I know it's been forever since I updated, and I'm so sorry. I want to say, though, that reading some of your comments honestly brought back a lot of inspiration for me. I don't intend to abandon any of my stories, ever, but that doesn't mean that my update schedule can ever be called reliable. Because I'm so late, I wanted to pose a little reward for you all. See below for details.
Hitsuki sat beautifully in seiza and behind him stood Shiori and HIbiki to either side, their expressions all frozen in tight-lipped smiles. "You meant to say you wish to test my men?" Hitsuki asked, his tone nonchalant. His poisonous green stare bore holes into Shimura Danzo. While he had expected having to prove his clan's worth, he hadn't expected such a vicious snake to hide amongst the trees.
"Yes." The Shimura clan head declared it evenly, his expression unwavering.
"I see," Hitsuki replied just as casually, "Shiori?"
"Hai, Hitsuki-sama," the woman at his shoulder stepped forward with her book splayed out across her hands. She bowed graciously and held it up for him to read, though he didn't even glance towards her. "According to the grading scale employed by the hidden villages, and our encounters with missing-nin thus far, all of our clansmen quality as tokubetsu jonin at the least."
Hitsuki tilted his head to the side, his hair swaying languidly with the motion, and his gaze swept over the council hall. He studied the expressions of his soon-to-be fellow clan heads and finally rested on Shimura again. "I have no objections."
The statement Shiori made had silenced the hall, none dared to even breathe, but Hitsuki's declaration broke that silence with a sudden intake of air. An entire clan, regardless of its size, being tokubetsu jonin ranked? It was absurd, unheard of.
Sarutobi watched the goings-on without a bat of an eyelash. He needed no test to understand the truth behind Shiori's statement. "At the least," she had said. He wasn't going to be the one to let it be known they were probably all S-ranked. Every single one of them. The Byakko clan was truly demonic.
The Professor turned Hokage stood and all attention was given to him. "The situation is a bit unorthodox, but since the Byakko have announced their willingness, I propose a battle of wits. Byakko versus the clans of Konoha. Each clan will be allotted one representative to pose a one-on-one challenge. Say, in three days?"
Hitsuki waved his hand in acquiesce and Shiori returned to her place next to her husband. Then he turned his Yamato Nadeshiko smile on the rest of them. "Anyone of chuunin rank or higher are welcome to challenge my men on that date."
He extended his hands and rested them in Shiori and Hibiki's waiting ones. They assisted him to his feet and he turned slightly, his profile elegant and imposing. "Please excuse my clan's impoliteness. We shall seclude ourselves for three days to meditate."
With his brother in all but blood on one side and his best friend on the other, Byakko Hitsuki swept out of the council hall and left the Hokage to the chaos of his subordinates.
Three days later, every available and able-bodied shinobi in Konoha was gathered at the testing site. Most were hidden though, and only the clan heads and their select entourages were visibly present.
In contrast, Byakko Hitsuki sat across from all the others with all eight of his clan members behind him, their armor and demeanor impeccable. They all donned their facial coverings and the tigers were already swarming at their feet, clouding the ground in a whiteish mist.
"Today," Sarutobi stood to announce without raising his voice, but the clearing was unnaturally silent and all could hear him, "the rules are simple. Anyone of chuunin rank or higher is allowed one challenge. The Clans are limited further to one representative each. Each challenge will end at first surrender, or if one party becomes incapable of continuing. This is a battle amongst friends, so intent to kill is an immediate disqualification and forfeit."
He emptied his pipe of its built-up ashes and sat once more, "Then, let the first match begin."
The words had barely left his mouth when the Inuzuka clan head strode forward, sharp teeth glistening in a smile. "Representing the Inuzuka, Tokubetsu Jonin and Clan Head, Inuzuka Tsume, present."
Hitsuki cast a glance at her, studying both her and the dog at her side, then tilted his head slightly to look at his clansmen. He raised a hand and beckoned with a finger to no one in particular.
The blond male stepped forward, swinging the spear from his back in a striking sweep of his arms. "Representing the Byakko in the Byakko versus Konoha, Byakko Ryuu, present." His scarf muffled the words only slightly and its sweeping tails drifted after him illusively. The tiger at his feet rose from its leisure position and shook itself, but Hitsuki raising his hand had the tiger plopping back on the ground.
The choice was unusual, Inoichi thought. The Inuzuka clan was probably the least suited to being shinobi out of all the clans. They cared little for stealth or strategy. Almost always, they relied on brute strength to get by. Pitting them against Ryuu, who was almost the picture of composure, was odd.
Inoichi leaned forward, suddenly curious about the reasoning Hitsuki had for this fight. There was something about the Byakko that they still did not understand, and this would potentially put forth some answers to his many questions.
On the field, the two combatants bowed their heads in acknowledgement of each other and stepped back to drop into ready poses.
Unsurprising to all who watched, Tsume and her large ninken made the first move. With a sudden burst of speed, she kicked for Ryuu's legs and punched at his jaw with the other arm.
Both struck air, and Kuromaru lunged for the man's thighs, teeth bared.
Having lunged back at her attack, Ryuu used the staff of his spear to block the dog's bite, catching the canine right between the teeth. Spinning the spear into a blur around his wrist, he dove under another of Tsume's punches and used the palm of his other hand to strike her chest.
Tsume had appeared to dodge it, throwing herself to the side to miss it, but the air pressure behind the thrust still had her clothes torn roughly. She caught herself in a skid on her hands, leaping forward again, sharp eyes watching his every move.
Kuromaru had backed away after the first block, but he was on Ryuu's other side.
The spear was impractical in a close-range fight, so Ryuu swung it onto his back, falling into a strangely deep-seated stance. He redirected Tsume's punch with his left wrist guard and blocked her kick with the right. He hooked a leg behind hers and bodily threw her into the way of her ninken's attack.
The dog wasn't alarmed in the slightest and only attacked around her, his claws similarly blocked by Ryuu's legs.
Tired of the dodging game, Tsume dug her toes into the ground and bolted forward at speeds almost too fast to see.
Her fist was met with one of Ryuu's, a sudden stillness interrupting the flow of their fight. The force behind both their punches caused the air to ripple outward, suddenly surging pressure up both their bodies until miniscule cuts opened on both their arms.
To match the Inuzuka in brute strength, just how strong was Ryuu? The blond certainly wasn't the most built out of his clan members. Inoichi wasn't sure if he could really consider this a fight. There wasn't a single wasted move on Ryuu's part, and his counters were simple but devastating. There wasn't even half of an opening for Tsume to exploit, and they were only seconds into the fight and already at a standstill.
"You're not so shitty, brat," Tsume said, spitting blood. She shifted into another of the Inuzuka's stances and watched him closely, "But that's not all you got."
Ryuu quirked a brow but said nothing. He rolled his neck with a crack and shifted weight from one foot to the other, silver eyes going from the woman to the dog and back again. Curling his fingers, claws dropped on each and he finally said, "Three strikes."
The air rung with confusion, but Ryuu was already on the offensive. He dropped a kick on her head but it was dodged, the force of his foot striking the ground creating a sizeable crater. His eyes were practically alight as he ducked under another of her swipes, hand closing around her forearm to drag her forward.
He clipped her jaw with his elbow and was on the move once more, Kuromaru's teeth barely missing his shin. Sweeping his leg under the canine, he thrust up with his foot, forcing the dog up into the air.
Somehow, he had the dog by the throat in one hand and he caught Tsume around the neck with the other, forcing the both onto the ground on their backs.
That last move was too fast for Inoichi to catch, but he easily caught the look of rage on Tsume's face when she realized her position. She struggled not to growl in fury and forced herself to go limp, the surrender obvious.
Ryuu let them both go in an instant, suddenly standing in front of his clansmen as if the last five minutes hadn't occurred at all.
The Inuzuka clan head was displeased, but she could accept her defeat nonetheless. Neither of them had been truly serious, and she had known how her fight was going to end from the beginning. Just because they didn't like strategy didn't mean the Inuzuka didn't understand politics. The Byakko couldn't afford to lose here, so she took the hit to her pride with a laugh.
Now though, her interest in the Byakko was truly piqued. By the time Ryuu had disengaged his spear, he had gauged her speed and her strength, shifting his to match. That was the only explanation she could think of, especially since he had not touched the whip.
She met the blond's gaze and nodded once. She smiled at his returned nod and went back to her seat. "The Inuzuka are satisfied."
Inoichi had the sudden urge to pick Tsume's brain. He made a note to have a talk with her later. While it was true that there were some things only observation could recognize, there were things only those who actively fought could notice too.
Sarutobi smiled around the end of his pipe. Everyone always said the Inuzuka were unintelligent mutts, but there was no one else he would have used to test this new clan. Their feral instinct would pick out the bad apples in a blink.
"Inuzuka Tsume versus Byakko Ryuu in the Konoha versus Byakko has concluded. Next?"
This chapter was short, but I wanted to get something out to you guys while I had the ideas fresh. Here's my reward:
I'm not intending to include all the fights, or their many possible combinations, in this story. That would clutter the arc I have planned too much. There will only be three more fights in the next chapter, but I'll let you guys help decide which ones. Throw me an opponent (anyone from Konoha that would be reasonably chuunin or higher roughly eight years before canon starts), who you want to pair them against (based on the Byakko's temperament and weapon choice, maybe?), and why!
The most requested and/or best-reasoned fights will be included next. The ones that don't make it in the chapter will instead get pushed into a series of one-shots I have planned to accompany The Tiger Sleeps.