[Deleted]

i never told a lie, and that makes me a liar.

Kazui stood at the base of a tree, her eyes remained fixed on the bark of the wood as a cool breeze passed by, causing her rather short raven colored hair to woosh along with the gust that passed by. The branches shifted slightly as the leaves that hung from the bark danced with a passion. Smaller frame trees that also inhabited the area would bend and lean, as if they too were rejoicing about something.

Dark hues began to scale the tree, inch by inch. Every detail was used to paint a good picture in her mind as to what the oak had gone through. Soft pale fingers traced the bark gently. It had seen many things and survived much much more. Endured the abuse throughout the years, well before Kazui herself was even thought of being born. The trees told a story that only they knew, they held knowledge with in, as well as life. For without them, life would cease to exist.

The passing breeze finally came to a halt, and the trees that seemed to have come to life and danced about, returned to their dormant state. Leaving the girl to her own accord, silence filling the training ground that she frequented the most out of all the others. No one truly enjoyed this particular area, mostly because of the newer ones that seemed to be much more useful than the one Kazui occupied at the moment.

@tagsomeone ● notes here ● word count

MADE BY MIZO

[Deleted]

i never told a lie, and that makes me a liar.

A sigh escaped from the young Uchiha’s lips as she closed her eyes. Taking in the nature that made its presence felt, her surroundings, and finding temporary peace within herself for the moment. If there was one thing she picked up and learned from her being around the Senju for a certain amount of time was that nature should be respected for it is the giver and maintainer of life. Nature could also take life as well, and so it was best to maintain a healthy relationship with Mother Nature.

The Senju in particular were fond of the trees, even going as far as repairing any loss that a forest might suffer whether it was from shinobi, or just men trying to make a living. Soft fingers continued to trace the bark for a moment before ever so lightly pushing away from the tree, her hand was slowly removed as she took a step back as her eyes scaled the tree yet again. Kazui took a deep breath. She had a job to do, well some training but hey, it was all the same to her. The tree appeared to be a few meters tall, the top of it nearly reaching the clouds before coming to an end.

@tagsomeone ● notes here ● word count

MADE BY MIZO

[Deleted]

i never told a lie, and that makes me a liar.

It would take an enormous amount of effort for Kazui to achieve the goal that she had set for herself for the day, which consisted of her reaching the top of the tree before the day officially came to an end. When the moon reaches its highest peak it the night sky, the time limit would be finished, and if she had not reached the top of the tree by then, then she would consider it an absolute failure and would give herself extra work for the next training session she had with either Hiruko, Kazuto, or her team leader. Perhaps she would handicap herself to work harder, or maybe she would stay later and push herself more. The details weren’t exactly ironed out, because she had no intention whatsoever of failing her training tonight. But if that happened to be the case then repercussions were to be had so that she could better herself as a shinobi.

Maybe the girl was stupid, too hard on herself, or just trying to hard. Maybe she was mature enough to issue herself a punishment for failure. People may have different views of the situation, but there was one thing that they could not argue over, and that was the fact that Kazui would give her all no matter what, and that she wanted to be better.

@tagsomeone ● notes here ● word count

MADE BY MIZO

[Deleted]

i never told a lie, and that makes me a liar.

Soft hands ruffled through the light brown pouch that normally occupied the left thigh of the young Uchiha whenever she was on duty. Instead, the pouch was removed since she had no reason to be wearing it physically, especially when she should be making her way home. From the pouch emerged a sharpened kunai, brand new, never used before. The girl rotated it a few times in her hand as she inspected the steel, the quality of the blade, trying to see if there were any flaws within the blade itself. Not a scratch could be seen on it as she slowly lowered the blade to her hip.

Kazui’s off hand occupied the bark of the tree once again for a brief moment, as if she were comforting the oak for something she had done, or was about to do.

"Forgive me.”

The Uchiha would say in an almost whisper as her hand was removed from the tree. And in that very instance, the kunai in the girl’s left hand raised and swiped across the bark, a quick thump and scratch could be heard as the bladed weapon slid across the tree, leaving a mark carved into it where Kazui’s height level would be.

@tagsomeone ● notes here ● word count

MADE BY MIZO

[Deleted]

i never told a lie, and that makes me a liar.

With that, Kazui considered her training to be in session. She was hesitant to start right away, but the nerves soon settled and she would begin to focus solely on the task at hand. The same kunai remained in her grasp as she took a few steps away from the tree, giving herself some space and room for a running start, and in that instance, Kazui would take off in a controlled jog towards the tree.

The first few steps were solely momentum carrying the girl up the side of the tree, she quickly tried to focus her chakra at the bottom of her feet however once she reached and surpassed the mark that she created on the tree just moments prior. The chakra would allow her to take a few more steps up the tree, the sounds of her shinobi sandals tapping against the bark could be heard in the immediate area. A few more steps were granted before the chakra eventually seemed to repel the girl away from the tree. In a quick slashing motion, the kunai would slice across the wood yet again, carving a straight like into the tree before she eventually fell back to the earth below.

@tagsomeone ● notes here ● word count

MADE BY MIZO

[Deleted]

i never told a lie, and that makes me a liar.

Kazui landed elegantly in a crouched position, her off hand provided stability as it was placed onto the warm grass beneath her. The young girl knew that she didn’t do amazing at that attempt, and honestly it was kind of expected, doing something of this caliber fresh out of the academy could prove to be quite the challenge for Kazui. From her crouched position, her head quickly snapped upward to see where her last mark was located, dark hues scanned the tree until the carving was seen clearly.

A sigh escaped from the young Uchiha as she softly closed her eyes and returned to her footing, standing to her tallest height. She went over to inspect the tree. She had managed to nearly double the distance between the first marking and the second. She chuckled lightly as she saw that the carving was way above her head, she had managed to do better than she was expecting to do. A hand placed on the girl’s chin as she thought to herself. Contemplating ways she wanted to go about it. Was she cheating herself for getting a running start? That was the main topic of her thoughts. She didn’t want to take the easy way.

@tagsomeone ● notes here ● word count

MADE BY MIZO

[Deleted]

i never told a lie, and that makes me a liar.

Kazui shrugged her shoulders as she decided she would at least give it a shot without her having the extra momentum from taking a running start prior to her focusing her chakra. It would more than likely be much harder for her this way, but she was willing to give it a shot. The young girl closed her eyes and began to focus the chakra into the bottom of her feet, she had to remain focused, and the best part of her walking up the tree, instead of running, was the fact that she had more of a chance to remain focused if she calmly walked up the side of the oak tree, or so that’s what the young girl thought.

"Okay. Let’s give it a shot, why don’t we.”

The young girl would muse to herself with enthusiasm as she inches closer and closer to the tree. The first step she would take would be at the base of the tree, testing the waters almost, to see if she were doubt it good enough to remain consistent. The chakra seemed to stick well enough to allow the girl to put her other foot onto the bark. She was standing horizontally as she looked beneath her.

@tagsomeone ● notes here ● word count

MADE BY MIZO

[Deleted]

i never told a lie, and that makes me a liar.

The young girl would take a deep breath before she eventually rested her eyes again and began to slowly encroach up the bark of the tree, trying her hardest to remain focused on perfectly balancing the chakra in her feet so that she could stick to the side without falling off and hurting herself in the process. Her arms were stretched out to her side as she tried to keep her balance and stay steady.

Each step led her closer and closer to her goal, she eventually reached her previous marker, surpassing her personal best. The sound of her sandals clicking and tapping against the bark. ’Things are going well enough.’ The girl would think to herself as she felt calm and confident that she was making progress. Everything seemed to be going, there wasn’t many distractions going on in the background. But as she tried to take another step, the girl felt a tingling sensation in her nose.

’Oh no..no no no.’ She would think to herself as she tried to hold the sneeze in by holding her breath, but the sneeze was inevitable, regardless of how hard she tried she knew what was coming next.

@tagsomeone ● notes here ● word count

MADE BY MIZO

[Deleted]

i never told a lie, and that makes me a liar.

"AH-CHOO”

The girl would nearly scream as she couldn’t hold in the sneeze. Her eyes quickly opened afterwards, and she felt the chakra in her feet beginning to lose consistency. ’Shit. Shit. Shit.’ She would think to herself as she began to lose friction with the tree. Regardless of how hard she tried to recover, she knew she had messed up. Her hand quickly stabbed forward as she began to fall straight downwards. The kunai in her hand digging into the wood as it carved a straight line down the bark of the oak tree, not to exactly mark her last spot, but to try and slow her momentum down as best as she could so that she wouldn’t fall flat on the earth.

Unfortunately the kunai wasn’t enough to stop her completely. As the blade slide down the tree, it eventually reached a tougher spot on the bark which yanked the blade from Kazui’s gripping, making her fall the distance directly to the ground. A thud could be heard as she landed flat on her back.

"Oof..”

She would groan as the wind had been knocked out of the young girl. The impact was hard, but luckily enough she didn’t break anything.

@tagsomeone ● notes here ● word count

MADE BY MIZO

[Deleted]

i never told a lie, and that makes me a liar.

The young girl winced in pain for a moment, squirming on the ground as she tried her hardest to catch and regain her breath that seemed to escape her once she made contact with the earth. Her breathing was heavy, trying to force the air into her lungs. The pain pulsating through her back and to her chest. The kunai that had been yanked from the young girl’s grip was on a free fall as well as it managed to get free from the bark that held it slightly.

The blade came down in a spinning motion before it collided, point first into the ground beside Kazui. A sigh escaped the girl as she forced herself to sit up, stretching her back as she leaned forward as far as she could go before it got uncomfortable. The blades of grass shuffling in between her fingers as she ran her hand across the ground. She would take another deep breath.

"Dang. That was a close one.”

The girl would mumble to herself as she returned to her seated position, leaning backwards a bit as her outstretched arms propped her up. She began to think to herself. Her eyes scaling the tree as she looked at the previous carving that she left in the bark. It was pretty high.

@tagsomeone ● notes here ● word count

MADE BY MIZO

[Deleted]

i never told a lie, and that makes me a liar.

"Taking my time got me further but….I won’t be given the luxury of focusing so heavily during battle.”

She would say to herself. The next hour or so was her trying to come up with a plan to combine her first two effort’s together. She managed and tracked the balance of her chakra, trying to find the best way to maintain that consistency in the midst of battle. She gave it all of her thoughts and knowledge. How could she possibly find a sweet spot between the two. She began to scribble notes in her notepad. Until she finally decided she would give it another shot.

A sigh escaped her as she rose to her tallest height, her dark gaze remained fixed on the tallest tree that inhabited the area. The moon was visibly in the sky, but she had quite a bit of time remaining. The girl’s hands slowly reach to the back of her head, grabbing the cloth of the headband and pulling the knot tightly together. And in that instance, the girl took off in a dash. The momentum carried her up the tree and the girl continued to run up the side of the tree, she was moving as fast as she could to get from the bottom to the top.

Halfway to her destination, she felt her chakra begin to fall out of balance. Closing her eyes for a brief moment, she would continue to run up the tree but at a slower pace so that she could focus. Her eyes soon opened again. The chakra that she was focusing was back to normal, as she mare her way to the top.

There she stood, overlooking the village, the moon providing the light in the dark night, providing guidance for those who wondered the world at night, guiding them to the passage they sought. Kazui smiles for a moment as she took the kunai and swiped it across the tree, and with that the girl would jump from the tree and to the earth below, landing softly on her feet.

@tagsomeone ● notes here ● word count

MADE BY MIZO