Kona's Impressive List of Training Montages!

It was roughly only an hour or so after she had successfully passed her mission given to her by Teach and learned that it was actually her practical exam. Technically, she was officially a Genin, although she wasn't sure if all the boring official stuff was done yet. Regardless, she would be meeting up with her team and her brand new sensei bright and early tomorrow morning...and she was both nervous and excited.

However, she felt like she needed some extra training to really impress her sensei, and what better way then to whip up some brand spanking new Taijutsu techniques! She had a few under her belt, but nothing too amazing she felt like, so clearly it was time to start brewing as she attacked the wooden post in front of her.

So she began to perform her daily five-hundred side kicks as she let her mind wander on what could be beneficial for her or would be flashy but very effective.

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B-Rank Taijutsu Training 1/6

She had gotten to roughly one-hundred and sixty-seven kicks when she hit a spark of inspiration. Now Kona may not be the brightest bulb when it came to most things, like math and science...and literally every form of Ninjutsu known to mankind, but she was crafty and a bit quick-witted. Her mind had wandered into a territory she had put thought into many times before: how to hit people better.

See, Kona's line of thought was such: to successfully land a taijutsu technique, one needs to physically touch their opponent. That was common knowledge, of course, but what if you were having trouble landing said technique? Well of course you could improve on your movement and speed so that you wouldn't have trouble landing, but that wouldn't help you in a current fight in which you are outmatched in speed. You would have to somehow immobilize your opponent and control them, which would mean some form of grabbing them in Kona's case.

While it may be hard to do if they are faster than you, it wouldn't be too hard if you responded to their attack with some sort of counter attack, as they would already be committed to said attack and would have a more difficult time adjusting in time to stop you.

So what would she do if someone tried to throw a punch or chop or similar hand-related attack at her?

B-Rank Tai Training 2/6

Well Kona spent a decent time dwelling on the subject she brought to light, but nothing she came up with seemed like a solid resolution. However, she did notice a pattern - every time she came up with an idea on how to counter said punch, her first thought was always the same: How do I even begin to counter the attack of someone who is faster than me?

Well...if everything kept coming back to that thought...maybe that was a good place to start? Kona realized it was technically a step back from her previous thinking, but it still felt right. Something something 'having a strong foundation is important' something something.

Well, how would you begin to counter someone faster than you? Well...the only thing that came to Kona's mind was somehow being able to sense their attack and respond accordingly...not easy to do when your opponent may be so fast that you cannot even see them.

Hmm...

B-Rank Tai-Training 3/6

Kona pondered the idea of how one could even respond to an opponent faster than them, but sadly she was coming up with nothing but a blank...well, it wasn't EXACTLY a blank, but it might as well have been.

See, Kona's only thought is that you would have to take the hit, and then respond when they drop their guard from a successful strike. It sounded good, in theory...but with moderate mental practice, it didn't cut the mustard. For one, you couldn't guarantee that the opponent would drop their guard, or in the very least react quick enough to avoid your counterattack. Also, it guaranteed the fact that you would take some sort of damage, and Kona wasn't thrilled by that idea at all.

Using her freakish giant of a teammate as an example, he would be someone who could get away with something that risky: it was no risk at all for him, he was like a a human suit of armor! Kona on the other hand wasn't very good at taking blows, as her current training investment showed that she was more the type to avoid blows and strike at an opening with her speed and agility...but this was a scenario in which the opponent was faster than her. Not only did she not take blows well normally, but using her comrade as an example again, if they had that much strength as well...welp, goodnight everybody!

So, if taking the hit and responding back accordingly was no good, what would she do then? Kona kept pondering this for roughly another ten minutes, but nothing was coming to mind. She decided to go back to training and see if getting her body warmed up again would bring a flow of good ideas.

B-Rank Tai-Training 4/6

Kona had gone back to punching the wooden post in front of her, hoping to spark some sort of creative thought on how to sense a faster opponent. She managed to get in roughly ninety-seven strikes in before she was reminded about something in class she learned.

Teach had said something about something being just as important as speed and agility...what was it again? It had something to do with the five senses...Genjutsu? No, it wasn't that, but it was something that could help against it. Per...per...per...perception? Perception! Yes, that's what it was! Perception was about viewing things...no, not just that: it was about being able to sense your surroundings with all five of your senses. Admittedly, Kona was not very good at that: not only had Teach been able to almost sneak away while she was distracted with Jei's nonsense, but she had a hard time keeping track of Teach's movements at first.


In all honesty, she relied on her eyes too much and needed to rely on her other senses...but how would she do that? That's when she remembered that Teach always told her to focus in class, and she started to get an idea.

She then moved over to one of the spinning wooden dummies and stared at it as the wind moved it. She concentrated on it, working to teach herself to notice every single movement, even the slightest hint of movement.

B-Rank Tai-Training 5/6

Well...see stared at the spinning post alright. For a while in fact. She developed a sort of tunnel vision, and she noticed that she was starting to get a better handle on noticing even the slightest little movement it made when the wind blew...but it didn't feel good enough. Granted, nothing felt good enough for Kona, but that's what made her strive so hard to succeed. She kept staring though, and that was when she was interrupted by...

"Umm...hey kid, what are you doing out here so late? Won't your parents be worried?" It was a Chunin of the Hidden Sand. Kona assumed he was either on duty or was also looking to train, and either way...maybe he could be of use to her.

"I'm training. I join my team tomorrow as an official Genin, and I want to impress whoever my new sensei is going to be. I'm having trouble making this technique feel right though..." Well, she was GOING to ask him for help, but Kona's pride KINDA got in the way of that, so she didn't. However, she lucked out.

"Huh, well congrats on passing your exams. You know...I'm ahead of my rounds right now, so I could try and help you if you like. What kind of technique is it?"

"It's Taijutsu. If you want to help, I need you to attack me. Don't hold back, or it won't help at all. Give me just a second: when I open my eyes, I'll be ready."

"Uh...okay?" the Chunin got into a ready stance, and Kona turned to face him. She closed her eyes after blinking a couple times, and then tried to drown out her thoughts about the spinning post. After a few seconds, she opened her eyes. Maybe barely a second later, she was met with a punch to the gut. She staggered back and winced, and she coughed a bit, but after a few breathes she stood back up.

"Okay. Again."

"Uhh, are you sure..."

"Again!"

"Umm, okay...if you insist."

She closed her eyes, and when she opened them, she was greeted this time with a kick to the side of the head. The next time was a kick to the gut, then another kick to the head, then and elbow to the gut, and armbar...but she kept getting up. It was about the tenth time that she got up in which she was getting irritated. Not only was this random guy doubting her, but she didn't seem to be making progress at all.

"Look kid, I'm starting to feel bad. Maybe-"

"Shut up! One more time! If I can't get it this time, then feel free to leave, but I'm staying here until I get this right!"

The chunin sighed, but he once again got into a ready stance. Kona closed her eyes, and she felt that her body was extremely tense, from preparing for impacts as well as her being frustrated. She felt rigid and tight all over, and it didn't feel right for some reason, even though she felt like that most of the time. So she did was Teach had always drilled into her head to focus and settle down, which was to just breathe deeply. So she did: she breathed in a deep breathe, and then let it out slowly.

Once she did, she felt like her body was much more relaxed, and she felt much more aware of how her body felt and what was going on around her. Then, she opened her eyes. The chunin went to strike her, but unlike before, Kona could actually see his movements. They were still swift, but she noticed the small detail on how he shifted his body to the right to prepare for the attack and saw the beginnings of him lifting his leg up. She could also hear gush of air as his leg moved through the air, and she could feel the pressure his movement caused as the air brushed up against her hoodie sleeve and moved against her skin.

She ducked, and his kick flew over her head as she squatted down.

"What?!" escaped the chunin's mouth, and he went to flow into another attack, controlling his moment. Kona noticed this too: as his foot hit the ground and his body turned, she noticed a small motion in his shoulder as well as his body beginning to lurch forward. Once again, she heard the air gushing as her rushed towards her with his fist beginning to push forth from his body.

She stood up and pushed her hand against his arm just slightly, which deflected his blow to the side and has it whisk by her head. She then moved in closer to him and raised her knee to bring it to his chin, then extending her entire leg and having her heel greet his chin as well.

The chunin landed with grace, rubbing his chin a bit. "Huh...that exactly stung a bit." He then studied Kona and got into a ready stance. "How about we try that one more time, eh?"

Kona's face opened up with a devilish smirk. "Heheheh, fine by me!"

They sparred for roughly another fifteen minutes, and Kona learned a lot in that time. The first thing she learned was that she couldn't close her eyes every time to focus, as a good opponent would take advantage of that. So when she started doing it with her eyes open to counter that, she tried doing it while on the move and noticed it was a lot harder to produce the effect that way, so she stuck to doing it while standing and taught herself to perform it quicker. She also learned that the effect was only produced when her whole body was at first tense, and then relaxed, so there were time when she had to tense her body on purpose to then relax it for the effect.

It was about the time that the chunin had to leave that Kona was feeling rather exhausted from the training, so she sat down and pulled a bag of sweet bread out of her backpack and munched on it, trying to just soak everything she just learned into her soul.

B-Rank Tai-Training 6/6 - Complete!

She sat there munching on her sweet bread for about ten minutes or so, going over everything that just happened, and in some ways it still boggled her mind: she had just gone toe to toe with a chunin! Never mind all the factors about whether he did hold back somewhat or that she may not have kept up with him in a full-on fight, none of that mattered at the moment. All that mattered right now is that she felt like she made progress for once, and it felt solid and firm: there was no way anyone could deny it or take this from her. She had a grin on her face at the thought of getting so strong that she could beat down that chunin with trying, and this got her pumped...too pumped to just sit around!

She packaged up her sweet bread and put it back in her backpack. That's right, she still didn't have the complete answer to the question she brought up to herself: how would she counter a punch that was faster than her! Sure, she had the MEANS to actually counter now, but now she needed an actual counter technique.

She had to take a step back in order to make any progress at all, so technically she was right back where she was. With more confidence in her ability, Kona got up and walked over to the spinning post and started training to get her brain-juice flowing!

C-Rank Tai-Training 1/4

Well, the goal was to counter someone's punch, right? Right. So now that she had the ability to respond, it was simply a matter of how she would respond. Dodging was easy, but Kona recalled that she wanted to be able to immobilize her opponent, leaving them stuck and open for other attacks. She also recalled that the best way for her to do that was by grabbing them.

Now of course she couldn't grab them easily by the collar or by their clothing if they are already attacking her, that much was obvious. However, maybe if she intercepted the punch or strike itself someone she could go ahead and form a direct counter from there?

She kept striking the post as she pondered how exactly would be the best way for her to do so.

C-Rank Tai-Training 2/4

So she kept up with her strikes, and once she got to seventy-six punches it dawned on her what she could do. Rather than deflecting the punch and counterattacking, what she grabbed their punch or strike outright? Not only did it sound possible, but it sounded downright badass, like in the kung-fu movies she used to watch at the orphanage.

Well, how exactly would she do that? That was quite simple: when they threw a punch, she would catch it like it was a ball. She envisioned an opponent attacking her with a solid punch, kinda like that chunin from before, and she imagined herself timing it perfectly to catch it. She imagined this a number of times before realizing that not everyone used normal punches: some people used chops or palm strikes.

Those weren't to much of a variation, as she simply imagined herself catching the opponent's hand less like a ball and more like a weird offensive handshake of some sort. She practiced this a few times until she figured that she could perform it well, and then thought of what she could do next.

C-Rank Tai-Training 3/4

Well, now she was stuck a bit, as she didn't know exactly what would be best to do from that position. The position was already advantageous, but it wasn't quite immobilizing. It would be easy for someone stronger to break her hold and remove their hand or to just flat out pull away, and it's not like she was causing them any pain of real distress either, so at this point it seemed pointless.

So, what could she do it make it better? She let her mind wander as she started chopping the post as it spun around and around...circular motion? Hmm...what could she do with circular motion? Well, she could try to spin them around and throw them...but it would still be pretty easy to get out of that, and if they didn't hit anything there wouldn't be a point.

Huh...what if she spun there arm around, like twisting it? What would that do? Kona held her arm out as if she was punching someone, and then twisted her arm around. Well, first off, she could only do that so far. This told her that forcing someone to go farther than that would most definitely be painful, but she noticed tightness in her elbow and wrist. When she pushed on her wrist with her other hand and tried to twist it back farther, it REALLY didn't feel good. Good thing she did it gently, or she might have hurt herself badly.

It all clicked for her in that moment: catching the strike and twisting the arm while putting pressure on the wrist. The pain and awkward positioning would be great at immobilizing them, and it would also put her at their arm's length as well, so it was nothing but advantageous for her. She imagined herself doing the whole motion multiple times, and filed that away in her brain to use later against Jei.

C-Rank Tai-Training 4/4

Well, she learned how to properly counter a punch, at least in her opinion. Avoiding getting hit, immobilizing them, and keeping yourself at an advantage seemed pretty good...but she also felt like she could do more with that technique. For some reason it just felt like there was more she could do with that, like some sort of follow up maneuver or attack of some sort. Hmm...it was time to dwell on it as she kicked the spinning post and hope the juices would begin to flow.

After about thirty kicks she wasn't getting any headway with the idea, but she didn't let her bother her too much, as she understood she wasn't the most creative person out there. Hell, she just made two techniques in one night, that was pretty impressive, or at least she thought so. She just kept the image of having them restrained in her mind, them at her mercy while she had them caught by the wrist, while she just continued kicking away at the spinning post.

C-Rank Tai-Training 1/4

Fifty-six, fifty-seven, fifty eight, fifty nine, sixty, sixty-one...

Aha! Finally, she knew she could come up with something if she just gave it some time! She had the beginnings of an idea of how to follow up that hold that came up with only a few moments ago.

Well...sort of. She had a couple ideas, but she needed to weed through them to see which ones were any good. Her first thought was brought back from the earlier idea of spinning around and tossing them. While not horrible, she wasn't sure the grip would be good enough to hold out. Also it could do more damage than she intended, to the wrist and possibly to the shoulder. Add those to the fact that it didn't really seem optimal the first time around she had that thought, and she surmised that she needed to for go that idea and look towards the others she had.

C-Rank Tai-Training 2/4

About twenty additional strikes later, she had weeded out some other thoughts as to what she could do to follow up the hold she mustered up. She had come up with the idea to just simply punch them, but that was too simple and would sacrifice her range advantage. Kicking the opponent wasn't too much better, as she would still still be sacrificing range and control.

Well, she could always go for the more obvious play, that being delivering an elbow to one of the joints. That would cause a lot of damage though, as would continuing to twist the arm or apply more pressure to the wrist. They were all viable, but a bit more ferocious than she was looking for, and the didn't quite control the opponent so much as it broke them.

Kona filed away some of the more violent options for when she was down to the wire and continued to practice and think of a follow-up technique.

C-Rank Tai-Training 3/4

After a roughly sixty more strikes, Kona came up with a line of thought that seemed to be in the right direction. See, she had kept thinking about attacking her opponent once she had them immobilized their arm, but once she thought more about it she realized that she didn't really have much control over them in that state as she previous thought. So clearly, the proper thing to do was to figure out how to immobilize them further and in a more guaranteed manner.

This caused her to remember when she knocked out Teach with her Nap-Time! hold, and one of the best things about that hold was that she got control of her opponent while she was up close and behind them. So she thought about how she could do the same while having control of the arm.

She positioned her own arm behind her back and tried to figure it out that way, but it was a bit confusing. Once again she got lucky, and a team of genin came by and helped her by being test dummies. After having control on the arm and putting pressure on the wrist with both hands, she took one arm and forced the elbow to bend and positioned the hand she had control over behind them palm facing her. With the hand that forced the elbow she got a good grip on the wrist again and the hand that never let go of her opponent's hand could push the whole arm up higher to put more pressure on the shoulder.

C-Rank Tai-Training 4/4

Well, she had a way to counter, debilitate, and further debilitate her enemy while gaining a huge advantage by being able to attack them from behind while she held them at her mercy...but it still wasn't enough for her. There was still room for improvement as far as she was concerned, as she could see the flaws in the technique clearly.

First off, it did nothing to stop them for trying to kick her or use their weight against her or just lean back or fall down on her. Since she was sure that an opponent could learn this easily and quickly, she needed yet another method that was more surefire that the last.

She knew she could simply attack them from behind, but this technique required both hands like the previous, so all she had was her legs. She would need those to defend herself from any kicks.

Hmm...what would be best for her to do?

C-Rank Tai-Training 1/4

Well, she spent time practicing with the genin, and as she thought more and more she was still not sure what would be good to do from back there without giving her advantage to her opponent. She definitely had to do something with her legs, but what could she do? Well, she was fast, so maybe as long as she maintained her speed and struck them from behind fast enough she could capitalize on how open they were from behind.

She practiced with (although it was more like 'practiced on') the genin by kicking them in the side at first, but it was a little awkward and wasn't very effective. So she decided she would try attacking their legs before they had a chance to fight back with them. In the very least, maybe enough damage and pain would make them think twice about countering her that way. However, while trying this, she noticed that pushing on the inside of the genin's leg gave the natural response to have it bend forward to reduce the pain. She then continued to put pressure on the leg while shifting her weight forward, and she get the genin to kneel on the ground.

A smile appeared on her face...

C-Rank Tai-Training 2/4