Beating Out the Weaknesses

Ashitaka just stared at the gargantuan building. At about a mile to a side and over half again that tall, the new Konoha training facility was an imposing monolith of mountainous proportions. Given that he was a freshly-minted Genin, and a child at that, he was honestly surprised they let him use the place. But use it he will, since he was going to have to pound out the flaws in the steel of his being if he was going to make it in this world. So it was that he stood about a meter away from one of the structure's massive walls where he noticed that, by accident or design, it had a tiny vertical path of ridges and recesses leading from the ground nearby to the roof.

Of course, he held no illusions of being able to crawl the entire distance any time soon, if ever, but he believed that if he tried hard enough, he might be able to climb the nearly half kilometer to the landing that indicated the top of the first floor. So he tried. But Ashitaka wasn't the strongest of boys, nor was he well-suited to incredible feats of endurance. After what felt like an hour, he looked down and around only to find that he'd only made it about 50 meters off the ground. From that point on, every successive reach for a new hand- or foothold seemed to take even more time and energy.

Finally, after reaching about 80 meters from the ground, he decided that he was too tired and gave up, and so began the perilous and exhausting trip back down. His muscles gave up while he was still around 10 meters from safety and he fell, barely managing to curl up in time to roll on impact so he could distribute the bruises instead of falling directly on something and breaking it. With some effort, he managed to get up and dust himself off, then went to look for one of the doors inside. He'd heard the place had indoor waterfalls to facilitate meditation to increase chakra, which was one of the other areas where he was sorely lacking.

Chika was have, at least all things considered, a pretty good day. He managed to wake up on time, eat a good meal, and tinkered with his soon-to-be puppets. But that was then, as right now, it was time.

Training Time.

Heading over to the large facility with a bottle of water & good attitude, he debated on what he was going to try today. While he still didn't have any puppets to properly practice with, he still had many different taijutsu styles & summons he could try, as well as some other areas of ninjutsu that he'd been slacking in. As the cogs in his mind spun, they came to a halt as he saw a...bruised kid? While it wasn't out of place for children to become ninja (he himself had taken longer to become one due to his interests clashing with the clan's) seeing a properly small kid was still surprising.

"Huh, didn't expect to see someone so young here."

Jogging over to the curiosity he'd wave to get the kid's attention. "Hey kid! You mind if I tag along with you?" It probably seemed odd, and to a normal person it probably would, but this was a training facility, and everyone knows that the best way to train was with another person. And hell, even if this kid had a training partner already, he might as well try to get to know him in case the Hyuga ever became his Jounin leader.

Ashitaka was surprised by the older ninja. Not because he snuck up on him or anything, seeing as how he'd picked up the other guy's chakra heading his way long before he got into conversational range. Rather, it was what he said that threw Ashitaka off-center.

"You... you're asking my permission?" He looked the man up and down, searching for any sign of deception. He seemed to have a kind bearing, but that might have been just to get people's guard down. The older ninja looked like a Hyuuga, although he also... didn't look like a Hyuuga? That was confusing. Still, he was acting friendly for now, so Ashitaka decided that the least he could do was be polite until the other shoe dropped, like with the door guard who demanded 500 ryo from him for the right to enter. He bowed to the teenager, tilting his head to keep his eyes on him.

"You can join me, if you want. I feel obligated to warn you, though: I'm not alone for the fun of it. I hear prodigies are bad luck, especially for their senseis and senpais." It was a rumor spread in half-whispers, and Ashitaka wasn't certain whether the people saying it meant for him to hear it or not, but it was as good an explanation as any why he didn't have either, not to mention a solid kick in the gut. He straightened and stepped back, looking briefly in the direction he was headed. "I was going to meditate under one of the waterfalls. I need to improve my chakra if I'm going to be of use to Konoha."

He nodded when the boy asked if he was asking for permission. He didn't want to seem rude, and given he was probably a lot older then this kid he'd rather not want to been seen in any worse light then many in his clan saw him already. He'd heard the whispers about his puppets and why they thought he went that direction.

"No worries, last I checked I'm no protege, so your waterfall is safe from my bad luck. Can't say the same about my good luck though, that might get to you." He'd give a light chuckle, trying to get the kid to relax a little. He understood what the kid had meant, and was a little concerned for the kid now. Having the weight of being a prodigy wasn't exactly the healthiest thing to have as a kid, case and point this kid thought he needed to increase his chakra capacity. Kids shouldn't need to worry about that. They should worry about kid things, like chores, where to play and why my Kage action figure (with real spinning action) went.

Following the kid inside, he'd noticed the kid had a bit of a smell that seemed...familiar? Odd, he normally wouldn't pick up on smells, and the fact it reminded him of something was even more curious, but whatever it was, it wasn't clicking. No matter, the meditation would probably help draw out the memory if it was important. "So before we get to meditating, you got a name kid? I doubt you want me to just address you as such."

The boy cocked his head like a dog would in response to the teen's complete butchering of his warning. That had to be deliberate. If the older kid was actually that stupid, he was sure that he'd know right away. Genuine morons had a certain vibe about them that seemed like a subtle underlying threat to their own well-being and that of everyone else around them, and that was absent from this guy.

"My name is Ashitaka. Ashitaka Inuzuka." he replied with a polite bow. As he straightened, he asked, "What's yours?"

There was an undercurrent of loneliness to the guy that Ashitaka found way too relatable. The kind that strongly implied some kind of a friction with his clan, which would explain why he didn't look like one of them. Although to be fair, Ashitaka could go home whenever he needed to, but to do so would be akin to admitting failure and he was sure that he would wear out his welcome quickly if he proved ordinary or worse, worthless. If worse came to worst, he hoped he could at least rely on his talent for smithing if he needed to, although the competition in the area seemed very fierce.

As they approached the waterfalls, Ashitaka carefully stepped across the stones leading to the one he planned to sit under. For all his inordinate grace (for his age) on land, the boy swam like a rock. And he did not feel like demonstrating that in front of this guy.

He'd give a soft smile to the Inuzuka. "I'm Chikamatsu, though I prefer to go by Chika." Inuzuka...it sorta fit the kid. He had plenty of the looks & more noticeable smells a person of their clan would have, but he didn't have a dog which was different.

As they made their way over to the fallsm he'd make some small talk, though he didn' expect to get an answer as they did. "I must say, you're a lot nicer in both dress and decency then what the stories the Hyuga tell would to believe. It's quite troublesome, trying to find things of that nature that isn't biased to the point of a byakugan's tint looking more rosy then a sharingan." He'd make a small and polite laugh, not worried about his joke being offensive or actually funny, he just needed to get in his jab quota.

Once they got to the waterfall, he'd take off some of his heavier, outer layer of clothing and would set it aside with his a water bottle he brought with, wishing he brought something more then just some workout water. As much as he enjoyed practice with his usual attire, he'd rather have dry clothing to cover up with then to walk home drenched in spring water. Walking out he'd let his feet sink in at the edges of the water, letting enjoying the temprature before properly water-walking out to join Ash.

"Nice to meet you, then, Chika-sama! I hope that we can become good friends!"

(Man, this guy really resents his clan. What do I even do with that?) Ashitaka wondered as he stood just far enough from the waterfall he'd chosen that he could feel its mists soaking him. It really helped numb the pain from the fall he'd taken that morning.

"Well, you know, the Inuzuka are probably the kindest, most honest, loving, and open-hearted people I've met," he replied as he about-faced and slowly started backing into the waterfall. "But the Hyuuga are a noteworthy clan in Konoha, and the Inuzuka are not. Maybe there's a reason for that. It might even be a good one."

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, then took the final step back. The force of the cold shower scoured all of the dust from his body and clothes so quickly that it didn't even have a chance to form mud until it hit the pool at his feet. No longer able to hear his compatriot, he focused on using his chakra to control his body's response to its new environment. It was normal for a human, or any air-breathing animal, really, to instinctively panic when suddenly subjected to a large volume of water. That's part of why the waterfall was such a vital tool for ninja to use in their meditation: it helped instill the importance of intensive self control in life-threatening situations.

"Maybe so Ash, maybe so. And I hopee we become good friends as well." He didn't want to think of the reasons why the Hyuga were in power while the Inazuka weren't. to him it was obvious as it was just how they presented themselves. The Hyuga acted like nobility, while the Inazuka couldn't care less about keeping appearances. High and low, Yin and Yang. Maybe that's why he died his hair and wore contacts. Enough to distance himself from the politics, but still have a connection so he could still be considered a 'Hyuga'.

No, he didn't want to think about his life choices right now. When was the last time he did this? Just sitting under a waterfall? He couldn't recall when, but it certainly had been a while. Backing into his own spot of waterfall, he'd activate his byakugan and focus on his partner, taking a look at his chakra system to see just how much or little the Inazuka had. The kid didn't have a lot of chakra flowing through him, but that didn't mean squat as it mattered more on how well you rationed it out.

He'd turn his telecopic vision back onto himself, looking at his own chakra system. It was fairly slandered for a shinobi his age, yet he could see tenketsu points that he hadn't practiced releasing in a while. Ideas on how to use chakra strings in those areas filled his mind as he took a small breath, doing his best to not take in any water.

---

135/135 CP
Byakugan Lv. 2: -0.4 CP (14 posts till strain)
134.6/135 CP Remains

Ashitaka growled under his breath when he felt his so-called new compatriot's intrusive gaze. Reaching into the shallow pond near the rock he was sitting on, he scooped up a handful of mud, using a bit of his chakra to hold it together in a roughly spherical shape until it dried enough to do so on its own. Then, he pitched the mudball directly at Chika's face.

"Hey!" he shouted shortly after throwing the improvised and mostly harmless weapon. "Hasn't anyone ever told you that it's rude to stare at people like that?"

For someone who made no secret of his resentment towards the Hyuuga, it seemed that Chika didn't have a problem with resorting to one of their more unpleasant habits. As soon as his own concentration was broken, the waterfall started pushing Ashitaka's head down. His face was nearly in the pond before he re-asserted control over his chakra flow and forced himself back into an upright seated position.

Even if his telescopic vision was on himself, that didn't stop him from seeing the mudball being thrown at him. Leaning backwards, he'd let the front of his face get dowsed in the water above to act as a shield from the incoming mud. Still, his reaction time, while decent, wasn't quite enough to stop him from getting some of the mud on his face before the water washed it off.

Leaning far enough back for his ears to be out of the water he'd listen to his companion say something about his staring. Now he was very curious, as no one had commented on him focusing on people before. Leaning back forward to properly talk, he'd "If anyone has, it never stuck. I was just curious as to how well your chakra was developing to see if I could help with it while simultaneously exercising my eyesight, that's all." It was true enough, at least to him. And while he didn't like the Hyuga clan, he didn't see how using his eyes was invasive if he meant to help. He was born with them, and they were in the training grounds, so to not workout his dojutsu while helping his fellow shinobi would be foolish in his eyes.

Sliding back in he'd continue to look around, trying to see if he could find anything interesting, but was disappointing to find nothing. Instead, he'd just turn his head forward once more and continue to improve his perception of the world around him while simultaneously not drowning in the falls, but every so often his sight (not the telescopic one, no, the kid saw that yet showed no signs of being a sensor) would turn back to the kid. While it wasn't much, his chakra was closer to those tree-huggers then a normal shinobi, yet there were no signs of him having the ability to use their famed wood release. Curiouser and curiouser. But without concrete evidence, he'd rather not say anything. At least until he good a good enough size of Inazuka chakra signature samples.

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134.6/135 CP
Byakugan Lv. 2: -0.4 CP (13 posts till strain)
134.2/135 CP Remains

After thinking for a minute about what he said and did, Ashitaka regretted both. It was a rude way to react to someone doing what for him was probably just normal training. Since they both had a form of sensory powers, there was really no reason for them not to train them against one another. If they were going to be friends, they were going to have to trust each other. Or at the very least, they could try to keep mutual hostility to a minimum. The burden of this requirement currently fell to Ashitaka, since he was the one being an asshole at the moment.

"Look, I'm sorry I snapped at you like that. It just creeps me out to have someone looking into me, you know? Ninjas are supposed to be all about secrets and stuff, and it's impossible to keep a secret when someone can read you like a book. How about we meet halfway and you tell me if you can still see me. Then we can switch and you hide and I'll see if I can still pick up your chakra."

After his suggestion, he demonstrated what he was talking about by suppressing his admittedly already minimal chakra signature to the fullest extent possible. At this point, he couldn't exactly tell how well he was doing, so having somebody else who specialized in seeing chakra would be a great boon. Of course, he couldn't do this and remain upright under the waterfall, so he had to crawl backwards out from under it before it pummeled him in to a fine paste in an otherwise clean brown outfit. Since he was in a largely aquatic environment and they were the only two people for a considerable distance, the only thing that would be able to help him hide was his suppression skill. The waterfalls and ambient mists appeared to do nothing to impede Chika's vision. He was a genuine Hyuuga, all right.

Then he focused a trace amount of his chakra into his ears to enhance his hearing, so he could pick up Chika's voice over the pounding thrum of the waterfall right in front of him. This of course risked defeating the point of the suppression in the first place, but he wouldn't be able to hear him one way or the other if he didn't. The bludgeoning water falling before him was deafening until he managed to tune his hearing so that it just became a pervasive white noise, and at that point, he was confident he would be able to hear his companion speaking.

Technique Used:

Chika couldn't help but let out a snort of laughter as he heard Ash's reply. "You don't need to apologize, out foes certainly won't. I'll try to meet you halfway though. This was certainly going to be interesting. It wasn't that he felt like he needed to practice sensory, he himself tried but didn't have the aptitude outside of his byakugan. As for the others in his clan, he couldn't say but assumed they didn't bother with it.

He'd keep his head straight and was a bit surprised to see his partner's chakra system blip away from sight, causing him to lose Ash for a little bit, though not for too long as the kid barely moved. It was...surreal to say the least, to look at a person and see their entire self, but not their chakra system while the all-seeing eye was on. He'd sit there for a little bit, admiring the semi-unique moment he had as ideas of puppets went through his mind when he stopped. No, he needed to practice, not fantasize.

"A good showing, but while you may have hidden from one sense, you have not hid from all of them. I understand now why many Hyuga silently laugh at sensors as in a strange way you've only lit yourself up as a beacon by becoming a human with no sensible chakra." He'd then slowly stand up, fighting the power of the falls and standing right outside of his partner's shield of water. "Now, if you'll give me a minute, I'll hide myself and you'll have to find me." He'd make his way up the cliff of the waterfall and then would sit back a few feet from the cliff of it behind a rock. If this kid was a sensor, he'd probably find him, though having to climb up the cliffside would definitely increase his chakra capacity.

---

134.2/135 CP
Byakugan Lv. 2: -0.4 CP (12 posts till strain)
133.8/135 CP Remains

(Is this guy really this dumb, or does he just think that I'm dumb enough to be led on by this kind of trick?) Ashitaka wondered to himself as Chika explained how his chakra suppression would only highlight him in a crowd. Sure, he hadn't yet reached the point where he could precisely control how far down he pushed his apparent aura, but it wouldn't take long before he would easily be able to hide among ordinary people.

"Okay, I guess I'll just close my eyes and count or something." the kid replied, then suited action to words. While his hearing capacity was much better than that of any other kid his age, and comparable to dogs' when he filled his ears with chakra, he was also a good sport and wanted to honestly test his ability. So he let the ambient noise of the waterfalls effectively deafen him while he gave Chika a minute or so to go hide.

When Ashitaka opened his eyes, Chika was nowhere to be seen. However, he was pretty sure that the guy hadn't gone too far, so he focused on hearing again like he did when he was trying to hear his new friend's voice over the din of the waterfalls. He quieted his breathing until even he could barely hear it with his enhanced sense, and listened carefully to the way the sounds of rushing water echoed off the rocks around him. One particular spot was slightly muffled as it was in his immediate vicinity, indicating a body. That spot was several meters above him, on a cliff that he was absolutely not eager to climb today.

With a sigh, he walked over to said cliff and used his chakra to burrow into it and up to Chika's position. Luckily, the distance was short and he was able to cross it pretty quickly with his jutsu, but he had to travel in a straight line and ended up popping out a meter or so off his mark. He turned his head to view the older genin and began speaking to him without climbing completely out of the ground.

"You know, I think it's kind of good to pit our jutsus against each other like this. If we get to the point where we can hide from each other, we can hide from anybody! he said with a bright smile.

Techniques Used:

"Agreed, though I think I might need some help in trying to hide my own chakra someho-hm?" A blip of chakra would emerge in his eyesight, forming into a human as it came closer into range. Another Hyuga it would seem. Watching their mouth his own would slowly turn to a frown as he 'listened to what they were mouthing. "Chikamatsu Hyuga, you are hereby summoned by the current acting head of the Hyuga Clan in order to show your progress with the Gentle Fist. Failure to come withing an hour will result in removing your belongings from the premises or worse, the removal of your eyes to be replaced with a donor."

He'd look to his training partner, and would turn his frown upside down. "Sadly, I have to cut this short as it seems the clan is summoning me. Something about how I need to prove myself this week. Still, even if it was just for a short time, It was fun meeting and training with with you." Getting up from his rock he'd lean down and ruffle thre kid's hair, then walk down the side of the falls back to his belonging. "Oh, and Ash? Try meditating in the part of the facility made to simulate a forest. Maybe the fact that the Inazuka are more attuned to nature then many of the other clans may help your own chakra growth. With that said he'd grab his gear and head home, as ready as he could be for the performance he was about to put on.

{Exit}

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133.8/135 CP
Byakugan Lv. 2: -0.4 CP (11 posts till strain)
133.4/135 CP Remains

Ashitaka looked in the direction of whatever caught Chika's eye. He couldn't see what it was, but he could read a mood. The warm, friendly older kid got cold and bitter fast, leaving a fairly ready deduction as to what he was looking at: another Hyuuga. Especially since he quietly watched the mysterious intruder with the air of someone who was receiving a message or command.

But then Chika's demeanor took a stab at trying to return to what it was when he addressed Ashitaka again. The younger kid didn't want to contribute to his new friend's souring mood, so he just nodded along.

"Hey, knock 'em dead, man!" he cheered, tacitly allowing Chika to rub his head. "Just don't forget that you were born with 25 senses, not one!"

He paused in his encouragement to cock his head curiously at the elder genin's suggestion. He had always prioritized beating out the weaknesses instead of playing to his strengths, but it might do him some good to give the latter some attention. It'd certainly make him feel better, at least. And he was found in the woods, so it's entirely possible that his chakra would improve if he did as Chika suggested and spent some time in a tamer imitation of the wilderness he spent his early years in. As he waved farewell to his departing friend, Ashitaka ventured into the floor grove to see if he could get lost enough to find himself.



{Exit.}