[Uzumaki Ataru]

It was a cool cloudy Autumn day, a breeze billowed through the stretch of trees and verdant green shrubbery nearby. The howling gale sent currents of wind through the training grounds buffeting the young form of a fiery haired student hard at work in an isolated training ground close to one of the many intersecting rivers running through Konoha. The sound of flesh impacting wood could be heard in the distance, as Ataru beat his hands across a limbed training dummy. Going through various forms of martial arts practicing his Taijutsu, moving in a regimented methodical manner. 

Going through the motions, remaining firmly grounded lashing out with a degree of skill - one born from constant work. Traversing through the rigors of trial and error, and experimentation as he visualized an opponent and the myriad of attacks that might come his way. Calloused hands well used to this kind of training slam against the dummy for a good few minutes, incorporating his entire body into the regimen. Utilizing kicks and clashes of not only one's arms but whatever which could win the day as he employs their hand-to-hand skills.

Denting the dummy through their constant ceaseless activity, his fists would collide against it continuously in a rasping manner until he lost a bit of steam. Deciding to take a break he pops off the cap of a canteen and takes a long draught of water before rubbing a cloth across his sweat creased forehead.

[Hyūga Raika]

544 words Uzumaki Ataru tank top and coveralls, hung gar rings active

Raika eventually makes it to the somewhat remote training field, one she'd never seen used before and one which she'd thought to use for training techniques that fell well outside of the Hyuga clan's strictly softer techniques that were meant to hit the tenketsu points for the majority of their damage-dealing jutsu. As it was, the genin was looking to practice some of her more harshly destructive Taijutsu styles, with the hopes that she could make use of them in the upcoming Chuunin Exams; she'd missed several such exams while she was in Kawa, and she needed to make good on what time she did have to make sure she'd be highly capable in various situations.

Which makes it quite a surprise when she stumbles upon some short kid making use of one of the wooden training dummies, and she actually physically winces as his fists make contact with the wood. She actually remembers her own training at a much older age when she'd been in Kawa, where the wood was even softer, but no less damaging on her hands when she gave the wood a full-powered strike. It had indeed hardened her fists and made her more capable when it comes to ignoring pain when she strikes, but she knows that doing so requires a lot of pain for the person doing the training. As it is, she takes a moment to activate her Byakugan, to see from a distance of several dozen meters that the wood has actually been impacted. That was really quite impressive for someone that looks like they hadn't learned their multiplication tables. Raika deactivates her Byakugan and lets out a low whistle of surprise, likely drawing the attention of the young ninja in training. He was about the same age as Raika had been when she'd been an Academy Student, so she made an assumption that he was about that rank.

"Not bad for a pipsqueak. But you're gonna need to train a lot more, ya know."

Raika was currently wearing her usual outfit of a black tank top and gray coveralls that are really just being worn as pants for now, with the rest of the coveralls simply wrapped around her waist. Of course, that means that the majority of her upper body is exposed, and Ataru is likely to pick up on her toned musculature before he sees the rest of her features. Her black hair is pulled back in a straight ponytail, with just a single lock of hair hanging down the right side of her face. The lavender color of her eyes is also likely pretty eye-catching. There's also a glint of metal around her ankles and her wrists, showing the weighted rings that Raika was almost always wearing, with the hopes that using them for long enough would cause her strength to increase even further. Her combat boots smush the grass underfoot as she walks to one of the nearby training dummies, before she draws back her right fist and then slams her fist directly into the wood, leaving behind a clear imprint of her fist into the fibers with just a single strike, thanks to the added weight of the Hung Gar rings causing her punch to strike with even greater force.

”

by Pinn @ THQ

[Uzumaki Ataru]

It hurt, of course it did. Smacking on the wooden dummy until their knuckles bled, his palms grew calloused, and his hands scarred with flecks of wood and various splinters. An indelible mark of his efforts this past year, he had removed many over a considerable course of time shaking their hand as they came withdrawn from its emplaced position. He gazes upon their well-toned arms taking a measure of satisfaction in their development as he looks to the limbed practice block of wood sitting upright, having left his own streaks across its surface. As he drank from the canteen, he savored the refreshing water as it poured down his throat. A welcome reprieve from the winding workout, and thin veneer of sweat that lined his young athletic body.

Hearing news of the Chunin exam coming up in Kumo, he wondered if they would be ready in time to participate within the event, hence his level of stringent training and continuous dedication bordering on ceaseless to the point of tireless. He still lacked a traditional style to build off of, having shared experiences with some foremost practitioners in Taijutsu mainly Hyuuga's of Konoha as well as some lesser ones who helped him refine and get up to snuff in the realm of martial arts. Most of all, he didn't want to be found lacking, deciding his best bet was in attempting to well-round themselves. Still unsure of the path that remained laid out before them especially as he might come to graduate and become a Genin, and where as well as how things might play out in the future.

The pain had long since seeped into his bones, and splayed out within the ligaments between their fingers. Creasing the breadth of their flesh with a fierce pulsating throbbing, looking down at their once bruised digits he poured a cascading fall of water across his hands seeking to cool them. Immediate relief came felt across his palms, like an instant shot of medication. The rush he felt came interrupted with an air of surprise, turning to look over their shoulder seeking out whoever dared to call the young Uzumaki a pipsqueak. Narrowing his amber eyes, a crown of fiery haired tresses provided a stark contrast against the otherwise verdant background. Eyes widening at the sight of a tall muscle-bound woman, stood towering over the grounds only a few paces away. "Hey… woah!" At first a sense of combative indignation encapsulates the beginnings of his tone, before shortly giving way to surprise within the next syllable.

She was built like the Hokage monument, sculpted perfection honed from who knows how many years training in Taijutsu and whatever else as a Shinobi. It filled his sight before he finally had a chance to break out from its spell, not quite registering her tone of voice nor gender as well as the rest of their defining features until gazing skyward. Her body and face were like night and day, it kinda scared him reminding him a bit of Hitomi or his Mom, or Shinde even. Wow, there were a lot of scary intimidating women in Konoha. The glancing thought and realization played out across his mind as he mulled on things, specifically her words. Coming especially proven as she showed off a testament to her strength by leaving a clear fist sized imprint emblazoned within the wood. "I, uh… could probably use some help - yeah. I'm Ataru, Ataru Uzumaki. What's your name miss, and is that an offer to help me train?"

[Hyūga Raika]

499 words Uzumaki Ataru D-rank training: 6 posts remaining

Raika feels a small up-welling of pride from the reaction she got out of the young boy when he seems impressed by her physique. It was something that had eventually come naturally to her after multiple years of heavy training in the use of body techniques meant to make her a deadly fighter. Still, her skill with the Hyuga's taijutsu hadn't been what made her so physically imposing, but a lot of training outside of her clan's own highly specialized techniques. And she took what worked from other styles and tried to leave what simply didn't work. Of course, she's still a bit hurt after punching the training dummy, and she decides that punching dry wood the way she just had wasn't really the way to go after she realizes the one punch had caused a couple of small splinters to get lodged in a couple of fingers. She'd need to keep her punching hand behind her back while her left carefully but deftly eases those splinters out of her skin. Thankfully, there were very few, and none were particularly large; this hadn't been a problem much in Kawa, as their trees were partially rotting much of the time, and the fibers were often too flimsy and soaked through to really make for very effective splinters.

The idea that she might help him train hadn't really occurred to her, but now that the young boy had suggested it, the woman couldn't really think of a reason to say no, now that he'd said it. Granted, she knew almost nothing about him, other than that he was young and wanted to learn Taijutsu. After thinking just for a moment, she makes up her mind that there doesn't really need to know anything else about him to train with her, especially if all they were doing was some basic taijutsu ideas and not really any particular techniques. She has some time to spare during her training regimen, and doing some low-level stuff wouldn't really tire her out at all, so she might as well show the kid a thing or two about punching and kicking, among other things.

"Hi, Ataru Uzumaki. I'm Raika, from the Hyuga clan. No worries, we're not gonna be doing any kind of Jyuken techs. Let's just start with some basic Taijutsu stuff, but we won't use the training dummies for now..."

At this point, she looks around for a bit before finding a different form of training dummy, this one rather more loosely held up with a stabilizing platform that was kept evenly flat using sandbags, and she picks one of them up in one arm before squatting in front of Ataru, holding the sandbag in front of herself with both hands; while the sand would still be hard while it was compacted densely together inside the bag, it wouldn't cause any kind of splintering like the wood can do when it gets punched.

"Let's start here. Use this sandbag to show me how you punch."

”

by Pinn @ THQ

[Uzumaki Ataru]

He had started on the path of training heavily, but whereas the Hyuuga across from him was the prime example of a meat mountain Ataru was more lean and athletic, corded with muscle that bundled together serving to accentuate their young frame. Compared to Raika he held a stronger focus on agility, having earned the moniker or nickname as a Spastic Spider Monkey over the past year or so, while also seeking to toughen up. Against life, against pain, come what may Ataru wants to be fully prepared to face it down.

As he looked upon Raika, he wondered if at that age and packing that much muscle if it got any easier or hurt any less. Gazing upon the hulking Hyuuga with a sense of wonder and reserved awe, the young boy was pumped to say the least, especially at her gross display of strength. Smiling from ear to ear with an encapsulating sunniness filling their expression, it was clear he was a piglet and jubilant one. Brimming with an energetic air he proceeded to respond in kind to the looming figure standing before them.

"Ooh… that's your clan martial arts, right? They're pretty awesome. I met and saw how Hon and Hitomi Sensei fight, not at the same time but I bet you're just as good as they are, huh! Hey, next time you fight Hon you should boop him on the snoot and go HONK, HONK!" Smiling widely at the thought of such a joke or prank being committed upon receiving directions from her the boy seemed to go along with it, no questions asked. Trusting them by merit of how she was seemingly taking them under her wing and looking to teach the Uzumaki something. Clearly hungry, and eager to learn he moves in step with the big lady over to an anchored training dummy. Thinking she might be handing out a lesson plan or gauging his abilities with a quick about.

Watching keenly as she stoops down, rising back up with a sandbag locked within her hands. Her next words would give them their start, posting up he spaced his legs apart appropriately and held out their arms in a guarded manner resting beneath their cone of vision. Allowing for it to spring into action without interfering with his line of sight, as he goes forth to punch in her direction. He steps forward, twisting at the waist, and pivots directly with a straight jab aimed at the center of the threaded bag. Using the full range of motion to levy a heavy strike with good technique, if she would urge him for more he would combine it with a series of further jabs before then attempting a haymaker. "How's this?!" He said quizzically, wondering what if anything he could improve on and do better. She was the expert after all and it was clear that he not only valued but desired her input.

[Hyūga Raika]

463 words Uzumaki Ataru D-RANK exp TRAINING: 3/8

Raika watches as the younger boy punches, and after the first with a little pause followed by her gesturing him to keep going, she watches each of his successive punches, and while the jabs and the haymaker are surprisingly good for someone of his size, she knows that just giving praise isn't going to help him improve at all. She's also keenly aware that just giving criticisms had caused her to grow up hating the people that had actually been trying to help her and those that had been trying to stifle her growth with harsh criticism in equal measure. What she needed was to temper her critical statements, and she thinks she knows just how to do it.

"All right, that's not a bad start! But here's something different to try; keep in mind that you won't always be able to punch like this, but when you can, you're going to want to learn to do it as if it's a reflex, all right? Your legs are way bigger than your arms, so a punch should start from your big toe..."

She knows this might sound confusing and somehow inherently wrong, so she decides to show him what she means by momentarily setting the sandbag down and approaching the dummy. If the Ataru kid had been a Hyuuga with the Byakugan, this wouldn't require her to visibly show him what she's doing when she punches, so she nearly goes straight into it without thinking, then catches herself. The genin realizes she's going to need to show him everything, since he's not going to be able to watch how her body shifts, not really. She pulls off her combat boots, wearing a pair of simple silken white socks underneath. With her feet somewhat exposed, she now comes back to the training dummy, making sure he watches how she presses her big toe into the dirt and then pushes off of it with the full strength of her legs. With a slow motion, she lets Ataru see the tension of her body's strength traveling up through her leg, into the twist of her hip, up through her core, and then from her chest, shoulder, and arm, the force is added up on.

Her "attack" on the dummy is so slow that it doesn't really work as a full demonstration, so she steps up the speed of her movement into a full, real strike on the dummy, and with her Taijutsu expertise combined with the additional power of the Hung Gar rings, her strike smashes hard into the treated wood of the dummy's arm, causing it to splinter off of the main body.

"Y'see? Jabs should be quick, but they gotta hurt, too. If you punch with your big toe, it's gonna really smash 'em."

”

by Pinn @ THQ

[Uzumaki Ataru]

He throws the punch with proper technique clearly following through despite any discomfort or pain, clearly having practiced but remaining unpolished in regards to personal style though exhibiting decent enough talent as his blow resonates and diffuses throughout the sandbag. Causing it to shake and shudder, delivering a good hard punch followed by a successive series of jabs his head lowering and dipping from side to side always keeping his guard up even amidst a flurry of strikes that impact across its threaded surface. It might be clear to her as well, if she observed his stance and face the young man was fueled by a touch of fire, instead of relying on sheer martial routine Ataru was clearly focused and fueled by resolve as he hammered on the target.

Standing down as she lowers it, he listens intently as she speaks waiting to see what sort of feedback Raika would give him. Appearing keen and ready to receive her words as they come spoken, he nods as she speaks sense. It wouldn’t prove possible to simply beat away with abandon on another person, they would fight back and give it their all just as he did. As she proposed the novel idea of utilizing his legs in tandem with their fighting style, he already did quite avidly in fact. After all, it made sense to use everything at your disposal whether it be one’s arms, legs, even your head, or whatever else might give you an edge in a scrap. Before the last part just straight up confused him a bit deciding to stay silent and allow her to show him by doing.

Pressing his thumb under their chin and wrapping their pointer finger around the cusp of their jaw just under their mouth he would proceed to follow her over towards the dummy, watching her example with singular focus. He wasn’t a Hyuuga so the Byakugan was out of the question but the Uzumaki still felt pumped to learn from the ripped woman, even if she was a bit scary. Watching as she kicks off her boots and digs in, clearly going to decent lengths in order to give him a clear picture on what she wanted to show him and communicate. Watching her from head to toe as she sets up and then subsequently, the tension of her muscles flex flowing throughout her body as she pivots and follows through with a devastating hit.

An eyebrow raises in surprise, the boy clearly impressed by the demonstration watching the impact and understanding the throes of the lesson as it fully imparts. Noticing that it didn't carry through with its full power, to his instructive benefit. It left Ataru wondering on the sort of damage Raika could really do, causing him to shudder a bit and exchange focus on the task at hand. "I get it now. Here, lemme give it a try!" Following in the footsteps of her example he posts up, taking a spaced stance while ground his foot into the track beneath foot filling their toe forward. Using the full strength of their legs, he launches forward letting the power travel up from his legs before twisting at their hip. Keeping his core rigid before bending into the blow using the inertia of their chest carrying though into the shoulder as his arm distends into a powerful blow as the full flow of their fists comes executed in a realized attack striking against the surface of the dummy.

[Hyūga Raika]

351 words Uzumaki Ataru D-RANK EXP TRAINING: 4/8

Raika steps back to watch and activates her Byakugan as well, ensuring that she'll be able to see how well he takes the lesson to heart by observing the way his muscles flex. The Byakugan was not only a great learning aid, but a helpful tool to improve her teaching as well. Not that she could teach most people much of anything. She'd likely gotten on the bad side of the majority of the Hyuuga clan by teaching Honno one of the most restricted techniques of the Main house, but without the Byakugan, it would have been impossible to teach Ataru the fighting style of her clan. She'd have to make do with the basics for now, but even the basics would probably serve him very well.

In fact, she can see that they'll serve him very well indeed, because with only a little bit of study and careful training, he learns to throw a single punch just the way she showed him, striking with plenty of force to make the wood compact when it's met with the force of his strike. For such a young kid, it's certainly impressive, filling her with confidence that he'll probably be about as good at Taijutsu as she is if he keeps it up. Of course, Raika will also end up improving as well, but she can at least show him how to eventually match pace with her, even if he's not naturally gifted with Taijutsu.

"All right, that's pretty good! But now comes the hard part..."

With this, she lifts up the sandbag again, holding it up in front of herself like a warrior might hold up a shield to protect themselves, and she braces herself with her combat boots pressing firmly into the ground, since she'd put them back on while she was watching him strike.

"Gimme twenty of 'em, just like that, right into the sandbag. We've taught your brain how to do it, but bodies are a lot slower, so we have to train your body to do it the right way every time. Ten right and ten left, alternating."

”

by Pinn @ THQ

[Uzumaki Ataru]

He was a quick study, holding a passion for taijutsu almost as equally as ninjutsu and sometimes moreso given his hyperactive nature. As she taught him the basics the boy takes to it like a fish to water, while lacking the Byakugan he was good at thinking on their feet and adapted to her training accordingly, it was refreshing to go through a bout of learning without almost dying or feeling on edge because of the danger involved in a particular activity. Nodding at her comment, looking on expectantly to see what comes next with a determined focus. Following along like how a duckling might their mother, except with admittedly more physical training. He looked at Raika and respected the effort she put in, and wanted to be just like in her some aspects - deciding to work at it as hard as possible.

Taking on a solid upright fighting stance, he remains springy and loose balancing on the balls of their feet; primed to get into the nitty gritty. Taking a deep breath, at her urging he unleashes a salvo of blows one after another the first few are done with conscious thought before muscle memory begins to take over and he does it without thinking. Taking it somewhat slow, gradually letting his body take over as he winds with a twist delivering a straight powerful jab center mass into the sand bag each time. The process is a smooth one, focusing on the target before him their breathing grows regimented as he alternates. Right, left, right, left... the sounds of his balled fists impact harshly into the compacted sand.

[Hyūga Raika]

313 words Uzumaki Ataru D-rank EXP training: 5/8

Raika makes sure to take a tight hold of the sandbag training dummy, occasionally shaking the bag a bit whenever she feels that a pocket of sand might have become too impacted and hard under the Academy Student's fist after some of his punches. She can see that his fists are impacting the same spot again and again, showing a good deal of accuracy in aiming where he wants his punches to land. She could probably teach him about certain soft spots he could target, but she figures that might be a bit much too soon when she'd only just taught him how to put his entire body weight into his punches. She can see that his mind isn't really focused on what he's doing, and she considers hooking a foot behind his knee and tripping him, but then decides against it. Doing this exercise is just meant to turn this punching into the kind of thing his body does without his mind needing to engage in thinking about how to do it, so it's fine for his mind to wander.

"Good! Good! Good!"

In all honesty, her words of encouragement are more than she usually received for most of her life, whether it was in the Hyuuga compound learning about her clan's highly damaging Taijutsu, or in Kawa where her teacher had been the animals, and the people who were no better than animals trying to kill her or steal from her. She hoped nobody would have to go through as much training as she did without so much as a single word of praise, and she knows it's going to really help motivate this blonde boy into being more excited about Taijutsu and how he can use it. While she won't be able to train him on the Hyuuga's Taijutsu, she can at least train him on the basics.

”

by Pinn @ THQ

[Uzumaki Ataru]

As she braces herself and readjusts, Ataru continues on especially upon her beckoning. Hooking crosses in an overlapping show of accuracy; left, right, left, right - allowing the punches to become naturally synonymous in how he normally throws a punch from here on out. Aiming center mass before switching things up, striking into the each of the four corners as well as repeating the mid section. Their balled digits scraping against the coarse bag with each individual impact, getting better and better with each delivery. Wondering about what weak points in the human body make for the most exploitable, worst places to be hit in. He imagined the kidney as well as the throat, the knee as well as the joints and daresay the dreaded groin shot. Her praise helped to fuel his progress, a small smile creasing at the edge of their face filling an otherwise previously neutral focused expression.

Taking in a deep breath, as he looked past the sandbag to her array of abs daydreaming somewhat he couldn't help but think there wasn't any weak spots in there just a masterfully sculpted physique born from incredible effort. Wondering how hard he would need to work in order to get ripped like that, shaking his head returning with a renewed determined attention to the lesson at hand. He would find out but first, the Uzuamki needed to endeavor towards reaching such a goal. Cursing his youngness he made the promise to himself to drink his milk and eat plenty of meat, fruits, and veggies, though his Mom's menace already ensured that he would not miss out, Ataru decided from now on he'd eat it gladly and without complaint if he could attain half the physique Raika sported. As time went on, he found that he enjoyed their time quite a bit it allowed him to channel his energy into something productive instead of acting like a hyperactive monkey.

Though thinking on it, he wouldn't stop leaping from tree to tree anytime soon it was just so much fun and always able to be made challenging with certain conditions and convenient too. Humming a tune, he would continue forth ramping up the tempo and punch frequency alternating its placement as things continued on; wanting to show her the length of his abilities while also seeking to amp up their training regimen either moving it farther along or transform into something else entirely. The ball was now in the Hyuuga's court...

[Hyūga Raika]

306 words Uzumaki Ataru D-RANK EXP TRAINING: 6/8

Raika counts his punches as Ataru reaches and then surpasses twenty, and she lets him keep going, just to let him enjoy the success of his training and how hard he's learning to punch before she calls for him to halt his punching. She waits until he does so before she drops the sandbag to the ground, letting it crumple to a formless heap. He'd learned to punch really well, but the kick was realistically more dangerous, so she thought she'd teach him that next.

"Okay! Now show me how you throw out a kick..."

While a punch was usually the first thing taught to a pupil, the kick was almost always harder to teach; a kick required intense amounts of balance to be able to generate speed and power off only one leg, whereas a punch required far less balance and was generally more natural. It helped that the leg muscles were much larger, and therefore more powerful, than the arm muscles, and it could help her with more training for the young boy if he needed it. While he seemed somewhat amateurish for now, she thought he was actually pretty natural at the use of Taijutsu, and he might even make a good pupil...

But Raika shouldn't get ahead of herself. She was only a Genin after all, and she would need to be a much higher rank to really be his sensei. For now, she was only a mentor, but she'd make sure that Ataru was at least taught to use Taijutsu correctly; that was something she could do for Tamiko, and it was certainly something she could help Ataru with. Granted, their circumstances were quite different, but it was a form of mentorship, all the same. Raika's own mind wanders a bit, though she focuses on watching how Ataru performs his kicks.

”

by Pinn @ THQ

[Uzumaki Ataru]

He hits quick and fast, his hands bobbing forward like how the hooded head of a snake might. Sending forth a quick series of rabbit punches that pack a good a bit of oomph with every strike, his form growing better and better under Raika's watchful eye, getting into the flow of things as the training regimen progresses steadily along. He was glad for the instruction and felt a certain kinship to the somewhat intimidating muscle bound woman, he wondered if all the girls in Konoha were like this. As she drops the sandbag to the floor, he breaths out a cool sigh his balled fists laxing as their hardened knuckles unfold.

"A kick, huh... I can do that." He speaks with a slight note of confidence inflected within their tone, in fact he felt more comfortable kicking that he had punching. His sense of balance came honed from years of climbing trees and to some, being somewhat of a menace over the roofs of Konoha. Ataru's Mother often scolded him but it never quite seemed to stick nor alter his antics but moreso it was the passion he had for it. To feel free and do what he wants, when he wanted only limited by how far his own two feet and body could take him. Spacing his feet apart he bounced back and forth on the balls of their feet, swaying their body back and forth with the motions of its gait.

Primed and ready after a few moments of preparation he proceeds to swerve and spin into a well executed round house kick, clearly talented in the realm of Taijutsu the boy still remained a diamond in the rough. Requiring polish but with the smile creasing their expression clearly holds an invested interest in the field especially so as he comes to life under their instruction - making strides to improve. Landing in a fluid manner he follows it up with a straight kick right into what would be the abdomen, something less flashy but equally performed. "How was that?"

[Hyūga Raika]

453 words Uzumaki Ataru D-RANK EXP TRAINING: 7/8

In all honesty, Raika was a bit surprised by the initial roundhouse kick and how Ataru seemed really quite comfortable in the kick. Although she's able to take the strike of the roundhouse kick by tightening the entirety of her core and exhaling sharply as the kick lands to protect her diaphragm from the strike as well, she knows if she hadn't protected herself, it would have certainly hurt her. When Ataru follows up with a straight kick aimed at her stomach as well, she figures she needs to at least give him something to improve, and although his balance was actually quite impressive, she still aims to catch the heel of his foot as it thrusts forwards, reaching her right hand across and under the kick to try and stop the kick before it reaches its target and then, should she successfully catch his kick, throw his foot upwards with enough force to make him flip over back onto his feet. While she could have probably done far worse with someone that was her peer, she wasn't looking to hurt the Academy student.

"Hey, not bad! You only need to work on the power and speed of those kicks, but you'll get there with time and training."

She considers what she could do to help him train on the power at least. She even has an idea of how to train up the speed of his kicks as well. While the power of a kick comes from the thigh and hip, the speed comes from how quickly the knee can be moved.

"We'll work on your speed first. And speed comes from the knees. It's right because it rhymes."

It doesn't rhyme, but who's going to correct her?

"In any case, you gotta practice throwing your knees up fast and hard. As a bonus, the knee strike is also really strong, so that helps, too! See, watch..."

She turns towards the wooden training dummy, and with a sudden, harsh force, she drives her knee up, pulling her leg up not just with the strength of her hip and thigh muscles, she even tilts her body back into the knee strike, causing the wood to crack audibly before she brings her foot back down swiftly, tilting in the opposite direction to bring her other knee up on the opposite side, with the force of the second knee strike being enough to actually snap the training dummy in half, with the upper half spinning in the air as it falls.

"Well... I don't really expect you to do it that hard, but work on switching between your knees as quickly as you can without sacrificing power. It'll really build up your speed for kicks!"

”

by Pinn @ THQ

[Uzumaki Ataru]

He had gotten better though due to this steady progression the Uzumaki hadn't exactly picked up on his newfound ability, the boy had no foil to test themselves against in order to reliably measure themselves in regards to kids at his own level. Instead a line of instructors taught him what they knew and the boy in turn dedicated themselves to its practice practically unto death, inordinately disciplined in pursuing after his goal of what it meant to live as a Shinobi. At the moment, Ataru was living within the moment of the Hyuuga's instruction gladfully absorbing that which she taught and showed them through cold hard demonstration. Clearly glad to come under the wing of such a capable people, Raiki was no exception - she really helped to uplift Ataru and their efforts showed in the comfortable assurance and confidence she brought out in him as they looked to deliver upon her instructions as well as meet their expectations.

As she reaches forward and seizes his leg, restraining the ankle and locking their calf in place the boy is stunned for a moment. Effectively stuck in place, wobbling slightly as the moments passes betwixt them regaining his composure and balance as she flips him backwards he travels within the flow of the moment. Allowing himself to be thrown back, not that he had any chance of beating her in a sheer contest of strength. The rush of vertigo fills his insides as his world turns upside down, flipping back in a single fluid motion while steadying his mind, quieting that nagging feeling as he twists into a sound landing managing to catch themselves upright on their own two feet. A rush of relieved breath comes born from his lips as he gazes up at Raika in the aftermath of sticking it, he wasn't quite sure that he would.

His body standing fast even as his spirit doubted, glad for the life he's lived up until now helping him to prepare for such an eventuality. "That was a close one, ha ha!" He speaks with a somewhat exasperated though gleeful note, smiling to himself as well as Raika as his expression lift to meet her. Nodding at her sage words though they might be somewhat dubious in the rhyme department, her advice was sound and easy enough to track along with. "Heck yeah! I've been wanting to get faster; float like a butterfly and sting like a bee, right Raika Sensei!?!" Or so Gramps says, it was just something the boy recited from the wisdom of his elders. It sounded all well and good as well as fitting concerning the differences in not only size but age, his Mom often called him her little bumble bee.

Nodding once more as she orders him, he folds his arms together and watches her next moves like a hawk. His jaw clearly going slack as she primes their stance and delivers a knee with ferocious power. Amber eyes splaying wide into golden portals as she cracks and then subsequently on the return swing sunders the training dummy neatly in half. "Woah... that was awesome!" He speaks in an amazed tone before stepping up to the plate with a gulp, he was ready and willing to jump straight into things holding a fervent desire to one day recreate that which he'd just been shown a display of. Lacing his legs together before the training dummy, remembering how she accorded herself flashing back to the mesmerizing act. Driving his knee up once, twice in practice before finally following through pulling the leg back to its crux and letting it fly in full winding motion scoring its mark against the wood. The boy winced as the reverb splayed out across their leg sending small shockwaves rattling through his flesh and resonating within his bones.

Alternating his kicks, going from left to right as well as back again without stopping. Seeking to build up that speed and technique trying to recreate the same level of force or simply harden his body through the act of doing.