Haru's Byakugan Training. (Solo Training)

Haru slammed his fist on his desk, cheering in victory. Before him was his pet project, the hidden blade, finally completed. He slipped it on his left arm. Being ambidextrous, he could have put it on his right arm as well, but this seemed more practical to him. He put on the ring, testing the blade, which sprouted from his wrist and back in each time he flicked his wrist. It was perfect, much better then his original blueprints, which would have required a very painful amputation of his ring finger. He'd almost gone through with it, but his grandfather caught him before he could begin the operation with a kunia knife (He didn't dare go to the hospital and ask "Hey, can you cut off my finger for me?", But in hindsight, It was a stupid Idea anyway.) He stood up, marveling at the amazing weapon, which was perfectly fitted to his wrist. No one would ever expect THIS in a fight, he was sure of that.

He headed out of his room to the training towers, where he'd put some mannequins to use. Walking down the streets, he was delighted to find that people were glancing at his Tomahawk, which he carried on his belt, rather then his blade, which was clearly the more dangerous weapon. Soon, he was in the training towers, where he quickly set up some combat mannequins, the same as the ones with chakra points, but these ones were designed to swing padded swords when struck at their attacker, good for stealth assassination training, where he needed to be there and gone very fast.

He walked behind the first dummy, testing the resistance of the ring/wire system, which was working amazingly. Quickly, he struck out at the dummy, striking his hand firmly against the back of the dummy, where it's heart would be, channeling a gentle fist strike through his palm for good measure. The dummy swerved around, swinging madly at Haru, who deftly rolled out of the way, before jumping at the dummy and striking at it's head with the blade, knocking it to the floor. Standing up, Haru felt the blade was even better then he'd imagined, well worth the 1500 Ryo cost of components. He went after the next target, which he kicked once, causing it to whirl around wildly. Haru blocked the strike with the vambrace part of the hidden blade, stopping the attack, and punched at it's shoulder with his free hand, gentle fist style. This caused the dummy to crumple slightly as he pushed the blade away, striking at it's chest with the blade, before blocking the blade with his right hand, and stabbing once more for good measure.

The blade preformed amazingly, and it would defiantly give him an edge in the chunin exams, he was sure no one had ever used anything like it before. He put away the targets, grinning madly, as he walked home, thinking of all the possibilities for uses of the blade.

(Total Word count: 500)
+2 stats
Hidden blade is now usable

Approved for +2 stats, +5 JP & being able to use hidden blades.

Haru stabbed at the shadow clone's thigh, swinging the tomahawk at it's throat as it recoiled from the stab. As the blade made contact, the clone went up in smoke, disappearing.
"Nice! Keep going!" Shouted his sister, Aryll, who was creating more clones as she spoke. They had reached a mutual agreement, to help each other train for their upcoming exams (Aryll had the Genin exams, Haru had the Chunin exams). Haru felt a slight pang of guilt as he slaughtered the masses of clones, all Identical to his sister, who was making a huge amount of water clones, which were her signature jutsu, and sending them all after Haru. One of the clones jumped on his back, spinning him so he faced another clone, who aimed a kick at his shins. Haru headbutted clone number one off of his back, spinning around the other to dodge, and kicked her into clone number two, disintegrating both of them. Haru spun his tomahawk deftly in his hand, taunting her.
"Come on... Come and get some!" he shouted, taunting her. Rising to his challenge, Aryll concentrated, summoning a mob of clones to charge him down. Haru grinned, running at the mob, and jumping at the last second, tucking in his legs, left arm back, right arm (The one with the tomahawk) ahead of his body. For good measure, Haru channeled chakra into his hands to make his strikes even more powerful. He landed on the first clone, piercing it's head and dissipating it. He hooked his tomahawk around the clone to his right's ankle, tripping her, before striking at her with the hidden blade as well. He activated his Byakugan, and time seemed to slow, as he checked his surroundings. They'd already surrounded him, and more were on the way, grabbing weapons from the racks as they came, or picking them up from their fallen sisters. He charged the nearest clone, jumping at the last second, tucking his legs in, before kicking at her and knocking her to the ground, dissipating her. He struck at the clone behind her with the hidden blade, spinning around her as she fell to the floor, dissipating. He was ankle-deep in water now, which was all flowing back to the pool, from which Aryll was making the clones. As he came around, a clone looking very over encumbered with a battle axe in hand, swinging it wildly at him. Haru caught the axe by the blade, headbutting her and freeing the axe from her grip, swinging it around, and back at her. Not even waiting for her to dissipate, he dropped the axe and lunged at a lone to his left with his hidden blade. She jumped back, out of his reach, before swinging a sword down at him. He caught the sword, headbutting her, before noticing with his byakugan that another clone was trying to hit him from behind. Laughing maniacally, Haru twisted the sword in her hands to deflect the blow, before turning it back on her, inflicting a death blow. He turned back on the clone behind him, tripping her, and striking down with the blade. Haru felt sort of bad about killing his sister, over and over again, but he knew they were only clones, and it didn't actually hurt her... he hoped. She wasn't screaming in pain, which was a good sign, but she was a tough little girl, and she wouldn't complain even if it DID hurt. Thinking about this made Nick feel even worse, causing him to take a hit from a clone using the gentle fist, knocking him over.
"T-TIME OUT!" He shouted, rolling to his back. Obliging, Aryll dissipated the clones, wiping a bead of sweat from her brow. Haru wasn't sure why she was sweating, because she wasn't technically DOING anything physically. He'd never seen anyone sweat from doing jutsu, but he figured there was a first time for anything.
"What's wrong?" Asked Aryll, who seemed worried. "Did I hit you in a bad spot?"
"No, Just... Lost my focus..." He said. "Umm... Does it hurt? When I... Hit your clones, I mean." Haru said awkwardly.
"What?" Umm... No!" She said. "I mean, I can... feel when you hit me, but it doesn't hurt..." She said. "Was that all that was bothering you?" She asked.
"Y-Yeah. You ready?" Asked Haru.
"Just gimme a second." She said, laying back, exhausted. Obliging, Haru walked to the window. He was exhausted. This was intense for him. He didn't have any Idea how Aryll could make that many clones, nor did he care, because it just gave him a better way to train. He walked to a drinking fountain, taking a long drink. When he finished, Haru looked over to his sister, who gave him a thumbs up.
"I'm Ready!" She shouted. Haru grinned at her, jogging over.
"Let's go." He said.
"Hey... umm..." Started Aryll.
"What?"
"Can I- Can I borrow your hidden blade some time?" She asked, looking at the floor.
"For what?" Asked haru, folding his arms.
"Just... If I ever need it..."
"Sure. Just don't break it, She's fragile."Said Haru.
"Did you just call it a 'she'?" Asked Aryll teasingly
"Can we just start again?" Asked Haru.
"Fine, Fine." Said Aryll, taking a meditating position on the floor, before reforming the army of clones. Eagerly, Haru turned to face the mob. He charged them down, but this time, he had a plan. He tripped one, pushing her into the others and causing a domino effect on the surrounding clones. Without hesitation, he dived into the body pile, preforming a transformation jutsu and turning into a copy of his sister. As the mob recovered, they looked around, looking for their assailant. Haru was delighted to find them confused, Unable to tell who was who. As clones, they had a general sense of who was who, but in a crowd like this, they couldn't tell anything about who he was. Oddly, the thing running through Haru's head wasn't a surprise attack strategy, it was how weird it was, being in his sister's body. Seriously, He felt tiny, bone skinny, and like he'd pulled someone's skin over his. Metaphorically, of course, not physically. All around him, clones accused each other of being their brother, and attacked each other. Haru casually walked behind of a pair of arguing clones, casually stabbing the first one in the back, walking around her, and stabbing at the heart of the next one. Making a quick series of hand signs, Haru/Aryll Preformed the blinding burst jutsu, Stunning every clone, even dissipating a few. Deciding that was enough, Haru transformed back to himself. It took the clones a few moments to realize that Haru had revealed himself, which he utilized to his advantage, taking out several more clones with the hidden blades, before they mobbed around him again. Haru tripped one, using her as a stepping stool, and leaping at another clone, air assassinating her, before twisting away, and blocking another strike with his vambrace, drawing his tomahawk and striking her throat. Haru's fighting style was brutal, but effective. He was w whirlwind of death, striking, stabbing, slashing, and before he knew it, he'd finished them all off. He glanced over at Aryll, who was panting.
"That's.... All I got..." She said, exhausted. Haru wasn't surprised, she'd done a lot today.
"No problem, that's cool." He said simply, packing up his gear.

(Wc:1241)
+6 Stats
+12 JP

Approved for +6 stats & +12 JP.

Haru twisted round and round, a viscous circle, around the arena of the chunin examinations. Everyone he knew was watching him, and his opponent was circling him, studying him intently. Oddly, he couldn't make out the opponent's face. Or whether it was a boy or girl, for that matter. It was a shadow of a person, a shade. Suddenly, the faceless opponent lunged at him with a sword, trying to stab at his face. He/she was so fast, it was unreal. Too fast. He tried to block with his tomahawk, but they were just as strong as they were fast, and they cut through the hand axe like it was made of butter. Feeling loss for losing the weapon that had recently saved his life, (See Haru's missions for more details) He struck at the man/woman/boy/girl with his left hand, flicking his wrist to reveal the hidden blade, his signature weapon. As he made contact, he was appalled to find that his blade broke on contact, like a piece of glass thrown at a wall. Laughing maniacally, the shade kicked him, sending him flying backwards into a wall. The audience screamed with blood lust now, and no one was cheering for him. Shakily getting to his feet, Haru quickly made a quick series of hand signs, with the intent of stunning his assailant.
"Lightning Style; Great Blinding Burst!" He cried, in a voice that sounded far away. To his surprise, and dismay, the opponent shouted something back, though he couldn't make it out over his own voice. As his juts took effect, he was surprised to see a second light, adjacent to the first. Too late, he realized his opponent possessed the sharing an eye, and tried to cover his. Too late, because he'd already been stunned. He knew what was coming next. He felt a sign of blows make contact with him, strike after strike, until his vision came into effect once more, and the enemy disappeared, back to the other side of the stadium. Preforming the body flicker technique, Haru charged after him, Intent on revenge. The Shade countered even that somehow, and left Haru feeling very demoralized. He was tired now, he felt like he was making an effort just to stand up, while the stranger seemed unfazed by the entire fight. Haru tried to open his mouth, intent on surrendering, this wasn't worth losing his life, but to his surprise, his mouth was glued shut, he couldn't speak. Screaming on the inside, Haru put his hands up, trying to motion surrender, but the referee ignored him. Looking meaningfully to the audience, he motioned at people he knew to try and tell the referee that he wanted out, but no one would look at him. Then the stranger turned to him, blade in his hand, and swung it with blinding speed at his neck.

Haru sat bolt upright, confused. He was in a familiar room, which he soon recognized as his bedroom, and his sister was looking over him worriedly.
"Oh! Haru! You're alright!" She said in a relieved tone, before shouting over her shoulder "Grandma! He's awake!". From the living room, Haru heard a sigh of relief and something unintelligible muttered under her breath. Aryll smiled at him, putting her hand on his forehead. "You slept in, like, waay later then usual. We were worried, and you were muttering in your sleep, something about a stranger and how he was too strong? And-"
"Aryll. What time is it?" Asked Haru abruptly.
"Like three thirty, why?" asked Aryll curiously.
"I need to train." Said Haru simply, rubbing his eyes.
"No. You need to stay in bed. Whatever happened, you've got a fever, and if you go out, you'll get hurt."
"At least let me get out of bed, then. I don't feel sick, maybe it will pass..."
"No. Stay in bed. We made breakfast for you. You can't afford to let this get bad, with the Exams so close..."
"Fine." Said Haru simply, crossing his arms. Aryll walked out of the room, and Haru picked up his notebook, continuing sketches he'd made for improvement to his hidden blade. Grabbing a pencil, he went to where he left off, finishing the sketch of that particular part. He was working on a kunia knife launcher attachment to the bottom of the blade, with a chakra powered propulsion system. The Idea was that you channeled chakra from your arm into a conductor on the wrist of the blade, which led the chakra to build up in the kunia, until it reached optimal levels, at which time Haru could fire using a second ring attached to his index finger. He was sketching the ring/trigger mechinism as Aryll walked back into the room, holding a tray with eggs, bacon, and toast. Haru then realized he was starving. He hadn't eaten since yesterday afternoon. Aryll set the tray down on his lap, resting on either side of the bed frame, and Haru set to work on it greedily. Aryll watched him as he ate, still retaining a worried expression, and checking his forehead for a fever occasionally. She was training to be a medical ninja after her basic training, so she'd already learned basic first aid. Haru thought nothing of it as he ate, but he still felt a little worried in the back of his head about his dream. Was it a prediction of the future? Doubtful, Haru didn't believe in that "Destiny" crap. HE made his choices, and HE lived with the consequences.
"What was it about? The dream, I mean." Said Aryll
"What?" Asked Haru.
"You were talking in your sleep. That usually means you're dreaming about something, and the way you were speaking, it wasn't a good dream." She said cleverly. "You can talk to me about it, I swear I won't tell anyone else. I'm your sister, it's my job to look out for you." She said. Haru scratched his head momentarily, before sighing.
"The Dream-" He began "-Was about the chunin exams. I was fighting someone without a face, a shade of humanity. They were stronger, faster, smarter, and more powerful then me, better in every way. And when I tried to surrender, I couldn't speak. Finally, when I was on my last legs... he.... killed me." He said. "And that's why I need to go train, because I can't let anything like that happen to me."
"I realy doubt that someone would-" Began Aryll
"No. I said anything LIKE that. You misunderstood. I don't want any chance of losing, at all. What if my opponent takes it too far? He's all but encouraged to do it!" Interjected Haru, his tone calm. Arlyy. thought about it for a moment, before opening her mouth to speak, closing it again, before sighing.
"I-I guess I never thought about that." She said, defeated.
"You have to let me go, then." Said Haru, moving the tray and standing up. Without waiting for an answer, He picked up his bag and headed to the elevator, having slept in his clothes. He punched the button, before hitting the button for the floor below them abruptly. He'd run down the stairs with his weights on, that would be a good warm up. As the elevator reached the floor, Haru walked out casually to the stairwell, which hardly anyone ever used. As human beings, people were lazy. Haru didn't blame them. He quickly put the weights on his arms and legs, holding the training bag over his shoulders to better balance it. Taking off down the stairs, making sure to hit every step, Haru zipped down the stairs. It soon dawned on Haru that this was a bad idea, because he lived VERY high up on this building. Shrugging it off, Haru continued on. More time to run was good. He needed endurance training, since it was a weak point for him. Secretly, Haru REALLY wanted to train endurance because in his dream, he'd lost the fight because he got tired too fast when he was fighting the shade in his dream, and real or not, it was something he didn't want to experience again. Still, he was still whining on the inside, complaining that this was too much for him. Haru called this "The voice of no reason" and tried to listen to it as little as possible, but sometimes it was too much for him, and he HAD to stop. Fortunately, the voice was quiet this time, and he was able to shut it out. He needed to focus on not falling, because it was very hard to go down these stairs with the training bag over his shoulders, which was very awkward to carry. As he neared the tenth floor, he sighed, realizing he should use the skybridge because it would look very strange if he ran down the streets like this. reluctantly, he kicked open the door, and flipped the bag over his shoulder to open the door, before resetting it over his shoulders as he ran across the bridge, over the streets, and into the training towers. He ran down the stairs, slinging the bag over his shoulders as he reached the door to the lobby. He swung the door open, stepping into the room.
"Can i reserve a room on the top floor?" He asked in between breaths, because he was struggling to recover his air. The receptionist kindly told him what floor was available that was nearest floor to the towers. Giving his thanks, Haru walked casually to the stairs, before dashing back up them, bag on his shoulders as he started back up them. He must have looked pretty stupid, but it was effective training. He hoped it would be enough, but he still felt his confidence waning as he thought about the dream again. His grandfather had once told him about HIS chunin exams. He remembered it well, even though it was a long time ago...

"Grandpa, what are the chunin exams?" He remembered asking, back before he'd joined the academy.
"They....are a test of a shinobi's skills. They pit the best of our young ninja against each other in three tasks, and although a huge amount of genin apply for them each year, there are very few who come out of them victorious." His grandfather had explained.
"Why?" Haru asked him simply.
"Because each event is designed to cut the number of participants in half, until there are almost none left." Answered Haru senior.
"Why?" Asked Haru junior once again, just as curiously. Haru senior sighed, before answering:
"The event is designed to ensure that our Chunin are all very skilled, and very elite." answered his grandfather.
"Did you ever do the chunin exams?" Asked Haru.
"Yes." he answered
"Can you tell me about it?" Asked haru.
"Another time, maybe. I... don't like talking about it..."
And that was that. The curiosity remained with Haru for a long time, and every time he asked, Haru's grandfather always answerd with: "Maybe another time."

Haru had reached the top of the stairs now, and took a moment to rest. He had a habit of letting his mind wander as he worked out. there was nothing he could do to stop it, no matter what he did, it wouldn't stop. Not that he minded, he felt it saved him from the monotony of a 10-mile jog, or a set of 500 push ups. He recovered his breath (For the most part) and headed through the stairs to his assigned room. He opened the door, happy to find a neat, empty room, with the promise of long, uninterrupted training. Dropping the bag to the floor, he promptly slumped onto the floor, already exhausted. He lay there for a moment, closing his eyes, just for a quick nap, to recharge his batteries... nothing more then that...

The shade shook him awake, grabbing him by the throat, and dragging him towards the window. Haru screamed, slightly relieved to find his mouth wasn't glued shut, but also terrified that he was about to die. He headbutted the Shade, to no avail, the shade merely laughed, silently, but maniacally all the same. Haru struggled still, punching, kicking, and attempting to preform a jutsu, but the shade quickly took care of his arms, pulling on his right with a huge burst of strength, until Haru felt it go *Crrrrrack!* Haru screamed louder still, as the shade laughed it's silent laugh, throwing him out the window, through the glass, and towards the concrete ground that would be his final resting place...

Haru jerked awake, instinctively moving putting his hand to his arm, which wasn't broken, to his relief. Shakily, he sat up. However unsure he was about what had just happened, He knew one thing for sure.
"I'm NOT tired anymore..." He said aloud. He stood up slowly, walking to his training bag, and pulling out his weapons. Sheathing the tomahawk on his belt and slipping the hidden blade's bracer onto his left arm as usual. Quickly, he set up the automatic retaliating dummies, as he set up several scenarios for his training, each set up in a different arrangement with different obstructions around them.

First, however, he did a basic test of the hidden blade, to make sure it was still working optimally, because he'd been terrified that the blade would rust on him...He walked behind the first dummy, testing the resistance of the ring/wire system, which was working as well as it had the first day. Quickly, he struck out at the dummy, striking his hand firmly against the back of the dummy, where it's heart would be, channeling a gentle fist strike through his palm for good measure. The dummy swerved around, swinging madly at Haru, who stepped back, before jumping at the dummy and striking at it's head with the blade, knocking it to the floor. He went after the next target, which he kicked once, causing it to whirl around wildly. Haru blocked the strike with the vambrace part of the hidden blade, stopping the attack, and punched at it's shoulder with his free hand. This caused the dummy to crumple slightly as he pushed the blade away, striking at it's chest with the blade, before blocking the blade with his right hand, and stabbing once more for good measure. The blade was working perfectly, so now, he'd move on to the next thing. He'd recently heard about this form of "Scenario training" from a fellow ninja, apparently, they helped your reaction speed to real life situations, so he figured it couldn't hurt to try them now.

He took his place at a perch atop the climbing wall, looking over his creation for the first setup. It was designed as a warm up, a simple hit and run assassination on his priority target. He would take out the target, then escape to the safety zone. (The top of the climbing wall) the guard dummies would fire nerfed shurikin at him as he made his escape, until he reached the top. In theory, a very good warm up, for a shinobi. He dropped to the ground from the perch, and promptly hurled a kunia knife at the dummy to the target's left, knocking it over. The dummy to it's left swung at him with a sword, but Haru was quick. He leaned back to dodge it, out of the sword's reach, as he hooked the target's arm with his tomahawk. he pulled that one down too, before using the first dummie's body as a stepping stone to gain leverage on the main target, and jumped down, letting his momentum do the work for him, as he brought the blade to it's head. Standing up quickly, he turned and sprinted to the wall, as shurikin whizzed over his head. He quickly squirmed up the wall like a monkey, into the safe zone.
"Too easy." He said. It was only a warm up, however. The next exersize would be far more demanding. He set about forming the pattern he'd memorized from his friend's "playbook" as he called it.

This one was quite simple. He was to rush a crowd of dummies, over twenty in all, and fight them as long as he could without taking a hit. He quickly set up the pattern, perfect rows of dummies, and took his position. (Activating his byakugan first) He charged them down, Jumping at the dummy nearest to him, tucking in his legs, and kicking at it's head, toppling it over, tuck and rolling, and coming back up on his feet. As a dummy swung downwards at him, he dodged to the right, Stabbing its chest with the hidden blade, pulling it's head down, and rolling over its back. As he passed that dummy, Another dummy struck at him. Haru, Catching the blow of the axe by the handle, he shook it free from the dummy's grip, Spinning away to avoid tripping over it as it fell to the floor from the overbalance. He saw another two dummies in the corner of his eye (Of course, in reality, it was more towards the middle, because of the byakugan) swinging at his "Blind spot". He utilized the momentum of his spinning motion to hack at dummy number 1's chest with the axe, letting go of the axe and catching dummy number two's sword by the handle. He saw another one going for his now-exposed back, and quickly twisted the sword to deflect the axe blow, kicking the attacker away, and turning the sword back on its weilder, impaling it from the back. Pushing away the dummy, Haru rolled across the ground to dodge a swing from another axe, tackling it's wielder, and braining it with the hidden blade. Two dummies were readying to swing at him now, one on each side. He twisted away from the blow of the one behind him, and into the one in front of him. He grabbed its blade by the handle, before crouching down and using it's momentum to hit the dummy behind him in the shoulder. As it fell back, haru headbutted the dummy holding the sword, knocking it over, as he turned to the new threat. He'd moved into range of more dummies now, and punched at the one nearest to him, spinning and deflecting another sword blow from behind, slashing it's wielder with the hidden blade for good measure. He grabbed an unaware dummy, possibly malfunctioning, from behind, throwing it to the ground, and turning on his foes. He released the hidden blade and locked it into place so he didn't have to continuously deploy it, and drew his tomahawk. A dummy lunged at him, Haru dodged to the side, before spinning around it and slicing at it's back tith the tomahawk, turning and stabbing another dummy for good measure. As he spun, a whirlwind of death, he noticed a figure making through the ranks of the dummies. He turned to try to get a good look at it, halfheartedly blocking a dummies blow with his tomahawk. This proved to be a mistake, as it disarmed him, and the force of the blow knocked him on his back. He quickly recovered, jumping to his feet and chasing after the figure. He pushed through the ranks of the dummies, blocking, parrying, slashing, and stabbing, until he finally came into close proximity. He couldn't tell who it was, they were too fast, but he knew he'd find out.
"Yyeeeeaaagh!" He shouted as he jumped at the figure, blade extended, legs tucked in. He jumped atop them, and held the blade behind his head, ready to stab down, as the figure yelled:
"No, wait, it's me! Aryll!" she said. Haru immidiatly rolled off her.
"Why did you do that?" He asked her as he pushed the button to turn off the dummies.
"I was training today, too, and I found out you were up here. Thought I'd scare you. You really go all out when you train, don't you?" She asked him, hugging her knees as she sat on the floor amid the crowd of dummies.
"What makes you say that?" Asked Haru as he put the untouched dummies back away.
"You leave a trail of slaughtered victims." She said, pointing to the dummies that WERE damaged. Haru shrugged.
"What's your point?" He asked
"You're not supposed to BREAK the dummies." She said. Haru tilted his head at her.
"Then how come I get away with doing it?" He asked, slightly afraid of the answer.
"They bill your family for the cost of replacements, I think." She answered slowly. Haru's eyes widened, before contorting again.
"Well.... We've got plenty of mony anyways, and it IS for the sake of training, so..." He started.
"Does that mean I can do that too?" Asked Aryll excitedly, gesturing to the dummies.
"Umm.... Sure?" Said Haru, hoping he wouldn't regret this. "Well, if you get in trouble, I didn't say so, just in case... deal?" He asked.
"No way. I'm blaming you." Joke aryll.
Haru sighed, looking to the huge mess he had made.
"I don't suppose you could help me..."
"No. I'm here for training too. You can train with me when you're done, though, if you like." She said cheerfully, taking some training equipment off the rack, and moving to the pool section of the training room. She had always loved water, so much that she'd given up a trip to the village hidden in sand when they were young because "There was no water there". It was strange, but no stranger then Haru's shade problem. After cleaning up the carcasses of the now-deceased training dummies, Haru moved to the running track, Taking off down the track at a good pace, as he let his mind wander again...

Recently, Haru had finally managed to get his grandfather to speak about HIS chunin exams.
"Grandpa" Haru had said. "I'm applying for the Chunin exams!" He'd said excitedly. His grandfather sighed, looking around the empty living room.
"Then it's time for me to tell you my story." He said.
"What story?" Asked Haru, who loved his grandfather's stories.
"THE story. The one you're always pestering me about. My Chunin exams" He said tiredly. Haru immediately sat at attention, ready for the story.
"Back then, my team and I were as confident as you can get. We'd passed the written test with flying colors, but then... the next challenge came..."
"What was the next challenge?" asked Haru.
"The forest." Said his grandfather. "The god-forsaken forest." He said.
"What's so bad about it?"
"You start out with a heaven or Earth scroll. You must fight with another team of ninja to obtain THEIR scroll. It seemed simple in theory, but in practice, it was a nightmare! We came across a group of Genin near the end of the time, we were tired, hungry, thirsty, and without ANY scroll to speak of. This group, they were at least seventeen, and WE were only twelve year olds! But we had no choice, we had to have those scrolls! We knew they had both, they were heading for the turn-in section, so we followed them, and tried to get the jump on them. We managed to subdue one of them with a water prison jutsu, preformed by your grandmother, but the other two..." He started, explaining the grievous details of their fight.
"-and then, Holding your grandmother in a headlock, he BROKE HER ARM to ger her to release the jutsu."
Haru was mortified. EVERY ninja went through this? Some MORE THEN ONCE? he couldn't imagine it. His grandfather went on to tell him the details of their daring escape, with the enemy's scrolls to boot, to the tower.
"What was the next challenge?" Asked Haru.
"The Arena. They pitted one against the other, a fight to the death, or to surrender." He said gravely.
"What happened to you?" Asked Haru.
"I won. That's all that matters. Be stronger, faster, and smarter then your opponent." said Haru senior wisely.
"Can you tell me the story?" Asked Haru junior eagerly.
"Another time, maybe, Haru. For now, I must rest." He said dramatically, falling asleep right away. Haru hated it when he did that, EVERY STORY ended this way! On a cliffhanger, with the trademark 'Another time' to boot!

Coming back to reality, Haru realized that he'd ran a whole three miles! Heading off the track, he wondered if his grandfather would tell him the rest of the story tonight. Probably. He was impatient when it came to stories, so he doubted that Haru senior could hold in the story for much longer. Setting to the task at hand, Haru waved at his sister, who was practicing water clones.
"Can you try doing what we did last night?" Asked Haru
"That's what she said." Said Aryll, giggling madly and covering her mouth.
"Funny. No, I mean the whole... Clone mob... thing?" corrected Haru.
"Yeah, sure, sounds like fun. Ready or not, here I come!" Said Aryll, creating her army of clones once more, and sending them after Haru, who readied his weapons. As they reached them, he lunged at them abruptly. Haru stabbed at the thigh of the clone nearest to him, swinging the tomahawk at it's throat as it recoiled from the stab.
"Aagh!" Shouted his sister Angrily, One of the clones jumped on his back, spinning him so he faced another clone, who aimed a sword slash at his chest. Haru headbutted clone number one off of his back, spinning around the other to dodge, and kicked her into clone number two, disintegrating both of them. He looked around. There were still a lot of clones, and more on the way, mobbing towards him. Haru grinned, running at the mob, and jumping at the last second, tucking in his legs. He landed on the first clone, piercing its head and dissipating it. He hooked his tomahawk around the clone to his right's ankle, tripping her, before striking at her with the hidden blade as well. He activated his Byakugan and checked his surroundings. They'd already surrounded him, and more were on the way, grabbing weapons from the racks as they came, or picking them up from their fallen sisters. He charged the nearest clone, jumping at the last second, tucking his legs in, before kicking at her and knocking her to the ground, dissipating her. He struck at the clone behind her with the hidden blade, spinning around her as she fell to the floor, dissipating. He was ankle-deep in water now, which was all flowing back to the pool, from which Aryll was making the clones. As he came around, a clone looking very over encumbered with a battle axe in hand, swinging it wildly at him. Haru caught the axe by the blade, headbutting her and freeing the axe from her grip, swinging it around, and back at her. Not even waiting for her to dissipate, he dropped the axe and lunged at a lone to his left with his hidden blade. She jumped back, out of his reach, before swinging a sword down at him. He caught the sword, headbutting her, before noticing with his byakugan that another clone was trying to hit him from behind. Concentrating hard, Haru twisted the sword in her hands to deflect the blow, before turning it back on her, inflicting a death blow. He turned back on the clone behind him, tripping her, and striking down with the blade. He was getting good at this, the hidden blade felt like part of his body, as did the tomahawk.
"Is that all you've got?!" Shouted Aryll, concentrating hard on mass-producing clones, as the mob reached him.

Several hours later, Aryll and Haru lay in the middle of the floor, exhausted. Around them, the training room was in ruins, racks knocked over, dummies destroyed, and everything in a general mess.
"Time to go?" She asked in between exhausted breaths, sitting up.
"Yeah. Should we clean this up?" Answered Haru, holding a bruise on his forehead.
"Let's leave an I.O.U., They'll Charge Grandpa, and he'll be proud of us for training so hard, and they get new equipment. It's a win-win." Said Aryll lazily.
"I like the way you tihnk." Said Haru, as he stood up and packed his things. Relating back to something he'd thought earlier, he muttered to himself.
"As human beings, All people are lazy by nature, but you know what? I don't blame them.." He muttered not loud enough for Aryll to hear. "I do feel sorry for the sucker who's gotta clean this up though, but it'll earn him a nice bonus for sure." He added, grinning as he held the door open for Aryll.

(Total Word Count: 4806)

Approved for +24 stats & +48 JP.

Haru woke in a sweat. Ever since he'd failed his Chunin exams, he'd been extreemly depressed, not leaving his room except for meals. He'd let himself go. And he'd have to do something about it. He knew it was no picnic getting that title, and he'd started the whole thing off with a stupid move. So today, he was changing gears. His dog, timber, looked up at him in disbelief as he rose to his feet from the bed, for he'd simply slept, non-stop for the days following. Today, he would begin recovery. He was supposed to be assigned a team to train with soon, so he was sure this would be his final training session by himself, unless it took longer then he expected to find his team leader... Timber licked his hand, snapping Haru back into reality.
"Right... Training time." He said, standing up. He threw on a shirt, tied his headband around his neck, and slid his bracer onto his hand. He didn't like leaving the house without the trusty hidden blade, even if he didn't need it. He packed his training bag, throwing some snacks in it, alongside his weights and other basic equipment. Just in case he got hungry. He grabbed his doornob, which had gathered a bit of dust, and walked out the room, his dog following at his heels. Walking down the hall, he heard his grandfather talking with his sister, Aryll.

"Well, look at that! He lives!" Joked his grandfather as Haru moved straight for the door. "Where you headed?" Asked his grandfather. Haru didn't turn to face him.
"Training." He answered after a few seconds. They sat there akwardly for a few moments.
"You aren't still mad about failing, are you? Most Shinobi take over five years to pass those exams, you know. Consider yourself lucky to have made it that far!" Praised his grandfather, hoping to cheer him up.
"That doesn't matter, failing is failing, no matter how close you come." Said Haru, regretting his choice of words immidiatally. His grandfather stood up, and walked to him.
"Well, then we'll just have to make sure you don't fail next time. I'm coming with you, today." Said grandpa Haru, scratching his beard thoughtfully. Haru choked a little. He hadn't trained with his grandfather since he became a Genin. He stammered, trying to find something to say.
"I'll meet you at the towers, then." He said at last, moving to the door.

"No need to use the towers, we do have a sparring arena in the house, you know. Not that you ever use it." Said his grandfather over his shoulder, as he donned a kimino over his basic outfit. He led Haru to the training room they had in their house, a basic Dojo with polished wooden floors, a high ceiling, which was lit by wall lamps located in the corners of every wall, and at the doors. Three of the walls were solid wood, the same color as the floor, but one was reinforced glass, allowing a view of the city far below. In the center was the mat, a basic white floor covering about an inch thick, which served to prevent falling onto the hardwood floor, as Aryll and he often did. Grandpa Haru stepped to the center of the room, looking expectantly at Haru, who donned a kimino that was hanging from a rack on the wall to match him.

"Today, I'm going to teach you the more advanced form of the sixty four palms. I've heard you've already mastered that move, correct?" asked Grandpa Haru patiently. Haru junior nodded. "Good." Said Haru Senior. "Then we'll begin." He said, and without warning, struck at Haru. The blow landed on his shoulder, and whille he'd taken a gentle fist strike before, this was something very different. After three strikes, Haru was lying on the ground, panting. He felt completely drained, and barely able to move.
"No... Fair... How...di... did you... did you do that?" Stuttered Haru, gasping for air. His grandfather crouched down, touching the points that he'd struck on Haru's body. After touching each one, Haru felt his chakra return to normal.

"Was that... The Hundred twenty eight palms?" Asked Haru, slowly getting to his feet. His grandfather nodded. Haru rubbed his face, regaining his stance. His grandfather nodded. "Can you... teach me?" Asked Haru cautiously.
"Why else would we be here?" Asked his grandfather impatiently. "Of course I'm going to teach you, my son!" And teach him he did. Grandpa Haru described to haru the method of allowing your chakra to flow freely through your body as you willed it to block your opponents pressure points.
"Just... let it be free. Don't worry about what you won't see by focusing, the byakugan will take care of that. Simply let go." Said Haru senior, demonstrating s smooth arm movement, as opposed to Haru's stiff jabs. Haru tried it, and after several attempts at moving "Smoothly", Haru's grandfather was satisfied. They took up a stance once more, Haru closing his eyes tightly, concentrating. He opened them suddenly, striking out at his grandfather's arm. He wasn't worried about hurting him, old Haru senior could take a hit. He saw his arm fly with unreal speed towards his grandfather's and saw it make contact, his grandfather flinching slightly from the surprise. He followed up with another shot to the chest, which his grandfather dodged. He jabbed again at his father's arm, making contact, as he saw the chakra vein being blocked. He faltered.
"Keep going! Don't stop!" Shouted his Grandfather, smacking him as he dodged away. Shaking his head, Haru jumped at him once more. His grandfather either failed to dodge, or simply let him land the first strike on purpose. He didn't care which, he still managed to hit him, square in the chest.

Haru grinned as he repeated the strike, one after another, gaining speed with each strike. Guided by the Byakugan, He sent strikes towards every pressure point in Haru senior's body, whichever was unguarded. Then, his grandfather spun, kicking him away. Haru dashed at him, using every bit of his speed to reign blows on him, beginning his reign of blows again. Shouting as he want, Haru counted the number of Strikes he landed aloud.
"Thirty Six, Thirty Seven, Thirty eight-" He went, beginning to skip numbers because he was striking too fast. Haru senior decided that was enough, kicking haru away once more to catch his breath. After resting shortly, Haru senior looked up at him.
"What are you waiting for! Attack me!" He called, regaining his stance.

"Oe, two, three, four, five, Crap!-" He shouted as he missed the next strike, ruining the Technique because he had missed one of the strikes. Sighing, he began again, Counting aloud as he reigned blows faster and faster, his hands blurring with speed. "One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six-" He cried as he struck, causing his grandfather to weaken with every hit. "Seven, Eight, Nine, Ten!" On and on he went, until Haru senior struck back, stopping him once more. Haru didn't miss a beat, spinning around him and delivering a blow to his back, surprising the old man, whose reflexes were starting to leave him in his old age.
"Good job, Haru!" Called Aryll, who'd snuck in to watch the fight. she was sitting against the wall, cross-legged, as she watched intently.
Haru spun and struck again, and this time the old man managed to block the strike, tripping Haru, and knocking him to the ground. Haru looked up at his grandfather, who was readying to strike at him, and rolled to his side, spinning to his feet. He blocked a strike to the arm, before striking back, not bothering to count aloud.

His grandfather kicked him away, but Haru was not stopping. He struck back, jabbing at Grandpa Haru's chest, landing one, two, three strikes, swerving to dodge another attack, and striking again. The hit count piled, and with each hit, he became slower and slower, until he finally reached the final strike. Haru senior barely managed to dodge this, but the effect was rejuvenating for Haru senior, coming back at Haru with a burst of energy, who dodged quickly, finishing with the final strike of the move; the hundred twenty eighth. The effect was devastating. Haru senior fell to the floor, curled up in a ball. Haru held his fist where it was when he made the final strike, frozen. He was dumbstruck, He'd never seen his grandfather like that, and he felt he'd gone too far.

Aryll held her hand over her mouth, in disbelief. No Hyuuga could be reduced to this, it was not possible. That was their belief, at least. How could their grandpa, the strongest man they knew, have been hurt so much by one single technique? How could Haru posses the power to preform this technique? He slowly lowered his hand, sighing. The room was dead silent, until Haru senior rolled onto his back, coughing.
"G...Good job, Haru. You've... got that move down..." he said, clenching his fist and touching the points he'd been struck at, un-blocking his chakra. Haru held out his hand for his grandfather to take, helping him to his feet. "That... was impressive." Said His grandfather. "You should....you should finish your... exercise... at the t...towers..." He stuttered, walking slowly back to the main room.

Haru quickly gathered his gear, slipping his bag onto his shoulder, and heading down the elevator. As he reached the street level, he walked casually to the training towers. Over his shoulder, he noticed a man in an alleyway, looking quite shady. The man waved, gesturing for him to approach him. He ignored the him, picking up his pace slightly and heading through the doors of the building. Haru found himself in the familiar lobby of the training towers. Checking for unused rooms with the attendant on duty, he headed up the elevator. Stopping at the right floor, he stepped out quickly, jogging own the hall to the room he'd been assigned. As he entered the room, he dropped his bag to the floor and set up several training dummies. The dummies were special models, complete with artificial chakra lines and pressure points, perfect for training the Gentle Fist. Kicking his shoes off, Haru repeated the familiar cycle of putting on his training weights, and turned to face the targets. Activating his Byakugan, he made the gentle fist fighting stance and readied himself to begin. He looked to his right hand, and focused all of his chakra into it. Quickly, his fist began glowing blue, filled with chakra and ready to fight.

He struck the dummy with a burst of speed, with a blur of motion, he crumpled the dummies effortlessly, one after the other, counting in his head the strikes he landed blow after blow. The effects of this move were definatally devastating, he had no doubt that this was his best move. He moved on, running a few miles around the track, (Upside down, as per usual.) and he allowed his mind to wander. He wondered about his new team. One of them was the teammate who never showed up to the Chunin exams, Yuri. He felt no resentment against them for it, the exams were nerve racking, but he did find the monotony of remaining a Genin a little irritating. He shrugged it off. And then there was the third member, Haru had forgotten their name. He didn't know much about either of them, and he knew nothing about their team leader, but he hoped they'd be a good one, able to teach him a thing or two.

He felt like he'd finished running, and had little else to do. He did a few pushups on the pool, but it had lost its novelty, so he gave up quickly, heading back home. He felt eager to use his new technique, and very much improved from when he started that morning.

(Word count: 2008)

-Eight Trigrams, 128 palms unlocked
-10 Stats
No Jp, I've hit my cap

You get JP if you want it. Approved unless overruled.

(Training for Fury of the Storm)

Haru sat in the middle of the floor in one of the training tower's various rooms. In this one, there were quite a few other genin, sparring with each other, shouting out curses and giggling frequently at him whenever they took a break. Why was Haru there? Well, when he first arrived, he was alone, but these people showed up part way through, demanding he leave, but Haru was not the type to give ground. He stayed, meditating on his newest technique while they fought, loudly gossiping about the grey-eyed boy in the middle of the room, as if he couldn't hear them.
"Hey, that boy looks like a Hyuuga." Whispered one of them. "I haven't fought a Hyuuga before. I hear they don't hit very hard, though. Gentle Fist..." He sniggered. Haru resisted the urge to break his jaw, and show him just how hard a Hyuuga could hit, and closed his eyes tightly. He focused on building up his chakra, as he took deep breaths, with each one, becoming more energized.
"Hey, you! I wanna fight you!" Shouted out one of them. Haru let his breath out abruptly, his focus disrupted.
"No." He said simply, pulling his headband over his eyes, and yanking up his hood. This effectively blocked out all sound, but didn't restrict his eyesight, of course. He'd worked too hard on the Byakugan to not be able to see through half an inch of metal.

As he tried to regain his focus, Haru felt his energy build up again. He felt stronger and stronger with each second, his hands began shaking erratically, like he was being possessed. He was so close to achieving the Fury of the Storm, just a few more seconds of concentration, he knew it. Then, he saw the boy make a dash for him, swinging his foot at his head. At that moment, the fury activated, and Haru knew what he had to do. He'd seen very few people move as fast as he was moving now, and still, he felt he was more then a match for them in this state. He spun to his feet wildly, ducking the kick, and kicking the boy into the air.
"What the?!" He shouted in surprise. Haru grinned as he pushed off the ground, towards the wall, and kicking off the wall, back towards the airborne boy. He didn't intend to do any real damage, just teach him a lesson. He grabbed the boy, spinning in the air as they made contact, and threw him at the ground, before pushing off the ceiling, and catching him before he landed, tossing him aside to the floor. His eyes were cold and bloodshot, his form blurry and unstable. He felt invincible, like no one could touch him. That is, until the Fury ran out. In that moment, all his strength left him, and he fell to his knees.

Great timing He thought, cursing his luck. His friends stared at him now, dumbstruck.
"Well, What are you doing? He accepted our challenge, now get him!" Cried the boy from the floor. Haru needed to buy time to regain his strength, so he stood up, slowly stepping backwards, as the others cautiously advanced.
"I didn't agree. You attacked me, and I defended myself. And do you really want to fight me after that display? You're lucky I didn't crush you into bits!" He said, taking another step back.
"Yeah, but we look after our friends, and you did a real bang-up job on our buddy over there." Said one of the other boys, who sported his headband like a bracelet. "And it looks like you won't be using that technique anytime soon, so we're in the clear." He said. Haru grinned. His strength had returned. They had given him just enough time.

In an instant, he was upon the first boy, flowing his chakra to his hands, and proceeding to block his tenkutsu. Punch, punch, jab, swipe, uppercut, jab, cross... On and on he went, until the first boy was completely incapacitated. The others stood there, immobilized, and Haru exploited this as well. He had been given enough time to recover, so he once again tried to build up focus. He stood immobile, and the others caught on quickly, advancing to try and cut him off. The first boy reached him, punching him in the stomach. Haru fell to his knees, still not moving of his own free will. He shut out the pain, building his focus...

The next boy collided with him, tackling him to the ground, and putting him in a submission hold. The other boy flipped some hand signs, and created shadow clones, pinning him to the ground. The last boy slowly approached him, a bo staff in hand.
"Payback time" He said simply.
And by the skin of his teeth, Haru's focus was complete.
"Not quite." He said in an eerie voice that was not his own. With his newfound strength, he ripped the clones from his body, spinning to his feet. He kicked the boy who put him in the submission hold into the air, and turned to trip another clone, before stepping onto him, and pushing off to the wall. He rebounded himself off the wall again, reaching the boy before he reached his highest point, and drove him into the wall. One of the clones jumped to meet him, so he grabbed the clone, spun in the air, and threw him hard at the original, who was knocked out by the impact. As he landed against the wall once more, He pushed off one last time, towards the original boy. The boy reached for his sword, but Haru landed behind him, pulling it from the sheath before he could draw it. He preformed a leg sweep on the boy , tripping him, kicked him up into the air, and hurtled up after him, rebounding against the ceiling, and driving him into the ground.

The Fury subsided, as he checked each boy's chakra levels. Still fine, just knocked out. Good, then he wouldn't be getting in trouble for that. He opened the door, and slid out, down the stairs, and into the streets of Tenkagure.

(Wc: 1065)
+5 Stats
+10 JP
+Fury of the storm learned

approved!