What Friends Are For (Specialty Flashback)

The boy who knocked on the massive gate of the Hyuga Clan District wasn't quite the same as the one who'd had his hair ruffled by the lonesome deviant who was perpetually worried about his standing in the proud and prestigious clan. He was growing up, and fast -too fast, some might argue. But given his recent experiences, Ashitaka would continue to believe that he wasn't developing fast enough. Beneath his placid demeanor roiled an explosively burgeoning power, and the inner turmoil of someone who felt the need to be able to decisively sort out right from wrong with no frame of reference.

For the first time in his life, he'd encountered an adult who didn't greet him with crushing disappointment. Instead, the man had simply crushed him. Not only had he failed his most recent mission, he had done so catastrophically. As someone for whom failure was an alien feeling, the event had shaken him to his core, and the extent to which and nature of how it happened threatened to twist even that horribly out of shape. It had been a long time since he'd walked with his eyes uncovered, but he felt that in a place like this, wearing a blindfold would be somewhat... frowned upon.

"State your business with our clan," the gate guard demanded as he loomed over the boy, his expression at once loaded with haughter and intent to intimidate him into cowering away. "Or move along. We have no time for wandering children."

Ashitaka looked at the man like one would an insect deciding to cop an attitude. The guard blanched, and his partner shifted to an opening stance for the Gentle Fist style. This action drew his gaze to the other man, who felt a chill wash over him on eye contact. Some people's pride just couldn't stand in the presence of one who'd stared into the face of Death and spat in it.

"D-don't make us have to teach you a lesson, punk!" he stammered as his having garnered the kid's direct attention threatened his ego.

"I am here to meet with one of your own," he stated evenly. He did not understand what had the grown men so on edge, but he tried not to push them any further. "He goes by the name of Chikamatsu Momo Hyuuga."

Somehow, those two simple sentences seemed to stress them even more.

"What do you want with our Clan Head? You're not planning anything funny, are you?" the first guard demanded again, more loudly than before. Ashitaka's head whipped around at the passing onlookers stopping to watch the encounter. These two idiots were causing an unnecessary scene.

"I am not, sorry. Comedy isn't exactly my strong suit." he replied in his mellow tone. Then he continued by asking, "Why, is it his birthday or something?"

"What? No! I- what the hell is wrong with you, kid?" the flustered guard practically bellowed, drawing even more onlookers. The two of them were finally starting to notice this, too. "Look, just- just shut up and go inside okay, kid?"

"Thank you sir, I'll be doing just that," Ashitaka said with a small bow before proceeding inside and looking for directions to the Hyuuga Clan Administration Building. (Man, this war's got everybody so tense lately. I hope Chika's okay.)

Ugh, paperwork. Paperwork sucked. Chika was sitting at a desk filling out loads of paperwork and he was starting to go cross-eyed. Despite his sister handling most of the issues, he still needed to go over and sign a lot of fourms as the catastrophy of The Nekoian Empire was still making waves within the Hyuga clan despite the event happening almost a year ago now. While there were rumors about the Kotosura eventually getting kicked out because of the incident due to Ex-Hokage Tatsu being one as well as one of her subordinates, even he felt that removing the entire clan for a few bad apples was a bit much. Apparently the previous clan head had been putting off how to deal with the clan, and now Chika had to deal with the mess.

"Lord Chiamatsu, there looks to be a determined Senju who wants to speak with you coming to this building. Would you like me to dispatch some guards to apprehend him?"

Looking up he'd be simultaneously confused and a little bit happy. Recently he'd had several of the rare Hyuga who refined their sensory to take shifts watching the gate as he'd been planning to make a proposal to Ny-the acting Hokage about supplementing their sensory network with high-ranked byakugan sensors as they could make out things better then a basic sensor could. What confused him though was why a Senju was coming.

"No, keep an eye on him in case he causes trouble, but unless he actively causes physical harm don't do anything. Have him meet me in the zen room and don't let anyone antagonize him. We are trying to present a better image to the public and if I hear anyone complain about their precious Hyuga pride being hurt because of this, I will make sure they have to take a shift of cleaning the stables."

"Very well Lord Chikamatsu."

His assistant leaving the room, Chika would form several strings and quickly move several stacks of paper out of the way, revealing Loyal Karakuri. Winding up the key on it's back, he'd open the large double door, mount the puppet and made his way to the zen garden; a small room he had made for meeting with Senju within the Administration Building.

Entering the room he'd set Loyal to the side as he double checked everything was in place. He'd admit the room was a little bit stereotypical and possibly insulting with it's artificial pool, bonsai trees, and sand with rocks built on top, but he had yet to meet a person who would willingly raise their voice in a zen room.

The guards weren't the only ones who obeyed Chika's command, and they hardly needed to be told the first time. For his entire time inside the compound, Ashitaka found himself being watched. A lot. The amount and intensity of scrutiny he was under from the White Eyes would have driven somebody even slightly plagued by stage fright to suicidal thoughts. He actually started to feel a bit bad for his friend, having to be subjected to this on a daily basis. Then again, to his knowledge, Chika wasn't walking around with the living memories of wounds that should have been fatal.

Still though, Clan Head? That sounded pretty neat. And stressful. Ashitaka didn't want to imagine combining the feeling of being constantly monitored, analyzed, and judged over the smallest things with the tedium of having to do administrative work. That sounded just awful. The things he'd gone through were harsh, sure, but they were also over. Mostly. What Chika was dealing with right now was a relentless crushing weight of overbearing responsibility and probably also having to put up a front for the sake of his clanmates' vaunted and fragile pride.

He didn't know if that was better or worse than finding out from a millennia-old spirit haunting a tree that he was the last living member of a comparable clan (that she knew of) within the city's walls and so she made him the Prince by default. Hence his weird getup comprised of some kind of royal battle garb from an age long past, long before the villages were even founded, that was in a vault that he never would have known even existed had she not started training him how to move wood and plant life around. Which was irritating, considering the days he spent cleaning and searching the place before she even addressed him. With all of the secret passageways and hidden places she showed him how to find, he was pretty sure that the population of the whole village could hide under the district and no one would ever know. How the clothes themselves managed to stay intact for so long was another mystery, but one she wasn't yet inclined to share with him.

Ashitaka zoned back in to realize that he'd been wandering around the Hyuuga Clan District for a while, since every last sign was hard to read without a Dojutsu, or some approximation thereof, and every building looked like there was a competition going around to see who could make theirs the most ostentatious number on the block. He tried asking for directions, but those few of the Hyuuga who didn't avoid him outright refused to make direct eye contact, as if they hadn't been staring at him whenever they thought he wasn't looking. Finally, he managed to randomly encounter a guard that appeared to have seen some shit himself (probably a Jounin), who was willing to speak to him.

"Excuse me, Sir. Could you please tell me where I might find Hyuuga Chikamatsu? I'm a friend of his, and I'd like to speak to him." the boy asked, hoping that he was being sufficiently polite to make any kind of progress.

"Lord Chikamatsu is waiting for you in the Zen Room of the District Administration building," the man replied as he gave a slight bow. "I'll inform him of your impending arrival."

Before Ashitaka could ask for further navigation assistance, the man was gone. This ordeal was starting to chafe his nerves. It was stupid of him, but he eventually resolved himself to forcing his eyes to work on the higher order that seemed required to just manage the basics of getting around in this District. It was a matter he'd been meaning to address as the only member of Team 10 who lacked anything approaching eye magic. To that end, he found a rock, sat on it, and started meditating. He concentrated on closing off the chakra flowing into his ears and spirit sense, redirecting it into his eyes. He had no interest in being looked down on for, of all things, a deficiency in visual acuity; so he approached the problem as he did all of his personal shortcomings: as a flaw to be carefully beaten out as though his own soul were an ingot of ore on an anvil.

If there was any doubt that this new development would be taken to the Clan Head, that was immediately banished when it appeared to start working.



_________________




[WC 751, Techniques Learned:

Sensory: Hard Light (B-rank Custom, 250)
Sensory: Harsh Reality (A-rank Custom, 300)

The Senju was taking longer then expected. By now the mysterious person should've been guided to the room, but for some odd reason that wasn't the case. Instead of meeting with the mysterious clan member, he was instead sitting on a fancy pillow in a terrarium. But he didn't mind, no, the longer this took the longer he could get away from paperwork. He'd wait a little longer, and after some more waiting (gasp) he figured it it was going to take this long he might as well get some much-needed practice.

Starting off he'd string one of the smaller rocks and bring it over to himself. While he certainly could practice with a shuriken he'd heard any object could, at least in theory, work. Forming the hand signs he'd focus on the rock as doubled in size, the weight difference not too noticeable as it was a particularly small rock. Placing the rock back after it had shrunk back down he'd do it again with a stone that was farther away from where he sat. The small stone grew even larger, the sand being displaced entertaining him a little as it slowly shrunk back to it's original size. He then looked to Loyal, and thought for a moment. It was really tempting to make him larger, but the technique was made for projectiles, not puppets. Instead he'd just enlarge the cloth seat the puppet had on it's back for a little bit.

Wanting to see just how far he could push the size increase, he'd try it out in tandem with another technique to amplify the size of the objects. looking at the rock he had enlarged earlier, he'd add a snake hand seal and almost burst out laughing as the thing grew much, much larger then expected. He could see now why the Akimichi practiced Yang transformation, as the strange effects it could produce were strange and interesting, though that did make him wonder. Was the Giant Body Technique a Yang jutsu or Yin jutsu? As tempting as it was to use his byakugan, he could check at a later date, for now just increasing the size of zen rocks as he waited. He even tried to increase the size of his chakra strings, but for some reason it didn't work, adding to his theory that Amplification wasn't just Yang chakra.

Having had his fun, he'd go back to patiently waiting in the Zen garden, the sand to anyone entering being strangely altered yet fitting the ascetic of the room. A servant quickly came in a delivered some tea, but other then that he would just have to enjoy the peace of Zen.

---

Ninja Art: Shuriken Giant Body Technique 152/150
Focused Amplification 150/150

There were three things that Ashitaka Inuzuka Senju hated doing above all else: disobeying orders, failing, and being late. And he was on a hot streak of doing all of those things lately. Once he was confident of his newfound perceptive power, he wall-ran up to the roof of one of the many absurdly well-decorated buildings nearby and performed the hand seals necessary to use it. The force of chakra flowing into his eyes made them bleed and feel like they were going to rupture. He moved his bandanna to the lower half of his face where it soaked up the streams of blood and stained in a bizarre parody of his adoptive clan's traditional cheek markings, unable to believe that the Hyuuga and Uchiha considered this to be ordinary. With some effort, he found the Administrative Building and dropped the Harsh Reality in exchange for a Body Flicker. Running and leaping straight across the rooftops, he finally arrived at his destination after a few minutes.

"Hello." he said, bowing by way of greeting the guards after he caught his breath. "My name is Ashitaka Inuzuka. I'm here to see the Clan Head. He's a friend of mine."

"Ah yes, you. Chikamatsu-dono has been expecting you. Please leave your weapons here." the guard said as she bowed in return, then gestured to a collection station. "You may retrieve them after your visit."

"Of course, of course!" ...Damnit. Ashitaka replied with a slightly forced smile. He spend a minute or so removing all of his dozen or so weapons and laying them out before an increasingly uncomfortable-looking clerk. Once finished, he turned back to the guard he'd initially addressed. He was relieved that she wasn't treating him like he had The Plague or something. "All right, that's everything. Please guide me to him."

"At once." she replied, bowing again. "Right this way, sir."

After a lot of walking and several turns, he was finally before the door of the Zen Room. As the guard knelt and pushed the door open, he saw that it was very aptly named and generally pleasant to look at.

"Lord Chikamatsu, I present Ashitaka Inuzuka." the woman announced in a genially bland tone. The large boy smiled at his friend, and truly felt the expression for the first time in what felt like years, even if it was only months.

"Hey there, Chika! Long time no see. I'm sorry for the wait. You wouldn't believe the traffic out there." it was probably a bad joke, but he didn't joke enough to make good ones, so he hoped that it would do well enough.

"It has been a while, hasn't it? And I do apologized if they gave you any trouble, though I don't blame them too much. Attempting to replace old traditions that did more harm then good for more progressive ones isn't something that can be done in a day, let alone a week or month." He'd motion to the woman to leave, and after a bow she'd dismissed herself, closing the doors behind her.

A part of him was still wondering why they had said there was a senju, and he figured one of the guards had their eyes active. His eyes would briefly activate to confirm his theory, and lo and behold little Ashi was in fact had somehow managed to get a wood affinity! The Dojutsu quickly turning off so he wouldn't waste his sight he'd give a bigger smile to his partner.

"Looks like my advice on visiting the Senju area of the Training Facility actually payed off. Who would've thunk it?" Pure luck. It was pure coincidence that he had said to go there. In his mind it just made sense someone who grew up in the woods would find it easiest to train in the woods, but to think Ash was the woods in a sense made it very hard to keep himself from bursting out into laughter.

"But enough on that, I'm glad you came. Ari herself came to visit a few weeks ago, but I hadn't heard anything on you after our team meeting. You go and somehow get recruited into the ANBU or some other crazy thing you could actually talk about?" He'd chuckle, though his posture made it clear he was genuinely curious. "I myself have been cooped up here trying to fix the mess the last leader left for me, so I do apologize if I seem a bit out of the loop when it comes to current events."

"Been a long while," Ashitaka replied with a 'let's pretend everything is normal' type of forced smile. He really didn't want to talk about what that "while" included. "And no, your clanmates gave me no trouble at all!"

They also didn't give me the time of day, directions, or any kind of guidance in terms of finding you other than the generic name of this building. he thought but didn't say. Best not to cause any kind of ruckus while utterly surrounded by at least a few hundred people capable of spontaneous aggressive acupressure therapy. He knelt across from his friend in a very formal and traditional manner as he picked up the brief surge of chakra to Chika's eyes and allowed the teenager to look him over. While he was only mildly annoyed by this action the first time around, he had managed to reason himself out of the self-consciousness with the fact that he himself did it virtually all the time. However, now several of his major Tenketsu centers were... not well. The Senju healing only recovered the physical aspects of his injuries, and did so very quickly. What happened to his internal chakra system, though... He actually hoped that his friend could maybe help him with that.

"Yeah... turns out I was born to the Tree Clan. Would've been nice if anybody gave me some kind of heads-up to that fact before Nyg-sensei did a little bit ago." he tried to match Chika's cheer, but he really couldn't.

"Ari came by? You two didn't have another fight, did you?" he asked, although he was pretty sure of what the answer was. It seemed like, for people of his teammates' personality types, fighting was as much a form of communicating as talking. At least when it came to each other. Neither of them seemed keen to pick one with him for some reason. "I'd rather not talk about where I've been, sorry. But uh... congratulations? My condolences? I'm not sure what to say of your appointment. Last we talked, you were not on good terms with your clan."

Chika, for all his wisdom and experience (which wasn't a lot, but it was still there), failed to pick up that Ashi's smile was forced, as it reminded him of his puppets smiles, and those didn't bother him, so why should his? "That's good to hear they didn't give you any trouble. I was a bit worried seeing how tradition often has made them act as if everyone else is below them, and with what rumors I've been hearing that another Uchiha will become the next hokage their attitudes won't be improving anytime soon."

Chika's own smile would falter a little as he saw the usually more upbeat Ashi falter. Was he sad that he wasn't a proper Inazuka anymore?  "Honestly, if I knew when I first met you, I would have told you. Unfortunately the Byakugan can only see existing affinities, not potential ones except in very rare cases." He'd give a shrug. While not well documented due to the uniqueness, on what were basically once-in-a-lifetime occasions a byakugan would mutate, and it could see things normal byakugan couldn't. "But, and I do apologize for the pun, don't forget your roots pup. You smelled like wet dog when we first met under the falls-" he'd dip his fingertips into the still pond, then flicked it at Ashi. "And you still smell like a wet dog now, you just have a little more bark to your bite, that's all."

Hopefully the droplets didn't bother Ashi too much as he stringed over a towel to him. "Nope, no fighting between Ari and I, just some light sparring. We did have a nice discussion over soup though." He's itch his nose, the thought of the fight entertaining him a little. "She actually had the guts to take on my four humanoid puppets. For someone who didn't know what Dojutsu and Bloodlines were properly, she definitely has spirit and I'm glad she's on our team."

He'd raise an eyebrow when Ashi said he wan't ready, but wouldn't act on it as it lowered. "I see...well in due time then I hope you'll be able to share, but I won't pry." For now. While it had been brief, he had noticed some of the tenketsu and their changes. A part of him was worried as a chakra system was a part of the body, yet somehow it hadn't healed right, though he didn't know as much as he probably should've. "As for the members of my clan, officially we're on better terms, but unofficially the only thing preventing most of them from do anything is that of my sister as she's the one who put me into power. As such while things have gotten better, it's still a thin line."

As much as he wanted to continue acting carefree, he still had a leadership position to maintain, and Chika straightened up a little as he took a more buisnesslike tone. "So why did you come Ashitaka? Just wanted to catch up, or did you have a specific thing you wanted to talk about?"

"Oh wow, you have been kept in the dark," Ashitaka blinked in surprise at Chika's ignorance of that whole situation. "Okay well, you might want to sit down for this one. Nyg-sensei met me in the hospital wearing the robes of a Hokage, so unless he's roleplaying on the border of outright blasphemy, I'm pretty sure that it's him."

This news wasn't even part of what Ashitaka was trying to keep from his friend, so it was kind of like psyching himself up for a steep climb only to find that there was a cliff he didn't see right at the start of it. And also it seemed as though he blamed himself for the boy's ignorance of his own nature. Trying to alleviate Chika's concerns, he shook his head and waved his hand dismissively.

"I'm not blaming you. We've barely spoken on the topic up to this point. I'm blaming the people whose blood flows through my veins, yet whose embrace I've never felt. Literally or figuratively."

Ashitaka flinched at the water flicked in his face and bristled at the minor jab, but he didn't take it to heart. Instead, he accepted the towel and wiped his face with it.

"I'm not liable to forget who my real family is, regardless of how long it's been since I've seen them. It just... I... " Ashitaka stared at the ground, his eyes darting around at pebbles as he searched for the words."I'm not even sure what that's supposed to mean to any real extent. People talk like family is supposed to be this super important and deep and meaningful concept, but from my experience it just seems to mean whose burden of responsibility my physical well-being is more often than not."

Well that topic was an unexpected emotional black hole, but at least the news of Chika and Ari being on better terms perked him up a little.

"Well, I'm glad there's no lasting bad blood between you two. It'd really make the birthday parties awkward." he said with a small laugh. The warm demeanor instantly faded, however, when the teen mentioned his sister and how she manipulated him.

"Okay look, there's a lot I can tolerate, but seeing other people made puppets of really crosses a line. I know your sister knows that you're part of a team, dysfunctional though we may be. If she wants to run your clan, then she needs to put on her big girl panties and do it under the heat of the limelight. And if your clan still wants to give you grief over your interests, they're more than welcome to try going through me to do it."

Chika would lean back a little as he took in the information. "So sensei's the acting Hokage then. That could actually be a good thing, as the previous Hokage hadn't been giving the Hyuga as much of a stipend as normal. With him on the seat I might be able to fix the deficit, or at least mitigate the coming recession." He hadn't found the reason for why the hyuga weren't getting payed as much, and he assumed the letter or paperwork saying why was buried beneath the horde.

Seeing Ashi start to take a slightly darker turn in their mindset as well, he't try to aleviate some of what was on his mind. "Honestly? Family is whatever you make of it, like a gut feeling. For me, while I don't like them, I will always see the Hyuga as my family thanks to my sister. But I also am the son of an Amandi, and yet they don't feel like family to me as I never connected with them. It isn't that they never tried to reach out, in fact they tried a lot, but no matter what they didn't feel like family." Human interaction wasn't his strongest suit, and he knew he wouldn't be able to talk no jutsu Ashi into a better mindset, but hopefully it'd be enough to set him on the right path.

When it came to his own sister though, he had to defend her as the older brother. "It's not that simple Ash. Due to several clan laws that I can't repeal because of other laws and so on and so forth, she can't become clan head, at least not until something is done about them. Under the current system if she were to officially take the spot she'd lose her eyes, and probably, no definitely a lot more as she isn't considered a matured woman yet in the eyes of the older members." When he had found those old documents during one of his paperwork binges, the sight of it both impressed him and filled him with dread. It was no secret that dojutsu worked like a living chakra battery, but to use the entire body as one for a power source? He couldn't subject that to his sister, manipulative as she was.

He'd take a moment to take in the zen garden, it's calming effects helping him from making another emotional outburst. "I am glad you'd try to stand up to the clan though. I doubt you'd win against all of them on your own, but the thought is comforting."

Ashitaka cringed when Chika pointed out how his little sister was just doing what she could to protect him from their clan. He'd often heard that the Hyuuga were a bunch of pricks and the few he met did little to dissuade that notion. But the ease with which they seemed to be willing to rip one another's eyes out, even lacking the motivation that the Uchiha were rumored to have from gaining power by doing so, really chafed his hide.

"Ahh, that's actually kind of sweet of her I guess, in its own twisted way. Now I just feel like a huge jerk," he replied, seeing that his eagerness to defend his friend itself threatened their relationship when it was turned against the teenager's family. So that's what it was supposed to mean. Learning that added a new and considerably powerful layer to the emptiness he felt in that general direction. Still, they were here as representatives of their Clans, so it was prudent not to dig too much into one another's personal lives at the moment. So he changed topics.

"Look, about the money. I'm not about to make excuses, but you understand that the whole village is in a dire financial situation thanks to that traitor selling everything out from under us, right? The Senju are currently expected to provide our Wood freely without compensation. But there's not really anything we can do about it. If we start making demands that can't be met, things start falling apart from the top. And that would cause a domino effect as civilians lose faith in us, which would result in our esteemed Clans having nothing of value save our names and the associated powers, just like things were when the Villages were first founded."

He took a deep breath as he got to the hard part, but he pressed on.

"To make matters worse, war has come about. For now, there are only proxy battles fought among the minor nations using some members of the great nations as mercenaries, but it's only a matter of time -and very little of it, at that- until things start spiraling out of control. And... though it pains me to even think of hurting you or your puppets, I need to make sure that you're all ready for what's coming. The enemy has an abundance of power and a shortage of mercy."

With that, he stood straight up, an act that was generally difficult for most people from the traditional kneeling position that he had been using up to this point.

"You can worry about your clan's money and laws when they're not facing impending annihilation by forces scarcely within the limits of our comprehension. For now, you need to focus on the fight ahead. It's going to be an awful one."

He'd wave it off. "No need to apologize, it's an old clan law, but that law had a purpose in it's time, but it's old and needs changing." He'd rather not get into it.

When Ashi swapped topics onto the money issue, Chika couldn't help but be a little annoyed. He didn't truly blame Akari Uchiha for the stipend issue, but the Hyuga wanted an Uchiha to project their anger onto, and unfortunately Nyg wasn't truly hokage yet, so Aki took the blame. But even so, to blame it all on the traitor Tatts didn't sit right, and he'd wait for Ashi to finish speaking and standing before he made his rebuttal. "The traitor was just the tip of the iceberg Ashi, Konoha's always had some sort of underlying trouble, they just happen to be one of the most recent and memorable. The more you look at the history of this village, the more you realize how much of it is barely held together. Things are already falling spiraling as it is, it's just so many people don't see how bad it is. It's tiring."

He'd stand up, his pale eyes staring into the Senju, his shorter frame keeping somewhat eye level.

"I know about the wars, not even something as big as that can escape me when I'm the one who has to sign release forums and inform the unlucky ones that their son or daughter has been killed or captured, though that's helped in an odd way. Puppetry requires dexterity, and so does quick pencil & pen movements. While I've barely had any time to keep up most of my physical training, don't doubt for a second that I haven't been keeping up my main focus of the craft as well as my eyes."

He'd crack his knuckles, the feel of the popping quite nice given how much he'd been working himself to, then he'd activate a string and get Loyal up and running. "If you really want to test my strength, we can use an old training area the clan uses for more destructive spars. I'll make sure to have a medical-nin come with."

Making a 'follow me' motion to Ashi, he'd open the door and look the the attending staff. Without making eye contact, he'd slightly strain the veins around his eyes and address them. "Have my sister bring all of my puppets and have a clan medic meet us at the old grounds. Yes all of the puppets, even Yuru. If the elders ask it's clan and war business." They nod and quickly run off. Chika on the other hand would continue moving, Loyal following closely behind and assuming Ashitaka was also coming with.

"We have enough time for three questions before we get there. If you have anything else you'd like to say, say it now."

"I'll have to take your word for it," he said in response to the issues they were addressing. Though he was a pretty sharp kid, he was still just a kid, and a recently-adopted one at that. He couldn't begin to guess at the deeper motivations, machinations, and failures of the people who made the village work. What he did know was that there was a lot of instability at the top and right now was the worst possible time for that to be the case. The village needed leadership that wasn't just strong, but also reliable, and he hoped against hope that Nyg-sensei could somehow provide that. Although given the behavior the boy had seen from his teacher, he didn't hold out much faith.

"I... I'm sorry," he replied when Chika mentioned the losses his clan was taking. Of course Chika would have to deal with those, because that's what a real Clan Head did, rather than pose as an inspirational semi-religious figurehead in the hopes of summoning the Senju people back home like Ashitaka found himself doing. "I should have known."

It really dug into his self-esteem, not knowing something so important to his friend and teammate. Knowing things was supposed to be something he was good at, but it seemed that lately he couldn't even get that right. He just couldn't understand why he oscillated so wildly between "too good to be around the people he wants to be close to" and "not good enough to be around the people he wants to be close to" but he really wanted to get off this sadistic rope swing. He followed at Chika's command, balking a bit at the older ninja's command to have all of his puppets brought along. Ashitaka remembered how pitifully ineffectual he was against... literally any shinobi of even reasonable merit and wondered if he was really the right guy to be testing his friend's readiness for the troubles to come.

Maybe I really should quit the team... they'd be better off without me bringing down their abilities, and they'd have real problems if they had to focus on protecting me because I was too weak to handle myself.

He knew his capabilities had grown significantly since that minor catastrophe that was the team's introductions, but for all he knew he was still falling pitifully behind. The time he spent in the hospital recovering from nearly dying and becoming a puppet himself probably really didn't help matters, but there was no helping it now. He'd issued this challenge and he had to see it through. Besides, if Chika could beat him in a fight, that meant at least that he definitely had better chances of handling himself out there where things got rough than Ashitaka did, although that bar was extremely low.

"Could you please have my weapons brought to this training facility as well? I'm not overly fond of fighting empty-handed, nor am I confident in the power of my Ninjutsu."

He'd wave off Ashitaka's apology, not blaming him for what his job entailed. "We all have our blinds spots Ashikata, and this clusterfuck of a war just makes it easier us to get tunnel vision." The fact he'd been cooped up in the clan offices was proof enough of that in his eyes already.

As they walked, he'd note that mostly quiet. The kid was smart, probably smarter then him, and to be that smart at such a young age...that probably wasn't healthy. He didn't know much about child psychology, even with his budding foray into medical ninjutsu. Did it have to relate to whatever Ashitaka didn't want to talk about? Given he wanted to test the Hyuga, he probably was in the field and encountered something very strong; maybe a puppeteer? Another Senju or Inuzuka? But how did his tenketsu get messed up? Even if a person had amazing precision, that wasn't easy to replicate. Maybe a dojutsu was involved?

"Heh, you challenge me even though you didn't bring your full arsenal? Shishishi, of course." He'd make a detour down the hallway and would motion to one of the "Please have someone inform Daisuke to go to the Senju Clan District and have him retrieve Ashitaka's weapons." He'd look to his guest and teammate. "If you have a way to make a clone, I'd advise you send it off with them. Daisuke is one of our faster Hyuga, and it'd make the process of getting the weapons faster." Whether or not Ashi knew and preformed the technique or just informed them where his gear was, Chika would give him a little time before continuing to go to the old training grounds.

--

Eventually they'd arrive, and the grounds had seen better days. The ground was one of the few places that was rarely cleaned up, and for a specific reason. Rarely did a ninja fight on truly flat ground, so the place was one of the few areas where destructive techniques were allowed while still wanting to hide clan techniques from the general public. It was a spacious area, a good 100m area with chunks of the ground pulled up, but other then that there wasn't much else other then dirt and newly-painted lines designating the outer limits of the training area.

Loyal laying down, Chika would offer the makeshift 'puppet bench' to Ashi, and if he'd decline would sit down himself. "Daisuke and my sister should show up soon enough, but this gives me some time to ask you something that's been on my mind-" He'd get serious once more. He'd debated whether or not to be direct, but the fact is that puppet or ally it didn't matter. They needed info, and if he was to go up against whatever it was Ashitaka encountered, he needed as much info as he could.

"What managed to pierce six of your tenketsu points to the point of almost opening them permanently?"

"Huh? Is it not normal for me to cooperate with your guards?" Ashitaka asked, genuinely confused at Chika's teasing. He really couldn't tell whether his friend was seriously attacking his self-esteem right now. But that was impossible, right? Anyway, there was a more pressing matter at the moment. "Ah, Daisuke-san! My weapons are at the Reception Desk. There's quite a few, so please make sure you don't forget any! And I'd be much obliged if you brought them directly to the training facility my friend Chika-kun is guiding me to."

The interval was still long enough for Ashitaka to take in the current state of the Hyuuga training grounds. It was kind of a mess, but the boy didn't mind. Instead, he committed himself to memorizing its general layout until his friend asked him about his injuries. Of course, it was only natural that he'd be concerned, given the sight of them. Although he'd been healed since receiving them and had chakra more like his own flooded into them to purge the alien contamination, they still more likely than not presented a rather ghastly image for anyone who could see such things. Not that he was one of those people, but they were his tenketsu points and he could definitely feel the lingering memories of the wounds he'd suffered.

"The things that caused these wounds are why I want to test you. A foreign force, probably hailing from Kumo, engaged with ours during a mission I'd been out on sometime back. My teammate and I... lost," he replied as a whirlwind of emotions descended on him with merciless aggression. Anger, fear, and hate battled with curiosity, self-loathing, and despair as the memories came rushing back. "One of the opponents was a Rinnegan user. He was immensely powerful, capable of animating the dead as his -forgive me- puppets, and wielded fire, lightning, and even gravity with even greater force and finesse than I do my myriad weapons. But none of those were what brought me down. I wasn't worthy of even a true attack, and instead I was impaled by a handful of black spears made of pure chakra and left lying on the ground some distance away from my partner, who nearly killed herself dispelling one of his more powerful jutsu, until the recovery teams came for us."

He looked directly into Chika's eyes as he continued, his inner anguish being positively bulldozed by the resolve that saw him through life as a wilderness orphan and later an adoptee in a prideful society.

"I don't think that I can even begin to prepare you for encountering such an individual, but if you can't get past me as I am, then you need to step away from the deskwork and truly dedicate yourself to training. I know you put a lot of time and effort into your puppets, but that's not going to mean anything if you can't truly bring them to bear in combat."

As though on cue, the designated servant and Chika's sister arrived with their respective burdens and unloaded them. Ashitaka turned to his pile of miscellaneous weapons and started arranging them into their proper places all over his body, counting them as he did. Daisuke hadn't misplaced or decided to "hold onto" any of them, which was good. Once his walking arsenal was complete, he turned back to facing the other clan head.

"All right then," he said sadly, then formed the Snake hand seal. He was going to be getting a lot of mileage out of it in this fight, but for now, it only served as his preparation. A black substance flowed up from his feet and covered all of his skin, although it wouldn't be visible to the un-empowered eye until it started covering his bare hands and face. Without missing a beat, he started a combination of hand seals that went bird, dog, then snake twice. As soon as he finished it, the bracer on his right arm rapidly grew out over his body and formed a complete set of wooden plate armor, albeit much thinner than it was originally. It even had a helmet that covered his face. Then he presented the left-hand bracer and it instantly expanded into a kite shield. That finished, he drew a wooden katana and flowed chakra through it, giving it a transparent sheen that flowed from its hilt to its tip. "Let's get this over with."




___________________



Techs Used:
Earth Spear: -20 CP (skin becomes armor with B Quality, A Durability. Adds additional C-Tier damage to physical blows)
Wood Release: Transformation (Focused Amplification, Armor) -6 CP (Adds armor with S Quality (item + Amp) and A Durability (Amp)
Wood Release: Hand Tool Manipulation Technique -1 CP (Shield has A Quality (item), B Durability)
Chakra Flow (Water): -5 CP Effortless Perfection now has S Quality, A Durability. Impacts from this Weapon knock the target back with B-Tier Strength

Ashitaka's Stats:
Strength: C
Constitution: C
Stamina: C++ 128/160 (Senju)
Speed: D+ (Lifestyle)
Coordination: C
Intelligence: C
Perception: C

He'd scratch the back of his head as he recalled the guards at the front gate. "Oh yeah. Normally they don't do that to members of the village, but I guess they're paranoid given the war." It was an honest slip of the mind, perhaps he was in the administration room for too long as of late.

He'd listen to Ashi's explanation of what happened, and while he felt like the kid was leaving things out still, but he could see that the event hit the kid hard. Being young and having to narrowly avoid death wouldn't do well for any child, and no matter how smart Ashi was he was still immature in Chika's eyes. "Animating the dead, black chakra spears, and a Rinnegan...well what matters is that you came back alive, and with information that could keep yourself and others from falling in battle. I want to ask more about that later, but it seems they've arrived."

Indeed, both Daisuke and Satowa had arrived at the same time, and his sister's face showed concern even as she wore the transportation pack, the 5 remaining puppets sans Yuru attached to it. The four humanoid puppets were decked out in their combat gear, each with Bows, side pouch and fist-like weapons. Yuru though had followed on it's own, and was a sight to behold as by all accounts it looked human. Satowa would detach the puppets from the pack and come over to attach Loyal, knowing that if Yuru was involved the Komainu wouldn't do him much good.

"Are you sure you really want to use moth-Yuru? You even said yourself she wasn't ready for battle."

Chika sterly looked at his sister, one of the few times he'd done so in his life right in front of her. Part of why he also wasn't on the battlefield was due to her interference, as she didn't want to lose him. "I said she wasn't ready for a proper battle in the war yet, this is just a spar to test our strength, nothing more." He'd walk up to Yuru, and sighed. Ready or not, he needed to show he could fight the good fight. "Yuru: Power Mode" The puppet nodded, and it'a back opened up for chika to climb into. He would do so, activating his eyes and Chakra Strings in the process to control both Yuru, the four lesser humanoid puppets, and the spider puppet. The back would then close and the eyes would light up as chakra filled the puppet's sealing system.

"Very well. Let us begin with the proper seal to begin this spar."

Chika would make the Sign of Confrontation as he stood 10m away from Ashitaka, and as soon as his opponent returned the sign to signal the start of the duel, Chika wouldn't give the boy a chance to respond as he had his four humanoid puppets move behind Ashitaka to keep him from moving backwards, the puppets aiming at the back of his shins, the weakest point on platemail. The spider puppet would jump forward and act as a distraction for what Chika was about to do next, as while it couldn't do damage to even basic Senju Wood, he could have the puppet keep Ashi's eyes off him and have it dodge the wood boy's attacks. Chika in the Yuru 'puppet suit', would move forward a meter and fire off 4 chakra strings at the boy's shins, then if those landed he'd yank them to the side to pull Ashitaka off his feet using Yuru's strength, spin him around several times before finally tossing the boy to the ground, hoping the speed of the swing would make it near-impossible for Ashi to bring his hand down together to form a seal from the momentum of being swung, and that the impact of the toss to the ground would bring the boy to his knees.

---

135/135 CP
Nimble Fingers: -2 (++ to CRD, 4 posts remain)
Way of the Spider: -3 (Fighting Style, 1tier to CRD)
Puppet Strings: -1 CP
Stage 4 Byakugan: -0.3 CP (++ to PRS, telescoping Ashitaka)
Spider Slide: -5 CP (Ashi would hit the ground at S++ Speed)
123.7/135 CP Remains

Spider Slide:

Stats:

A lot of things happened at once, and Ashitaka quickly verified that he was the one who was not ready to take part in this war. In the midst of an obvious pretense at formality, Chika surrounded him with his puppets and sent the giant spider one flying at him. He wasn't normally afraid of spiders any more than any other large predators, but it was still large and approaching him at a high speed. So high, in fact, that it covered the distance between them faster than he could react. Not to mention the nigh-invisible attack that had been sent toward the boy's legs at the same speed. Before he could register what was happening, his legs had been pulled out from under him and he was spun around and thrown into the ground.

He felt and heard what he hoped was just his armor cracking on impact. But there was no time or means of being sure. He had to get those strings off him or he'd be completely at the puppeteer's mercy. He struck out with his sword in the general vicinity of his legs as he stood up to get his bearings. Ashitaka had suspected that his friend would still be the better fighter than himself, but he never imagined the gap would be so broad. He sank beneath the earth as he realized that in a battle of precise attacks, Chika would always have a terrible advantage, so the only way to overcome him was with sheer mass. Then again, given the raw strength of that puppet suit, even that might not help him very much. But this entire fight was for Chika's benefit, not Ashitaka's pride, so he was going to throw himself at it no matter how painful and humiliating it was.

Ashitaka would release his sword to form the Boar and Ox hand seals, then place his palms against the earth, causing a whirlpool of sand to surround Chika. He imagined that this would also do nothing, since his friend could as easily pull himself out of danger as he'd thrown him into it, but his ninjutsu repertoire was limited and he was doing the best he could with what he had.





__________

Techs Used:
Wood Release: Transformation (Armor) -1 CP
Earth Spear -10 CP
Wood Release: Hand Tool Manipulation -1 CP

Earth Release: Subterranean Voyage:

Earth Release: Tearing Earth Turning Palm:

Ashitaka's Stats:

"Impressive."

Even with him turning Ashitaka into a self-weaponized projectile, the kid was still functional despite the impact, though he could see that he did some damage. The entirety of his armor has several cracks in it, and by his guess wouldn't be able to take another one. But thankfully it didn't kill him, and so long as that heart was pumping he should be fine. He's let Ashitaka stand up, but mentally cursed himself as he watched the boy immediately sink into the earth right after, his mind distracted by how he was worried for the boy. Not that that would stop him, as the Byakugan could let him see under the earth as well, farther then any jutsu would normally let you go. And while Ashi did go under, he didn't go that far, not even a full meter under, more like a fourth of one. It was...disappointing. No he wouldn't let a slip-up such as that not be punished.

Using Ashiletting go of his sword as a signal to move, Chika would do just so to on top of Ashi's location, slightly behind so he could move into position to take advantage of the cracked armor, he'd see Ashi made his hand seals and then move his hands forward a the same time, watching as the ground where he was once standing spun in on itself. He'd then shove the hands of his puppet armor into the earth, the sheer strength of the puppet parting the weak ground like it was nothing and he'd repeat the same jutsu he did before. Chika would have Yuru release and attach the chakra strings to Ashitaka's back through the cracks in his armor, then he'd pull Ashi out of the ground and spin him again before slamming him down again, taking advantage of the strings to toss him well out of the ring and over to another abandoned area that connected to the abandoned training area. He couldn't toss him downwards as since Ashi has slipped through the earth if the technique was held for too long he might never surface, and he couldn't toss him upwards without a similar thing happening. instead just tossing him out of the ring to an area that needed remodeling anyways was the safest bet.

Chika would then just stand there and watch Ashi as he flew and landed, so he could see what he did next.

---

(Guess who forgot they had CP reductions!)
123.7/135 CP Remains
Nimble Fingers: -0 (++ to CRD, 3 posts remain)
Way of the Spider: -1 (Fighting Style, 1tier to CRD)
Puppet Strings: -0.5 CP
Stage 4 Byakugan: -0.3 CP (++ to PRS, telescoping Ashitaka)
Spider Slide: -3 CP (Ashi would be tossed 180m away, no damage)
119.9/135 CP

As Ashitaka predicted, Chika repeated the attack he'd just used. On the surface, there was no reason for him not to, since it was terribly effective and cost him little in the way of chakra. However, several minor details had changed between the first time he'd used it on Ashitaka and the second. For one, it was no longer a surprise. Secondly, the overwhelming concern for the well-being of his friend and said friend's puppets was replaced for that for his own. And finally, he was being pulled from below the surface of the earth, rather than upon it.

Granted, the strength of his opponent's puppet speed was remarkable and Chika's handling of the chakra strings was clearly unparalleled. The delay caused by Ashitaka's resistance, given the way his Earth-chakra-infused shield caught the earth and rocks like a backhoe, and that of the dirt surrounding him was a mere fraction of a second. But given the speed at which the older boy was moving, that briefest of moments was all it would take for things to start going in an unexpected direction. Rather than spiraling as was intended, Ashi was pulled straight toward Chika's back using the Hyuuga's own power.

The impact would have been enough to put more cracks in his wooden armor, had it not been for the shield striking first. There was little that was going on that was actually under Ashitaka's control from the moment Chika's chakra strings attached to him, just as before. His foe was just too fast for him to react to, so the only way for him to participate in this fight was intuitively. Fortunately for his chances in the battle, and unfortunately for his reasons for starting it, his friend was still behaving predictably.

He skidded along the ground of the sparring room using his shield as a body board even though he didn't know what that was. Not for long, though, since the puppeteer's chakra strings were still attached, and he was still going at the speed he'd been launched at. Thanks to the damage caused by prior battles, doubtless mostly by Ari, the unevenness of the ground compared to his smooth shield led to it launching him up into the air. For most Earth users, the air was probably the worst place to find oneself, especially while still bound to their foe. But that didn't bother Ashi much, and in the split-second before the string tension and momentum caused him to rocket back toward Chika again, he pulled his axe and threw it. There was no art or technique behind it, but the preteen had the skill to throw accurately from any angle, and between his raw strength and the axe's quality, it was hardly something that the chuunin could ignore.






______________




Techniques Used:
Wood Release: Transformation (Armor, Amped) -1CP
Earth Release: Earth Spear -10 CP
Bukijutsu: Chakra Flow (Earth, +1 Quality/+1 Durability) -5CP
Wood Release: Hand Tool Manipulation -1CP

CP 94/160

Leviathan Axe Mk II (B/B++) has been thrown at C-Tier Speed
(I can't really do the math for either of Ashitaka's potential impacts with Chika)

Chika was not a physical fighter, everyone knew that. His strength was lacling, and he couldn't take a hit to save his life. So he improvised with puppets, and Yuru was the embodyment of that power. Freud would probably have a field day with that given it looked like a near-replica of his mother, but what mattered hear is that he knew he had to be protected somehow.

And while the byakugan could see all, it just so happened he had missed what occured in his blind spot, his determination to just have this fight end and move on with life. Ashi's body hit Yuru, absorbing the blow of the attack and forcing an emergency exit out of the puppet armor, the power of his own technique causing enough damage Yuru needed to be removed from the equation or else all that work would be for naught. Yuru wpuld quickly be moved off the field out of instict for his puppet's safety and instead focused on what happened.

"Fine. It seems I actually need to put some more effort into all of this."

Thankfully they were only in his blind spot briefly, and now be waa focusing on them once more. With Ashitaka and the Axe coming right at him, he could only see one course of action. He would do sonething not even his sister would expect him to do, to jump right into the belly of the beast. He'd fire of a chakra string from his head at Ashi as he span, the chakra barrier forming as it utterly destroyed the axe upon impact.

"Drill."

The zipline would activate, a drill of chakra flying right at his teammate.

"Haven."

---

119.9/135 CP
Nimble Fingers: -0 (++ to CRD, 3 posts remain)
Way of the Spider: -1 (Fighting Style, 1tier to CRD)
Puppet Strings: -0.5 CP
Stage 4 Byakugan: -0.3 CP (++ to PRS, telescoping Ashitaka)
Eight Trigrams Palms Drill Haven; -10 CP (A Power)
108.1/135 CP

No stat change

Eight Trigrams Palms Drill Haven:

There were some aspects of the most recent chain of events that Ashitaka wasn't prepared for. For instance, he didn't expect his counterattack to be nearly as effective as it was, so the follow-up was actually negated by his own success. Rather than springing back in accordance with the tension of the chakra strings attached to his legs, he found them suddenly detached and himself hurtling towards a mini cliff that was more likely than not a product of a prior battle. His back impacted, breaking his right arm and knocking his axe free of his grip as soon as he drew it. As his concentration was broken, so too was his armor in all its forms. The shield and wooden plates poofed back into their respective bracers, and the disintegrating black hide rained off of him like shattered glass. Almost immediately, a new chakra string attached itself to one of the many kunai mounted on his vest and yanked him off the cliff face by it before the kunai dislodged from its clip and flew into its new orbit around Chika's head like the world's deadliest weed-whacker.

Ashitaka hit the ground face-first, but after a few moments of struggling to reset his arm, he lifted himself up enough to start forming hand seals. The Tiger one was first, and he started to feel a bit light-headed as two clones spawned on the other side of Chika from himself so that the three of them made a perfect triangle around the chuunin. As one, they all formed the Ram and Snake seals before a number of sharp wooden spines erupted from their arms and were shot at the Hyuuga. Ashitaka was faced with the uncomfortable balance with his need to show his friend what kind of trouble they were in and his devotion to the idea of not hurting him. He aimed the spears carefully so that if the puppeteer didn't move, he would be harmlessly surrounded by them, several intersecting and piercing each other to form a tight cage around his body.

"Stop. Please, I don't want to hurt you." he said as he and prepared to make the Ram seal again, which would cause the spines to erupt and if they were both lucky, only surround Chika more tightly without actually hurting them as much as they were able to.





_____________________




Techniques Used:

Wood Clone:

Wood Cutting Technique:

Focused Amplification:

Senju Regeneration -2 CP

CP 37/160

Each clone has 10 CP remaining

Chika, looking back on this moment was a little happy that he had only grabbed a kunai, and that made it only look like he had gone into a Classic Hyuga Palm Rotation instead of a Drill Haven, but as it was right now he couldn't help but be a little annoyed. The kunai that was grabbed by the string was quickly abandoned as it flew off away from the both of them, and he'd rapidly end his semi-failed rotation, the ground around him disturbed greatly. It was only a meter wide, but the power of the technique was clear.

He'd continue to watch his teammate try to keep up with him, but with all of his jutsu down, even for just a moment he could now get a proper read on his chakra and jutsu he was about to make (as well as the famed senju regeneration). First came the 2 clones, the chakra split between them all something he couldn't help but find fascinating given it was wood and not shadow. He wouldn't stop them from moving to try and make a triangle, instead readying his body for a counterattack. He'd then watch as they made Ram and Snake, giving him the perfect indication to strike.

He wouldn't even bother moving from his spot as he made note of Ashi and his twin clone's chakra limits. By doing those chakra intensive techniques, Chika's victory was assured, as with Ashi splitting his chakra, then preforming several costly techniques would push him to the start of physical exhaustion. He'd just give a look to the main Ashi as he rotated, creating a 6m sphere of pure chakra and demolishing the incoming attacks. He wouldn't even keep the technique up for long, stopping the technique so he could respond to Ashi's comment, his body language showing he considered the battle done, though he wouldn't drop his guard.

"Then this fight is over, as you've failed your own test Ashitaka. The only person here that needs to make sure their ready is you."

---

108.1/135 CP
Nimble Fingers: -0 (++ to CRD, 2 posts remain)
Way of the Spider: -1 (Fighting Style, 1tier to CRD)
Stage 4 Byakugan: -0.3 CP (++ to PRS, telescoping Ashitaka)
Eight Trigrams Palms Revolving Heaven; -10 CP (A Power)
96.8/135 CP

It may have been a matter of his childish immaturity. Or it might have been the fact that despite his best efforts, his only friend was failing to see the depth of the peril he was facing. Or it could be that it was a perfectly reasonable response to such comments. Whatever it was, Chika's snide and dismissive remark ignited a quiet but visible fury in Ashitaka. The 11-year-old Genin snapped a Snake hand seal as he closed the distance between them a bit, and a collection of roots erupted from the patch of earth that the Hyuga teen had obstinately refused to budge from. Quick and powerful, they would reach up to ensnare their target with absolute mercilessness, as this time their summoner showed no compunction about potentially breaking bones.

"Do you think I'm doing this for the fun of it!? Do you really think that fighting me to a standstill somehow equates to you being ready?" he dropped the second clone as he raised his voice and approached the older nin, making sure to keep an eye out for any motion of chakra strings or other potential surprises even though the roots were thin enough to interlace among Chika's fingers in their efforts to bind him. "Did you forget what I said before we started? I am nothing compared to our enemies! They crushed me in an instant! You can't burn them out like you did me. They have a lot more chakra to spare and can engulf this entire District in flames with any single jutsu! Or lightning, if they so chose. Or in the case of at least one of them, simply rip it from the earth, crush it into a ball the size of this building, and throw that at you! YOU. ARE. NOT. READY!"

He was exhausted at this point, but his need to motivate his friend pushed him through it.



__________________

Technique Used:

Tree Bind Flourishing Burial:

Both clones dismissed, returning 20 CP each.

-2 CP Exhaustion

Sensing Technique: -0.2 CP
Total 50.47/160

Chika did not move as the tree wrapped around his body. he had seen the chakra form within Ashi, and the rage within the boy, but to him, it was done. He just continued to give the Senju a look, even as his body, excluding his face, was prevented from moving and all that remained was a feeling of pity. He'd listen to Ashi as he ranted, watched as the pre-teen opened that gate people called feelings and listened, preparing his next move.

"Are you done?"

With a burst of Chakra coming from all sides, the tree exploded as Chika preformed One Body Blow. He'd land and looked to Ashitaka, the same look he'd been giving him since he decided the battle was over. It was a look of pity. Chika wouldn't make any movements, and just continued to look, his heart just not in it. Sure Ashi had made it clear the danger they were all facing, but...

"I stand by my last statement Senju, and while I could say something snarky to try and poke at you, I don't care anymore, this fight is over. You have five minutes to gather your things and leave the Hyuga District. Any lollygagging and I will be forced to permanently ban you from these premises, teammate or not."

Chika would continue to look as Ashi, his unwavering gaze focused on the Senju. As soon as Ashitake had lost control of his emotions, he had to keep in mind the safety of those within his clan; his sister, the elders, those that he tried hard not to see as puppets. There was so many things that he could say, but he'd hold his tongue as this was already close enough to an ultimatum, and he hadn't forgotten what Ashi said to Nyg during the team's 1st meetup.

---

96.8/135 CP
Nimble Fingers: -0 (++ to CRD, 1 post remain)
Way of the Spider: -1 (Fighting Style, 1tier to CRD)
Stage 4 Byakugan: -0.3 CP (++ to PRS, telescoping Ashitaka)
Gentle Fist Art One Blow Body; -20 CP (S-Power)
75.5/135 CP

Ashitaka was absolutely incredulous at the sight of Chika casually breaking out of one of his most powerful techniques with little effort. He looked around for the source of the trick, even bit his finger until it bled. When it healed, he formed a Tiger seal and sent a large surge of chakra into his own brain. But nothing changed. What he was facing right now was the cold truth of the situation: he had faced no gods, only his own staggering weakness when strength was necessary. His friend was right, and it was he, not the puppeteer, that needed to understand he was lacking.

"Are you done?"

"Yeah..." he replied, hanging his head. He should have known it was wrong to not have faith in his friends. And this entire farce of a battle was also probably a terrible insult to the Hyuga Clan, too. Implying that their Head didn't have the necessary strength to lead and protect them. Ashitaka realized that he'd gotten awfully full of himself, coming in here and trying to spur the elder nin into action. Clearly Chika's training was not falling short by any stretch.

Things only got worse when the teenager referred to him by his blood name, and not his family one, and compounded that with an effective banishment from the Hyuga District. The boy had no intention of looking like a kicked dog, but the words reaching his ears hurt something in his chest more than the numerous nearly fatal blows and his pride more than the numerous defeats, including this one. Chika wanted him gone. He was sure that he could take a death sentence from Nyg-sensei himself in better stride, although he didn't want to tempt such a fate and find out. At the rate things were going, he wouldn't even be surprised any more.

"I understand..." Ashitaka replied with a simple bow. Then he suited action to word and went about collecting his weapons. Luckily, he hadn't really gotten into throwing them, so there were only a handful to retrieve. From then, he focused on working his way out of the Hyuga Clan District and off to an unkept region of the Third Training Facility with only one thought on his mind. "Looks like I have a letter of resignation to write, anyway. The Team doesn't need me holding them back."

Don't cry. Don't cry. Don't cry. Don't cry. Don't cry...






______________________

Techniques Used:
Genjutsu: Kai -20CP



[Exit Thread]