You've got a dream! (Taijutsu class)

[Kishiko Nagisa]

Kenshin loaded up his training crates and dummies again. Kitsune park was still open. The morning air was a little chilly but nothing too outlandish. Kenshin placed the marker on the bored that a taijutsu class was starting in an hour and that weapons would be provided if needed.

As the sun rose in the sky, Kenshin put the steel and hay dummies in a row. He placed both creates at his feet and would wait. As each student would approach, Kenshin would greet them with a nod and point for them to stand and wait for the others to join.

It had been a while since his last class. He had been busy being the Hokage guard. He lived in his office pretty much but he didn't complain. Yomi was pregnant and dealing with that on top of missing Umashi and running the village. His discomfort was nothing. All that mattered was the village. He hoped students would join him for today. Kenshin's long black pants whipped as a slight breeze ran across the empty space. A matching long sleeved black shirt hid his arms for today. It was cool enough in the mornings to wear a little protection form the elements but only just. Kenshin had shaved his head close so the grey hair was more stubble than anything else.


WC 222
TWC 222

OOC You have 48 hours to post. Post order is not important. Miss a post and you get a strike. 3 strikes and you are out of the class.

At the end of each of your posts place Word Count and Total word count

 

[Minamoto Daisuke]

It had been a pretty standard morning for Shinzo, he had raced down from his room at the crack of dawn to get some pre breakfast taijutsu practice in his back garden. Of course it wasn’t too large but there was enough space for one makeshift training dummy amongst the flowers and vegetable. Todays practice would be dedicated to blade work but alas as soon as one of his butterfly swords made contact with the rigid frame of the practice dummy, Shinzo was rudely interrupted by the sound of a door being flung open, his mother stood in the back doorway. The scowl on her face contrasted the pink hair curlers that lifted her brown locks from her shoulders. The young boy recognised the familiar posture of the frustrated woman, hands on hips in her fluffy dressing gown that draped just above her rabbit slippers. The door closed after Shinzo who had just trudged back in without even hearing a verbal command from his mother.

The next hour or so flashed by, breakfast was eaten, lunch was packed and equipment was ready. The young boy made sure to sign a goodbye to his younger brother, Shinzo had been practicing his sign language now that his brother had started to communicate with it. He was proud but still, he needed to get to class. As per usual, the Seikon gifted child left early and began his sprint towards the academy. Record time was reached as the boy flew into the academy courtyard, skidding past the notice board in an attempt to slow down to read the new piece of information that had caught his eye. “Yes!” He cried out in excitement as he took a mental note of the details. ‘I have been waiting for another taijutsu lesson with Kenshin-sensei. I wonder if he got my letter from before.’ He had just under an hour to get there, and so with the class details in mind, Shinzo set off at breakneck pace to reach his destination before the time ran out. He knew that the journey wouldn’t take all that long but he needed to make sure that he was punctual.

The figure of the young boy zipped through the streets of Konoha, though this time Shinzo was sporting a blue tank top as well as a scarf in an attempt to combat the bitter chill of winter wind, thankfully the exercise that the boy took part in as his almost standard movement speed kept his body on the warm side. He could soon see Kitsune park in the distance. ‘Come on, come on, got to show Kenshin-sensei that I’m ready for another lesson. I need to keep working on my taijutsu anyway, there must be a lot to improve on.’ It didn’t take long for Shinzo to reach the entrance to the park, his eyes flicked down towards Kenshin as the idea of harsh training flew through his brain. Without hesitation, the boy sprinted down towards the would be training area, he recognised the dummies from last time and wondered if this would be a similar lesson to before. Only time would tell really.

A cloud of dust formed behind Shinzo as he skidded to a stop in front of Kenshin, his face brimming with enthusiasm. “I am here for the taijutsu class Kenshin-sensei.” He bent forwards slightly in a respectful bow before he stood back upright and brought one thumb up as a positive gesture towards his instructor. “I’m ready to do the most intense training possible! Do you have the weights again? Can I start with them? How much weight should I use?” The barrage of questions flowed from the young boy’s mouth one after the other but soon he was silenced as Kenshin pointed to a waiting point. Shinzo gulped, he didn’t want to seem too full-on but the excitement to practice more taijutsu was overwhelming for the young lad. For now he held it within, following the instruction. Shinzo moved into position and stood silently, hands held behind his back as he waited to see which other students would arrive.

MFT
WC: 688
TWC: 688

 

[Arashi Takejo]

Hmm not bad but still a long way to go, Arashi thought to himself as he wiped his sweat. He had been practicing non-stop for two hours, aiming to improve his handling of both his weapons. As he analysed his strikes, he was fairly pleased to see they were all mortally wounding. His practice scarecrow was dead ten times over. But it was no feat to be proud of. Killing an opponent who could not retaliate was a piece of cake. Fighting multiple strong shinobi in the field of battle was a much different breed of animal. He needed to get much more stronger. He had lots of things still due to be accomplished. Thankfully his fits had eased off a bit in the last days, but the random headache still plagued him now and then. The mysterious medicine his brother had brought had worked well, but he was suspicious of its origins as his brother refused to divulge any further information. As he sheathed both his blades and sat down to finish his ricecake which he had brought from his house, he wondered how he could improve his techniques further. Lost in his thoughts, he almost forgot that he had to go the academy. Quickly wrapping up his stuff and tying up his blades, he embarked on the way to his destination.

The breeze was a tad chilly and Arashi pulled up his jacket’s collar to shield himself better. Walking through the academy gate, he noticed the grounds were monotonous as usual. Some children were talking, others were doing shuriken practice and others were just playing around. He walked up to the notice board, browsing the posters for something interesting. He saw a small poster advertising a Taijutsu class which was to be held at the Kitsune park, near the Hokage rock. This especially caught his attention because the class was to be conducted by Kenshin Sensei. He recalled the name from when Ryo had spoken about him, praising him as a teacher. This was a good opportunity to better his Taijutsu skills and get to know Kenshin sensei better. He deliberated for a moment but then nodded to confirm his decision. He re-checked his gear and equipment and proceeded to head to Kitsune park. This should be a good learning experience, he thought to himself.

As he reached the walled boundary of the park, he could spot the training dummies neatly lined up, waiting to be practised on. As he entered the mostly empty park, he spotted today’s instructor and a familiar face. The strong looking teacher was wearing plain black pants and a black shirt. He was emanating the usual aura of strength and power indicating this was no ordinary ninja. Meanwhile Shinzo, one of Arashi’s first acquaintances from the academy was pestering the teacher with a lot of questions. Arashi walked up to the designated spot and bowed a little before the teacher and introduced himself, greeting Shinzo as well.

WC = 495
TWC = 495

 

[Senju Gaki]

When Juko finally arrived to the Taijutsu Class that he had signed up himself for two other students where already standing in a neat line, obviously waiting for him and potential other pupils. Juko was wearing his new black hoodie with fittingly colored black pants, more or less silently celebrating his entrance into the Anbu Branch. Still, even though he had been put into an Anbu squad he hadnt been given any special training so far. Just the usual pounding of basics... dont get me wrong, its all nice and dandy but... he frowned I REALLY would like to get some more jutsu instead... i wanna have whatever it is Takeshi and Yukio have, all that special shwing... He barely managed to constrain himself from doing choppy movements to underline his thoughts. Yet, a small voice in the back of his head reminded him that he had indeed learned some new jutsus, which were all but common knowledge to most other ninjas in the village. True, true... but aaah yknow, some fire dragons or i dont know... lightning snake...thingys would be nice...
As he approached the group and was greeted politely by their teacher, Juko quickly noticed Shinzo standing side by side with a stranger and cautiously came closer.
Yeah okay, Taijutsu will be the same as usual i guess... From the corner of his eyes he took a quick glance at the dummies that were standing near Kenshin. Already could he imagine how this lesson would go, no different from how it used to be when he was still a regular student in the academy.
Damnit, and ive barely eaten everything today... they mustve forgotten to buy porrdige again... surely... His stomach growled in frustrated approval as the boy reached his friend. A smile spread on his face as he put the gloomy thoughts aside and greeted his fellow students. Good Morning, Shinzo, Teach' and...er... He bowed slightly forward to look around Shinzo and at the unknown kid. Im Juko, pleased to meet your acquaintance....
The boy blinked for a second before a light red tint came over his face. Er.. yeah, so what i was actually going to say was "Pleased to meet you" or "Nice to make your acquaintance"... not, yknow, both... He chuckled embaressed before quickly returning to where Shinzo was blocking the new guys view. Shit, Juko, whats wrong with you... could you be ANY more idiotic... even the teach mustve be thinking you a moron...
Crossing the arms on his back he pretended like he did not just hear himself say something stupid and smiled as big as possible at Kenshin. Er.. ready whenever you are, Teach!

WC: 443​

TWC: 443​

 

[Kishiko Nagisa]

Kenshin did not have to wait long. Shinzo appeared with a barrage of questions. Kenshin would simply look at him and smile a little but still indicate the place to wait. Soon, he was joined by a couple of others. Takejo and Juko appeared. Juko wasn't a student technically but it was something. Three students was enough for him.

"Right so I know some of you but for everyone's sake here is my introduction. I am Yuu Kenshin, instructor at this academy and the personal body guard to the Hokage. Please introduce yourself to me and your classmates proper. After you do this we will go through a series of stretches to limber up. Then the training begins." Kenshin would say.

After the introductions, Kenshin would take them all through a series of stretches that would wake every muscle in their bodies. They went though the series of poses faster and faster until they were breathing a little hard. Well everyone but Kenshin. This was nothing.

"Right. So take a small break and come over here to this box. Pick a weapon of your choice then pick a dummy. This time, however, we are going to start with weights."

In one create, the students would find wooden weapons of every kind imaginable. After they picked a weapon and a dummy, Kenshin would move to each one and place a five pound weight on each ankle and wrist. All except Shinzo.

"You have already done this, so I will make it harder for you Shinzo." Kenshin would say as he added an additional five pounds to the wrists of Shinzo making the extra weight a a grand total of 30 pounds.

"Now, show me what you got at my signal. Ready? Begin!" Kenshin would say after moving a short distance away to keep an eye on everyone.

WC 306
TWC 528

 

[Minamoto Daisuke]

It was out of great respect to the instructor of this class that Shinzo simply smiled and nodded towards Arashi as he arrived only moments later. The same was done as Juko arrived, although Shinzo was thoroughly surprised by the arrival of two familiar faces he still managed to keep calm. This was despite his excitement at seeing the pair at a taijutsu lesson of all places. Soon enough, Kenshin spoke, the premise for this lesson would be similar to the last which in a sense was comforting to the young brown haired lad; he felt that this method of training would far improve his ability to use his butterfly swords that lay in the single forearm-length sheath which rested horizontally on his lower back.

He moved to speak first, being the first of the group to arrive made him feel like it would be his task to. “I am Deguchi, Shinzo. Academy student and ninja hopeful.” Having spoken he bowed his head towards Kenshin before turning and bowing towards his fellow class mates individually. Though they all knew him, Shinzo didn’t want to miss any instruction given by Kenshin and so these introductions were done with the utmost respect for his instructor and his peers. Although, it was a struggle not to giggle while introducing himself to Juko given their history, by now they were pretty aware of each other and in any other situation Shinzo would have taken the opportunity to try and get his rival into trouble for the sake of the humour in it but given this was Kenshin’s class, he decided against such action.

Once the introductions were complete Shinzo then moved to partake in the stretching, as a young athletic boy the stretched weren’t so hard on his ligaments. After all, it was important to stretch when doing any exercise and especially when practicing taijutsu, something the lad was very much doing in his free time. The stretches themselves were barely a challenge, apart from one or two which caused the young lad to groan slightly as muscle groups that he did not normally remember to stretch were stretched thoroughly thanks to the guidance of Kenshin. The poses that followed started as an easy task for the boy, and this was to continue for the majority of this warm up phase. However as Kenshin continued to speed up, Shinzo pushed himself to keep up but it only worked for so long. The boy found himself playing catch-up with the poses being thrown out but thankfully soon after this routine ended. Several fast breaths were drawn before a larger one was utilised to lower Shinzo’s heartrate, the breaths themselves were still pretty hard but it didn’t take long for the boy to regain his composure.

Shinzo listened closely as Kenshin moved on to talk about the process of gathering equipment ready for the lesson. ‘Yes! We are going to start with the weights this time! I wonder what Kenshin-sensei has planned. Before Shinzo could even ask for more weight, Kenshin had moved to place even more on the young boy’s wrists. “Thank you, Kenshin-sensei. I have been practicing with weights but this time I want to show you how I use my weapons!” The boy could indeed feel the additional weight on the end of his limbs, however it wasn’t too much for the young lad. His training had reached a point where extra weights to improve his muscle control were a common occurrence. The crate did indeed have wooden forms of any weapon that Shinzo could think of, and after a minute or so of rummaging around, the boy found a pair of wooden butterfly swords which seemed to match the length of the ones which clung to his back.

It was time to make his way over to one of the dummies, Shinzo decided not to sprint for that would waste energy which would be better used in the training session itself. Instead he simply jogged over to one of the training apparatus and eyed it up. Shinzo had carried the butterfly swords carefully as if they were the real weapons, it was of the utmost importance to him to treat his equipment with respect for it was vital in his techniques, if a piece of equipment was to break then there would be a great hole in Shinzo’s taijutsu capabilities. The target seemed of fair size to the boy as he squared off against it, out of habit, he gave a small bow before he separated the blades, one to each hand. They were intended to be held with one slightly further in front of the other, which of course Shinzo did do to create a two level guard while still holding a stance which could easily go on the offensive and counter attack. The boy placed his right limbs further forwards, planting his right foot slightly in front of the left. He felt safe in the knowledge that the training dummy would not suddenly jump out at him in an attempt to break his guard, but still this was no reason to lessen his dedication to form and footwork.

His first strike was swift, left blade moving to overtake right in a diagonally slashing motion to the target’s left armpit. The right blade however did not sit idly by, instead it too moved to strike at the same spot a fraction of a second later. A key point of butterfly swords, the ability to strike twice at great speed in the same place. Shinzo’s feet glided across the ground, no more than an inch from the dirt and barely above the blades of grass on the floor. His right foot lead his body in a spin around the dummy to reposition himself on it’s right side. The same two strikes would occur, however this time the right butterfly sword was to lead leaving the left to quickly follow. Now both armpits had been attacked, Shinzo moved on to slicing out with both blades at the closest elbow. The joints appearing to be the key target in his use of butterfly swords. Following this Shinzo cut through the air horizontally along each shoulder on the dummy, once per side to make contact with either side of the neck. If this were to be in a real combat scenario, these slashes would be aimed at striking key arteries and thus incapacitating an opponent quickly. Shinzo deeply hoped that Kenshin would be watching his choice in targets on the dummy. To him they were carefully selected to make each of the movements that he took efficient in dispatching a foe. At the same time, however, Shinzo was able to keep his weapons close which would allow for a quick transition to defensive fighting either to protect himself or someone else.

As each repetition of the form was made, Shinzo increased the speed at which the slashing taijutsu was delivered. His aim was to reach a point at which the blades themselves appeared to simply be flashes of light that extended a short distance from the boy’s hands. With light feet, he danced around the target dummy, his concentration fully on the kata that he was performing. Taijutsu was Shinzo’s greatest strength, but it wasn’t something that the boy took for granted. That much was obvious.

WC: 1223
TWC: 1911

 

[Arashi Takejo]

As Arashi waited patiently beside Shinzo, for the class to start, They were joined by a third student. It was a blonde haired person, shorter than Arashi. This was the first time Arashi had seen him so he doubted the new arrival was an academy student. He could tell that the boy was stronger and more experienced than him which made him wonder further about what kind of a character this person was. He greeted the teacher and Shinzo, whom he seemed familiar with. Then he proceeded to introduce himself to Arashi and goofed up a bit. It brought a small smile on Arashi’s lips as the boy chuckled, embarrassed at the slip up. Another interesting character has appeared, Arashi thought to himself. Arashi quickly waved a swift salutation to him, as he proceeded to stand along with them, albeit out of Arashi’s line of sight. As the boy took his place, The teacher proceeded to introduce himself. Arashi learned that Kenshin was a special hokage guard, which inflated his stature even more in Arashi’s eyes. The students themselves were told to introduce themselves as well, and Arashi waited for Shinzo to introduce himself, before taking the mantle. He slowly walked forward and did his introduction ritual with a small bow,

“Hello, I am Arashi Takejo, a relatively new academy student. I hope I can match the expectations of my teacher and my classmates today.”


As the introductions finished, Kenshin sensei instructed them to begin with stretches, a common practice to get the blood flowing freely, before they got to the physically stressful activities. Arashi was pretty familiar with the concept of stretching, as he had always adhered to the practise since he had started learning Taijutsu from his brother. His brother had hammered home the importance of warming up and cooling down adequately before and after performing physically taxing activities and Arashi had not missed to pick up the point. The flow was nice and easy at first but the instructor slowly increased the pace. Arashi missed a beat here and there but all in all he could keep up with the speed they were going at. When they were finally done, his breathing had gotten a bit heavy and his skin had started to get moist with a little perspiration. He wiped his forehead and started to work on slowing down his breathing rate, in taking long breaths and calming himself to get ready for the next step. Kenshin sensei instructed them to choose their weapons for the session and gave them training weights to tie to their wrists and legs. From the corner of his eye he spotted that the teacher gave Shinzo extra weights for his wrists as he had apparently done this before. It seemed a bit unfair, but Arashi didn’t give anymore thought to it.

He chose a wooden weapon closely resembling his blade and a small wooden dagger to imitate his Shinsou. He still wasn’t fluid in dual welding, but he was working on it and this was a good opportunity to experiment different approaches to find out what worked for him the best. Holding the smaller weapon in his left hand and the bigger blade with his dominant arm, he proceeded to get underway, choosing a random dummy to work on. He first started by practising a few airstrikes, getting the measure of the things he was wielding . Once he got a good understanding of the extra weights and how it affected his movements, he started to practise on the dummy. His initial strike was a forearm slash followed by a precise dagger jab, straight into the neck of his ‘enemy’, aiming for the jugular. Not wanting to let his first swing go to waste, he completed the motion by reversing the direction of slash, following it up with multiple jabs with the smaller blade in his left arm aimed for vital spots. Other than a few initial hiccups to get into a rhythm, with each motion his movements became more and more fluid, his style reflecting a good mix of slashing and piercing Taijutsu. He could feel his footwork was bit off, possibly due to the extra weights, but he tried to rectify it the best he could. After all, he had committed to his brother that he would master the sword he had given him, and this class was at the very least, a step in that direction.

WC = 739
TWC = 1234

 

[Senju Gaki]

Last but not least, Juko stepped forward. Yeah, i think everyone here knows me, no? Im Juko, lets all have fun together. Despite the dark and broody hoodie that the boy was wearing his face emitted genuine amusement as he smiled towards his fellow students, hoping to overshadow the fact that he did not openly state to be an academy student. Both hands tucked into the pockets of his sweater he shrugged with his shoulders without adding another statement, seemingly showing that he did not know what more he could add to his introduction. The others didnt really say much either so why should i even bother... its not like any of us would be anything above genin anyway...
With more than obvious curiosity he turned to face Kenshin after introducing himself, listening cautiosly to the tall man's instructions. Heh, some warmups and some fighting training afterwards? Taijutsu sure always stays the same, haha When Kenshin had finished describing the process of todays lesson to them and was about to begin with the first pose, Juko pointed both fingers in the form of fingerguns shooting from the hip at the man and smiled. You got it Teach, were looking forward to the lesson, haha! Turning around he noticed that he had been the only one to respond in any way to Kenshin's speech.
Ay, why're they just looking... now i feel stupid for doing and saying that... 'you got it teach' hah, as if we were that close... damnit Juko you stupidface.
His mood soured over this little misstep as he realigned himself with the other students and began following the warmup poses. The first few poses seemed fairly easy, putting an emphasis on the major musclegroups and ligaments that were used almost every day. Legs, Arms, Torso, then, when Kenshin went into the smaller areas, Hands, Feet and so on. Soon Juko felt like things were getting harder and harder, and subtly he proceeded to end every pose with a small shuffle back until he had both Shinzo and the other, new, kid in his view. From here on he used his advantageous position to support his missing knowledge of some of the poses, carefully mimicing either Shinzo or Takejo whenever he had trouble understand a stance.
Ugh, still hate warmups... so extremely boring and monotonous... i dont see how this is supposed to help me in any way... He groaned silently and looked over to Shinzo who was doing a fairly complex stretch with relative ease. No wonder your so hard to hit though, it looks like you could bend your body in a circle if you had to... Already sweating lightly Juko tried to duplicate the stretching motion but after a few seconds he felt a painfull sting in his muscles and decided not to pull through.
Instead he stopped midway and decided to go slightly limp in his whole body, loosing some quality of execution in favor of ridding himself off some of the strain the pose had on his body. Might not be right... might also not be as painfull though so... eh...
Incapable of looking at Kenshin at the moment Juko hoped that the teacher had not seen his little cheat as he righted himself again and approached the crate.

Looking into it he noticed all kinds of weapons and items, all made of wood and all looking so... lacking to him. Yeah, no can do.. what am i even supposed to do with this one... His right eyebrow rose in confusion when he picked a weird ring shaped weapon that looked like someone had taken a wooden ring and attatched a wooden sicklemoon to it. Letting it fall back into the crate the blonde boy turned back towards Kenshin.
Uhm... Sensei, i hope you dont mind... i would rather just use my bare fists over those weapons... im not much a fan of swords and the like. He grimaced as showed Kenshin his gloved hands and pointed at the assortment of dangerous items and then slowly walked over to one of the training dummies, suspiciously eyeing the thing. Same procedure as last time?... Yeah i guess so...
From the corner of his eye he saw Shinzo attacking his training "partner" with a flurry of quick precise strikes and something like Frustration came upon Juko. Turning his head lightly he watched the other boy, Takejo, fight his puppet using a sword and a dagger. Then Juko sighed before assuming a battle stance that was as basic as one could think off. Both fists raised and legs shoulderwide apart he took aim.
No need to go all out straight from the beginning. If this class would be about punching dummies and warming up then i might as well have done it alone and by myself... Lets see what else teach has in store for us..

His first strike hit the dummy straight in the middle, where usually the chest would be. With a dull sound his fist hit the wooden surface before another strike landed on the opposite side. Without pulling back his hand Juko jumped up into the air and extended both feet against the training puppets head area, smacking against it with a loud slap. The kick made him sail through the air, about two steps away from where he had started. Might as well try and have some fun while doing it and maybe even test some of the new stuff out... Landing on the ground Juko conserved the energy he had received from the jump by going immediately down into a crouching position before flinging himself up and forward again like a muscle-powered spring. In a kind of flying, rotating cartwheel he landed straight before the dummy and slammed his fist forward again, this time connecting with one of the shoulder joints of his supposed "enemy". And now, quickly... His other fist suddenly gave off a soft glow as he charged his black glove with his chakra thus creating five claw-like elongations, each coming from the first fingerjoint and about seven inches long.
His next few strikes left deep furrows along the wood, proof of his hits towards the other joints of the dummy.

WC: 1033​

TWC: 1476​

 

[Kishiko Nagisa]

And so Kenshin would watch with veteran eyes as the students began to move and practice. He would walk among them as they moved eyes each movement carefully. Most were able to keep up with his stretches. It was good to note. Shinzo started with butterfly swords. and began moving. He was hitting his dummy in the same places, vital points if it were an enemy who could bleed. He was very fast, moving faster than he expected. It was interesting to watch and Shinzo was clearly stronger than he was before. Kenshin was glad.

"Your speed is impressive Shinzo. You have gotten a lot stronger. More importantly faster. I would say that your movement is fast enough to try something a little different. If you would give me those for a second."

Kenshin would reach out for the wooden blades. Should he get them, Kenshin would show off something similar to what Shinzo was doing but in the middle, Kenshin would suddenly leap sideways into air, dodging an imaginary attack and using his foot to hit the dummy in the chest. He would show it a few more times before returning the blades.

"You are good at using your momentum. Don't be afraid to follow it up. While your feet do not have blades your foot should stagger most foes who are thinking of attacking you or are so. Try it but this time with extra weight on your legs. Aim as high as you go and don't be afraid to fall." Kenshin would say as he added the weight bringing Shinzo up to 10 pounds on each arm and leg.

Net up was Takejo. He favored using a sword and a small dagger on the offhand. Not unheard of but rare. The rhythm was a little off at times but it was something. It was good overall.

"Good. I can tell you are still getting used to dual wielding. It is tough but not impossible. Allow me to show you something." again he would motion for the wooden weapons and show him something.

First, with the longsword, he would strike downward and step forward with his left foot. As he made contact, he would pivot and sink the dagger into the side of the oppoennt only to pivot again to bring the sword down on the dummy's back. Kenshin would show this off a few more times before returning the wooden weapons

"Like with Shinzo try to be more fluid. Allow your body to move naturally. No extra weights for you. Just try the combo."

Finally Juko was observed. He was definitely not a student. It was impressive.

"Very well done Juko. While you are moving fast and hitting hard, sometimes following through with a punch is better than stopping to throw another punch immediately after. Let me show you."

Kenshin would put his fists up, his titan stone knuckles gleaming in the sunlight. He would throw a punch that would hit straight in the chest but then lean his weight into it. The dummy gave a groan as Kenshin's weight sunk into it. Kenshin then would follow through with his punch so that his fist hit the ground next to his wooden opponent and he would bring a leg and kick the dummy in the face with one kick and then the other leg with another kick and Kenshin did a sort of hand flip, landing on his feet again and laying into another punch. He combed into this a few times. He then lept away.

"Try that out. Also take rthe same weight as Shinzo. Try it again." Kenshin would say after adding the weight. He now had 40 pounds total.

"Now try again. Ready? begin! Kenshin would say after moving a little bit away.

WC 629
TWC 1157

 

[Minamoto Daisuke]

Shinzo had been focusing completely on his taijiutsu, his mind set on continuing the set of movements that the boy had tasked himself with completing. Occasionally he glanced towards the two others taking part in the class. Arashi seemed to have things pretty under control with his sword and smaller blade while Juko was sticking to good old unarmed combat, except there was a blue hue around the boy’s hands. Shinzo wasn’t quite sure what exactly he was doing but for now he decided to keep his concentration on his own training. The routine of carefully coordinated strikes wasn’t anything too new to Shinzo, in fact the boy had been working specifically on improving his blade form. He caught Kenshin striding towards him out of the corner of his eye, maybe it was time for some guidance or maybe Kenshin had noticed a huge flaw in his kata. The boy turned on the spot as he finished his routine and bowed before his teacher, his face holding a serious expression as his eyes moved to meet with the instructor’s.

“Thank you, Sensei, I have been training every day!” Shinzo spoke with great enthusiasm though tried to continue to appear serious. He nodded in turn as Kenshin reflected on his speed, secretly pleased with himself as such recognition regarding his speed was something that Shinzo had been deeply hoping for. ’Yes, finally. Kenshin-sensei has recognised my speed, I’ve got to keep it up though, I bet there are more weights to be used.’ The boy brought both of his training weapons together and held them out horizontally with great respect for the equipment as he handed them over to Kenshin. It seemed the demonstration itself was seemingly similar to the form which was used by Shinzo only moments ago. However suddenly there was a shift in weight and Kenshin launched himself to the side before planting a kick right on the centre mass of the dummy.

Once more the boy listened to his teacher, thoroughly listening in order to take as much information in as possible in an effort to demonstrate improvement in his capabilities. “Yes, Kenshin-sensei, I will not be afraid!” Shinzo was stood almost bolt upright as he made this declaration to not only his instructor but also to the world (mainly the two other students in the class because it seemed as though they were the only ones in hearing range). He carefully retrieved the two wooden butterfly swords before eyeing up the target once again. However he heard praise being given, well deserved apparently. “Good work! Keep it up guys!” Both Arashi and Juko were given shining reviews by Kenshin, however something caught his ear. Weights, of course they were there to be added but when he heard just how much Juko was being given Shinzo’s brow furrowed. ’It’s taken me two lessons to be given this level of weights and he just gets it in one. I thought I was the one who was more capable with taijutsu.’ He frowned to himself before refocusing his gaze back onto the training dummy.

The grip he had around the two swords tightened as he readied himself to complete his next set of actions. First, he struck out at the armpit again, one blade swiftly following another. These two strikes led into two more which were aimed at the elbow joint of the same arm. Then a single strike was directed towards the neck. Suddenly Shinzo threw himself to the side, mimicking the action that Kenshin had demonstrated. His foot raised up and moved to press against the target dummy, however it was just slightly too far away. Shinzo lost his footing and fell backwards onto the hard ground. His mind now unfocused as he contemplated the weights that were pulling on his limbs after every single second passed. The added force would make such a counter attack much harder than anticipated, thankfully he had been training with weights for some time now so it was just a case of not allowing muscle fatigue to control his ability.

Once more he squared up to the target. Blades in hand, once more the strikes flew out in a swift volley. Armpit, elbow, neck, dodge. Shinzo shot his foot out once more, this time it did connect but barely applied any pressure to the dummy. He landed and frowned once more. ‘I can feel my muscles starting to tear but I will not give up until I can do this. This is my new self-rule.’ Shinzo gritted his teeth and scanned the dummy once again, his green eyes not noticing much difference in the apparatus but that was to be expected given his failures. He shuffled slightly closer to the dummy, keeping his toes pointed towards his ‘foe’. Now wouldn’t be the time to give up, giving up would never be an option. If he was to give up he would be a failure and as such he would be of no help to his friends, his fellow shinobi or the village. It may have been just a taijutsu session but it meant much more to the young lad. A fire ignited in his eyes, he had to do it. With a flurry of blows in quick succession Shinzo struck out at the same significant areas as before, his mind blocking out all other influences in the environment. He was completely absorbed in his form as the wooden swords made contact with the dummy several times. Shinzo lunged to the side thus avoiding a would be attack. He planted his left foot on the chest of the dummy, pushing as much force into it as he could. He threw his body backwards, bringing up his right heel to smash into the lower face of the dummy as if he was kicking someone in the chin. Shinzo’s arms stretched out behind him, palms splayed but still inside the handguard of his swords. A second later Shinzo had used his momentum to spring back off his hands. He hoped Kenshin was looking at this point, he knew exactly what he had to do to demonstrate his speed once more. For a second his closed his eyes, gathering energy within him before releasing it. The boy disappeared from the spot in which he as just standing and appeared behind his target dummy, both blades held against it’s ‘neck’.

Shinzo took several short breaths as he regained his composure. It had taken a lot of effort, but he had done it.

MFT
WC: 1089
TWC: 3000

 

[Arashi Takejo]

Arashi could feel the cool breeze teasing his exposed and sweating skin, as he continued his Taijutsu routine. His footwork was slowly improving as he got into a flow. Maybe it was time to switch things up.. He thought to himself. The other boys were at it in full force as well. Shinzo was pulling out some slick synchronised moves, making full use of his butterfly blades. Meanwhile what fascinated Arashi further was the combat style of Juko. The boy had chosen to not use any practise weapon, instead utilising his fists but his style was unlike any other unarmed Taijutsu he had ever seen. He had seen just a glance, but he could swear there were blue claws protruding from his hands. Arashi wanted to inspect this further, but that would have required for him to disrupt his rhythm, which wasn’t a very good idea in middle of a combat practise session. He spotted sensei approaching the students. Perhaps it was time to judge their showing so far and rectify some of their follies. First Kenshin sensei applauded Shinzo’s speed and his strength. Truly his speed was no joke. After that the instructor took his swords and showed off an attack move, which was aimed to utilise Shinzo’s high momentum to the maximum reflecting that no small detail was missed by him. After this it was Arashi’s turn as the teacher moved towards him.

Arashi paused for a second and wiped his sweat and did a small customary bow as Sensei stood beside him. The teacher complimented his efforts but caught onto the fact that he was new to dual wielding of blades in general. It was pretty accurate as he had started practising with his dagger only a week ago. Kenshin sensei motioned for his practise weapons and he handed them to the teacher without a second thought. He displayed a new move to Arashi, which didn’t look very complex but was surprisingly effective. The pivoting move was something Arash had not tried before and it would be interesting to check out if he was able to do it with the extra weights. He bowed again, more fervently this time and thanked the instructor for his comments and suggestions. Shinzo was enthusiastic as usual with his encouraging comments as sensei went on to inspect and praise Juko. Arashi felt a little envious of the other two students as they got to show off their skills with extra weights, but he knew he wasn’t at their level yet and it would take time and effort before he could get to the next level.

He drew deep breaths remembering every detail about the move he witnessed moments ago, trying to etch it perfectly into his subconscious mind. Summarising the process, he concluded that there were three main steps in the combo. The initial strike with the longer blade. This was an initiative move, which would either push back the enemy or serve as a distraction leading to the second part. Using the momentum from the first strike, a swing with smaller blade to exploit the enemy’s exposed or weaker side and concluding the move with the final part. The ending was a little trickier for someone with a smaller build such as him, so he modified the routine by adding a second slashing strike with the smaller blade to ease the backward swing of the main longsword. He felt confident in his visual memory and tried it out once, swinging at the air. He got a rough idea of the structure and started working on the dummy. There were a few fumbles and missed strikes at the start but the extra step really helped his footwork and increased the overall fluidity of his movement. After trying a couple of time, he was able to do it almost flawlessly. Satisfied with his technique, Arashi started to work on gradually increasing his speed. The pivoting moves were harder to pull off fast with the weights but he pulled through somehow, albeit suffering a good number of awkward falls and trips. He could feel his confidence and power growing with each successful combo and he started to tweak with the moves here and there to tailor it more according to his style. At the end of one such strike, he felt his grip was slightly off but he went for it regardless. In quite spectacular fashion his longsword split in two, with one piece flying off in the distance. For a moment Arashi looked around with a hint of embarrassment in his cheeks, before apologising to the teacher,

“Uh..Sorry about that Sensei. I should have paid more attention towards my weapon.” He finished with a deep bow. Proceeding to pick up a spare wooden blade, he thought to himself,
I have a long way to go still. I lost control of my weapon at the end of that strike. Maybe I should work more on controlling my power in each strike. Perhaps that way, I will be able to increase the effectiveness of my technique.

WC = 842
TWC = 2076

 

[Senju Gaki]

Pride swelled in Juko's chest when Kenshin praised him and his fighting style. Yes, teach, i understand. His voice had the weird tone of a growing teenager that was somewhat unsure how to reply to a compliment and thus choose to do a failed split between 'to cool to accept authority' and 'proud to be praised' . His eyes made contact with Kenshins for a second before he looked away, to embaressed after being praised. Tch... really? Juko, you numbskull, youve been training hard for this, dont screw it up just because you cant deal with a compliment... The boy refocussed his gaze when their teacher gently pushed him to the side and positioned himself in front of the training dummy, wearing stone knuckles and looking quite adamant. His first punch slammed into the wooden chest of the surrogate training partner, bending the puppet in the middle as the man's weight seemed to ignore the hindrance and simply pushed on. A groaning sound could be heard, like straining wood that was giving way to raw violence. Well.. that DOES look good, altough i doubt ill ever be able to muster enough strength to repeat it...
The corner of his mouth went up as he imagined himself, punching the ground and his enemies and leaving craters where his fists connected with the earth. Yeaaah... His illusion quickly fella part when Kenshin stopped moving and turned to him, handing him heavy weights. Im.. what? Juko blinked several times in quick succession as he tried to understand what had been said. The same weight? Who does he think i am?... I havent had any training involving weights yet in... almost forever.
Sighing silently to himself the young blonde boy picked up the weights and started strapping them to his feet and arms, wondering how Shinzo was able to show such a speed despite having what almost feeled like his bodyweight strapped to his body.
From the corner of his eyes he could see the boy jumping around his puppet like he was but a featherweight, with hits raining down on the wood one after another. Each one was hitting precisely where it needed to hit, making Juko once again wonder if the boy was really as young as he had seemed to be when they first met. His frustration returned, like a wave that had merely receeded into the ocean to gather more strength, and crashed against the rocks of his will. Clenching his teeth he moved back to face his own opponent once more.
When he started punching it felt as if someone was constantly pulling his arm, trying to bring him to the ground through sheer weight alone. Hnnghh... His punch hit the wood at the speed of a moderately awake snail, crawling in the opposite direction. Oh boy.. this isnt going well... how does he do it?
He stopped immediately and straightened up. Keeping his back straight he attempted to enter a fighting stance that was reminiscient of what he had been in before but, because of the added weight, failed. Arms falling to each side Juko decided that this would not work anymore, not with the additional handicap he had been given.
IF, however, i do something like this...
The former student allowed his body to gently sway from side to side before eventually adding a light twist. With the weight being distributed to the end of each of his appendages it was hard moving but if he could just get the weight to follow his body center he might be able to accomplish something. And now...
While his motion didnt look anything like what Kenshin showed it, he finally managed to land a few hits one after another. His body twisted in the middle, and he could already feel the pain in his stomach muscles, allowing his arms to gain the necessary speed to come up and strike the wooden doll with enough strength to produce a loud slap. When his arm was thrown back he used that momentum to leap up into the air and, albeit not as high as before, do a single rotation midair, slamming his leg into the would-be neck of the doll. A creaking sound came from his opponent, as if it was asking to surrender to him.
His other arm meanwhile was thrown threw the air right in front of the dummy's "face". If it werent for the chakra claws it wouldve had no effect at all, baring a distraction, with his new weapons however three deep groves were visible, passing from left to right over the wooden surface.
After that last hit, Juko slowly came to a halt again and exhaled once. As he was about to repeat the move, he was already lightly swaying, a loud snap distracted him and turning his head to the side he saw that Takejo had apparently broken his sword. Wow, really? Either a lot of power or very distracted... or just clumsy...

WC: 828​

TWC: 2301​

 

[Kishiko Nagisa]

Kenshin would watch each student carefully as they moved through the motions. He could tell that the strain was great but they were learning which was much more important. They were the future. After Kenshin retired, or laid down his life, they were going to be the ones to defend the village and the next generation. To endure the passage of time, time and effort must be put in training. May this generation never deal with the atrocity of losing those close to them. Kenshyin would pull out of one of the crates some bottle of water and place them in grass.

Shinzo fell once and then recalculated. Yes his movement would be off because of the extra weight. Still, he did a good job at making it look easy at least. Kenshin knew he was feeling the strain but better to feel the pain now than in the middle of a real battle between life and death. Then Kenshin saw the boy practically disappear and appear behind the dummy in a finishing move.

"Good work Shinzo! With enough training, you may be faster than I am some day. That is no small accomplishment I assure you. Stay there and take a break a moment. Keep the weights on. The next phase will start shortly." Kenshin would say a smile on his face. Shinzo was going to be a very good shinobi once he had some experience under his belt. He was positive of that.

He turned his gaze to see Takejo using the combo he had made effectively. However, in a moment before it happened, Kenshin saw the misplaced hand and the wooden blade snapped. In a blur of movement, Kenshin rushed and caught the piece of wood that was sent flying before it could injure someone.

"Good work Takejo. However, watch your grip next time. It was a rather advanced movement i showed you so the fact you did so well the first time was good enough for me. Take a small break with Shinzo over there." Kenshin would move on to the last student.

He was struggling the most of the three at the moment but made up for it with an improvised claw attack. It was interesting all the same. He was stronger than the other two at the moment. Still, he had the potential and that was all Kenshin had needed.

"Good improvisation Make it your own. Once you get some strength behind those punches you can do what I did. Take a break with the others." Kenshin would say.

He would be off a few paces allowing the youth to talk among themselves for a bit and to rummage around in the other crate causing some clanging noises as he shuffled things around.

After about five minutes, he would call them to attention while holding some meal objects.

"Good job you all. Place those wooden weapons on the ground there and I will deal with them. Now you are to use these actual weapons. They are dulled but will still hurt yourself or others if misused. Do what you idd last time but with the weight of a real weapon behind it. Keep the weights on. Also, we will need someone to help us if there are accidents." Kenshin would bite his thumb and form a few handsigns. He would place his hand on the ground and a poof later they were joined by a little toad. This toad, however, stood on 2 legs and came up to Kenshin's knees. She wore a small black cloak and looked at each student in turn.

"Right training time again Kenshin-san?" Ren would ask. Kenshin would nod "Right oh. The name is Ren and i will be healing those of you who make mistakes or push yourselves. Goodness knows I have had to heal Kenshin enough times during training."

"Thank you Ren. Just wait overhere with me. Students, go back to your dummies and start when I say so. Ready? Begin!" Kenshin wouold say as he nad Ren looked on.

"You push them a lot Kenshin-san." Ren said without judgement.

"Better to feel pain now than build a funeral pyre." Kenshin said simply.

wc 694
twc 1851

 

[Minamoto Daisuke]

Droplets of sweat gleamed on Shinzo’s bare forehead as he stood behind his training apparatus, both wooden butterfly swords poised to make a fateful strike to the neck of his ‘opponent’. An expression of utmost seriousness had found it’s way onto the young boy’s face as he focused entirely on his training, he had mentally blocked out the view of his peers. ‘One day I will an amazing ninja, I have to make Kenshin-sensei proud. This training will pay off, I am sure of it, more sure than I have been of anything else ever! I just have to keep working hard, with enough dedication I will be able to show everyone that I am a good fighter, I am a good shinobi!’ The boy began to well up, not out of sadness but out of sheer determination to prove himself. In truth he was tired of receiving the same old lacklustre response from his parents when he told them about his day, they tried to care about his growth that was clear but Shinzo could tell that their interest was faked. The strain on their part to seem even slightly curious about what it meant to train at the academy always demonstrated how truly different the boy and his parents were. There would be many other people in worse family situations and Shinzo knew that, but at the same time it still hurt to think about.

His ears pricked up as the familiar voice of his instructor resonated towards him. At first Shinzo kept his serious expression as feedback was presented, he didn’t want to seem either over or underconfident in his abilities. However the mention of being faster than Kenshin did cause the corners of his mouth to rise up in a slightly prideful smile. “Of course Kenshin-sensei. I will keep training and then one day I will race you to see who is faster!” The smile grew swiftly into a satisfied grin, it was a great feeling to be acknowledged for the thing which was most important in his training. Shinzo lowered his weapons and began partaking in deep breathing exercises to calm his body as Kenshin moved on. The crack of snapping wood caught his attention and Shinzo only had enough time to raise his head and watch his instructor catch one part of what was a weapon. Green eyes flicked towards Arashi, offering a consoling nod, he didn’t want the boy to think he had done something hugely wrong equipment may break every now and then, this was just a class after all.

As both Arashi and Juko made their way over Shinzo decided to enquire as to how they were getting on with the lesson. “Are you both enjoying it so far? Arashi don’t worry about the sword, I’m sure Kenshin-sensei doesn’t mind. And Juko what was that chakra thing you were doing just now?” Shinzo raised an eyebrow towards his rival, pondering on the potential answers to his question. Since their fight the boy had had some suspicions about Juko, he wasn’t going to voice them just yet but some things seemed to add up in a way which thoroughly intrigued the younger of the two. The taste of water was bliss to a dry mouth, Shinzo drunk as much as he could with each gulp in order to help rehydrate himself. The work thus far had been tough but it was a welcome experience, Shinzo knew that he needed to put a load of effort into his taijutsu if he was to become a great shinobi. To him it appeared that more and more of his friends were moving on from the academy while he himself remained behind. It was slightly disconcerting for the young boy, but he wasn’t the oldest of the group and if his instructors didn’t think he was ready then that would have to be something he would deal with.

At the request of his teacher, Shinzo lowered his wooden weapons, resting them carefully upon the ground before making his way over to receive a dulled metal version. Despite having the two blades which rested in a sheath on his lower back, Shinzo took the weapons in order to comply with the requirements for the lesson. Caution was a fair thing to have at this stage of training, the weapons did seem rather weighty in comparison to the wood but it was a welcome change. Now the young boy only had to adjust his form to work with this slight increase in weight. He watched on at the appearance of a small bipedal toad. ‘Wow, I have never seen a ninja frog before!’ The boy thought to himself, he decided not to voice this though as it would draw away from his training demeanour. Shinzo bowed towards the new arrival in greeting, but still chose not to say a word as Kenshin was giving out further instructions. “Yes Kenshin-sensei!” The boy suddenly called out before making his way swiftly to his training dummy.

Once more, Shinzo squared off against his ‘opponent’ but this time he took extra care in judging his distance from the target. With the metal weapons came more risks, and despite the life of a shinobi being full of risks, Shinzo wasn’t exactly excited at the concept of doing harm to himself. It would be best to be sensible. With those thoughts out of the way, Shinzo lowered his stance, spreading his feet slightly further from one and other with toes pointed towards the training dummy. He waited for the command to begin and upon receiving it Shinzo launched into a similar flurry of attacks. The joints were the primary target, then the important arteries that wound around the body. Shinzo dove to one side as he had been instructed to do by Kenshin not too long ago. His feet made contact with the dummy, pushing off against it slightly. However what came next was slightly different, upon landing Shinzo dashed forwards and leapt up. His legs moved to wind around the training dummy, left leg under the left armpit and right leg around the right side of the neck. With his momentum this move would have been used in order to throw the target to the ground. Instead it just bent back slightly due to the force the boy exerted upon it. Within a second Shinzo leapt off, while still in mid air he brought his blades down onto the top of the dummy’s head causing an audible clang of metal.

Shinzo leapt back and regained his initial posture, ready to perform the same movements again at a moments notice. The weights were a growing issue for the boy and he could tell that his attempt at a grapple would have gone a lot better without them, however that was something that was to be improved through his repeated use of this practice form.

MFT
WC: 1154
TWC: 4243

 

[Senju Gaki]

While Juko was trying his hardest to perform the combination he had just figured out with the added weight, Kenshin was moving from student to student to give feedback to each of them. From his position the young blonde Boy wa capable of spectating all that the other boys were doing and with keen interest his eyes followed the moves of his fellow students. Oh shit, Shinzo sure is still getting faster... SHIT! How is he doing that... Stopping for a moment, he glanced at his own weights, each feeling like he was dragging a full person behind. Ugh... Sweat was rolling down his neck and the vast mane of blonde hair, usually conveniently covered up by the hood of his sweater now felt like an additional weight on his back. Single strands of hair were slowly escaping the hood, giving him more and more the look of a sun going up in the darkness of the night.
Finally Kenshin asked them all to take a break, allowing them some time to gather their strength back and exchange with each other.
Lightly exhaling Juko sat down with the other two students.
Eeeh? Enjoying? He faced Shinzo first after the later had posed the question.
To be fair, not as much as before. Turns out Taijutsu just isnt the right thing for me, y'know? I mean, its still all nice and necessary but exactly what id consider "Enjoyment". Also about that Chakra thing... The boy stopped for a second as he mused about his next sentence. Its not just Shinzo listening in after all, but also this Arashi guy. Ive never seen him before and arent we supposed to be all secretive with what we know? Then again, were practically from the same school so... who cares i guess. He raised one of his fists from the grass and pointed with the other towards the first bump on each of his fingers where a small, helmet-like piece of metal had been embedded into the black gloves. These, i made em myself... He smiled, and pride colored his cheeks a light red.
Do you remember how i used to have those seals all up on my bandages before? Well, ysee turns out there was more than just childish thinking behind that.
Now, if i charge my gloves with chakra... He opened his hand and allowed his chakra to flow into the metal which again produced claws, seemingly coming straight out of his fingerbones. If i do this, then i get a neat boost to my punches. And because im already used to feed chakra into my hands so much it doesnt actually take a lot of concentration. Lazily he drew a singly line into the ground with his chakraclaws.
As he looked up towards Shinzo he smiled an honest smile, altough his eyes stayed open, fixating on his rival. Now what do you say to this? After all... you should be able to do something similar, no?... i wonder...
Taking the bottle from Shinzo's hands he threw back his hoodie to allow some fresh air to cool him up as he took a big gulp. Aaah...

Rising from the grass again he took a look at the toad that had just been summoned a moment ago. While it might surprise Arashi and Shinzo, Juko had already seen summons, and worse so. This is nowwhere near what Takeshi did... His left hand moved up and, hidden by the hoodie and stray hair, grasped the red marble that he had kept with him and that was now hanging on his ear. The toad seemed content with just standing by and healing in case of necessity and thus Juko's curiosity quickly vanished. Instead he fokussed on a particular piece of metal, a thick gauntlet like "weapon" not unlike Kenshin's own albeit not as heavy and solid looking. Yep. This looks like it should have my name written on it. Like, right all over the side, thatd be good eh? Juko laughed and ellbowed Arashi as if sharing a great secret with the boy.

WC: 678​

TWC: 2979​

[OOC: Sorry for the delay and size, i wasnt aware that you had already posted, so this is a shorty from work lol]

 

[Arashi Takejo]

Arashi could feel the fatigue building up in his muscles as he continued his swinging patterns. Except the small mishap earlier, the going had been smooth. He really should have paid more attention to his grip. As he apologised to his Kenshin sensei, he noticed the teacher had caught the piece of broken wood in his hand. An incredible feat, considering how fast the wood had splintered and scattered but he wasn’t surprised. After all they were being taught by someone who was the personal bodyguard to the Hokage. As he returned to his practice dummy, he got his share of apologetic looks from his classmates which made him feel a little embarrassed even though he knew, they didn’t have any bad intentions. From that point, he tried to control each stroke to perfection, making sure that he hit his target with adequate power. The regulation process was tougher with the weights on, but he willed his body to carry on. He could feel that this could be the next big step towards improving his Taijutsu technique and he was ready to overcome any pain to achieve complete mastery. He needed to become strong. He needed to become renowned. Maybe then he could uncover some answers about his mysterious past and extract justice for what had happened to his brother and him. His brother had said so, and he trusted him more than anybody else in this world.

The thoughts swirled in Arashi’s subconscious as the fibres in his body started to demand a break. Of course he didn’t want to pay them any attention, but when the teacher suggested to take a water break, he didn’t stick around to protest. The teacher complimented all of them on their technique and he could see why. The dummies on which Shinzo and Juko were training, looked like they could crumble any second. Looking back on it, even his ‘foe’ was creaking in the shallow winds. Shinzo was enthusiastic as usual, proclaiming to surpass even Kenshin sensei one day. It could very well come true given how good he already was. Walking back to the grassy patch where Shinzo was sitting, Arashi wiped his forehead and did some cool down stretches. As he got there and sat beside Shinzo, they were joined by Juko as well. Shinzo offered reassurances for the broken sword and Arashi could only manage an embarrassed smile,
“Yeah I messed up there. The grip bailed on me for a split second and the next thing I knew, the blade was broken.” He finished with a silly grin, chugging down water as rapidly as he could. It had been a while since he had last drank water and you always ran the risk of fainting if your body got dehydrated and stuff.

“Yup the learning curve has been perfect so far. I even made three combos. Normally working alone, I can hardly do a new one every week. I’m pretty thankful I decided to come.” Attending the class had been an excellent decision without doubt. Arashi could feel his improvement first hand. His technique was getting stable, footwork was getting more fluid and he also uncovered new weaknesses that he needed to work on. You couldn’t ask much more than that for a class. Juko also explained his Claw technique using chakra which was ingenious. Arashi had never seen chakra manipulation first hand before, but he made a quick mental note of it.

Kenshin sensei recalled them and instructed them to swap wooden weapons for dulled metal ones. Arashi placed both his blades on the ground and proceeded to choose their metal counterparts. He found a similar shaped longsword, with a leather hilt. Its edges were dulled, but they could still cause serious damage if used with the intent to maim. Digging for a dagger, he found a small diamond shaped blade. He could see minor traces of rust on it, but it would suffice for practice purposes. Juko claimed a weapon which could be best described as thick irregular piece of metal, a gauntlet. How it would be a proper weapon, Arashi had no idea and so he and Juko shared a few laughs over it. As he was choosing his weapons, he saw sensei summon a toad. Probably a safety measure in case any mishap happened. Arashi had read that many people believed that toads had master superior healing techniques, which is why many modern shinobi used them as summons. Arashi could help but wonder if he would have a summon one day. The toad introduced itself as Ren and it had a black cloak on, which seemed interesting to him. After lingering for a second, he went ahead to practice with his new metal weapons.

Arashi practised with the blades in free air for a bit. The weights were certainly different from the wooden weapons, which meant he would need to change his rhythm to suit the change in his centre of gravity while performing attacks. He was no stranger to practising with steel weapons, but the added weights and unfamiliar grips would be certain obstacles he would need to clear first. After getting a good idea with the practise swings, Arashi decided it was time to try the first execution. It didn’t go to plan unsurprisingly. The hits were off target and the rhythm was off. The second and third were better and he got an idea of how to approach the targets. Within ten strikes he had pinned down his footwork movements and was jabbing the weak points of the dummy proficiently. To compensate for the extra weight Arashi added an extra step to each of his combo strikes, just to avoid the loss of speed. His strikes were a fraction slower, but each one was accurate and the power was optimum. He had a good feeling about this.

WC = 975
TWC = 3051

 

[Kishiko Nagisa]

Kenshin would watch with Ren right beside him as the students began their next set of drilling.

Shinzo was holding up really well. His fast movements seemed to not be slowed down by the weights but Kenshin knew better. The weights with the metal weapons were weighing him down. He wondered what would happen once they were removed.

Juko would do well. He was strong and fast a good combination.

"Boy fights like you Kenshin-san" Ren would say noticing the unarmed fighting style.

"He does but you have seen me. I am a lot faster and stronger. ANd I think he will be faster than me in the end. This is a very speedy bunch." Kenshin would say.

"So long as they don't get hurt I am ok." she would say looking on with her black eyes.

Takejo was wobbly at first but after a dozen strikes or so he was getting the footing and the direct hits.

After about ten minutes, Kenshin would call them all to halt.

"Ok! You guys are doing really well and I am really impressed with your taijutsu. There is one final challenge in this. You need to train your weapons on something that can actually move! I want you to try hitting these."

Kenshin would form a few handsigns in a small series of poofs, three clones of Kenshin would appear.

"When I snap my fingers the weights will drop off. At that moment, please attack one of my clones. Kenshin would say as he walked a way little Ren at his side. "They will not attack you but they will attempt to dodge and weave. You are to land 3 strikes on them. If you are ready??

Kenshin would wait for the confirmation and then snap his fingers.

WC 296
TWC 2147

 

[Arashi Takejo]

The feeling of metal freely swinging in his hand was starting to feel more and more natural with every swing. It was almost as if the blades had become extensions of his arms. The struggles of earlier had disappeared and Arashi was connecting each and every crucial hit, trying out some new attack patterns simultaneously. Glancing back on the other boys, he saw both Shinzo and Juko were already proficient with their new weapons and were going at it with all they had. It drew a bit of admiration from Arashi, as the boys weren’t being slowed down one bit, even with the extra weights they had. He could only imagine what their speeds would be like without the weights, in an actual battle. Watching them, ARashi got the drive to push himself even further. He knew he could increase the deadliness of technique, if he upped the tempo, giving enemies lesser time to react to each and every strike. Switching from his existing four step technique, he tried out the three step overhand slash. He had read about this technique in one of his brother’s smuggled scrolls. The beginning was the same as the other technique. A broadsword swing to push the opponent back onto one side. Following this, a deep thrust with the dagger into the foe’s unguarded side and end it, a flip strike into the enemy’s rear to put him down for good. His wooden dummy made a squeamish sound under pressure from each strike from the dulled metal blades, but the technique was a success. It took a toll on Arashi’s body but he could visualise and execute the combo on his first try. With a dozen more practise run, he was confident that he had etched it into his subconscious. His body was beginning to wear out, but Arashi continued on to try out a few more techniques before Kenshin sensei called a halt.


As soon as they stopped, Arashi grabbed a water bottle and chugged it down as fast as he could. It was a needed action, as his insides felt like they were on the verge of burning. Spraying water all over him, he proceeded to listen some welcome appreciative remarks from Sensei. A wave of satisfaction washed over him as the instructor praised their technique and efforts. He was getting ready to sit down, when the teacher announced there would be one last challenge. Kenshin Sensei weaved a few hand signs and three clones appeared beside him. Their last task would be to land three blows on a clone, albeit without the weights on. Arashi raised his blades and took an aggressive stance ready to advance at a moment’s notice. His fatigue was lesser now, but it was still lingering around. This would definitely be difficult, but it couldn’t be that hard right?...Wrong. As soon as sensei snapped his fingers, the weights fell off and Arashi charged at the clone, trying to get an early hit. His blade sailed through plain air, as the clone simply ducked below. Pulling his blade back, he tried a backhand slice, but he was wrongfooted and swing fell agonizingly short of making contact. Regathering his composure, he decided to put all his learnt techniques into use, executing one combo after other. Twenty attempts later, all he had to show for his efforts was a whole lot of body pain and just one lucky hit. Even if it was just the a clone, the reflexes possessed by it was nothing like Arashi had ever seen. He was ashamed to admit it, but he would be dead ten times over, if the clone had a real weapon and was actually attempting to attack. His one hit had been a lucky one, where he was attempting to go for the clone’s torso, but fumbled along into hitting its neck. The contact had been solid, but the clone didn’t seem fazed in the least which was bad news. He needed it slow down somehow, but this wasn’t working out. He needed to change his approach or he would tire himself to death. He pulled the blades closer to his body and re-gained a bit of his stamina. Something his brother had told him, floated back into his mind.


According to him, the trick to fighting faster opponents was to bait them into committing, giving an opening to attack. It sounded easy in theory but he could already tell, it was going to be extremely difficult in practise. Feint attacks were the answers that came to his mind. He would need to pull of phantom jabs and slashes, forcing the clone to dodge into places where he wanted. He readied himself, and charge in once again, but this time with a much more conservative approach. At first it didn’t seem to be working as his swings just glanced past harmlessly. Maybe this wasn’t going to work after all. Then suddenly after three strikes, he got a glimmer of hope. He pulled off a successful feint and the clone dodged to a spot which was within reach of his blade. He tried to swing it as soon as he could but the blade swished around, just barely nicking the clone’s arm. Not good enough, Arashi thought to himself. He needed to pull off two more clean hits quickly before the clone realised what he was trying to do. He delved into the pattern once again and this time the contact was much cleaner. The clone reflexively tried to guard against his broadsword, leaving its other flank open, and Arashi got in a clean jab in pushing it back a few metres. He needed to get his third strike now, while he had the initiative. He tried to push on but his feet faltered. It was then, that he realised he was out of stamina. He was not going to make it and instinctively he thought of something. Dropping his dagger, he quickly weaved some signs as he lunged with his sword. The clone, still on the back foot after receiving the blow, tried to insta-dodge it, but his mud jutsu caught one of its feet, causing it to stumble. This was all Arashi needed to get it a good, clean strike, catching the clone’s torso with his blade. It was finally done. A mixture of fatigue and realisation washed over Arashi, as he crumpled to ground like a tissue paper, completely out of stamina. He wanted to look how the others were faring but he was way too tired for that. He just hoped he wasn’t the only one who struggled this much. This was already the most interesting Taijutsu class he had ever attended.

WC = 1114
TWC = 4165

 

[Minamoto Daisuke]

The added weight of the metallic weapon hadn’t been too much of a problem for Shinzo, at least that was the image of himself that he was trying to portray to those in attendance. His muscles seared under the added strain of the weights, over time it seemed to the boy as if the force that they exerted on his limbs increased despite the lack of any actual physical growth on their behalf. He was sure that the others would be coping well, Arashi seemed to have acknowledged the mistake he had made earlier but Shinzo had a feeling his fellow student wouldn’t be making any similar missteps in his training. In all honesty Shinzo was reasonably impressed with how Arashi had kept up with the class, it wasn’t a surprise to him that Juko would keep on top of things but the fact Arashi was too brought Shinzo a weird sort of peace of mind. The group was doing well, and if they were to be considered as a team it would appear that they’d all be capable of working along side each other.

There was a nagging feeling inside Shinzo’s mind as he continued to practice his form with the metal blades, he didn’t feel as if what he was doing could be considered especially impressive and this was his second taijutsu class with Kenshin. His eyes flicked towards Juko’s style every now and then, his chakra control was something to behold. Something oddly familiar struck him however as he observed his rival, as far as he knew Juko had surpassed him in every way which was important for Shinzo. He was left behind as his rival and previous classmates had moved on in their learning. ’It has to be to do with me, am I not good enough with my jutsu? There must be something I can do.’ The young lad thought to himself as he went through the motions of his form, but before he could even think of what to do next, he heard the command to stop. As Shinzo came to a halt his breathing remained heavy. He grasped both hilts of the butterfly swords in his right hand while his left moved to rest in front of his chest before gradually, with palm splayed, he moved it down towards his stomach while allowing a deep breath to escape his lips.

His eyes lit up as he saw the puffs of smoke followed by the three clones of Kenshin, a bit more of a challenge at last. Although the weights themselves had been challenging to move around in, the target dummy that he faced off against wasn’t exactly the most nimble of opponents. Shinzo moved over to face one of the clones, weights still on his wrists and ankles. Naturally for him, he bowed towards his new opponent and separated the two swords so that once again each hand held onto a single blade. He opened his mouth without taking his attention of the next challenge he was to face, “I am ready Kenshin-sensei.” A small gust of wind lifted the boy’s brown locks as his gaze continued to remain fixed on the clone, he waited patiently for the command to begin to be given, the wait itself seemed to take but a few moments.

Shinzo waited with knees slightly bent, his right blade held horizontally above his head pointed towards the Kenshin clone, the left blade was held out vertically at almost arms length creating a two levelled guard ready to intercept any attacks that came towards the young boy. He knew that there would not be such attacks directed towards him, however this was good form and a habit by now. The snap of Kenshin’s fingers rang out in the surrounding area, all weights dropped towards the floor in an instant. The relief of having the extra forces removed swept over Shinzo as he waited for the weights to hit the ground. At the very moment they did, Shinzo was off darting to the clone’s right side almost faster than the eye could see. His athletic frame pulled a tremendous wave of air with him as he dashed over to this new point of attack, less than a second later two butterfly swords glinted in the sunlight as Shinzo brought them slashing through the air towards the clone of his sensei. ’Damn it! The boy thought to himself as he observed the clone quickly react and sidestep out of the way of his attack. Shinzo’s emerald eyes scanned his target, knowing this moment was a prime opportunity to evaluate the force he was against. It seemed as though this Kenshin clone was indeed fast, but based off the reflexes his instructor had demonstrated earlier when catching Arashi’s broken sword, Shinzo could tell that he would be holding back and only using more energy when it was required to push each of the students in the lesson. This pattern continued for some time, Shinzo would slash out, Kenshin would dodge, Shinzo would analyse as best he could.

All the action was moving almost as if it were but a blur to anyone observing with an untrained eye, the freedom that removing the weights had given the young boy was tremendous. He was now able to move his limbs with little hinderance, however the speed of his strikes didn’t seem to be enough to land a hit on Kenshin’s clone. Each attack was being nimbly avoided or blocked. He needed to do something to change this, something to get rid of the extra weight of his swords.

Shinzo paused for a moment, breathing heavily while facing the clone. He brought both hands down to his side, his grip upon the two blades loosened and a moment later they had dropped to the floor. Shinzo brought his hands together before his chest, he began to focus on the inner energy swirling within. With eyes closed, Shinzo channelled the energy towards his hands. The air around them seemed to ripple with energy, a second later his hands became engulfed in a bright light that extended to roughly the same length of the swords he had just been using. Shinzo took his hands apart and inspected them, a slight smile grew upon his face as he returned his gaze to his opponent. ’It’s not just Juko who can enhance his taijutsu.’ A second later his image disappeared, reappearing behind the clone. His left hand shot out, the light arcing forwards with his strike to slash into the left shoulder of the clone. He had aimed for centre mass, however his opponent was able to deflect it slightly in time. Though that hit still counted. The slight change in speed made all the difference to the boy who was now able to more swiftly deliver blows. It appeared that the clone chose to block more strikes than to avoid them. Shinzo took this as a compliment as he began his next barrage of attacks.

He darted from side to side, the grass at his feet contorting in multiple directions as the boy changed position rapidly around his opponent. Shinzo moved to slash at the clone’s right hand side, this time approaching from the front. However he pulled back his attack at the last second, looking for an opening, there was one. The light surrounding his hands grew brighter but seemed to condense slightly into a more dome like shape over his fists, one quick jab to the hip brought the clone exactly where he wanted it. ’That’s two, here we go.’ Shinzo lunged to the side, as if to dodge a strike that wasn’t even coming his way. Soon the boy threw himself backwards, using the sudden dodging action as misdirection. With the attention of the clone seemingly on the random movement, Shinzo launched his feet forwards to kick into the clone’s chest, sending himself backwards as the soles of his feet planted onto the clone’s body. The light from Shinzo’s hands disappeared as he landed on the ground, springing off his hands and back onto his feet.

There was a slight wobble as he stabilised himself after the final attack. “That’s three Kenshin-sensei!” At this point in time Shinzo was out of breath, the effort it had taken him to manifest the energy weapon was clearly taking a toll in the short term. He did wonder if his jutsu had made the difference in the combat or if Kenshin’s clone was purposefully allowing itself to be hit. Either way the task was complete and with that Shinzo returned his gaze towards the real Kenshin and gave a quick bow while waiting for further instructions.

MFT
WC: 1447
TWC: 5690

 

[Senju Gaki]

Taking the gauntlet into his hands and, more importantly, putting them over his hands, Juko felt ready to take on the world. Or atleast my teacher! His eyes flashed towards Kenshin who was standing, tall and confident, next to his summoned toad and apparently talking about something. Upon seeing the man feeling so lax around the three students, TWO students, and me... Juko quickly added a mental note, Juko decided that if not his teacher or the world he might as well take on the training dummies standing before him. The wooden figure was seemingly eyeing him cautiously, head waving unsure on near broken joints and a face that only a mother could call beautiful, if a wooden puppet had a mother that was. Inprints of probably multiple centuries of punches and kickes, nooks and groves of blades, claws and more where covering the wooden foe and soon more would follow.
Following the other boys Juko dashed towards his sparring partner. The weight of the weight on both of his legs and his hands in addition to the newly added metal on his forearms however prevented him from actually reaching any high speeds. To the side he could feel the breezes of air as Shinzo dashed forward, displaying speed far above that of Juko. Woha... Intend not to be overwhelmed that much Juko put even more chakra into his legs, and even tapping into his Karma, the energy that had always helped him reach speeds far above other students. However, as his focus had shifted from his puppet enemy to the other boys his first attack hit not the intended center of the puppet but rather its side making him slip from the surface.
Agh! It was a simple slip up and one that could have just as easily been prevented as it could have been deadly in a real fight. He tried to lessen the failure by turning the fall into a kick towards the wooden face but it lacked the power that his punch would have had. Tch! Tapping even more into his karma Juko seemed to turn into glass for a second before his frame completely vanished from sight. Almost at the same moment an almost identical boy reappered above the wooden frame, turning into glass and then into flesh, bones and incoming pain.
His gauntlets weight proved extremly usefull now that both of his fists came crashing down on the dummies head. Might not be the most subtle or elegant move but... wwell... The head cracked a few inches downwards and broke off of the wooden neck that had been holding it.
Juko's legs dug slammed into the wooden back as he pulled back his arms to balance out the weight pulling him back now and deal another heavy hit to the target. The sounds of metal hitting wood filled the area and for a moment he lost himself in his moves, turning rotations into punches and punches into heavy kicks as he whirled around the dummy, constantly sticking just close enough to hit the wood with all the combined mass of his gauntlets and the weights attatched to his arms.

After what seemed like an hour or so the voice of Kenshin snapped Juko out of his fury. Sweat was dripping form his blonde hair and he was breathing hard with an unfocussed sight that was almost glaring from focussing so much on his imagined enemy. Huh? whaddya say? His jaw wasnt following his intructions properly anymore and with surprise he noticed that he had been unconsciously clenching his teeth the whole time. Massaging his jaw with his right hand Juko watched Kenshin form the necessary seals for the wellknown jutsu of clones.
A strained smiled appeared on his face. Eh, clone fighting after all again haha... teach's the same as the others eh... haha ow my jaw....
He watched the real Kenshin walk to the side with the toad following him and went into a prone crouching position, ready to jump when his teacher would snap his fingers. As the sound reached him and the weights fell off from his hands and feet Juko moved, his move just slightly behind that of Shinzo. However, his body was still tensed up highly and the sudden increase in speed caused him to fly over the grass like a launched kunai and with great elegance he crashed into a tree several feet behind the group of clones. His personal Clone-Kenshin merely turned around and eyed him with something like amusement as Juko climbed from the broken woodpieces with branches sticking out from underneath his hoodie.
Aaaah Shit! He sweared loudly as he plucked a leaf from his head and turned towards the clone again. This time he accelerated slower, and managed to enter a comfortable speed, enough to reach the clone without flying off into the distance again. However his breath came ragged and he noticed that the earlier practicing had put a greater strain on his body than he thought. I think... the wounds from the fight with Yukio might be opening up again... A dull pain was filling his chest just where the palms of the Hyuuga had hit him a while ago. He clenched his teeth again and, upon noticing so, relaxed his jaw once more. His fists were coming slower and slower and then, even slower, albeit this time on purpose. Finally he was pretty much just walking towards the clone who was in turn walking at an equal speed backwards. Every now and then Juko was taking a quicker step forward just to have the clone do the same into the opposite direction. Suddenly the clone seemed to tense up and dash forward almost immediately after just having dashed backward. Yeah, figured youd react to Shinzo fighting behind you just as much as to me dashing foward... Juko grinned as he too dashed forward in that instant and while Clone-shin somehow still managed to dodge the actual impact of Juko's fist, he did not manage to dodge his chakra claws which left three red streakes across the males Chest.
Just enough for me, for now....
Feeling cheeky Juko turned around, trying not to show his exhaustion and the pain as he spoke to Kenshin. There teach, thatd be three right? Each claw counts as a hit, wouldnt you think so, eh? haha!

WC: 1060​

TWC: 4139​