Togi vs Log (Training)

Togirama Hyuuga made his was slowly to one of the academy's training grounds, he had been doing a lot of training with his chakra control recently so much so that he had been somewhat neglecting his taijutsu (a fact that if his clan back home ever heard about they would be ashamed of him for... not that they weren't already ashamed of the blind Hyuuga who didn't have the decency to remain hidden and still foolishly dreamt of becoming a ninja). Trying to forget about what his clan thought of him Togi instead focussed on why he had come here in the first place... he was going to catch up on his taijutsu training.

Bringing his hands together Togi quickly formed a Tiger seal and began to focus and channel his chakra. Most Hyuuga performed this action in order to channel chakra to their eyes and activate their famed Byakugan. Togirama however was blind and his eyes were of no use to him. Togirama however had never let his blindness stop him from doing something anyone else could do and through experimentation he had learnt to instead channel chakra directly to the sensory portions of his brain. With the rush of chakra, light and colour was suddenly restored to Togi's dark world complete with the usual accompaniment of mild elation.

With his chakra senses activated Togi was finally able to take in the lay out of the training ground. It was rather spartan with little that glowed brightly to the blind Hyuuga's chakra senses but he could make out the dark form of three training logs that stood vertically out of the ground. These logs had once been part of a living tree so once has been filled with natural energy but the majority of this had long since faded away so to Togi they appeared as rather dark forms. Fortunately they stood out enough from the background natural energy that always swirled about in the air that Togi could still make them out.

"I am sorry about this log-san" Togi declared with a bow before falling in to a Jyuuken stance that he had learnt from observing the training of his younger brother and the other members of his clan. Stepping forwards Togi then assaulted the log with barrage of open palm strikes. At first these strikes were slow and controlled but the young Hyuuga began to increase the pace as he began to circle the training log. It was not long before the training ground was filled with the repetitive sound of flesh striking wood and a thin film of sweat covered the Hyuuga's forehead.

Having well and truly warmed up Togi decided to intensify the training, to begin with he had been only making simple uncomplicated palm strikes, these strikes however would have done little damage against an opponent. Now Togi demonstrated another of what the Hyuuga were famed for chakra strikes! Channeling chakra to his hands Togi began to release chakra in small bursts every time he struck the log. His hands were already sore from repeatedly striking the hard surface of the log but now that he was using chakra his hands began to sting. Togi did not yet have a fine control of this technique yet and not only was he damaging the wood leaving small scorch marks where his hands struck but he was also damaging his hands in the process aswell.

Mentally blocking out the pain Togi continued instead focussing on getting better control of the chakra as he ejected it out of his palms. The trick was to keep the chakra contained and as sharp as a needle until it had passed through his skin and then and only then release control of the chakra so that it did damage to an opponents body rather than his own. The timing required to achieve this while still making effective taijutsu strikes and not leaving himself open to a counter attack was somewhat tricky but Togi was slowly getting the hang of it... not that 'log-san' was at risk of making a counter attack any time soon.

(WC: 685 Claiming Gentle Fist: Palm bottom(500 words))

Taking a step back Togi paused and caught his breath as he evaluated the effect he had had on the log. Currently the only evidence of his assault was a random scattering of scorch marks over the surface of the log that appeared to Togi as faint remnants of chakra. Now Togi was not too concerned about the lack of obvious damage as the gentle fist style did not cause overt damage, the reason that it was so dangerous and so feared was that it was able to target the chakra network and the tenketsou. In order for such a style to be effective though it required accuracy and precision and Togi was not sure that the chakra remnants represented anything other than a random pattern of strikes.

Considering this Togi quickly came up with a solution, slightly sticking his tongue out as he concentrated Togi carefully placed two fingers upon the log and channelled his chakra to his hands. Each time Togi did this a small seal appeared upon the log and in this way Togi began to map out target areas that roughly approximated the human body. Once he was done Togi then stepped back again and briefly sat down. In order to create his target map out of Mark Seals he had used up a lot of chakra so he would have to take a moment to recover it before resuming his training.

Deciding that the quickest way to recover his chakra was to meditate Togi sat down cross legged upon the floor and placed his hands on his lap facing palm up and deactivated his chakra vision. Togi then slowly breathed in and out as he recovered his energy and willed his chakra to reform.

Once he felt refreshed Togi brushed himself off and climbed back to his feet. Quickly forming the tiger seal Togi pulsed his chakra and his vision flared back to life. As expected Togi saw the glowing seals that now covered the surface of the log. Dropping in to the opening stance of the gentle fist Togi took a deep breath before surging forwards. The young Hyuuga then began to lash out not yet applying chakra to his strikes as he tapped each of the seals in turn. Fairly happy that his strikes were atleast accurate Togi attempted to increase the speed of his attacks unfortunately the faster his strikes became the more sloppy they were aswell. Eventually settling on a speed that felt relatively fast but he was still able to hit the majority of his targets at Togi began to apply chakra to his strikes once again.

It had been a while since the young Hyuuga had paid so much attention to his taijutsu and now that he was he found the whole experience to be very tiring. 'My stamina and endurance could do with some improvement...' Togi thought to himself as he began to pant and sweat began to roll down his face not just from the heat but from all the physical exertion. 'Perhaps I need to start a fitness regime, once I graduate I don't want to hold my future team mates back by being constantly worn out...' Togi thought to himself.

After a good long while of training and much punishment was dealt to poor log-san Togi finally decided that he had done enough training of the gentle fist for the day and decided to do something that most Hyuuga did not usually do. Togi reverted to good old standard taijutsu. Togi stopped expelling chakra and the open palmed strikes changed to closed fisted blows. Togi's standard taijutsu form was a lot sloppier than his Jyuuken form but the young Hyuuga thought it wise to have something to fall back on if the gentle fist was not working. The assault upon log-san resumed once again, instead of chakra filled strikes log-san found himself under siege from a barrage closed fist punches and the rarely used weapon in a Hyuuga's arsenal kicks. Togi's punches were fairly quick for an academy student but they lacked power and the skin of Togi's knuckles was likely suffering more than the wood of the log.

Deciding to give his poor knuckles (and poor log-san) a rest Togi hopped back and visualised being attacked by an opponent. Ofcourse the opponent that Togi visualised was a ball of dense glowing chakra but since that was how Togi 'saw' people then that was the most logical form for Togi to imagine his attacker as. Togi imagined his attacker coming at him with a Kunai and attacking high slashing at his face or neck. In response to the make believe threat Togi dropped low so that the blow would pass overhead, Togi then swung his legs out in a sweeping motion knocking his imaginary attacker off of his feet. Wasting no time Togi then lunged in with chakra laced blow straight to the chest that in actuality slammed against the training ground floor throwing up sand and grit.

With his first imaginary attacker down Togi then imagined the next opponent coming from behind. Crouched down as he was Togi was forced to roll out of the way before scrambling back to his feet and turning to face his attacker. This time the young Hyuuga performed a number of quick parries before once again landing a strike to the attacker’s chest.

Next Togi imagined himself facing two opponents at once as he began to back away while ducking, dodging and weaving in order to avoid being struck. Imagining the blows coming Togi realised that he would likely have to block and parry at the same time and if this was real then his arms would currently be taking a lot of punishment.

Dropping low Togi then feinted with a sweep before following it up with a back handed strike and then going on the offensive with more palm thrusts. Togi decided by now he had defeated one of the two imaginary opponents. It was the opponents turn to go on the offensive and Togi jumped an imaginary sweep kick before weaving back and forth to avoid a couple of imaginary jabs. A few more imaginary blows were exchanged before Togi decided the battle was over.
 
The whole imaginary battle would have looked rather foolish to watch as the blind Hyuuga was literally jump all over the place and swiping at empty air. The ‘fight’ wasn’t exactly choreographed or a taijutsu kata but Togi had actually felt quite a lot of benefit. It was a good work out and it had allowed the young Hyuuga to use his imagination and plan out how he might respond in an actual fight.
 
With a slight smile Togi then bowed to the empty training ground. [b]”Farewell log-san thank you for the spar I am sure I will see you soon…” Togi declared before turning and slowly leaving the training ground before heading home.



(WC: 1153)
(Exiting)
(TWC: 1838 Claiming 9 stat points, claiming  Gentle Fist: Palm bottom(500 words))