Advanced Tech Training

The big training ground in Konoha still amazes the young genin of how big it truly is. Rin finds himself in this said training grounds with his armor pieces over his arms and shins. At the waist, clipped onto his belt, is a katana that is currently sheathed in the wooden scabbard. Today was the day that Rin finally broke through the threshold that has been holding him back for so long. For today was the day that he finally learned more about the Red Tiger style and a couple of new ones.

Originally Rin was supposed to meet with Koyasu in the afternoon when the sun is high in the sky. However the boy grew impatient and got to the location early morning. After pondering, Rin drew his blade from the scabbard and let the sun’s ray reflect from it. Rin would concentrate his chakra flow onto his katana as he held it out in front of him. The first five times nothing happened as Rin failed to coat his weapon with his chakra. On the sixth attempt however, as ten minutes had passed, Rin successfully coated the katana with a visible veil of chakra that seems to extend past the blade for another 5 inches. The boy felt pride that he accomplished this task, for it shall be a cutting edge in the future.

226/150 WC

Tech Learning:

An hour had passed as Rin suppressed his chakra to avoid detection from sensors and still practiced his form. His iron singing with the wind as it slices through the empty, chilly air. Footwork in a melody with each other as he moves with such grace and fluid that it almost looked like he was dancing. Rin can’t place it, but for some reason there is a certain sense of familiar when holding the weapon in his hands. When he first touched a blade there was like a connection as his sense of accuracy and striking speed was faster than he truly was.

“It seems like you have grown familiar with it kid.” A familiar rough voice spoke as Rin heard a twig snapped. Following behind it Rin heard the rushing sounds of feet on soil coming from his left flank. Rin quickly activated his sensing abilities and sure enough he detected the swordsman charging at him. In truth Rin saw a blur as his right sword arm moved with his body moving with it. However to Rin’s surprise as he practically turned with his blade already in motion of swinging at Koyasu. For Rin’s strike came faster and accurate than he intended that Koyasu immediately had to skid while dropping into a crouching position. At the same time Koyasu angled his serrated katana while swinging up to clash with Rin’s and push it away.

Rin’s eyes were keen however, that the genin moved a lot faster than Koyasu thought and had to assume into a defensive stance or else he would’ve been in a tough spot. In nearly an instant Koyasu hurls a shoulder bash while bouncing up into a standing position as he would slam it into Rin’s chest. All while pushing Rin’s weapon higher up, but Rin braced himself as he rooted his stance and withstood the bash while only moving an inch. Rin still held a firm grip on his katana as he sees the serrated edge of Koyasu’s weapon inches away from his face. The only thing that was keeping the blade from reaching him was Rin’s quick instincts of sliding his sword down to block any advancement to his neck.

Rin saw that momentum was being used to knock him over, and Rin took the brunt of it. However Rin angled his katana just right to shine the dazzling light from the sun at Koyasu’s eyes. Of course this is also the same man who taught him that technique so naturally Koyasu simply closed his eyes for a moment to avoid blindness with a grin on his face. Rin took this moment to quickly back away from Koyasu at a couple of meters. Of course Koyasu did swing at Rin as he backed away. The young boy saw the blade coming at him and quickly batted Koyasu’s attack away with a satisfying clang as Rin parried.

Koyasu opened his eyes once again as the grin dropped into a small smile on his lips. “Hate to burst your bubble kid, but i could’ve spilled your guts before you even backed away. All i would have to do is place my foot behind your main foot to trip over. Then as you fall i would’ve skewered you.” Rin noted that part as it was something he should be aware of. Even if it was a threat, Rin felt that it was educational regardless. Though Rin would admit that he didn’t expect to counter and withstand Koyasu temporarily. Koyasu shrugged his shoulder as he paced a bit while gazing at Rin like he was viewing a new weapon.

“Well if you have gotten better and not just dumb luck then i guess i should teach you a couple of things in the Red Tiger Style. Technically i’ll be teaching you three techniques, but two of them fall under the Red Tiger Style.” Koyasu did a quick review of the basics as they traded quite a few blows as iron sing into the distant forest around them. Overall Koyasu couldn’t even get a swing or scratch on Rin. At least not directly without getting creative as Koyasu not only blocked, but also slammed the kid on the dirt. After getting a final assessment of Rin’s progress Koyasu was nodding in silence while taking a couple of steps back. As he was letting the boy to catch his breath.

“It is good to see that you’re faster with the blade, but your movement are still easy to read. If you can work on that then you will be good to go.” Koyasu spoke as Rin got up to his feet and dusted off his clothes before picking his katana back up. The swordsman went into detail of the next technique which was titled Moonlight. It was basically stabbing the sword into the ground while balancing himself on the pommel and simultaneously delivering a good kick. Rin can see it effective to avoid low attacks and still attack. Especially with Tsuyo’s tendencies to go for the legs.

A short demonstration was given as Koyasu instructed Rin to charge at him. Aware of the initial technique, Rin charged forward and like a charm Koyasu stabbed that wicked sword into the soil while lifting his body off the ground. Balancing on pommel alone as Koyasu moves to stomp at Rin. The genin was looking for weaknesses as he could easily dodge to the side and resume attacking. Or simply drop low to the ground and avoid the initial attack. However that thought perished when Rin came to think about the sword stuck into the ground and how easily Koyasu would slice through the soil and kick up more dirt at Rin. So what Rin did was leaping over the kick while reaching out with his free palm to grab Koyasu’s ankle with a twist of Rin’s body at 180 degrees just as he was completing the kicking motion.

The sudden jerk from the pull forced Rin to more or less collide on Koyasu, but not before Rin practically dropped a knee at Koyasu’s abdomen who gasped from the impact. They both went down to the ground as the sword fell to the side. Rin was quick to move as he flipped his body while balancing his weight on his hand which was on the ground. However before Rin could complete the flip Koyasu sweeped low with an extended leg to connect against Rin’s balancing hand and make the kid fall as the swordsman rose to his feet. There was a moment that Koyasu admitted that he would have to be aware of that in the future. Because of that Koyasu advised using it while in the middle of the combo.

1118/150

Spoiler:

“Alright kid, it seems that i can teach you about the next technique of Red Tiger. The first thing is to change your stance a bit.” Koyasu paused as he demonstrated the stance by keeping both feet at shoulder width and straighten his posture. Instead the sword being held at waist level where Koyasu is facing, the swordsman raised the hilt to neck level a couple of inches away from his chest. The blade was obviously pointing skyward as Koyasu readjusted his grip on the hilt. “Why this stance?” Rin asked as he tried to copy Koyasu’s stance. Of course Koyasu corrected Rin’s stance and pointed out to maintain his sense of balance to the core of his body.

“Because this stance will make the next strike you make stronger than it originally would be. You could take a knife with this stance yet it could easily cut like it was something else. A good way to chop a limb off or deal some good damage against your opponent.” Koyasu responded as he demonstrated the downward slash through the air. It was as simple as that, and Rin thought it was so simple that anyone would be able to avoid it. Yet when Rin swung he understood that it was about the speed of his attack and it would come in handy to overpower his opponent. The power built in his arms as the energy of his body moved with the swing that only seems to emphasize the strength.

229/200 WC

Spoiler:

It is the fourth hour of training as the sun was shining above the pair. Sweat dripped from Rin’s chin as he continued to train with his teacher. Here it was already going to the afternoon, but Rin didn’t show signs of stopping either. “You obviously remember about the directing sunlight into your opponent’s eyes. Now i want to train you into a technique that follows similar motions.” Koyasu would once again perform a demonstration as he assumes the standard Red Tiger stance. “Another technique that you should remember is the red crescent. When your enemy is charging at you or merely attacking you would want to move out of the way.”

Of course Rin played the role of an attacker as he coordinate a slow downward swing. Koyasu followed suit by just as slow pivoting to the left of Rin and lightly tapped the edge of his serrated katana on the palm side of Rin’s left wrist. “As you move out of the way be sure to simultaneously swing at the wrists from this side.” Koyasu would then move his blade to lightly tap at Rin’s forearm. “Of course you could also aim for this section of the arm to achieve the same effect. The problem is if the enemy is armored up around these areas.” It was all well and good, but Rin didn’t understand why those areas of the arm.

“Why specifically this side of the arm?” Rin would drop his stance as he tapped the palm side of his wrist with his index finger. Koyasu traced an invisible line with his finger on Rin’s wrist. “It is because the nerves are collected the most on this side. You cut deep enough not only would the nerves go crazy, but it would also damage the muscle that allows you to curl your fingers. Useful to disarm your opponent or even make it difficult for them shinobi to weave signs with that hand.” Koyasu paused as he moved the finger over to Rin’s forearm and traced a line around the palm side as well. “Same with this section of the arm. The problem is that an average person would have more muscle to protect the nerves. In other words in order to produce the same effects you would have to cut a bit deeper than you would on the wrists.”

392/200

Spoiler:

Five hours have come and gone as afternoon was upon the village now. By now young Rin is getting tired as just trying to lift his sword at waist level is an effort on its own. Muscles ache as it throb around Rin’s arms from the shoulder to the palms. His breathing was becoming evident as Rin took deep breaths. Heat was already picking up as it grew warm with each passing minute the sun was claiming the sky.

“I think that is enough for today kid. I admire your enthusiasm, but rest is necessary to staying alive.” Koyasu suggested as he sheathed his katana into the scabbard. Rin shook his head in disagreement. “If this was a real battle my opponent is not going to let me rest until they bury their sword into my chest. I must get stronger than five minutes ago. I must become faster and accurate with each swing. I…” Rin trailed off as he fell to one knee, and even though his fingers are trembling from the stress on his arms Rin refused to drop his sword. Koyasu raised a brow at Rin before asking a question. “You say that you must do these things, yet from what i hear nobody’s really told you that you must do them. What really drives you this much that you’d swing a sword you can barely hold?”

Rin didn’t answer right away, but with a sigh the genin replied. “Because i’m tired of being weak. I’ve heard it plenty of times more than i can care to count. Along with being called a failure and other things.” When Rin lifted his eyes Koyasu got a strong sense of determination emitting from them. “I’m going to prove them wrong. And i’ll do it by passing the next chunin exams.” The last part of Rin’s speech caught Koyasu off guard for a moment. The next moment Koyasu busted out laughing. Rin felt warmth on his cheeks as a hint of anger linger in those youthful eyes. Koyasu seemed to have gotten that hint for the laughing shortly stopped.

“I’m sorry kid, i don’t mean to laugh at a man-to-be’s goal. I would love to watch you trump those genin any time.” The problem right now, Rin thought, is that he isn’t at his peak performance. At least not yet for the time being. The thought of not being ready frustrates the youth, but Rin is aware that growth takes time to progress and understands it fully. “Still, it seems you’ve grown stronger in terms of accuracy and attacking speed. If you can work on your evasion a little bit then you’ll virtually be untouchable on certain accounts.” Koyasu suggested, but before Rin could ask the man about it Koyasu was already leaving the training grounds. Still it was a thought that continued to linger even as Rin was returning to the Uchiha Estate.

[Exit]