Sunagakure's Butcher
Ken would enter the Dojo, knowing he had to work fast and quick in order to be prepared for the exams. He would prepare his sword and draw it quickly, resting and deliver blows to dummies on either side of him that he had set up and then take his stance. His attacks would alternate a fake draw and bash the sides of the dummy. If not the side of the ribs then he would smack the head. The blow it self would be enough to make anyone lose sense of where they were at the time, giving plenty of time to get into a position of advantage for himself. He would continue to practice this technique over and over with his sword, each time he drew his sword he would become quicker and more comfortable with each draw of his sword. He would then adjust the movement to where he would slash and then return to a resting position; it was helpful that the lower stages of this stage were almost identical. He would continue to take his sword and make his slashes upon the dummies in alternate directions as required by the stage required. Once he had taken his time to learn the slashes in each of the directions for the lower stages he would imbue his sword with his chakra and running at target after target to practice his higher and more complex techniques. The only problem that came from these stages were the particular use of the Breath Taking Kiss technique as many of the dummies were left without a limb at some point in some way. The practice of the draw of his sword reminded him of the younger days training with his father and uncle over the proper respect that he was to have for the blade. He would practice the fall and recovery needed particularly to catch his self and sweep his blade at his enemy. Knives would become drenched in sweat, but he would not give up time was short and he needed to be as prepared as needed. Ken would wipe the sweat from his eyes before removing his soaked top taking his sword and the dummies getting in dead locked moments to get around and disarm his opponents in the dummies. Ken would place his sword and other bladed weaponry on the side of the dojo and go and prepare to practice the techniques needed for the styles of Taijutsu that he wished to learn, thank goodness for a few left over life sized dummies in the dojo that could be used to punch and practice takedowns upon. When he looked upon the dummies they would be worse for wear, but they could still be fixed, as all the slices were clean and perfectly straight, as his blade was always ready for battle.
Before Ken began his practice against the dummies in take downs he began with the basics. He would alternate his attacks against the dummies from between downward elbow drops upon the skull or shoulder region of the bodies and go into a knee to the chest. He would alternate this combination, before using his palms against the chest and stomach of the dummy, each blow his body becoming harder from the repeated blows against the dummies. Ken would move into the use of his feet attacking not only the shoulder but swinging back against the head, making not only his palms stronger but also his feet. As he continued to deliver blow after blow against the dummies he would move in for the closer techniques, grabbing his opponent and squeezing with his already large body and muscles. He would continue to alternate his kicks and palm strikes against various locations upon the body. He would begin to string the kicks and strikes against the dummies. Ken would take time to plant his arms against the ground, and similar to the technique of rock gauntlets he had already learned he would create more offensive styled gauntlets to smash against the dummies; it was a simple alteration of how the mud formed around him. He even practiced attacking thin layers of shrapnel to his body. The first few attempts Ken did not notice any difference in the power behind his own attacks, but after removing the armor and trying against he would become covered and his blows would be even more devastating than Ken had dared to dream that they would become. He felt kind of sorry for the situation the dummies would be in after this, but he was sure that it was nothing compared to the things that much more powerful Suna nin had done to these dummies, and they were still intact. Ken would make running starts towards the dummies and alternate with either shouldering the dummies or stopping short to assume a rock hard stance to deliver the punishing blows against the ribs of the torso. It was either that or he would sweep his leg to knock down the dummies and bringing down his elbow to smash the face or sternum of the body. The power of these blows would be helped by his Jagged armor that he had begun to master. Occasionally Ken would take breaks of times to recover stamina and chakra in order to gather his self and continue the assault he was giving to the dummies, hardening his body with every blow. Every blow was becoming more brutal and swift, his body was sore and screamed but he would continue on and make sure that he mastered the stages of Body of Stone.
Knives rested for a few hours, the day was growing late but he was determined to finish and arrive at the exams prepared as possible. He put away the dummies that he had just used for striking before resting for a moment allowing his body to recover some more. He could feel his muscle tighter and stronger than before. He was glad that some of the dummies were able to act a bit like puppets and move; otherwise the training for Olympia was going to be extremely awkward and difficult without a bit more resistance. Ken approached the dummy and they latched together before he took the opponent after shifting his weight and driving the opponent grabbing the elbow and driving up. He continued to do this and then began to work on doing the exact opposite; instead of driving up he would drive downward on the opponent. Ken would mix up the stances once he had mastered them in order to get an opening on his opponent. While he was sure he would be ridiculed for the simple style, he knew his size would allow for getting close to allow for the finishing his opponents. Once he was able to get the opponent on their back he would practice sinking into the diaphragm and working on getting into positions that would incapacitate his opponents. He worked on moving from having a side control position and moving with his opponents to mount them in a position that allows for him to pull a knife on his opponent, or deliver punishing blows to the face or sides. There were variations of each kind ranging from using the balls of ones feet to a more sitting position. Knives practiced each one carefully and slowly at first, taking his opponent to the ground again and again with a driving motion. Each time he would alternate from taking the Dominating Hercules Stance to the Mount Olympus stance until they both felt natural and comfortable. He continued to grapple and wrestle with the dummy, going into stances that required the ability to lift and drive ones opponent and mounting them, causing not only the knocking out of air but also painful landing positions for the opponent. The transitions were often odd and confusing to Knives but he gradually got the hang of driving his opponent to the floor and taking control to finish in some manner.
However, there was still more to learn when it came to taking down ones opponent. Knives practiced transiting between the fall of tartarus by grabbing the head and sweeping the opponents leg out and mounting to apply a choke. This took time to master and Knives was not too fond of it but he wanted to grab the basic idea of the maneuver to allow to choke the opponent, the motion that Knives ended up loving the most were the throws of Ajak’s club and the pounding that Hephaestus’s Hammer could give him the ability to into the painful technique of cutting the hydra head. After he took the dummy to the ground he would grab the arm and stomp on the face of the dummy and pull the arm, either hearing a crack of joint or feel the arm snap. Once he had mastered the pounding of his forearm into the face of his opponent he would wrap the arm of the opponent into a position where taking a knife to the body would be easy. Alternately, he was able to take his opponent and spin them to the ground and landing right on the opponent, and being a big man this technique created a large amount of force upon his opponent. After several hours of training and several hours of cleaning up Knives left sore but feeling confident that he would be ready for the exams once he left or received permission to leave. (exit)
