Although the land was sparsely populated, springtime in the northmost part of the Land of Fire was somewhat renowned among the neighboring nations. Plants in the mountainous climate bloomed later than in the rest of the country, but by the time the snows melted from all but the highest peaks the hills and valleys were a sight to behold. Luscious trees swayed their freshly-acquired leaves overhead of vibrant flowers and grasses seldom found outside the region. Springs of clear water lazily snaked their way to and fro down the mountain, drawing out all manner of creatures from their winter hibernation.
There were a few roads which cut through the hills, one of which currently played host to a convoy of carriages, carts, pack animals and foot travelers. Many of the company's members were similar in outfit and appearance to each other, sporting simple robes, long black hair, and piercing pale pupil-less eyes.
From his seat within the central carriage, the future head of the distinguished Hyūga Clan felt but one emotion as he gazed out the window.
Boredom.
Total, inescapable, all-encompassing ennui.
The beautiful morning scenery outside meant nothing to the boy who had been traveling for a week already on a diplomatic mission; Hyūga Kureigu cursed his luck not for the first time on the trip. Diplomatic missions ranked among his least favorite obligations as a clan head-in-training. He hated how he had none of his friends around to talk to (or even anyone else close to his age) and no matter how many times his father stressed their importance he simply could not make himself care for the delicate ceremonies and endless conventions that came with politics.
The fact that the ninja of the group were obligated to travel at the same speed as the nobles and civilians only prolonged the boy's torture.
By late morning the weather had turned slightly worse. Thick clouds appeared from seemingly nowhere, casting rays of light down the valleys as they swiftly moved in front of and past the sun.
The changing weather did not go unnoticed by the convoy; they had been well-warned of the chance of sudden storms in the area as warmer spring air from the south mixed with cooler mountain air. The group decided to hasten their pace and head for the nearest village, lest the lords in attendance get caught traveling in a downpour.
It was mid-afternoon by the time they approached human settlement. The village was small and nestled away from the main road; the trail leading into town barely even qualified as a dirt path. The buildings were encircled by a wooden barricade which Kureigu figured was meant to keep animals out rather than people— it certainly wasn't tall or sturdy enough to prevent shinobi from entering the village.
Then again, the boy doubted that any ninja, rogue or otherwise, would bother trying to take over a dinky little farming village out in the sticks.
As the carriage plodded forward the Hyūga heir gradually took notice of a small figure outside the fence who was huddled unmoving near the central gate. They were curled into themselves, knees bent into their chest and head tilted downward, their face concealed by a wild mess of bright blond hair.
The convoy came to a stop with the leading cart just outside of the entrance. Upon closer inspection Kureigu realized several things about the hunched figure that he hadn't previously. Firstly, that they were not motionless as he originally thought but rather shaking— no, more like vibrating— in place on the ground. Secondly, that the person, likely a kid, looked no bigger than himself, although it was hard to tell given their curled position. Lastly, that the blond's clothes were ill-suited for the elements; what seemed to be a simple dark tunic offered no cover below the knee or to their trembling arms.
After a minute passed without anyone coming out from the gate, two Hyūga visitors began to approach the entryway. At their motion the huddled character whipped their head up and stared at the interlopers, eyes widened in trepidation.
Though the two shinobi noted the sudden action they gave no acknowledgement. The movement did, however, reattract the interest of the kid in the middle carriage, who by now could tell that the figure was a boy roughly his age. After noticing how thin the seated boy looked, the Hyūga heir realized that he appeared to be shaking less than he was previously despite still seeming quite agitated.
Kureigu didn't realize that he'd been staring at the kid until the boy turned his head, wincing as their eyes met. For a split second panicked eyes gaped at clouded spheres until a twitch of the village boy's head ended the brief episode.
Mildly uncomfortable, the Hyūga heir turned his attention back to the town, deciding to exercise his Byakugan to pass time. He furrowed his brow as the ocular technique jumped to life, the veins in his forehead bulging as blood flow was directed towards his pale eyes, eyes which now held the barest outline of previously-absent irides. Upon activating the Byakugan, Kureigu could see straight through the once-concealing wall into the village courtyard, although there seemed to be no one outside save for the "advance guard" that had startled the other boy on their way into town. He strained his eyes trying to peer into any of the buildings, but his position away from the front of the line put them out of his current range.
By now the pair of ninja had attracted the attention of some of the adult villagers, who came tentatively out of one of the larger buildings to meet them. Even from well outside of the town wall the clan heir's eyes allowed him to read their expressions as though they were standing just outside his carriage. He didn't bother trying to read their lips, but saw how they talked to his clanmates with what seemed to be a mix of uncertainty and eagerness. The boy from the Hidden Leaf Village wondered how many people in a place this remote had even seen shinobi before, much less members of a line as heralded as the Hyūga.
After a few minutes an agreement seemed to be reached and one of the townsfolk walked with the two ninja back towards the company while the others retreated indoors. The caravan was ushered inside the gate as more villagers streamed outside and began directing the newcomers to and fro. The outside group was not overly large, but the size of the village nevertheless made finding space for the people, animals, and vehicles difficult. Kureigu was surprised to find that the small town had an inn, although upon entering he realized it might have actually been some sort of barracks. He didn't particularly care either way as long as he got a place to sleep out of it.
His father and the handful of nobles present took the largest space in the building, while the young Hyūga ended up in another room with two of his older cousins. Truthfully, he was glad that there wasn't space for him in the impromptu room of honor. Lords were always playing boring games like mahjong and shogi, and the boy couldn't stand how arrogant they sounded when they talked with each other, often speaking as if the most important thing in the world was what outfit they would wear to their next dinner party. As for his father, well…
He certainly didn't hate spending time with his father. It was just… difficult being around him all the time. The head of the Hyūga Clan was an intense man and sometimes Kureigu just wanted time to himself, that was all. He really didn't think that was too much to ask for, it wasn't like he was all emotional like his friend Kuraido…
Snapping back to the present, Kureigu noticed that his two cousins had left the room after leaving their belongings. The clan heir was mildly surprised that they hadn't been grouped with him in order to keep an eye on him, but a flick of his Byakugan told him that they had already departed the building and were heading towards another one in town. Shifting his focus from room to room, the young Hyūga noted that his father was already engaged in the nobles' games and his other clanmates seemed preoccupied with various matters of their own. There was no way he was going to waste such an opportunity, not after a week of cramped travel and mind-numbing ceremonies.
After grabbing two energy bars and stealing quietly to the windowsill, the boy created a basic clone of himself to leave meditating in the room before jumping outside. He knew there was little chance that the copy would fool any moderately competent ninja upon inspection, certainly not one from a clan famous for ocular prowess, but he didn't need it to. Kureigu could handle the consequences of getting caught— he was always getting admonished for something or other— he just hoped that it would buy him enough time to enjoy himself for a bit.
Outside the clouds had grown darker, but the ninja in training was scarcely concerned. He wasn't going to go out into the woods without marking his trail or taking note of the surroundings; when the rain did come he could be back in town in a flash.
Like all living things on Earth, within Kureigu was an energy both spiritual and physical called chakra, the application and manipulation of which was the most foundational part of a ninja's abilities. The same energy that fueled his Byakugan eyes could also be applied to augment his speed and power. He hardly needed to use any chakra to clear the village wall, jumping over the barricade in a single bound; once outside the town he found the ground sloped quickly down into the forest. Slipping a kunai knife from out of his azure robes the boy made a quick slash into the closest tree as he made his way downwards.
After being cramped up for so long, Kureigu moved swiftly through the treeline, jumping from branch to branch and only slowing down to leave scores in bark every now and then. After five minutes the woods briefly parted to form a small clearing which contained nothing but idle grasses and a tiny wooden shack. Kureigu had entered the space from the very end and saw only the back of the structure, of which he paid little mind. He was a split second away from jumping back into the forest when he heard a quiet yelp, barely audible to untrained ears, cut through the ambience from the direction of the building.
A quick flash of the Byakugan told the Hyūga heir there was no reason for concern; the guilty party was the same strange boy from earlier, relocated from the village wall to a bench in a forest shrine.
Kureigu hesitated a moment, his body caught between continuing its forward momentum and turning to face the offending noisemaker. Making up his mind, a stroke of ink-like hair streamed in the air as the boy stopped and pivoted towards the shrine.
A shit-eating grin stretched across his face as the ninja in training silently approached his target. By now he could hear the shack's occupant making strained-sounding noises every now and then, a clear giveaway that the village boy was not asleep.
Perfect.
Reaching the back wall he hauled himself up and into the air, gently landing on top of the old landmark. A slight application of chakra to his hands and feet ensured that the entire movement was wholly inaudible. Pausing a second to compose himself, the Hyūga prince noiselessly dropped to his hands and knees before thrusting his head down and over the roof's edge.
"Hey!"
"Huh? GAH! W-What th—!" the blond boy managed to squawk out in response, the words interrupted as he jerked back and fell out of his seat. The bench also tipped over, sending his narrow legs flailing into the air.
Not long after both kids were finding it difficult to breathe: one of them stitched with laughter, cackling almost to the point of falling off of the shrine, the other taking brisk, shallow breaths while sitting curled in the back corner, the upturned bench forgotten as he attempted to distance himself from the intruder.
After his giggles died out, the future shinobi jumped off the top and landed down below, twisting in midair to face the entrance.
"Oh man, that was perfect. You looked twitchy earlier, but I didn't think you'd freak out that much," Kureigu said, somewhat struggling to keep from breaking into another round of laughter. The Hyūga boy paused after that, expectantly awaiting a string of curse-laden protestations and complaints from the shaky boy.
Instead, he received no answer. Eventually Kureigu followed up, laughter gone and replaced by his habitually flat, nasally voice.
"... Um, look kid, I didn't think it'd scare you that bad. You just seemed so—"
The student shinobi started forward mid-sentence, abruptly interrupted the moment he edged closer to the entrance.
"Don't attack me Mister Ninja, uh, sir! Please I agh don't want any trouble!"
Kureigu froze in his step, pausing movement everywhere except for his arms which rose up instinctually— as if comforting a pet whose tail'd been stepped on.
"Hey, dude, take it easy. I'm not here to hurt you," the pale-eyed boy assured in a tone he hoped would come off as genuine.
(Years later, the other boy would admit that at that moment he was in fact very put off by the ninja's suspiciously monotone speech.)
"I was just passing through the woods, and I thought it'd be funny to mess with you. That's all."
Although he received no answer for the second time in under a minute, the boy outside noticed that the other was sitting more upright than he had been a moment ago. Progress, he supposed.
The two languished in silence for a short while. Kureigu observed the sitting boy plainly; he no longer seemed to wilt away from the other boy's stare, challenging it with tentative contact of his own. It was the first time that the Hyūga boy got a direct look at the odd stranger. He noticed how sunken the eyes and indented his cheeks were, and caught a glimpse of some loose cloth in the other corner that probably served as bedding. In spite of his affluent upbringing the pieces quickly fell into place.
Almost before he was aware of himself, Kureigu's hand began to move towards the stash in his robes.
"Hey, uh, would you want these by any chance?" he said, flashing the wrapped energy bars in his fingers. "Not to talk shit but you kinda look like you could use them."
Blue-green eyes locked onto the rations, ending the impromptu staring contest. An unusual mixture of excitement and apprehension flashed across the thin boy's face.
"Are you sure?" came the tentative reply. "You w-won't want them later?"
"I'm fine. Besides, I was gonna ask if you wanted to join me and you seem way too hungry to go anywhere right now."
Kureigu could hardly believe the words as they slipped out of his mouth. Asking this kid to tag along? Seriously? He decided he must have been starved for company his own age if he was willing to be that nice to the spaz. Or maybe he just spat out a lie to justify giving away the two bars. Yeah, that must be it— simple as that. He would admit that the boy interested him, but then again he'd never seen someone so… wild looking. He'd heard rumors that kids of the Inuzuka Clan were raised from birth with their companion dogs, but even they didn't look quite so unkempt as the trembling blond before him.
"Nrg I can't go out now," the poor boy spat out, "there's a storm coming. Don't you see how dark the clouds are?"
"Yeah, I see them. I'll be ok. What about you? Don't you have anywhere in that town you can stay?"
…
…
"Right. I'll head out now. Here," Kureigu spoke, not the slightest variance in his voice. As he turned around he tossed the provisions backwards in a fluid motion.
He did not wait for a response before propelling himself towards the treeline.
The student shinobi pressed on through the woods ever so slightly faster than he had previously, clipping past hills, waterfalls, rivers, and other landmarks of usually-adequate note.
After perhaps 20 minutes or so the boy came to a stop, scales balancing in his mind. He'd mostly had his fill of exploration and there was still a decent chance he could return to the village, absence unnoticed, granted he could outpace the looming rainclouds.
The Hyūga heir admittedly didn't remember the terrain as well as he'd expected to and was wholly reliant on his own markings to guide him back. Following the slashes served him a reminder that his series of notches would take him right back through the clearing, which somehow felt uncomfortable for him. Maybe he'd just go around it and pick up where he left off on the other side.
After just 15 minutes the still far-off glade entered in sight. He began veering to the left upon first sight of the opening when the faint, but sharp noise of a snapping branch came abruptly out of the treeline ahead. While the sound was not overtly suspicious— Kureigu figured some animal was the source, in all likelihood— it sufficiently raised his wariness to warrant activating the Byakugan. His vision exploded omnidirectionally as a surge of chakra coalesced between temples, articulating the veins in his forehead while the boy continued on through the canopy.
Straining to detect any portent of danger, the pale-eyed boy saw nothing to validate his guardedness. He very nearly dropped the ocular jutsu before a dark flash grazed the forward right periphery of his panoptic vision, forcing Kureigu further off course as he endeavored to maintain distance with the unknown encroacher.
Caution converted to tension as rapidfire thoughts bulleted the boy's brain.
It's gotta be one of my cousins being a dick, right? No, they'd rather drink in town then fuck around in the forest— and they wouldn't pull this shit if Dad sent them. Wait, where the hell is this guy even aiming?
Indeed the interloper did not move to intercept the boy directly, rather bounding towards where Kureigu had been before pivoting sharply and pursuing from the rear.
Seedlings of fear budded in the boy's chest as the mysterious figure gained on him from behind. The Byakugan possessed but one blindspot, a miniscule obstruction above the spine where the neck adjoined the shoulders. Kureigu elected not to think what would happen if the assailant drew near enough to exploit it. Steeling himself, two kunai sailed out of ultramarine sleeves as the student shinobi whirled back to face his challenger.
The clang of metal against metal rang out through the forest as two swipes unchallengingly dispatched the projectiles. The pursuer, now fully revealed, dropped to the forest floor concurrently with the clan heir; inchoate raindrops slipped unnoticed through the canopy as two forms surveyed each other in the darkening woods.
The assailant was a fairly youthful man, likely no older than in his early thirties. His skin was smooth but his visage was pointed and angular, highlighting stormy eyes which seemed to gleam in spite of the darkening forest.
Although Kureigu had never seen one in person before, he recognized the man's brown flak jacket as the uniform of Iwagakure; growing up while the Third Shinobi World War raged meant the boy had heard countless stories of the clashes between soldiers of Iwagakure, the Hidden Stone Village, and the ninja of his own home of Konohagakure. The presence of a flak jacket at all meant that his pursuer was a chūnin or higher, at minimum two ranks above the boy who had yet to even finish Academy training and become a genin of the Hidden Leaf Village.
When he fell to the ground Kureigu had deactivated his Byakugan. The ocular jutsu was rapidly draining the ten-year-old's chakra and he figured it was better to conserve strength and wait for an opening.
He's faster and way more experienced than me, I have no idea what kind of jutsu he can use, but he doesn't know what I can do either. I just need to get one good hit on him, he's probably never dealt with the Byakugan bef—
"You know, it's not everyday you get to square off with someone from the Hyūga Clan. Haven't seen you around at all since the war."
Shit.
"That Gentle Fist style is something special, isn't it?" the Stone-nin continued on, tone straddling between bemusement and malice. "I knew more than a few people who got their insides exploded thanks to you guys. Gruesome stuff, really."
Fuck!
Strategy shattered, the Hyūga heir scrambled to think of his next move. With how far off-course he'd gone there was no chance he could get back to the village before his assailer caught up to him, and the odds were slight that he could incapacitate a chūnin who was already familiar with the Hyūga fighting style. Bereft of better options, the boy stalled for time.
"Well, maybe you should go back and pay them a visit. You shouldn't even be here, we're nowhere near the Land of Earth," Kureigu stated the obvious, desperately willing his voice to stay even-keel against the panic swelling within him. "I'd recommend getting a head start back to your village, unless of course you want Anbu black ops trailing your every move."
The remark earned little more than a smirk from the man, eyes flashing in nonverbal mockery. Kureigu couldn't recall ever wanting to punch someone's face in more than at that moment— not even Fatass back at the Academy— but he did not make a move.
"I'm afraid it's a bit late to avoid that, kid. I'm not exactly out in Fire country on vacation, you know," came the casual reply, the shinobi speaking airily as if the current conversation were as carelessly pleasant as deciding on dinner. "What's one more village's Anbu on my tail? Maybe they'll even fight each other off for me."
Across the way ivory eyes briefly widened in realization. "So that means you're a missing-nin?" Despite his words, the boy's tone made it clear it was not much of a question. "A ninja gone rogue, hunted by his own village, total scumbag, that sort of thing?"
"My, my, how hurtful~." It seemed the longer the man talked the more theatrical he became; the condescension was unbearable for Kureigu, who's panic was quickly being replaced by sheer animus.
"It's not all bad you see… you get to keep all of the profits when you work alone. And what a prize those eyes of yours will fetch me."
"And how the fuck do you think you're going to get them?" Kureigu shot back, Byakugan snapping back to life as his upright posture flowed into a combat stance. A second passed, and then another. The rain had picked up, blanketing the forest in myriad soft patters.
In a fraction of a second the two figures morphed into blurs, each careening towards the other along the ground. Kureigu closed perhaps two-fifths of the distance in the time it took the Stone-nin to weave a stream of hand seals. A stomp of the man's foot into the ground transmuted the dirt and mud into a fusillade of small projectiles streaking towards the young combatant. Although Kureigu ducked and weaved in response, complete avoidance proved to be impossible against the ninjutsu, an Earth Release technique the boy had never encountered before. He felt mixed relief upon the discovery that the missiles were not, in truth, lethal, nor did they even stop his forward momentum: they just hurt like hell. He'd barely processed the end of the barrage when an unwelcome presence stole above and backside of him, setting off a cacophony of danger alarms in Kureigu's head.
The Hyūga heir had barely turned his body halfway around when powerful legs smashed into his side, sending him hurtling towards the ground with such force the ten-year old's body bounced along the forest floor before roughly coming to a stop at the foot of a great pine. Coughing and sputtering from the attack, Kureigu momentarily wondered if staying down was for the best. This fight was incomparable to any he'd had back home; even the most intense training sessions with his father carried no more consequence than a stern admonishment and perhaps critical glances at dinner that night.
The instant of fragility passed swiftly as righteous indignation returned to the boy in full force; both of Kureigu's hands flashed obscene gestures at the sneering face as he recovered to a kneeling position.
"Wow, congratulations dickhead! You must be really fuckin' proud of yourself, being able to fight a ten-year-old and everything," Kureigu hissed.
The loathsome words were met with an exaggerated shrug from their target. "Men like me can't afford to worry about anything besides making sure the job gets done. You post-war tykes are so callow… training to be good little ninja without the slightest idea what that actually means." The missing-nin stepped menacingly forward when a shrill yell pierced the heavy air, its progenitor having approached unnoticed in the worsening downpour.
"Hey!"
Four eyes snapped to the origin of the interrupting cry. Fists balled tightly and tunic soaked, the odd boy from the shrine stood not far from where Kureigu kneeled, shaking wilder than the storm-wrenched canopy overhead.
Confusion passed across the man's face as he blinked dumbly at the intruding party. His adversary remained fastened to the ground, the cumulative shock of the entire situation leaving him unable to take even the slightest action.
"You better nnk— you better leave him alone! Right now!"
"...Is that so?" the Stone rogue replied pensively. The man turned and leisurely drew near to the wiry interloper, side-eyeing the Hyūga boy with ill amusement throughout. The wild boy's tremors negatively correlated to the shrinking distance between himself and the shinobi, but to his credit his feet remained anchored in place against the impending threat.
"I really did not expect to run into you again, I'll admit. What would bring a poor boy like you out into a bad storm like this?" the criminal spoke in a calculated tone, before violently grabbing a fistful of disheveled golden locks. Kureigu, meanwhile, screamed in his own mind, pleading with himself to do something— make a run for the village, jump the man while he was distracted, throw his final kunai at the chūnin's jugular— anything. He simply could not implore his limbs to move as the blond yelped and squirmed under the hostile grip.
Mere seconds stretched for an eternity when the missing-nin briefly closed his eyes in an expression of mock affection to the boy, a sour simulacrum of a nurturing parent. A whizz of rushing air preceded the gruesome sound of cracking bone, the crouched observer recoiling back at the burst of violence before him. Kureigu's eyes were comparable to full moons as he gaped at the scene before him.
The frail boy's fist had been brutally driven into the missing-nin's crotch, striking with such force the raindrops around his target were blown back in an artificial gale. The unexpected shock of a shattered pelvis overwhelmed the overconfident chūnin, whose eyes slotted backwards as he lost consciousness.
Grip abandoned, the once-imposing figure slid limply to the side, impact cushioned by the now-muddy ground. His subduer remained motionless apart from his chest, which rose and fell rapidly as the boy desperately tried to regain his breath.
For some time Kureigu heard nothing beyond the pouring rain and the sucking gasps of his apparent savior. Eventually, the ability to form words returned to him.
"How the fuck did you do that?"
"GAH! I-I'm sorry!"
Perhaps the blows he'd sustained had left the Hyūga boy in shock, or maybe his brain simply could not process the day's increasingly strange turn of events. Either way, the sudden apology left his mind as blank as his irides. "What?"
"The older ninja!" came the quick reply, and with it the opening of verbal floodgates. "He came up to the shrine sometime after you so I wondered where all these ninja were coming from but I must have spoken out loud because he started asking me questions about the other ninja and oh GODS that was just too much pressure so eventually I pointed in the direction you went but I didn't know he'd attack you like that and I'm sorry!"
The Leaf Village boy opened and then closed his mouth wordlessly in reply, any attempt at a response dead on arrival.
Abruptly Kureigu felt pain around his temples, as if an immense weight had suddenly materialized partway down his skull. On account of the sheer peculiarity of the situation the Hyūga boy had never thought to deactivate his Byakugan; a sweeping tide of chakra exhaustion wrenched him to his knees.
Distantly he watched the wild boy jerk back in surprise before motioning towards him. He thought that he felt an arm slide around his stomach before his body shut down.
The wiry boy did not reach the other before the Hyūga prince fell away from consciousness.