Hidden Star Grove [P] [Training]

The night is falling He glanced at the sky with disinterest as the woods began to grow dark around him. Ayato had walked the same path a few times now, but only at daylight. There was an edge to this darkness that he did not like and made his hackles rise. The night before a rain had fallen and the ground was a dump and muddy rocks and roots hidden under the crust that had formed on a new ground, waiting for the careless and the unwary to trip him up.  One hour he had been walking, farther and farther from the city square towards a dark wilderness without a name. During his previous visits, he always through that place with the ruined stone tower surrounded by trees had no terrors for him. Then again, that was during daylight. The Haunted Grove Ayato thought amusingly at first only for a feeling of nervous tension to run over him. Bastard He remembered his dream; Reiji Hyuuga rising from his grave to come and murder him. A chilling wind blew out making the trees rustle like living things, falling leaves whispering as they passed Ayato's face. He could not say he had not prepared for the cold as his wardrobe was concerned.  He wore black woolen pants black gloves and a gray long sleeved cloak over layers of clothes. His scarf was his crowning glory; dark red, tattered and rough as sin. Yet Ayato treasured it deeply, his father had given it to him during their first encounter, he announced he was his son when he put it around his neck.  
 
Great power brings great responsibility to the one who yields it His father catchphrase echoed into his mind. The cloudless sky turned a deep blue then faded to black. The stars began to come and then the moon. Finally some light! Ayato was glad for it though the darkness did not bother his eyesight at all and even without the moonlight he could easily navigate through the dark forest. Still, it eased the tension he was feeling a bit.  No Hoshigakure citizen ever came close to these woods. The forests they preferred were bright and airy, where tall aspen trees spread shadows across water streams, birds singing from their nests and the air strong with the smell of flora. This place was said to have been built centuries before the founding of the village. 

Ayato threaded his way through a thicket then started up the slope to the low ridge where the vantage point to the “Haunted Grove” was. The grove was a dark primal place, two acres of old forest untouched for years. The gloomy ruins of a tower rose around it. Branches of different trees tore through where the tower's ceiling used to be. The place was of deep silence and many brooding shadows. It smelled of moist earth and rotten wood. But he knew he would find his father here tonight, he was certain even without the Byakugan. At the center of the grove a large sentinel tree brooder over a lake of fallen leaves. Ayato found his father beneath the sentinel tree, sitting on a large stone. His white eyes were captivated into the campfire that moved like a living thing as the wind blew. A hundred years humus lay thick upon the grove’s floor, muffling his steps. "Ayato." His father called to him without turning to look, his voice formal and distant. "Father." Ayato replied softly. The older Hyuuga wore a black kimono, same color as his hair and above it a blue haori emblazoned with the Clan crest on the back. "I did not expect you." His white eyes were still captivated into the fire.  “Tell me, son, are you afraid?" For a moment Ayato caught a glimpse of Hibari Hyuuga, the legendary shinobi of Kirigakure, the man who had completed over a hundred missions and was feared as the indestructible Demon of the Hyuuga throughout the Shinobi World."Only a little." Hibari frowned "You must learn to face your fears. You won't be fourteen until the end of your days." 

"Yes." Ayato agreed. His father words gave him a chill. "The Wind. Trees rustling, leaves falling. The hoot of an owl. Which sounds unmans you the most you ungrateful son of mine?” The tone of his voice was no longer formal or distant. It was rather comical. The man before his was a worker in the animal facility of Hoshigakure, a single parent with a good taste of humor and a genin for a son. “I heard you join a Genin Team. Your leader is a member of the Queensguard. Come tell me all about it while we share the fire so you can get your bone warm.” He almost complied; until now he had not discussed the new chapter in his life with his father. The lack of communication among other things was because they did not see each other regularly. However, he had not come here to share his Genin tales with his father; he was here with a request. He made up the courage to let his father know. “Byakugan!” Ayato yelled and his brown eyes turned into white lavender, veins took form around his face the same way black roots protruded from the ground.  “Father I came here to announce this to you. I have awakened my Byakugan.”  The Hyuuga clan’s Bloodline was always part of Ayato but he wasn’t able to manifest it until recently. The Byakugan first had activated without his intention when he was hospitalized. When confined to the hospital bed he could see what was happening down the hallway the yard and in the next room to his as if there were in front of him. At the time he discarded this as his mind playing tricks on him or having hit his head more seriously than he, though. Later on, it was apparent to him that his eyesight had definitely improved.
 
His father turned around to meet him, his mouth twisting into a warm smile. “I see. Congratulations.” Hibari went back at his rock chair in front of the fire. For a moment Ayato  did not understand, he wished his father would share his joy. “I thought you would be proud.” He said muttering.  His father heard him clearly enough “I am always proud of you."  He said as his pale eyes found his. Ayato was certain then. “You knew.” His father did not answer back, but Ayato understood what the silence meant. Anger coiled within him like a snake.  There was no need to soften the blow any longer, so Ayato asked him directly. “I’ve come here to ask you to teach me, The Gentle Fist. The Hyuuga..no our clan's secret techniques.” Ayato announced, and knelt, his eyes looking at the ground. Gentle Fist, the fighting style used by members of the Hyuuga clan. By employing the use of the Byakugan the user can target the Chakra Pathway System by surgically injecting a certain amount of his own chakra to the opponent. As a result, the affected person's chakra flow will be disrupted completely. Additionally, internal damage is inflected to organs which are closely intertwined with the area of the chakra points struck. Unlike normal taijutsu where damage is mostly dealt according to the power of the strike with the gentle fist even the slightest tap can cause severe internal damage. This is a powerful tactical option that Ayato wished to posses.

“I beg of you father!”  a part of him hoped the sounds of wood cracking in the fire and the rustling of the trees would muffle his words. Whenever he asked Hibari Hyuuga to help him activate the Byakugan and learn the Gentle Fist he always turned him down. Although he claimed he didn’t want Ayato to become a shinobi all his actions seemed to concern Ayato becoming a shinobi. This was a very interesting disconnect.  In reality, Ayato had to question how much Hibari was bullshitting or scheming as he went along. It didn’t matter now, though. This was before Ayato had activated the Bloodline. He actually had a shot at this.His father finally rose to his feet. “Ayato tell me. Do you know why I come here?” He asked the tone in his voice sad This place reminds you of home. When you are here he can be Hibari Hyuuga of Kiri. But Hibari Hyuuga the Jounin, the ANBU, the kin slayer was dead. He had drowned along with his bastard when the old Kirigakure sunk under the water. “To be alone.” Ayato managed to say after considering it for a few moments.“You are right. I come here to think, alone. Do you want to know what I was thinking about until you came here, bragging about your new set of eyes?”

“Father I did not mean to disturb you but-”His father ignored him and continued“I was thinking of your mother.”  He never mentioned Ayato’s mother and his lips only tightened when Ayato asked him about that. “ And you. When she brought you to me claimed you were mine. At that time I was mourning the loss my wife and daughter in a fire a few months earlier so I thought the gods were playing a cruel game with me. Convincing myself I was being deceived I almost ran away. But you looked at me with those eyes and I realized it. You are my blood. I put a scarf around your neck and named you my son.” His father took a few graceful steps towards the enormous tree.  “I was also thinking of the first time you proclaimed you wanted to become a shinobi like me.” Ayato was caught by surprise then. He was expecting to hear of how much his existence cost his father; the damage to his reputation, the discernment  from the Clan and everything else that occurred until they ended up in Hoshigakure. “I agreed to teach you the basics. To give you tutelage true to the Hyuuga family name. To shape your mind and resolve for the life that lay ahead of you. However, it soon became apparent to me you didn’t have any special talent. So I thought you would have enough of the shinobi life once you beat up a couple of times. But you Ayato, never let yourself get down.” His father put his hand against the tree, the palm of his hand brushing the rough wood as gently as if it was living flesh. “You passed the Genin Exam and got handpicked by a Queensguard to serve his team. Damn you. Damn your Hyuuga hide you even awakened the bloodline on your own." Veins budged around his temples and his chakra began to channel into his hand causing a powerful shock wave that made the tree glow blue and the entire grove quake. Countless fallen leaves whispered in the wind as they were separated from the branches of the trees and made their way towards the ground. “Eight Trigrams: Sixty Four Palms.” His father launched a barrage of strikes in the air, his hands moving at incredible speed. Even standing at six feet Hibari Hyuuga did not lack any grace in his movements. He did no simply extend his arms, waist legs shoulders all of his body movements were perfectly synchronized.
 
Ayato’s eyes swept back and forth attempting to follow each strike separately “Two strikes now four now eight now sixteen.” It was no use even with his Byakugan activated he couldn’t keep up. Hibari stopped his movement just as the final leaf disappeared. He turned to Ayato and opened his fists unleashing a curtain of leaves to join the fallen ones on the ground. How? He caught every falling leaf before it even came close to touching the ground.Switching his stance completely, Hibari lowered his body weight and extended his right arm in front of him and his left behind him.  “Eight Trigrams Palms Revolving Heaven” He roared expelling chakra from his body and began to spin. Building up momentum a dome of deep blue color formed around him. When his father stopped spinning and dispelled the dome scattered ribbons of blue chakra floated in the air only to disappear a few moments later.. “Master these jutsu and prove me wrong once again! Never stop developing as a shinobi Ayato!” He roared passionately, his Hyuuga Clan haori billowing behind him as the wind came up, outlined nobly against the stars.
Ayato’s voice abandoned him. He groped for words that did not come. He rose from the ground and gave a nod. He understood what he what to do. Without uttering another word Hibari removed this haori folded it with care and put it in a bag he had brought with him. With that, he took his leave and headed back towards the village. It was still a few hours till dawn, and then his father reverts back to the spineless employee of the animal facility.
 
It was Ayato’s turn to makes his way towards the tree. His fist met the wood hard and a few leaves began to make their way towards the ground. Ayato widened his stance and kept their course in check with his Byakugan. The falling leaves were to serve as a setup for Ayato to complete a successful chain of strikes. “Eight Trigrams: Sixty Four Palms” Extending’s his arms like whips to grab the leaves, two strikes made four and four strikes almost made eight. His speed decreased with the fifth and missed the leaf on the sixth breaking his rhythm completely. He attempted to go at again and again; never making it past eight successful strikes.  After a while, Ayato was sick of watching fallen leaves touch the ground. The lack of stamina catching up with him as well Ayato felt as if his lungs were about to explode.  “I may be the only Hyuuga to break his own organs with the Gentle Fist.” He thought amusingly and cracked a smile filled with despair. Adding to his discomfort the clothes he wore were covered in dirt and his hands were sticky with tree sap. “I need a break” Luckily his father had left the campfire intact. Well, most likely he did it on purpose, to not let his son freeze to death. Ayato was glad for the fire and its warmth. Deactivating his Byakugan he sat in front of the fire. Wiping his hands for sap he reached into the pockets of his long sleeved gray cloak he pulled out a honey nut bar. He always carried one or two of those around. Cold and hunger are could wreck the most powerful man from the inside so he had to be prepared. “Shit, it doesn’t work.” He reflected as the taste of honey and oat exploded in his mouth “Father made it look so simple.” Hibari Hyuuga despite his large physique moved his entire body with grace and speed as he delivered each of the sixty-four strikes. “Wait.” Ayato thought as he swallowed. He began to visualize again the form his father displayed. After repeating the same process for a while he thought he might have figured out something.  “I’m focusing too much on hand speed alone. I guess I neglected to balance my weight on my legs. I also have to twist my waist accordingly to add force and speed on each strike.” Drunk on his enthusiasm Ayato had forgotten to apply the basic principles of taijutsu. His back ached as he rose to his feet but he had to endure. He knew his thinking was correct, but in theory everything seems easy. Taking up his stance he breathed deeply. The leaves rained down once again. Yelling the name of the technique he launched Ayato launched his arms, exhaling accordingly.  Shoulders and lower part of his body twisted with each strike. He lost his rhythm at 10 hits this time.  However, de-constructing the technique seems to have worked. He managed to catch double the leaves from his previous best.  
 
But this was not enough so he knew. So he kept going at it, repeating the same procedure again and again. At first he would take a break for a couple of minutes when he felt too tired. The effort made his fists burn his limbs feel enormous too heavy to lift and his back scream in pain. But he did not stop. Later on his vision began to blur and this time he felt like giving up. Ayato was way past limit but the body kept moving on its own. How many leaves he had caught he wondered. He stopped counting when he got thirty and two with a combination. Did the number increase since then or did it decrease? Maybe the later he felt he was getting slower with each attempt. Well it didn’t matter soon the tree was going to run out of leaves and then he could stop. Then he could go home and sleep. But the leaves did not stop falling when he punched so he had to keep going.
 
The rising sun sent fingers of light through the pale white mist of the dawn. A brown and green plain spread out beneath Ayato. The change of scenery around him distracted him long enough to cease his efforts. Up until now, he considered the grove surrounded by the mossy ruins of a tower an unsightly place to look upon. But when bathed in morning light it had a unique kind of beauty to it. A beauty that could even encase the spiritual people of Hidden Star who avoided this place considering it cursed.
 
When he started training the sky was a curtain of black decorated by the moon and stars. “After so many hours did I finally…” Collapsing from exhaustion his face met the earth hard. His fall shaking the pool of fallen leaves launching many of them into the air “Seriously…I’m getting sick of them already…” Ayato thought as he laid there. He wasn’t hurting any more so he did not make an attempt to stand up. He felt weak and drowsy and everything started to fade to black. Peaceful like.


WC - 3090

Claiming 15 stat points for 3.000 words

Progress towards Eight Trigrams Sixty Four Palms [2000/2000] - Learned

Progress towards Eight Trigrams: Palms Revolving Heaven [200/3000] - Learning of the technique

890 words are left - Didn't train there so I will not claim progress towards the jutsu for them.

"I can't even put into words how bad my skill in calligraphy is." He thought with a sigh as he read through a parchment of his own handwriting. It contained the notes of his experience on learning a particular technique. “Eight Trigrams Revolving Heaven is just mainly used for defense. After releasing chakra from every tenketsu in my chakra network, I have to rotate my body rapidly in place. As the result of the spinning motion and the chakra exertion a protective dome of dense layer is generated within a two-meter radius around me. Anyone who comes in contact with the shell of chakra is repelled and knocked away.” Ayato crushed the piece of paper with his hand without realizing. “Damn it, this doesn’t work. I’ve gone over the theory a thousand times now.” He let out in anger as he placed his right hand on the ground as a lever to raise himself to his feet.  

There was no other way to this he had concluded. The Hyuuga clan’s secret jutsu; tradition had for this tech during the days before the calamity to be passed from father to son of the main house. Four hundred years later, branch and main house meant little to nothing for the Hyuuga Family name. Hibari Hyuuga had displayed the mechanics of the technique that day in the grove but Ayato had failed to meet expectations. No matter how fast he rotated his body or properly controlled his chakra expulsion, he was unable to surround himself in a blue curtain of chakra more than a couple second. He wouldn’t dare ask his father for further advice. Ayato was too prideful for that.  He had instead turned to his teacher, Kyousuke Snow the Queensguard. The man might have been unable to give him a shortcut in regards to the technique itself since he was unfamiliar with the Hyuuga clan the Gentle Fist. Still there was no doubt with the man’s expertise in the field taijutsu he would be able to provide some reasonable feedback on what Ayato could do better. He had Ayato attempt to perform the technique a few times before he figured it out. There was nothing wrong with in regards to Ayato’s form but it was actually his body that was dragging him down unable reach the appropriate speed. The man concluded that it would be impossible for Ayato to learn the technique with his current level of chakra density.
 
Reaching higher levels of chakra density suggested such form of meditation find inner peace and balance. The City of Haven is populated in the majority by individuals of various religions so it was commonly known that meditation can help someone to understand his own mind. In theory, it might have worked, but how Ayato was supposed to know. Sit still for fifteen minutes visualize Then he would stand up and start throwing beams of thunder from his hand. Unlikely, Ayato could not comprehend learning to transform his mind from negative to positive, from disturbed to peaceful, from unhappy to happy help him increase his chakra density.

Ayato didn’t miss what that meant. He was never elegant in his movement or a genius that learned everything with half the effort. He wasn’t the fastest or the strongest, he was plain and dull. As his father put it ou once “You lack the talent.” But he had made his decision ever since the day of training with Kyosuke; that he would use to initiative and intelligence to create opportunities carve his own luck. “I’m going to stick to the things I know and then I’ll definitely figure out the answer.” He had proclaimed to himself. There was no other way to this he had concluded. However, making a hell of lemonade with shitty lemons proved a lot more challenging than he initially believed.  
As he attempted to take his stance, he felt dizzy as if his head was enormous, bigger than the sentinel tree behind him. Ayato had been at it for the past 3 hours so overwork had started to kick in. “Chakra density. What if I attempt to distribute the chakra more evenly throughout every tenketsu, instead of focusing solely on my arms and legs? I definitely have to give that a try.” Ayato hypothesized, but it would take a lot more effort to expel chakra from each and every single one of the 361 tenketsu on his body. It was already difficult as he had focused the chakra mainly on his arms and legs.

“And my body is telling me to make my way and sleep.” He realized he had to time his breathing if he wanted to prolong this training. A cloud of gray smoke vexed from his mouth as he inhaled and exhaled the air thick with oxygen.  Closing his eyes he attempted to distribute what was left of his chakra evenly thorough the pathway. “Have two or three more attempts left in me the best.” As the chakra began to stabilize he proceeded to do the next part of the technique. “Channeling the chakra is finished. Now I start rotating and expel the chakra at the same time.”  He began to spin his body, kicking at the ground with his left leg in order to build up the momentum required for the rotation. Blue chakra ribbons leaking from his body surrounded his figure and then began to move away from him slowly forming up a thin half sphere.  It did not appear to be protective enough, but Ayato understood it might need more time to form up to the proper thickness. The flow of leaking chakra evenly from the very single tenketsu of his body wasn’t done at the same speed as if he was expelling mainly from the hands or legs. The radius of the thin blue curtain began to expand further and further away from his person, reaching one meter in radius. “I’m rotating at my top speed but the dome has to be thicker. This is not done.” He tried to convince himself, but the truth was he had run out of ideas. He was about to give up on the effort but he couldn’t find the courage to stop. He felt he was getting slower. He realized that fallen leaves had taken flight from the force, forming a twister of red and brown color around the semi-completed dome. “This is how I would imagine the color of autumn if it had one.” Ayato thought distracted of the beautiful sight and the barrier around him began to disperse. To the sight of that, he panicked. Fatigue had made him forgot why he was here in the first place. “What am I thinking? I can’t fail here. This is a step forward I must take.” He was spinning again with his maximum speed; focusing on the image of his chakra network he unleashed all the remaining chakra in one go. The jagged dome became more spherical and a few moments later Ayato could not see outside of the blue curtain. “It appears to be thick enough now. Thick enough to send flying back anyone who comes in contact from the outside.” He maintained the semi-sphere for about 2 minutes before it was dispelled due the lack of chakra in his system to support it further. And with that he had finally learned had finally learned the Eight Trigrams: Palms Revolving Heaven.




WC - 1233


Claiming 6 stat points for 1200 words

Progress towards Eight Trigrams: Palms Revolving Heaven [3000/3000]  - Added to the count 1600 words from training the tech here and another 200 from the earlier post on this topic.

This part is all about distance. When fighting a taijutsu battle with an opponent and engage him at a distance, it will be clear that ideal distance means to utilize sufficient space in which to move easily. It was not uncommon to see fighters stand relatively still then very telegraphically launch a strike such as a punch or kick or elbow.  Just as common are fighters who, without changing the rhythm or tempo of their movement, initiate their attack on cue with the beat they have established. It is simple to read the intentions of either type of fighter, and their attacks can be easily evaded, defended and/or countered.

“I can try to close the gap by using combinations.” A combination can be used to set you up for another technique.  Ayato thanks to the Eight Trigrams: Sixty Four palms that he trained he could quickly and non-telegraphically close the distance on his opponent. Directness meant that the attack should take the shortest route to the target without any preparatory, or telegraphic, set-up movements. There is always a danger that you will get caught in a range that you are not familiar with. To avoid falling into this pitfall, Ayato decided to take it upon himself to learn as much as possible about distance in Taijutsu combat. 

However, this did not mean charging in blindly like a bull and trading blows with an opponent. A larger opponent can hit from a much greater distance than a smaller sized fight like Ayato can hit him – and with extra power added. He would also have sufficient size to shake off some of his punches and kicks. That means he will not mind taking two hits from you in order to get one strong blow that will take you down. Take advantage of your own natural attributes. Depending on the height of the opponent and whether he is armed or not you should also vary the distance between yourself and the opponent.  If someone has long legs and arms, punching distance and the arts that encompass this range will be the best choice for him. If he was the opposite, trapping and grappling range are the best bet. No matter what the physical makeup, you must learn to use your body to the highest level of efficiency.  Each fighter must determine his preferred fighting range and close the gap accordingly.

But what Ayato needed to figure out ran deeper. He could close the distance with short compact strikes but what he needed was a strike that closed the distance instantly.  Hibari Hyuuga threw a voodoo line at lines, one such was the “The longest weapon to the nearest target.” Ayato recalled. Taking his father’s words literally was he figured what technique to learn next. The Vacuum Palm a technique that was the heritage of the Hyuuga. He had seen his father use it once when Hibari Hyuuga used to be an ANBU, a shinobi true to the Hyuuga family name. Nowadays Hibari Hyuuga put up a ruse of a spineless citizen of Hoshigakure. Ayato knew this was done in order to protect their identity but he could not help but feel that his father had made peace with his past and had come to terms with his new life. Ayato could never do that, a great shinobi like his father deserved better than this. “I have to learn that technique on my own and impress father. Hopefully even remind him what it means to be born under the Hyuuga family name. Our family name.” Let the Hyuuga elders say that Ayato was no Hyuuga then if they dared. That he was only a bastard of a kin slayer and a nameless peasant.  Currently, the rotten greybeards of Hyuuga were unlikely to occupy their thoughts with Ayato since they believed him to be long dead. “Those incestuous pricks dared to call me a child born out of sin. If I ever see their ugly mugs again I'll make them choke on their words.” Ayato thought in anger, nearly forgetting why he had come here. Nearly, wishing to learn this technique and make his father proud of him was more powerful than the hate he felt towards the Elders of the Hyuuga clan. So he let go of his anger…for now. 

The technique appeared to be quite simple, extending an arm the palm pointing towards the target and release a burst of chakra in the form of a projectile. But in order to execute the Vacuum Palm successfully, the user has to put all the Gentle fist techniques into the mixture. Analyzing the 361 points of the chakra pathway system, the speed and reaction time gained from the consecutive palms striking chakra control and expelling from the heavenly palm rotation Ayato just might be able to successfully complete this technique. A projectile seems rather convenient for an attack All other Gentle Fist techniques he had learned were suited for close combat. But the Vacuum Palm was a taijutsu strike suited for mid to long range attacks.  He could reach the opponent without even having to close the distance with a dash or with compact strikes.  

“The center of the fighting environment belongs to you. If your opponent gets you concerned and you are put on the defensive, you will have fewer options and fewer chances to use your reach.” Hibari Hyuuga’s word echoed in his mind that moment, discouraging him. Ayato considered that for a moment, but a Gentle Fist useless in close quarters did not seem likely. “Maybe it could be used for defense as well, release the air thrust to knock an aggressive opponent away if I am cornered.” He thought scratching his chin.  "This Jutsu demands an understanding the principles of every Hyuuga taijutsu technique that I’ve learned thus far. You can’t perform the Palms Revolving Heaven without the Sixty-four palms and you can’t learn this one unless you have the Palms Revolving Heaven. It feels as if I’m taking one step at a time.” He had been pushing his body a lot lately, but he wasn’t planning to stop he had to learn that new technique and impress his father. All the training he had been doing lately had made him more keen and analytical of jutsu.  A few months ago he had been an average Academy Student that could barely do a clone jutsu, despite excelling in theory. Back then he would read a technique from a scroll and attempt to execute it in one go; while barely understand the principles behind it.  But that was when he still Green from the Academy. Currently, Ayato had the patience to carefully deconstruct techniques into smaller parts, trying to achieve one at a time. He had developed as a shinobi in the few months under Kyosouke’s wing than he did in years in the Academy. And lately, he felt he could achieve anything as long as he put his mind into it. This would not come from the natural genius but from practicing over and over again. Everyone could do that but no one actually did. However, Ayato was not foolish enough to think that everything would play out naturally and that he would achieve the Vacuum Palm, an advanced Gentle Fist technique that required the application of everything he had learned up to this point without a struggle.

“I should do some warming up. Stretch my upper body." “No longer neglecting the boring warm up was another testament of Ayato becoming a more seasoned shinobi. He knew had to learn to refine it even more when doing ninjutsu techniques, but now simple stretching would suffice. Starting with the neck he tilted the head to the right and slowly rolled it down and to the left. Then he reversed to the right. He would repeat five times in each direction.  After he was done with the rolls he bended his right ear to the right shoulder and placed the right hand over left temple and add a little extra pressure by gently pulling the head to the right. His left hand rested at his side. He held that position for about 30 seconds and then he went on to repeat the process with the opposite side as well. After the neck and remaining in a position of proper alignment, Ayato rolled shoulders up, then back, then down in a fluid motion. He repeated this backward shoulder roll movement about 10 times, then reversed it, rolling forward about 10 times. "My shoulders are scrunched, the back of the neck hurts, and my muscles feel tight as hell. After I finish today’s workout I ought to visit a spa or something." He thought with a sigh midways to the last stretching exercise. He crossed a straight right arm across his chest and used his left hand to gently pull right upper arm closer to his body. He held for ten seconds before repeating on the other side.

After he was done Ayato turned and made his way towards the tree. This grove was a place straight out from a fairy tale and that massive tree at the center was the epitome of that.  The husk was white with the leaves sprouted from it had the color of blood, no matter the season. Thick misshapen white routes wrestled beneath the soil. This was a place of deep silence and many brooding shadows and it appeared to be as old as the City of Haven itself. His father found solace in this place, reminding of his long lost home.  This had affected Ayato to an extent and he had taken it upon himself to train the clan techniques here.  The smell of moisture and decay gave him discomfort but the white tree looming above him as it was watching his every movement gave him a feeling of nervous tension. Despite the little love he had for this place, Ayato remained adamant in his decision. This was no Hyuuga compound, but it would serve.

“First the Sixty-Four palms” Ayato let out as the bandaged fist would meet the white tree hard. Strangely it felt good hitting it. The curtain of red, brown and yellow leaves traveled towards the soil beneath the tree.  Ayato took up the Gentle Fist stance; extending palms facing the tree, his left foot forward the other trailing behind him. “Byakugan.” He let out and kept the course of the falling leaves in check with his new set of eyes.  Ayato unleashed the technique and quick palm thrusts hit the air in front of him. Extending’s his arms like whips to grab the leaves, two strikes made four and four strikes made eight, now sixteen, then thirty and finally sixty-four.  When the curtain of leaves disappeared Ayato movements came to a sudden stop. His hands were filled with crispy leaves, his fingers crushing them gently before he uncurled his fists. He had completed a successful chain of strikes required “Eight Trigrams: Sixty-Four Palms” without breaking his rhythm even once. Remembering how much he struggled the first time he attempted them it brought a nostalgic smile on his lips.

This wasn’t the time for Ayato to lament on his weak self from the past. He didn’t have that luxury. Today was about creating his future, stronger self. Executing the chain of sixty-four strikes while remaining absolutely stationary was only the first setup he had in mind for the Vacuum Palm technique application where he had to extend an arm in a flash and send the chakra projectile towards the opponent. Shaking off the smile from his face, he went to repeat the process another three times; punching tree leaves falling arms to extend and grab them.  His rhythm would not break even once, despite the high speeds his arms moved at. After he was done, he found himself surprisingly ok.  His arms were hurting yes, feeling enormous, struggling to hold his battle stance. But there was neither heavy breathing nor any pain in his lungs. Apparently, his body was getting used to hardships through the extremely hard training. Ayato had only worked on the Gentle Fist taijutsu wise but also at another technique called Seven Heavens Breathing Method.  To learn that technique he had done mostly running and weights.  The training was not very shinobi like but it meant he could go at it longer and possessing a well-built physique made a difference in close quarters combat. 

Regardless, since he was done with the speed and precision that the Sixty-Four palms provided, he could proceed to the next part of his training which was chakra expulsion from the tenketsu points. Closing his eyes he visualized the chakra pathway system in a form of a small black figure with soft blue streams running through his body.  The streams were jagged and spiky, but Ayato needed them to be tranquil he knew from the experience he had gained during his previous training sessions.  He felt the sweat running from his brow and dripping down to the ground as attempted to stabilize the chakra. “Make the chakra flow nicely. Make it flow.” It took him over ten minutes to feel as if he had made progress. This was not good news, remaining during training makes muscles grow cold, something which in turn increases the probability to get injured.  “I surely have to improve on that. It appears I am good to go though.” 

He was about to  attempt the Vacuum until his earlier reflection on the technique hit him in a flash. To learn the Vacuum palm you had to possess the palm rotation. “I should execute the dome before moving on to the Vacuum Palm.” This was an emergency strategy, but more often than not emergency strategies made a different. “This way I can get confirmation that the chakra is spread evenly through the tenketsu  and perhaps reflect a bit on the other technique.” Ayato had not performed the Heavenly Palms Rotation since the day he learned to execute it properly.  He never got any decent chance to. “No, that is what I say to convince myself. More likely I don’t feel comfortable enough to do so.”  Only natural, considering how many times he failed before managing to successfully perform it. It was right here, in this place that Ayato took to call Hidden Star Grove. Now he felt a tension rising through him, it had been too long since he realized. What if his body had forgotten how to?  “Only one way to find out.” Ayato thought to himself before realizing. Once, fear of failure would send him sulking and cursing his own weakness. There was no point being a weakling anymore, he would just stick to the things he knew and through that he would grow stronger. “If I fail the first time, I’ll do it a second and a third. A million times doesn’t matter how many. I’ll do it. This is a step I have to take.”

He began to spin his body, to build up the momentum required for the rotation. Blue chakra ribbons leaking from his body surrounded Ayato and then began to extend away from him in a two-meter radius.  The flow of chakra soon made the dome to form into the proper thickness. “The radious is fine but the dome has to be thicker. This is not done. I’ll have to go faster.”  It took some effort to figure that, spinning and all. He was now rotating at his maximum speed, the dome slowly began to form in a color of deeper blue and after a few moments, it seemed to be as sturdy as a wall. “Distance ok. Thickness, ok. Eight Trigrams: Heavenly Palms Rotation, all green." Ayato said a line he had read in a manga somewhere. Perhaps he was getting dizzy or simply he felt excited at his successful attempt. When he noticed that the dome began to shrink he stopped spinning. There was no need to empty all of his chakra reserves in a technique that he had already learned.  

Having covered the basics and even completing the Palms Rotation without issue, Ayato was brimming with confidence. He was ready then he knew, he was ready to execute the final part of today’s training.  What was left for him to do was to combine the high speed that his arms moved during the Sixty-four palms, the expulsion from chakra through the tenketsu similar to the dome? The only difference is that he had his chakra to the palm of his hands and make the expulsion from there. “Then Vacuum Palm will be mine.” Ayato still in his gentle fist stance extended his left arm forward while the palm of his right remained closed to the waist as if he was storing power in it. With a sharp exhale his right arm took flight while the left went to his waist. The palm hit thin air and Ayato remained in this form for a couple of seconds and then threw a sharp left. The switching in the palm thrusts went on for a while.  Ayato was practicing the form of the Vacuum palm right now, so there would be no projectile coming from his palm yet.

When he felt he got the hang of the form Ayato began to channel chakra into his right dominant hand. He felt the veins bulging as he placed it firmly near the waist.  “This is harder than everything till now.” Ayato thought as he endured the soft pain. He yelled the name of the technique and in an explosive motion extended his arm forward. The chakra blast was unleashed from his palm but before he could celebrate his success the recoil from the blast threw him off his feet and his back met the ground with a loud thud. It was not loud enough to muffle the sound of wood shattering in the distance.  Work of the Vacuum Palm, Ayato knew to which he found himself smiling. “Damn, that hurt. It packed quite the punch, though. I’ll try again.”  Ayato made to use his right arm as a lever against the ground to pull himself up, but he screamed in pain instead.  It felt as if his forearm was hit with a sledgehammer wielded by Kyosouke Snow. “Did I break it during the fall?” Ayato brought his arm near his face to check. His white bandages were dirty with thick clean blood, which trickled down to the crispy brown leaves on the ground. On the red ones too, but the blood spots were not visible there. So he realized a second later. Back to his hand, he looked for a wound, but the bloody bandages made it difficult work of his eyes figure it out on their own. Still, he was reluctant to remove them.  So he began examining it with his left thumb, brushing it gently to avoid any unnecessary pain. But when it brushed against the back of his forearm a stab of pain went through his body again. “The wound..” Ayato thought with a hiss, and he began to remove the bandage from his injured hand. The source of blood was a small hole, showing the soft tissue underneath. It was as if a thin projectile had pierced through his skin, but Ayato knew this wasn’t the case. “Most likely a vein imploded from the recoil.” Ayato deduced and used his elbow to help himself to his feet. 

The first thing he noticed was the big hole the chakra projectile left on the trunk of the White tree. "At least the Vacuum Palm was worth the hassle. ” His reaction was cool and collected but truth be told if If it wasn't for the numbness on his injured arm he would be laughing in excitement. He couldn't wait to tell his father. “It needs some final tuning, though. I can't have my forearm exploding every time I execute it.” Ayato understood from the results-- There had to be a way to tone down the recoil of the chakra blast. He wanted to try and figure one right then but knew he was done for today. There was no way he could put any more into training, not with his hand in that condition. Learning a Jutsu on your own has such risks I suppose. Ayato let out starting to feel light headed from the loss of the blood. "I have to go and get this arm checked."  

WC - 3407

Claiming 17 stat points for my work

Progress towards  Eight Trigrams: Vacuum Palm [3250/3250]