Chapter 45: Disgruntled Birds, Stagnant Wall
There was a different air that settled within the halls he walked. Some would consider change to be a good thing, especially in halls that are as monotonous as these, but Neji could only be unsettled by the happenings within his own clan. He could never claim to be the staunchest supporter of his own clan, none outside of the main family could convince anyone of that lie. There was more than a fair share of notable and painfully obvious failings within the Leaf Village's grandest clan, but lately there seemed to finally be cracks within the long-standing Hyuuga.
Neji would never allow any to call him naive. His eyes were infallible in seeing the world that passed in front of them. A branch member being named as the tutor for the potential heirs was no small statement and Lord Hiashi knew that when he went forward with the proclamation. With the silent disgruntled mumblings that have brewed in recent years and Neji's quick rise in being the most lauded practitioner of the Hyuuga's arts, many of the branch members began to feel less comfortable than they already were in their positions, and so, Lord Hiashi meant to calm them with the appointment. It was an olive branch not only to Neji and the main family, but the main family and the branch family.
However, it was an olive branch extended too little too late.
The reverence that was shown to Neji has only increased in the many weeks since he's taken over Hanabi and Hinata's training regimens. More frequently have the pained yells of branch members echoed through the thin, quiet walls of the Hyuuga clan building. Neji couldn't claim to know exactly why his clansmen were being punished more, but he could speculate more than his fair share of ideas. It was just as likely that the Elders of the clan had gone about trying to curb what they saw as insubordination or behavior that wasn't acceptable within the Hyuuga clan as it was for the branch members to have truly decided to step over the line in their new sense of pride. The reverence that was shown to him was no more small glances and hidden bows as he passed, there were those that treated him as they would the true heir to the clan, and by all standards that was to be punished harshly. Not that he agreed to the practice, never, but he's understood the laws within his clan for many years as well as the price for disobeying those laws.
These happenings were the reason Neji was taking his time joining his cousins in their training yard. Undoubtedly, many eyes would be on the training session and only few would find their gazes upon Hinata or Hanabi. It was as if his clansmen were unclear about the job given to him from their lord. He was to strengthen the prospective heirs for their upcoming trials to decide who would lead the clan, he was not establishing himself as the better option. Neji was trapped between the beliefs and hopes of others, making it hard enough for him to breathe within the walls of his own home.
It was an odd place to be when the time spent with Guy-sensei and Lee was less hectic than the walls of his clan's compound.
Neji shook his mind out of its own unneeded thoughts as he turned his mind back to the session he was to have with his cousins, or he would've had the he not been joined so quickly by an aged face he has seen more and more of in these unsettled times. The gentle smile of Koshiro Hyuuga, a fellow branch member that has made it a point to show Neji how important he was in the eyes of their clansmen, passed into the genin's line of sight from a corridor that met the one he walked. The old man stopped as their pale eyes met and gave a bow that was deeper than could ever be expected from a man that's lived as long as he has. In truth, the display stopped Neji in his tracks and sent a wave of anxiety through him, making him check their surroundings for any prying eyes.
"It is nice to see you, Koshiro, but is all this necessary?" He asked the elderly man not without a few sparks of heat in his voice. When he thought he was to be punished for learning main family techniques, Neji didn't mind the gentleness shown from the man. Subsequently, after that initial meeting, there was only discomfort to be found that grew with the increased actions the man showed him. However, he couldn't demand Koshiro away from him. They were kin, they were clansmen, and they were caged in the exact same ways.
And Neji couldn't ignore the itch that such actions scratched for him. He couldn't ignore the feeling that the admiration gave him, even if he didn't agree with it.
"No, probably not, but I'd ask you to give an old man this concession." Koshiro rose and on his face was the gentlest smile one could form on their face. It would've been disarming had it been the first time Neji had seen it. In fact, it had disarmed him the first time he saw it. Such raw kindness and warmth was another reason Neji has not demanded such things to be put to an end. There seemed to be naught but good intentions hidden behind such blatant actions. "I have sought you out to ask you some questions if it pleases you, Neji."
There was little Neji could do as a reply, soon after the question was asked, Neji was joined by Koshiro down the path to the training room he was meant to be in. Nonetheless, Neji gave the man a nod of assurance.
"What is it you wish to speak to me about, Koshiro." Neji asked, knowing that the two weren't merely in for a quiet stroll through the halls.
"Nothing serious, my boy, you can relax." The old man replied with a light, airy chuckle. However, the man's arms then rose to join in front of him, each arm sliding into the opposing sleeve, and then, Neji knew that it was to be very serious. "I am merely curious about the progress of our good heirs. I take the future of our great clan seriously and it makes me wonder how you see their improvements as their tutor."
Again, nothing in the man's voice betrayed anything but abject kindness, like the old man was just as he seemed. All-seeing eyes, though, couldn't be deceived with honeyed words. There was very much a deeper level of questioning here.
"They have progressed finely, Koshiro. Lady Hanabi, however, is simply more suited to our martial art and techniques. Lady Hinata has grown very much, do not take my words otherwise, but Lady Hanabi's progress is worth noting." Neji replied as strictly as he could have, given the circumstances. Truthfully, the words were poison on his lips. He had no love for the heiresses. At least, he couldn't claim to love them anything true, not outside of their mere blood relation. Hinata spat in the face of the privileges that she was given and Hanabi lived those privileges to the fullest. Two gross representations of opposing ends. But those were not words that could be spoken, not by him or any else outside of Lords Hiashi and Hirohito.
"I see, that is quite the conundrum to hear for our sweet Lady Hinata. I hope not to come off wrongly, my boy, but it is not hard to hope for Lady Hinata's success. She is such a gentle soul that I would be remiss not to wish for her success in following our great Lord Hiashi." Koshiro matched Neji's way of speaking perfectly and then surpassed it by leagues. Anyone could consider the approbation as wholehearted without a twitch of a nose or blink of an eye. But as a member of the same walk of life, Neji could sniff out his true words easily enough.
Hinata, by nature, wouldn't be as hard of a hand on the branch family as Hanabi will be. Despite his feelings on the subject, Neji wouldn't allow those words to depict Hanabi as cruel, but where Hinata cared little of her status, Hanabi held it to the highest esteem. She would carry the clan further into the direction it was on instead of initiating the change that was so desperately wanted by the branch family. The Caged Bird Seal was crafted once the Byakugan became more prominent through the members of the Hyuuga, establishing itself as a true bloodline. It was made to ensure that opposing clans couldn't use such a utility against them, but that slowly grew into a binary dichotomy of subjugated and subjugator. With Hanabi succeeding Lord Hiashi, that could be only more reinforced.
Yet another reason Neji couldn't openly dismiss those that looked to him. In spite of his own feelings, he didn't want to take that hope away from those that desperately needed it. With Elders being more harsh on them, with their freedoms being retained to their duties to the clan, and with a potential heiress that will inevitably impose more restrictions, he had no strength to fight against it.
"We shall see, in due time, Koshiro. There are still many months until anything is decided. All will be known then." Neji reassured, hopefully ending such talk so he could continue with his day. Koshiro halted their stroll through the halls, turning to face Neji with the same smile he tended to wear.
"Indeed, Neji. In good time, all things shall be decided and patience is all that is asked." Koshiro nodded as he spoke and turned to leave, but not without a pat on Neji's shoulder as he started to backtrack through the compound. Again, there was something hidden in those words, but Neji had no frame of reference to decipher the hidden meaning. Shaking his head, Neji turned back toward his destination and within two swift turns he was walking toward the door to the training area.
But, in his way was Lord Hiashi standing in a silent wait just outside the door. The eyes of his clan leader were much harsher when their gazes met. No warm smiles were found on the lord's face and nor were there gentle words to be expected to come from his mouth. Instead, Neji found a poorly hidden sense of irritation within the man's eyes, but when he addressed Lord Hiashi, no such observation was stated.
"Lord Hiashi." Neji stated, bowing to the clan head before all else. When he rose, Neji watched Lord Hiashi take adeep, hopefully calming, breath before taking a step to close the distance between the two. The head of the Hyuuga clan then put a hand on Neji's shoulder and leaned down to share an eye level with the genin.
"Just know, Neji, that I am not unaware of the happenings in the clan. I understand the predicament we are in. Currently, I am in discussions with the Elders over their behaviors as well as the actions of the branch members. I cannot lie, it will be difficult. The Elders were established to keep order and the values of the clan upheld. They are to work in harmony with the clan head, not be reigned over or to reign over. Nonetheless, I hope to end whatever sickness is flowing in our clan. I hope you do not see me as an enemy or as someone that is not working for your wellbeing. Our cooperation, yours and mine, is imperative. Do you understand?" Pale eyes drilled into Neji's and the genin was stunned. This felt like it was completely out of nowhere, like an attack from the ground when your eyes are on the sky.
"I understand, Lord Hiashi." Neji replied with little surety in his voice. It was hard to be sure when caught so off guard. The clan head cared not, however, as he rose and nodded his head at Neji before sliding past him to leave Neji to his duties to the heiresses on the other side of the door.
Neji always reveled in the surety of his all-seeing eyes, but lately they have failed him. Fate didn't seem so clear to him, the road he was to walk obscured with the unsurety of the future, and Neji knew that it was to come to a head eventually. A choice would have to be made, clearly, between the branch family and Lord Hiashi and yet he had no inkling of where he was to go. Did he side with a man he knew to be good in Lord Hiashi, a man that seemed dedicated to the change that they needed? Or, did he side with those that needed that change, the people that he was a part of? COuld he be the driving factor that flips the Hyuuga clan on its own head?
For once, he wished there was another to tell his Fate for him.
Sasuke stood alone in the grounds he and Kakashi have been using for his individual training. The Sun had yet to rise over the horizon, the clouds had yet to depart from the sky, and the wind gently pushed through the rough terrain at the top of the Hokage Monument. The orange-brown stone that he stood upon was worn from the intense activities that had taken place from the training session, so much so that Sasuke was sure that there would be a layer of sand under his feet soon enough and underneath it would be a smooth rock surface. Despite the aggressive wear and output from these sessions with Kakashi, Sasuke was looking for more this time around. Naruto may have left the village days ago, but his words of asking more from Kakashi sat in the back of his mind and stirred enough for his resolve to harden enough to follow through with the suggestion.
Only if his sensei could show up. Hokage or not, there was no reason that a newly-minted chunin is more punctual to these sessions. Who cares if it's in line with the man's personality?
Admittedly, there was little waiting for Kakashi's arrival into the clearing between stoney spires, but his approach was as hurried as the wintry winds on a hot day in the Leaf Village. Still, the man showed up without hours elapsing and time being wasted, so Sasuke's resolve tightened in preparation of a sure-footed and hard-headed demand for something more. Something palpable that he can look at for his progression to know that he was drawing closer to his own mountainous goal.
"Yo." Kakashi greeted the chunin, a hand removing itself from its pocket to give a lazy wave. Sasuke merely nodded at the greeting and straightened his back, bowing out his chest enough to establish himself more as his gaze hardened on his sensei. The Kage noticed this right away, Sasuke could see the recognition in the man's eyes just before the "request" was made.
"I want something more. I'm ready to learn something useful." Sasuke spoke with the hope that his tone didn't betray the insecurity in his own words. It was hard to be demanding toward a Kage, especially one that was giving him the boon of these sessions before the day truly started. The circumstance drove Sasuke into an unfamiliar position of not being able to truly assert himself as he had no power to assert. But, hopefully, he convincingly acted as if he did have a base to stand upon.
Kakashi's eye narrowed at him ever so slightly, but he didn't say anything. In fact, neither said a word for a few brief minutes before an airy chuckle came from Kakashi's throat. The noise made Sasuke relax. The small noise was enough to change the Uchiha's forward thought away from any potential punishment to filtering through the possible techniques he could learn.
"Honestly, I was expecting something like this much sooner, so I commend you for your patience but the request was a little unnecessary." Kakashi began, his words bringing a furrow to Sasuke's brow but the boy didn't bother interrupting. "With Naruto out of the village for the time being, I had a thought that you'd have some extra time on your hands. It is hard to ask Sakura to push you as hard as Naruto can in your afternoon meetings."
Sasuke chuffed at that thought. Sakura may have been putting in more than sufficient time to develop her skills as a kunoichi, but from what he saw and heard, they weren't of the physical kind. She was just getting the hang of controlling that mannequin puppet and she likely didn't have the faculties to replace Naruto's energy and output. Very few had that ability, definitely not an apprenticed puppeteer.
"However, what I am about to show you comes with a bit of a caveat, I'm afraid." Kakashi started, holding up a hand with a single finger raised. "First, you will not use this outside of my supervision without expressed permission. Second," another finger was raised, "if you use this, it should only be in extreme cases and in situations you are prepared to kill without a second thought. Lastly," the third finger rose, "should you even think about turning this technique on an ally, I will personally ensure you can never do so again. Am I clear?"
Kakashi's words were hard and his rules were unbending. However, this preamble didn't deter Sasuke in the slightest. In actuality, such words only spoke to him of the weight the technique he was to learn would have and that it was leaps and bounds above his regimen of improving his physical prowess.
"Crystal." Sasuke replied to Kakashi's rules without a beat of hesitation, he was wholeheartedly willing to follow any rules laid out as long as he was given something he could use. As long as it could be utilized against Itachi he would be willing to become Kakashi's personal assistant. Luckily, the price was much more manageable.
"Good. Now I want you to watch closely and copy every movement I am about to perform." The Kage said as he searched out a proper target with his sole visible eye and walked to a spot that was at least a dozen yards out from it. Sasuke followed the man's movements, staying more than a few paces away from him as his Sharingan activated and began spinning wildly to trace every action Kakashi took.
His teacher lifted the slanted portion of his headband to release his own copying eye as his whole body became squared with a stone spire that looked like it was trying to reach high enough to scrape the clouded sky. Kakashi performed nine hand seals, all three of them done slowly and deliberately even if the actions were unnecessary. Realistically, he could've cycled through the signs as quickly as he could and the Sharingan would pick up the slack, but the Kage wanted to truly allow Sasuke to understand what he was watching. As soon as the seals were performed, his right hand stiffened and his palm was directed to the ground that lay between his feet with the other arm folding over to brace the extended limb at the bicep. In one controlled burst of energy, lightning danced across Kakashi's stiffened arm, jolting from fingertip to elbow. Then, immediately after, that jolt was followed by an explosion of elemental chakra that was concentrated within the man's hand and shearing off in massive arcs.
Wind picked up around the Kage and bolts of lightning chakra were forming and dancing all around the man like he was harnessing a lightning storm within the palm of his hand, but that wasn't the most jarring part of the technique. With the lightning chakra came the sound of chirping, but nothing quite so pleasant as it sounds. When one hears the word "chirping", the thought of a bird, or a family of birds, in a nest comes to mind. But here? Here it sounded as if that family of nested birds was joined by hundreds of more to accumulate in a dreaded symphony of pure elementally manipulated chakra.
"Chidori!"
Despite the display of Kakashi's technique in front of him, Sasuke couldn't help but be surprised when the man took off to complete the attack. He didn't move like he usually did, he didn't move with the speed Sasuke was used to in their training, but rather the Hokage flew from his position and into the rocked surface of the stone spire. In less than a second, the dozen feet that separated the two points in space were covered and joined with a loud thunderclap. Pieces of the rocky ground were thrown into the air, chunks of the stone spiral at many levels fell to the ground in heaps, and a cloud of dust and dirt concealed Kakashi from Sasuke's vision. It was like the arm that his teacher used to accumulate pure Lightning Release was a lance that cut through the air in front of him, like his arm was a bolt that charged him forward at speeds that blurred in Sasuke's immature Sharingan.
When the base of the spire was no longer clouded by loose dirt, Kakashi slowly became visible once again to the chunin. The man's right arm was still stiff and extended, but now fully buried in the stone structure. The arm used to brace the lancing arm still held strong on the bicep, but everything below it was fully submerged in stone as cracks extended out on the rock's face like a spiderweb. It took a few seconds and a few stiff jerks from Kakashi to remove the arm from stone, but with a single fluid pull, the arm came out with rocks and pebbles flowing from the deep whole that now sat in the spire.
Sasuke patiently waited as Kakashi wiped off his arm of dirt and replaced his headband over his Sharingan eye before making the walk back to his starting spot. The man looked no worse for wear after using the technique, not even any significant signs of fatigue showing through the man as he stopped in front of Sasuke with his hands deep in his pockets.
"Now it's your turn, but I do warn you, even with the Sharingan, the Chidori makes it hard to get used to the tunnel vision." Kakashi noted but with little stoniness in his voice, gone were the warnings that built up the technique and back was Sasuke's usual teacher. With a nod, Sasuke took up the spot Kakashi once stood and followed every step he watched and copied movement for movement.
The seals were performed, his arm extended, and he pushed all of the chakra he could to his right arm, manipulating it all into lightning as it flowed out of his hand. Immediately, as Sasuke's body instinctively followed every one of Kakashi's movements, the strain of such a technique was felt in the chunin. While Kakashi walked back as if he had just performed a chore, Sasuke could already feel his body shaking from the stress of the Chidori as he was merely preparing the jutsu. The few seconds it took to fully charge the jutsu felt like hours as he strained to find the equilibrium in his hand, but once he had Sasuke wasted no time.
Thrusting his arm forward, the Uchiha felt his body be practically dragged from his spot and forward into whatever resistance it could find. The scenery around him blurred in his periphery, all of his focus narrowing into the point just ahead of his lightning-covered palm. In truth, Sasuke was shocked to find his arm buried into stone as he didn't even see it coming until it was just in front of him. Just as Kakashi said, even with his eyes he couldn't stop himself from becoming tunnel visioned.
Normally, that sole fact would dampen Sasuke from feeling any sort of pride in completing the technique. It wasn't complete, for all intents and purposes, as he couldn't use it in a fight. Anyone would be able to get away from him or surprise him if he wasn't aware of anything past his palm, but there was no stopping the pride sparking within himself as his face was nearly pressed into the hard surface of the spire his arm was embedded into. He also couldn't ignore the fatigue that filtered through his system the moment he regathered his bearings and the world became open to him once again. It felt as if he was already pushed through his whole training session and it's only been a few short minutes.
With a heaved grunt, Sasuke forced his arm from the stone, shaking it out once it was free and removing the pebbles that clung to it. He took a few deep breaths to calm himself and his breathing, but before he could turn to rejoin his teacher, the man's voice was already approaching him.
"Very good. You followed everything to the letter, but it'll take us some time to get you and your body used to it." Sasuke looked to his right at Kakashi who stopped a few steps short of him, raising an eyebrow at the words. The man made it sound like he was acclimating to some alien substance or something. "You haven't been exposed to something so chakra demanding, so your body has to acclimate to the spike in stress. That, and you will need a few go-throughs for the tunnel vision to fade away. Let's go, we have one or two more tries at the Chidori, then we can run you the rest of the way."
Kakashi turned immediately after he finished speaking to return to their starting spot, but Sasuke's blood ran cold at the words. With how tired one run-through of the Chidori made him, having more attempts with added exercises after was no less than torture. The Uchiha was briefly stuck in his spot preparing himself mentally for the coming hours when his teacher called back to him.
"Come on, my precious student, I hope you didn't expect this to get easier. Did you?" The condescending tone of his teacher was a little lost in the strong gust of wind that blew through the grounds, but it was loud enough to reach his ears and loud enough to make him groan silently to the sky.
"I shouldn't have listened to Naruto. This might just kill me."
Though he never died, not truly, from the training Kakashi was subjecting him to, he might as well have been after the Hokage departed the training ground after each day they met. The exhaustion from the Chidori's chakra expenditure, along with the drills he was to run after the fact, made it hard for Sasuke to do anything but confine himself to his bed and wait for the next morning for another round of the intensive training. But, despite this level of fatigue, Sasuke was sure to never speak of his troubles or complain of what Kakashi was asking of him. This is what he wanted and he was going to make the most of it.
After every morning session, he would meet Sakura at Training Ground 3 as he said he would after Naruto let them know he was leaving on a mission. The two didn't go back and forth as he and Naruto did, but they did walk through this or that and Sasuke would help with any errant thoughts on Sakura's mind, and vice-versa. However, for the most part, Sasuke took the time to recover and watch Sakura slowly become more comfortable maneuvering her practice puppet around, her skills no longer limiting her to a tripping around puppet and a series of groans. She was working on making use of more explosive movements with the wood and metal, but she was not yet adept enough to fight with the puppet, not yet. So, until she was, there was little she and Sasuke could drill together that would be worth the kunoichi's time, but that just made Sasuke look forward to his friend's further success. Who knew how long Naruto would be out of the village and he wanted to have someone as a steady sparring partner.
Days passed, time went on, and soon Sasuke was able to acclimate himself to the new training regimen. Sure, he was still well-worked after his meetings with Kakashi and he was less than perfect hours later, but he was to the point that he had the freedom of training some more after some rest just as he was before. However, unlike before, there was no Naruto to push him the rest of the way, and with the way Sasuke was starting to itch with energy in the evenings, he needed that second round of expenditure. He needed that extra work to push himself farther than he could individually. He needed someone else to help him get stronger, but there weren't many options out there.
As Sasuke wandered through the village hours short of his usual meeting with Sakura, the Uchiha tried to think of who and where he could go to push himself further. His brain cycled through everyone and anyone that could fit the bill until, in a stroke of surprise and triumph, Sasuke remembered the perfect person to help him. Thinking back to an off-handed comment from his blonde teammate about where Team Guy met together, from what he believed was a conversation between the Sand kunoichi and Naruto, Sasuke quickly ended his idle wandering and turned his focus to Training Ground 11 with the silent hope that the person he sought was still there.
Sasuke walked a path much less beaten by his own feet than he was used to within the village. He was familiar with the necessary functions along the main road and marketing places, he knew his own training grounds, but he couldn't claim to know exactly where he was at this moment outside of an approximation of the map of the Leaf he had pictured within his mind. The Uchiha knew, geographically, where the training ground he was looking for sat within the village, but managing the trails of the Leaf was a tricky thing to do without some sense of familiarity. However, given enough time, Sasuke was able to meander about enough to locate the clearing he was aiming for, and with a helping of luck, Team Guy looked to be just dismissing themselves.
He stood at the edge of the ringed clearing that Team Guy claimed as their own to wait for the team to clear out, but in his wait he heard the steps of another visitor to the grounds approach from behind him. He never turned at the sound, having a good idea of who it could be, but rather waited until the approaching kunoichi took a place just to his left and waited along with him.
"What brings you here, Uchiha?" Temari of the Desert called to him, intrigue palpable in her voice. The pair of them hadn't shared a conversation together before now, and truthfully, he knew little and less about her outside of Naruto's words in passing conversation. It made it hard for Sasuke to fully engage in the conversation at hand.
"I intend to train with the Hyuuga." He replied short and to the point. Through his periphery, Sasuke could see Temari looking at him, but not at the expression she was showing him. Instead of meeting her gaze, he kept his gaze straight and forward.
"As long as you two don't fly around too much, there should be enough room for the both of us. Unless you wanna try and force us out." Temari spoke again after a short pause, clearly showing a small sense of challenge in her words as she did. There was no need for a response as the team's jounin left the training ground in a burst of speed that was closely followed by Rock Lee and with the opportunity shown, Sasuke stepped into the grounds immediately. The last thing he needed was for Neji to leave just as swiftly without a word getting in about training together.
Neji noticed him quickly, be it from his teammate's eyes or his own that was able to spot him, and the Hyuuga turned around and greeted the Uchiha with a head nod. Sauke was quick to notice that Neji, despite their joint promotion, didn't wear the flak jacket both he and Naruto did, but instead stayed true to his regular clothing. Tenten moved to stand next to Neji, a fan slung across her back with an old rope, as they accepted the pair of visitors but no words were said until Sasuke stood just across the pair with Temari only a few steps behind him.
"What brings such a visit, Sasuke?" Neji's face was impassive as he asked the question, pale eyes not leaving their focus on Sasuke as he did. The Uchiha crossed his arms over his chest and pulled a smirk on his face, betting that the shown confidence could goad his former opponent more than his words would.
"I came to see if you wanted to go a few rounds with me, like we discussed after our match." The recognition in Neji's eyes was immediate and his head nodded slightly just as quickly, but instead of an answer, the chunin looked toward the two kunoichi that listened to them silently.
"Would we be able to hold our sparring here, or would we be in the way of your training?" Sasuke smirked wider at Neji's question as it answered his own as surely as it helped decide where the spar would take place. Tenten looked to the Sand kunoichi for the answer and temari gave an answer similar to what was said earlier.
"As long as you two can keep it to yourselves we won't have a problem." She replied, and while Sasuke didn't turn to look at her, he still felt Temari's eyes focus on the back of his head in warning. Neji looked back at Sasuke and wore a smirk matching his own.
"Very well, I hope you have prepared yourself, Uchiha." Neji told him with no small amount of challenge within his tone. The two pairs of shinobi separated from each other, keeping themselves to separate ends of the ground to not interfere with one another. Neji and Sasuke stood only a couple of yards apart and Neji spoke again to preface their sparring session. "I think we can both agree neither of us want to put the other in the hospital again, so let us battle but not to our fullest."
Sasuke nodded at the Hyuuga's suggestion and they both sunk themselves into a fighting stance. Almost as naturally as falling into a fighting stance, the two prodigious clan members also activated their visual bloodlines at the same time and focused their enhanced gazes at their opponent in a few silent moments of pause. In the distance, the sounds of wild winds blowing through the trees as the two kunoichi conducted their training echoed its way over to them, but none of it served to distract one from the other.
With some form of invisible sign, both chunin shot forward at the same time with their strikes aiming for the other's body. Two fingers of the Hyuuga jabbed forward for Sasuke's chest, chakra absent from the Gentle Fist strike in the name of keeping it light, and Sasuke's right hand followed a straight line toward Neji's stomach. Like his first bout with Neji, Sasuke was able to track the simple jab to perfection, the Gentle Fist being a very straight-forward martial art and Neji being such a proficient practitioner, and as his fist charged forward, the Uchiha turned his shoulders to make the fingered-jab glance off of its target. However, as expected, Neji also held a similar level of foresight and dipped down steep enough to dodge the strike just as Sasuke had.
Both blows were glancing at best and set the standard for the rest of that exchange and many others. One would strike, the other would see it, the strike would miss or barely hit, and the other would start the process all over. Many exchanges ended with the two of them holding each other in place by ankles and wrists to fall into a stalemate, forcing them to separate and reset all over again. No matter how the other mixed up the strikes, the other could see and react with the perfect counter. A ball of flames would dissipate over spinning chakra, techniques spread over Eight Trigrams would be seen and wholly avoided before the first palm could land, but they would still fall into the next exchange with the same vigor as the last.
Sasuke saw soon into the sparring that he would need a layered approach, as he had used in the exams, to ever land anything decisive on Neji. However, such tactics were a bit extreme for a light-hearted spar, such things were hard in a shared training ground, and such a thing was demanding from a boy already fatigued. The only solace in these exchanges that Sasuke could find was that he was not alone in his failed efforts. Neji was finding a similar level of failure, he was showing a similar level of frustration, and by the panting that matched Sasuke's own, he felt the same level of fatigue from previous training.
When the two were finally done, left breathing deeply for breaths on their backs as fans still ripped through the dense forests around them, Sasuke could only feel disappointment within himself. Many weeks had passed since his victory over Neji, and yet he came here to face worse results than he saw back then. Neji may have been injured in their bout, but so was Sasuke. Neji may have been training hard since, but so has Sasuke. Neji was a prodigy, but so was Sasuke. Yet, Sasuke could only feel like he's gone backwards since their first meeting. He didn't expect to run through Neji like he was a scrub, but he expected to show improvement and win in some fashion.
He simply expected more.
"You're improving, Sasuke. You should be proud of yourself. Even with my ribs intact it is hard to keep up with your movements now." Neji spoke up first, but neither bothered to remove themselves from their backs. Sasuke knew that the proper response was to match a compliment with another compliment, but the compliment he received only felt like condescension. It was anything but, however his ears only wished to hear it one way.
"It is not enough." He replied, but in almost a whisper. For a second, Sasuke thought his words were lost in the winds that whipped above them and he kept his eyes focused on the partially clouded sky above. That silent peering was very short-lived, though.
"I have a suspicion that, for you, none will be enough. Search and search, but you'll never find something that can satisfy you if this progress isn't enough." Neji rose first, Sasuke's dark eyes spotting the movement in his periphery. Glancing toward his rising sparring partner, pale eyes met his dark ones with a sense of sternness. "No good comes from such greed, Uchiha."
"What do you know about it, Hyuuga? I have to get stronger to do what I am supposed to do, to follow through on my promise to myself and my clan." He hated the judgment that filtered into Neji's gaze, but his words only seemed to harshen that judgment.
"I know more about duty to one's clan than you can possibly imagine. Do not mistake your ignorance with superiority. I am sure you'll walk an important path, Uchiha, but it is not one you care more for than I care for mine own." With those final, frustrated words, Neji left Sasuke by himself on the ground. Long, brown hair snapping with its owner as the Hyuuga turned from Sasuke to go off wherever he meant to go. His words, however, didn't land with the Uchiha as he likely expected. No matter how Sasuke heard them and considered their meaning, Sasuke could only dispute the Hyuuga with an aggressive vigor.
None could be more dedicated than he was to avenging his clan. Nobody could be as driven as he was after watching that horrid night within his own mind countless times. No, he needed to do more and that was plain and simple fact.
Words of an unlikely ally seeped into his brain along with the words of his blonde teammate. A new opportunity presented and a new path of strength was just in front of him.
Here is the first step of our little dance we'll go through the next several chapters. A little catch up with the Hyuuga and then Sasuke catches some shine, nothing too crazy yet, but all in good time. The next chapter was one I had a good time writing, probably typed it all out in record time. So, I'll be back on sunday meeting with a few runaways and their reunions