Amarante's weapon training (Private)

[loyal]

Learned.

[JiMmIyZ - Hel]

Amythest Blade
Rank: “C”
Skill: Taijutsu
Effect: See description
Special: --
Description: When attacked by a polearm in a stabbing motion, the user parries with the wakizashi held upright while beginning to close the distance between the fighters. Pressure is kept on the polearm by holding the wakizashi on it, slanted and making contact at the base of the blade and the guard, to ensure the opponent’s weapon cannot attack unless it is first completely disengaged. If the user successfully closes the distance, he/she drops and executes a low kick aimed at the opponent’s knee, making sure to keep constant contact with the weapon. If this move is successful, the user generally commits to a full offensive until the opponent is disarmed, has retreated, or is otherwise incompacitated.
Drawback: --
Limit: Wakizashi Kagame Style Rank “C” training

0/10




With her training in the Arms of Topaz having gone well, Amarante and Ken were both awaiting further instructions from Master Ayumu on what they were to do next. The master took his place in front of his class along side his pupil Satoshi and addressed the class.

“This next technique I’m going to teach you is the Amythest Blade” the Master said, turning to Satoshi and the both of them bowing. Amarante really hated that part, as if you could respect someone who’s about to swing a sword at you, it was stupid and she was no samurai, she hated… Samurai.

Amarante watched the proceedings with a look of contempt on her face, a look that did not go unnoticed by Ken. The teen boy watched her closely though at the same time he was trying to watch Master Ayumu and Satoshi as well.

Something of mild interest happened next as Satoshi pulled out a staff weapon and Master Ayumu held a wakizashi blade still. Satoshi stabbed out at master Ayumu with the weapon whilst the Master held up his blade and closed the distance between the two, putting pressure on the polearm, slanting it and making it connect at the base of the sword at the guard.

The man then executed a low kick at Satoshi’s knee, his blade still blocking the wooden pole of Satoshi’s. “At this point of the technique, after you’ve issued the low kick you usually are to commit a full offensive with the opponent becoming disarmed or has retreated” the Master piped up and Satoshi took his place next to Master Ayumu again.

Amarante was intrigued by this jutsu it was an interesting one. It was specifically targeted for a staff weapon which was weird though looking at the size difference in the weapons she could understand why a technique like it would be necessary. “Form two lines now in front of me and Satoshi and we’ll train for a while with Satoshi and me stabbing out at you with the staff’s I have prepared here.”

Snagged the front of the line and took place in front of Satoshi while everyone else, including Ken, was rushing to get in the line with Master Ayumu. Seeing as though she was first, she waited for Satoshi to make his move and when he did, Amarante closed the distance between the two of them, holding her Wakizashi.

Her blade was slanted forward and it managed to catch the staff on the weapons base on the guard but she couldn’t stop Satoshi from attacking her as the man was able to overpower her seeing as though her weight was still so small in comparison to the large man in front of her.

Moving back to the end of the line, she didn’t exactly have to wait as long as she would have to before she got her next go at the technique as most of the people were still over in Master Ayumu’s line. To fill in some time as she waited for her turn again, Amarante watched as another girl, the woman she spared with earlier, managed to successfully perform the technique even though she was just a little taller then herself.

She’d managed to drop herself somehow when she swung the kick to the lower leg of Satoshi and she also held the blade in a more efficient way then Amarante. Taking this under advisement with her next attempt, Amarante met Satoshi head to head when it was her turn once again.

As Satoshi stabbed out at her with his wooden staff, Amarante met his polearm with her Wakizashi blade up and slightly slanted. She caught his weapon at the base of her wooden blade, at the guard and she closed the distance between herself and the man. Satoshi couldn’t knock her over this time meaning that Amarante had managed to disable him so she delivered a low kick to the mans’ knees, lightly of course and the guy fell to the ground none the less.

Things were getting easier in the wakizashi dojo and she didn’t know why, all she knew was that it was awesome.

[Ancestor Febrie]

+10

[JiMmIyZ - Hel]

Wakizashi Kagame Training
Rank: “D”, “C”, “B”
Skill: Taijutsu
Effect: Allows advancement in the wakizashi Kagame style
Special: --
Drawback: --
Description:

o “D” Rank – The primary introduction to training in this style involve dodging and evading moves. A wooden wakizashi is used in training and combat at this level. While this may seem simple on the surface, the style requires its user to react in a heartbeat to do some of the techniques. Emphasis on prediction of movements using body movements are used.
o “C” Rank – The next step of training involves using the quick responses harbored in the safety of the beginning classes are put to offensive use. Fast movement and footwork is emphasized here in order to aid in optimal counter-attack placement. Training is still done with a wooden blade, but the student is officially allowed to carry a real blade outside of class.
o “B” Rank – This is the most intense training in the style. First, the student is pushed to his limits time after time for weeks on end to ensure the beginning levels have not been forgotten and are perfected. Intense study is placed in the muscle and nerve systems before any training on the techniques is used, for the style places emphasis at this time on disabling the opponent. Students have been known to pass out or even die during this level of training.
o “A” Rank (second B-rank training) – The final level of training for any user for the wakizashi kagame style. The wooden wakizashi is replaced by a steel one for training this level. By now everything in training before this has been perfected, but physical training similar to “B” rank is used to ensure it. Many students that have reached and passed this level carry several scars of all shapes and sizes, and medical ninjas are kept on standby during this training, for it is very easy for someone to be struck down at this level. The final test of this level is to search for and locate a master, which, due to their erratic wandering pattern, usually involves a long chase indeed.

Limit: Must be taught by a Wakizashi Kagame Master

0/60

Master Ayumu watched both Amarante and Ken as they practiced. He noticed that they showed some talent. Amarante in particular seemed to be advancing very quickly as if she had had previous sword expereice, he suspected that was the case. Ken was also advancing rather quickly. Not as quickly as Amarante but he seemed to be dogging her steps every step of the way. He then had a crazy idea. "Amarante, Ken, you two come here please" he instructed of the two as training stopped around the dojo. "I want to issue you both a challenge. I want you spar with one another. If you do a good enough job I'll let you advance to the advanced class" he stated, shocking most of the people in the dojo. Especially the senior students. "But sir! They've only been here a week now! You can't let them advance so quickly! They're not ready for it!" Satoshi cried out. It took he himself several years to be allowed into the advanced classes. For these two to be allowed after only a week. It was unheard of. Ayumu however was content. "I am the master of this Dojo. I will decide who can and cannot advance when I feel free" he shouted, silencing Satoshi. Amarante was discontent however, she didn't care one way or the other. ALl this meant to her was that she was given the chance to move forward earlier. Ken was nervous and shaking though, he did not have the confidence in battle that Amarante did.

The two faced off against one another, each bowing their heads. They then drew their wakizashi and squared off, neither one making the first move. Amarante knew the important of the first move. It set the pace for the entire fight but staring off against Ken like this. It really wasn't that interesting so she decided that she'd break the ice. She lunged forward with wakizashi, wooden sword of course, and struck out with a stabbing motion to Ken. The trick to this straight out attack would be that she knew that Ken was going to counter it and she was hoping he would. The boy met her blade with his own and parried it with the skill of a prodigy. Amarante however knew exactly what he would do, she herself was rather gifted with the sword. As Ken moved to strike her with a punch she stepped forward, letting her sword guard be broken by Ken's parry on purpose. She then followed through by getting in way to close for Ken to punch, surprising him, and breaking forth with a headbutt, hitting him in the nose and causing it to bleed. Ken stumbled back and Amarante used this opertunity to slash out with her wooden blade, to finish him off quickly, but Ken stepped back and avoided the slash. "Don't hold back Ken; I'm not" she jeered, hoping to break him out of whatever illusions of friendship he had concocted during the fight.

They were friends but that was outside of swordsmanship. In battle, at this moment, they were enemies. She hoped to awaken him to that fact. Ken retook his stance as Amarante did the same while Master Ayumu watched on. He was disappointed on just how aggressive Amarante was being. Wakosazhi Kagame was a defensive art. Amarante knew this well though and tried to appease her sensei and as such allowed Ken to make the first move next. As Ken rushed in, bored of waiting, she met his downward slash. Tilting his blade to the side Amarante began to launch her counter attack and moved to punch him in the stomach. She was confident that she could do so and felt like she was going to hit but Ken wasn't going to let her have her way too easily and as she stepped in he stepped back, just enough to get out of her range but to keep her in his. He then slashed at Amarante's face who in turn was forced to step back to avoid the hit but it didn't work out like she wanted. She was clipped. Just a little but enough. As the blade made contact Amarante was cut along the cheek, blood being drawn. She touched her face and felt the droplets as Ken himself began to mock Amarante. "Better be careful Amarante; I'm better than you think" he smirked as Amarante closed her eyes. She thought she'd be able to go through this without taking him to seriously. She guessed that she'd have to think of him as an actual opponent.

She took her stance, Ken matching her, and began to focus. She was not going to make the first move, she was going let Ken make it then she'd pick up his openings. It took a while for him to gain the courage to attack as he noticed that Amarante had really began to get into the match but his impatience got to him and he struck out at her, moving forward to punch Amarante, lining his blade up in front of him to block any attacks as he did so. Amarante didn't budge. She stood firm and waited for the blade to move out of the way. He got in closer, and closer very quickly. He then lashed in with the punch and dropped the wakizashi blade out of the way which is when Amarante took the initiative to strike. Using her own blade she met Ken's and pushed it aside before striking in an upward slashing motion which would strike Ken in the chin. She'd have used a longer blade to cut him in half if she had a katana or something for example but for a wakizashi, this would do. Ken however seen through this move and ducked to his left, avoiding AMarante's strike. He then followed up with a foot stomp on Amarante's foot and tried a horizontal slash slash to her neck. Despite the pain of the foot stomp Amarante managed to step back and push Ken away with a front kick. With the conflict paused for a moment Amarante looked as Ken smirked in her direction...

[JiMmIyZ - Hel]

?/60

With Ken smirking AMarante was a bit shocked. Was she..? Losing this fight..? Impossible! There was no way that Ken was better then her. Amarante got angry. She wasn't going to let him upstage her like that. SHe got dead serious and took up her stance, a foul look on her face. This look went unnoticed by Ken and the teenager rushed in to continue the fight. It wasn't unnoticed by Ayumu however. He noticed that Amarante's aura turned black and grew in size. He was very concerned for Ken safety at this point but he was not going to stop the fight. Determination like this, despite it being ill-willed for the moment, was what it took to be successful in Wakizashi Kagame. He'd just have to mould that ill-will to something better as a Master. Her Master. Ken's ignorance of Amarante chnge in nature lead him to charge her with a stabbing motion, one that AMarante managed to deflect easily. She then lashed out at him with a downward slash that Ken was able to avoid, His ignorance leading him to believe that this was fun. He was going to try and punch her but amarante had beaten him to it with a blow to his kidney's, he staggered back with a pained smile but was not allowed to recover as AMarante continued with a kick to the upper arm that caused his form to stumble.

Her raised his blade and was about to attack again but before he could even move to offensive attacks Amarante was already lashing out with her wakizashi, slashing at him again. He blocked the blow but Amarante didn't let up and slash again. A second slash and a second block, a third slash and a third block, a forth slash and a forth block, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth, it just kept going. Ken was forced on the defensive as Amarante went ballistic with her strikes. Forced on the defensive as he was it was a while before he even found an opening he could exploit. He tried to take advantage of it but Amarante simply avoided his attack and began the assault once more. Slash after slash came down from the blond, Ken blocking them again and again. A few more attempts were made against Amarante by Ken but they all had the same result as she was able to dodge or parry them before continuing with her assault. Despite the fact she was relentlessly attacking she was ensuring that Ken himself was making attacks that she knew she could parry or avoid. In other words she was baiting him by giving him obvious openings every so often so that he wouldn't notice the smaller ones that were opening because of her lack of form.

Ayumu noticed this but Ken didn't. He was blindly falling for her traps and being made to pay for them. It seemed as though he was doing well avoiding the strikes but that didn't last for long as Amatante moved on from just using the blade to following up with punches and kicks as well, putting him off balance. After a blocked downward slash she followed up with a kick to his obliques which opened him up a little. She then stabbed through with her wooden wakizashi, allowing it to be parried to a desirable position so she could follow up with a punch to Ken's stomach which in turn was followed up with a foot stomp like the one he inflicted upon her. With that Ken's form became non-existent and Amarante laid him out with a few strikes with her wooden sword. She was now striking him with the blade uncontested with his own and while it was courtesy for her to stop after one or two strikes in this position she did not. She hit him again and again and again with her sword, hitting him over the head and in the upper torso again and again. Ken covered up as best he could with his arm but it wasn't enough. It was at the point where Master Ayumu was about to step in but then Ken made a move no one could have predicted. He attacked...

[JiMmIyZ - Hel]

?/60

A small break opened up in Amarante's attack and Ken managed to make use of it. He sliced upward forcing Amarante on the defensive as she was struck on the chin and knocked back. Ken then followed up with a doward slash to Amarante's shoulder but Amarante parried it with her own attack and elbowed Ken in the face but it was as if he didn't even feel it and punched her in the face. Things were beginning to go beyond a sparring match but Ayumu didn't stop it. No, in fact he wanted these two to keep fighting. He had to see their potential but at what cost? The other students were beginning to get worried. Both Ken and Amarante were fighting at a level near theirs. If they were using actual swords at this point then one of them would be dead already. Amarante stabbed through an attack after swiping away one of Ken's own but wasn't rewarded for her actions. Ken knocked her blade to the side and followed up with a knee to the face, Amarante being forced to jump back to ensure that she wasn't subject to any more attacks. Ken rushed forward, as did Amarante. Ken stabbed forward with a strike and Amarante pushed it to the side and followed through with a side kick to his stomach, sending him back a few steps. She then followed through with a few strikes with the wooden blade to his upper torso and tried a final strike to the head but Ken ducked under it.

After ducking under the strike he followed through with a punch to the stomach to which Amarante countered with a knee to Ken's face, like he did to hers. Ken didn't back away however and gave Amarante a headbutt to her chin, splitting it open as blood now began to flow. Amarante's patience was now pushed and she gave him a strong punch to the head, one strong enough to send him flying (sliding) across the room to hit the nearby wall. Sighing she supposed the fight was over as Ken himself was left to slowly pick himself up off of the ground. "It's your own fault. Pushing me like that. You're lucky I didn't kill you" the blonde stated as she set aside her blade and wiped her hands of the situation. Ken wasn't done however and in an instant he was back fighting Amarante again. Amarante was once again on the defensive. as she was forced to duck a slash from Ken and once again draw her wooden sword. Ken lashed out relentlessly, just as Amarante had previously done, and forced Amarante to attack again in order to save herself from a bad situation. She tagged one of Ken's attacks and parried it outward opening up his body. She then followed through with an advantageous punch and struck out at his chin but Ken hadn't finished with his own attack yet.

He also threw a punch at Amarante's temple and the two hit one another simultaneously causing both swordsman to stumble backward. The two both regained their footing quickly however and the two stepped, stomped, forward and clashed blades before jumping back a little and gaining some distance between the two. "That's enough!" Master Ayumu called, finally taking the initiative to end the conflict but Ken wasn't hearing him. The boy once again stepped offensively toward Amarante who in turn met his attack with her Wakizashi. She flipped him out and open again, revealing his body. Ken was lining up another punch like the last time however this time Amarante was ready. She ducked this punch and delivered a power blow to Ken stomach causing him to shift his upper torso forward. She then pushed upward with a palm strike to Ken's chin, violently pushing his upper torso backward and rocking his brain about in his head. Finally she followed up with a double kick to the torso which sent him flying a few feet before hitting the floor. That was it. Everything Amarante had, she couldn't go on from this point. If he could get up now then Amarante would be forced to move back onto ninjutsu in order to win. Ken managed to climb to his feet however, amazing Amarante. SHe had no idea that he could be this strong but before Ken could continue the fight Master Ayumu stepped in and forced unconsciousness upon Ayumu with ninjutsu of all things. Ending the conflict. Amarante could relax now.

[JiMmIyZ - Hel]

With the battle over Amarante was now left panting rather hard, bleeding all over. She was a bloody mess at this point, the temple punch from Ken opening up another cut adding to the split open chin and cheek. It almost scared the other students. Ken was equally as bloody. Amarante had done a number on him as well. Satoshi was almost hesitant to speak up but his bullheadedness got the best of him and he began to shout. "You insolent brat! How dare you disrespect this dojo like that!" He shouted in anger at Amarante who turned to him in turn, her face a still bleeding mess. "Hey don't blame me. Things wouldn't have gotten this bad if Ken hadn't of wigged out like that, it's not m fault" she calmly reasoned in retort. Master Ayumu didn't agree however. "Actually it was your fault" he stated as he began to tend to the wounds of Amarante and Ken. Amarante turned to him and was about to argue the point but was quickly silenced by Ayumu whom held out a hand to stop her. "Do you remember when you had Ken down on the ground cowering? It was then that he became violent, yes? Do you know why?" he asked Amarante who listened intently. "Because he was knocked out..."

-------

?/60


The next day Ken had awoken and both he and Amarante were beginning their training as advanced students. Both were bandaged up pretty tightly but luckily neither of them had any broken bones. They had a bunch of bruises though but Ayumu wasn't letting them off the hook that easily. There were training their bodies now. This had to be done else the special training for the Wakizashi Kagame would simply kill them. Right now they were working on their core muscles, a regular plank exercise. They were told to hold this for ten minutes which was a hard thing even with Amarante's ninja training, Ken was having a harder time with it though. Every time she held the plank Amarante's muscles just ached for release after about five minutes. It took her a long time to work up to being able to hold it for ten minutes, longer for Ken but it wasn't over just after that. She was now told that she had to hold the plank for twenty minutes, then thirty, forty, all the way up to an hour hold. This took a very long time to be able to build up to do. They were forced to sleep multiple times a day to recover their muscles from the intense training though this proved to be an advantage for Ken as he was able to catch up to Amarante's core strength rather quickly though even when they both were allowed to continue to the next phase of training Amarante's core was still stronger.

Next up they had to train their limbs though for each individual it was different. Amarante as a female was restricted to training her legs more than her upper body while Ken, as a boy, was training his legs and body equally. It took them about a month for them to complete this phase of training but the means were anything but easy. Amarante couldn't even count the number of squats she had to do. Thousands, thousands a day. Her legs were so much more powerful now than they were the previous month. Her extension from squats were jump squats. Making the already outrages number of squats even more difficult she was resigned to making them even harder by jumping at the top of each squat, throwing her hands up high, and then touching the ground before jumping up high again. She was also asked to jump over a freshly planted sunflower each day a thousand times when she woke up, Ayumu insisted upon this and would come out just to watch and make sure that she did. The end result of all this training however was not to be scoffed at however, Amarante definitely couldn't complain. She was now jumping higher than she ever could before. She was well capable of jumping as high as three meters without the additional aid of chakra. Her legs were now very powerful. Ken was also a lot stronger now. His once small arms were getting a lot larger though they still retained the same speed they did when they were lighter.

Amarante was interested in just what special training he had received to achieve that but their training was conducted separately so she wasn't able to witness it. The third phase of training was that they had to go through the same moves that they had already learnt repetitively whilst keeping up their strict training regime. Amarante herself could feel the attacks from Ken, as they were paired up with only each other for this stage of training, were stronger than the ones he was using against her a few weeks ago. His training had really increased his physical strength and this training they were doing together was quickly increasing their skills. Perhaps quickly wasn't the right word to use as it was taking them weeks to complete before Master Ayumu was getting satisfied with their progress. They each performed the opal blade, the arms of sapphire, jade fist, walked around in their defensive stances time and time again each day. Over and over they repeated these actions until they dropped. When one couldn't continue, Ayumu took over as the partner for the other. They were both worked into the ground each and every day. He made sure that both Amarante and Ken dropped to the ground with their training. They needed to. If they didn't, they'd die.

[JiMmIyZ - Hel]

?/60

After a while of training like this both Amarante and Ken were forced inside to study. They were forced to learn about the muscles in the body. Both she and Ken learnt that the main role of the muscular system is to provide movement. Muscles work in pairs to move limbs and provide the organism with mobility. Muscles also control the movement of materials through some organs, such as the stomach and intestine, and the heart and circulatory system. She learnt that she had over six hundred muscles in her body controlling just how her bones moved and she learnt just how the muscles and the bones were interconnected, bones giving the muscles in her body something to shape around and allow movement. She learnt that Smooth muscles, sometimes also called involuntary muscles, are usually in sheets, or layers, with one layer of muscle behind the other. That you can't control this type of muscle as your brain and body tell these muscles what to do without you even thinking about it and obvious that you can't use your smooth muscles to make a muscle in your arm or jump into the air, she learnt the difference between these kinds of muscles and the muscles in her arm. More importantly than though though she learnt that these muscles, in battle were good target to attack.

These muscles were usually very important in the functioning of the human body. The heart pumped blood and so forth. She was instructed on just how to strike these muscles and when would be best to do it. Integrated into the training program she was instructed on just how she could properly strike the heart while countering a slash from the left, a slash from the right and other strikes like that. This was mirrored with every other organ in the body; the liver, kidney's appendix, brain, bladder, large and small intestines, eyes, spleen, stomach. No detail was spared as even means of attacking a woman uterus was included in the training. It was very indepth and Amarante and Ken had to study for days before beginning to understand properly just how it all works, how it all fit together. It took even longer to be able to effectively learn how to strike these body parts proficiently in combat as well and then there were the skeletal muscles to think about. She learnt that they make up fifty percent of your body weight. That there are 640 individually named skeletal muscles and that a skeletal muscle links two bones across its connecting joint so when these muscles contract or shorten, your bone moves.

Skeletal muscles are arranged in layers over the bones. Those nearest to the skin are called superficial muscles. Those closest to the inside of the body are called deep muscles. Skeletal muscles are voluntary muscles. These are muscles that we can consciously control meaning that her swing of the wakizashi would be her using her voluntary muscles to strike out at something or someone. Included in her training was how to effectively target these muscles in battle and they were taught just how to target these muscles in combat just as they were taught how to target organs. It was actually a little easier as these muscles were on the outside meaning that they would require only shallower cuts to disable them though it was harder to land lethal blows. For a lethal blow on the skeletal muscles she would have to attack the venous system, aiming for arteries and the like. No muscle itself would be lethal to cut or at least not many would be. Throughout this training Amarante and Ken were still forced to work n their bodies, their swordsmanship in general and on how to attack their opponents organs. Ayumu wanted to bash this information into their head so hard that they'd never ever forget, not even in old age. Only then would he allow these guys to call themselves his students.

[JiMmIyZ - Hel]

?/60

Next up AMarante and Ken had to learn about the nervous system which at first was confusing as to why for Amarante but she eventually began to understand the reasoning for this. She learnt that the nervous system is composed of those elements within the human body organism that are concerned with the reception of stimuli, the transmission of nerve impulses, and the activation of muscle mechanisms which to her meant that it dealt with the actual movement and muscle memory of swordsmanship. Upon hearing this one sentence she was very intrigued by her lessons though Ken was falling asleep. It could be considered as the master control unit inside your body which meant to her that it was the conductors room of the train. The first lesson was on the function of sensory cells and their response to stimuli. Sensory cells were comprised of sensory neurons that carry signals from receptors and transmit information about the environment to processing centers in the brain and spinal cord, carrying messages from sensory receptors to the spinal cord. Sometimes referred to as an afferent neuron. To her this meant that they were the information gatherers of the body. These were the things that told us what was around us, if there was danger, if something hurt. This was by far the most important part of the nervous system to her.

This was all good and all but just what was a neuron? She was told that they were highly specialized cells that generate and transmit bio-electric impulses from one part of the body to another; the functional unit of the nervous system. The neuron may be capable of only slow and generalized activity, or they may be highly efficient and rapidly conducting units. From this statement she figured that in the body there were fast and slow moving neurons but that wasn't all there was to learn about neurons, next up was cranial nerves. The cranial nerves connect to the brain by passing through openings in the skull, or cranium. Nerves associated with the spinal cord pass through openings in the vertebral column and are called spinal nerves. Both cranial and spinal nerves consist of large numbers of processes that convey impulses to the central nervous system and also carry messages outward; the former processes are called afferent, the latter are called efferent. Afferent impulses are referred to as sensory; efferent impulses are referred to as either somatic or visceral motor, according to what part of the body they reach. Most nerves are mixed nerves made up of both sensory and motor elements.

By this point even Amarante's interest was beginning to waver but there was still more to learn and Ayumu began to explain the autonomic nervous system. He explained that 'among the motor fibers may be found groups that carry impulses to viscera. These fibers are designated by the special name of autonomic nervous system. The autonomic system controls the action of the glands; the functions of the respiratory, circulatory, digestive, and urogenital systems; and the involuntary muscles in these systems and in the skin. Controlled by nerve centers in the lower part of the brain, the system also has a reciprocal effect on the internal secretions, being controlled to some degree by the hormones and exercising some control, in turn, on hormone production.' This told Amarante that it was this subsystem that controlled breathing and heart rate. If we had to think about the heart beating so that we didn't die then we'd certainly die; stuff like that. It also taught her that this system could also be trained to some small degree. If she were able to train herself so much that her body did things on it's own, it would mean that it was the autonomic nervous system was kicking in. That was the purpose of her being taught all this; it was an explanation of the repetitive training she had been doing up to this point. Understanding this now Amarante was content to keep going, she wanted to make Ayumu proud. Well actually she didn't She didn't give a rats ass about him. She just wanted tobe stronger, that's what this whole thing was about after all.

[¯\_(ツ)_/¯]

+60

nothing happened.


Nothing to see here.

[JiMmIyZ - Hel]

A break from the norm

Quick Strike Training (D, C, B)
Rank: D, C, B
Effect: D Rank - Improves strike speed and power marginally; C Rank - Improves strike speed and power slightly; B Rank - Improves strike speed and power moderately.
Special: None
Drawbacks: Cannot learn Reflex Training.
Description: The practitioner is put through a series of rigorous repetitive movements to improve their ability to strike effectively with their sword. As they develop their training, their speed and power slowly increase.
Restriction: Must have a Senpai/Sensei of a Kenjutsu Dojo to learn.


0/60

Amarante was hanging out in her now abandoned Team Blitz hangout in her room, remembering her recent mission into the sewers of Knoha and her meeting Josen there. He was so fast, so powerful. It pissed Amarante off knowing that! She took out her Wakizashi and gave it a few swings. Her wrists flicked out the sword and the blade hissed through the air from its speed but it wasn't enough. Josen's swings were faster, they made an even louder hiss through the air but Amarante's couldn't match it! She swung time and time again but still her swings were not matching the speed of Josens. She tried different ways of swinging. She tried focusing on her wrists flicking out first of all but while it did make her a little faster, not enough, it took out a lot of the power behind the strikes not to mention that if she were to actually make contact with something solid enough that it would either break her wrists or force the blade out of her hands, none of which were handy in a battle. She supposed that she could work on improving her wrist strength and endurance but in the end it was just too much of a gamble, not to mention that improving wrist strength would actually slow her wrists down so she'd be back in the same boat anyway, trying to make her strikes faster.

She tried a different method of training next and she focused on her shoulder movement. The shoulders were of course the most important part of the attack. All the strength and power of the sword swing came from the shoulders and so she began to swing with shoulder emphasis. She tried short swings in comparison to the average swings she used in fights but after merely a few of them she of course found that it wasn't as powerful as her regular attacks so then she thought of trying larger swings than what she normally used and increased the lever of the sword swing in an attempt at increasing her speed. She swung a few times and noticed that the swing was indeed much more powerful but that proved to be its own problem in itself. Because of the increased lever the obvious thing that happened was that the swing got slower, a lot slower in the eyes of a shinobi. A second to a shinobi was an hour. For an attack to be slower than what was necessary was suicide so she moved onto the elbow movement of the swing but it didn't make any noticeable difference. Focusing on the elbow joint was an unnecessary part of the swing. It didn't make any noticeable difference plus it was difficult to think of ways to help increase speed so in the end she gave up on it and resided herself to be thinking of the entire motion.

She swung her katana out in front of her, trying to make it faster throughout the entire motion but progress was made very slow if at all. She tried to take out all unnecessary movement in the motion but that would require repetitive motions rather than just thinking about what was wrong. It required experience. With this in mind she began to swing her blade out in front of her again and again. She did this for hours with no break. She raised her Katana then swung it forward. She then raised it again and swung forward again. Back and forth, back and forth, up and down, up and down. There was no stop for her for the longest time though after a while her swings began to slow down due to fatigue. In the end it turned out that she was unable to continue as the Katana began to weigh too much and she dropped it mid swing. She was on the ground panting, her Katana on the ground in front of her before she sensed something in the room with her. There was something coming at her with malicious intent, something was attacking her. As quick as she could she drew her blade and met it to her attackers own, hearing a clang that told her it was a blade. Due to the fear she moved faster than she thought she could have and was able to live because of it. She jumped back to get to a safe distance to make out just who or what was attacking her before being surprised by the perpetrator. It was Josen.

[JiMmIyZ - Hel]

?/60

Appearing before her for no explicit reason and attacking her, Josen had proven himself to be an enemy that was trying to attack Amarante. She was nervous about this fight, he was stronger. Amarante wasn't about to back down though, she never backed down from anything. Josen was the first to make a move and he lashed through with an incredibly fast sword slash that shocked Amarante with its speed. The girl was not about to let him have his way though and with every bit of speed and muscle she could turn on she moved out of the way, avoiding the lethal blow. Josen slashed back with another swipe of his sword and once again Amarante tried to dodge it as best as she could, ducking down with her knees to avoid the blow and she managed to jump back but Josen was on her trail, never letting her out of his range. Amarante was moving as quickly as she could but to Josen she was pretty much standing still, he wasn't taking her seriously yet. Her muscles screamed for rest as Amarante was forced to move again and again, simply to avoid the attacks and continue to live. She had to move faster! Faster! Adrenaline improved her speed a little but it wasn't enough. She was being forced back further and further, or closer and closer could be more accurate. She couldn't contend with this level of competition.

She had to attack! Her muscles screamed out in agony but she couldn't let them rest not even a little else it would be the end of her. She had to push them further and as such when she avoided the next strike she moved closer instead of further away so that she was able to deliver a headbutt to his stomach. With her attack delivered she tried to follow up with a strike of her sword, thinking that she had an opening. She was wrong though. Josen simply pushed her away and delivered another swipe with his sword, he was much to fast to care about whether or not she got in close to him. He was capable of the speed necessary to force her back anyway, at this point he didn't even have to put in any effort. Amarante was forced to give it her all just to keep fighting to keep living. Each movement had to be perfect. If it was anything less Josen would cut her down in an instant. Every slight movement of her hand had the possibility of losing the limb, every step, even if it was simply a millimeter over stepped or under stepped could mean death. How she got the strike in before hand was beyond her comprehension but she didn't have to time to think about it. Josen was increasing the proficiency of his attacks, sending them out at faster intervals requiring the utmost attention of Amarante.

Anything less and she'd be sliced up but as she moved she noticed something. Her muscles weren't screaming anymore and all the pain she had been feeling from them was gone or at least fading. Her movements were also beginning to get crisper. They were beginning to lose their imperfections with amazing speed. She was beginning to get more and more proficient in swordsmanship as she fought but would it be enough? Josen was amazing, he wasn't going full out at this point Amarante could tell. She had seen him in the sewers; he was much faster there. That meant nothing now though; she had a chance to attack now that her muscles were working again and she lashed out with a counter attack whilst parrying an attack of Josen's own. Catching him slightly off guard Amarante's sword bared down on him, threatening to leave the man without an arm but he was experienced beyond Amarante's years. He dodged the blow and once again attacked her. As Amarante's comiment to her own attack meant that it was next to impossible to avoid it. The final blow had been swung but Amarante didn't want it to end yet. She still had to do things. She... She pushed up with her toes and launched herself away from the blade as best she could and avoided the fatal blow but it was too late. She wasn't on balance any more she... Was on the ground now and Josen had the blade ready to strike into her chest! She watched in shock as the blade came down and she heard a clean, crisp, clunk. Was she dying..? No. The blade had missed but why? "Well then, you pass the test. You can be my student" the man stated with a wide grin. He wanted her to be... His student?

[Flower]

+20

[/blockquote][/blockquote]

[JiMmIyZ - Hel]

20/60

Josen explained that the entire point of his attacking her just then was to see if she was worthy enough to become his student, the man feeling potential within her when they first met. The two squared off against one another and drew their blades. It took a long time for anyone to move at all as they simply stared at one another in the eyes but eventually Josen was the one who moved to attack first, lunging forward to slash at him. Amarante was tempted to attack but stayed her course for the moment. Part of being a good swordsman was to know when to attack, when to strike and it wasn't now. She waited until Josen got right within cutting distance and then produced an amazing horizontal slash that threatened to cut the Kenjutsu master in twain but the man leapt over the blade and attempted to stab downward but Amarante was fast enough to duck under him and his blade, gaining an advantageous position in the process. From her position under Josen as well as being behind him she stabbed out her own strike, attempting to pierce his lower back but Josen was too fast for that and he hoped out of the way leaving Amarante's strike to hit nothing but air. She followed through with her stab though and attempted a diagonal cut against him while she had him on the run.

Josen was back on balance however and he began to swing his sword incredibly fast once again and in an instant it was Amarante who was on the ropes. She used every ounce of speed and muscle power she could muster to avoid the blows that Josen struck at her with and began to wait for her opening. SHe waited and waited all the while deadly swings of Josen blade missed her by mere millimeters and then she found what she was looking for. She found the opening in Josen defences and took advantage of it to the best ability. As she avoided one of hi blows she stabbed forward into a small opening in his guard and reversed the situation as Josen was forced to avoid. It was then Amarante's turn to swing her sword violently, slashes out with it over and over again until her arms began to grow tired. Soon the momentum of her swigs was beginning to cause small gaps within her guard but she didn't let that stop her from swinging. Somehow she found the strength to swing the heavy Katana again and again, sheer force of will allowing her to do so. Josen could have easily taken advantage of this openings but for some reason chose not to; not that Amarante cared. As long as she was swinging and not on the defensive she figured that her attacking speed could improve but it wasn't as simple as that and Josen was going to teach her that.

As Amarante cut in for a stab Josen used the opportunity to force her back on the defensive and pushed her away. With distance regained between the two Amarante sheathed her sword but kept it in her hand, tightly gripped. As soon as Josen entered her range she was going to slice him in two in an instant, she had to belive she could else she'd fail. Josen went in to attack and Amarante and Amarante waited. She waited for him to get in close and as soon as he entered her range, which was much shorter than his, for the very first time she unleashed a slash that was faster than her eye could see, her muscles constricting at an unbelievable pace causing not only Amarante's grip to fail but also her shoulder to become dislocated due to the extreme force of the slash. Josen in response was injured, not fatally but a shallow cut was now bleeding along his midsection. Amarante's Katana skidded across the floor and Josen's attack halted. "Good work; now the real training begins" he stated as he set his own sword away and began to ponder...

[JiMmIyZ - Hel]

?/60

It appeared as though sparring was not going to be the method of training from this point onward. Instead she was simply swinging her katana blade in front of her but this time was a little different. Josen had sutck about a thousand needles in Amarante, all on her pressure point all over her body as well as having them stuck deep within her muscle tissue in select places that while it won't kill her, it wouldn't exactly be pleasant. The idea behind this would be that Amarante could move effectively without hurting herself with the needles in her muscles that she would be able to increase her performance and speed as she would be using all of her muscles correctly at the exact place with the exact muscle movement needed to swiftly perform with her katana. Still though at this point simply moving was a hard thing to do without hurting. The human body was well known for being excellent with moving but the problem was that it was to good and some muscles were unused which could be used to more effectively move. These muscles were all throughout the body so these needles in her would help solve the problem of her body being too good at moving, simple enough right? Wrong. It was Josen excellent skill and knowledge of the body that made this possible else she'd be dead with these needles being so deep within her muscles. Or paralysed.

First thing she needed to do was to actually learn how to move with these needles in without hurting herself so that meant she had to learn to walk all over again. She began to take her first step after Josen had finished with the needles but the second she tried to lift her foot, 'Bam!', her leg began to hurt like there was no tomorrow. She didn't think that just lifting it would hurt so much which is when Josen piped in. "These needles aren't just going to help you learn how to swing your sword. They're going to retrain how you move your entire body" he stated as Amarante continued to wince in pain. It all just hurt so much, she couldn't even wiggle her toe without a needle in her foot telling her that that wasn't the way how to move but she couldn't give up yet. She tried to move her leg again but was met with the same great pain, she tried again but it just happened a third time. Every move she made came back to bite her in the ass. Any thoughts of her just having to train for a single day like this were blown out the window. She could tell this was going to take time though things didn't get really intense until she had to scratch her nose. It seemed as though as soon as she couldn't do it, her nose began to itch and it wasn't going away so Amarante decided to give scratching it a try.

Very slowly she began to move her arm, her biceps contracting, to try and scratch the nose and at first she wasn't met with any pain at all. She was beginning to grow confident and that's when it hit her. As she tried to twist her arm to allow her to scratch her hand underwent extreme pain as the needles told her it was a no no. She quickly returned it back to where it was previously but even doing that hurt her as the needles told her once again that it was a big no no. The needles were relentless and stung like a bitch. She tried to twist again and again, her nose getting really itchy at this point but still it hurt. No matter how many times she tried or how slowly she went the needles kept bugging her. She wanted to stop but with the needles being in already she was scared that just talking was going to hurt, she had no choice but to continue. She tried one last time to twist her hand and found that for some strange reason she was able to twist it further without pain, said pain still kicking in though. It wa enough for her to figure out just how to move her arm though as her body realised that if it kicked in certain muscles that it wouldn't be punished. Now she was able to scratch her nose without trouble but that was only for one arm...

[JiMmIyZ - Hel]

?/60

Now that she realised how to move her right arm properly it was lefty's turn and so she set her right arm back down and began to focus on the left. She slowly began to raise the appendage but was hit by an intense pain that she had to figure out how to avoid. She decided to try scratching her nose like she did with the other arm and so she began to bend at the bicep, feeling no pain with the motion yet, and then twisted her hand to her nose. Pain courses through her points in her arm, the needles being assholes, but she wasn't discouraged and she just kept fiddling with the appendage. She tried twisting it the other way now and found that she was still experiencing the same excruciating pain when she rotated it the original way. Her body wasn't learning yet and it took a few more minutes until it figured out just what to move and how. One would usually think that moving your arm up to scratch you nose was the end of although it was far from the truth. It was in fact the moving your arm back part that was the challenge. You had to use the back muscles of your arm to do this and there was less muscle there which meant it worked harder, harder working muscles meaning harder and more intense pain.

She lowered her arm slowly and found that unlike the right arm she was experiencing pain. It took her a long time to be able to properly lower the limb and the complete time in total to simply master moving her arms like this took hours and soon enough Josen had decided to call it a day and removed the needles so that Amarante could sleep. The next day he woke her up early and put the needles back in, Amarante testing that she could still move her arms without any pain and found that it took a little longer to get her muscles to remember the movement. Next up Amarante had to move her leg and started with the right. She tried to lift the appendage but it just hurt so much to move. There were a lot more needles in the leg than that arm which caused it to feel like fire as she moved and felt the pain. It was almost unbearable but Amarante had suffered through worse. She tried again to move it but was once again stopped by the pain she felt. She told herself to move though, forcing herself to do so not knowing if it would help or not but she lifted the leg slowly and took a step forward which in turn caused her left leg to hurt as the stride lengthened the muscle but she was happy. She had managed to take the step but now it was time for the other leg.

Moving her left leg was going to prove to be much harder as the stride taken with the right had lengthened the muscles which meant she would have to work the muscles harder and longer before. The muscles being used were going to need a lot of work to be able to function properly and as she began to take the step she felt once again the mighty pain of the needles. She wasn't deterred by pain though, no, if anything she was spurred on to walk. She forced herself to take another step forward, she told herself to do it! She wanted to do it! She needed to do it! Josen was moving so fast and so efficiently, she wanted to move like that was well. She took the step, the full step and relaxed as after she did so, the pain went away a little. That wasn't the end though she needed t take another and so she began to lift up the right leg. It hurt just as bad if not worse than last time but she took the step more quickly than the last time. The lengthened levers meant that more muscles needed to be used here as well just like with the left foot but she found she could keep going. Her body was beginning to learn, she couldn't stop now else it all wouldn't have been worth it. Not just the training today. Everything.

[JiMmIyZ - Hel]

?/60

It took days of training, days of pain, for Amarante to be able to walk a short distance with the needles in her body but soon enough she was able to do it and she felt as though she could move onto more complex things like jumping. She bent down with her knees and got ready to push up. She was a little worried about this as the powerful motion couldn't be stopped once she launched herself so she decided to use a little jump first. She pushed herself upward from the ground and felt where the pain was. IN her calf muscle. Her calves weren't properly trained to this point, they only had a little attention applied to them from walking but full extension wasn't included in this trained. She knew after that she had to train for a little while longer with just small jumps, bounces really, before moving onto larger jumps. It took her a few more hours to get this just right and then she began to start using big jumps. The big jumps took a lot longer to be able to complete as the motions were just too powerful for her muscles to work around at first but in time, three days to be specific, she was able to jump to heights she didn't think were reachable before, let alone capable of doing with these needles in her. With this milestone under her belt it was time to move onto something else.

It was finally time to move onto her swinging a katana blade. Nothing fancy at first,s he was just going to hold it in her hands and then swing it up over her head once and then back down. Simple enough right? Wrng. This was by far the most painful action she had experienced so far with the needles. The additional weight of the Katana as well as the extension of the lever made it very difficult to hold it let alone swing it and she regretted her ill-advised decision to swing the blade with the full motion. It hurt. She first began to swing the blade in little, little motions. Tiny motions that just trained the shoulder at this point. These tiny motions quickly became larger motions however although she kept having to go smaller every so often because of the pain that would come with her doing so. With all the training to date though this seemed to be the fastest to complete as soon enough she was beginning to swing the blade in full motion and then she got the idea to... Swing it full on! She wondered just how hard she could swing the blade without it hurting and so she decided to give it a shot. SHe rose the blade up above her head and tensed her muscles. Taking in a breath she then swung it down hard and found that she didn't experience any pain.

She then decided to give a go of walking as she swung the sword, keeping form as she moved with the blade. Once again she found that she wasn't feeling that much pain if any at all. In fact the pain she thought she felt was just in her head. She was actually feeling really good right now and Josen was surprised. He then had to bump up his schedule and had her begin sparring right away. Things were tense as Amarante was squaring off against her 'Master' once again and she gripped her blade tightly as it was sheathed. She was going to take the initiative today and as such, she charged him. Making the first move Amarante got within distance really quickly and Josen attempted to slash with his blade. Amarante ducked under it however, the needles not affecting her at all and she slashed at him with her blade. Funnily enough this swipe was strong enough, and especially fast enough, to be called the fastest strike she had ever produced to date. Josen was struk in the stomach and split open worse than he thought he'd ever be hit but AMarante wasn't finished yet. She followed through with several more cuts, one to his right arm, one to his left, one to his legs and finally one to his kneck. Each strike was fast and powerful enough that Josen himself had to admit to it being on par with his. Amarante's training had given her a special outlook on fighting. She loved it.

[Beltran]

learned

[JiMmIyZ - Hel]

[Exit]