Art of The Knife [T|P]

[Kazuko. Ame]

Amemaru made his way through the dampened land that was Ame no Kuni. Today the rain poured heavily, leaving him soaked from head to toe. He tried desperately to find whatever cover he could, but the only thing he could find was trees that offered him little protection. Times like this made him wish he had some sort of hat, but his rain poncho was more than enough for now. The cloudy sky made it seem as if it was more late than it actually was. This combined with the continuous rain drops, effected his field of vision greatly. "This is gonna take forever." He said to himself. He was searching for a dojo that could teach him the ways of using a knife effectively in combat, but so far it seemed that he would never be able to find it.

He traveled for what seemed like hours. He had been searching far and wide. His feet seeped into the muddy earthen floor with each step, making them feel heavier and require more strength. Suddenly he heard the creak of turning wheels in the distance. He looked up to find a wooden wagon that was pulled by two horses coming towards him. The haze that filled the air made it hard for him to distinguish how many people were riding in it, but he waved his arms high above his head to try and get the attention of whomever was on it. As they came closer, Amemaru noticed that they were a couple of travelers. In the front sat an old married couple with an enormous amount of items filling the back. "How may I help you young man?" The old woman would say to him.

"I'm sorry to bother you folks," He would say with a gentle tone "but you see I'm looking for a place of learning. A dojo for a style of combat that involves the use of small weapons like a knife." They seemed puzzled at what he told them. "You wouldn't have seen a place like that, would you?" They conversed with each other on different points of interest they had seen. "I'm sorry my boy, but we ain't seen nothing like that." The old man said to him Amemaru frowned with disappointment. "That's alright, you folks enjoy your travels!" They then wished him luck as the wagon started to move once again. He started to doubt that he would ever find the dojo as the distance between them grew greater. Suddenly he heard the old woman yell in his direction. "Wait young boy, come here!" Hope surged through his emotions as he came back to the wagon. "The place you are looking for may be a building in the forest we passed by a few miles back." Amemaru thanked them with a big smile and ran towards the direction in which they had came.

Finally in the distance he saw the building the travelers had been talking about. "Please be it." He said to himself as he drew closer. It didn't seem abandon, for the structures seemed to be in great condition even for the cursed weather of Ame no Kuni. Three buildings stood adjacent to one another. Each was painted white all around with a red rooftop. In the center was a fountain that had been overflown by the rain. A wooden arc gateway stood as the entrance to whatever this place was. The buildings on his left and right had no windows, so he couldn't tell if there was anyone actually in them. He saw within a window from the third building a faint candle glow. 'Maybe someone is in there' He thought to himself as he slowly walked into the building.

SPOILER: Click to show

His eyes adjusted to the light as he made his entrance. Within the building were many people that were dressed in a formal gi used for martial arts training. He would look out of place with his darkened clothing. Slightly embarrassed, Amemaru's face would be slightly red as he tried to form an awkward smile. "Uh, h-hey!" he would say. Not one of them said a word. It wasn't until a woman stormed in from another doorway that the silence broke. "Who are you!" She said in a firm tone. "Oh I'm s-sorry, but is this a dojo where I can learn the Gintsuki no Seikou Mai fighting style?" She then came towards him, wearing a black kimono. She then slammed him up against the wall "You dare come in my dojo wearing such disgusting clothing?! Put on a gi and get into stance like the rest of the students." To his left was a movable wall that served as privacy for undressing. A stack of white gi in various sizes laid on a stool.

[Kazuko. Ame]

SPOILER: Click to show

Hyouuryuu Yuki (Drifting Snow)
Rank: E
Skill: Taijutsu
Effect: The user assumes the main stance of the Hyouuryuu Yuki no You.
Special: --
Drawback: --
Description: The user spreads their legs to shoulder width, their main-foot facing forward and their off-foot facing at a right angle to the main-foot. The torso faces the diagonal inbetween the two feet. The knees are bent to allow quick motion with short steps in either direction. The user holds their main-hand forward, with the elbow bent and the knuckles facing forward. The off-hand comes close to the chest, with the elbow bent and knuckles facing forward. The user’s head faces the direction of the main-foot. This stance allows for quick motions back and forth.
Limit: Must be a user of the Hyouuryuu Yuki no You discipline of the Gintsuki no Seikou Mai.

Once he was dressed in proper garb, Amemaru made his way to where the rest of the students had been standing. They were now put into rows and columns accordingly. As he made his way onto the end of a row, the woman began to speak at the end of the dojo. "As you all know I am Ami, master of the Gintsuki no Seikou Mai style. Unfortunately Master Rika could not make her appearance this day, so I will be filling in." The students looked slightly disappointed. "Now today you will get into this stance." The woman continued, moving her body into one of the various stances of the style. She began by spreading her legs to shoulder width with her main-foot facing forward and her off-foot facing at a right angle to the main-foot. Her torso faced the diagonal in between her two feet. She bent her knees while holding her main-hand forward. She then ebent her elbow with her knuckles facing forward. She then brought her off-hand close to her chest.

They all mirrored her movements. Amemaru at first struggled more than the rest, but he slowly got better with time. Hours passed by fairly quickly, but he didn't feel any pain in his limbs. He could tell that the students must have done the stance on previous occasions, for they all seemed flawless with their execution. Another hour passed by as the master who had been watching them walked around them in a circle, giving harsh criticism to each one of them. Surprisingly she complimented on how fast he had learned. He didn't know how his form differed from those around him, but it seemed that he had got the stance down fairly quickly. The woman explained to them that this stance was for quick motions. 'This is so exciting' He thought in his head as she allowed them to stand normally.

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[N A T S U M I]

Hm... +5; Learned.

[Kazuko. Ame]

Nameru (To Taste)
Rank: E, D, C, B, A, S
Skill: Taijutsu
Effect: The user, through the sharpening of their five senses and an instinctual knowledge of flow, becomes aware of their surroundings and capable of defending against attacks.
Special: --
Drawback: Can only be learned up to your current Character Rank.
Description: The user strives to expand their senses, taking in data from all five senses and treating each of them as equally important. Through a combination of peripheral vision, hearing, and measurement of air pressure changes, the user becomes capable of perceiving threats around them and reacting accordingly. At E rank, the user can only perceive such threats as traps or projectiles. However, at the following levels, the user becomes capable of perceiving strikes from a foe of an equal level to the rank they have learned. Therefore, a B rank ninja could strike a C rank user of this technique and the user would not be able to perceive them via this technique and lose the majority of the benefits, though their dodging would benefit from the heightened awareness nonetheless. The user may only learn this technique up to their character’s rank. Thus, a C rank character could only learn up to the C rank version of Nameru. Nameru is limited to threats within twenty meters of the foe, as anything that doesn’t enter that radius is beyond the senses of a human to perceive. However, threats are perceivable once they enter that range.
Limit: Must be a user of the Hyouuryuu Yuki no You discipline of the Gintsuki no Seikou Mai. Must know Hyouuryuu Yuki.

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The next technique he would learn was also a simple one. It would help him sharpen his five sense so they could be better used in combat to better understand his surrounding. The teacher first started their training by having them meditate for their sense of hearing. At first he heard nothing, but as time passed he started to hear the soft breathing of the other students that surrounded him. Eventually he started to hear the storm that raged outside. He could tell it was a rough one for sure.

After an hour passed, they moved on to their sense of touch. The teacher had them press their hands up against the wooden floor and gather what they could. The floor felt rough and durable, perfect for training purposes. Other than that there was nothing he could learn from touching the floor. The teacher than had them examine a sheathed blade while blind-folded. The sheath was very smooth and cold as if it had been in storage. The hilt had some sort of thread wrapped around it to cover the material that served as the handle.

After examining the two materials using only touch they moved on to sight. The teacher had them examine a portrait of a battlefield and right down what they could see. From what Kazuko could tell, there were many dead bodies. Each of them had some sort of ranged secondary weapon. He then wrote down that the person who killed them must have been brilliant with projectile weapons to be able to kill so many. He also noticed that there was a tree that had no leaves on it. This lead him to believe that the battle must have taken place during the fall. The last thing he saw was that there were two different sides to the conflict. On the right were ninjas of Amegakure, and on the left were ninjas of Iwagakure.

The next thing the teacher had them work on was taste. 'Taste? how could that come in handing during combat?' Amemaru thought to himself. However, the teacher insisted that this could be used to recognize certain poisons. To train this the teacher had them eater a certain type of candy that had many different tastes. The goal was to find out what all the tastes were. At first it was very difficult, but after more time passed Amemaru was slowly starting to distinguish the different taste that were in the candy. He came to the conclusion that there were sixteen different taste.

After this the teacher went on to their sense of smell. To train this final sense they were blindfolded and given various things to smell. Their goal was to find out what each item they were given to smell was. This was much more easier for him to do after all of the other training for his senses he had trained for. He was almost spot on with everything they had him smell, and after about thirty minutes of training this sense the teacher had them move on once again.

Now it was time to combine all five sense to help them defend against attacks. They started with their sense of hearing. Amemaru could hear footsteps coming towards him as they started training, so it was fairly easy for him to avoid the attack. After that they moved on to their sense of touch. This time he kept his arms spread out, and like a fool his attacker touched one of his arms. After being able to avoid the attack using touch they skipped ahead to smell since one could obviously dodge using sight and using taste would never apply to defending themselves. This one was also fairly easy for Amemaru. The only thing he focused on was the scent of his attacker. After avoiding yet another attack the teacher said "Now we may move on to something else.

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[← KIRA →]

+5; learned