Training Shiina (Martial Arts)

"Begin."

My simple command began the training sessions, sparring match.

I ducked a left jab, sidestepped a right, and weaved a straight from her left, before I launched my palm forwards to punish what she did, which was blocked. I grabbed her fist pulling her towards me, before letting go of it as I gave a quick push kick to her chest, knocking her back several metres from the force.

She recovered quickly, and closed the distance again, spinning anti clockwise to try and land a spinning roundhouse kick which I blocked with my forearm. I couldn't let her be discouraged by me dodging all the time. I hit her face with a punch as a counter attack, but she stepped back quickly avoiding the blow but she was hit by a low kick to her knee.

Falling to one leg, I aimed my leg high above her head to axe kick downwards, which she brought her arms into an X like formation to block the blow as she struggled to get back up. She buckled under the weight of my leg hitting her arms but was steadfast to her training. Thus she knew what to do.

With a quick push, she forced my leg back in such a way that caused me to stagger backwards, giving her an opening that she took, but I recovered quickly enough to block.

"Good." I stated with my ever monotonous tone, as I moved back a few feet to steady myself again. 

If she didn't learn then that axe kick would've broken her guard easily as she wouldn't have involved when the second arm was used to perform a cross block. Cross blocks use both arms to block the attack with one arm blocking the attack and the other reinforcing that block. Since kicks tend to be stronger than one's fists, it's crucial to learn to reinforce your blocks quickly.

Though it's better to dodge, if you can. 

I pushed my other leg off the ground, switching legs mid-air to kick down with my right leg on her cross block using it as a means to leap backwards. 

This is not something people in my old world would do in Martial Arts, but since some anime logic applied I had to take some liberty with my current style.

Once my feet touched the ground I reset my stance putting my feet shoulder-width apart, my left foot slightly more forward then the right with my knees slightly bent distributing weight evenly between them. My arms raised up one hand extended slightly more forward the other staying close to my torso. My stance remained low and flexible whilst the centre of my gravity stayed close to the ground, ready to spring forwards or backwards. 

Back in the White Room they taught us many Martial Arts styles, Judo, Karate, Kickboxing, Boxing, Hap Ki Do, Aikido, Muay Thai, Krav Maga and many many more. Eventually they tasked us with mixing the styles together to create a blend of them all, this was the stance I came up with. 

This stance takes advantage of balance and economy of motion and allows me fluidly move between a wide variety of techniques while keeping one's self guarded and prepared for both strikes and grapples. It incorporates the principles of adaptability and awareness from styles like Krav Maga and Jeet Kune Do, while allowing room for the intricate kicks of Muay Thai and Capoeira or the grappling finesse of Judo and Jiu-Jitsu.

In essence, it's the combination of several styles that allows for highly responsive movements against the opponent where one can flow between different forms of combat without breaking the stance. 

Shiina, for her credit, stood back up and settled into the basic karate stance I taught her last year.

As I rushed forwards, springing into action, I threw a volley of quick punches, my blows quick and yet flowing, transitioning with ease from one punch to the next. Shiina blocked as much as she could, dodged a few, but eventually one strike landed, then a second, then a third. Each strike to her affected her reaction times, throwing her off from being able to counter but like always I expected her to find a way out. 

However this time I wasn't going to give her a break when she did, no, I was going to force her to evolve fully. Her progress in this area had been stagnant and when progress was stagnant, one had to be forced to evolve. They themselves or with another intervening, one way or another to progress when one's progress was stagnant, they had to be forced to progress further. 

If one didn't they would be a failure, if one didn't they'd fall behind their peers. I've seen it time and time again, those that couldn't break past their limits were deemed to fall, deemed defective, deemed worthless. 

No, that was only back in that place, progress didn't have to be dictated that way, right? But it was by far the most effective way of improving oneself. Maybe there was something more to improve too? 

With my thoughts I opened my mouth to speak, "Think." I calmly spoke, my tone as emotionally detached as ever. This was the most subtle piece of advice I could give but it got her gears turning. 

To be honest, I should have taught this specific lesson sooner, a lesson about when one should joint lock an opponent. Of course in this particular situation kicks were effective, but whenever she tried to kick instead, I blocked it with my leg. She had to grab my arm first. Hopefully she'll figure the rest out.

With a swift movement, she managed to get a tight grip on my arm which ended with her getting hit in the gut, because she didn't do it in a way that avoided getting hit again. Another subtle teaching moment, keeping her on her toes. Even if you grabbed one, you had to move to lock the arms. I pushed her away with a strong kick to her gut with a front kick. 

With her skidding back a bit, I got back into my stance fully. 

This time she decided to go fully on the offensive, barraging me with quick kicks, and punches after she rushed me. I blocked them all, simply deflecting the attacks calmly, and dodging them with ease. 

She wanted me to teach her by showing her yet I chose a different action.

I ducked under a palm strike, stepped sideways dodging her left fist, then with a simple low kick, tripped her up. She staggered forwards trying to not fall, which gave me the opportunity to deliver my elbow into her sternum. Causing her to fall onto the mat, although she had pushed herself upwards with her hands on the mat delivering a quick barrage of kicks. I blocked them all.

It seemed she did think fast here. She had to make a move so she made one, distracting me a bit for her to recover, and then with her arms ready, she used her arms to jump backwards, flipping in a way that allowed her to face me when she was done, meanwhile I looked at her calmly.

"You have to think, Shiina. I know that's hard in the middle of combat but as a piece of advice, a Shinobi enters battle calmly. You must be prepared for anything, as expecting what isn't expected is the core of being a true Shinobi. Think through everything but make sure you don't stall. An opponent isn't going to wait for you. But at the same time, patience is key to winning. If you keep your opponent busy they will mess up eventually, and an opening will present itself."

"I will try my best!" She exclaimed, already knowing that she could rest after the session was over. 

The next hour was like this, eventually I was forced to actually lock her limbs in place to just show her. It happened when she tried to land a punch on my face only for me to grip her arm and pull her into a position that her joints were locked, and I could land kicks to her gut, several times over. Of course, I did this twice before letting her go. Obviously without telling her too. She had to learn that this was a useful thing to do herself. 

Why did I let her go after only two? 

Because the session happened to end there. And I didn't want to knock her out right now, which is why I avoided her Solar Plexus and Liver.

"You alright Shiina?" I asked, I knew her pain tolerance was high since she had constantly been hit by me, but maintaining an outwardly scaring yet stoic and strict teacher and friend was something I did as it helped.

"Yeah." She was clearly lying but she seemed fine. Better than how many bruises she has right now. 

Well better to struggle now than struggle later. 

I should go outside the orphanage sometime as I need to visit a few spots. 

First off, I need to find the places Naruto would be at which would be Ichiraku, and the swing, then where Hinata was when the bullying happened and she fell for Naruto.

If I could somehow get Hinata to like me it would be useful for future plans. 

It seemed I had a lot of work to do, huh.