Flexing Power

A wooden dummy sat in the center of the training ring Zakuro had claimed for the day. The redhead herself stood at the edge, already in the Strong Fist taijutsu stance. She shifted her weight from foot to foot, feeling out her center of gravity, the fulcrums of her musculature, everything relevant for a shinobi martial artist.

Taking a deep breath, Zakuro took one step further back, before sprinting towards the dummy. Moving in a straight line allowed her movements to be focused on speed and force alone. A few feet from her target, Zakuro leapt off the ground, twisting in mid-air with one foot forward! "Dynamic entry!" Zakuro called out excitedly as she smashed the dummy backwards, leaving a visible footprint in the wood!

WC: 126
Jutsu Learned: Dynamic Entry! (D-Rank Taijutsu)

Zakuro yelped as she crashed on top of the wood rather uncomfortably. Okay, she'd have to work on the landing, but she had the core of the technique down. Nursing her lower back, the redhead scrambled to her feet and set the dummy straight again. Okay, that was her opener. Now she had to get to work on the rest of her techniques.

She stepped back into the same stance again. Again, she went for kicks. A high spinning kick was the opener of her assault the dummy. High, then quickly followed by low. Not very effective against an opponent that didn't dodge, but what mattered was that she went through the motions.

WC: 115
Jutsu Learned: Leaf Whirlwind (D-Rank Taijutsu)

The first series of kicks seamlessly flowed into the next. Zakuro loved the sensation of pushing her body like this, forcing her muscles to act with the blend of strength and precision needed for a shinobi. The third kick swept low, striking the dummy where another human's shins would be. Zakuro knew a technique like this could sweep someone straight off their feet. She'd used simpler variants of this kind of move while brawling when she was younger.

The dummy clattered to the floor again, and Zakuro once more had to pause her training to straighten it. The breaks whenever she knocked it down were a bit annoying.

WC: 110
Jutsu Learned: Leaf Gale (D-Rank Taijutsu)

This time, Zakuro changed her footing. This was different from the Strong Fist she'd learned before. A style she'd heard of, but never bothered to practice herself. Today that changed. Her feet were planted farther apart, and she lowered herself halfway into a crouch. Balled fists shifted to opened palms. It was different, but still felt good. She could already tell how this would allow her to leverage her strength more. Only one way to really get familiar with it, though.

Zakuro let out a kiai as she charged the dummy. Her palm struck the wood with force, this time slamming into it with such force the dummy was knocked clean out of the arena. With a surprised grin, Zakuro flexed her fists... Before she realized this meant she would spend even more time retrieving the dummy.

WC: 139
Jutsu Learned: Arhat Fist (D-Rank Taijutsu)

A fifth and final technique. She had hoped to make this a proper follow-up to her Arhat Fist palm strike, but she hadn't expected to blow the dummy away like that. She centered herself again, then stepped in close to the dummy.

Instead of striking, Zakuro leapt upwards, driving her knee into the dummy's abdomen. She heard and felt wood crack as her inanimate training partner was lifted off the floor and spun backwards. On one hand, nice. Proper execution, and about as much destructive force as she'd hoped for. On the other hand, she had hurled the dummy across the room. Again. Maybe she needed to figure out a new training regimen...

WC: 117
Jutsu Learned: Rising Knee (D-Rank Taijutsu)

Zakuro heaved the dummy onto her shoulder and departed the ring, only to return a few minutes later. The new dummy she was dragging along was considerably heavier, forcing her to roll it along on little wheels. The quartermaster had berated her for smashing the last dummy so thoroughly, but she didn't think it'd be a problem again.

She groaned as she set it upright and stepped away. After spending a few moments stretching, the redhead got back to work. Another Arhat Fist technique this time. Simple but effective. Zakuro charged, slamming shoulder-first into the dummy. It swayed a little, but didn't get knocked over by the blow. Good. Maybe she could even practice some ninjutsu...

WC: 120
Jutsu Learned: Shoulder Charge (D-Rank Taijutsu)

First, though, it was time to change focus a little. Zakuro was a mednin with everything that entailed, and had studied the theoretical side of some fairly interesting techniques that required knowledge in the field. She changed her stance from the low pose of Arhat Fist, instead relaxing. She started swaying her shoulders back and forth with her spine as the axis. Deep breaths. The redhead closed her eyes as she began to stimulate the flow of chakra in her body exactly as she had been instructed. Her loose stance flowed into an aggressive right straight. To her surprise and satisfaction, her arm lunged out beyond its natural reach to strike the dummy.

WC: 114
Jutsu Learned: Soft Body Manipulation (D-Rank Ijutsu/Taijutsu)

Zakuro sidestepped as she imagined an opponent running up to her for the counterattack. Maintain distance, exploit physical reach. A hop backwards was accompanied by a swing outwards. Zakuro was pleased at the technique's effectiveness; her arm extended a solid several meters to slam into the dummy. She quickly pulled the limb back afterwards. Attacking without thought about the recovery was an easy way to get your arm grabbed or worse. Shinobi could do all sorts of things - sever the limb, electrocute it, set it on fire, et cetera. Defense was vital. Zakuro continued her strange swaying motions as she circled the dummy, considering her next option.

WC: 108
Jutsu Learned: Soft Body Manipulation - Surprise Whip (D-Rank Ijutsu/Taijutsu)

Zakuro continued to practice fighting with Soft Body Manipulation for a bit longer, getting a better feel for the technique. Once she felt properly used to it, the redhead figured it was time to try something else. The next technique up for practice was more esoteric, and purely Ijutsu compared to the mixed Taijutsu of Soft Body Manipulation. Zakuro took a second to go through the hand seals, then jabbed her thumbs down onto her thighs. Once, twice, thrice. Zakuro took a step, and almost stumbled from the surprising burst of speed. Okay, baby steps. As in, she literally started taking smaller steps around the training ring, before she'd launch herself through a wall.

WC: 115
Jutsu Learned: Pressure Strike

Okay, she was getting used to it now. Yeah, totally. This technique didn't last long, so she couldn't spend too much time faffing about. Rather than taking a few seconds to adjust further, the redhead grinned and took a taijutsu stance. Time for a simple series of swings!

Zakuro became a red and blue blur as she launched herself at the heavy dummy, much faster than intended. The redhead groaned as she smashed straight into it and immediately bounced off into the dirt of the ring. After a moment of laying there dazed, she picked herself up off the floor. Not seriously hurt, but her shoulder definitely felt tender. She huffed as she set down on a nearby bench and formed a series of hand seals. She laid her glowing hand on her upper arm, looking dismayed as the Healing Hands technique began to fix her bruise.

WC: 149
Jutsu Learned: Healing Hands