Board Thread:Konoha Logs/@comment-24714922-20161024135316

Ahrat Fist Training

THESE EVENTS TAKE PLACE DURING THE TIMESKIP IN WHICH MUGEN TRAINED WITH GODRIC



Part I

1.       -  It was early morning as Mugen stood before the old Dojo he grew up in, only a few miles from Konoha. His long gray hair blew in a gentle wind. He looked down at a small note in his hand, an approval for travel note. You see, Mugen needed to train, his body had already reached a high level but it didn’t matter how hard you could punch if you didn’t know how. Sure Godric taught him and O how to push their bodies to the limit, how to survive hits that would kill anyone else on the spot, but no, today he was here at this tiny dojo to learn how to fight. The Dojo looked the same, two small buildings with a tiny courtyard. However something was different, when Mugen left there was only one Gravestone, now there were two. He let out a shaky breath as he approached them, the first read the name of his sister Togami, the second read Mahiko; His mother. He took a deep breath to compose himself before standing up and wiping away the few tears that fell “I told youse I’d come back”.

Mugen walked over to the main building and knocked, waiting for someone to answer. There was shuffling inside before finally his step father Shichika answered the door. There was a moment of silence between the two, neither had really gotten along, and Mugen had been sent away years ago. They could really no longer be family. “I need you to teach me” His words were sharp and to the point. Shichika let out a deep sigh and nodded ''“Fine, go stand in the Dojo, I’ll be there in a moment … oh … Mugen … Your mother would be proud of you. Togami too”'' Mugen nodded and turned away he shook his head at the man’s comment as he thought back on the events of Sunagakure “No they wouldn’t” he said to himself.





2.       -  Mugen dropped his bag in the corner of the room and waited, standing idly in the center of the Dojo. Nothing here had changed either; weapons still lined the walls and training dummies hung from the roof. After about 5 minutes of waiting Shichika entered the room wearing his standard training gear, simple white clothing with a black belt around his waist. “Alright Mugen … Come at me” He had adopted a wide stance with his hands open and the palms facing outwards to Mugen.

Mugen scoffed and cracked his knuckles before charging ahead, bringing his fist back to slam into Shichika’s face. There was barely any movement, Shichika stepped forward and slammed an open palm into Mugen’s stomach with incredible force, going so far as to actually lift Mugen off the ground for a second before he stepped back. Mugen fell to the ground, the wind knocked out of him, after a moment he managed to get back on his feet. He wobbled before nodding “Again” he ran forward like before only to be met with Shichika’s shoulder causing him to fall flat on his ass. He stood up again and chuckled “Okay, I’ll bite. What is that?”





3.       -  ''“Arhat Fist. It’s a unique fighting style that should work well with your strength. Now adopt this stance”. ''Mugen studied the stance carefully before attempting to copy it, he stood facing Shichika, and his legs shoulder width apart and his palms facing him. “Like this?” He barely got a chance to speak before Shichika was already moving forward, slamming his knee into Mugen’s stomach. Mugen doubled over and gasped for air “What the fuck?” Shichika just adopted the stance again, motioning for Mugen to do the same. Mugen huffed, quickly regaining his breath before taking up the stance again. From what he gathered so far the Arhat Fist stance was comprised of very strong and direct strikes.

Mugen stepped forward and sent out his palm aiming to slam Shichika in the chest. Instead, Shichika stepped to his left and hit Mugen’s arm with an open hand causing Mugen to twist, he followed it up with a double palm strike to Mugen’s back causing him to collapse forward. Mugen writhed on the ground cursing after a few moments he sat up slowly rubbing his back “Okay okay. What am I doing wrong?” He stood up slowly taking up the stance once more. Shichika walked around him a few times before pressing at the back of Mugen’s knees with his foot “You need to relax, Ahrat Fist is deceptive, it looks extremely rigid but you actually need to be relaxed, you need to be able to move easily” Shichika nodded and took up the stance again ready to spar once more “Again, get it right this time”



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<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0level1lfo1">4.<span style="font-variant-numeric:normal;font-weight:normal;font-stretch:normal;font-size:7pt;line-height:normal;font-family:"TimesNewRoman";">       -  Mugen took a deep breath and loosened up his muscles; he bent his knees a bit and relaxed his shoulders to allow for fast movement. “Feels like my strikes would be weaker … oh well” He stepped forward and twisted his body bringing his knee upwards in a sharp jab towards Shichika’s stomach. His knee was met with a palm which struck with such force that it caused Mugen to stumble and leave himself wide open. Shichika followed this up with a strong solid punch to Mugen’s stomach, the punch was strong enough to lift Mugen up off the ground, keeping him suspended before let him drop.

Mugen coughed violently on the ground before lying on his back, his breathing haggard. “Damnit, you hit like a truck” He stayed lying on his back for a while as Shichika stretched. “You’re getting there … slowly … but you’re getting there” Shichika walked over to Mugen and held out his hand “Get up, once more”. Mugen cursed and gripped his hand hoisting himself to his feet. “Fine” Mugen rolled his head before taking up the stance once more. Mugen and Shichika faced each other before both took a step inwards to strike.

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<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0level1lfo1">5.<span style="font-variant-numeric:normal;font-weight:normal;font-stretch:normal;font-size:7pt;line-height:normal;font-family:"TimesNewRoman";">       -  The continuous spars went on for a few hours, each time Mugen was sent crashing into the ground despite his best efforts to counter Shichika. After about the fiftieth time Mugen had been dropped by a simple knee strike Shichika nodded to him “You’re starting to grasp the basics” he said in a casual tone as he tossed a small scroll at Mugen’s feet “Don’t talk to me until you have that entire scroll memorized”. With that Shichika turned and left the dojo, leaving Mugen to recover and further his training alone.

After a few minutes of lying on his back and regaining his breath Mugen sat up slowly, groaning and rubbing the developing bruises on his stomach. He rolled the scroll back and forth absently before unrolling it and reading the contents. The techniques seemed simple; there were three major techniques that structured the entire style; Crumbling Palm, Rising Knee and Thrusting Shoulder. These techniques seemed rather simple however Mugen could see that they were deceptively powerful and used the body’s full range of strength. He took a deep breath tapping on the area that went through the crumbling palm movement. He stood up and adopted the stance he had earlier and took a deep breath.

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<p class="MsoListParagraph" style="text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0level1lfo1">6.<span style="font-variant-numeric:normal;font-weight:normal;font-stretch:normal;font-size:7pt;line-height:normal;font-family:"TimesNewRoman";">       -  The first technique that Mugen would be practicing was called Crumbling Palm and consisted of strong, directed open palm strikes. By using the user’s full strength behind the technique the attacker can theoretically drop an enemy in two or three successful strikes. These strong strikes mixed with a limber and relaxed body stance allowed fast reactions and easy counters. Mugen stood with his legs shoulder width apart and his knees slightly bent, this allowed Mugen to stay firmly planted and difficult to knock over while allowing him to move quickly depending on the situation.

Mugen spend close to two hours going over the Crumbling Palm movement time and time again. The first hundred or so times he would fail; he’d step too far, he’d strike with too little power or too much. Numerous times he lost balance causing him to have to start the movement from scratch. Finally after countless times he got the movement correct; striking first with the right palm, then stepping forward and striking with the left followed by a block with the right proceeded by another left handed strike and so on, in total there were 60 steps in the movement. He repeated it another 4 times, nailing it each time, a good sign that he had that particular technique under control. “One down” Mugen muttered to himself as he stopped for a thirty minute water break. Once his thirst was quenched he would read over the next technique “Two to go”.

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<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0level1lfo1">7.<span style="font-variant-numeric:normal;font-weight:normal;font-stretch:normal;font-size:7pt;line-height:normal;font-family:"TimesNewRoman";">       -  Mugen studied the Rising Knee movement, it seemed simple to him, a single heavy strike with the knee aimed to knock the wind out of the opponent and ideally break some ribs or cause internal damage to organs. Mugen absently rubbed his stomach where a large black bruise was beginning to form; he silently thanked the training with Godric that spared him from serious injury. Mugen once again adopted the stance, like always he had his legs shoulder width apart and his hands raised palm’s out.

The Rising Knee movement was surprisingly challenging. Mugen found that every time he stepped forward and raised his opposite knee he would be thrown off balance or if he retained his balance would plant his foot back down in such a way that made stepping off again awkward and clumsy resulting in a disruption in the flow of the movement. Once again hours passed before Mugen made and progress. Finally after countless attempts Mugen had this technique under wraps. It had taken awhile to get passed the awkward feet placement, he had to be limber at the beginning of the movement and tense up at the peak of the strike, this would increase its damage and allow Mugen to retain his balance, then as he places his foot back on the ground he must limber up again in order to step forward with ease. He rolled his shoulders and stretched out his legs, sweat lining his body “Two down”.

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<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0level1lfo1">8.<span style="font-variant-numeric:normal;font-weight:normal;font-stretch:normal;font-size:7pt;line-height:normal;font-family:"TimesNewRoman";">       -  Mugen’s body ached but he was finally ready to move onto the final technique. Thrusting shoulder was another challenging move to make, it required rotating one’s body and slamming a shoulder into the target before rotating back to face the enemy. The force of ramming into an enemy with a shoulder had potentially devastating results especially when paired with extremely fast forward movement. Like every time before Mugen took up the stance for Arhat Fist and prepared to begin the movements.

Unlike the other two movements Mugen actually struggled with Thrusting Shoulder, he found himself becoming dizzy and disorientated quickly as he performed the movements. After about five shoulder thrusts he would topple over and have to recover from dizziness before he could continue. This happened numerous times before he finally figured out how to get passed it. Mugen began turning his head with his body in each shoulder thrust to keep his perception of the area around him steady which prevented the dizziness from occurring. He repeated the 20 step movement again twice more before satisfied with the outcome. He finally sat down, panting for breath and sculling water like there was no tomorrow.

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<p class="MsoListParagraph" style="text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0level1lfo1">9.<span style="font-variant-numeric:normal;font-weight:normal;font-stretch:normal;font-size:7pt;line-height:normal;font-family:"TimesNewRoman";">      -   Mugen could quite easily go and speak to Shichika now. He had gotten a grasp of the movement styles and could perform each one with ease now. However, Mugen had a deep rooted feeling that it wasn’t enough. He laid the scroll out in front of him and began reading it over again, he went through each movement over and over again until he was satisfied they were correct. He paced for a while wondering what else he could do to further his understanding of the style. And then it dawned on him, Mugen stretched himself off before taking up the stance again; from this point onwards he would be winging it.

For another few hours he meticulously put together at 160 step movement that comprised of all three techniques in a jumbled order. Every time he tried it he would reach the 80 step mark and stuff it up somehow. Mugen would either lose his footing, become dizzy or just be generally unsatisfied with his movements. He was harsh on himself, if one foot was out of line he’d start again, if one strike was too weak he’d start again. This went on for ages, his body ached and just wanted a rest but he pushed himself, berating himself every time he stumbled due to tiredness. Finally after a countless number of attempts Mugen successfully completed the 160 step movement, it was a small victory but it made it clear he was on the right track. He spent another hour rehearsing the movement before he was finally satisfied and rolled up the scroll.

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<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0level1lfo1">10.<span style="font-variant-numeric:normal;font-weight:normal;font-stretch:normal;font-size:7pt;line-height:normal;font-family:"TimesNewRoman";">   -  Mugen trekked back to the main building after his arduous day of training. It was evening now; the sun was just setting over the horizon casting strange shadows over the land. He stopped and watched it for a moment, for just a moment he wasn’t concerned with power, he was more concerned with just … being. He shook his head and opened the door to the main building and was immediately greeted by the sweet aroma of freshly cooked soup. He walked through the building and stopped in front of Shichika who sat at a small table eating “I’ve got the techniques down pat now, I even developed a 160 step movement using all three of them” Shichika looked at him and raised an eyebrow “Good, that’s a good start”. That comment caught Mugen off guard “Start?” Shichika laughed and motioned for Mugen to get some food and sit ''“Yes, start. Repeat everything for the next 3 days from dusk until dawn, then we’ll move on to the final steps. You’ll be fine”''. Mugen cursed under his breath as he sat down with a small bowl of soup, three days of monotonous training like that? He wasn’t sure how long he’d last doing this but alas he would have to suck it up.

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<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast">For the next three days Mugen repeated the movements over and over and over again. Occasionally Shichika would come out and face off against Mugen to see how he had progressed. At the very least Mugen was going down on the third strike now but was still unable to hit Shichika despite his best efforts. Over the course of the three days Mugen began to increase the speed in which he did the movements. He and Shichika even set up  a few small obstacle courses for Mugen to complete using the Arhat Fist style. Mugen was able to test the strength and speed of his strikes proving to be able to shatter wooden boards with a single palm strikes as if it was no hassle. This training was intense but it already felt rewarding, even at this level Mugen felt he could now pose a threat outside of his transformations. With practice he’d be able to effectively use this style in combat and be of use to his team while still keeping a clear head. <ac_metadata title="Arhat Fist Training - Part I,II"> </ac_metadata>