A.N: I have decided to make the chapter lengths between 2k-3k for this story, as the longer chapters made the schedule a bit weird. 5k was nice at first, when i could write at my leisure, but I found that shorter more consistent chapters make more sense for me. They will be New Beginning's Length, or a tad longer. I will try for twice a week starting now. Enjoy. :)
The sun had set by the time they left Ichiraku Ramen. Now, they were in Sano’s usual training spot preparing for her training.
Immediately, Sano cut to the chase, raising her hands to sign. ‘Shadow Clone?’
Jogan shook his head, face firmly hidden behind his collar now that they were both standing. He was a tall man. “No, Sano. I can teach you it, but you have to better your control and master the jutsus you have before you attempt it. Jutsus are not playthings, and I know you’re aware of that.”
Jogan gestured to the lone tree on the training field she usually pummeled and sat beneath. It was a large tree with a wide canopy to hide beneath to shield her from the sun… which normally wasn’t out when she got here nowadays. “Show me your tree walking, please.”
It’d only been a little over a week since she’d shown off for Tsunade and Jogan, but she’d been practicing! Sano nodded and casually walked up to the tree, planted her right foot up onto it, then used the chakra in her feet diligently. She’d learned that there was a transition period in which you needed to account for both gravity and your own weight. Simply sticking your foot to the tree was easy, trying to hold up your fluctuating weight as you took steps up the tree was not.
Still, Sano had done her best and climbed the tree slowly without a running start, focused on the chakra in her feet. Once she reached the first large branch she could sit on, she walked below it and stood upside down, giving Jogan an eye crinkled smile.
She could see his mouth from up high, and he also smiled with a satisfied look. “Very good. Soon, with practice, you will be able to do that subconsciously. You were focusing heavily on doing it right, correct?”
A nod was her reply.
“Still, it was a great display for having learned it recently. Now, show me your academy jutsu.” Jogan waved her down from the tree. Being what amounted to a superhuman, Sano simply let the chakra from her feet fade and fell to the ground in a little flip.
Jogan didn’t remark on it. He simply stood with his hands in his pockets waiting.
First, Sano used her Transformation Jutsu, turning into Jogan himself. It wasn’t her best cast of the jutsu, with Sano making him a little too tall and his dark black hair a little too unnaturally black, but Jogan nodded and waved her onto the next.
The Clone Jutsu was her worst jutsu… maybe it was because she thought it was pretty garbage once she learned about the Shadow Clone jutsu. She blitzed through the Ram -> Snake -> Tiger, then felt her chakra pull away to create a copy of herself. There were clear differences, with it being a little pudgy or blobby in areas, but it was actually pretty good if considering her failed attempts in class.
“Next.” Jogan didn’t nod or praise that attempt, which was fair. “Use that fallen branch for your substitution.”
The substitution was a really awkward jutsu to use. It required premeditation and planning, which she assumed wasn’t very optimal when fighting in wars. Maybe she just had a bad view and people actually prepared for every encounter? Sano walked over to the indicated branch—which was really just a stick—and began using the hand seals for the chakra mark. They were the same hand seals to activate it, which was pretty nice for whoever made the technique. Tiger -> Boar -> Ox -> Ram -> Snake.
Next, Sano turned to Jogan with expectation.
The thing about the Body Replacement Technique, or Kawarimi-Jo-Jutsu, was that it only activated when you were attacked. You can’t simply use it to teleport around like she originally thought she could. Granted, this was a very beginner friendly jutsu, and considering she almost drowned trying a D-Rank jutsu, then she’d accept that this one wasn’t perfect.
Jogan, well aware of the limitation, tossed a Shuriken out of his sleeve without any wasted movement. Not expecting the sudden attack even though she was waiting for it, her hands flashed through the five handseals in less than a second. The next sound in the clearing was the smack of metal on wood as the stick fell to the floor in a plume of chakra smoke.
Sano glared at Jogan from her new location several feet away, but he ignored it and gave himself a nod at the display. “Very good.” He then pointed a few steps away from himself as he began to back away. “Spar with me. Show me what you can do with taijutsu.”
Ah, this is where she gets humbled. Something in her bright orange eyes must have shown how unconfident she was, because Jogan spoke again as she took her place across from him. “I have heard of your troubles in class. It is not your fault you forgot what you learned. You are learning and training again, to become better than what you were before. Never feel ashamed of making progress, no matter how small or how slow it is to bear fruit.”
Sano could agree with that, but it still felt horrible to practice day in and day out and still get pummeled. It was understandable of course. She’d only been training for a month or so and everyone else had many years of practice over her. It just sucked…
She took up her unique stance as she squared off against Jogan who stood at ease. He simply walked forward, causing Sano to tighten up to prepare for an incoming blow… only for Jogan to use his foot to readjust her stance. “Too much weight on your front foot, place your weight on your back foot and leave this one free for kicks and parries.”
Jogan hadn’t even started fighting her before teaching. “I assume your stance relies on kicks? Kicks are good—powerful, but what’s with the crossed arms across your torso? Slapping away attacks? Why not hold a kunai instead of an open palm?”
He wasn’t disparaging her stance, he was simply asking questions and gathering information to see what he was working with. It was clear as day from Sano’s end of things. She slowly uncrossed her arms to answer. ‘It’s comfortable and I could slap tags on people.’
“I see.” Jogan didn’t comment on it. Finally, he took his position across from her. “Come at me. I will defend and counterattack.”
Hoping that the element of surprise was in her favor, Sano instantly burst into action using her back foot to launch her forward… Jogan was right about having too much weight on her front already. She sent a backhand towards his face, which he redirected with such ease that she instantly knew, somehow, that she stood zero chance if they were to fight for real. It was… intuitive? The second their hands touched, she knew she would lose. There wasn’t really a way to put it.
She must have shown some emotion, even through her mask, as Jogan spoke as she sent another palm stick toward his chest. “Good try.” With a lightning fast chop downwards, Jogan knocked her strike downwards, throwing her off balance then tapped his knuckles on her head. “Reset. Try again.”
Sano rubbed her head in shame, not because it hurt, then reset back to her original position. “Use any attack you can think of. You’re using simple strikes. Find something better.” Jogan advised, taking a simple ordinary Konoha stance she’d seen kids use in class.
Through all her fights, she’d just… been brawling. Sure, she had a nasty roundhouse but that was pretty much it when it came to her ‘moves’. Didn’t fighters have special moves and stuff? Kame-kame-ha was a move! It even had a name! Jutsus had names… Do taijutsu moves have names?
She decided to ask.
Jogan tilted his head as if he was confused, but slowly nodded at her signed question. “Some do. There’s a genin known around the village who is quite powerful and has many named taijutsu techniques.” He huffed as if remembering a memory then waved her forward. “Show me your power of youth.”
Seeing as taijutsu techniques existed… The first thing that came to Sano’s mind was Karin Kanzuki’s moves from Street Fighter. She was already ripping off her stance, might as well try her moves too. First, she needed to test the waters with some more of her uncommon standard attacks.
Seeing as Jogan was ready and waiting, Sano walked forward, body still in her stance, then shifted her weight from her backfoot to her front. Using the momentum, she launched a full force front kick right—spartan style—at his stomach. Jogan blocked it, of course, but didn’t deflect it. Next she crouched down low, used her right hand to plant herself to the ground with chakra, then sent a double leg sweep at him. He practically stepped right over it, but she continued. She twirled back up, and then while surging forward, copied one of Karin’s moves. Mentally, she cried out like she was using a jutsu. ‘Tenko!’
It was basically a palm uppercut to the jaw, slipping up below your opponent's guard. She actually did manage to slip between his ready and guarding elbows, but he simply tilted his head to the side to avoid it then caught her arm against his chest. “You’re grabbed. Again. Something else.”
The next move she tried after testing Jogan with a few more slaps and kicks, was Mujinkyaku. It was a double horizontal split-kick, one for each leg. Afterwards, she carried on into a duo of highly aggressive, forward-advancing spinning wheel kicks. Each kick slammed into his sides and arms as they carried her spinning momentum. He got pushed back, then nodded in approval. “That is good. Solid. It’s hard to deflect or punish kicks most of the time due to the range advantage and power behind them. Try that sequence again.”
And so she did… for the next hour. Sano tried out most of the moves she remembered from the famous street fighter as Jogan either gave permission and tips, or denials and reasonings. Of course, most of the fantastical moves from the game she was copying were useless, but not all were. The twirling hops and stylized fighting that left you off the ground, losing your base, were all off the table. She was left with several defensive slaps, many offensive kicks, shoulder charges, leg sweeps, grapples, and palm thrusts. He also advised her on which flowed into which and clarified her style.
“Your stance appears defensive, yet it is mostly aggressive. That is a good thing.” Jogan spoke as Sano chugged water from her small canteen, exhausted. She flopped to the ground, covered in sweat as Jogan looked down on her. “Keep them on the backfoot from your kicks and sweeps. Some say the best defence is a good offence.” He nodded to himself, as if agreeing with his own words. “You also have stalling with your defensive parries. This is good. You will be a fine kunoichi in time.”
Sano weakly raised her hands and then signed. ‘One more move.’
“Oh? Then get up.” Jogan challenged, causing Sano to mentally groan as she heaved her feeble body up. It never wanted to move again.
She took her stance, then tried the most comical move of them all. She surged forward, sending an elbow strike right into Jogan gut—which was blocked—then mentally cried, ‘Kanuki-Ryu: Kadorokushiki Hasha-No-Kata!’ Which actually translated to the utterly insane, ‘Kanzuki-Style - Stream of the Supreme Road Formula Six: Champion's Form!’
She followed up the blocked elbow with a palm thrust to the gut—blocked again—then jumped with as much force as she could and drilled Jogan with a rising knee, which actually caught him offguard, as they just walked about not leaving the ground unless necessary. His guard blew apart, and Sano reached for one of his hands to give him the good’ol spinneroni… but as she tugged as hard as she could, all she could do was make Jogan lean to the side a bit.
She stilled, tugged again childishly, then craned her neck up to look at Jogan’s watchful eyes. “And what was that going to do?” He asked. “What was the follow-up?”
Sano let go of his hand, flopped to the ground, and then sulked as she signed. ‘Spin you in the air so I could use my ultimate finishing hit…’
“Hmm…” The judgement in that simple hum shamed her something fierce. “Maybe against a civilian or bandit.” That actually sounded feasible! Sano perked up! “A young one…” He continued, and didn’t stop. “Starved… Half blind… Deaf… Concussed and confused… Yeah, it’d work on someone like that.”
He softly laughed as he finished and roughly rubbed the top of her head, mangling her already messy hair. She wiggled away as he spoke. “It’s okay to dream big, especially as a child.”
Sano smiled weakly. Jogan obviously thought it was some move out of a child's mind, some cool super fantastical super taijutsu move. He wasn’t necessarily wrong, but it was still pretty nice of him to be supportive.
“Now,” he began. “Jutsu. You’ve trained the body, now it’s time to train the mind.”
Sano looked up at the starry sky, which put into perspective how much air pollution the Earth had. There wasn’t a cloud in sight and up above was a gleaming blanket of cosmic might, easily giving the land enough light to live like it was day. ‘It’s late.’
“Better late than never.” Jogan answered, cementing that the training was going to go longer.
Sano smiled, ‘Okay, Sensei.’