Chuunin Exams or Bust

The village from this view was simply beautiful, likely more so at night, but even now in the daylight it would take what little breath Nao had away. The tall buildings, the small buildings, the people that looked like ants from this height. He could see the Hokage's building in the center of town, the damage to the village, both the hole in the ground and the gate that was destroyed by the Bijuu attack now fixed. He could even see his house from where he sat, he contemplated whether or not to simply go home and rest there rather than going back out into the forest. After recovering from his hours long climb he stood up and stretched out a little before picking a direction and setting off.

He wasn't going down the same way he had come up, there was just no way he would have the energy for it. Instead he would find a small path that would lead down the mountain, one of the ones the Jounin likely used on their patrols. Even with going down the much easier path, Nao had to take his time with it. His legs were still weak from the climb, all it took was one misstep and he could be tumbling down the mountain instead of walking down it. He would have used the supernatural walking practice, but was afraid that he wouldn't be able to control the chakra well enough for a safe way down. 

Had he been smart, he would have filled his canteen at the top of the mountain where he had access to the village water. Unfortunately, Nao was not as smart as he would like to have thought he was. When he finally reached the bottom of the mountain, he would rush to a small stream that ran by the cliff side. Dunking his canteen in the water to fill it, Nao would drink from it vigorously before thrusting it back down into the stream to fill it again. Strapping his canteen back to his belt, Nao bent down an splashed water into his face. As soon as he bent over he heard the thud of Shuriken striking the tree next to him.

His byakugan activate out of instinct, he had not thought to activate it before, not this close to the village. He thought it would be safe this close to the village, that the patrols would be enough to scare away would be attackers, but he was wrong. As soon as his byakugan activated he would see the approaching group of bandits, "y'know there is nothing honorable about attacking someone with their back turned." Nao would call out over his shoulder before turning to face the five bandits that made their approach on him. A smirk forming on his face as he sized the group up.

Their leader, an ugly fellow with scars and other marks covering his face, stood in the front of the group, a huge sword resting on his shoulder. "Looks like this punk wants a fight!" The leader said with a chuckle, which was met by a hearty laugh from his gang. They obviously didn't understand who they were messing with, a lesson that Nao was more than happy to teach them and one that they would not soon forget. Nao would crack his neck as he took up his Hakaiken stance, exhaling a deep breath as he prepared himself for what was to come.

The bandits would all draw their weapons before leaping forward to engage in the fight, Nao had never faced an enemy with a weapon before so this new experience was going to make for great training. Despite having never faced an armed opponent, Nao knew enough to know not to let himself get struck by the weapon. The bandit leader swinging his large sword as if to try to decapitate Nao, forcing him to duck beneath the swing as the other bandits moved to encircle him and cut off his means for escape. Unfortunately for them, he had no intention on running away. 

Nao would move to strike the leader in the chest, but the man was quick and used the flat of the blade to block his strike. "Look out boys, we got ourselves a fighter." The leader sneered whipping his men up into another fit of laughter, quickly swinging his sword back around to come down upon Nao forcing him to dodge to the side and right into a strike from one of the other bandits. Nao would roll out of the way of the leader's strike only to find a bandit with a club waiting for him, with a mighty swing the bandit would land a hit against Nao's side causing the air to be knocked out of him.

Wincing from the pain of the club hitting him as he tried to catch his breath the bandits would close in around him, Nao knew there was only one thing that he could do at this point and quickly released chakra as he began to spin from where he stood. Using the rotation, Nao was able to knock the assailants back giving him the breathing room that he needed. Moving first to the man that had struck him with the club, Nao would deliver a series of punches to thean before ending with his strong push technique. Sending the man flying back into a tree where he was knocked unconscious.

Turning around to see the other bandits beginning to recover, Nao would slam his foot into the ground releasing a wave of chakra across it to knock them back down. Capitalizing on this by rushing towards another grunt and striking him repeatedly in the face until he wasn't moving, as he turned to face the remaining three he would quickly form a small shield out of his chakra. Using the cover shield to block the strike of a sword from one of the bandits, Nao would then perform a kick using the Leaf Rising Wind sending the man flying into the air.

He didn't bother moving to intercept the flying opponent, he still had two others to deal with and the fall should be more than enough to knock him out. The exhaustion he had felt from the climb now gone, replaced by the pure adrenaline pumping through his veins as he fought for his life. Looking at the remaining bandit and the leader, Nao would return to his Hakaiken stance. "Collect your men and go, or face the consequences." Nao would remark hoping that now the man would see that he was not an easy mark and accept his losses and flee. While the one bandit looked ready to run, the leader seemed engaged by his words.

With a roar of rage, the leader would charge forward swinging his sword. Nao would quickly form three hand seals with one hand as his other hand turned into that of a tendril, pure chakra surrounding the arm giving the Tendril its shape. Lashing out at the leader and taking hold of the man as it squeezed around him forcing him to release his grip on his blade. Seeing this the final bandit would flee, not bothering to help his friends that were knocked out, simply trying to put as much distance between himself and the fight as he could. Watching the leader struggle against the Tendril, Nao would just smirk at the man. "You should have taken my offer." 

Nao would leave the four men tied together around a tree, all of them currently unconscious. One of the bandits had ran away, but Nao wasn't concerned about him. Even if the patrols didn't pick the man up, Nao doubted that he would see the man again. The other four would eventually be found by one of the patrols, Nao was kind enough to leave a note explaining why they were tied up but beyond that he didn't care what happened to them. They weren't his priority, now all he cares about was returning to his camp to get some much needed rest.

The adrenaline that had been surging through him during the fight was now gone, and he felt as though he would collapse at any moment. Nao trudged along, the wear of the fight and the climb finally catching back up to him. He was winded and his muscles were in knots, his chakra reserves definitely felt the drain of the jutsu he had used in the fight against the gang of bandit. The sun was nearing the end of its arc through the sky and soon night would be upon the forest. Looking down the path he was on he could just barely make out sight of his camp in the distance.

Lugging one foot after the other he would slowly make his way back into his campsite. Collapsing in the hollow of the tree without moving the stump to block the opening, Nao was asleep before he hit the ground. Nao would wake with a start, his byakugan activating as he realized that he didn't close off the opening to the hollow. Luckily it seemed as through there were no animals or human intruders during the night, allowing Nao to let out a sigh of relief. The exchange with the bandits fresh in his mind, Nao would check his side where he had been struck by the club.

Not surprised at all to find a bruise, his movement would be limited as too much strain caused some serious pain in that area right now. He would have to settle for some light training while he waited for his body to fully recover. Nao could hear the voice of his mother ringing through his ears, had she seen him currently she would have been pissed. Yelling at him for getting into that fight, as if he had a choice. It was different than the fights he had gotten into as a child, this time the ones he had fought were trying to take his life and they had almost succeeded.

Nao would forgo the stretching and normal warmup and training he usually did at the start of his day, with the large bruise on his side it would likely do more harm than good. Instead he would resolve to work on more ranged attacks, as they didn't require as much movement as his Taijutsu training consisted of. He would use a variety of different techniques, all of them using different ranges of attacks. Each different from the one before it, and each one useful in its own way depending on the situation. It was a benefit to knowing so many techniques, but at the same time there was also the downside.

The possibility that he used the wrong technique, or even forget to use a technique that could have been more useful than the one he had used. It was what this training was for, so that the techniques would be second nature to him, and with any luck he would not have that problem when it finally came down to needing them in the exams. Resting as the sun reached midday, Nao would take out his canteen drinking from it before pulling out some of the jerky he made and taking a bite as he sat on an log looking around the campsite.

He would likely only spend one more day out here before returning to the village, a week seemed to be a good measure of time for his training. With any luck, it will assure him victory in the exams, of course failure would mean that he should have trained longer. He would spend what was left of the day semi-relaxing, he didn't have the energy to endure any physical training today and he had already nearly depleted his chakra reserves yet again. Nao would lounge about his campsite, either sunbathing or in the river just trying to relax and give his body the rest that it needed.

He had been pushing himself hard the past few days, his run in with those bandits yesterday did not help matters any. He had to hope that this rest would be enough, and that he would recover from his injury before the exams started. The last thing he wanted was to enter a tournament like this and find himself at a handicap due to his injury, how would he win then. He had only been able to assess the entrants from Konoha, and while he didn't think much of them, he knew that they would give him a decent fight, at least some of them would. 

The participants from the other villages though were all wild cards, he knew nothing about them and so their capabilities were going to be something of a worry. He knew that he would have to be prepared for just about anything, and he wouldn't be able to rush in blind. He would need to observe them and learn what he could as quickly as possible to ensure that he didn't lose. As he relaxed in the water of the river, he would fight faceless opponents in his mind. Mental warfare training as preparation was the most he could do at this point, while not as effective as actually training it would serve its purpose.

Using his imagination to try to predict how an unknown opponent would fight however was not as effective as he would like, it was limited by his own knowledge of previous fights he had been in. With the exception of the bandits the day before, all of his fights had been against Konoha Shinobi in spars or fights with bullies. It was hard to imagine them with a fighting style he had never seen before, and he knew little of the fighting styles from different countries. He hoped to one day venture out into different lands and learn everything that he could, for now he would have to settle with what he knew. 

There was a saying that his mother had once told him, something along the lines of the fact that even out numbered a Hyūga would always come out on top in a close quarters fight. He wasn't sure if it was true or not, he knew that the hyūga usually held a strong advantage in close quarters, but to actually be unbeatable seemed unrealistic. He had a vast amount of techniques under his belt now, but he couldn't rely solely on his close combat abilities. His range was important too, especially if he got matched against an opponent like Sera that held a specialty at range. His close quarter ability meant nothing if he couldn't get in close, which was why he had been working on his ranged strikes earlier.

As the sun set, Nao would lift himself out of the water. Allowing himself to air dry as the cool night air flowed through the small clearing before hanging his clothes up on the line and taking the others to put on. There was an eerie silence throughout the forest, one that would make the hair on the back of his neck stand on end. Unless that was from the cold air, it was hard for him to tell if it was the silence or the cold but he chose to believe that it was the silence. His suspicions becoming justified as a mighty roar echoed through the forest breaking the silence, activating his byakugan just in time to see a large bear charging at him from behind.

He didn't have a lot of time, without thinking he would release a burst of chakra from his feet that would launch him into a backflip just before the bear made it to him. The idea was that he would land behind the bear and ready to attack it, what he didn't expect was to land on the bear's back now mounted on it like it was a horse. The bear did not like this fact and bucked to try to fling Nao off, followed by swiping it's claws at his legs to try to grab him and throw him off. When that didn't work the bear would rise up on its hind legs, standing nearly nine feet tall as it finally got Nao off its back.

The sheer size of the bear would give him pause as he sat up on his elbows after being knocked to the ground, it was a monster of a beast and yet it was beautiful in its own right. He didn't know what he had done to make the bear attack, but he knew that if he didn't think of something quickly he was going to be the bear's next meal. Leaping to his feet and moving away from the bear as quickly as possible before the creature turned around on him, Nao would ready himself to face the beast. His normal style of fighting wouldn't work on the bear, he doubted it cared at all for chakra. Leaving him only one choice, he would have to use the strong fist style to deal with it.