Power! Speed! [T][O]

[Molokai]

The streets of Mist Village were much as Taisen remembered them to be. The pinnacle of technological architecture, almost entirely turned into a rainy, rusting slum. Memories of crime, corruption, and the heavy atmosphere weighed down upon him as dim clouds rolled over the streets and darkened his path. He didn't despair at the way the village was, though. Instead, he remembered it fondly. A heavy atmosphere and the occasional rough street were nothing compared to his condition before coming to the village to begin with. For all of the village's faults, the entire place was worth fighting and dying for, in Taisen's opinion.

Upon his return, he found himself desiring just one thing; training. As he stepped through puddles and took in the many smells of the lower part of town, he kept his eye open for evidence of people rising up despite their conditions. One such place was a local dojo in a modest, warehouse-like building. Within, professional martial artists and masters taught both civilians and ninjas alike. Their knowledge and tuition was second to none, and the service they provided to the people was free to anybody with the dedication to keep learning. It was here that Taisen eventually wandered to, walking in and placing his shield and Samehada next to the door before walking over to the pair who appeared to be observing the trainees do their drills.

One of the men was quite old, at least in his seventies, with a long, white, fumanchu style beard wearing a very kimono-like garment and supporting himself on a gnarled cane. His assistant was young and spry, about Taisen's size but a little more lean, wearing wrist and ankle weights and some comfortably-fitting sweat clothes. As Taisen approached, the younger one narrowed his eyes, seemingly disapproving of Taisen for some reason. However, the older one looked up at him and smiled a semi-toothless and very warm smile.

"Hello," he chirped, "I bet you're here to ask me to train you."
"Matter of fact, I am," Taisen replied, pleased that the old man had done away with the small talk early, "I've been away from the village for a while, and I. . ."
"We have no room for muscle-bound scrubs who just want to learn how to beat people up," interrupted the younger, "only men of honor and respect may train here."
"Is that so?" Taisen snapped, "Then how come they let you in?" The young man got right in Taisen's face and the two squared. Whatever this man's abilities, Taisen knew his were greater.
"I will break you, pretty-boy. As easily as I break cinder blocks."
"Cinder blocks don't hit back. Or talk. If you're going to hit me, you'd better not miss. You won't get a second chance."
Finally, the old master intervened, "Enough! Both of you. Clearly, you have the spirit, the strength, and the courage to learn our style. You may train with us. Yaito, fetch the training dummies."
"There's one right here," Yaito oh-so-cleverly responded.
"I said enough," the old master snapped.

Taisen felt as though he had definitely won something, although he was slightly disappointed he didn't get to put that asshole in his place. Luckily, he knew all he had to do was keep training and one day it would be sparring day, then that Yaito guy would learn just how strong this pretty boy actually was. For now, Taisen stood off to the side of the main training group and waited for the assistant to return with the training dummies.

[Molokai]

SPOILER: Click to show

Kouho and Haiho (扣歩・擺歩, Kouho and Haiho)
Rank: "C"
Skill: TaiJutsu
Effect: When an opponent attacks, you circle around his side, and appear behind him.
Special: ---
Drawback: ---
Description: When someone attacks with their right hand, put your right foot behind their left, with your two feet pointing towards each other. After that, follow up with your left foot, circle behind your opponent's left side and you appear behind the opponent. This can be followed by a throw; when behind the opponent's rear, hit their neck with your right arm, and put your right leg behind their legs. You should not necessarily hit the opponent's neck too severely, as the opponent will have lost their balance already depending on the speed of the attack, not the strength of it.
Limit: Must learn from a Master of Goutetsu 轟鉄 (Strong Iron)Must learn from a Master of Goutetsu 轟鉄 (Strong Iron)

-0/10-

As Yaito brought out the first training dummy, the old master spoke,
"My name is Sensei Kwarami. Yours?"
"Taisen Kamyuja."
"Very good, you know your own name, let's begin," Taisen wasn't quite sure how to respond to that. "First, before you can learn how to hit your opponent, it would be wise to learn how to avoid getting hit. This brings us to our first lesson: Kouho and Haiho. Observe. Yaito, attempt to strike me."

Taisen was genuinely surprised at the aggression that Yaito put behind his attack on the master. He learned quickly that old Kwarami was not to be trifled with, however. Sensei moved with a swiftness that Taisen hadn't expected in the slightest, spinning behind Yaito and knocking him swiftly onto his ass. Taisen wasn't able to stifle his laugh in time and a little bit escaped, earning him a glare of pure hate from the disciple Yaito.

"Now," sensei said, "you attempt to strike me, and I will demonstrate on you as well." Deciding it was best to throw a simple, slightly slower punch than he was capable of for the sake of being a good student, Taisen half-heartedly attacked his new sensei and found himself face down way sooner than he was anticipating.

"Is that the best you can do?" Yaito chuckled from the sidelines.
"No, no I don't believe it was," Kwarami said, looking at Taisen, "but no matter, my point has been made. Stand." Taisen stood, and Sensei kept talking, "To perform this technique, you must step to the opposite side of the attacker's punch, feet facing each other, and spin quickly towards your opponent's weaker side. This way, their own punch carries them forward, and you simply wind up behind them as the natural effect of your opponent's own motion. Try it now. Yaito, attempt to strike him."

Turning to face Yaito, Taisen was suddenly greeted by a fist rocketing towards his face. Resisting the urge to simply strike back, he attempted to do exactly as Kwarami had instructed. He stepped to Yaito's left side, turned his body, tried to spin around, and found himself with a mouthful of knuckles as he wasn't able to get his head out of the way in time. "You think too much about your feet," Sensei said, "you should be thinking about the fist coming at your face." This was a good point that Sensei made, and as Yaito went to hit him again with way too much excitement on his face, Taisen tried to keep his mind only half-occupied with the positioning of his feet and instead focused more on getting out of the way. This time he was able to evade the punch, but his feet became tangled with Yaito's and they both wound up tripping and nearly falling over.

Unsurprisingly, Yaito was most upset with Taisen's blundering and called him an idiot. A flare of rage spiked through Taisen's brain as he heard the insult, but he repressed it and got into his ready stance. "Again," he said, positive he would get it this time around, "hit me, I dare you." This time, Yaito felt the challenge and really went for it, but Taisen was a fast learner and dipped the punch much more deftly than either of them expected. Trying to remember what Kwarami had done to knock him over, Taisen put out a foot and struck Yaito along the neck, sending him toppling end-over-end onto the training mat. Taisen smirked with satisfaction, and again looked forward to the day when he and Yaito would square off in a real spar.

"Very good," Kwarami would say, sensing the desire of the two to start killing each other, "try it a few more times until you feel you can do it without thinking about it."

[Captain M]

LEARNED

[Molokai]

SPOILER: Click to show

Mittsu Kasho Sutando (The Three Point Stand)
Rank: "C" "B" "A" "S"
Skill: TaiJutsu
Effect: A defensive stance that is used for taking hits. A stance that is used if the user is unable to attack back. This can be used as a ploy making the user seem as if they were useless.
Special: ---
Drawback: This technique is used for defensive purposes but they are not immortal so they will still feel effects of hits and attacks. This technique is used for hand to hand combat only.
Description: The user stands tall without slouching. They take their arms raising up their hands up to their face. Their elbows are bent touching each other as the user slouches slightly. The user brings their arms inwards towards their body to protect their body. Their face is protected with their fists. Their legs are shoulder width apart as they bend their knees slightly. Knees are never straightened because that can be deadly to the knee. As knees are bent the upper thighs touch each other down to the knee. This protects the private areas from low attacks. To avoid private area attacks user moves slightly to the left or to the right rotating their hips. When an opponent attacks the user concentrates on their muscles and joints as they quickly squeeze to tense these areas. This technique nulls or dims down the effects of techniques. Depending on the TaiJutsu technique and the capability of this technique the user is capable of dimming down strong techniques. Each rank the user learns they are capable of dimming techniques one rank lower.
Limit: Must learn from a Master of Goutetsu 轟鉄 (Strong Iron)Must learn from a Master of Goutetsu 轟鉄 (Strong Iron)

-0/10-

After a few, or maybe a hundred, iterations of dodging Yaito's overly enthusiastic punch attempts, Sensei finally told them to stop. "Very good," he said at last, "now that you can dodge a hit, you must learn how to take a hit. Yaito, demonstrate." Taisen's body immediately tensed as he turned to face Yaito, waiting for his next attack. Surprisingly, he attacked not Taisen but Sensei Kwarami, who buckled up into this weird position and started tanking hits like a boss. After a couple seconds of just wailing away at the old man, Yaito finally stopped and Kwarami straightened out.

"As you can see," sensei said stoically, "With proper application of this technique, even an old man such as myself can withstand the blows of a young, fit man like Yaito here. If you master this technique, you'll be able to take any amount of punishment your opponent can deliver.

"So," he continued, "this is how you do it. Take your arms, and place them in front of you like so," As he said "like so", he brought his elbows together and hunched forward a little bit, "This protects your face and your midsection. Place your feet thus," he put his feet about shoulder-width apart, "and remember to bring your knees in to protect your groin." This, too, the sensei demonstrated. "Do so now."

Taisen copied the position as best he could, although he did find touching his elbows together to be kind of difficult due to the size of his muscles, and held it while he waited for Kwarami's inspection of his form. "Your form is good," he said, "now we must test your function. Yaito."

"With pleasure," Yaito growled before promptly kicking Taisen square in the stomach, then in the ribs as he recoiled from the first hit. As he attempted to recover, he kicked Taisen's upper thigh and then socked him firmly upon the jaw before doing a fancy spinning-back-kick-thingy and putting Taisen on the floor.

"Enough, Yaito," Sensei said before Yaito had a chance to jump on top of him, "Your form and your endurance are excellent already, but you forgot one very important thing: you have to move. Turn your elbows and your knees towards the incoming attacks so that your strongest points absorb the strikes instead of your soft points. Try again."

And again, as Kwarami said, Taisen got up, took his position, and this time kept his eyes on Yaito and watched for his incoming attacks. Predictably, he went straight for the head kick, which Taisen simply pitched to the side and caused Yaito to kick his elbows instead. Anybody who's ever done any sort of martial art and accidentally kicked an elbow knows that it's a terrible experience, and Taisen didn't mind hurting Yaito in the least bit. With his foot now slightly injured, Yaito now came in with more fists and struck lower with his kicks. Taisen dipped, ducked, and dodged as the flurry of blows came in. Some managed to get through, as there was no way Taisen could possibly protect all of himself at once, but all of the powerful attacks that might have broken his stance were either checked or deflected.

By the end of a few more rounds of this, Yaito's knuckles and feet were hurting from punching and kicking so many elbows and knees. Taisen, of course, was starting to get a little sore in the ribs and thighs, where most of the successful attacks landed, but all in all it was Yaito who was in more pain. Throughout all of this, Sensei Kwarami remained silent, realizing that Taisen and Yaito were both action learners, and they would learn faster if he simply let them continue. Once they both finally stopped for an extended period, he then spoke up at last.

"Your defense is strong already, Taisen, I can see that. Most people, even with the technique I've just shown you, would have dropped from Yaito's strikes by now." Taisen thinly veiled his pleasure at being told that, and Yaito appeared to seethe, "We are done for the day. Both of you, go home, rest, and meditate on what you both learned here. Meet me here first thing in the morning if you wish to continue your training."

Taisen bowed to Sensei Kwarami and dipped his head to Yaito. As he left, he stuck his hand out and called Samehada to him from across the room. The massive sword flew very quickly toward him and was caught with the greatest of ease. Of course, he still had to stop to grab the shield, but at least he got to show Yaito that he was much stronger than just his fists.

[Captain M]

LEARNED

[Molokai]

SPOILER: Click to show

Goutetsu no Kamae #2 (Strong Iron Stance #2)
Rank: "E"
Skill: TaiJutsu
Effect: A more diverse stance used within the Goutetsu 轟鉄 (Strong Iron) style. This stance adds more flexibility for the users then the upright stance.
Special: ---
Drawback: ---
Description: Picture A boxer stance. The user has their legs bent and arms raised up to cover the face. The Jabbing fist is slightly more forward then the strong fist. Elbows are in, shoulders are up, hands are cupped but not clenched. Fist is never clenched because it is best to clench the moment of contact. This creates a stronger force of hit. Knees are bent, body straight but lowered to protect the stomach area. The legs move as the user bobs and weaves never staying in place.
Limit: Must learn from a Master of Goutetsu 轟鉄 (Strong Iron)

-0/5-

The next day, Taisen returned. Again, he placed Samehada and his shield by the door as he entered, but this time he wore more workout-appropriate clothing. Instead of his usual leather jacket and big ass boots, he wore light shorts, a tank top, and slippers so he could become barefoot quickly. Upon seeing him, Sensei seemed pleased with his change of attire.

"Good to see you're taking this a bit more seriously now," he mused, "Today, we begin with actual combat." Taisen was more than a little excited about this. Partially because he was growing tired of training defense when defense was one of his greatest strengths, but mostly because it meant he would get to hit Yaito soon. "Before we can do that, however," Taisen's heart immediately sunk, "You'll want to learn an alternate stance from the one you've been using. This one is much more. . . combative. I think you'll find it to your liking. Observe.

"Begin with putting your strong fist up next to your jaw, like so," he demonstrated, "then keep your non-dominant arm bent and in front of you like so. This allows for quick strikes with both hands as well as pulling back in defense. Try it." And so, Taisen did as he was instructed. He put his right knuckles right on his jaw, then put his left arm across his stomach and bent his knees. "Not quite," Kwarami interjected, "You're too square, put your left shoulder forward, bring the right one back, give your enemy less of a target to hit." This made sense, and it did feel much more natural and easy once he actually did turn more sideways. It also solved the riddle of what to do with his feet, as once he was in a more sidelong position his feet just naturally found a position that allowed him to balance. So much fighting in the past often made learning new techniques easy, and such a stance as this felt very natural to him.

"Good, move around the mat in that position for a while. Get a feel for it, shadow box with an imaginary enemy if you like. I'll stop you when I feel you have it, then we can move on."

[Captain M]

LEARNED

[Molokai]

SPOILER: Click to show

Dainamikku Entorii (Dynamic Entry)
Rank: "C"
Skill: TaiJutsu
Effect: This jutsu is simply a flying jump kick at the side of the enemy's face while shouting "dynamic entry". This technique can also be used to break into buildings.
Special:
Drawback: ---
Description: Picture An entry technique mostly, however may be used for conventional combat as well. The Dainamikku Entorii (Dynamic Entry) is a simple flying technique aimed at the opponent's head. This technique may not be the strongest technique however it can knock an opponent out if a good kick is laid out. This technique is used as well to plow through doors and walls of buildings if needed.
Limit: Must learn from a Master of Goutetsu ?? (Strong Iron), Must know Goutetsu ?? (Strong Iron) Universal Techniques

-0/10-

"Stop."

Taisen stopped dancing around in his new stance and stood at attention.

"Now that you've gotten the basics down, we can begin learning combatives. The first move I'm going to teach you is called the Dynamic Entry. Yaito, demonstrate." It was at this moment that Taisen realized he hadn't yet seen Yaito since he arrived. Then, all too suddenly, it struck him.

"DYNAMIC!" Was all Taisen heard before turning to his left and enthusiastically making out with the bottom of a foot, and "ENTRY!" was all he could hear as he spun ingloriously through the air with the taste of feet and blood in his mouth. Striking the ground with an audible thud that made the whole gym stop what they were doing to rubberneck for a second, Taisen then groaned and slowly rose back up, spitting out the taste and the blood as he did so. It took all he had to suck up his pride and not deck that smug bastard, but luckily Kwarami sensed his disciple's impending demise and chimed in.

"As you can see, that kick is used primarily as an opener, most useful when you're taking your opponent by surprise. The power behind it comes not only from the momentum of your entire body, but also from the sudden extension of your leading leg just as the attack lands. Yaito, demonstrate." As soon as he said "demonstrate" Taisen tensed up and waited to slyly counter the incoming kick, but Sensei interrupted with, "on the training dummy, I mean." So Taisen watched as Yaito wound up, jumped at the dummy, and shot his leg out at a not-unimpressive speed, absolutely clobbering the flexible dummy and causing it to wobble about comically. "Now, you try."

Kicking was not one of Taisen's specialties, in fact he rarely did it at all. So, when he tried the first time it was a total hilarious failure. He ran at the dummy, he jumped at the dummy, he thrust out his leg at the dummy, he missed the dummy, he crashed into the dummy, he continued to fall on top of the dummy, something cracked and he hoped it was the dummy, and when he got up he felt like a dummy. Yaito's self-righteous smirking at his utter failure had Taisen just moments away from shooting flames from his nostrils, but Kwarami seemed to have some sort of magical future-sight and had already set up multiple dummies in the training area. Sensei gestured to Taisen to keep trying, and so Taisen did.

All he really needed to do was to get a feel for the timing of the whole thing. Jumping was certainly no issue for him; if it behooved him to do so, he could clear half a mile by jumping. And what was a kick if not a punch done with a leg? Surely he could do both things singularly, why not both? Feeling a renewed sense of purpose in his life, Taisen leaped determinedly and kicked valiantly, nailing the dummy right squarely in the dome and causing it to rattle a little. Feeling slightly bemused that his dummy hadn't had quite the reaction of Yaito's, Taisen wasn't sure what to make of his apparent success. Sure, he had kicked the dummy, but he hadn't really kicked it very hard. What was he missing? He asked Kwarami what to do in order to kick harder, and Kwarami simply said,

"Kick harder."

The wisdom behind those two words was so simple and yet so powerful, Taisen's mind was blown. He staggered back as he processed how zen and perfect that solution was, and when finally he was able to gather up the scattered pieces of his exploded brain, he tried again. Charging with vigor, jumping with valor, and kicking for great justice, Taisen clobbered the ever-loving hell out of that dummy. It went flying across the mat, skidding and leaving bits of stuffing as it's head and body went in different directions. Take that, Yaito, he thought, I kicked harder. Sensei, at least, was highly impressed that Taisen could make such vast improvements so quickly. However, just as he had done with all of the techniques before, Kwarami ordered drills until Taisen could do it with his eyes closed with a massive fever during a blizzard.

And he did those drills like they were his favorite thing in the world.

[Captain M]

YAY!

LEARNED

[Molokai]

SPOILER: Click to show

Toripuru Dainamikku Entorii (Triple Dynamic Entry)
Rank: "C"
Skill: TaiJutsu
Effect: The user uses Dynamic Entry on the opponent and then appears behind them to use it again. They are blasted into the air where the user uses a third Dynamic Entry to knock the enemy to the ground with great force and speed.
Special: ---
Drawback: This technique uses up one Shunshin no Jutsu, 瞬身の術, (Body Flicker Technique), and takes up two movements.
Description: As stated within the descriptions, the user quickly launches a Dainamikku Entorii (Dynamic Entry) to an opponent's face launching the opponent off to the distance, while the user then quickly performs a Shunshin no Jutsu, 瞬身の術, (Body Flicker Technique) to appear behind the opponent while quickly performing another Dainamikku Entorii (Dynamic Entry) against the opponent's face however launching the opponent up into the air while the user jumps up above the opponent launching a final Dainamikku Entorii (Dynamic Entry) into the opponent's face launching them down to the ground.
Limit: Must learn from a Master of Goutetsu 轟鉄 (Strong Iron), Must know Goutetsu 轟鉄 (Strong Iron) Universal Techniques, Must know Dainamikku Entorii (Dynamic Entry)

-0/10-

"Much of this style has to do with kicks. Become comfortable with kicking, because you will be doing it a lot from this point on." Taisen had just been doing flying jump kicks for the better part of an hour, and he had actually managed to begin sweating a little bit. Very rarely did he sweat, between his adaptable body and his unmatched fitness, he was rarely in a position where his body was working so hard it felt the need to sweat. However, learning and drilling with a new style was exactly the kind of fresh stimulus his body needed to keep getting stronger. He stopped what he was doing when Sensei started to speak again, listening with intent as he silently mused on the whole sweat thing.

"The next thing I wish to teach you is a simple, yet devastating combination you can perform with this technique. That's another thing, this style also has a lot to do with combos. So get used to hitting things more than once, because you'll be doing that a lot from this point on as well. Now, you know the shunshin technique, yes?" Taisen nodded, "Good, I would be surprised if you didn't. Anyway, you can utilize that move along with the Dynamic Entry in order to continue striking your opponent without giving them time to recover. Yaito, demonstrate."

Whenever Kwarami told Yaito to demonstrate, Taisen could never be sure if it would be on him or the dummy, or if Yaito could even tell the difference between them. This time, it seemed, he chose to perform it on the dummy. He did the flying jump kick that Taisen was now very familiar with, then quickly flickered ahead of the path of the dummy. Once there, he performed another kick which sent the dummy upwards, where he then jumped after it and kicked it back down with gusto. Apparently feeling quite proud of himself for this feat of athleticism, Yaito landed beside the hapless dummy and place his foot upon it like a hunter posing next to a big game animal.

"Now, you try," Sensei said once all of the posturing was over. Taisen ran at the dummy, performed the Dynamic Entry on it, then flickered ahead of where he anticipated it would go. However, he wasn't quite ready for it on the other side, so once he came out of the flicker he discovered that he had essentially just kicked the dummy at himself and took a face full of plastic and foam. As Taisen recovered from yet another hit in the face, he could hear Yaito getting his seven chuckles in. He ignored it, as he had become accustomed to doing, and set up to try again. This time, he kicked it as before, flickered ahead, and was mentally prepared for it. He wound up the second kick and threw it with all of his might, spinning the dummy around violently and smacking it against the ground. While this wasn't necessarily a bad way to hurt a person, it wasn't actually what he was going for.

Kwarami sensed his confusion and chimed in with his ever-so helpful advice, "You'll have to figure out how to perform the Dynamic Entry from a standing position, otherwise you'll never have the power or the accuracy to send it in the right direction." Taisen pondered this, and decided that the best way to achieve this particular feat would be to stand just out of regular kick range and try to do the standing Dynamic Entry. His very first attempt resulted in some sort of weird, awkward pseudo-ballet move that gained an eighth chuckle from Yaito. The second went much better, though, because it occurred to him that the kick was in the leg, and it was relatively easy for him to get up to speed in a short distance. By the fourth try, since the third was still polishing the idea up, he was already able to do it well enough. The hard part, though, was doing it within the very tiny window of time before he hit himself with the dummy again.

Another kick was thrown, another flicker was flickered, he pulled off the second kick flawlessly, much to his surprise, and leaped after it with reckless abandon. This final kick he felt was easy, as jumping was a thing he did often and quite well. He was able to aim himself right above where the dummy was going to be, then spun himself around and thrust out his leg with the same force and accuracy of the previous Dynamic Entry kicks. With a resounding smack noise, the dummy struck the mat with even greater force than it had when Yaito did it, and so when Taisen landed beside it he couldn't resist doing the exact same pose.

Clearly, Sensei Kwarami didn't approve of boasting, because he immediately told the both of them to drill it until they bled from their pores.

[Father 'Suke]

Learned

[Molokai]

After putting a solid several hours into training with Kwarami, Taisen left the gym. He grabbed Samehada and his shield as he left, making sure to put his slippers back on before he stepped onto the streets. Martial arts were important, of course, but Taisen was quite skilled in them already and it occurred to him once that he had a lot of fighting skills but not a whole lot of other shinobi skills. Deciding it was about time to remedy that, he gathered up his normal equipment and headed again for the gates. The sort of training he had in mind couldn't be done in the confines of the city.

[exit]

[Molokai]

SPOILER: Click to show

Konoha Reppū (Leaf Gale)
Rank: "D"
Skill: TaiJutsu
Effect: The user performs a low, circular kick to sweep the opponent off their feet.
Special: ---
Drawback: ---
Description: Picture A setup technique. User ducks to the ground while quickly launches a sweeping kick against an opponent's leg to knock them down to the ground. This technique as stated is a setup technique and used to perform more powerful techniques within the Goutetsu 轟鉄 (Strong Iron) style.
Limit: Must learn from a Master of Goutetsu 轟鉄 (Strong Iron), Must know Goutetsu 轟鉄 (Strong Iron) Universal Techniques

-0/10-

Taisen returned to the Goutetsu dojo a few days later, after having spent those days out in the forests and swamps of the country teaching himself how to track. He had gotten surprisingly good at it over the relatively short time he had been practicing, but now it was time to get back to what he really loved: fighting.

"Good to see you again," Sensei Kwarami cheerfully exclaimed at Taisen appeared yet again in light, athletic clothes.
Kaito, however, hmphed and said, "Damn, I thought you'd given up."
Taisen, who had long since stopped being phased by Kaito and his inability to bite worse than he barked, simply bowed to Kwarami and awaited instruction.

"Today," Kwarami began, "we will start to learn different combinations you can do with your kicks. The trick to striking your opponent is to disrupt their rhythm, and therefore control the rhythm of the fight. Many people, many fighting styles, focus only on attacking the face and the body. Very few people ever think to attack the limbs directly. This is what we're doing today, we're learning to go for the legs, because you can't chop down a tree by hitting it at the top.

"Kaito, demonstrate," before Taisen could even remember why he dreaded that word so much, he found himself with feet in the air and head on the ground. Kaito's leg sweep was fast and accurate, and would have been impressive if the man who'd done it wasn't such an insufferable douche. "As you can see," Kwarami explained to Taisen as he got up, "that move puts your opponent in a very vulnerable position and allows for devastating follow-ups. You try."

Still wishing, waiting, praying for the day that he got to use these moves on Kaito himself, Taisen squared up with the training dummy. The training dummy was different today, instead of being a torso and head on a stick, it was more life-like and included legs and a pained expression. Taisen, wishing to copy what he felt but couldn't actually see, threw a hard kick right at the dummy's leg and was surprised when it went absolutely nowhere. He knew he could kick, he knew his legs were strong enough to propel him half a mile in a single bound, but the dummy seemed to disagree. Wondering where he went wrong, he went up and kicked the hell out of it again and again nothing at all happened.

Eventually, Kwarami chimed in with his infinitely helpful, but always a few humiliations too late, advice. "You are not merely kicking your opponent's legs. You must drop down to their level and extend your leg fully, then swing it across like the hands of a clock. You must strike their ankle, then continue to follow through in order to throw them off balance and lift them off their feet. It is your speed and strength which will flip them, but only if your form is correct." After hearing this, Taisen could suddenly picture exactly what Kaito had done to him. He dropped down and simultaneously extended his left leg out, then used the momentum of his drop and the strength of his muscles to whip his leg around. His calves and shins were like clubs strapped to the end of his legs, and he swung that club quickly and with a wide arc, so that when it landed it struck with incredible force. That force, combined with the follow-through of bringing his leg all the way from one side to the other, spun the training dummy around on its apparatus and left it hanging upside-down.

"Excellent," Kwarami said, "Do it again, but this time try to make it all into one fluid motion. This move should come as a surprise to an opponent who has come too close to you. If you telegraph it too much, or do it too slowly, you are likely to get a knee in the face." Knees in the face didn't sound fun, so Taisen turned the dummy right-side-up and endeavored to make the whole thing more fluid. The way he decided to do it was to straighten his attacking leg first, then twist his hips as he dropped. Obviously, if he did this one step at a time it was just as bad as crouching really conspicuously. So, he practiced making all of the different movements into one movement. At first he tried just to do it as fast as he could, but it was sloppy and inaccurate and worked even less than the telegraphed version. It wasn't until another of Kwarami's extremely wise sayings that it really clicked with him, "smooth is fast."

Smooth is fast. While it didn't make immediate sense, what it meant was that he had to practice doing it smoothly and then the speed would come on its own through muscle memory. So, he made sure to do it all as fluidly and smoothly as he could no matter how slow it was. After about fifty reps on each side, he had already gained such a speed that it could be considered useful in a real battle. Taijutsu came very naturally to Taisen. Even if the struggled with the exact mechanics of a move at first, once he got it right it took very little repetition for him to master it. Kwarami was clearly highly impressed with this, and Kaito couldn't have been more pissed off about it. Both of these things pleased Taisen greatly.

[Father 'Suke]

+10

[Molokai]

SPOILER: Click to show

Konoha Goriki Senpu (Leaf Strong Whirlwind)
Rank: "B"
Skill: TaiJutsu
Effect: Using this technique, the user strikes the opponent's ankle with their leg making them spin in the air.
Special: ---
Drawback: ---
Description: Picture A setup technique. User ducks to the ground while quickly launches a sweeping kick against an opponent's ankle while pushing upward. When the user performs this technique the force of the kick launches the opponent into a spinning frenzy. The force of the attack makes an opponent spin for some time. Depending on how strong the user is depends on how long the opponent spins. The opponent will spin for a total of 1 movement per class level the user is higher than "D".
Limit: Must learn from a Master of Goutetsu ?? (Strong Iron), Must know Goutetsu ?? (Strong Iron) Universal Techniques, Must know Konoha Reppu (Leaf Gale)

-0/50-

"You have gained several skills since you first came here, just a couple of days ago. The next move I'm going to teach you is both more difficult and more powerful than any of the techniques I've taught you so far." Taisen was ready and willing for a challenge. Anything that felt like it was going to be difficult excited him and made him want to go at it with all of his might. "It's essentially exactly the same move I just showed you, except it's significantly stronger and more effective. Also, you'll be practicing with an actual person this time around."

Taisen could hardly hold in his desire to holler and fist pump when he heard this. Finally, he would get to kick Yaito's ass in a totally acceptable and sensei-approved fashion! Today was shaping up to be one of his favorite days ever. That was, until Sensei finished what he was saying.

"But first, you need to truly master the Konoha Reppu, and be able to do it really, really hard on this dummy." Feeling beyond disappointed that the dummy being referred to wasn't Yaito, Taisen once again lined himself up with it and swiftly kicked the crap out of its legs. As it had done many times previously, it twisted on its axis and wound up upside-down, just as it was supposed to. Clearly, this was not good enough, as evidenced a combination of Yaito scoffing and Kwarami coming over to correct him. "In this case, the goal is no longer to simply trip your opponent. Your aim is to spin them in the air for a brief moment, where they will be helpless and you can strike them again before they hit the ground.

"To accomplish this, you must not only strike the legs of your opponent, but hook them with your foot and apply both vertical and horizontal force. Yaito, if you please." This time, Taisen didn't tense up because he expected Yaito to go after the dummy in order to demonstrate. He was wrong. By the time he felt the strike against his ankle, it was too late. He felt himself swept off his feet, but instead of hitting the ground he was tossed upwards ever so slightly and spun there like a windmill. He only completed about one and a half full revolutions before he felt another kick squarely in his chest, what he figured to be the follow-up attack. Hitting the ground and rolling a few times, Taisen was surprised to notice that his chest actually hurt a little from that kick. Seems Yaito might actually be a bit stronger than he looked.

Now armed with the knowledge of both how it felt and how it looked, Taisen felt he would be able to put the two together and actually get the technique right. Squaring with the dummy, he performed his usual drop-sweep with his leg. However, instead of just going straight across with it, he pulled his leg up at the end and thrust himself upward. Ideally, the combination of lateral and vertical forces would generate a circular momentum in the dummy, although Taisen wouldn't have been able to say that sentence if he tried. Sure enough, he was more or less right. The dummy, positioned on its post as it was, pretty much spun like a windmill as its design intended it to do. While this boded well for Taisen actually getting the angle of attack right, it didn't do much in the way of usability in combat. In fact, the whole dummy scenario would cease to be a useful tool soon as his skill increased.

However, while he still was learning the basics of the technique, it was still useful to practice it on something that wasn't trying to hit him back. So, when Kwarami seemed pleased that he could do it correctly, his only advice was to try it again, only harder. How does one kick harder? By kicking harder. Such wisdom, Taisen would never forget. Once the dummy had been rendered right-side-up again, he went at it with another kick. This time, he put all of his pent up aggression against Yaito behind the kick and imagined that it was his smug little face that was going to be spinning uncomfortably until he got hit again. Oh, the power that came from such an imagination. As the kick landed, a resounding smack echoes throughout the entire warehouse gym. The dummy twirled in place like a pinwheel in a hurricane and Taisen focused all of his rage into a Dynamic Entry kick right at the focal point of the spin. The resulting impact successfully broke the training dummy, a device designed to be hit really hard over and over again, and sent the shattered pieces flying across the room.

Both Yaito and Kwarami were dumbfounded, and the other students who had been training elsewhere in the facility stopped and stared. After a moment, Kwarami collected himself and said, "Very good. It seems the dummy has exhausted its helpfulness. Now you will practice on a real opponent. One who will be actively trying to evade you, and hit you back." A wave of fear and dread passed over the students who heard what their sensei had just said.

"Who wants to go first?"

Silence.

[Father 'Suke]

+10

[Molokai]

-10/50-

Silence.

The entire room echoed with the silence of not wanting to spar with the new guy who breaks things, punctuated only by the subtle crackling noise of the remains of the dummy crying out in pain. While everyone in the room desperately looked at each other in order to avoid making eye contact with Kwarami, Yaito had already gone off and retrieved a few more training tools. Among these tools were some weighted pads and gloves, plus some headgear. Kwarami explained, "The weighted pads are for you. You are very strong, but your muscles are not yet conditioned to this specific style. The weights will help you condition yourself. The padding is so that you don't injure my students. They will also be wearing pads, again so that they will not be injured. Your goal is only to use the technique you've just learned, their goal will be to use every technique they know in order to not let you. Any questions?"

The question mostly everybody in the room wanted to ask was, "Do we have to?" but the only question Taisen wanted to ask was, "Can it please be Yaito?" Neither of these questions were asked, because everybody had already realized that it was rhetorical whenever Kwarami asked if there were any questions. Moving on, Kwarami designated one of the other trainees and both he and Taisen entered the ring together. Not sure when to start, or if there was going to be a bell or something, Taisen just kind of stood there like a dope for a few seconds. It wasn't until he felt a kick bounce off the side of his head that he realized the spar had already started. Immediately going into his stance, he started moving around the guy who just tried to kick him and tried to watch his feet. After a few seconds, he saw the guy wind up to kick him again and took his opportunity. Throwing a leg kick at his opponent's standing leg as he went to kick again, his opponent was easily knocked onto his ass. Taisen, of course, had a bit of an unfair advantage in that his body had been conditioned to be almost immune to striking damage. Unfortunately for his sparring partner, even if a full-power kick landed right on target, the guy doing the kicking was more likely to get hurt. Sorta like kicking a steel lamp post with all of your might.

However, it wasn't the epic spin that Kwarami wanted. So, Taisen waited for his sparring partner to get back up and they went at it again. This time, Taisen went straight for the leg sweep, hoping to take his opponent by surprise. His opponent, who was both more knowledgeable in this particular style and knew what attack was going to come at him, easily dipped backwards out of range. Taisen, who was still at this point used to his kicks hitting something solid, spun himself around with the force of his own kick. With his back embarrassingly turned, a well-placed kick nailed him right in the floating rib and spun him back around. He rolled with this kick and didn't really take any damage at all, but instead continued with the momentum of the spin and tried to catch his opponent on the rebound. Dropping low, he hooked his ankle around his sparring partner's and threw all of his weight and muscle behind it, then thrust upwards with both his leg and body. This was semi-successful, as the student twirled quite gracefully with the force of the kick applied to his leg. However, he still had the wherewithal to turn the spin into another head kick and used the momentum Taisen had just given him to his advantage.

Clearly, these guys were better than Taisen at this particular style, and as the hits kept landing the sparring partner appeared to be getting more and more confident with himself. He hopped around more, made significantly more extraneous movements, and was even starting to show off with fancier and fancier kicks. One of the fanciest kicks he threw was a crazy, flying spinning back kick aimed right at Taisen's nose. Taisen, having had quite enough of this guys crap, grabbed the incoming heel and held the hell on to it. The instant that his opponent's other foot touched the mat, it was impacted with Taisen's vicious kick. Down, sideways, up, all smoothly and quickly with the held foot as a pivot point, and his sparring partner twirled like a horizontal ballerina before flopping unceremoniously on the ground. Although tempted to keep hold of the heel he had just claimed, Taisen let his partner go and backed off while he stood up. That had been the first time that move had been done successfully, and also reminded everyone watching that he was holding back for the sake of learning.

As the spar went on, Taisen was able to get more and more of a feel for the timing and usage of such a powerful kick. He was also able to learn more about how the style was used by people who were good at it, all of which was taken as a series of mental notes for later when he learned more techniques. This guy he was fighting, however, was quite good and despite almost an hour in the ring he was only able to land the kick at full strength about two more times. At the end of the hour, the sparring partner was drenched with sweat and winded, while Taisen had actually managed raise his heart rate a little bit. It was hard for him to get a good workout these days, what with his ability to bench press horses, so the fact that his body actually had to work a little to keep up was very impressive. A few more days of non-stop sparring and he might actually feel a little sore.

[Father 'Suke]

+10

[Molokai]

-20/50-

With his first opponent utterly blasted from trying to knock out Taisen for the last hour, Kwarami sentenced another one of his students to workout time with the unbreakable man. Taisen had almost forgotten that he had been wearing weighted pads on his legs and hands, which he realized might have accounted for at least some of his difficulty landing it earlier. However, he was just about used to the feel of the weight now, and the people watching were just about used to how much slower he was with them on. Their shock when they came off, Taisen could barely suppress his smile just thinking about it. For now, though, the next unlucky victim climbed into the ring and danced around a few times, trying to drum up crowd support. Either he was significantly more confident than the last one, or he had failed to fully comprehend what was happening. After doing a lap around the ring, he settled into his corner and struck his stance, and the match began.

Right away, the new sparring partner rocketed out of his corner and tried some wild superman punch right at Taisen's head. With a simple dip to the side, the overconfident man all but ran into Taisen's vicious, spinning leg kick, twirling him about like a clumsy aerial ballerina and slamming his face into the mat. In the business, some people call this a "whip-it", where the first thing to touch the ground after one's feet leave it is the face. The force of this "whip-it" subsequently generated what some call a "scorpion", in which one's back bends until the toes almost touch the back of the head, because his body wanted to keep flipping but the friction of his face upon the mat only allowed his feet to continue. A chuckle rippled through the onlookers, and even Yaito's severe expression softened slightly as he tried desperately not to laugh.

Not to be deterred, the embarrassed man jumped back up and danced around like he totally meant to do that and came at Taisen a second time. Doing his best not to be fooled, the man instead threw a head-kick with his non-dominant foot. A well-executed kick, form very good, solid power, it struck the side of Taisen's mighty dome and stopped dead. Taisen, in retaliation, took his non-dominant foot and kicked the crap out of the one shin the man had left to stand on. Having been previously subjected to the horrors of the "whip-it", the man's eyes widened with fear as he realized that he had made a terrible mistake. Luckily, relatively, for him he spun around so fast that his head actually missed the mat and he was allowed the dignity of landing on his ass instead. This time, Yaito couldn't help but scoff with disgust. Clearly, he felt like the newcomer whom he didn't approve of was making a fool of his students and he was not please about this. Then again, Taisen suspected that nothing short of him being severely hurt would please Yaito.

Raising with renewed vigor stemming from the rage of humiliation, the sparring partner leaped up with a pretty badass-looking move and prepared himself for more punishment. However, he started taking Taisen a little bit more seriously now and moved around the ring for much longer before finally making an attack. Throwing a low kick, Taisen decided as before to simply tank this one and kick his standing leg. His opponent was expecting this, so immediately after the kick landed he whipped his entire body around and brought his standing leg into a nicely timed head kick. This combo was pretty good and took a fair bit of athleticism to pull off, so it was unfortunate for him that Taisen still stood like a damn tree trunk against a cool breeze. It was then that Taisen decided to become more aggressive with his opponent, and himself moved in. Taking a page right out of the book of the guy he was fighting, he feigned a weak left-leg sweep then threw his right as hard as he could right when his opponent reacted. Thanks to the leg-weights, though, this was actually too slow and his opponent had just enough time to recover and prevent the kick from working.

Not to be deterred, Taisen kept up his aggression and used the momentum of his failed kick to generate a third. This one landed much more solidly, but his opponent then pulled a move that was both shocking and impressive as hell. Realizing that he wasn't going to be able to evade the kick, his opponent literally used the force of the kick to perform a back flip and land evenly on his feet. Somewhere in the crowd, someone yelled, "Dayum!" and the two men dipped their heads in respect for each others abilities. Seems this guy's confidence wasn't completely hot air, he just needed to start taking Taisen seriously and they'd get along just fine.

[Molokai]

-?/50

Picking up where they left off, right after the sparring partner's awesome backflip defense of Taisen's increasingly predictable kick, the two were busily going at it again. Taisen was trying to use a combination of both aggression and evasion to both lure his opponent into a vulnerable position and strike him when the opportunity arose. His opponent, in the meantime, was using the fact that Taisen was only allowed to do one kick greatly to his advantage. The sparring partner threw a head kick, which Taisen physically caught and went to sweep the ankle as he did so. In retaliation, his opponent jumped and spun before the kick could land and threw a flying, spinning kick right at Taisen's head. This one, of course, landed, but Taisen was ready for fancy moves like this and already had another kick incoming by the time his opponent's feet touched the ground. As soon as touchdown was achieved, liftoff was prompt and immediate. This was the first time that Taisen had managed to outmaneuver his opponent since the backflip thing, and he did so with gusto. The kind of gusto that made the man spin in the air a good three times before finally slamming hard onto the mat.

This was probably the first time that Taisen had managed to get the full length of time for the spin that he had been aiming for the whole time. A resounding "OOH," filtered from the crowd, which had long since stopped practicing in order to watch the ridiculously strong new guy beat up their friends. The way that one had felt was perfect. Every last aspect of the kick, from the positioning, to the angle, to the force behind it, came together in the best possible way. He had done it once, and now all he had to do was be able to do it like that every single time. By far, this had been the most difficult of the moves he had learned so far to master. Like all moves, however, it was only a matter of time and practice before Taisen would be able to do it.

His opponent stood up again, more slowly this time. It seemed that the fatigue of repeatedly hitting someone that didn't buckle was starting to get to him. Either that, or he was hoping to run down the round timer and escape the punishment. What he forgot was that there was no round timer, and they were going until Kwarami told them to stop. So, Taisen graciously waited until his opponent had returned to his stance before going in again. He feigned a kick, and noticed the wince and the reactive defense from his opponent. Apparently that last kick had generated some fear, and possibly an ankle injury, so now the confident and powerful sparring partner was feeling much more defensive. Taisen was concerned only with repeating his previous feat and went for the legs with due haste. Putting more effort behind his next kick than he had done in the previous ones, he was ultra-concentrated on getting the form down just right. With a grunt of effort, he swept his weighted legs under and around his opponent's and successfully gave him another triple-turn before he landed with an unflattering thud on the mat.

Either agony or embarrassment caused the sparring partner to lay there for a few seconds before beginning to stir. Once he eventually rose back up, which took much longer than the time right before, he appeared to be only gingerly stepping on his dominant foot. Naturally, this was the one that Taisen just happened to hit the most when going for his kicks, and it appeared as though the repeated abuse had finally taken its toll upon the valiant man. Kwarami, ever wise and well-timed, called the spar right then and allowed Taisen and his opponent to rest. As his sparring partner limped off, Taisen removed his weighted pads and moved to get water. He was actually decently sweating now, and his legs even felt a little fatigued as he walked across the room. Still, he didn't feel like he fully mastered this new technique yet. Hopefully, Kwarami would come up with a clever idea to get him the rest of the way there.