(Fighting skill please. It is hakuda which is fighting skill, right? Thanks judges)

Kaito had always been curious about how well he could hold up against an opponent without using a blade, but the final point that convinced him that he should try and become a little bit more handy in the hakuda area was that he was lazy. He remembered that before Ryouta had been lieutenant his old sensei, Raigen, Gai had been lieutenant and was known for his hand-to-hand combat skills. In fact the rumor was that the old man's hakuda skills were on par with that of a captain level shinigami and had it not been for the fact that he had no skill in the other areas he could have been captain. As Kaito thought about all these things he scoffed at the idea of trying to become captain, but he wanted to see what the old man could teach him. Gai was an academy student teacher now, but his living quarters were still in the second squad area, the pits of the Omnitskido, "What a dangerous bunch of people to be living around..." Kaito said as he strolled nonchalantly with his hands in his pocket.

From the corner of his eye he saw a shadow quickly flash by in the brushes, but instead of immediately alerting the enemy to his discovery of their presence the third seat of third squad walked up to the shack that was supposedly Gai-sensei's. As he reached out to knock on the door as he continued his ruse a hand took a firm grip on his wrists and he met himself face to face with his old sensei once again. "E-eh...don't you just greet like normal people?...Damn man...nearly killed with fear, you crazy old man..." Kaito said as he released a sigh of relief at having not run into an enemy, but he was still on guard. "Kaito..." the old man started to say as he opened his door and walked inside with Kaito in close pursuit, "...what is it that you want to speak to me about?" the old man said with almost no regard to Kaito as he began to do push ups in the middle of the living room. Sighing because he thought that such a tedious action was typical Gai-sensei, "I need you to train me in hakuda so that I can keep up with the other shinigami better...l don't want to always rely upon the sword, you know..." he stated.

A silence fell over the room as Gai finished his 300 push ups in silence while Kaito simply made his way over to the nearest couch and took a nap as the old man hated to be disturbed during that sort of thing. Suddenly Kaito found himself coughing loudly as he clutched his chest in pain from what he could only identify as a punch from a very powerful person. "I will train you, Kaito." was all that the old man had to say before he began disrobing, "The springtime of youth is an amazing thing, isn't it, young pupil of mine?" the old man said while he was in the nude. Not only could Kaito not breath because of the punch, but he was also terrified that he was in the room while his former sensei was undressed in front of him. The only thing that he could do to get out of the uncomfortable situation was to stumble towards the door and wave to Gai in agreement about everything they talked about as he hurried to the safety of the third squad barracks.

The next morning Kaito was woken up by a loud knock on his door and he got out of bed to go open when the door suddenly came slamming down on to his body, "Are you ready for training now?" the old man asked as he dragged Kaito by his collar all the way back to the second squad training grounds. Once Kaito came to from his daze he looked around and shakily asked, "Oi, do you have jurisdiction for me to be training here? Just because you can kill lieutenant's with your bare hands doesn't mean I can". Gai raised his hand and pointed to a training post that simulated areas where person would normally attempt to strike there opponent in an attempt to damage them with maximum capacity. "Watch" the old man said as he went through a display of palm strikes and kicks that seemed to flow together like water does around a rock, with no visible break or uneven nature to the motions. After delivering the final strike, Gai motioned for Kaito to come over to him, "Now, I want you to try and strike the pegs that are sticking out of the post with a flowing motion like I did. Try not to think about what you're trying to hit as you thinking that you are going to hit it" the old man explained.

Despite his skepticism, Kaito knew that he really didn't have a choice in the matter since the old man would flog him for refusing to attempt at least doing the exercise, "Curse me for even going to this crazy guy for help..." Kaito cried to himself inwardly as he stepped in front of the post. Breathing slowly, Kaito remembered what the old man had said and just threw a strike with his palm open at the peg that was at the same height at his neck, but not too hard rather with just enough force to make the entire post shake. Then without any hesitation to think about where he was going to strike next, he simply slid his right foot out a little more so that he could bring his left hand across his body in an underhanded palm strike towards the area that was where a person's stomach would be. Then quickly shifting his weight so that he was now heading towards his left Kaito threw a quick elbow strike at the left side of the stomach area with his left elbow followed by an even faster palm strike to high peg which was symbolizing the neck area. Suddenly he felt Gai's hand upon his shoulder, "Not bad, but you have yet to incorporate your feet and what I just showed you was simply katas. You have to learn a legitimate form, something that even the lieutenant of the second squad has yet to do..." the old man said as he placed both hands behind his back.

+2.5 fighting! <.< Crazy old man is amazing

(Fighting Skill please. Thank you very much)

Kaito stared at the old man in front of him with a curious look upon his face, "What do you mean establish...an actual form..." Kaito said as he took a step away from the Gai, whose eyes now burned with flames of some feeling that Kaito couldn't fathom. What the young shinigami did notice however was the change in the atmosphere around the old man and he knew it wasn't simply from the reiatsu that he was exuding, the old man's will was actually beginning to influence the area around them. Closing his eyes, Kaito could feel as the air became thick with wild ambition and controlled sense of recklessness that seemed to enjoy the thrill of taking risks, "What an aura...the old man's presence is still as amazing as ever..." Kaito noted. At that moment the old man moved so that he was now positioned in front of the post that Kaito had just been practicing on, "There is a difference in being able to use hakuda and having an actual style of fighting, young Saruwatari..." Gai educated Kaito. Then to prove his point, the old man took a particular stance that had one hand placed behind his back and the other out in front of him with his palms facing towards him, "Now, let me show what that difference is..." Gai said.

Although Kaito was impressed with the old man's fighting spirit, he wasn't exactly buying the old man's story about there being a significant difference in the addition of a fighting style which showed in his demeanor as he had now folded his arms and looked on in an unconvinced manner. Without warning the air began to rush away in torrents almost knocking the young shinigami off balance, but he managed to regain his composure as he flailed his arms to keep his balance. By the time Kaito had focused his eyes back the old man, he saw that the old man had widened his base and was preparing to strike the post with the hand that had been behind his back. Eyes now locked on to the scene in front of him, Kaito saw the old man launch the punch with a speed that he could barely comprehend, but managed to see the fist blurring towards the post only to suddenly pull back and stop. Just as Kaito opened his mouth to ask the old man why he had stopped at the last second, the post exploded away from the old man's fist as if something had just blown it away causing Kaito's eyebrows to raise more than a few hairs.

With a revered look upon his face, Gai gave Kaito a thumbs up, "Well then, what do you think now? Do you still believe that it was all smoke and mirrors?" he asked Kaito with a knowing smile on his face that made Kaito want to cringe in the spot that he was in. Unable to answer the man because he was now ashamed of how far behind he was in terms of strength, Kaito stared at the ground fighting with his indignation when he felt his former sensei's hand rest gently upon his shoulder, "Let's get you some training with using your legs in a fight." the gruff voice told him. While Kaito couldn't let go of how much stronger the old man was than he was, he turned to another training post and watched as the old man demonstrated some basic movements. Once he finished he walked over to Kaito and stared at the young shinigami with a look that didn't indicate that they were teacher and student which made Kaito falter a little bit because he had never expected to be looked upon in such a manner by someone like Gai. "Kaito-san, we should continue our training since we don't have much time" Gai said with a wave of his palm saving Kaito from having to say anything embarrassing about the situation.

Not trusting mouth, Kaito simply nodded and took his place in front of the post and readied himself as he had seen the old man do by widening his base, "Alright...the flow of balance is more devastating than how much power you place into the movement..." Kaito reminded himself. He began with a simple kick to the highest point of the post with his right leg causing it to rattle as his blow connected with the accuracy of a veteran, but he wasn't focusing on that as he already began to retract his leg and shift his weight. Pulling his leg back towards his body, yet still in the air Kaito cocked it so that it was now ready to land blows at the midsection of the post along with the lower area without him having to reload his stance. Flexing his leg muscles quickly Kaito launched a crisp attack on the midsection of the post causing it to rattle backwards which he then followed with a swift kick towards the bottom area of the post before swinging his leg back towards the ground. Without any break in his flow of movement, Kaito spun around bringing his hips back into an almost seated position as he readied himself for another quick shift in weight, but at the same time he didn't want to remove his eyes from the post just in case he had to adjust his line of attack.

As Kaito came smoothly out of his turn, Kaito brought his left leg into the air so that it was now swiftly approaching the top of the post with devastating speed since it had gathered momentum from the turn, but at the same time the kick was still under control. When the blow finally landed and the post rattled once again with the force of having been struck that hard, Kaito landed without a sound yet he was still filled with much satisfaction as he quickly threw a sweeping kick towards the bottom of the post. Then bouncing up so that he was now standing tall once more Kaito swept his right leg in a circular motion starting from the left over the post again striking it with enough force to make it waver from side to side, but the young shinigami was satisfied. He had seen Gai break the post with nothing more than the after force of his punch so now Kaito was determined to smash the post in front of him as he gathered reiatsu into his left foot as he brought it up into a cocked position off the ground. Pushing straight forward with all his might Kaito let his kick filled with reiatsu explode into the post causing the post to break from the middle outward which caused his confidence to grow as he turned toward his sensei with slight grin playing at the corner of his lips.

+2 fighting skill