Chapter 10: Discuss and Understand

"What are you doing?" Musket asked as he looked at the man in front of him.

The blue skinned man only turned to face Musket with a frown. "Leaving. This place has nothing for me anymore."

Musket's fists clenched as he held back his anger. "And what does that mean? Are you saying that we don't matter to you anymore, IS THAT IT!" Musket yelled as the man only stared at him with no expression.

"Yes." He simply stated before beginning to walk away.

Musket uncliped his pistol from its holster, pointing it at the man. "I won't let you leave Tao. We both know what happens if you do."

Tao only stopped as he sighed. "So be it." He said as he turned to face Musket.

The sound of a gunshot erupted through the building complex as the dream ended.

Musket awoke with a jolt, breathing heavily as the memory began to fade from his mind. Taking a moment he finally got up from his bed as he went to the bathroom.

Looking into the mirror he only saw his reflection as he began to wash his face. Soon he got in the shower and just stood in there, fist clenched as a black shine came over it. Looking at the hand, Musket felt like punching something but stopped himself as he just continued to look at his hand.

Getting out of the shower he dried himself off and put some clothes on he had gained the previous night and walked out of the apartment he was living in.

Musket walked through the village, just taking in the sights of the people going through their day as he looked back on last night.

"She's had to go through it too. Heh, guess I can't complain too much then." He said to himself as he came to a stop. Looking into Ichiraku Ramen he noticed Tsume eating by herself. Thinking for a moment he decided to go into the restaurant as he greeted Tsume.

"Hey." He said.

Tsume turned to see who had greeted her as she smiled at the man she had saved the previous night. "Well look who it is. How's the dog bites?"

Musket only chuckled as he sat next to her. "Healed up now. Thanks for the help by the way."

"Meh, don't mention it. Honestly I didn't expect them to go after you like that but then again Kuromaru told me he almost did the same thing when he first saw you."

Musket looked at the dog who only gave a small smirk. "Wait, you said he told you?" He asked as he realized what she had said.

"Yep, it's an Inuzuka thing. We can understand what our dogs say and things like that. Granted any Ninken could learn to talk if they wanted but some just don't. Most Inuzuka Ninken don't learn since we can understand them." Kuromaru only chuckled as he looked at Tsume. "I can talk if I want. I just don't want to half the time."

"Well I know you can but I'm saying most of you don't." Tsume then looked to Musket as she realized he probably didn't know what her partner had told her. "Sorry he was talking to me. He can actually…"

"Talk like us but he just doesn't want to. I heard." Musket said as he looked away from the two, hiding his shit eating grin. Both Tsume and Kuromaru looked at him with their jaws on the floor. "H-How did you know?"

Musket only waved his hand as a few sparks came out of it. Tsume only looked at him, still a little amazed before going back to eating. Soon she heard a voice from behind as she looked to see two of her closest friends.

"Well you two finally made it." She said as she turned to see Hiashi and Hizashi Hyuga standing just inside as Hizashi smiled at her, Hiashi frowning as he looked at Musket.

"Well sorry for that. This one here was still drying his hair." Hizashi said as he pointed to his twin who blushed a little at that. "That's only because you were in the bathroom for almost an hour!" The older of the twins yelled out.

Tsume fell to the floor in laughter as her friends argued. Musket held in his laughter as he got up to leave. "I'll see you around Tsume." Hiashi and Hizashi watched the man leave as Hiashi spoke up.

"Who are you?" He asked as Musket stopped.

"The name's Musket. You?" Musket asked, looking at the man.

"He's Hiashi, and I'm Hizashi Hyuga. Nice to meet you. I'm sorry if my brother seems rude, we've just never seen you before and he can be quite paranoid with new people." The younger of the twins said as he put out his hand to shake Musket's.

Musket returned the favor in kind as he looked at the two brothers. "Ah, I see. That's understandable at a time like this. But for why you haven't seen me before is due to me being on a long term mission."

"Ah I see. So how do you know Tsume anyway?" Hizashi asked.

"Kushina introduced me to her." Musket said.

Hizashi gave a nod. "Ah. So what type of mission were you on if you don't mind me asking?"

Tsume froze for a second as Musket looked to the man. Taking a moment he decided to tell him a similar version of his "mission" that he had told Kakashi the previous night. Hizashi seemed pleased as Hiashi only continued to scowl at Musket.

Growing a little annoyed at Hiashi's attitude, Musket looked at him. "Do we have a problem?"

Hiashi didn't say anything as he only stared at Musket for even longer. Musket was about to leave until Hiashi spoke up.

"Why don't I recognize you? You are the same age as us so I should at least remember someone that looked like you but I can't. And I would definitely remember a name like yours but I can't think of anyone with a name like yours. So that begs the question. Who are you?"

Musket just stood there with a neutral expression. Tsume looked worried as she knew Hiashi would probably act this way due to being less trusting than most. Though she couldn't blame him due to the war still raging on. Finally Musket spoke up to the surprise of the others.

"You're right. I'm not from Konoha, however I am from fire country. To the south of Konoha actually. I became a ninja quite young due to my abilities and am one who is out of the village often so I do not meet many. But I do promise you that I would never let anything happen to this village as long as I live."

Hiashi continued to scowl at the man, not completely believing his words for some reason. "What abilities?" He asked.

"My family has a very different chakra to most. It is hard for those with dojutsu to find my chakra coils and sensors can't find me due to my chakra's properties. As a result I have been on teams sent out for assassination. I also have other moves that I've made throughout the years."

"Is that so? Would you mind to show me then?" Hiashi asked. Tsume was a little scared as she knew if this kept up one of them would definitely get hurt.

"Sure, why not." Musket said as Tsume began to get ready to break up the two before someone got hurt, however she would instead feel a hand rest on her shoulder as she turned to see Hizashi shaking his head.

"Let's let them get it out of their system. If we break it up now then Hiashi may not trust him." He said as they both followed the two men to an area they could spar.

"This won't end well." Tsume said as she and Hizashi walked.

"I know but something tells me this needs to happen. We both know how Hiashi gets when he has a bad feeling about someone and from what I could tell this Musket wasn't in the best of moods before we showed up." Hizashi said in a whisper as to not have the two men in front of him catch on to their conversation.

"You know I did sort of notice that with Musket too but I just thought it was nothing. You think something is on his mind?" Tsume asked.

"I was hoping you'd know since you've known him longer." Hizashi said.

"Yeah but only for a few days. It's not like with you guys or Shibi where I've known you guys for years." Tsume said as the group suddenly came to a stop. Tsume had finally noticed where they were as she saw that Hiashi had led them to an unused training ground.

Hiashi turned to Musket as the two men stared each other down. "Let us test each other's abilities if you don't mind."

Musket gave a slight smirk at that. "Good enough for me." Soon the two were in fighting stances as they got ready to begin.

XXX

Team Seven training ground, around the same time

Kakashi did his exercises alongside Rin and Obito while Minato watched the three by a large tree. Kakashi suddenly heard Obito's voice in a soft whisper as he spoke. "So did you hear about that Musket guy apparently getting attacked by the Inuzuka dogs last night?"

Rin made a small grunt in acknowledgement to Obito's question as she did some push ups. "Yeah. Apparently Tsume sensei had to step in and help him. When I heard that I was honestly wondering what he did to make them so mad."

Kakashi gave a small 'hn' as he did his stretches, catching the attention of the other two.

"What, you know something?" Obito asked impatiently. Kakashi only gave his teammate a side eye before turning to him.

"Yeah I do."

Both became curious at that as they waited for him to continue.

"He came to my house last night. Apparently Kushina had invited him over for dinner with us and he said that he was attacked because of his chakra." Kakashi said as the other two became a little confused at that.

"What do you mean by that?" Obito asked.

"I don't know. Apparently his chakra is really special due to his family and so he is harder to be detected and stuff like that." Kakashi said as he noticed Minato looked away from them, as if he had gotten interested in something.

"That's cool. Maybe he has some sort of Kekki Genki like how my family has the Sharingan." Obito said with some excitement. "Though I do wonder how he can do all that other stuff with those weird knives, and how could he replicate your one move anyway?"

"I don't know." Kakashi said, confused himself. "I know he doesn't have the Sharingan since I never even brought it up. Honestly I want to know how he could copy my Chidori. I mean I haven't even perfected it yet and yet he somehow copied it. Although it was strange how he did it."

The other two were curious as to what that meant as Rin spoke up. "What do you mean by that?"

"Well, when he copied off me his hand signs sucked. He even did a few of them wrong and honestly I think most academy students could do better. It was honestly really strange to see." Kakashi stopped his exercises as he finished speaking, now looking to Minato who had seemingly ignored them this whole time. "Hey sensei!" Kakashi yelled out to his teacher.

Minato didn't answer as he noticed several chakra signatures, all he recognized as they passed by. Noticing them Minato then saw Tsume, Hizashi and Hiashi walk through the forest along with Musket as they headed towards another training area. Minato was curious as to what they were doing until he felt someone shaking him. Looking down he saw his students looking at him with worried looks. "Wh-what did you guys say? Sorry I was a little distracted by something." Minato chuckled as he rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment.

All three of the kids became annoyed at that as Obito spoke up. "We finished our warm ups. So are we going to go on a mission now?"

Minato thought for a second before gaining an idea. "Well we still have some time before we need to go on a mission and well, I wondered if you all wanted to come with me to check on something."

The three genin were curious at hearing that as Kakashi spoke up. "Check on what?"

"You'll see."

XXX

The two men waited for the other to make a move knowing that any mistake could lead to them losing.

Finally after a minute of anticipation Musket was the one to make the first move as he charged at Hiashi and delivered a right hook to the man's face, his fist having a black shine to it. Hiashi weaved his head out of the way as he brought up two fingers and in a swift motion stabbed them into Musket's side, backing away as Musket recoiled in pain.

'Attacking my pressure points. This will be harder than I thought. And his strikes are faster than even Minato. Just my luck I'm fighting a close quarters specialist. Wait!' Suddenly Musket gained an idea as a slight smile came across his face. Putting his hands up with both of his pointer and middle fingers into a cross motion, Musket yelled out "Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

Suddenly a large puff of smoke appeared as four Muskets stood in the field. Tsume gasped as she wondered how he could have done that while Hizashi just stood still with a slight smile.

Hiashi's eyes bulged as the veins under them could be seen on the surface of his skin as he yelled out "Byakugan!" Suddenly Hiashi's eyes caught something about Musket's clones that confused him as only one of them was actually there, more than likely the real Musket. 'Why would he use the clone jutsu, is he trying to trick me. What a fool.'

Two of the Musket's ran towards Hiashi as he stood still and waited for them to attack. The real Musket was shocked as he watched Hiashi stand there and seemingly get attacked by the illusions only for both to pass right through him and disappear, the other illusion next to him disappearing as well. 'How did he know? Wait, are his eyes different? Damn, I forgot he had a Dōjutsu. Looks like I'll need to rethink my strat…' Hiashi suddenly rocketed towards him as Musket was hit multiple times all around the body, pain coursing through him. Hiashi didn't look back at the man as his eyes allowed him to look behind his back as he spoke. "You're a fool, every ninja knows the Byakugan can see through the clone jutsu and even simple genjutsu. Why even use that against me?"

Musket chuckled as he struggled to rise. "Wanted to test you. Also I wanted to give you a little present." Hiashi became confused until he noticed a glyph on his chest as a ball of fire erupted out of the glyph and exploded. Musket smiled as he put his hand to his chest, exhaustion enveloping him.

"You're in my range!" Musket froze as he heard Hiashi's voice call from the smoke. Turning around quickly, Musket only saw a flash of white as Hiashi began his assault.

"2 palms, 4 palms, 8 palms, 16 palms, 32 palms, 64 palms, 128 palms!" A burst of blue energy erupted from Musket's body as he was sent to the ground, blood rushing from his mouth as he looked up to Hiashi, not a single burn mark on his body. Hiashi only stood over the man, a cocky smile on his face as he looked down at the incapacitated man.

"I've won."

Musket gritted his teeth as he tried his best to move. Looking up he was surprised that Hiashi didn't seem to notice something. Giving a small smile Musket let his final attack go off as a bayonet he had thrown into the air when he did his little illusion came flying towards Hiashi's neck.

Hiashi didn't notice the attack coming due to the Byakugan's blindspot as he only kept looking at Musket's still body.

Hizashi watched his brother stand over Musket as he noticed the bayonet flying towards his brother in the one spot no Byakugan user could see. "Hiashi, look out!" The man turned as it was only then when the bayonet was no longer in his blindspot could he see it as he acted quickly, snatching it and throwing it to the ground. Looking back at the now unconscious Musket, Hiashi was furious as he went in for a deadly strike. Hizashi and Tsume ran towards the man to try to stop him but both knew they wouldn't make it in time. Suddenly a yellow flash passed by them both as Hiashi's hand was stopped just inches from Musket's throat by another hand. Hiashi knew who it was as he turned his head towards Minato who was glaring at the man, a small ounce of killing intent leaking out of him.

"That's enough Hiashi!" Said man only stared at the blond for a moment before deactivating his eyes and releasing from Minato's grip. "It seems so." Hiashi began to walk away as Hizashi and Tsume ran to Minato and Musket, Hizashi undoing the effects of his brother's attack, Minato continuing to stare at Hiashi's shrinking form.

"Sensei, is Musket ok!" Rin asked as she, along with Kakashi and Obito ran towards the adults.

"I'll live." Musket said as he began to rise to his feet with the help of Hizashi and Tsume.

Minato looked back at the man in surprise. "Wow, most don't get up that fast after an attack like that." Musket only chuckled as he was sat next to a tree for support. "Trust me this was nothing compared to some I know. One guy I know probably would have just sprang back up after a hit like that." Musket coughed as he tried his body ached in pain.

"I can help you get back to your apartment, I have a seal near that area so I can get you there faster." Minato offered as he bent down to be eye level with Musket. Musket only nodded as he had one of his arms slung around Minato's shoulders. Rising slowly with the injured man Minato looked to his students. "You three get to the Hokage's office. I'll be there as soon as I get him home. Can you watch them for me?" He asked Tsume who nodded as she walked with the kids. Musket looked at Hizashi as he smiled. "Thanks for that by the way." Hizashi nodded as he looked at Musket. "I wasn't going to let you stay like that, you would have died. Plus I'm a lot more forgiving than my brother." Musket only nodded as Minato teleported away, Musket's smile not leaving his face as he now realized he had found Hiashi's weakness.

END OF CHAPTER

ABILITY LIST:

SPEAK WITH ANIMALS: a simple spell that allows the user to communicate with animals for a short amount of time.

Gentle Fist Art: Eight Trigrams 128 Palms: the advanced version of the Hyuga's Eight Trigrams 64 Palms. Known to be a killing strike to most if not treated immediately. Far more dangerous to those with chakra networks.