Makahshi's Dojo

Exterior

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Interior

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Makahshi had made the trek up to his dojo which was in the mountainous area of the Kirigakure training area. He had a pack of gear with him that he bore on his back. When he finally reached the dojo he handed it off to a servant who maintained the dojo while he was away. Makahshi then entered into the dojo and began preparing the area for training. Most of the weapons racks, training dummies, and punching bags had already been laid out by his servants. Makahshi's servant drew a hot bath and he cleaned himself long before his student would arrive. He dressed in his signature yellow and black jumpsuit. He had hung his new prized Executioner's Blade on a weapon's rack high above the rest, giving it a place of honor. He walked out onto the front porch of the dojo and crossed his arms waiting for his student to arrive. Like before, he had sent word to her that she was to arrive before dawn.

Nozomi had started her trek far earlier than she had to, but she didn't really want to be late, and in the dark she ran more risk of being slow. It was a decent work out just getting there, not only because she had to wall such a disrance, but also because she had to keep her senses attuned.

In navigating to the dojo before dawn, everything was darker, and Nozomi wasn't used to doing that sort of thing, so it was a fun new challenge. Besides, she was slightly more weighed down by her gear, having chosen to take most of her new things with her, either in pouches or in a bag. She didn't know what sort of training to expect, so she had taken the added precaution of having weapons.

In technicality, Nozomi arrived early, with plenty of time before dawn hit. She saw Makahshi's form in the darkness, the yellow of his jumpsuit giving him away. Walking up to him, she bowed, keeping silent. It wouldn't do to pissed him off before the training even began, and he hadn't asked her to speak yet.

Makahshi smirked when Nozomi arrived on time and silent. The girl only opted to give a simple bow and she was armed and ready to go. The Kereko figured that there might be hope for her yet.

"Aight Blondie. Let's get started!"

Makahshi would enter into the dojo and expect her to follow. The grand training hall contained a litany of Taijutsu implements. The jounin walked over to a large wooden board and tapped on it.

"Your arm belongs to me! It belongs to the village hidden in mist! That means I want it hard and strong! Punch this board!"

Makahshi wanted to get a sense of her raw striking power as their first set of exercises would focus on increasing the lethality of her blows.

It seemed that her sensei was rather eager to get started, as there was little in the way of anything else other than him saying it was time to get started. In a sense, Nozomi was relieved that she didn't have to really form any sort of teacher student bond with him, as she wasn't particularly fond of him, and still wanted to kill him. That would come in time, or her want to do so would subside.

Almost immediately upon seeing her, he entered the dojo, Nozomi following along silently. She didn't really take much time in looking around the dojo, as she didn't particularly care about it, but her eyes did narrow in on the Executioner's Blade hanging up at the highest point of a weapon's rack. Everyone in Kiri knew that blade, why did this tool have it? If she ever did kill him, she'd liberate it from this place, maybe use it as a paperweight or something. She didn't care.

He made a small spiel about her arm belonging to him and Kiri, to which Nozomi held in a snort of laughter. Her arm belonged to herself, and nobody else. Still, if he wanted her to be strong, she'd show him he was strong. She'd been watching and practicing the Shatter Palm technique, which took her body's strength to the utmost while using the Arhat Fist stance, and Nozomi thought she had finally got it down.

Moving through the motions of the stance into the blow, Nozomi's palm drove into the wood plank, her aim having put her past the board as her father had drilled into her. Lethal blows and powerful attacks weren't aimed at a target, but rather through a target, as if they weren't there. The follow through on attacks was what made them more powerful, not just striking at what your perceived target was. Depending on the thickness of the board, Nozomi's strike would break the board or send cracks down it. If it was particularly sturdy, it would hold up, but there was a lot of strength in the genin, and she knew how to use it. After all, her entire life had been dedicated to Taijutsu.

She wouldn't stop there unless she was told to though, continually striking the board until he told her to stop. She hadn't been given an amount of time to strike the board, although if it appeared her didn't want her to continue striking, she would stop, giving enough time between the first and each consecutive strike for him to interject. At this point though, if he was going to be doing basic strength training, he was wasting both of their time.

Trained: Shatter Palm [200/200]
Slamming Palm [200/200]

Stamina: 38/40

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Makahshi crossed his arms and watched her use Arhat Fist in combination with an attack of her own making to shatter the wood after a series of consecutive blows. He made no move to stop her but only nodded occasionally as if coming to an understanding. Nozomi had not been idle since their last training session it seemed and the wooden plank broke under her repeated abuse. The wood was extremely sturdy and designed to withstand significant trauma, the fact that she could manage to break it mean that Nozomi was strong enough for what would come next. Once the board had been broken, Makahshi snapped his fingers and some servants collect the debris and cart the training implement away. He noticed that she had spied his Executioner's Blade and he smirked as a thought crossed his mind. She was his student and it would make sense for her to get a close demonstration of its power. Nozomi's strength was competent for the time being and he didn't see any real reason to keep up that aspect of training. He now wanted to test her Coordination and how well she responded to external stimuli and what better way than the prized sword hanging in his dojo?

Makahshi leapt into the air and grabbed the Executioner's Blade handle and wrested it from the rack before bringing it down mere inches to Nozomi's left with the explicit intention of scaring her or at least pissing her off. Makahshi wrenched the massive blade from the ground and held it up with a bit of effort. He took a few breaths and channeled his inner rage as he had before. The man's neck muscles bulged and protruded becoming far more prominent as adrenaline pumped throughout his body. He raised the blade with one hand and twirled it around with relative ease.

"Your striking is passable for now, let's see how you avoid shit! A true Taijutsu expert knows how to avoid taking lethal blows. Avoid my Executioner's Blade!" he'd say. The training exercise was self-explanatory and he didn't feel like he needed to tell her what would happen if she failed to move out of the way. He wouldn't main her but he would fuck her up if she didn't dodge correctly.

Makahshi began twirling the massive blade with a single hand, he built up a fair about of momentum before giving a powerful low swing as if to cut off Nozomi from her ankles. Assuming she jumped, he'd make a complete spin following through with the low slash and then turning it into a high slash so as to catch her mid air. He was an expert swordsman so he gauged the appropriate amount of force necessary to give a nasty cut but not actually kill her if she proved to be so unskilled as to be unable to dodge a relatively common buster sword kata.

UA:

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Strength: B
Constitution: C
Stamina: A
Speed: A
Coordination: B
Intelligence: D
Perception: C

The wooden block that Nozomi pummeled didn't stand a chance. It splintered and cracked, and her assault broke it to pieces. As it lay there split, Makahshi had snapped his fingers and Nozomi got a look at his servants, who came up and carted the thing away. The sensei didn't say anything about it, nor did he seem mad that she had broken his little thing, so Nozomi turned her gaze towards him, and watched as he leapt towards his Executioner's Blade. As it came down towards her, Nozomi's stance turned against him, and she shifted to the right to avoid his blade, although it hadn't been coming directly towards her.

She watched as he lifted the blade with some sort of difficulty, obviously it was quite a bit heavier than what was comfortable to him in his baseline strength. His strength buff was impressive, it was like when she used the Arhat Fist and its derived techniques to buff her own strength. With a surge of strength, he was able to wield it with one hand with what seemed like ease, but wasn't particularly. Most of his movements of the blade were momentum based. While he could wield it with one hand, he was mainly using his own strength to hold the weapon, while the weight of the weapon was used to build up momentum for its spinning. It made it appear like he was stronger than he was. Nozomi didn't realize it quite then, more impressed by his feats than she was thinking about how it was possible.

The thing was, with that method of moving the weapon, the momentum would keep the blade moving, and it would be harder for him to change the movement of the path of the blade once it was going. He told her that she needed to be able to dodge his strikes, and Nozomi grinned. If it was a dodging exercise he wanted, then she was completely in her element. Her body's movements had been honed to the level of most competent high level shinobi. Granted, she could only achieve that in a level of high focus, but that was exactly what this exercise was about. She didn't need to think, just get lost in her task.

The low sweep came, and Nozomi's body acted instantly, leaping over the thing. The momentum of his sweep kept him moving, and the blade came up and around, now moving towards her in mid leap. Shifting her body mid air, she was able to change her center of gravity, with Makahshi's blade soaring above her as she suddenly went horizontal. Pushing off the blade's flat as it went past her, Nozomi shoved herself back to the ground, where she remained crouched, waiting for the next attack to come in. His movements were somewhat fast, but the weight of the blade did keep it from blitzing her. He'd be faster if he wasn't one handing it, but he was, presumably to show off his blade.

Her body movements when she was hyper focused were faster than he could one hand swing his blade, and even with his rage boost to strength, he wouldn't be able to hit her with those wide sweeps. She was much nimbler than that, even if she was slower than him. Her body moved like an acrobat purely on instinct. A somewhat wild and feral grin appeared on Nozomi's face. When focused like this, she became somewhat animalistic as she wasn't trained to be able to think very well while operating on pure instinct. Beyond that, she relished fights, and her shy and timid personality all but disappeared during fights.

Stamina: 38/40
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Okay so you got some skill blondie... Makahshi mused as he watched his student artfully dodge the upstroke. She had graced over the blade in mid air and return to the ground in a crouched position. Makahshi stopped the momentum of the Executioner's Blade and held it out before bring it down again where she lay crouched. He'd increase the tempo while still only using one hand, the Jounin would make a series of consecutive slashes up, down, and sideways utilizing the full length of the blade to try and drive Nozomi into a corner. The training hall was more than large enough to accommodate Makahshi's relatively fast paced offensive. He would be able to make more artful slashes if he used two hands but he wanted to ascertain how well she could dodge at his current pace. Makahshi would aim to keep her cut off from escape by brandishing the length of the blade any time she tried to maneuver herself too far away from him. The slashes would increase in tempo and complexity the longer she dodged them.

As Nozomi landed, Makashshi held his blade for a moment, not continuing with another strike. Nozomi's focus didn't waver, and she simply waited for him to continue on with their training. Then it fell, moving down. Nozomi's crouch allowed her to quickly spring out of the way to the side, the blade smashing into the ground where she had been. Then the training continued.

An upper slash chained from the blade, Nozomi's form lithely somersaulting over it, making sure she never lost sight of Makhshi's arm. She wasn't able to always see the blade, as it would be in her blindspots on occasion while she was dodging, but if she saw his sword arm, she wasn't going to be surprised by the blade, as she'd know around where the blade was.

The blade came down towards her once again, having completed its upward arc, and she rolled out of its reach as soon as she landed from her somersault.

Her legs swang around and helped her basically breakdance back into a standing position, while Makahshi closed the ground between them to make sure she didn't stay out of his range. As the sideways shot came towards her, Nozomi cursed, knowing she didn't have enough time to prepare a proper dodge. Instead, she met the blade with her own force.

Crouching with the small time she had, Nozomi once again relied on the Arhat Fist style, her arm coming up to meet the flat of the blade with an uppercut of immense force. As the blade had been travelling a horizontal path, the vertical force would be met with no resistance, and the blade would continue its path upward, fueled now by her strike and Makahshi's power. Perhaps he might even find trouble keeping his grip on the sword, with its weight, combined with his one handed grip and Nozomi's added force upward that would serve to create a yanking force on his arm. It might even be enough to throw him off balance if he hadn't been guarded for it.

The element of surprise and shock could serve to throw off someone much more skilled, as rarely did anyone expect a genin to be able to react and strike with such strength as she could. To some, it would appear calculated, but Nozomi wasn't thinking about her moves, letting her raw instinct drive her, and her years of Taijutsu practice that pounded muscle memory into her to guide her.

Stamina: 36/40

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Nozomi was not content dodging it seemed and soon counter attacked. Makahshi had sensed that since she was well schooled in Taijutsu she would not enjoy remaining on the defensive for long. He had told her to avoid his Executioner's Blade, he never specified that dodging was the only way to do so and he was mildly impressed that she took the opportunity to try something a bit unorthodox. It wasn't a bad move, for a genin at least. When he felt the upward force pressing against the flat of his blade twerked his hand with great force. Rather than being startled or moving against the force he redirected it by loosing is hand from the blade but not without providing some torque to the motion. The result was the Executioner's Blade spinning in the air well above Nozomi's head for a moment before being caught with his free hand in a quick fluid motion. Another hand would follow and grip the weapon. Now holding the Executioner's Blade with two hands Makahshi would bring it down with a great deal of force and speed as if to cleave Nozomi in two. The motion would be made with a loud grunt by the black man should Nozomi avoid the blow, Makahshi would hoist the weapon with both hands in the air and follow with another series of strikes not too dissimilar to the first set albeit with significantly more speed and power behind the attacks.

If she was thinking more clearly, Nozomi would have been elated that she managed to disarm Makahshi even for a moment, however, she was too busy moving to do anything but smile. She didn't wait for him to catch the weapon as it was spinning around, already holding the half tiger seal, and dashing forward to attack Makahshi himself. If he didn't have the weapon, and she kept him fighting her, then she wouldn't need to dodge the blade anymore. That, and she wasn't particularly thinking that much, and instinctively attacked the person she was dodging.

Before he grabbed onto the handle, in the span of the moment it spun in the air, Nozomi closed the distance between the two of them, and unleashed as much of a barrage as she could, to keep him pushed back and away from the sword. She began with another uppercut, and then a forward palm strike, continuing forward with her shoulder charge and knee strike, finishing with another forward palm strike.

Even if he managed to grab the handle of the Executioner's Blade, she'd have closed the distance before he could get his downward two handed strike off, effectively cutting off his faster combination of swipes before it began.

Stamina: 67/80

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Makahshi raised an eyebrow as Nozomi rushed to her with greater strength and speed than since they had last fought. Makahshi's obvious reaction was to not let her assault move him from his blade. He leapt into the air easily evading her rush forward with a frightening speed of his own. He caught his sword as planned albeit from above as opposed to on the ground. The dodge was quick and clean, not leaving an after image but a small spray of dust from the lacerations in the ground from his previous slashes. The disparity in speed made avoidance a simple manner accomplished by a calculated jump designed to remove his entire person from any risk of harm from the offensive rush. From above, Makahshi would clutch the Executioner's blade and made a single one handed downstroke while in mid air. The length of the blade would swing forward to cut Nozomi from behind. Regardless of the maneuver's success he'd land 5 feet slightly to the right behind her before hoisting up the Executioner's Blade up with both hands and moving forward with the same attack pattern as he had previously planned.

Stats:

Strength: B
Constitution: C
Stamina: A
Speed: A
Coordination: B
Intelligence: D
Perception: C

Nozomi couldn't track his speed, as it was too good for her perception to actually track. Still, she didn't need to follow where he was, the only real obvious solution if he hadn't just gut punched her, was that he grabbed his blade. And if he did that, then he was....

Above her, the blade came down just as Nozomi realized what he had done. Tumbling forward, the blade caught just through Nozomi's shirt, a small slash carving its way up her back. It wasn't fatal, and Nozomi had managed to avoid the majority of the attack just in time, but now she was at a complete disadvantage. Wounded as she was, the pain ever present, and outclassed by Makahshi as they both knew she was, there wasn't much she could do.

She stumbled from the near miss, her heart beating faster than she thought was possible. This idiot was going to kill her. Training wasn't supposed to be deadly, and it was the duty of the master to hold back enough that his pupil could actually improve. Going full out on a genin was a bitch move. Still, a smirk appeared on her face, rather than anger or distaste. She'd forced him to go allout to actually avoid her attack. That meant he was vulnerable. Maybe she was closer to being able to match him than she had thought.

Either that, or he was just a bitch.

Now he continued his slashes, Nozomi finding his two handed assault much harder to keep up with. Her body could physically handle it, but the problem was that she wasn't able to keep up with her perception. He was starting to overwhelm her sight and ability to track now that he had increased the speed and strength of his attacks by using both hands. She continued dodging, until she eventually tripped over her own feet and fell to the ground, exhausted.

Her breathing was heavy, and sweat dripped down her face and body.

Stamina: 70/80 [The last 4 techniques wouldn't have been used]

"Man, why the hell is there a freakin' dojo all the way up here? Just put it at the base of the mountain next time, it's what I'd do. But oh no, noooooooo, can't make it easy on a poor messenger like me. This is some bullshit," a chuunin grumbled lowly to himself. He was dressed as a typical Kirigakure shinobi would be, headband around his head and all. He had been climbing for what seemed like days now but had only been a few hours. Finally, as he got to the last part of his whining, he pulled himself up onto a flat area that had a building sitting nestled in it. "Finally!"

The chuunin found some renewed vigor and ran towards the dojo with the intention to deliver the message and then work his way back down the mountain. The chuunin walked into the dojo, spotting the man he was sent to find in the middle of a training session with a girl who appeared to be his student. The chuunin cleared his throat, not meaning to interrupt the session, but he had a job to do too. "I have a message for Makahshi Kereko, directly from the Mizukage," he announced. With that announcement, the chuunin walked over to Maka and handed him the scroll that was tied with a red string to keep it rolled tight. Once given, the chuunin would turn and high-tail it out of the dojo to get back home where a bottle of sake was awaiting him. Makahshi would find that the penmanship on the scroll, though coming from a man with average intelligence, was absolutely perfect. Every loop was as it should be, every letter was in perfect alignment with the one next to it, everything about the letters screamed "Perfectionist", a hint as to Nikuyo's mastery over the movements his body makes.





Inside the scroll:

Makahshi Kereko, jonin of Kirigakure and wielder of the legendary Executioner's Blade, is hereby assigned the following genin to be trained in his squad: Akira Yuki, Nozomi Himitsu, and Tsubaki Kaguya once she has returned from her mission.

Your presence is also requested three days from now at your dojo, where I will meet with you with anticipation.



Signed,

Nikuyo Yuki, Mizukage

The blondie was no match for his superior speed and he had given her a modest slash with his blade with his maneuver. He landed and executed his series of two handed attacks until she was too tired to continue. Makahshi stood over the girl and with gentle finesse place the hole of the Executioner's Blade around her neck. He could sense the salt emanating from her and he drank it in hungrily. The man gave an arrogant smirk so as to provoke her further. Strength through Rage was his family's unofficial motto and it would soon become hers too based on the way he taught. He kept the Executioner's Blade around her neck for a moment before saying.

"Checkmate Blondie" The training session was over. He had pushed her to exhaustion but to her credit she had fared much better. The girl was learning it seemed. All the same he did not remove the blade from her neck. "Direct Question." He said as a preface making it clear he did want this question answered. "Do you think yourself my equal?" Makahshi jerked the blade bringing the steel in contact with her neck directly. Not enough to hurt badly but enough to nick her just a small bit as if to remind her who she was answering to. It would be prudent of Nozomi to answer correctly if she wanted to keep her head.

Luckily for her, she would possibly be interrupted in her answer by a Chuunin who ran into Makahshi's dojo rather than knocking. He handed Makahshi a scroll and then left. With one hand, Makahshi unlaced the knot and read the scroll. He kept his other hand tightly gripped around his blade which now was one swift motion from decapitating Nozomi. Should the genin let her salt overcome her rationality then she would be minus a head and have no opportunity to exact whatever petty revenge she imagined herself capable of in the future.

"Are you fucking kidding me?!" roared the Kereko. He'd remove the blade from her neck entirely and slammed it into the ground. He crumpled the letter into a ball and threw it at his student. The last thing he needed was more insolent brats to teach. He had a mission to execute and these new students would likely only slow him down. The man shook his head and addressed Nozomi.

"Looks like you're getting squadmates blondie. A Yuki and a Kaguya. I hope you don't mind sharing me" he sneered disrespectfully. "Get the fuck out of my dojo and get faster blondie. We're taking a mission in a few days. You're going to be squad captain so if you aren't fit to lead your comrades by the time we have our first full squad meeting I'll dye your flaky blonde hair with your own blood!" Makahshi would wave her away and let the girl leave. If she wasn't fast enough, he'd give her a solid kick in the behind. He needed to plan exactly how he was going to manage his new responsibilities and his family's new conspiracy. Once he did that, he'd have his dojo cleaned up by the servants and take Executioner's Blade with him to meet his new student.

Exit

As he jerked the blade around her neck to prompt her to respond, Nozomi's eyes looked up towards him and a glint of anger came from them. The question prompted a response, and for the first time that day, she spoke, only deciding to say two simple words. "Not yet."

There was a certain fierceness in her voice, as well as a hint of challenge. She wasn't his equal, no, but she would be some day. And when that day came, he needed to watch out. She wasn't afraid of him, far from it. Obviously he was dangerous, and in her eyes a little insane, but he was useful for his training. A sort of reminder and goal of what sort of power she would need to surpass.

It was right after he response that someone entered, a messenger or something of the like. He handed over a message from the Mizukage and then left, at which point he read it and buried his sword in anger.

Receiving the crumpled paper as he threw it towards her, Nozomi uncrumpled it and read it. Squad mates? They might hold her back, but if they didnt, they could help her take out Makahshi one day. She made note of their names as he told her to leave. He said she was to be squad captain once they had a meeting as a team and that they would be taking a mission. She wasn't sure if he meant the entire squad or just the two of them but she didn't respond and left before he reacted any more angrily. The dude needed to learn some anger management.

Still, she would best him eventually, anger issues or not. She already had learned most of the library techniques for Suiton that she could or wanted to, as well as the jutsu that had been passed through their family for generations, but the problem was, most of their trainings had been normal Taijutsu matches and dodging a large sword.

She hadn't really had the opportunity to show off her talents that weren't Taijutsu based. Or even to show off her more interesting techniques. Her father had made it abundantly clear to her not to use their family jutsu lightly, so she had been withholding them as well, but in reality, her techniques were probably able to be used to completely and fully contend with Makahshi. It was a shame that she wouldn't be able to test them out on him just yet.

-Exit

WC for training: 2606
-150 for Slamming Palm [C rank canon]
-150 for Shatter Palm [C rank canon]
-150 for Water Clone Jutsu [C rank canon]
-150 for Water Bullet [C rank canon]
-150 for Gunshot [C rank canon]
-150 for Water Whip [C rank canon]
-150 for Waterfall Basin [C rank canon]
-150 for Wild Bubble Wave [C rank canon]
-150 for Starch Syrup Capturing Field [C rank canon]
-150 for Hiding in Water [C rank canon]
-100 for Misty Petal Step [E rank custom]
-100 for Misty Petal Platform [E rank custom]
-150 for Misty Petal Shifts [D rank custom]
-200 for Misty Petal Propulsion [C rank custom]
-200 for Petal Dance of the Mist [C rank custom]
-200 for Oculus Enhancement [C rank custom]
-150 for Spring Chant [D rank custom]

WC used: 2600/2606
Remaining: 6