could summon at a whim. His eyes narrowed in on the multiple weapons stored within the puppet as he took a big gulp, his first thought was that he would not envy anyone getting bit by this thing, especially since the trio had grown exponentially stronger since they last had their duel.

Yume couldn't believe how far they had come in such a short time, but with all progression came another blockade. Ziv was right; Yume should study more, but he was starting to feel a bit overwhelmed as if no matter what he did, he would never fully understand why or how things worked. Or perhaps that was just all in his head, he somehow felt like no matter how much he tried he would never get accepted for who he was, he always seemed to have to prove himself. Luckily I have you guys. Yami looked at Yume and Ziv before he chuckled and continued reading.

It seems that the shadowy twin didn't agree with him but at the end of the day, these were his feelings, it was as if a large shadow had crept over him ever since the day they fought against Nozomi and barely got out of that situation in one piece. He had felt like he was weak and not properly prepared for what was out there but at the same time people around Crescent Coalition, made him feel like they all expected too much from him, considering that Ziv had suffered the same issues he knew that he couldn't afford to complain. The teachers around Sky-Reach always seemed to keep an extra eye out on the brothers as they continuously got into trouble but seemingly always got out of it.

Yume stopped his train of thought as he caught Ziv's change of facial expression, he even spotted that his eyes got teary as he himself began to frown. Are we linked? No... Then I wonder... Yume rubbed his chin with one hand while the other kept the maw open. "Yeah, this place needs a proper cleaning." The white-haired one smirked. "Yeah, it needs to be properly cleansed of crybabies, that's for sure." Yume stared at Yami who chuckled and raised the book to cover his face, the shadow twin was always the inappropriate one.

[Zao]

The youth couldn't help but send a sideways glance over towards the shadowy twin of his brother, yet he couldn't even get even a bit angry at Yami and instead simply chucked aloud a little as he turned his attention back to the interior of the mouth. This puppet, while not currently that strong, was something that was left unfinished by his father and something that a former spirit companion of Zao had used while its spiritual body recovered from a serious injury that almost killed the spirit until the spirit saint had. "Perhaps Yami could help clean up since he isn't doing anything productive." Ziv poked a little at his shadowy brother, then turned his attention back to the puppet and had pulled out a foot tall, rolled up scroll that had been tied with a piece of red silk-like string.

His wooden dragon puppet was one that didn't hold to many secrets like some of his other more finished works, those held a variety of hidden weapons and other secrets that some would definitely covet if they knew that not only had Ziv helped to create them but that his father had been the originator of a handful of those powerful puppet frames. But despite how proud that he was of his father and the man's former strengths, not even he was dumb enough to expose the fact that Zao had created the puppets nor that he was the Spirit Saints only son. Very few in the institute knew this fact and perhaps only one or two people outside of this place knew, it was simply safer that way and until he wielded the strength and combat prowess close to his old man's then it would have to remain just that, a secret.

"I plan to create a five elements dragon with this puppet, starting with Katon." He had paused to look over at his friends, normally a puppeteer would keep the secrets of each of the puppet's crafted by him just that, a secret to everyone. But there was an incredible level of trust between the three brothers that there wasn't much they didn't share with one another. With the large dragon's maw locked into the open position the youth started to unroll the scroll as it revealed a complicated looking runic pattern that was tinted with a red and orange hues in the normally blank ink. This revealed that there was a fire-based technique sealed into the donor storage seal that he'd created using the human puppet gifted to him from his dad's last battle, the spoils of a failed war some might say. Though this would just be the first addition to the dragon he still planned to in the end inscribe all five of the natural elements onto the puppet to create a powerful puppet body with the capacity to fight against a variety of foes.

[Trusted Grader]

Yume shrugged at Yami, the white-haired brother believed it would be best to leave him alone with his book when Ziv mentioned that he could help clean the dragon the black-haired twin closed the book and rose to a standing position. He peered over at the dragon and then reached out with his hands as he began to channel chakra through his body, his umbral liquid began to spread across the ground before rushing toward the brothers. The blackness seeped into the dragon, before the duo knew it the entire thing was cleansed from within, and any speck of dust was removed from the dragon, in fact, Yami was so thorough that he was able to tell how the entire thing was structured from within.

A smirk rose from the shadowy twin who shrugged once all the darkness returned to him. "I now know the entire structure of the dragon, from each nail to every bit of rust on the puppet. Want me to share that info with your mind?" Yami chuckled as he then sent all the info through their neural connection that had been tattooed to the back of their ears. Yume wasn't sent this information as his brother deemed it unnecessary, perhaps he didn't want to fill his mind with unnecessary information, considering he was already complaining about the books they were forced to read. "Now can I go back to reading my books without being disturbed? The history of this country is fascinating, but these historical errors need to be fixed." Yami went back to his books, he really seemed interested in the history of this country's creation.

"Sure buddy, maybe you should mark down all the errors and complain to the grand librarian or something." Yume was being sarcastic but Yami raised a thumb and seemed to agree with his sentiment. "I wonder why he is so interested in the creation of this country. Why not just ask the Tsukikage if he really wants to know?" Yume turned to face Ziv, he was here to assist him after all. Normally people didn't share weapons secrets but the brothers kept nothing secret from one another, that's what made them work so well unlike a lot of teams. There was no reason to keep things hidden when one shared mindscapes, sure, there were SOME things that hadn't been shared yet but they were mostly known around the part as triplets due to how well they seemed to understand each other so when Ziv explained what his plan for the puppet was the white-haired kid nodded.

"Are you going to add ways the elements can intersect with each other? Like a flamethrower that gets boosted by a fuuton wind push or the likes?" Yume was quick to try to help his brother make the weapon better, for the stronger the team was the better they would be able to defeat any threat that ever dared to show their face to the triplets.

[Zao]

"It is a thought that I've been pondering on for sure." Ziv glanced over a nodded to his comrade, being able to allow for the use of elements that complimented one another simultaneously would be very beneficial as it could increase the overall power and size of the techniques when able to combine them into one. Yet, with doing so also came the larger drain of chakra. Though the ancient runic seals that he was working one were definitely something that could allow fast paced combat they were more chakra intensive that performing the technique normally. All things in life tended to have similar tradeoffs but it wasn't something he was to be worried about at the present time, as he still needed to work at studying the sealing techniques for the other elements and then he would need to perfect the specific seal for each of those elements to best fit with the wood dragon.

"Perhaps I could remodel the puppet to have an additional head for each new element." This was the boy talking his thoughts aloud as he continued to prep the current dragon head, forming a short series of hand seals that coincided with the fire-based seal he'd been learning for the last week. Discovering the secrets held within the three human puppets that he been left to the boy as almost a dying act by the boy's late father was something that Ziv had only recently uncovered. It wasn't until he was taking apart the first puppet that he discovered the uniqueness concealed within the rather ordinary exterior body shell. Through some means his father had surgically removed the chakra network system of another shinobi's body, then used another technique to contain it within the puppet body.

'What level of medical skill and depth of puppet knowledge did my father have to perform such an act.' Not to mention the obvious fact of the matter, that his father had to kill each of the three to make the puppet bodies from or at least was able to acquire their dead bodies through some means. Did they belong to Iwa shinobi? Where either of them from Suna? Who were they before ending up as his puppets now? The young shinobi wondered but couldn't neither confirm nor deny his own suspicions and questions. Perhaps it was something he'd never know but the realization had elevated the pedestal that he'd placed his father, the Spirit Saint, up to an entirely new level of strength and skill.

'Focus...' His hands finally finished the series of hand seals, while he quietly reminded himself to focus on the task at hand as he reached inside the puppet touching the bottom jaw and then reached over to place the other hand directly onto the fiery seal of the scroll on the table. 'Kai!' Chakra was released into the storage seal by the contact of the slender fingers of the youth, causing a powerful Katon chakra to release from it, Ziv carefully guided it through his body into the interior of the lower jaw of the dragon's maw. A series of ink like seals began to expand from the palm inside the mouth of the dragon as the fire-based chakra flowed from the palm forming the seal. While it didn't take long, the level of concentration and control needed from the boy was enough to cause him to break out in a sweat, but after a few moments the chakra from the seal had all been used up and the orange and black seal faded leaving a blank spot on the scroll where it had previous been. "There! One step toward my goal complete."

[Trusted Grader]

Yume was wondering how he would be able to keep up with all his puppets, especially if all of them have runes, considering that just the strings alone would draw a lot of chakra. He should know, considering that Ziv had created a gift for him that also had chakra strings attatched to it. The puppet glove that made it appear as if Yume was either missing an arm or broken it. They had discussed it when Yume had a casket on his left hand and was forced to fight using only one hand. See, he had grown accustomed to it, to the point where it almost felt natural, leaving him with the desire to create a hidden weapon that can be utilized when the targets least expects it, an ace up his sleave so to speak.

What the arm did was attatch itself to the target and hold them against their will as long as Yume's control exceeds their strength. The puppet arm wasn't fully complete when he was gifted the puppet arm, but with time Ziv had worked on it until it had finally reached perfection. Inspecting the pearl looking arm, the intricete flower design and it's hardy structure gave the young boy a moment of pause. He knew that his brother was a master at crafting but he had never expected him to reach this level at such a young age, the idea on itself was marvelous but he also feared that people would begin to seek him out for neferious intents.

Yume shook his head as he returned to the now, he couldn't just space out, especially when his brother was speaking to him. "I think that's a wonderful idea, that way you can keep track of which head does which, but remember, but so will your enemies... Unless you find a way you could perhaps have them be on some mechanic that moves up and down the neck of the puppets. Allowing you to switch which head has which runic." Yume rubbed his chin, he did his best to sound smart but was unsure if it was even possible to achieve such level of mechanics.

He was sure of one thing though, if anyone could do it, it was Ziv.

[Zao]

Taking a moment to wipe the droplets of sweat from his brow, the white haired second year student turned to his friend and brother with a half-smile on his face, "Indeed, though my chakra pool has grown to a limit I didn't believe was reachable, my style of combat with my puppets is not one for extended combat. Thus..." His bright blue eyes turned back onto the maw of the paw of the puppet before him, the remnants of Katon chakra still able to be sensed in the air. This was one of his father's unfinished designs and one of the two puppets he'd originally obtained from the late spirit saint. Then the slender, calloused fingers of the youth's left hand formed into a half tiger hand seal, hints of chakra floated outside of his being as a sign to those around him that he was actively channeling his chakra for something.

The chakra in his body was being transmitted through the tiny black rods that the boy had inserted within his body, sending them directly into the receiving rods that had been installed into not only the wooden dragon puppet but all of his puppet frames at this point. Suddenly the wood frame of the ten-meter-long puppet began to twitch as different pieces on both the outside and the inside of the frame could be heard shifting and moving about. Though he was very skilled in the puppet art from his father's village, Ziv was attempting to forge his own path and push his understanding of the unique black metal that was formed by his body. Perhaps one day he'd understand the true origins of the metal and how it was related to his parents and their own adventures.

Until then, the boy could only slowly research and discover more about the strange material through using it. His weapon of war seemed to almost come alive as the open jaws of the dragon head chomped down with some force before it shook its head, almost like a dog would do as it woke up from a nap. Each of the six wings stretched out from along the assorted spots on the spiked spin of his father's creation that he'd made his own over the last couple of years. Then it slowly floated up off the couple of woke benches that Ziv had pushed together in order to forge a large enough work bench to tinker with the Runic seals on the puppet. "One day, I'm push this puppet up to my father's level, just like the other's he left for me. I want to be able to rely on my own strength to forge my path, not just the stuff he left me..."

[Trusted Grader]

Yume couldn't help but to nod when his brother was speaking, he chuckled when he mentioned that his puppets broke down rather quickly, as he focused on overwhelming force over survivability. "Well, that's where you have me right? I'll be your sword and you'll be my shield." Yume gently laid his hand on Ziv's back and smiled, while Yami leaned away from his book and grunted. "Ey! What about me?" Yume chuckled as he shook his head and confirmed that he was counted as well. "We grow and become stronger with time... Heck, I haven't even kissed a girl?... I heard that was a thing..."

Yume stared blankly at the Dragon, he was awed by the machinery, the craftmanship, the technology. It all seemed so advanced, and to think that they got to experience it in Sky-Reach, the wonders that this boy had created once he was set free, it almost made him jealous. He wiped the tear as the potentials sunk into his subconscious, "Ahem... You should create some sort of smoke or poison to trap them, or oil them up and I'll make them explode! KABOOM!" Yume swung his sword behind his bro and blasted his gunblade, which prompted the Librarian to quickly shush Yume. "Sorry!"

"Try to behave, Yume so we don't get kicked out..."

Yume giggled as he put away his weapon and returned his attention to the dragon, "What do you think your father was like? Like really?" Yume asked, he wanted to set the boy back in his mind, to secretly allow himself to seek the answer to his own question...

[Zao]

Ziv had kind of drifted off in thought, truly wondering just how strong his father must have been in his prime, not to mention the fact that so many spirits served him as though they were servants to a King. One of the man's former titles had been the Spirit Saint, and during the short stay within the deceased saint's personal realm that was locked away within the fabric of spacetime, he was able to meet some of these monsters that caused for a cold sweat to form on the youth's back. Even now, despite the explosive growth that both him and his two brothers here at the Sky Reach academy had seen, was it enough?

It was hard for the white-haired teenager to really say, but even at a place that wasn't his peak and without the ability to bring forth all his companions to battle the man was one of the few men who stood out in the Iwa invasion of Suna. Ziv had been able to pull information from different sources that spoke of the man's incredible speed and strength, manipulating time and space as though it was a simple matter in front of the man. This above the other assortment of ninjutsu and other skills that the older man had honed over the course of his lifetime. These thoughts were suddenly cut off thought as his comrade in arms accidently used his weapon that caused the kid to jump up from his seat.

"Hehe. You guys never change." The blue eyed first year students tried to surprise his laughter after immediately getting over the initial shock caused by Yume and his premature discharge of his sword. "My father." Letting out a breath, the young teacher couldn't help but take a seat and place his elbows on the edge of the table and rest his chin on the interlocked fingers of the slender hands. "Strong without a doubt." Glancing around slightly as he made sure to lower his voice so that only his comrades in arms could hear him at this point. "He cared more for his family than anything else in the world, willing to kill a fellow bannin and steal a Jinchuuriki from an allied nation because he thought its powers would be enough to save my mother. "

Closing his eyes the young man could only shake his white locks from side to side, his hair having grown a bit longer these days and was well overdue a trim. Opening them a sharp gaze flickered through them as he formed a hand seal and removed a storage seal with the puppet storage seal drawn within. A poof of chakra smoke concealed the large puppet frame of the wooden dragon and when the white cloud cleared the weapon had already been sealed away. He understood that if he every wished to strive and reach the level of a Saint then he needed to challenge himself across the world and search for means of improving his own power just like his father. A man who traversed not only the known world but also different spirit realms in an effort to reach a pinnacle of power.

"I need to make some preparations, my two friends." Standing up, he didn't mean to leave so soon after his meet up with both of his sworn brothers, but Yume's words had stirred something deep within him. That strange gaze was gone, and a gentle smile could be found on the teenager's thin lips. It was time to travel...

[Trusted Grader]

Yume turned to face his white haired brother, he watched him sit down, mimicking his movement save for the interlocking of his fingers. He listened intently to what Ziv had to say and imagined an older version of him fighting against insurmountable odds, endless waves of men and generals alike until his name finally appeared above him, the Spirit Saint. "Wow!" Yume was taken back by the story, by the words and wisdoms shared by Ziv and the somewhat warning for it seems that even if one chooses family over duty one could still end up by the chopping blocks.

His father was something to aspire to, a man that not only performed his duties, minus the side step he took hunting down a legendary beast but also stood his ground against the mightiest army. His eyes teared up as he could finally see Ziv's true potential, the puppet he summoned helped cement the image in his head, the new Spirit Saint was walking amongst them and he got to experience his growth. Ahem... Well then, I guess we have a lot to live up to huh? Whaddya say, Yami? Shall the Wandering Twins assist the newly hatched Spirit Saint reach his goals?" Yume rose to a standing position as his lush white hair pushed out of his face, revealing a massive grin that matched his exuding charismatic energy that overflowed the room.

"Wandering Twins? We need to come with a better name than that..."

"We'll figure something out!"

"We better!"