Chapter 7 - Dinner At the Imperial Majesty

"Begin!" the Hyuga instructor shouted.

Bolt and the young Hyuga facing him both lunged at each other with theirs palms raised. Their wrists collided mid-thrust and stopped their hands dead. They glared and immediately began exchanging blows. The sounds of their hands parrying each other resounded within the dojo.

Seeing that straightforward attacks wouldn't cut it, Bolt tried sweeping his opponent's legs. He avoided it, but the blonde kept spinning and followed up with a rising heel kick. The blow was blocked, but an opening had been created. Bolt finger jabbed his opponent's shoulder. The latter cringed and staggered backwards – a fatal mistake to make while facing the Gentle Fist.

Bolt smirked and took a low stance with one arm lowered and the other raised. He was going to finish this with the Eight opponent had been waiting for him to do that. He easily dodged the hot-headed blond's first strike and countered with a flurry of finger jabs to the torso. A final palm thrust to the chest sent Bolt reeling. Bolt clenched his chest when his back hit the floor. Blows targeted at any of the chakra points were not allowed during sparring.

'Getting hit still hurts like hell, though,' he thought.

"Desist! The winner is Roku," the instructor said.

Bolt rolled around, his arms hugging his torso. Hanabi, who was watching the match alongside Himawari, shook her head at the sorry sight known as her nephew.

"How many losses does this make today, Bolt? Four? Five?" She counted on her fingers. "I lost count a while ago."

Bolt shot a sour look at his aunt. "Well, what do you expect? I'm not the successor to the Hyuga clan or anything."

"Yet despite that, you were still allowed to be taught the Eight Trigrams. Be grateful."

"I only reason I was taught the Eight Trigrams is cause Grandpa has zero faith in you ever finding a husband."

Hanabi stomped the floor so hard the dojo almost shook. Bolt immediately clammed up while Roku and the instructor both shared the same nervous look. Himawari who was sitting politely beside her aunt sighed.

"Brother... you really need to learn to think before you speak," she said.

Hanabi took a deep breath to allay the ire Bolt once again sparked in her. Her nephew had been a thorn in her rear for as a long as she could remember. She could literally remember how long ago it was.

It was a week after Bolt born. Hinata was extremely excited about introducing her newborn son to her family, and brought him to the estate.

A tender smile stretched across Hiashi Hyuga's face as he held his grandson in his arms. "So this is Bolt... I see his name was inspired by Neji(1)."

Hinata smiled as Bolt tugged on her finger. "Naruto and I kept thinking of names right up until Bolt was born. He originally wanted to call him Menma or Shinachiku(2)."

Hanabi snorted. "Figures. Even with a baby on the way, that guy still has ramen on the brain."

Hinata's younger sister was fairly jaded towards Bolt's presence. She sat on the other end of the tea table, eating cookies and making obnoxious crunching noises while doing so.

Hiashi's shoulders slacked. "Can't you show a little bit more affection, Hanabi? Your sister has brought your nephew to show to us."

"Meh. Can't we just take a family photo and get this over with?"

Hiashi sighed as he returned his grandson to Hinata. Hinata peered over at her listless sister. Then she walked around to the other side of the table and sat down beside her.

"Hanabi, Bolt wants to meet to you," she said.

"I don't associate with people who can't use two-syllable words."

Hinata laughed morosely. She knew how her sister was and knew there was only one way to get her to cooperate. With zero hesitation, she forced Bolt into Hanabi's arms.

"What's the big deal?!" Hanabi blurted.

"Hanabi, look," Hinata said.

Hanabi looked down. Bolt was looking up at her. He tiny arms stretched up like they were trying to grab the air. To her frustration, Hanabi blushed. She wouldn't say it aloud, but Bolt was without a doubt the most adorable thing ever seen. She tickled his small palm with her finger and he grabbed it in response.

She grumbled. "Okay... Maybe he is pretty cu-"

Before Hanabi could finish her sentence, a thin yet steady stream of urine discharged square into her face. The little bundle of joy in her arms giggled and squirmed after relieving himself.

"I... I'm so sorry, Hanabi!" Hinata exclaimed while taking Bolt back. "I still haven't gotten good at fastening his diaper yet..."

Hanabi saw her father trembling. He was covering his mouth to keep from laughing. She looked at Bolt who was getting his diaper changed.

'Why...does he looked so pleased with himself?' she wondered.

Hanabi stopped glaring at Bolt and shook the memory away. She called out to Roku.

"Roku, are good for another round?"

Roku tucked in the shirt of his sparring outfit and nodded.

"Good. Hima, you're up next."

Himawari was surprised. As was Bolt, who quickly scrambled to his feet.

"Hold up, auntie! Are you really gonna make Hima fight?"

"No, I just made her put on that sparring outfit because I thought it looked good on her. Of course she's going to fight, you knucklehead!"

"But I can't beat Roku and he's only a year older than me. Himawari is two years younger than I am. She won't stand a chance!"

"And? Sis and I used to spar all the time when we were young, and she's a whole five years older than I am. Himawari will be fine."

"But-"

Himawari stood. "It's alright, Brother. It's only sparring. I'll be alright.

Bolt held a concerned gaze on Himawari while he and she walked past each other. "Hima, don't be afraid to give up if it starts to hurt, okay?" he told her. She nodded and kept walking until she was standing parallel to Roku.

"Take your stances!" the instructor commanded.

Himawari and Roku did so. Bolt watched with a nervous look on his face. He had never seen Himawari spar before, but he knew she was a hard worker. Unfortunately, hard work might not be enough to jump across the three year gap between her and Roku. Hanabi shared similar views. She didn't expect her niece to stand on equal footing with Roku. The only reason she wanted them to fight was to give Himawari some experience against a stronger opponent. Whatever bruises she was about to receive was going to help her growth in the long run.

The fight began. As soon as the instructor shouted "Begin!" Himawari stepped into Roku's range. Roku was startled by her assertiveness and almost backed off, but he knew better. He palm thrust at her chest instead, but Himawari dodged somehow. Roku copied Bolt's style, and tried to sweep her feet. Like he hoped, Himawari backed away.

"Hima, don't!" Bolt shouted.

The one thing you never want when going against the Gentle Fist is to lose ground. Most people thought the fighting style was only effective at close range, but in truth, there was area between close and mid-range that the Hyuga clan exploited. Roku saw this opportunity and dove for it.

Hanabi sighed. 'Well that was shorter than I'd thought it-'

Once Himawari's feet touched the ground, she immediately somersaulted forward and brought her heel down over his left shoulder. Roku cringed and buckled. While he was stunned, Himawari regained her footing in one movement then took a stance that made Roku's eyes widen.

She took a step and struck him two times. "Two palms!" Then came the second step. "Four palms!" She followed with one more step. "Eight Trigrams: Eight Palms!"

Roku barreled across the dojo's floor. The instructor was shocked.

"D-desist! The winner is... Himawari," he said still in disbelief.

Himawari put her hands over her chest and took a deep breathe. "Whew... I managed to do it somehow."

Bolt and Hanabi couldn't believe what they had just saw. Not only did Himawari defeat a more older opponent decisively, she knew how to perform the Eight Trigrams. The Eight Trigrams was a Kekkei Genkai t only passed down to a select few members of the Hyuga clan's main branch. The only users should have been Hanabi, Hinata, Hiashi and Bolt – the latter being taught the technique because Hanabi had no children of her own. Nobody else should have been able to replicate the move.

"Hima... who taught you to perform the Eight Trigrams? Was it Bolt?" Hanabi asked while shooting her nephew a look. He was in awe to notice

Himawari helped Roku up. "Brother taught me... Sort of."

"Sort of?"

"Whenever Brother practices, I'm usually around to watch him. He always trying to get down the Eight Trigrams, but I've only ever seen him get up to first four steps. After a while, I started copying Brother's moves to see how far I could get."

Hanabi blinked. "Are you telling me you learned how to use the Eight Trigrams just by watching Bolt?" Himawari nodded. "How long have you been practicing?"

"Around four months, I think."

Bolt processed what his sister had just said. It took him over a year to get up to sixteen palms, and she's using eight only after four months?

'What type of training have you been doing, Hima...?'

Hanabi glanced down at Bolt. He was no longer in the mood to spar; not that he had been in the first place. She folded her arms and sighed.

"Okay, let's just call it a night everyone."

It took a solid five seconds for Hana to reopen his eyes. He looked at the explosive tagged bag with a confused look on his face. Then he heard Onbara's cackles.

"Hahaha! Oh my god! The look on your face!" he yelled while slapping his knees. "You really thought I was gonna do it!"

For some reason, Hana suddenly felt embarrassed. There was no reason for him to be. He had every reason to believe the bag he was holding was going to explode. For all he knew it still might.

"Hah~" Onbara wiped a tear from his eye. "Thanks for the laugh," he said while taking the bag back.

He made a hand sign and the tags dropped from the bag's exterior. Then he pulled a bottle of water out of the bag and splashed the tags on the street with it.

"This trick doesn't work on normal-sized tags, but its handy against the bite-sized ones." Onbara cast the empty bottle away when he was finished. "See ya around, kiddo."

"Wait!" Hana yelled after him.

Onbara looked back with his brow cocked. "What?"

"Weren't you going to blow me up?"

"And take my fresh groceries with you? You're not worth the second trip to the market, kiddo."

"But you attack kids!"

Onbara's face cringed. "Don't say stuff like that out loud! You wanna get you locked up or something? Just go home and count sheep, kiddo. I ain't got time for you or the Hanimura girl right now."

And just like that, Onbara showed Hana his back and kept walking. Hana didn't know what to think. He just crossed paths with the man who almost killed him and Ryoma the night before, and now that person was moseying through the village like it wasn't a big deal.

'No way. That guy is dangerous. I saw so for myself. I can't just let him get away!'

With that, Hana decided to tail Onbara through the village. He scaled the nearest building and watched Onbara like a hawk. He darted from rooftop to alleyway as he watched the criminal stroll though the Hidden Leaf's streets. Whistling an extremely bizarre tune.

'Is he still whistling the same song? He keeps changing tune.' Hana thought.

He shook his head and watched Onbara board a train. Not wanting to lose the yakuza's trail, Hana hurried inside himself and buried his head behind whomever he was sitting next to. After a few minutes, the train stopped and both Onbara and Hana got off along with a few others. As soon as he left the train station, Hana quickly realized how much harder it was to trail Onbara than it was before. There were a lot more people now, and they all walked so close together. By the time he manged to find his way out of a crowd, Onbara was out of his sight.

'Ah! I lost him... Wait. Aren't I lost too?!'

After a bit wandering, Hana realized that he had followed Onbara into the city sitting on top of the Hokage Monument. It was very different from the village. Everybody seemed to walk faster and was less friendly. Nobody stopped when he tried to ask for directions, and the buildings were too tall for him to climb and try to find his own way. Despite being surrounded by more people than he ever had in his entire life, Hana never felt more lonely.

'Ah~ I really am lost! What if I never find my back? What if I stay lost in the city forever? I'll have to become a hobo and live off of expired foods for the rest of my life! I'll have to live in a cardboard box! I'll have to become a street performer and use my Windmill Style to earn enough money to buy socks during the Winter! I don't want to live like that!'

Hana thoughts were still scrambling when he bumped into somebody in the street. "I'm sorry..." he said meekly.

The person he bumped into knelt down to look at him. She had a worried look on her face.

"Are you okay? What's wrong?" she asked with a hand on his shoulder.

"I'm lost..."

"What?! Do you know where your parents are?"

"No... I don't even know how to get home."

The girl's curled up her lip. "What's your name?"

"Hana Fujikaze..."

"Okay, Hana. How about you come with me for a bit?"

The district the girl brought Hana too had its own distinct flavor when compared to the rest of the city. Guardian lion statues stood at the district's entrance. Inside, paper lanterns hung from cords and lit the the district instead of street lights. Eventually, the girl led Hana to a shabby looking restaurant. 'Imperial Palace,' its sign read ironically. A bell rang when the girl opened the entrance.

"Go ahead and grab a seat inside," she said while holding it open for Hana.

Hana entered. To the restaurant's credit, it looked much better inside than it did outside. Too bad there nobody but Hana around to appreciate it. There only one person inside the restaurant when he entered – an ornery-looking old man scrubbing down tables.

His messy brow scrunched up when he saw Hana. "Beniko, who's the boy?"

"I found him wandering the streets, Grandpa. You don't mind if let I stay for a while, do you?"

Beniko's grandfather grunted and walked to the back of the restaurant with his rag over his shoulder. Hana assumed that must have meant 'sure, go ahead,' because Beniko pulled out a chair for him.

"Are you feeling hungry? Grandpa won't let me use the kitchen this late, but I can bring you some leftovers," Beniko offered.

"Never turn down a meal unless you're 114% sure that its been poisoned," Hana quoted. "A certain someone taught me that."

Beniko cocked her head. "...why 114%?"

"I kept asking, but she never told me."

Beniko giggled then disappeared into the back of the restaurant. She came back with a bowl had steam fuming out of it. She sat the bowl as well as a pair of chopsticks down in front of Hana, and watched the drool leak from his mouth. Miso soup was been placed before him. Just the aroma alone was making his tongue throw a riot. The submerged noodles had spinach, carrots and onions floating around them. The smell of onion and ginger teased Hana's nose, and the signatures ingredients of the dish – tofu and chopped mushrooms – floated at the top of the soup.

"This is leftovers...?" Hana asked.

Beniko nodded. "Sorry I couldn't make you something fresh."

"Are you kidding? This is amazing Miss Beniko!"

Hana parted his chopsticks and began slurping noodles as greedily as he could.

"Ish sho gooood..." he sung while eating.

Beniko giggled again. "I gotta say, it's good to have some new company around here. Typically its just the same faces, and they usually don't stay long."

Hana slurped. "Is that why the restaurant is empty now?"

"Yep. The Imperial Majesty has seen better days. It's not even closing time yet, and Grandpa has already shut up shop."

"Doesn't anybody come in at this time?"

"Well, there is one guy... but he's been away lately. I haven't seen him in almost a month..."

Hana saw the melancholic look on Beniko's look while he ate.

"Miss Beniko, is this person special to you?"

Beniko cheeks flushed. "Wha?! No, I just... uh... He's a loyal customer and I-"

The bell at the restaurant's door rung. She and Hana looked back. A man with slightly tanned skin, slicked back hair and a gentleman's vest entered the Imperial Majesty.

"Benny~ How's it been? I know you and Pops have been lonely without yours truly you keep ya company."

The man stopped dead once he and Hana met eyes. Noodles dangled from the latter's mouth as he gasped.

"Y-you're..."

"Onbara?!" Beniko finished before Hana. Her cheeks were still flushing. "W-why are you here?"

Onbara was put off back Hana's unexpected presence. Though after a while, he just sighed and slacked his shoulders.

"I was coming to drop by and see how you and Pops were doing... but I never me and the kid would meet up here," Onbara said while approaching the table.

"You know Hana?" Beniko asked.

'So that's his name?' Onbara thought. "Not really, but me and the kiddo have a common acquaintance."

Hana knew what Onbara was trying to do. He quickly tried to jump out of his seat, but Onbara, once again, outmaneuvered him, and grabbed his shoulder before he could. The movement was so smooth that Beniko didn't find it suspicious. To her, it just looked like Onbara was harmlessly patting Hana's shoulder, when in actuality he was taking him hostage.

"So, what brings you to this part of town... Hana?"

1. Neji's name means whirl or screw.

2. Menma and Shinachiku are both ramen condiments made from dried bamboo shoots.