|
|
Post by Digital ♥ on Jun 7, 2009 18:10:33 GMT -5
Mai turned and glanced at him, both of her clones went up in smoke. Even though it required more chakra, she could get it done much much faster. But she decided that Hojo was probably right, no use in wasting chakra. The Uchiha hardly paid any attention to either of her team mates, her main focus was on Hojo. His kept getting stronger and stronger as did hers. Chidori was focused mainly to the palm of one`s hand, so if that worked for a stronger technique it probably would for a more simple one. Even though her logic was off, she decided to try it anyways. Rather than taking the strange pose she decided to hold her hand out in front of her and concentrated on the center of her hand. Her palm became extremely hot from the fiery chakra and then she went back into her stance, and threw her punch. The fire exploded when her fist connected with the tree, and the damage seemed much grater than before but she still felt like she was at square one.
Then she repeated the process over and over again. Her fist pounded into the tree she was practicing on several times, the bark was charred pretty badly. Mai shook her hand out for awhile, it was starting to hurt. But pain wouldnt win over her determination, and even though it was pretty painful she continued to concentrate and throw a mean punch at the tree. Hojo never explained or not if her fist actually had to hit the tree, Mai assumed it did and her knuckles were bloodied and were paying the price.
"I hope this doesnt take too much longer, I dont want to break my hand before the chuunin exams."
--------
Hojo: 20/30
Shikaniku: 8/10
Inoko: 10/25
|
|
|
|
Post by Pikachu on Jun 7, 2009 20:25:44 GMT -5
((Inoko is making slow progress, isn't she XD))
"So why don't you take a quick break and what till Shika's done. He knows some medical jutsu, so he can heal you right up." Hojo replied.
He knew Mai wouldn't be able to keep up with him physically. He had years of pure taijutsu training behind him that protected him. She didn't. Still, her determination was something to admired.
"Now then, I think you're going the wrong way with the technique. By the look of it you're trying to copy off the Chidori into the technique. While they are similar, they are also much different. Chidori is an assassination technique at heart. It's supposed to be charged and then you strike. The Dynamic Punch, however, is supposed to be a finisher that is placed at the end of a combo of attacks. So you have to learn to make it flow into a taijutsu string. Thats why I went into the Iron Fist stance before using it."
With that Hojo decided to show her what he meant by it. Getting back into the pose, he began to assualt the poor tree with a short string of kicks and punches. Eventually he landed back on the ground in the basic pose, and soon pulled his arm back again. He began to charge the chakra up, but focused it on his hand. This time he could feel the power within it, and had a good feeling that this time he would do something worthwhile with it. His arm felt like it was burning, but he knew it was just the flame release. All of this occured within a few seconds, but it was just that amount of time he needed before he threw a punch at the tree.
((Leaving it at that because if the technique is finished, I want to end it with the actual punch working)).
---------------------
Shikaniku's shadow retreated back to him, and he could feel the drain from the training. He wanted to quit as this was just too troublesome, but if he did, he would feel the wrath of all his teammates. It was a pain to be on a team with so many strong willed people. Take a deep sigh, he crouched down on last time and put his hand in the Rat handsign again. This time he didn't bother with moving it around a bit. Instead, he headed straight into the air like he was using Shadow Sewing. Once in the air, he began to mold it into a fist. He used the same process he did for the other ones, but he used a bit more shadow then he used before. The past fists were the results of being conservative with his shadow, but this time he went all out. The fist looked like a decent size now, and he started putting as much spare chakra as he could to keep it going. How long it would last, he didn't know.
Inoko, meanwhile, was starting to get frustrated. Shikaniku and Hojo both looked as if they were almost done with their techniques, and Mai looked as if she knew what she was doing. And here she was barely making flowers float. She did not enjoy being made to look like a fool, and went back to work. Again, she moved to focus on one flower, with the goal of keeping it afloat for more than a minute. Like before, she indirectly got to it through her feet and the roots in the ground. She then focused on bring the chakra back to her, and hoped it would take the flower with it. Once again, the flower floated, but she made sure to keep her mind concentrating on keeping it steady. It moved slow, but at least it wasn't wobbly. Now all she had to do was keep it like that for a minute and she was good to go.
Mai: 17/40
|
|
|
|
Post by Digital ♥ on Jun 7, 2009 20:51:12 GMT -5
Mai studied every single move Hojo made with her still activated sharingan. She copied his movements in her mind and went over it step by step several times. During the whole time she had been thinking about the chidori, the two are similar but Hojo was right about the major differences that were holding her back. With the new knowledge buzzing around in her head Mai copied nearly the exact same movements, punches, and kicks as Hojo had just demonstrated. She focused the chakra to her fist, it seemed to work a lot better than before.
"I think I`m finally starting to get it Hojo sensei." Mai told him as she began to practice the same thing over and over and over again. Each time got a little bit better and better, but it was still nothing near complete.
"Do we have any mission soon?"
------
Hojo: 30/30
Shikaniku: 10/10
Inoko: 18/25
|
|
|
|
Post by Pikachu on Jun 7, 2009 21:13:56 GMT -5
The flames erupted into a large and powerful looking falcon, and when he moved his hand away, once could see that he had a punched into the tree rather deeply. He smiled as he looked upon it. The technique was now his own. It would hopefully prove to be a powerful technique, and a nasty surprise for those who thought he was as simple taijutsu user. But now that he was done, it was time to focus on Mai.
"Alright, it looks like Shikaniku is done, so we'll get him to heal your hand. After that, it'll be time for some hand endurance training. The technique isn't really helpful if in the process of using it you destroy your hand. Hey Shika!!" He called out.
--------------------
Once it looked like the technique wasn't going to just disappear, Shikaniku let it go. He was tired, and fell down on the ground exhausted. Using his Shadow Imitation jutsu for so long was extremely tiresome, but at least it wasn't a complete waste of time. Looking over at Hojo, he saw that he was probably done with his technique. So that just meant Inoko and Mai had to finish theirs and they would be done with training.
However, he still had some work too do. Hojo called him over, and quickly explained Mai's hand needed some healing. He sighed, and then grabbed the girl's hand without even asking.
"Just hold still for a moment." He said as he used his other hand to emit some green colored chakra over her hand. It accellerated the natural healing process of the body, and in moments the bruises and scrapes were healing and disappearing. By the time he was finished, it looked as good as new.
"There, she's healed. I can I take a nap now?"
------------------------
Inoko let go of the flower again, and just watched as it fell to the ground. It looked pretty beaten up, so she'd have to ignore it and focus on another one. Looking up, she saw Shikaniku healing Mai's hand, and that neither him or Hojo were training. They must have finished whatever techniques they were doing, but Mai was still working as far as she knew.
Hah hah, I can still beat the Uchiha in learning a new technique. Gotta concentrate though.
This rivalry spurred her on to new strength, and once again chakra flowed from her feet to the flowers. Several of them began to float, but now that she could steady them, it was time to focus on blowing them up. Her inner Yamanaka felt sad at doing such a thing, but as a shinobi she'd have to learn to get over it.
With them being in the air, chakra was harder to send out. At least as a Yamanaka clan member she had experience in dealing with transferring her soul towards a target. Maybe if she did the same with chakra she could pull this jutsu off. She switched her handsign to the one normally used for Mind Body Change technique. She would obviously not use it, but the familiarity would help her out. Using the same mental concentration as usual, she poured out small bits of chakra into the flowers. She planned on storing up enough chakra that, if unleashed, would create a small boom. As a newbie to the jutsu, she didn't want to go to far.
Mai: 20/45
|
|
|
|
Post by Digital ♥ on Jun 7, 2009 21:34:46 GMT -5
"I can heal myself, dont waste your chakra on me Shika. But thanks for the assistance."
As soon as Shikaniku was finished healing her hand she quickly snapped it away from him and got right back to work. She didnt want to be the one who was slowing everybody else down. Mai knew that Shika probably wanted to go home and sleep or something, Inoko was probably just trying to beat her at this point. Her technique wasnt as easy as Inoko`s so progress was slower than normal. Her fists quivered as she prepared herself for another punch. Mai kept copying the same movements as she had seen Hojo do. First she started off with several kicks, then punches, then she made up a random combo of the two. For the finale she felt the fire flow through her hand then she sent the punch right at the tree, again and again and again. The whiskers on her cheeks became more feral with her increasing frustration.
Her mind began to race as she pounded her fist into the tree, just waiting for it to snap. She was probably going to snap before the tree did. Training with others waiting on her was terrible. Mai was used to training with nobody but Yuuto for such a long time, and anything different was almost new to her. Her fingernails became a little more pointy and each time her fist pounded into the tree they cut into the palms of her hands. A growl escaped her throat as she glared at the tree.
"I wont be the one to hold us back, not now.... not ever." She hissed quietly to herself. Her eyes glanced back towards the others to see if they did anything. Mai felt a little guilty for ignoring Hojo, but she was too stubborn and determined to get the technique finished.
Mai`s thoughts wandered off again, she didnt see either of her team mates as rivals at all. The only one that she felt like she was falling behind was Akane, she wanted to prove to her friend that she wasnt just a kid anymore and maybe she was a lot smarter than Akane thought. Mai didnt know how long she could stay too serious, but she`d give it a thought. It seemed to work pretty well during her fight with Shikaniku and Inoko. Her fist pounded into the tree again and again.
"Why am I so much slower than everyone else? I can never do anything right!"
-----
Inoko: 23/25
|
|
|
|
Post by Pikachu on Jun 7, 2009 21:44:31 GMT -5
Shikaniku just shrugged and walked off after Mai acted rather vicious towards him. He just blamed it on her frustration about moving so slow on the technique. To him, it was stupid to get all worked up on it. Frustration just made everything much harder to do. She needed to learn to be more like him. Carefree was the way to go.
Hojo saw the Nine-Tailed fox working its way through her, and thought it might be best to get her to stop and calm down. He knew it must have been hard for her to not learn the technique quickly. Mai was always an impatient girl. He stepped in behind her, and placed a hand on her shoulder.
"Hey Mai, why don't we stop with the actual punching and try something else. Maybe actually using the technique isn't the best way to teach it." He hoped that by doing something else Mai would feel more like she was making progress than if she kept it up.
"Now, the key to the technique is learning just when to release the chakra. Do it to early, and you'll get pretty flames but little power. Too late, and you just might burn yourself in the process. So hear is what we'll do. See this flower." He picked up a flower and handed it to Mai.
"I want you to focus your chakra in your hand and try and make thAe flower jump. If you do it to early, it won't jump far. Do it to late, and bye bye flower. And don't use fire chakra. Just use normal chakra alright."
------------------
Inoko grinned as her flowers exploded in small little pops. While it might have only scared some poor little puppy dog, it was a great victory for her. All she had to do know was focus as best she could and turn the flowers into deadly weapons. Taking a deep breath and establishing a breathing pattern, she focused the chakra directly into the flowers, but using some through her feet for an added boost. With the flowers in the air, she sent them towards a random tree. They weren't fast, but they were moving. As she did so, she added more and more chakra to them so that by the time they reached her 'target', they were ready to go boom.
Mai: 30/45
|
|
|
|
Post by Digital ♥ on Jun 7, 2009 22:03:11 GMT -5
Mai nearly didnt stop, she just wanted to get the technique finished so they could go and do something else. Her fist was still covered in the flames, but they died down when he picked the flower and gave it to her. Mai scoffed and gave him one of those, are you kidding me sort of looks. Now she felt just about as girly as the flower master who was making them explode. Maybe that was Inoko`s thing, but it wasnt anything she was interested in at all.
"This is stupid." She hissed, the whisker markings on her cheeks didnt change at all. But the sharingan faded from her eyes, she groaned and did as Hojo told her what to do. The flower hardly moved around when she tried to get it to jump. Mai was used to channeling chakra through objects, like her chakra knives. At one point she purposely over did the chakra and made the flower jump right out of her hand so she could get back to her Dynamic Punch training. Mai grabbed her chakra knives and put them on, maybe if she could channel the fire chakra into her chakra knives....
She decided to try it. Mai just went strait to the punches as soon as she felt ready. The tree was starting to suffer some serious damage, the fiery chakra flowed through the chakra knives upon contact with the tree. It was explosively flashy, but still lacked that really powerful punch.
-----
Inoko: 25/25
|
|
|
|
Post by Pikachu on Jun 7, 2009 22:15:49 GMT -5
Hojo's response to Mai's behavior was twofold. First, he gave her a 'you're in big trouble' look when her back was turned. Then, he simply walked behind her and gave a slap to the back of the head.
"Mai, you seem to be missing the entire point of the technique. It's not about simply storing chakra up and releasing it. It's about storing it and then timing it correctly. You have to have patience and control. And, more importantly, you have to do it without the chakra knives. Now, give me the knives, pick up the flower, and practice the control. Or would you rather do some fist endurance and do one hundred laps around Konoha on your knuckles?"
Hojo was surprised to hear himself get so serious, but if Mai was going to learn someone had to be tough on her. His serious facade broke down, however, upon hearing a girlish squeal of excitement from Inoko's area. He turned around, and his jaw dropped at the sight of a blown up tree.
"I did it sensei. I mastered the One Hundred Blossoming Flower technique!" Inoko yelled. Most of it was out of excitement, but she also couldn't help but rub it in Mai's face a little she finished before her. It wasn't a mean spirited rivalry, but a more friendly one.
"Good job Inoko. Now then, go relax with Shikaniku, and once Mai here is done we'll be calling it a day."
Mai: 35/45
|
|
|
|
Post by Digital ♥ on Jun 7, 2009 22:48:33 GMT -5
Mai felt the sudden whack to the head but didnt turn around to face him. It didnt really hurt her, but her feelings were pretty badly. The Uchiha threw her chakra knives at the tree and they stuck, deeply embedded in the tree. She did it on purpose so they would be a pain in the butt to get out. Mai growled at Hojo and she snatched up the flower. Her eyes flooded red again, but this time her pupils turned into slits. Mai`s frustration turned to anger, mostly driven by the fox but some was her own anger as well. She inhaled, then exhaled hoping that she might calm down a little bit, but it didnt help much.
"I still think this is stupid, I can do it.... but I just need a little bit of time to practice. I didnt get an easy freaking technique like they did." She glanced over at her teammates who got to relax. Mai no longer felt the thrill of training that day.
The flower began to wiggle about in her hand, when she applied too much chakra it would jump too far and almost out of her hand. Mai closed her eyes for a minute to gather herself again before she just burned the flower. The flower slowly moved again, and after several more attempts she started to get the hang of it. The flower no longer flew out of her hand, but stayed pretty much in the same spot. But now that she was being too cautious the flower didnt really jump too much.
|
|
|
|
Post by Pikachu on Jun 7, 2009 23:03:47 GMT -5
Hojo was starting to get pretty upset with Mai now. Her anger was starting to get the best of her, and she was never going to get far if she got upset over simple training. He just ignored the chakra knives in the tree, and instead focused on the flower. Sure, it seemed strange, but he had thought it would help by giving her something else to focus on. The jutsu required focus, and you couldn't do that angry.
"Look Mai, don't take your frustration out on the rest of us. I know your technique is a bit harder than the other, though you really can't count Shikaniku's because it was his clan's jutsu, which justifies the easiness. As for Inoko, her family is used to dealing with flowers so it was kind of within her 'element.' But you aren't used to taijutsu, so it shouldn't surprise you that you're having trouble with it. That's why I gave you the flower so you could practice it without breaking your fist, like you would have probably done by know if you had kept it up."
Hojo knew when he brought Mai on board that she wouldn't be easy to handle, but the appearance of the fox was not what he had expected. He should just have been glad that Mai didn't have any relationships going on. Knowing from Inoko, crushes and relations between kids could be brutal. All he needed was a broken-hearted and angry Mai rampaging around.
Mai: 40/45
|
|
|
|
Post by Digital ♥ on Jun 7, 2009 23:21:59 GMT -5
Hojo`s little speech didnt make her feel any better, in fact it made her more angry if anything. Everybody else always got the easy way out while she had to work ten times harder than anybody else to get anywhere with jutsu. Her life was always a mess, Sasuke hardly paid attention to her since Daisuke was the star child, but not only that he didnt like that she was so much like Naruto rather than himself. She sighed though, thinking that her life could be worse.
"I`ll break my fists if thats what it takes, the feeling of failure is much much worse than any physical pain I might feel along the way." Mai grumbled as she continued to toy around with the flower. It was still being a bit of a pain to get to stay in one place, but it seemed like the calmer she got the better it seemed to work. When the fox manifested her she had incredibly chakra control, but when she was just cranky she didnt accomplish much. Still she didnt apologize for what she said, Mai just didnt think it was needed though.
"I just want to stop losing so badly.... I cant do anything right."
|
|
|
|
Post by Pikachu on Jun 7, 2009 23:28:23 GMT -5
Hojo just sighed as Mai continued on. She failed to realize just how many advantages she had over the others. Between Sharingan and the Fox, she had a smorgasboard of options for battle as well as a large reserve of chakra. Yet, she considered herself a failure for not being able to learn a simply punch.
"Mai, I think you just put too much pressure on yourself. You're already capable of several high level techniques that most genin would only dream of being able to do. Add in Sharingan and your, uhm, chakra reserves, you got plenty of advantages. So just lighten uo a little, okay?" Hojo said, trying to let Mai know he didn't consider her some kind of failure.
Mai:45/45
|
|
|
|
Post by Digital ♥ on Jun 7, 2009 23:44:51 GMT -5
"I just cant help it, everybody hates me because Im a monster. I destroyed the Sand village, I couldnt protect my friend from the akatsuki, I just feel like I`m being held back. The council hardly lets me do anything because their afraid that I`ll turn out just like my dad and come back to haunt the village or something."
The flower ignited into a small flame once she had finished practicing with it. She blew the ashes off her hand and looked back at the charred tree. Mai grinned as she prepared herself for her final attempt before she totally exploded. She punched and kicked the tree then right as she sent her last punch she released the chakra. Mai`s hand went right through the tree, and she was stuck. She unballed her fist and yanked on her hand.
"Crap..." Mai grumbled. She applied some chakra too her feet and climbed onto the tree as she tried to get her arm out. When that failed she tried to get out one of her chakra knives out of the tree, which also didnt work. Mai weaved a set of hand seals with both of her hands, then focused her lightning chakra to her hand. She pulled it back when the lightning covered her hand. The chidori never failed her, but she fell off the tree backwards and just laid there on the ground.
"I`m tired.... Can I go home now?"
|
|
|
|
Post by Pikachu on Jun 8, 2009 6:03:07 GMT -5
"Yeah, I think we're done here for today. Good work everyone. Go home and get some rest because tomorrow is mission time." Hojo said, officially ending the training for the day.
|
|
