Inuzuka Style

Fumeiyo no Soshaku, Inuzuka-Style Taijutsu

Description: The Inuzuka style of hand-to-hand combat focuses on causing pain, fatigue, and muscle damage more than the breaking of bones. This allows for those of the clan who lack in physical strength to still thrive as taijutsu users, relying on agility rather than strength to inflict damage. The earliest stages are taught to prospective shinobi before they enter the Academy, both as self-defense and as the first installment of the Inuzuka clan credo. Early abilities are focused on providing children the offensive power to drive off attackers, not to kill or maim. In this way, the Inuzuka model of feral style and wild behavior is given a method of expression, allowing Inuzuka children to fight back without killing off classmates.

Having always lived in the shadow of the Hyuuga and Uchiha clans, the Inuzuka long ago abandoned the ideal of fighting for capture, or even honor. Using cheap shots, opportunism, and other forms of foul play in their combat, the Inuzuka have grown stronger than they ever would have if constrained by form, courtesy, and honorable tactics. Later stages of the Inuzuka taijutsu style are designed around close-quarters brawling more than official hand-to-hand combat, with the emphasis being on causing pain first and causing damage second. Many Gouken-fu and Jyuuken artists, who consider Inuzuka style to be in bad taste, have criticized their methods. The Inuzuka simply scoff at such pessimists, seeing Inuzuka methods as the true realization of genuine combat.

[Stage 1] Early Combat
Taught to Inuzuka at the first realization of their shinobi potential. Stage One is often quite base and simple, but typically consists of training in hand-eye coordination, physical exertion, and the use of the child's short claws to instill pain in the opponent. Most children still struggle with such things as timing and speed, but the basic principle of "hurt him until it hurts" is made very clear. | +1 agility for all non-jutsu melee attacks| Academy

[Stage 2] Honor
Learned during academy years, Stage Two realizes the shinobi's need to deal out real damage against potential opponents and establish dominance among children of other clans. Now that the student has mastered motor skills and the theories of pain in combat, such important lessons as endurance and prioritization become the focus. Students at this age learn to study an opponent's outward appearance, guess at their weaknesses and attack, often without coaching from an adult. Advanced students begin to learn how to sever near-skin tendons while dealing out shallow flesh wounds. | +2 agility and +1 strength | Genin

[Stage 3] Dishonor
Comfortable in taijutsu and basic combat, the user reaches Stage Three when training becomes self-enforced and self-motivated. Slowly, the user begins to understand the anatomy of a fight, how to swing when it isn't expected, when to throw dirt in the opponent's eyes, when to bite and when to scratch. No longer is the user relying on luck or strength to triumph, but speed, skill, and a willingness to do what others will not in order to win. This is known as the "Stage of Dishonor" during which young shinobi demonstrate to their peers that they take fighting seriously, and they are willing to debase their ethics for victory. Bad reputations are often cultivated during this time. Cooperation with the student's newly acquired canine battle partner is of utmost importance, and so Gatsuuga is taught during this stage. | +3 agility | Advanced Genin

[Stage 4] Experimentation
After establishing an ability to fight effectively in typical combat, the user begins to experiment with tactics and attacks for effectiveness. Openings to strike become more obvious as the user begins taking advantage of them more often, attacks become easier to dodge as the user experiences them more often, enemies become easier to analyze as more of them present themselves. The user becomes bold, audacious even, in their battle tactics, allowing them to fight more powerful opponents in even closer quarters. The basic brawling style of the Inuzuka begins to truly take shape in this stage, allowing the user to fight just as effectively at a range of six inches, with elbows and knees, as at three feet, with fists and feet. This unusual, close-range style of fighting shrinks the power gap between the user and his opponent, with all the familiar sucker-punching Inuzuka tactics learned through the early years of training. | +2 strength and +1 Agility | ANBU

[Stage 5] Instinct
An enormous divide in power is breached when the user crosses from Stage Four to Stage Five. Until now, attacks and defenses have been reliant upon the user's physical senses- sight or smell and hearing. The user is said to have reached the Stage of Definition when individual reactions and responses are predicted, almost precognizant. This is a sign of truly understanding a fight, how it works and what to expect, and is often written off as a side effect of the user's increasingly powerful senses of smell and hearing. Those who reach the Stage of Definition are an elite class among the Inuzuka: those who have the talent and devotion to take to heart the teachings of the clan and apply them with instinct, as would an animal. Movements are no longer individual and choppy during a fight; the user moves with swiftness and grace in extremely confined spaces, engaging the enemy while less than half a foot away. Inuzuka in this stage are rarely complimented on individual acts in battle, but more commonly praised for their superior instincts. | +3 agility and +1 Strength | Jounin

[Stage 6] Dismissal
Also called the "Stage of Heroes", the Stage of Dismissal is viewed as complete disregard for the dignity, honor and respect for the user's opponent. To achieve this stage is to achieve a state of mind in which the user is the sole entity of purpose, viewing the opponent as nothing more than a token gesture by the world to impede progress (regardless of the enemy's level). When the user believes that the opponent is, in all ways, inferior and unimportant, he can move and fight with reckless abandon, using his own movements to subtly guide his opponent's reactions and literally create his own opening in even the tightest of defenses. Nothing is held as sacred- the suffering of the enemy comes foremost, even if it means reducing oneself to hooking, strangling, or any known maneuver simply to score a hit. Blows taken, unless of roughly equal level to the user, are dismissed, though nearly every threatening motion is dodged. The fluidity and grace of the Stage of Definition are put to shame; shinobi in the Stage of Dismissal have been reported to be able to fight in room barely large enough to house both combatants or in perfect blackness of unlit interiors. Even taijutsu experts have difficulty combating this stage, which calls for proximity of three inches or less. Arrogance, dishonor, and aggression are the driving forces of this epitome of Inuzuka style. | +2 agility and +2 Strength | S-rank

Strength: + 6
Agility: + 12