More Taijutsu and Fundamentals

The sun had just started to rise as Reizo stretched his arms and got out of bed. It was Sunday, which normally meant he would take a break from training and enjoy life; however, since Reizo graduated from the Academy his whole schedule had changed. Now he trained whenever and wherever he felt like it, as he didn't have to stick to a strict academic schedule. Reizo wanted to improve his speed. He had read up on using one's chakra to increase his or her speed, and it was a commonly used jutsu at the higher levels of combat. Apparently, by focusing one's chakra into his legs, Reizo could dramatically increase his speed for a hyper-quick approach. Known as the Body Flicker Technique, this jutsu was one of the most basic but also one of the most widely used jutsu for all shinobi, especially those at the top-level of combat. This was one of the first real ninjutsu techniques Reizo wanted to learn. He saw it as a sign of achieving a new level of mastery- one where he could see himself as a mid-level shinobi at the very least.

Reizo hopped out of bed and into the shower. He didn't spend much time at all in the shower, but did lay out his training regimen for the day while washing himself. He wanted to run for at least 20 minutes, but he wanted to do an interval type training. This way, he would be able to practice his Body Flicker in 1 minute sprints, and then go slower at his normal physical pace for 2 or 3 minutes in between before attempting the jutsu again. This type of training, as Reizo had researched, was one of the most effective ways of building stamina and speed, so Reizo set out to try it once he got out of the shower. After drying himself off, Reizo threw on some loose training clothes before heading out. It was still pretty dark out, but it would only be a few minutes before the rising sun dawned over the village.

Reizo slipped into his blue shinobi sandals and quietly slipped out of the house. He began to jog, regulating his breathing appropriately, down to the training grounds. Reizo always made sure to make good use of his time in transit from his house to the training grounds. After jogging at about half speed for 2 minutes, Reizo decided to try out the new jutsu. Focusing the chakra in his legs, Reizo released it at once to attempt a burst of speed as he had read and seen. Unfortunately, Reizo had no success the first time, and only ended up getting a tiny burst of chakra that propelled him a couple of steps forward. Although disappointed, Reizo was not discouraged and he continued his jog. Hmm, I guess I didn't gather enough chakra that time, I'll have to try again. Reizo thought eagerly to himself. A couple of minutes passed and Reizo sought to attempt the jutsu again. This time, Reizo focused even harder on getting the chakra into his legs, and releasing it all at once for the burst of speed.

To his surprise, upon releasing all the built up chakra in his legs, Reizo was launched forward by leaps and bounds. This was not the result he wanted, however. Instead of increasing his speed, the shinobi had essentially just propelled himself using his chakra like a jump instead of a movement enhancement. Reizo hit the ground running and jogged for a little while longer before looking to try once more. Ok, so maybe I shouldn't try releasing it all at once this time. That amount of chakra seemed right, but perhaps instead of trying to release the chakra, I should slowly trickle and disperse it through my legs to speed up my leg muscles and movement. That way it'll still be under my own power instead of leaving my body to the mercy of the environment around me and the sudden increase in speed from flying through the air like a human projectile, Reizo thought to himself as he started to gather chakra into his legs once more.

This time, instead of burst releasing his chakra, Reizo tried to create a steady stream of release through his legs, speeding up his movement ever so slightly. Reizo could feel himself getting faster, but it still was not that much faster than his maximum normal speed. Reizo began to pour more and more chakra in, and before he knew it, he was almost gliding along the ground. Reizo had nearly doubled in his speed when he immediately cut off his chakra flow to his legs. The sudden shift in speed caused him to stumble and fall forward, tumbling head over heel into a tree that he had tried to stop himself from colliding with. Reizo had his back against the tree and his body upside down, resting entirely on his head. A bit dizzy but not hurt, Reizo kicked off the tree and flipped back onto his feet, seemingly drunkenly stumbling and almost falling over once again. Reizo vigorously shook his head to snap back into it and dusted off his clothes by patting them with his hands. The boy simply looked up the tree to observe the birds and squirrels who were not too happy by the sudden disturbance. One squirrel even took to throwing the shells of acorns it was eating at the Genin. After getting pelted on the head by a half a dozen or so acorns, Reizo indignantly left the shade of the tree and walked to the center of the training grounds. Sure he had figured out the body flicker, but now that he had finally gotten to the training grounds, the training was only just beginning.

Reizo walked over to the tree stump he had made practically his own by scarring it with kicks and blows to either side from a training session a time before, and prepared to practice his Taijutsu again. Reizo cracked his knuckles and his neck, and mentally prepped himself to begin his physical training session. Letting out an aggressive yell while pulling his arms tight to either side with his fists clenched and arms bent at the hip, Reizo struck the front of the stump with a quick right straight punch, and then delivered an identical follow up with his left hand. The Genin nodded to himself in satisfaction and quickly decided on how hard his training regimen would be for today. He wanted to start off the week strong, so Reizo decided that he would go extra hard. He had originally wanted to learn all three techniques over the course of the week, but Reizo was "hardcore" and he wanted to prove how quickly he could learn and develop to himself. Reizo decided he would learn all three jutsu today in the next 12 hours before dinner. It would be extremely difficult, but Reizo had already learned one of the three, the Body Flicker Technique. The other two were stronger Taijutsu techniques, the Leaf Rising Wind and its follow up, the Dancing Leaf Shadow. Both were higher level Taijutsu techniques, especially when compared to the ones he had learned last week, however Reizo was confident that his body was up for the task.

1220/5000 words
Body Flicker

Reizo was astonished at how fast he was improving. Just last week he could barely do 100 consecutive kicks, yet now he was already at 500 punches but hadn't even broken a sweat. Reizo figured that he'd improve quickly once school was out of the way, but this shattered all expectations for him. After he performed his 500 punches over roughly 10 minutes, Reizo went to go fetch his water bottle from his bag. Strangely, it was missing. Reizo was certain he had brought it which made it all the more confusing. Just then, while he was crouching over his bag, looking for his missing water bottle, a shuriken whizzed by the back of Reizo's head and embedded itself in the tree stump Reizo had been punching and training against for the last month. A shinobi who appeared to be a Genin like Reizo, stood only 10 meters away from Reizo. "Hey! Watch where you throw those things! Someone could get seriously hurt!" Reizo scolded. "You're in my training spot! Only N and his friends are allowed to train here. Beat it loser!" the Genin would respond.

"I already drank all your water, so now you'll be forced to leave soon," the ninja continued. Reizo replied, "I'm not leaving MY spot. I've been training here for a little under a month. You have no right to claim a public training spot. But if it's a fight you want, I'll be sure not to disappoint!" The two Genin rushed at each other, eventually locking into a grappling war in the middle. Both were fairly even in strength, but Reizo noticed he was slightly faster than this other ninja, and probably smarter as well. The two exchanged kicks and blocks with their shins and knees while locked in the center several times before Reizo pushed away to get create some space. As soon as he did that, N drew a kunai from a toolbox strapped conveniently to his right thigh and began to approach again. Reizo's eyes widened when he saw the weapon drawn, and immediately sidestepped the first lunge, landing a backhanded punch across N's face. In the moment N was struck, he swung his knife upward at Reizo's face, forcing Reizo to stumble backward immediately to avoid getting cut. N appeared almost unharmed from the hit. N attempted this time to slash across Reizo's chest, and Reizo took a small step backward to avoid it, jumping back even further to create some distance so he could pull his own kunai out. While Reizo was in midair however, the shinobi followed up with a flying kick that seemed to hit full speed out of almost nowhere. "Dynamic Entry!" the ninja cried out as he launched his full speed kick at Reizo's upper body. Reizo attempted to block it by crossing his arms in front of his face, but the impact knocked him over anyway.

N landed on his feet and tried to run up and kick Reizo in the face while he was down. However, Reizo quickly managed to react and did a spinning kick to sweep N's legs out from underneath him, causing him to lose his balance and spin out with all his momentum into the training tree stump. Reizo got up to his feet in the same motion as the kick, quietly saying, "Leaf Gale!" N was dizzy and tried to get steady as he got up from the attack, stumbling a bit along the way. The kid was felt a bit embarrassed for falling for something so simple, and was quickly back on his feet and the offensive. Once again, his attack was very linear- a simple lunge forward at Reizo with the kunai. This time, Reizo dodged and punched the wrist of the hand holding the kunai, causing N to drop his weapon. Another obvious response, Reizo ducked to avoid the inevitable left haymaker. It was apparent to Reizo that this kid had never been in a real fight before because he simply didn't adapt. Reizo rolled around behind N and crouched to initiate another attack. Putting his two fingers together in a tiger seal, Reizo launched his full body weight into his thrust right at N's butt. "1000 Years of Death!" Reizo would proudly exclaim, launching N into the air. Sore, violated, and embarrassed N slowly got up and reached around to where the point of impact had been. He looked like he was on the verge of tears, and without saying another word, he scrambled away to let Reizo continue on with his training.

Turning back to the stump now that N had fled, Reizo prepared to work on the Leaf Rising Wind. Stretching his legs which he had failed to do prior to his fight, Reizo thought about what had just transpired. A guy came, drank his water, told him to leave, and then when he was soundly defeated, whimpered away like a little brat. How pathetic. After a solid few minutes of stretching his quadriceps and hamstrings, Reizo set his sights on the training block. In order to get the proper power, according to the scroll Reizo had read, Reizo needed to have absolutely perfect form. This meant he would need to lock and hyper extend his knee when he kicked, but he would also have to be as low to the ground as possible in order to push off with the maximum possible force. Reizo slowly eased his way into the stance, extending his leg so that it would be as straight as possible. Since Reizo was young and flexible, this proved to be rather simple. Once he was in that position, however, Reizo could see no way he could manage to get the power he would need to force another person high into the air, even with chakra involved. It barely had any knockback power as it was, adding chakra to magnify that would be trivial at best. Reizo referred back to the scroll which he had on him. Thankfully, N had only stolen his water. It seemed as though the goal of the jutsu wasn't to just hit the opponent, but to transform the body into a human spring. He had to push off the ground as he launched his attack upward. The form was tricky, but eventually Reizo managed to pull off some semblance of the jutsu with a little bit of power behind it. Another tricky part of the jutsu was to be able to launch the target at a near perpendicular angle to the ground. Reizo used the stump as a support beam to try to get himself comfortable with the degree of the angle that Reizo needed to complete the jutsu. Then, he moved away from the stump to try it on his own. After many attempts over the course of two hours, Reizo managed to finally get the result he was looking for. The high angle, the spring and rebound off the ground, the needed force to launch his target, he had it all. All he was missing was the addition of chakra and a target to practice on.

Reizo found a loose hollow log that was only about 3 feet in length, and found that it would be a decent target to practice on. Reizo picked it up and tossed it high into the air, positioning himself underneath it so that he would be able to strike it at the appropriate time. The first time Reizo tried to use the Leaf Rising Wind, he completely whiffed and the log fell beside him. It kind of reminded Reizo of trying to catch grapes or popcorn in his mouth - a stupid little talent he had no ability at. Reizo tried again and again, progressively getting closer to positioning himself correctly, but still not entirely hitting the mark. Finally, on around the 30th time, Reizo managed to correctly get himself directly under the log. As soon as the log was about to reach head height, Reizo ducked into the right posture and sprung his body upward with his powerful soaring kick. Instead of the log going up, however, it simply shot slightly outward. Reizo attempted again, this time correcting his positioning and angle until the log was launched almost straight upward, to the point that Reizo had to start rolling away to avoid getting injured by the falling log. Satisfied, Reizo was ready to attempt incorporating chakra. It was already well past noon, and Reizo was getting hungry, so he wanted to make this quick and clean. He tossed the log up one final time, and this time Reizo used all his leg and body strength, focused his chakra into his leg, and released it all at once. The instant his right leg hyper extended, he released all the pent up chakra out of the sole of his foot into the log. The log went flying at least 30 feet into the air, its silhouette eclipsing the sun. Reizo had enough time to flip over on his stomach in a push up ready position and leap away before the log had even reached its peak height. Simply leaping out of the way, Reizo walked over to his backpack to get his packed bento box for lunch. After pulling out his lunch, the log finally came crashing down to earth with a loud thud and the crackle of wood splitting. The log was still intact, but a small crack had formed at one of the lips of it.

Reizo took the moment to just relax. It was almost 2 pm and Reizo had already finished two thirds of his training for the entire week. The last thing he wanted to master before dinner was the Dancing Leaf Shadow. This would ideally require him to use the Leaf Rising Wind first when done in combat, but to practice Reizo would just be tossing the log up and appearing underneath and behind it.

Reizo opened his lunch box to reveal a large serving of white sticky rice, two pork dumplings, three small pieces of shrimp shumai, assorted vegetables, and a roll of sushi. His mom had packed it the night before as she had used to do when Reizo was still in the Academy, and it was still amazing every time he opened it. His mom was a really good chef, owning one of the more popular dumpling carts in the village. If being a ninja didn't work out for some reason, Reizo always assumed he would end up working there full time. Reizo shoveled down the shumai almost instantly, thinking about his training and his rate of growth. At this rate, he would become a top level shinobi in only a year or so, he predicted. Maybe even faster. It was astounding the rate at which he was constantly improving, and it was only a matter of time before he started taking missions and gaining some notice for his actions. Reizo vowed to become a Chunin within the next 6 months. He wasn't going to be some run of the mill shinobi, and all the best shinobis moved up the ranks very quickly. Usually if you couldn't make it to the top by the time you were in your early 20s, the potential to be the best simply wasn't there. It held true for many things, and Reizo wanted to make it clear that he knew he had that potential. Of course, the other difficulty was finding the right environment. Often potential is only truly tapped with the right teachers and the right environment that's conducive to learning quickly. If he only surrounded himself with mediocre talent, there was only so fast Reizo could improve.

Reizo started on the sushi roll next. It sucked not having water to drink. His mouth was getting dry from the soy sauce he had drowned his sushi in, and he didn't have any water around that he was sure was safe to drink. He would likely have to head back into town to pick up another water bottle. Damn, that N really was troublesome to my training. At least I got to humble him in the end. What a pain, Reizo thought, as he consumed the two dumplings just as fast as the other food items. He simultaneously ate the rice too. In a matter of only 5 minutes, the whole box was empty, but Reizo was still thirsty. Putting the lid back on the box and putting everything back in his bag, Reizo exited the training grounds to go get a bottle of water. The training grounds had started to get more crowded now as the afternoon rolled by, and it was sure to be even livelier when he returned because school would be let out. He only planned to be gone for 5 minutes while he purchased his bottle of water.

3362/5000 words
Leaf Rising Wind

Exiting the training grounds, Reizo would be greeted by the sounds of civilians going about their daily tasks. Everyone seemed to be doing as they were told to by the decree of the Raikage. It was depressing to watch, but to Reizo it was just another day in Kumogakure. Reizo silently vowed that he would end this plague one day, as he always did whenever he felt uncomfortable in his own village. He believed the village only had two jobs: to protect the people, and to make the people happy. The Raikage seemed to only believe in the first one, which he did very well, even Reizo had to admit it. However, the people were miserable, and it didn't even seem like the Raikage wanted an honest, educated, and friendly populace. It was ghoulish. Reizo turned to a nearby stall and grabbed a large liter of water, and paid accordingly. Reizo was thankful that his mother ran one of the only successful food businesses in the village. Most were run out of business quickly because of price gouging and other corruption, but somehow his mom always seemed able to pay the bills, albeit not comfortably.

After purchasing his water, Reizo would take a large waterfall of it and gulp it down. He proceeded to slowly make his way back to the training grounds, where he would continue to learn his new advanced Taijutsu techniques. Training in Kumogakure was always difficult. The environment was not very friendly, but at least it built a great amount of toughness and drive. On his way back, Reizo glanced back at the huge wall that had been erected when the Raikage took office, and then glanced the other way toward the huge cloud of fog that was always looming around the Raikage's tower. Reizo had seldom been within the inner gates where the fog was. He couldn't remember what even laid on the other side. He was tempted to drift off, but he remained resolve to, at the very least, finish his training first.

It would only be a short walk and Reizo would be back in the dreadful training grounds. The stench was never very welcoming, although grass and fresh water were still available, the many signs of death that had been associated with the village still lingered. Reizo made his way back to his training stump, and there was no sign of N anywhere. Okay, last on the list... is the Dancing Leaf Shadow. It's typically used as a followup jutsu for combo starters like the Leaf Rising Wind that I had just learned. However, if I really want to learn it, I shouldn't look to try it on my first go. First I need to practice the motions without any objects, then I'll start tossing the log, and finally I'll start it up with my own Leaf Rising Wind. This should be a piece of cake, Reizo thought.

Reizo first practiced by getting his angle of approach to be parallel to the ground. He practiced jumping over and over again, trying to go as high and as far as possible, and then angling his body midair to be parallel to the ground, mimicking what an opponent who had just been knocked up into the air would be like. Next, Reizo began to play with the speeds. Different masses of people would be sent at different arcs, so Reizo had to prepare to be ready to completely match their speed, height, and fall. Each time, Reizo would jump, sail through the air for a short time at varying heights, and then complete a flip to land on his feet, then jump back the other way and repeat the process. Reizo repeated this process for at least an hour without using a target. He had to make sure he didn't collide with the object, but he also had to be able to strike them as well. Everything needed to be perfect in order to pull off the jutsu flawlessly and to appear as though he had become their shadow.

It was almost 5 pm when Reizo first attempted to use a target. Picking up the somewhat damaged log from earlier, Reizo chucked it into the air, mostly vertically as though it had been kicked by the Leaf Rising Wind. Reizo's first attempt ended with him jumping straight into the log. Reizo adjusted his spacing and power accordingly and tried again, and again, and again, progressively getting closer and closer to having the correct spacing so he could strike without colliding mid jump with the log. In just fifteen minutes, Reizo had mastered that spacing and it was time to finally attempt it with a kick. Reizo picked up the log once more and threw it into the air, striking it with the Leaf Rising Wind on its way down. Reizo immediately flipped onto his stomach in a push up position and leaped into the air, flawlessly executing the Dancing Leaf Shadow. Reizo then grappled the log from below and piledrove it into the ground, leaving it sticking out, half submerged.

Reizo wanted to finish up his training session, since he still had about a half hour before 7 pm rolled around and he would have to go home for dinner, with a series of drills he had devised. First, Reizo had to perform 500 alternating left and right punches, working on his speed especially to make sure they were as fast and as crisp as possible. Once he had finished that, Reizo went on to do 75 pushups. If he couldn't finish all 75 after having done his 500 punches, he would do as many as possible and then do 400 situps. Then, he would run a mile before heading back home.

Reizo started up with the punches, getting his body into the perfect stable stance that he typically assumed when training against a tree stump, training dummy, or log. His legs were a shoulders' width apart, his knees were slightly bent, and he was directly facing the log that he had just buried into the ground. Reizo struck it once, then again, counting up as he went. Each punch caused the log to shake a little in the ground, and around 200 the log was too loose in the ground to remain upright on its own. Reizo decided to move back to his original tree stump that he had been practicing against for weeks and where he had encountered N earlier. The sun was starting to set, and it was getting a little bit cooler, which was perfect for Reizo since this would be the hardest workout he had gotten all day. Reizo resumed his training from where he had left off, 300 punches, then 400 and finally he reached 500. He had started to sweat a little more, but he wasn't exactly tired yet.

Next, Reizo moved on to the 75 punches. His arms were a little fatigued, but the whole point of the exercise was to blow through and exhaust his muscles all at once. Reizo started up, but even upon hitting only 25 his arms were starting to give out. The punches had taken a large invisible toll on him, not to mention the training he had been doing all day finally working around on his muscles. Reizo managed to reach 30 before collapsing. He felt somewhat embarrassed. He knew he was far more capable than that, and it was extremely disappointing that he had only been able to do 30 pushups, even after all the training he had been doing. Reizo looked around, but all the other shinobi seemed occupied with their own regimens to care or notice his weakness. Reizo scolded himself for being so weak, but moved on to performing his situps.

Core workouts were always Reizo's greatest strength. His abs were well toned and very strong for someone of his age and size. Reizo breezed past 250 without any difficulty, but once he hit the 350 mark, he began to slow down. Reizo pushed himself as hard as he could, making sure to fully sit upright with each rep, trying his hardest to not resort to crunches. 380 and Reizo was having trouble breathing from the fiery pain in his abdominal muscles. Reizo slowed down significantly at 390 and took small pauses in between each rep to catch his breath and try again. 398, only two more. That's it. I can do this, Reizo told himself, straining with each attempt. Eventually he managed to finally get all 400 sit ups. Reizo took a quick second to relax before flipping on to his stomach and getting up to prepare to run. It was 6:45, and a mile wouldn't take long at all. If all went as planned he'd be home just before 7 pm.

Reizo started out at a slightly slower pace, more akin to a jog than a run, before kicking it up to full speed. Runs were always boring for Reizo, but he knew it was the best way for him to train both speed and stamina, so he made sure to include it into all of his workout routines. After a very short time, Reizo had fathomed that he had completed his mile, having run several laps around his little area of the training grounds by the pond. Reizo walked over to his open backpack, checked and double-checked to make sure he had all of his items, and then finished off the rest of his water bottle in one long swig. Reizo zipped up his bag, slinging it over both shoulders and walked back home, proud of what he managed to achieve before dinner. His muscles would likely be very sore tomorrow, so he planned to lay off the training for the next couple of days. Maybe he would go explore the village now that he was free of school.


5008/5000 words
Dancing Leaf Shadow
+25 stat points