Post by Michiko Uzumaki on Dec 29, 2023 13:03:17 GMT 10
I live my life in widening circles, reaching out across the world.
An icy wind whistled through the air, causing Michiko’s cloak to flap and wrap around her limbs as she continued to put one foot in front of the other. She hardly felt it, though—the cold had numbed her long ago, and the excitement of what lay ahead kept her distracted from much else. Sure, there had been a moment or two on the glaciers of Mount Shumisen where she had realized why locals only admired the mountain from afar, but they had been fleeting. The overwhelming experience of her climb had been an appreciation for what she knew she would find at the top.
She had translated the ancient manuscripts she had found in the valley below several times, and they all agreed: when Dvesha Otsutsuki had single-handedly raised Mount Shumisen from the ground, he had carved more than just the mountain itself. Ancient passageways had been dug into the raised stone, diving deep into Shumisen’s heart—a labyrinth of tunnels and rooms which the Sage of Earth had used for unknown purposes.
The challenge, of course, was that the purported entrance to that labyrinth was upon Shumisen’s peak. The highest point in all of the known world. It was a difficult climb, even for a kunoichi like herself. More than that, the entrance was not obvious. The Uzumaki’s best guess, informed by her readings, were that it was hidden twice over: concealed by ancient seals as much as by age. Probably. Her efforts for the past half hour had been to uncover precisely where these millennia-old seals had been set. So far, she had found nothing but…
“Snow! S-snow, snow, and more snow!” She muttered under her breath, kicking at the powdery layer that sat atop the glacier-covered peak. The winds quickly filled in the divot she had made—an immediate correction to her trespassing presence. She would need to be more forceful. With a slight frown, she quickly formed a hand sign with her right hand. The seal on her left forearm blazed with light, and she felt a store of chakra suddenly burst forth from the palm of her down-facing left hand. The light snow was blasted away from her, unearthing a massive section of the icy ground below.
Her eyes rapidly shot across the uncovered area—and they were just as quickly rewarded. A faint sealing mark was glowing, ever so slightly, on the ground a few paces away: a reaction from the presence of chakra around a long-dormant seal. A slow grin grew across Michiko’s face as she tried to analyze every element that she saw. Could the Sage of Earth himself have laid the seal? What secrets did it hold for her? Her notebook was out in an instant, and her quill wasn’t far behind. The snows would reclaim this frozen ground soon enough!
She had translated the ancient manuscripts she had found in the valley below several times, and they all agreed: when Dvesha Otsutsuki had single-handedly raised Mount Shumisen from the ground, he had carved more than just the mountain itself. Ancient passageways had been dug into the raised stone, diving deep into Shumisen’s heart—a labyrinth of tunnels and rooms which the Sage of Earth had used for unknown purposes.
The challenge, of course, was that the purported entrance to that labyrinth was upon Shumisen’s peak. The highest point in all of the known world. It was a difficult climb, even for a kunoichi like herself. More than that, the entrance was not obvious. The Uzumaki’s best guess, informed by her readings, were that it was hidden twice over: concealed by ancient seals as much as by age. Probably. Her efforts for the past half hour had been to uncover precisely where these millennia-old seals had been set. So far, she had found nothing but…
“Snow! S-snow, snow, and more snow!” She muttered under her breath, kicking at the powdery layer that sat atop the glacier-covered peak. The winds quickly filled in the divot she had made—an immediate correction to her trespassing presence. She would need to be more forceful. With a slight frown, she quickly formed a hand sign with her right hand. The seal on her left forearm blazed with light, and she felt a store of chakra suddenly burst forth from the palm of her down-facing left hand. The light snow was blasted away from her, unearthing a massive section of the icy ground below.
Her eyes rapidly shot across the uncovered area—and they were just as quickly rewarded. A faint sealing mark was glowing, ever so slightly, on the ground a few paces away: a reaction from the presence of chakra around a long-dormant seal. A slow grin grew across Michiko’s face as she tried to analyze every element that she saw. Could the Sage of Earth himself have laid the seal? What secrets did it hold for her? Her notebook was out in an instant, and her quill wasn’t far behind. The snows would reclaim this frozen ground soon enough!
Health: 340
Chakra: 18
Regen: 6
Chakra: 18
Regen: 6
by sixsmith.