Morning Training

Shiva Hyuuga made her way out of her room in the main families house in the Hyuga compound.  She had rested well throughout the night, she dreamed of a world filled with peace and absent of red eyes that burned with hatred.  Though it was still morning, the sun peaking over the horizon did more than enough to heat the area around the main house. Unnaturally warm indeed, she thought as she made her way to a small café that she frequented.  There she enjoyed a cup of tea before she went to her specific dojo.  It was here that she gave students private lessons, and it was here that she herself trained.  Today she had given the rest of the students a day off, after all a day off could boost morale and make them work harder in the coming days.  It was a simple building when one looked at it, and today she left both doors wide open so any passerby could gaze inside to the middle of the building and see the center.  It was here that many of the early morning risers would see Shiva already working.  At the center of the building, she could be seen moving through a morning ritual, practicing in slow motion the exact movements to perform many of the different gentle fist techniques.

She continued these flowing movements until each technique had had its turn, the neural pathways flowing from her brain to each fiber of each extremity maintaining strong.  The moment for mastery was not in the middle of battle, but instead long before the battle even started.  Once she had completed this rather simple exercise, she moved across the room and gathered up one of her favorite training devices for the younger Hyuuga that still proved fruitful even for herself.  The device was an incredibly touch suit of armor that was held straight up by a pole that could be locked into different segments in the floor.  The armor itself was red and black, and much too heavy for anyone she knew to be used effectively, as it was triple layered with steel.  The true purpose lay inide the armor, opening the catch a small half sphere could be found inside.  One open, she moved to the other side of the dojo, and found an egg that she had purchased the night before.  Placing the egg in the armor, she closed it up again and locked it.  Here she would work her gentle fist skills.  

Taking up a traditional stance, she was set to learn a new technique on this day.  The Gentle fist style, One body blow.  A technique that sent a very specific blast of chakra from the users finger tips.  It was a technique that required accuracy and focus.  The armor proved the perfect training tool, as it was not the outer section she cared about, but instead breaking the egg on the inside by firing her chakra.  Closing her eyes but for a moment she let out a sigh, not of weariness but of concentration, to clear her mind.  Opening her eyes, she moved and lashed out quickly.  From a young age she had earned the title 7 hands related to her speed with taijutsu technique.  Her left hand quickly moved forward, finger tips extended stopping just as they touched the outside of the armor.  Her own chakra snapped forward like a bolt loosed from a crossbow.  Flames licked the armor at the strike as well, due to her speed.  The fire trigram could not have been bestowed on a more worthy candidate.  Regaining a normal standing position, she moved to open the suit of armor.  

Once opened, she could see a small hole through the center of the egg.  It had not broken but instead appeared as if a tiny needle had been sewn through it in an upward angle.  Reaching in, she removed the egg and fetched another.  Replacing the egg and locking the armor she retook her stance.  While it was an impressive display of chakra fine striking, it had not been her intention.  This technique was meant to blast the egg, not needle it to death.  Therefore the first attempt had been little more than a failure.  Instead of the slow slide into the stance, this time her feet and hands moved quickly.  Like a piece of rubber extending to far, she snapped into position at the same moment her byakugan activated.  Her hand flashed forward, fingers extended pointed with deadly purpose.  Once again stopping at the point of striking the armor flames licked it charring the surface.  Had it not been locked in, the armor itself would have flown back, as it was it groaned under the force of the extension.  This time she thought she could smell something delicious.

Opening up the armor, the inside was indeed coated with the fragments of the egg.  She had successfully sent her chakra through the armor to explode the egg as intended.  The practiced strike was a welcome site to see successful.  Having performed the technique a single time correctly however was not a measure of success, but instead a measure of how much work needed done.  It showed it was possibility, but now the need to make it a familiarity instead of an anomaly must be done.  She practiced this way until she had run out of eggs.  It was indeed a successful morning.  Indeed only a couple hours had passed and she was satisfied with her ability.  Removing the armor from the middle of the room, she replaced it in its holding closet before she returned to her own training.  Having got the accuracy down, she now simply performed the technique free hand, with no direct target.  Instead her feat shuffled this way and that, as her torso bent to the left and the right.  The strike would land above her head as if into the chest of a much taller opponent, and the low to the knees of an imaginary bandit.  Each blast of chakra firing forward to be dissipated mid air.

By the end of the morning, she felt confident in her new ability.  Wiping the sweat from her brow,  she walked out of the dojo and began walking around the village.  Stopping to get some water from one of the wells, she drank long and deep, feeling the revitalizing power of clean water.  Looking around the village it was mid day, and because of that the village was now a bustling place.  Indeed, it made her heart heavy as she looked around.  The world was so full of xenophobia and war in this age, and yet here people moved and lived in peace for the moment.  The enemies of the clan were in constant motion to bring them down, and as one of the clan advisers it was her duty to ensure that that never transpired.  Was she strong enough to stop her enemies, was she even strong enough to protect herself.  She had always had great success in missions and defending her people until now.  Only something felt different, as if this was a new age and her enemies were more cunning not to mention stronger.  Either way, her duty was the same, protect the clan even if it meant her life.  She smiled her teeth catching the light of the sun.   Well, that made it rather simple when one thought about it didn’t it, nothing to worry about then.

(1244 TWC)
4 stats
Claiming One Body Blow

Shiva had spent the morning and the majority of her evening training with several Hyuuga students. Her practice armor that concealed eggs inside of it was the chief focus of todays lesson, and though none had actually shattered the egg, several had caused cracks to streak its ivory surface. Which, considering their ages was a significant enough accomplishment to be more than satisfied with their progress. Cleaning up the dojo upon their departure, Shiva made her way to her own private room to pull out her own notes on the gentle fist style of fighting. She had been taking notes and attempting to create her own techniques for some time now. Instead of just relying on the skills that had passed down, it was time to give the next several generations something new to strive for and something that would be worth passing down. Of course since all of her techniques were only in the beginning phases she was not comfortable enough to show them to any of her students. Instead it was something that she coveted until he was sure they were safe to use. Her particular style of speed and the side effect of friction fire led them to be dangerous for those untrained and unskilled.

Writing through her notes, she traced the lines of the chakra network that made up the very basis of every shinobi’s anatomy. Her ideals were to create a way to make faster strikes, but make them more powerful s well. It was not an easy thing to do, to create one’s own fighting style but a necessary one all the same. Her first mission was to increase the ability to strike her opponents. Focusing on the chakra network, she traced the lines from the heart, the body’s natural chakra source, and followed the channels to the specific muscles in the arms that would need to be augmented with the boosted power. Once she had signified the specific ones, she put down her writing utensil, and stood. Stretching, she closed her eyes and began channeling her chakra. Throwing her fists forwards she struck out as many times as possible. In total she was able to throw out 7 punches before the channeled chakra seemed to run out. Apparently that was her limit at the moment. Only 7 strikes, well if she couldn’t get it done in 7 strikes then it wasn’t even worth using was it?

Sitting back down she continued to focus on the next aspect of the attack. She wanted to keep the attack in the tradition of keeping fire around them. This fire was not of chakra origin, but instead was the result of extreme friction from the speed of the attacks. She was capable of doing it with her normal attacks even, so it shouldn’t be to difficult to replicate such an ability. Standing once again, she channeled her chakra and then threw her 7 punches. As anticipated the strikes flashed with friction fire. This had never been an aspect to lead her to worry after all, instead it was merely a formality to see the progress made. As a teacher she knew, that when one skipped the basics or became over confident in the tiny details it could often lead to a mistake and the jutsu or technique fumbling and not working out properly. Having been satisfied she returned to her journal to mark the results. This was her first Fire Trigram technique, and there for she wanted it to at the very least be a good one. Once she had marked her results she thought of how the next aspect of the technique should range.

Though to a casual observer it would appear she was progressing thorough the technique rather quickly, this was something she had been working on for some time. Her dedication to the fire trigram was absolute, and her desire to make it into more than just a symbol, but a legitimate fighting style was one of her chief goals. In this way she would assist her clan in defeating the Uchiha, fighting fire with fire as it were. Continuing on with her writings she would need the assistance of her dojo to finish the technique she feared. There was still a lot to work out, but hand on training was the best way to complete this technique, not merely shadow boxing. Heading to her bed, she lay in it and dreamed of a brighter tomorrow. Her strength was increasing as time went on, but would it be enough in the end to defend her clan, and her family. Her father had died leaving her in charge of certain responsibilities. He had not died in battle, but in his sleep, and she liked to believe it had been peaceful. She wondered how she would meet her end as she drifted to sleep.

Upon awakening it was back to training. No one could call Shiva lazy, as when she had an idea in her head, she could not pay attention to anything until that task has been completed. Awakening around 4am, she made her way to the dojo to get her special training equipment ready. The first thing she pulled out was a dummy, which was specially made for the Hyuuga. Across its body were 361 pinpricks with tiny spinners inside them. In this way a trained Hyuuga could attempt to close tenkatsu and using the mastered byakugan see which spinners were open and closed, determining their success rate with their gentle fist technique. Setting the dummy up, she began attempting to use her technique. Taking her stance she unleashed a 7 fold barrage upon the dummy attempting to close as many tenkatsu as possible. Using her Byakugan she saw how many she had closed. It was a decent few, but more could be done with practice. Focusing once again, she proceeded to attempt the strikes several times, pouring more and more chakra into each attempt, until her hair plastered to her face, cause her to realize she could use a break.

While taking a break she sipped on tea and made notes in her journal about her progress. Clearly the technique would be ready soon, perhaps she should show it to her leader. He naturally would like to see anything that made the gentle fist style stronger. She had also heard he had his own special techniques; perhaps they could work out some kind of a trade. Finishing her cup and finishing her writings, she went back to training. Focus was key to this technique. Standing across form her dummy, she channeled the chakra and unleashed the 7 deadly strikes. Each one hitting the dummy hard, so hard in fact that the pole holding him up snapped after the 6th strike causing the 7th to go over its head and miss completely. Only to her surprise the channeled chakra that she had built up in her hands seemed to still have to go somewhere. Flying forward in a straight line red chakra blasted into the wall of her dojo. It crunched against the wall, and created a hole directly through it, letting the newly risen sun shine through. Walking over she looked through the hole and gauged the chakra to have traveled roughly 7 meters.

In her journal she listed this feature down as “accidental” and went back to practicing. Only this time she stood 5 meters from her dummy. Lashing out in the same way she had before, she watched as the strikes flew directly forward from her fists. She could in this way hold off an attacker to a medium distance. There was no way to manipulate the chakra once it had been fired however, it merely traveled in a straight line. This would be something to remember, so she would not harm her allies in the future with it. The attacks had the added effect of burning the dummy, showing her the fire was more than an aesthetic but instead a feature of the technique, though not really a very powerful one. The second thing she noticed about this ranged strategy was that she could not close the tenkatsu of those hit from a distance. A shame to be sure, but the utility this gave her was something she could live with. After all, striking over ones shoulder, or hitting a second enemy due to the dodge of the first was a combo she could live with.

Finishing her work on the technique some of her students began to arrive, staring open eyed at the hole that was in her wall. “First lesson today students, is how to patch a hole. There will always be unexpected challenges as a shinobi and this is yours for the day.” She said smiling giving out orders and the necessary equipment needed to fix the wall. Smiling as she watched her students work, she would indeed show this technique to her leader soon. Let him be the judge of its strength and if it was worth passing down to the youth of the clan. Now that she thought about it, he had never seen any of her specific techniques with the gentle fist, he merely knew she was the fire trigram holder. This was a wrong that must indeed be righted. Standing she proceeded through the lesson of the day, teaching her students the best way she knew how. Though in the back of her mind was the thoughts of last night. Though she worked and trained hard to become powerful, would it in the end help make a difference for the Hyuuga clan, or was it all for not. She couldn’t let these thoughts bother her now though, what was to come would come, and her fist would meet it when it did.

(1629 TWC)
Claiming Fire Trigram: 7 flaming Fists
5 stats