| abstract | - Kusagakure, a region of neutrality where individuals could pass through knowing that they'll be unharmed on their travels was where a notorious criminal and his equally innocent friend had been camping tonight. On the peak of a large hill was a makeshift tent, a small fire and a few rations placed on the ground were these two individuals. A young man with dark hair was the one on guard duty, sitting slightly away from the fire as he ate. His name was Hamura Hyūga, a rather ironic choice for a name, whose reputation had been destroyed through his own actions. Yet even so, he sat there, looking at the stars for a brief moment before sighing out loud. Standing up in his attire fit for a cold night such as this, Hamura groaned before turning around. "Uzuha." He called out, "Would you mind getting over here? I need to talk to you." Near the fireplace of the camp, the redhead was resting peacefully with her scarf wrapped around her neck up to her nose. It's such a silly habit of the girl. Regardless, the girl who Hamura referred to as Uzuha had no guard up, completely entrusting herself to the young man. And just as him, Uzuha watched the stars but to the opposite of him, slowly fell asleep. Though before she completely fainted away the voice of Hamura awoke her, causing her to pout at his gentle command that she often listened to without hesitation, "But it's cold, Hamuu! I'm sleepy and I want to stay with the fire." "And I don't care. Get out here or I'll drag you here!" Hamura said, this time with a bit more force. It appeared that, due to his Byakugan, he could pin-point a number of chakra signatures off in the distance closing in on them. However, they started pausing, with the awakening of the other girl catching them off-guard slightly. "Looks like this act will make me far too tired..." The force behind his voice made her shriek a little, scared of him for a mere second. Immediately she scrambled up from her position and back to her feet, grabbing her small bag that she always carries around. "I-I'm sorry Hamu!" She responded loud enough for him to hear, stuttering a little. In that same moment, Uzuha had started to move towards him and stopped a few feet away from him, shortly mesmerised by his Byakugan. To break it, the girl slapped her own cheeks, whining to the poor your man, "I'm cold now...Hamu!" "Cold? Great." Hamura breathed out, with frosty air coming out of his mouth. She wasn't wrong about being cold, but he hadn't the time to deal with such trivialities. "Look, Uzuha. I'm going to be honest with you. You need to learn to defend yourself." Hamura told her on her face, with a cool expression on his face. "So, that's what we'll be practicing tonight before we fall asleep. Because from here on in, the terrain is dangerous and bandits are bound to be aplenty, we can't afford to just rely on my combat experience and skills alone any longer." Upon listening to Hamura's words, Uzuha crosses her arms together and puffed out her cheeks. "Before, Hamu never wanted to train me, even when it was becoming dangerous, moreso than now. But now you do, what has changed your mind?" She cut off the distance between them, him still towering over her with ease. But it was her turn to sigh, taking off her own scarf and throwing it around his neck, for he had yet to learn to shield himself from the cold. She pouted at him, once more and this time he could see it, before it turned into a small smile, "Fine! Because I need to be able to defend Hamu too." "You're such a girl..." Hamura sighed as he grudgingly accepted the scarf. "But on the note of this urgency. It's because it's getting more dangerous. The mountains are unpredictable terrain. You don't need to do anything major. But I don't want to go through the effort of releasing you from kidnappers. So..." Hamura inched his left leg forward and his right leg backwards, moving his arms into a similar position with both of his palms open. "Come and hit me as best as you can." She clenched her fists together and scowled at his comment, "Hey!" But her stiff posture loosened as she listened to his words, causing her to change her expression to something unreadable. She knows that she burdens him with her uselessness in combat. She is aware of how easy of a target she is, reminding her of how she first met the young man. "I know, I know that Hamu. But how could I try to hit you, of all people?" Uzuha truly was hesitant to accept the training, despite of her former words to him. Her hands began to tremble as she fought away her inner-fear. "Sho-should I mimic your stance, Hamu?" "Do anything but that." Hamura scolded her. "Your stance should be something that you're comfortable with moving around in. This is natural to me because of my...heritage. But it'll stiffen you." Hamura paused for a moment, "Now would you hurry up? Pretend I'm a damn bandit or something! Or should I knock you out in an instant?!" "Mouu, Hamu, you're so mean!" Uzuha responded to the latter of his scolding session first. Perhaps it did help her, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath to calm her nerves. She is aware that in actual combat this would be her end, especially if her thoughts went to the fact that she is freezing up right now. Even so, Uzuha listened to Hamura's instructions and visualised the worst bandit she ever encountered. She instinctively put her weight on the balm of her left feet, while placing her right behind her with her arm pulling back to go in for a punch to Hamura's chest. Most likely her full strength, of what she had that time, in that little punch of hers. The moment that Uzuha's fist came close to Hamura's chest, Hamura placed pressure on the balm of his right foot, rotating it ninety degrees to the right as his entire body moved accordingly, evading the entirety of Uzuha's punch while keeping him unharmed. "Your stance is weak and you possess no control. You're going to crash if you continue at that rate." Hamura lectured Uzuha, returning to his stance with little effort. She nearly lost her balance after throwing her punch, sighing joyfully when she doesn't fall over... in front of her Sensei'. Uzuha shifted her body to look at Hamura, "How do you move like that? And, you are telling me to take a stance, or natural stance, but I'm no fighter! I don't know... how to do something like that. I only did what you told me, visualising some bandit and that's that, there was no logic behind my stupid move." Once again the girl stood cross-armed across of Hamura. "Position your body in a way that nobody could move you besides yourself. Think of how tigers sit on all-fours, or how bears stand on their hind legs but are always rooted into the ground." Hamura kept his stance, "Stop being a little girl and persist, you idiot!" Once more the girl pouts at him, "Hamu is still mean." This time she took a serious deep breath, closing her eyes to "feel" the balance of her body, although it was more of a point to focus better. And so, Uzuha lowers herself through her knees, placing her right feet in front of her and moving her left more behind her. Her right arm was lifted higher on her side, around chin height, while her left was brought forth at the height of her abdomen. At last, the red-haired girl opened her eyes and watched Hamura's position, unlike the previous attempt of hitting him, she'd watch him. As such, Uzuha quickly stepped in between his legs with her left leg, while throwing in her left fist for an uppercut followed with her right throwing a punch again to his chest. "Fast learner, huh?" Hamura noted, before switching back to the battle. Now that Uzuha had learned how to place herself appropriately in a situation, Hamura could use a bit more force against her. Within nothing more than a moment, Hamura moved his left arm and positioned it over Uzuha's left, swiftly tapping his palm above her fist, dissipating the force behind it instantly. Soon afterwards, Hamura dragged Uzuha's fist downwards, causing it to collide with her right just before it landed near his chest, breaking through both attacks instantly. A moment afterward, Hamura sent a single palm strike to Uzuha's torso with his right hand in order to test Uzuha's reaction timing. Uzuha flinched as her arms collided with one another, a littering pain went through her. But the girl never took her eyes away from the opponent, a difference from before. Now, Uzuha continued to observe Hamura whereas she noted how fluent he moved compared to her; he easily stopped her attack without much or any force at all. Her eyes tried to anticipate the counter-attack and instinctively stepped aside with her right leg to dodge his palm strike. Yet, Hamura's counter still made contact with her, causing her to stumble backwards and fall on her butt. "That hurts, Hamu!" "And an enemy would've killed you." Hamura bluntly stated, sighing at the girl's tantrums despite understanding that she's never experienced any sort of combat training before. "Just a little bit more and she could probably take out at least two of these weak grunts on her own. As it stands...there are only ten of them and only one possesses any real threat to the both of us. " "Are we still doing this, Hamu?" Uzuha asked him, refusing to get up again and yawned afterwards. She preferred to sleep over their training right now. Yes, she did want to get stronger to be less of a burden, but she didn't realise that it was utmost importance right now. Still she had a pondering question for Hamura, "By the way, why did it feel as if I could slightly imagine your next move? I mean... I doubt that is possible or something, you know." "It's because I used the most predictive move in my arsenal. Most combatants we'll encounter will use such moves at a slower pace, so you shouldn't worry too much." Hamura stated, while thinking to himself about Uzuha's unique origins. Though he discarded the thought at that point. "Anyways, I suppose that's all for today. We have some guests after all." Hamura shifted his neck to his left slightly, his silver Byakugan suddenly replacing his white eyes, releasing a small amount of chakra as he did so. "You can come out now, you pathetic hiders." "I see. Hamu is amazing after all." She praised him nonchalantly, obviously admiring him. Nothing new. "Huh?" Her mind went blank at the words of Hamura. "There were bandits here?" Without any hassle, Uzuha scrambled back on her feet and ran towards Hamura and hid behind him. She clutched his shirt (or vest) slightly, not uttering any complaint or word. "Get away from me, Uzuha." He said calmly, raising his right pointer finger towards the fire. "Stand there and protect that fire from being extinguished. We've got the advantage of high terrain and visibility. We can't afford to lose that when we're outnumbered." Hamura stated calmly, acting almost adult-like despite the position he was in. "Keep your stance grounded. You don't need to move unless you're absolutely sure you won't be struck back, understand?" Hamura finally concluded, focusing his attention on the bandits attempting to surround the duo. "Heh, this kid thinks he's smart!" One of the bandits shouted, laughing as the other bandits did in unison. They inched forward, their weapons being clearly visible with the fire's light radiating off of them. Three of them carried axes, four carried rather simple shortswords, one carried a spear and the other two were unarmed. Nevertheless, they were all big and imposing figures to normal people. But, of course, Hamura wasn't your ordinary young man. She wanted to refuse to let go of him, but Uzuha knows that she'd only be in his way then. Thus, as she listened to his instructions, the girl released her grip. "I-I'm going then." Turning around, the girl quickly glanced back to witness the bandits and their weapons. "Hamu will be fine. He has been through worse." She thought, as she turned back to her objective to defend their camp. The flames exposed her long red hair in the night, a trait of the extinct Uzumaki clan, something that often brought danger to the young girl. But it didn't stop her from taking her fighting stance from before, her eyes open and watching her surroundings. Hamura briefly looked over to Uzuha's position, breathing out as he looked back at the grunts that stood before him. A total of eight stood in front of him, the two unarmed combatants apparently were sent by their leader to attack Uzuha, whom Hamura trusted could fight them off. They were, after all, the weakest of the lot from physical appearances alone. Hamura, with Uzuha away from himself, intensified his glare towards the grunts that appeared before him. "Come on. Fight me if you dare, cowards." He provoked, his grin turning murderous as he did so. On the other hand, two of the grunts appeared in front of Uzuha quite quickly. The first of the pair, short and thin, only a year or two older than Hamura was, laughed and taunted Uzuha, "Hohoho, what a cute little girly we have here! Mind if I take her, Uso?" His companion, named Uso, responded, "Hehehe, leave some for me won't you, Tsuku?" With a mutual nod between the two of them, the man named Tsuku dashed forward in an attempt to grab Uzuha by the throat and pin her downwards, using his right arm to do so. Uzuha shivered at the conversation between the two bandits, shaking visibly. It was the second time that she faced these type of guys by herself, however, this time she could have expected it. She narrowed her eyes at the man named Tsuku, and Uzuha noted the differences, "He isn't as fast as Hamu." It was the same again, her eyes managed to follow her opponent's movements. Slightly pulling her right arm back, she went in with a quick and hopefully strong punch forward to his abdomen, when Tsuku was too close to her. "Hah, even a little girl could knock you out? Pathetic, Tsuku!" The man named Uso laughed as his comrade fell onto the ground through the impact of Uzuha's — surprisingly — strong punch. In response, the man ran forward and immediately attempted to connect a flurry of light punches towards Uzuha's shoulders prior to raising his right arm up high, clenching his fist and bringing it down, the momentum being enhanced by the force of gravity hopefully knocking the young girl out momentarily. On the other hand, Hamura was eyeing the five bandits that had now surrounded him in a circular position. The three who possessed axes and two of the shortsword-wielding bandits surrounded him, while two others safeguarded their obvious leader. Hamura, smirking in response to the situation, outstretched both his left and right arm, placing them both horizontally on the opposite sides of their intended positions at Hamura's body. As he did so, he stretched his left leg away from his right and bent it at the knee slightly, with chakra visibly exerting from his pores. "Eight Trigrams..." He began to recite, inciting the bandits to attack the young man, "Palms Revolving Heaven!" At that very moment, Hamura's arms became parallel to the heights of his shoulders as his body began to rotate clockwise at intense speeds, surrounding him in a spherical, spinning volume of powerful chakra that repelled all assaults against the young man. The constant rotation broke through the bandits of the weapons and left them severely grazed as they were all blown aback by the impenetrable force of the barrier. "Is this it?" Hamura's voice echoed from the now dissipating barrier of chakra, as he noticed the five bandits collapsed on the ground from Hamura's previous defensive maneuver. "Man, I haven't even used any offensive movements yet..." He groaned as he scratched his hair, obviously inciting anger from the bandit leader. However, on the other hand, his activated Byakugan was able to notice Uzuha's situation, which he was calmly assessing as he kept the bandits in front of him on edge. Her stance didn't falter but definitely she was shocked within. She couldn't believe that she did it! Whether it was by luck, Uzuha felt confident enough to completely depend on her eyes. Again, the running man moved slow before her, it was as if she pressed down the slow-button on a sound recorder (hearing them in slow motion), but then in a movie format. Her eyes flickered to the left and right to anticipate the man's moves. Through that, Uzuha attempts to move aside to dodge the first-go of the flurry of light punches before throwing a quick left punch forward. Instinctively, she glanced up, moving a step back in the hope to dodge the late-noticed attack of Uso, most likely still grazing her. Uso's attack, which managed to slightly push back Uzuha despite being interrupted by her left punch, caused Uso to also be lightly injured as well. Shrugging it off, he noticed that the boy on the other side was making trouble for his comrades. Knowing full well that wasting his time with the girl was useless, Uso charged towards Hamura, attempting to batter him away with a shoulder barge from his left shoulder. Hamura's eyes peered to his right as he noticed Uso charging away from Uzuha. Anchoring his left foot into the ground, Hamura used it as a pivot and rotated left, managing to completely evade the shoulder charge as he stood behind Uso, who struggled to stop himself until he stomped on the floor. However, Uso's reaction was far too slow. In only a moment, as Uso managed to turn around to launch another assault, Hamura ran with his left foot forward and bypassed Uso's meager defense, his right palm appearing close to his chest as he slammed it into the bandit's own, propelling him away from the hill, severely injuring, if not killing him. "Aww, come on. That's all?" Hamura sighed, looking at the last three bandits that were in front of him, watching the entire spectacle. Uzuha stumbled back onto the ground, breathing out as the bandit ran away from her, before realising he was charging towards Hamura. She closed her eyes ashamed that she failed him from keeping them away and under control. Clenching her fists together, the redhead brought herself up and then watched in awe how he countered Uso in that moment. Wanting to help him the girl knew she would be in his way and thus stayed back at the fire. The battle between the three remaining bandits and Hamura would begin now. "Boss," the left-man began to whisper, "That brat killed our comrades." The big man, the so-called 'boss', snorted at his comrade. "As if I didn't see that myself, moron." He smiled deviously at Hamura, "Boy, why don't you and I join hands? You clearly have the power. We could plunder the lands together! And that pretty girl will be in good hands too." "Join hands?" Hamura let out a small laugh, "You guys aren't even on my level. Why would I join hands with someone who I can defeat with the most simple of techniques?" Hamura questioned the man, before registering his comment about Uzuha. "Ah, so you guys are trying to use her as a hostage...Sadly, that isn't enough to aggravate me." Hamura crossed his arms, "I'm going to give you two options. Either you leave here and never encounter us again, or you can die by my hand. The choice is yours, bandits." "It was worth a shot to get a nice recruit in, whatcha say boys?" The boss voiced to both his grunts and Hamura. The quiet one lowered himself in a position to be able to act swiftly, would the Hyūga make an attempt to attack them. "It is fruitless to continue this pitiful fight. We've lost too many of our comrades to this brat. Losing our own lives is even more useless. It's your win," the boss backed away slowly, lowering his voice in the end, "this time." Both the goons/grunts followed after the boss, taking up the choice of Hamura to get out alive and abandon their comrades that were still unconscious there. Back in the fireplace, Uzuha took a step back as the man, Tsuku, got back up from her previous attack. "Damned, you surely got me there girly." He grinned at her miserable form, taking a step closer to her as she shrank away from him. "Not so much confidence now, huh?" She let out a muffled scream as he covered her mouth with his hand, as he tugged her towards him. "Now, now, we don't want your friend to be alarmed just yet." "...Shit!" Hamura's senses spiked, as his eyes turned to the right and noticed Uzuha being restrained by one of the thugs. While he had noticed the other grunts walking away, Hamura breathed out for a moment. "I haven't mastered it...but it should work enough at this distance." Hamura, looking towards the man, possessed a look of utter fury within his eyes. "Uzuha...brace yourself." He said, almost hesitatingly, as he raised his left arm. In a sudden snapping motion, his arm was outstretched and his palm slightly cupped. "Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm!" He roared, as the vacuum shell released from the movement of his palm created a cylindrical wave of force that attempted to batter the man away from Uzuha by targeting his exposed shoulder.
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