Chapter #2, Part 2:
For What Matters Most
Renkuno Sensei was a simple man. He did not want much from life and was already grateful for what it had given him. What more could one ask for when his dreams had already been answered. He had achieved his greatest ambition at the age of twenty; he was an influential Chuunin Instructor. Now, having experienced all that the career had to offer, he was planning on settling down for good. Maybe open a ramen shop not far from the Academy where he could hear the children laughing. It was nearly time to retire from shinobihood.
So it went without saying that he did not need any more drama in his life. But here he was, watching as one of his most overlooked students stared eye to eye with one of the leaders of the village, Ryukage. He had never paid much attention to Rasha, but it seemed that he had mistaken the average, quiet cadet. So the new Rasha stood with bold determination, his arms crossed, as the Kage's ludicrous demand was thrown out in the courtyard.
The sensei could already judge by the boy's unchanged attitude what his answer was.
"Fine." Said Rasha flatly.
The other students in line were giving each other silent looks and pantomiming their surprise by Rasha's acceptance. It was not worth the risk; putting everything he had worked for on one wager of skill. There would be more opportunities for Rasha to become a Genin later; but it appeared that Rasha would either not wait, or simply wouldn't stand for the Kage's shenanigans.
Renkuno's hopes of being left out of this dramatic climax were ruined as the short, grumpy Ryukage turned to were he was leaning against the Academy wall and shouted," Renkuno! Who is your star pupil in this year's batch?"
Renkuno took small, inner enjoyment in tormenting the unfair Kage and let a little of it show in his voice as he casually answered," Judging from what I've seen, my first vote goes out to Yoshin Rasha."
"Second then!" spat the miserable man.
"That would be Kaguya Sheiji."
"Then step forward Sheiji!" commanded Ryukage as he turned to the line of students, his arms spread. A boy with shoulder length white hair and white clothing slowly stepped forward. Ryukage strolled over to the young boy and put a thin, wrinkly arm around his shoulder. Looking the solemn-faced Sheiji in the eye as he pointed with his other arm at the boy in black he said confidently," You are going to fight him!"
Sheiji's left eye twitched.
"Both of you will battle until the other is incapacitated." Said the Kage, stepping between the two," Take your places in the center of the courtyard!"
As the boy's walked into the well-lit, grassy square and took up their positions twenty feet from the other, Renkuno wondered who would be the victor.
"Sheiji has been the class leader in field training. The boy is not as book smart as others in the class, but he can put the others to shame in the real world." He thought to himself," But if the weapon skill Rasha portrayed earlier is more than a fluke, he might give Sheiji a run for his money, especially if his brisk movement transfers into raw combat."
Ryukage took his place between the teenagers, his smug face curled into a sick sneer. He raised his right hand high into the air and said in an obviously fate, innocent tone," Oh, and by the way! The use of weapons is forbidden!"
"Now he has taken away one trick in your arsenal, Rasha. Has he stolen your only gimmick or is he just scratching the surface?" questioned the sensei," Does your bag of tricks go any deeper?"
Sheiji settled into a bouncy taijutsu stance with his bony fists clenched in front of his face. Rasha instead stood rigid as a jackknife, sticking straight out of the ground with the seal of the ram beneath his chin. Looking closer the sensei also observed that Rasha apparently had his eyes closed; his long bangs falling over his bowed head.
The tension was building as the Kage waited, his hand still raised. A soft breeze curled around the gathered and rustled the few short trees that grew along the western perimeter fence. The loose clothing of Sheiji flowed from the gentle caress while Rasha's form-fitting battle gear rippled around his shoulders. Renkuno thought he smelled flower petals on the breeze.
"Begin!"
Sheiji wasted no time in launching himself full speed at Rasha's stiff form, covering the twenty paces between them in seconds. Wordlessly, he raised his right fist, putting his full weight and momentum behind the blow that would catch Rasha on his bowed head. Despite the imminent danger drawing increasingly closer by the millisecond, Rasha remained poised in his unmoving stance, waiting.
Then, at the last possible moment before impact…Sheiji missed.
Renkuno chuckled on the inside as the Academy students stared with amazement. Sheiji stumbled and nearly fell flat on his face, feeling the same sensation as taking that last step up a flight of stairs and over stepping onto an imaginary stair that you assumed was there. He spun on the spot, his white hair whirling around his head, to stare at what he understood to be Rasha.
The boy in black still stood holding his hands together below his bowed head facing the direction Sheiji had come from. His open back was now exposed to Sheiji, but the student was too curious as to what had happened.
"An illusion would have dispersed when I struck it." He thought, staring hard at his opponents backside," Then could this be something else?"
The sensei knew the untrained eyes of the students were not quick enough to catch Rasha's movement. He had, unmistakably, dodged the punch at such a speed that Sheiji or the class could not see it. Rasha had bent backwards like a springboard and dodged the punch altogether before snapping back into place. All the students had seen was a fist passing through the head of Rasha, a speed unheard of in Academy Students.
"What are you waiting for?" screeched the Kage who had now moved back in front of the line of children," He has his back to you, strike him down!"
Renkuno watched with mute interest as Sheiji attacked again, this time drawing a reaction from Rasha. The speedy boy spun to face Sheiji and moved backwards with his attack. Sheiji's confidence returning, he launched flurries of punches and kicks at his once prone opponent. But Rasha's velocity was unmatched as he effortlessly dodged all of his adversary's assaults. He rolled around kicks, ducked beneath punches, and leaned inches out of knees thrust with blinding swiftness.
Rasha was learning Sheiji.
A technique that was usually known to Chuunins; let your opponent go on the offensive and gain knowledge of their fighting style. This strategy only works if the user outclasses or is just plain faster than the attacker. It was a game of patience, waiting for the precise moment to strike as the enemy wastes his chakra on unsuccessful attacks. Renkuno speculated as to what Rasha had in mind to turn the tables.
Meanwhile in the mist of the hailstorm of blows, Rasha could feel the frustration of his opponent as he slid beneath a right backhand. His opponent was too straightforward. Perfectly timed and placed punches followed by textbook spinning kicks; his opponent's attacks were so organized that Rasha could nearly predict each following strike. It was not that the Kaguya boy wasn't good; it was that his moves were too predictable.
"Sometimes a more unorthodox style can prevail where the textbook fails you!" thought Rasha as he sidestepped a drop kick aimed for his right shoulder. Sheiji was letting his aggravation get the better of him and becoming increasingly violent in his strikes; Rasha could hear his teeth grinding in irritation. It would not be long before he would throw too powerful an attack and overbalance himself, leaving a minute hole of opportunity.
"Now!" thought Rasha as Sheiji heaved a devastating right punch much like the first at Rasha's head and in the process stepping forward; moving his center of gravity to his precariously placed right foot turned at just too much an angle inwards.
Rasha, facing the blow dead on, spun downwards a full one hundred and eighty degrees, and let the punch soar over his right shoulder. He grabbed the arm of his stunned assaulter and, pulling outwards and down while rolling his hunched shoulders, flipped Sheiji clean over his head.
Sheiji raised his hands above his head to meet the ground below and re-flip himself forward to gain distance between himself and Rasha, but the boy in black was not done with him yet.
THUD!
Spinning on his right heel outwards, Rasha delivered a crushing roundhouse kick to the unguarded chest of Sheiji with his left sandal. The force of the blow carried the white-haired boy, still upside down, fifteen feet before he came to a crashing halt at the feet of no one other than Ryukage.
The unbelieving senior looked down at the unconscious form of Sheiji in shock. The star pupil had failed to land a single blow on the boy in black who stood once again with his lean arms crossed in the courtyard. Ryukage's mind was struggling to work out a new, even more challenging test for Rasha as the victor yelled coolly to Renkuno," I believe you have something for me sensei!"
Silently Renkuno smiled as he drew from within his many pouches a black band of cloth with a curved band of metal woven into its center. Inscribed on the shining metal protector was a black circle with seven arched tails spinning from its sides, the symbol of Yorizaru; the symbol of one's initiation into the family of shinobihood, a sign of dedication to your beloved home, and the indication of passing the Academy.
Renkuno smoothly tossed the item to Rasha, who upon catching it tied it proudly around his forehead and under his bangs. He had passed.
As he turned and began to go home Rasha heard Ryukage shouting something behind which was quickly deafened by an outburst of joyous cheering and bellowing from his classmates. Renkuno was gingerly passing out forehead protectors to everyone, save a few class clowns. Their outburst winded the Kage's calls of rage; stopping him from continuing out of pure circumstance.
Rasha could hear his classmates being congratulated by their parents and relatives who had showed up outside the building, awaiting their child's fate. The dark did not put a hamper of the cheerful moment. Families greeted each other and their offspring with flee regardless of the shadows.
Rasha decided to walk home, just this once.
Thanks for playing along, Rasha