Yukie's Training ~ Part 1

Subject: Yukie's Training ~ Part 1 Wed Sep 08, 2010 10:42 pm

With the long journey from the Aurora village to here, we had finally made it. Yukie and I traveled far and wide to get to a distantly peaceful forest right off the outskirts and mainland of the old villages we used to know, until they were taken over by the monster power, Blood village. Well, there was no turning back now. We knew that tensions were high, but there was nothing to fear. I would not take my student to a place that was dangerous and insecure if I was not sure that I could fight for us both. But these out lands were very desolate and not very many people came here. The little that did I was sure I could ward off and protect my student. Of course it would be good practice for her as well, but I want to be sure she can handle a situation before she jumps into it. We reached the middle of the forest with the tropical sounds to it echoing in our ears. Then I stood and stopped walking, turning around to face her.

"We're here. A really good place to train for Taijutsu. But first, I want you to take in your surroundings and tell me your best guess as to why I took you here."

The scenery that surrounded us were giant trees that grew to stories tall of some of the buildings I've seen. They towered over us, surrounding and enclosing us in this maze. And then I waited for her voice to register in my ears as to her reply.

Subject: Re: Yukie's Training ~ Part 1 Thu Sep 09, 2010 7:15 am

The scenery changed slowly as they left the village of Aurora. It would be the first time that she's even getting out of the village and traveling somewhere else. They went into a forest which seemed very peaceful. However, she heard of the other villages whose villagers travel as well and even some rogue ninja who attack defenseless travelers. She was prepared for the worst, but she had to focus on her training for now. Sora stopped to face her, telling her to look at her surroundings and tell her why it was a good place to train Taijutsu. The trees had giant trees that seemed to enclose them in a maze-like situation. She had a few assumptions as to why it was good for Taijutsu training. She suggested one of them.

"... Judging by the height and placement of trees, it would be a good place to train someone's speed and maneuverability in a maze-like situation. The trees can also be struck to become quite useful dummies for practicing hand to hand attacks. Also, if someone has a weapon with sharpness like my swords, you might even ask me to try and cut up some of the trees. However, there are still a lot of other possibilities..."

Subject: Re: Yukie's Training ~ Part 1 Thu Sep 09, 2010 2:51 pm

"You are partially correct. Taijutsu mainly focuses, on the strength and speed of the user. In other words, their stamina and endurance. If you don't have that in battle and you only rely upon jutsu, you will die quickly. I will not ask you to harm the nature here with a sword, when we have completed Taijutsu training you may find a way to incorporate your sword into your attacks, but for now, let's get to it. The reason I took you here is because the trees that surround us all have leaves. If you were to hit one of these trees with a hard kick, it would shake and leaves would fall. Several of them. That is good for speed enhancement. In a battle, speed and evasion most of the time fit together. I'm trying to make you faster than you already are, so that when you become fast, you may also be able to deal some damage when in the clear, but strength is next. As for now, I want you to go to that tree over there and kick it as hard as you can. And then using your chakra, climb the tree and jump off into the air, collecting as many leaves as you can from the ones that fall. If you leave 1 or several of them fall, you're not fast enough.."

I smiled lightly and then pointed to a tree that stood firmly behind her. All I had to do was wait and so I went over to a tree next to me and leaned on it, watching what she was going to do.

Subject: Re: Yukie's Training ~ Part 1 Thu Sep 09, 2010 5:11 pm

There was her first task in her training. What she had to do had something to do with speed, precision, and coordination. It was something that had a lot to do with the skills that she was trying to hone when she took up using swords, especially two. However, she barely did any chakra training so she might have some trouble with it. She walked up to the tall tree, looking at the leaves and the branches and its large trunk. Focusing herself, she closed her eyes and concentrated chakra on her feet. When she was ready, she jumped back to gain some momentum and sprung forward into a kick, making the tree shake and the leaves start to fall. With one foot on the tree, she put her other leg on its trunk and ran upwards while still concentrating to prevent her from falling.

Her small size disadvantage gave her speed in return. She ran up with impressive speed. When she reached a certain height, she propelled herself off the tree with a push of the legs as she deactivated her chakra. She shot herself forward with her hands extended as she grabbed some of the leaves. When she made her transition to land in a middle of a backflip, she noticed that she missed a single leaf. She tried to reach for it, therefore interrupting her flow of motion and as she reached for it, her hand simply grazed it and failed to grab it.

She started falling forward but she managed to regain her composure and then land on only one foot. That made her lose her balance and fall on her side, sliding across the grass and stopping a few feet from the tree. She didn't seem to be fazed by the whole thing as she got on her hands and knees, trying to bring herself up with a few scratches on her hands and a cut on her face. Blood was slightly flowing off it but she didn't seem to notice.

"Tch... I almost had it..."

Subject: Re: Yukie's Training ~ Part 1 Thu Sep 09, 2010 6:52 pm

I watched as she displayed her skills for me. Her small figure and form gave her more aerodynamic motion which in turn, would help progress her speed. She kicked the tree so that the leaves started to fall and by running up it, got some air. When she jumped, the climax of the event was going on. It seemed to my eyes she was falling in slow motion, I had slowed her down with my mind. I saw her grab almost every leaf, and for sure I thought she might have had the last one, but then when she dropped it and landed everything in my eyes went back to a normal speed and I stood up. She would have noticed something different about my eyes. I was blatantly staring at the ground, but talking to her. Our eye contact was no more, and maybe she would pick up on why I wasn't looking straight her. However I did smile.

"Excellent, really. I was not expecting a first timer to do that so well. Miss one leaf, congratulations. Well, maybe you'd like a little display of how fast I am?"

I waited for her answer, keeping hidden the fact that underneath my clothing were weights that I wore even in battle, even in training. Those limited my speed, and even then I was still pretty fast. However, when I would take them off is when I would move like lightning, but not exactly like it.

Subject: Re: Yukie's Training ~ Part 1 Thu Sep 09, 2010 8:55 pm

She finally stood up straight, looking up at Sora without still noticing that she had a cut on her face where blood was slowly flowing. Hearing her question, she nodded with still a little disappointment in herself. She still thought that what she did wasn't enough and a simple slip like that in battle might even cost her her life. She looked at her hand. She was still holding a few leaves but most of them fell off when she crashed. As she looked, she saw a red liquid drop on the remaining leaves. She then wiped the side of her face and looked at her hand which she used to wipe to see that it had blood. After that, she turned around and there was a slight trembling in both her hands.

"... Can we... take a break for a while...?"

Her voice sounded somewhat shaky. She was afraid if the injury was serious or not. She remembered what they told her in the hospital about her chakra system being fully recovered in exchange for her sense of touch being numb, only feeling slight sensations. She then crouched down and stayed there quiet for a while. After a few moments, she stood up and turned around.

".. I'm sorry, please continue... I'm fine now..."

Subject: Re: Yukie's Training ~ Part 1 Thu Sep 09, 2010 9:55 pm

"My, my, you recover quick young one. That's a good trait to have in battle. But I saw it in your eyes that look of fear, I don't know what you're afraid of hun, but you can't have that when you're facing an opponent. And moreover you can't stop in the middle of fight to help cure an injury, no matter how bad it is. And that is why I am here, to teach you the speed to avoid them and the strength to endure them."

I smiled, although my eyes were trekking everywhere else but the sight of injury. However the locked position on a tree in front of me and I smirked.

"Alright, now watch and learn, Yukie-chan."

With that I breathed out and began to concentrate. Within a matter of a minute, chakra was already on the bottoms of my feet. I kicked the tree and then began to run up it as the leaves started to fall. I jumped off the tree and maneuvered my body in the air to grab all but one leaf, like she had done. I smirked and then did a flip, landing back on the ground with two feet. Then I continued on to say...

"Yes, I dropped a leaf like you. Well, perhaps you'd like to see my real speed? That wasn't what you would be seeing in battle, I can say that much."

I dropped the other leaves and chuckled, waiting for a reply to come from the genin I was teaching.

Subject: Re: Yukie's Training ~ Part 1 Fri Sep 10, 2010 4:42 pm

She felt ashamed of herself as she realized that if it did happen in real battle and she stopped like that, it would have cost her her own life. There wasn't much that she could do at that time but to just agree while nodding. She needed the speed to avoid all the attacks. Her body was built for that and all she had to do was a little training and getting used to it or even stepping up a little bit further and discovering a new speed.

Yukie watched as Sora climbed up the tree with faster speed than hers. When Sora maneuvered herself to grab the leaves, she thought that it would be perfect because she saw how well Sora has done so far. However, to her surprise, there was a single leaf that she missed. Yukie wasn't too sure if it was just to keep her spirits up and sympathize or if she really missed it. She decided not to ask about it. When she heard that it wasn't Sora's real speed, she felt somewhat insignificant since she already saw how fast Sora was without even being serious. Instead of asking Sora to show her real speed...

"... No... I will try it again and I will not mess up this time... I didn't know what to expect the last time. If I make the correct assumptions and calculations this time, I will make sure to grab them all..."

She was sure that there was a high chance of her missing the single leaf again, but she had a plan in case that happened.

Subject: Re: Yukie's Training ~ Part 1 Fri Sep 10, 2010 4:53 pm

I nodded and then crossed my arms resuming my position to speak once more.

"Well it's always good to have a backup plan in case the first one doesn't work. There is also some parts of advice I forgot to mention. If you're alone you'll need the speed, otherwise, until you obtain the speed that you need to be at to avoid attacks and give yourself a little more time, travel with someone and fight with them against enemies, then you have a better chance of not getting injured and also a better chance at beating whom you're up against. Also, this leaf, I could have caught, but my real speed is something, I shall demonstrate for you after you try again. However, here's also another word of advice, don't think too much. If you think too much then you're not in natural rhythm with yourself and your body and thus you'll be too busy concentrating on how to get the last leaf that you don't get it because you're thinking too hard. Just go with the natural fluid motion of your body and concentrate on getting the leaf, don't think too much."

I nodded, signaling her to try again. This should be interesting.

Subject: Re: Yukie's Training ~ Part 1 Fri Sep 10, 2010 5:12 pm

"...Is that so..."

She never thought that maybe too much thinking might have been disrupting her fluid motion. Her posture was something that she has honed through training with her swords. Using both of them really needed a lot of coordination and as smooth as possible movements. She set her mind to think of it as one of the training that she has with her swords. However, it will be a different task this time. Slowly, she walked up to the tree and exhaled deeply. She then concentrated her chakra again on her feet.

"... Smooth, graceful movement... Flow like the wind... that's what I need to do, right...?"

She told that to herself as she looked up at the tree's branches and leaves. Yukie kicked the tree with force to make some leaves fall off the tree again. After that, she closed her eyes and took in a quick breath. She then opened her eyes with a much calmer look this time and started running with much faster speed than she had last time by fixing her posture to remove much of the wind resistance she had the last time she ran up and with more strength in her legs. Instead of shooting herself forward, she climbed up a bit higher than the falling leaves and just let her feet push her a bit so she is falling headfirst with her hands extended. This was when she had to rely with her coordination. Her eyes quickly focused on each leaf as her hand quickly but smoothly grabbed them in small groups. There was that last leaf below her. She adjusted her body to perform a front flip and grab the final leaf and land on one foot and one knee.

"... I guess I was just thinking too much after all... Too much that I forgot to just go with my natural motions..."

Subject: Re: Yukie's Training ~ Part 1 Fri Sep 10, 2010 5:23 pm

Yukie would then have heard applause coming from the other side of the small circle of trees we were enclosed in. I smiled and approached her slowly. I took a look and saw that she had caught all the leaves in her hands.

"Bravo, a job well done. And now.. hopefully, with the training I give you, when you become Jounin, you can be this fast too."

I made it look as if I was going to repeat what I just did. Then, smirking, I bent down and took off my weights. The hidden ones on my legs and dropped them onto the ground. And when they hit the ground, they made a small hole where they hit. I had small weights in the shape of wristbands on my arms, and I took those off as well. Then I took a breath in and concentrated, exhaling and kicking the tree with some force. When I saw the leaves begin to fall, the chakra gathered to my feet almost instantaneously and I ran up the tree faster than I had before. I then grabbed all of the leaves one by one, grabbing all but one. I could have grabbed that one and landed but I waited for the last minute when it was about to hit the ground and then sped up to it, grabbing it and flipping over to land back on my knees, holding out my hands which had grabbed all of the leaves that had fallen. My eyes were closed and then I opened them, smirking. All of that happened in under a minute, it was like watching a streak of lightning.

Subject: Re: Yukie's Training ~ Part 1 Fri Sep 10, 2010 5:30 pm

"...She's fast....!"

Yukie saw it all happen and was somewhat intimidated. She knew she cannot fight with strength but only with her speed. If she fought someone significantly faster than her, like Sora, she would be done for. She saw that Sora had weights. It might have been the reason for her speed. For sure, removing so much weight made her feel lighter and actually be lighter. Yukie considered it, but she might not be ready for weights on her body.

"... That was..."

She didn't know what else to say. It was the first time that she saw someone travel that fast by running. She also never saw someone with that much agility and flexibility. However, she assumed that maybe all Jounin had speed a bit like that, but not as fast as Sora of course. All that she did right now was look at the weights.

"... If I used those... I would be faster...?"

Subject: Re: Yukie's Training ~ Part 1 Fri Sep 10, 2010 5:36 pm

I smiled and then turned around and looked at her, disposing of the leaves in my hand then, and speaking, following her line of vision.

"You'd get faster if we trained with these on, and you'd also be stronger so it's a win win. But right now I don't think you're ready for these right now. We're only beginning speed training. Well now that you passed that exercise, you may practice that whenever you wish to, and I'll think of another exercise we can do."

I smiled and then walked over to pick up my weights, putting them back on my legs and my wrists.

Subject: Re: Yukie's Training ~ Part 1 Fri Sep 10, 2010 5:44 pm

"... If I was going to practice, I would practice with my swords... However, I don't know what to practice it on..."

She thought of it immidiately, since that was her specialty after all. If she could demonstrate what she could do to Sora, maybe she could prove herself to be actually good at something special. Although she was thinking of asking her sensei to help her with the training, she didn't want to use her to practice her swipes, slashes, strikes, and all of that. She didn't want to get her hurt.

"If you could suggest something, then... That would be good..."

Subject: Re: Yukie's Training ~ Part 1 Fri Sep 10, 2010 5:47 pm

"What is it Yukie-chan..?"

My gray blue eyes found her form and widened in curiosity of what she was about to suggest. My ear perked up to listen intently. I was open-minded, why not?

Subject: Re: Yukie's Training ~ Part 1 Fri Sep 10, 2010 6:00 pm

"Seeing as how fast you can go... Why not let me try landing a hit on you...? I'm sure I won't be able to, but it won't hurt to try..."

She simply waited for her reply, wondering if she would accept or not. Yukie knew that she wasn't as fast as Sora. However, if she could probably trick her by using her flowing movements into a position with a greater chance of a hit, then she just might have a small probable chance.

Subject: Re: Yukie's Training ~ Part 1 Fri Sep 10, 2010 6:07 pm

"Hm, sounds like a challenge. A fun one of skill and wit, and of course speed. You're on, would you like me to keep my weights on or take them off for this event?"

I smirked, I knew that she was hoping to land a hit on me in order to trick me into a situation where I would have no choice but to get cut by her swords. But, if I could trick her, then she wouldn't be able to trick me. However I awaited her response before starting to think of what to do.

Subject: Re: Yukie's Training ~ Part 1 Fri Sep 10, 2010 6:52 pm

She thought for a while on what to choose. It was a difference between Sora not being able to go to her full potential and her not getting a hit. It didn't matter for her that much if she won't get a hit. All that she wanted was to just test her skill with an opponent that was definitely above her level.

"... Please take your weights off... I don't want you to take it easy on me..."

Upon saying that, she unsheathed both of her swords and swung them both in a circular motion repeatedly before holding them both straight. The two swords were of different lengths. One of them was twice the length of the other one and almost as tall as her. the other one was just the size of a regular katana.

Subject: Re: Yukie's Training ~ Part 1 Sat Sep 11, 2010 12:54 am

I nodded and smirked then taking off the weights from my body and dropping them to the ground once more. I started to walk forward feeling light as a feather. I breathed in and cleared my head, then exhaled that saved breath, closing and opening my eyes in sync with my breathing. I readied myself in position and then spoke..

"This should be fun.."

Subject: Re: Yukie's Training ~ Part 1 Sat Sep 11, 2010 12:35 pm

It was finally time to truly test her skill against someone of Sora's skill level. She closed her eyes and focused. All that she had to do was land a single hit to be successful. After finally getting into her relaxed and calm state, she concentrated her mind into trying to hit Sora.

"All I need to do... is to land a hit on her..!"

She then dashed forwards and lifted both swords up into appearing as if she was going to slash downwards. Before she was about to make contact with her blades, she switched her stance to crouch and move her leg to spin her body and slash in a circular motion.

Subject: Re: Yukie's Training ~ Part 1 Sat Sep 11, 2010 2:39 pm

As soon as she started moving, I remained stoic. I waited for her to make her movements and at the last moment as she was swinging I appeared behind her with a gleeful smile. She would have to do better than that to hit me. I cleared my throat to let her know where I was and then spoke in the moment's time her eyes found my structure.

"After Image Technique."

Smiling, I awaited her next attack.

Subject: Re: Yukie's Training ~ Part 1 Sat Sep 11, 2010 6:08 pm

"... I have to wait until later to use my best technique..."

She had to remain patient to keep herself from revealing all of her moves immidiately. It was hard to see any openings with Sora moving that fast. She really didn't have any plans yet, besides just going with what she thinks on the spot. When she realized that Sora was behind her, she attempted stabbing backwards with the longer blade and then jumping to slash downward in a slightly diagonal angle with the shorter one.

Subject: Re: Yukie's Training ~ Part 1 Sat Sep 11, 2010 11:27 pm

I was even further the distance away then she thought and so she missed completely when she tried to stab backwards with the hilt of her longer sword and when she turned to swing diagonally, I had moved to the other side of the blade already and smiled playfully while then speeding once again behind her.

"Heheh, missed me, but I must say you're quite skilled with 2 swords."

Subject: Re: Yukie's Training ~ Part 1 Sun Sep 12, 2010 8:45 pm

"... However, not good enough..."

She said this as she made her next move. First, she stood while crossing both of her swords. It was time to perform the only combo that she has made so far. Her goal was to try and keep on striking and making her pattern as predictable as possible and then launching the final phase of the attack when an opening can be seen. She then crouched down slightly while spreading both arms out in a beginning stance.

When she was prepared, she launched the first part of her combo. It was a very easy to dodge move, a 360 degree spin that will allow her to slash in a radial direction with her sword.

Subject: Re: Yukie's Training ~ Part 1 Sun Sep 12, 2010 9:10 pm

"This looks like it could be interesting."

I watched her maneuver her swords in one fluid motion and dodge the first movement easily. I had to keep watching closely in order to be able to dodge in time.