Learning to harness the Gentle Blade

Kato awoke with a sense of determination, he felt the need to strengthen his abilities. In the recent week he'd completed a few lower ranking missions easily, he knew that he wanted to challenge himself with more difficult missions soon but he needed to be ready. He sat up in his bed and stretched towards the ceiling, feeling muscles loosen and the odd bone pop and click in the process. He then stood up out of bed and continued loosening the parts of his body that had become tight or tense overnight. With the sense of determination continuing Kato clothed himself in gear that was appropriate for his day's training. Black pants and a black kimono jacket with the Hyuuga clan symbol adorned on the back of it, simple but effective. Continuing his morning routine Kato tied back his long red hair in his usual high ponytail before securing his Mist village ninja headband around his forehead. Now that he was fully clothed Kato made himself a quick breakfast of eggs with spinach and tomatoes on a seeded bread. He knew he would need nutrients to keep his strength steadfast throughout the training. After consuming the nutritious meal he had prepared Kato made a quick lunch and then gathered his katana and left his home.

Kato's thoughts when ahead to his destination as he walked, he was going to the village's training facility for the first time. He'd heard from other shinobi that it was state of the art, apparently there are rooms where you can alter the temperature, the altitude and even the gravity. That sounded wild to Kato but he wasn't going to be using that room, at least not today. He intended to use another interesting piece of training equipment that the facility held, one that was specialised for people of his clan, the Hyuuga clan. The shinobi had told him that there were practice dolls that you could practice the gentle fist style with, they were pretty high tech and contained a system that perfectly replicated the chakra network, even down to the 361 tenketsu points. That was the part of the training facility that interested Kato the most, with those practice dolls he could work on all kinds of Hyuuga techniques. Today he would be trying to master a new skill and the challenge lit a flame within him.

Kato's reality met up with his thoughts as he arrived at the training facility. He gazed at it in admiration, it was quite a sight to be seen. There were practice fields all around and a large square white building. Thats where all the good stuff was. Gripping the hilt of his katana with anticipation Kato walked down the path towards the large white building. He took in the outdoor facilities as he walked. There was plenty of rings for sparring, dummies for training, and tracks for running. Kato entered the front door to the large square building and was impressed by all the equipment he saw. The shinobi did not lie, there was all manner of training equipment. It looked like it could cater to any training need you had. Kato's good mood sweetened even more as he walked about the building searching for the equipment he desired.

After a short while wandering the facility and asking a few questions Kato found the room that contained the 'tenketsu dummies'. The room was empty currently so Kato had his pick. There were several tenketsu dummies set up around the room and he was informed that there were more available if he so required them. The determination that Kato had felt all day was now surging, he felt he must begin training right away.

First he needed to warm up. He began to move through a series of dynamic stretches readying his body for the effort that it's about to exert. Kato raises each of his legs out several times, moving from the hip and keeping his leg extended to stretch his hamstrings. After completing several dynamic stretches per leg Kato moves on to his torso. He stretches his arm back behind his arms before pushing through as if shoving away an invisible enemy. Kato then performs several twists, rotating his shoulders and mobilising his spine. After spinning his arms around a bit to loosen up his shoulders he was ready.

The aim of his training today was to master the Gentle Blade skill. That technique enabled the user to attack an opponents tenketsu with a blade, just as they would a palm or finger. This skill would be very useful for Kato and he knew it. It was bound to be a difficult task but Kato had always had a fondness for blades and he knew he could master it, all it would require was some discipline and hard work. But before he was going to attempt the new skill Kato could not resist giving the tenketsu dummies a first round.

Kato focused his chakra and activated his Byakugan. His pearlescent eyes pulsed as the veins in his temples swelled. There they were, all 361 tenketsu, this training facility really is the best. Kato channelled chakra throughout his legs to boost his speed and through his arms, all the way to his fingertips. He quickly hits several tenketsu on the dummies with speed and elegance, the light they are emitting to Kato's eyes going dim after each strike. They worked exactly how he hoped they would. After his flurry had ended Kato studied the tenketsu dummy and he observed that the points he hit would only stay off for a minute or two, perfect for training. Now he had to work on closing the tenketsu through his blade, a much more difficult task. For a trained Hyuuga the Gentle Fist is natural, its just moving your body, controlling your chakra and the releasing it. Well that's it simply put anyway. Achieving the same feat through a blade introduced a tricky new element as his katana was a weapon. It wasn't part of his body but it would have to be as if it was for the technique to work properly. Kato knew he needed to be smart if he were to master this skill.

[1038]

"Now it's time to actually try the technique" Kato thought to himself as he placed his hand on the hilt of his katana. He had never seen the technique executed before so he had nothing to go off, if he was going to succeed it was going to be through trial and error and some considered thinking. After a brief moment of thought Kato drew his katana and channeled some of his chakra into it. He saw its blade glow through his Byakugan eyes, the chakra seemingly sharpening the blades edge. Kato took a deep breath and picked out several tenketsu dummies chakra points in his mind. He then struck at the chosen tenketsu with a similar grace and swiftness but something about wielding the blade brought more aggression out of him. With his first swipe across the tenketsu dummies chest he struck against the chakra points but did not see them dim, instead his blade cut deep into the dummies chest and he partially severed it in half. Kato used the momentum of the first diagonal katana swipe, pulling the hilt close to his body, channelling extra chakra through the blade and lunging forwards, aiming for the tenketsu around the heart area of the tenketsu dummy. Kato saw the chakra in his blade pulse as he channelled and lunged in unison, the chakra gathering to a sharp light blue point. His blade was on target for the tenketsu but again the chakra point did not dim, instead the blade tore right through the dummy.

Kato stood over the destroyed dummy, his breath heavy and his katana loosely at his side. "Tricky. I had a feeling the technique would be more complex than simply infusing my katana with chakra. It appears that infusing my katana with chakra simply improves the blade's strength and sharpness." Useful in certain situations but thats not the technique he was here to learn, the technique he was here to learn was more subtle, it wasn't designed the cleave and opponent in two like he had just achieved with the tenketsu dummy.

Kato sat on the floor within the training room and placed his katana across his lap. He closed his eyes and begun to refocus his mind, entering a meditative state with his hands still holding his katana. "what is the secret to this technique" he thought to himself as he continued to meditate "I feel like I'm not too far away. I can channel chakra into my blade pretty competently and my strikes were on target. There must be an additional step required to attack the chakra points, and a pretty subtly one" Kato thought. 

As he sat meditating in the training room, destroyed tenketsu dummy lying in two pieces before him he began focusing his chakra back into his katana. Kato sat for a short while channelling chakra into his blade and then siphoning the chakra back into himself, matching the pace at which he is flowing the chakra to his slow meditative breathing. With his mind relaxed but focused Kato started to feel the flow of chakra in and out of the katana become smoother, more natural. This was improvement, he knew it and with this realisation with sense of determination pushed its way back to the front of Kato's mind. With that Kato opened his Byakugan eyes, veins still pulsing at his forehead and rose from his seated position. Walked to the nearest tenketsu dummy that was not cleaved in two and took his stance, katana held forwards with both arms, left foot slightly in front of his right. 

Kato focused his breath along with his chakra and selected several chakra points on the second tenketsu dummy. With an exhalation he brought his katana down in a vertical strike down the right side of the tenketsu dummy's chest. As he struck he flowed chakra into the blade and to his eyes it glowed, similar to before but this time something with slightly different. His first strike cut into the dummy, causing the light from the tenketsu he connected with to flicker but they didn't completely dim. "Definite improvement" Kato thought to himself as he continued with his planned strikes. He flowed his blade from low too high, striking the tenketsu dummy diagonally across its torso. This blow cut into the dummy with similar results to his first strike of the combination. The blade bit into the fabric off the dummy's chest and the chakra points he hit flickered but did not dim. "Interesting" Kato thought as he finished his combination with a horizontal strike across the tenketsu dummy's chest, just below the clavicle. Kato's final strike was just like the first 2 strikes in his blade's flurry, flickering tenketsu and a deep slash where he had struck. 

Once again Kato stood over a destroyed tenketsu dummy, his breath heavy from the exertion of the strikes. Only this time the dummy's tenketsu were flickering, like some Christmas lights that were in the process of faltering. Once again Kato sat cross-legged on the ground with his katana on his lap, closed his eyes and focused on his breath. He soon returned to a meditative state with his hands on his katana just as before. He sat there focusing on his breath whilst simultaneously channelling and siphoning chakra into his blade just as before. He sat there for some time repeating this process, keeping his mind relaxed throughout. The longer he sat meditating with his katana the less his katana felt like a weapon in his lap. His chakra was flowing in and out of the blade with greater ease upon each subsequent breath, he could feel himself getting closer to his weapon.  

After twenty, thirty minutes of meditation Kato's eyes shot open. His sense of determination was now raging stronger than it has all day, it was almost as if there was a fire lit behind Kato's pearly white eyes. He took his stance before the next tenketsu dummy that was undamaged and picked out several tenketsu, he planned the same combo as his previous flurry. With speed and elegance he performed the three strikes, flowing his chakra in and out of his blade in line with the strikes as well as his breath. His blade cut into the tenketsu dummy, dimming each tenketsu he struck with his trio of strikes. After his barrage Kato stood a third time over a destroyed tenketsu dummy, breath deep and heavy. This time when Kato looked upon the destroyed tenketsu dummy he saw clear signs of his strikes with his Byakugan. Where his strikes landed he could see the dimmed chakra points, it was clear as day next to the bright untouched tenketsu on the dummy. He'd done it, he'd managed to get a handle on the technique. The sight of that dimly light destroyed dummy brought Kato a great sense of achievement, his sense of determination had carried him through. However one successful flurry was not enough for Kato to call it mastered and so he went about setting up more tenketsu dummies. Kato then spent the rest of the day honing the technique, striving to make the technique as natural feeling to him as the Gentle Fist style.

[End]
[1204]
[TWC = 2242]

[Using 2000 WC to learn the Gentle Blade skill]
[Using 2200 WC to train 26 stats for Kato - 10 chakra, 10 speed, 6 vigor] - I think this is right, 20% of 2200 is 440 so I can claim stats worth 2640 WC if I understand correctly?
[Using 242 WC for learning Gentle Fist: Palm Bottom {242/1500}]

Approved