8 Six Hells Technique

"Ha..ha…ha" Itama panted as he lay flat on the ground. The days 'warm-up' had been particularly tiring for him, he knew that he would probably need to get carried back by his mother again today. But he had already mentally prepared himself for that on his way here.

It had been four hours since he began the warm-up and as soon as he was given the go-ahead to rest, he laid flat on the ground and stared at the sky. He had been panting for the last four minutes.

Unknown to the panting Itama, Hatsuma was carrying a huge wooden log over her shoulder in his direction. She stopped just in front of the boy and looked down at him. The two made eye contact and Hatsuma smirked a little. Itama looked at her with a confused look and before the boy could understand what was happening she firmly swung the log down and embedded it deep into the ground about an inch from his head.

"AH!" the boy screamed while grabbing his head and sitting up. He quickly felt around his black and white hair to make sure he wasn't missing any bits of skull. When he didn't feel any dents or holes he sighed in relief.

"What the hell sensei!" he screamed in his high-pitched voice as he turned around. He looked at his sensei with an aggrieved expression. Her back is turned to him as she fixed the wood deeper into the ground.

"Who are you talking to?" Hatsuma glared over her shoulder.

"Huh? Did I say something?" the boy immediately switched to the most innocent expressions he could muster as he tilted his head.

Hatsuma nodded her head at the tone switch. She then patted the top of the log she just finished adjusting.

"Alright stand up. It's time for you to learn my technique." She told him.

"But It only been four-" the boy quickly finished his complaint and stood ramrod straight after seeing the look that was appearing in her eyes.

'Damn demon doesn't even allow me to complain' Itama complained internally while he smiled at his sensei.

"Good" she nodded "Now, what I am about to teach you is my special technique.. well a lower form of it," she added after a bit of thought.

"The full technique is called the Nine Hells, but what you will be learning is a simplified version. I like to call it the Six Hells Technique." When she finished she moved in front of the log of wood and motioned for him to move back. "The Six Hells technique only has six basic moves, the first hell: strong strike "she widened her base and then with her right palm hit the wood.

A loud strike resounded throughout the area and the wood chips went flying. The place where she struck now has a whole with the outline of her hand in it.

Itama stared at the wood with wide eyes. While he knew that in this world people are capable of incredible feats, even he had already done some great things. His being in and of itself was an enigma, there wasn't a person alive right now that had a Kekkei Genkai and Kekkei Tota. And nor would there ever be another person that 'naturally' had both.

But seeing someone punch a hole through a log of wood put into perspective what he would be capable of in the future. Like most people, in his last life, he had punched wood before.

And while he never used his full strength (didn't want to break his hand), he knew how hard it was. So he had an idea of just how hard his sensei's strike had to be to put that deep of a hole in the wood. While he knew it was on the lower end of her capabilities, it was still an incredible feat for someone who has only been in the Shinobi world for a little over a week.

Before Itama could say anything his sensei brought her left hand up and stuck the wood again.

"Second Hell: Soft Strike!" she shouted. When her hands made contact with the wood there wasn't a loud sound like the strong strike. Instead, there was no sound or anything. The log just slightly tilted backward, causing some of the dirt in the front to rise slightly.

Itama looked at the whole scene confused. He couldn't understand why the wood would come up now and not when she did the first, seemingly more powerful, attack. But his questions would go unanswered as his sensei quickly moved to the next attack.

"Third Hell: High Kick" She brought her left leg up high and quickly kicked the wood causing more wood chips to fly through the sky. When her foot made contact with the wood it went through it like butter with her foot making it halfway through it.

'The names are really lack luster' Itama thought to himself as he watched her pull her leg out of the wood, which again, didn't move.

"Fourth Hell: Low Kick" The low kick was similar to the hick kick only that this time the wood was tilted to the left with her right leg.

After the fourth strike, she stood back up straight and turned to her disciple. And saw the confused look on his face. She ignored it and started her explanation.

"The last two attacks, Fifth and Sixth Hell, are a block and redirect respectfully. I can't effectively show them to you with the wooden log but I will when we begin live training. Regardless, the point of this technique is to do powerful attacks that combo into soft attacks that throw people off balance. It is meant to rely on reaction time and strength, while speed is necessary for all things shinobi, it is not the main focus of this technique. But don't worry your specialty will work great with the technique." she explains while fixing the wooden log.

"The attacks are all meant to blend into one another to allow you to, theoretically, keep the combo going forever. Even the Fifth and Sixth Hells apply to this when used correctly. This becomes even more effective when you get to the other moves in the Nine Hells Technique. None of the attacks are meant to be used with a specific hand or leg and can be adjusted as needed. The attacks I showed you are just the simplest way to use them." she finished her explanation and simultaneously finished placing the wood back right into the ground.

"Now I know you have questions about the technique but all your questions will be answered with time. Now, stand in front of this piece of wood, I want you to at least get some understanding of the basics before the end of the day," she instructed.

Itama nodded his head and followed her direction. For the rest of the day, Hatsuma taught Itama the first four hell attacks. During his training, Itama found that there was more depth to the technique than he initially thought. For example, the soft strike. Like his sensei said, It is meant to throw the person off balance instead of doing any real damage. But the way it does this is not through a regular attack that takes advantage of the person's fear of the strong strike.

While it does do that is not the main reason, the main reason is that it is a palm strike that looks similar to the Strong Strike but instead is quicker and it is more of an upwards push. This upwards push is what forces the person off balance. Overall, the attack is meant to trick people into thinking another Strong Strike is coming and have them back off from you when in fact you're attacking with the much quicker soft strike.

The soft Strike could still do damage and Itama learned that it could be combined with the strong strike when he has enough mastery over both of them, it wasn't its main purpose.

But Hatsuma made a point to remind Itama that the soft strike only works if it is used first to throw people off their guard or if the person is wary of your Strong Strike. If the strong strike doesn't work with the first attack and the person is not wary of it then the Second Hell will not work. Fortunately, she did explain that the way to fix that problem is to switch to one of the leg attacks and then the soft strike.

By the end of the day, Itama left his sensei's home just before the sun went down. They had trained for another four hours and he still hadn't gotten the basics down of the attacks. While they were seemingly simple strikes they were very hard to accomplish. But it wasn't a waste. according to his sensei, he had made good progress for the first day. So while in his mother's arms as she carried his tired body home, Itama smiled as he looked forward to learning the rest of the technique.

'I wonder when they are coming back' Itama thought to himself before falling asleep listening to the racket of the market as he was carried home.