Working Out with Friends: Analyzing the Byakugan

It would take the boy a bit of asking around, but he would eventually be directed to the Water Gardens, were the Hoshi training grounds had been held. The boy would be carrying a rather large bundle on his back, each of his cumbersome puppets wrapped up much like a mummy would be. The boy had done little actual training in a while, and he would need to knock off some of the rust. He wanted to find a suitable partner to pair with, but many folks seemed to be busy getting adjusted to their new temporary homes. Alas, he was walking to the training area by himself, taking in all of the various sights of the village. It was a wonder to behold, so many beautiful buildings and structures. He was no longer in Kumo… that much was for sure. This whole place was so very foreign to the boy.
 
Max would find himself in the area designated as the training grounds, the signs clear. Open spaces and lots of room for mock combats and learning various ranged jutsus. There were several Hoshi shinobi working on different techniques and skills, but Max knew better than to bother them. Not only was it rather easy to have an ‘accident’ while training, but they all seemed to give him dirty looks as he walked by. Just as he was almost ready to decide to have a solo training session, practicing the movements more so than any difficult training exercises with a partner.
 
“Why don’t you use chakra sensory?” Napa would ask, whispering silently into the ear of Max, “You might find what you seek.” That was actually a pretty good idea, and Max was kicking himself for not doing that from the beginning. With a simple focusing of his chakra, he would notice a rather large, familiar *ping* on his senses. Komon Hyuuga (or Hyuzuki as Max liked to think to himself) would be at the training grounds, and his chakra was off the charts. It felt as if he had grown a great deal stronger than the last time they had really had a chance to interact.
 
Max would dash over quickly (not at full speed though) and see what it is that his friend had been working on. Likely it would prove to be interesting to watch. The boy knew that his presence would be picked up fairly quickly once he got into any close proximity to Komon thanks to the Byakugan, the doujutsu granting him incredible visual acuity. Max wouldn’t hide, waving once Komon had either realized he was there or had seemed to be done with his jutsu, signalling to the young genin that it was safe to approach.  
 

“Hey, Komon. What are you working on over here? Mind if I join you?” The boy would ask, happy to see a familiar face in this sea of enemies. 



WC: 474
TWC: 474

Max would nod, noticing that Komon had bloody knuckles. Max hadn’t seen everything that Komon was capable of, but he knew from Renji that a Hyuuga with practice in Taijutsu can be a serious combatant. Simple knowledge of how the body worked would inform Max that Komon was not one that had been particularly well versed in hand to hand combat. If striking the wooden post with hand wraps on had cause blood like that, it meant that hid hands hadn’t been conditioned or hardened through constant use. A true practitioner of Taijutsu would have incredibly tough skin around his knuckles from constant use. No, Komon couldn’t have been well versed in the art.
 
“You are right, I lack much in regards to taijutsu. Of course,” The boy would point at his friend’s hands, “You don’t seem to be a log puncher either. Are you practicing because of your heritage?” Max pulls out a book regarding Kekkei Genkai, flipping to a noted page on Hyuuga. “It says here that the Hyuuga clan utilize their Byakugan to enhance their unique martial arts skills.” Max would look up, making sure to point and show Komon the page for reference. If he looked, the book would have all sorts of notes scribbled within, mostly about the abilities of the Byakugan and one particular note mentioning that he needs to study it more to replicate a similar effect. Komon can take this as he will, but Max harbors no negative thoughts towards his comrade or the doujutsu that rests within his head.
 
“If you would like, you could practice a bit with me. I could use a proper training session, and that log looks like it could use a break from your abusive relationship,” Max would say with a chuckle, laughing at his own joke. It wasn’t even that good of one…
 

If Komon was in agreement with such an idea, Max would then ask just how hard of a training session they wanted. Max of course would leave this up to the senior shinobi, for he had been the higher rank and seemed to already have been working quite a bit. Max would set his puppet pals on the ground and begin to peruse them, wondering just what he would use for this training.

WC: 381
TWC: 855

Max would ponder for another moment, before finally making his choice. Komon had been a higher rank shinobi, one that had gone out to the front lines for war. This meant that he would likely prove quite the challenge to the young puppeteer. No point in holding much back against such a skilled shinobi. Max would position himself at a simple 20 meters away, giving just a bit of breathing room though not much.
 
Max would stretch out a bit, making sure that his little body was at least a bit limber before this spar. He would hate to get a cramp or such and do poorly. Wiggling his fingers around, the boy would send chakra strings (invisible to most) into each one of his puppets. “I haven’t used these guys yet. I wonder… how will they will fare?” He would say while extending his chakra into the Rotting Corpse puppets. If the boy had been getting strange stares before, he was likely going to get many more from the locals.
 
The bindings of the puppets would all unravel, showing two skeletons (one of which was Napa), three smaller zombie puppets, and a much larger zombie puppet known as Stein. This small strike force would take up a grand total of 12 strings making such a feat impossible for a lesser puppeteer, but Max was not a lesser puppeteer. No, he was a Yamaguchi Clan puppeteer known in Kumo for their puppetry expertise. Sadly though, Max was in the same boat as Komon. He hadn’t received much formal training from his family, for only his mother was around to teach him and she was killed in one of the attacks on Kumo. Max had to teach himself in the art of puppetry.
 
Anybody looking at his creations for the first time might be a bit speechless. The puppets would be a reflection of Kumo in every sense. No matter how much he hated Mortarion, the puppets that Max used were eerily similar to some of the Lord’s own creations.
 
Max’s soft smile would change to a more firm look. He was ready to begin this trial. Komon seemed to be allowing Max to make the first move, and so he would start without delay. His skeletal puppets would each be one the ready, their kunai pouches resting on their hips. Komon wanted to practice Taijutsu, and so it wouldn’t be right to bring a knife to a fistfight. This was a friendly spar, and so Max didn’t want to chance causing any real damage to his friend. Whether he even could or not was a separate discussion.
 
The puppets would all ready themselves, the six of them at the young puppeteers beck and call. Without hesitation Max would begin.
 
The three “Rotten Corpse” puppets and the two skeletal puppets would all begin to move, closing the distance between them at a fast rate (Speed 90 for each). The three Zombie puppets would engage (speed 100), while the two skeletons would stop 3 meters away from Komon, and distanced 3 meters away from one another as well.
 
One of the zombies would move in from the front, while the other two would flank around from the side and rear. If they get in to melee range without issue, the puppets would attack, starting with the frontal assault only a second before begin attacked from the sides as well by the others (Speed 100, Power 45, enough to feel it if it connects).
 

The others puppets and Max would simply wait, testing the waters of the Hyuuga. Max had little collected data on Komon’s combat abilities, but fully expected him to have little issue with this attack. If his reading was correct, the Hyuuga would be able to see all around himself without any difficulty. Max was trying see how accurate this information was. Such an ability would prove invaluable on the field and Max had to test it. 


WC: 657
TWC: 1512

As Komon would defend himself Max would watch closely, waiting for an opportunity. Then Komon dashed for one of his zombies to grab at it. That would be his time to strike, to really gauge the Doujutsu. As he moved towards the puppet, his arms would move to grab the zombie in front of him, gripping it tightly and starting to twist his body. That is when the skeleton (not Napa) would dash at the Hyuuga as well (speed 120) moving in to take the place of the zombie that was grabbed. It would move in towards Komon without missing a beat. It would attempt to latch on to the Hyuuga grabbing him from underneath his armpits and attempting a “full nelson” style move.
 
Assuming Komon maintained his attack, the following would be Max’s reaction:
 
The puppet that Komon had grabbed would be swung at the other puppet, it being struck. As soon as Max witnessed the grab, the other puppets would in unison attempt to dodge (speed 120). The first puppet in the swings path would likely prove to be too slow for the Hyuuga’s speed, but impact with that one would likely slow the swing a bit giving the final puppet slightly more time to move above and hop out of the way, rising into the air before continuing to strike at Komon (same speed and strength as before).
 
The puppets that Komon had struck would rise back up, their unfeeling bodies just tools for the puppeteer to use as he saw fit. Their bodies taking some damage but still being fairly operational (because blunt force is really underwhelming ). They would be ready for the attack, waiting on the commands of the one pulling the strings.
 

This would help showcase both the Byakugan and the decision making of his friend.

As Max was pressing the attack, a sudden sound from a nearby passerby started the combat focused puppeteer.  

"I have summons for the Chuunin known as Komon. You have to go over some things that we heard from concerned citizens." The puppet attack would stop, Max not wanting to get a "cheap shot" in on his Hyuuga friend. Wondering just what had been going on, Max would inquire on the summons. "What happened that you need him? Is it serious?" Max would ask this, but the Hoshi soldier would just shake his head, answering with a disgruntled, "It doesn't concern you, so I suggest you find something else to do. He is going to be busy for a while."

Max wouldn't want to accept that as an answer, but he knew that he wasn't supposed to cause any trouble here in Hoshi. Packing up his puppets, Napa would address the young boy, whispering thoughts into his impressionable ears. 

"Is this the way guests should be treated, Max? Should we be looked down on, and taken in for questioning on each unfounded accusation? I don't think so.... what do you think, Max?"

The boy would shake his head, not answering directly. The puppet knew, though, as Max's silence spoke volumes. Hoshi was slowly but surely losing its luster to the boy, and all of the negativity wore away at his psyche. This place was supposed to be a place full of kind people, but our "allies" didn't seem to be as happy to see us as we had been to see them. Even Akihana had been rather distant and distracted as of late. This place was slowly but surely wearing on the boy, and Napa knew that now was the time to plant the seeds he wanted. 


"Max, I have something I want you to do..." With that whispered silently into his ear, the spirit of Napa working to convince the boy to be a pawn in some grand scheme. 

 
Max would simply listen, his shadow flickering violently as the anger of Napa slowly corrupted the calm demeanor of Max. His shadow seems to start to move in unpredictable ways, so much so that even Max noticed. He didn’t think to put anything together though, as his own dark thoughts blocked many of his other ones.
 

Max could see the image forming of a shape on the ground, humanoid as if it were his own shadow but it wasn’t and he knew it. Something within him was changing, and his chakra began to flare in strange ways. The humanoid form morphed back into a shapeless blob, the distinct features now gone. Max didn’t know it, but he was slowly learning to morph the chakra to control shadows like the Nara clan, but without any knowledge of what exactly was happening he wouldn’t know what to do. Maybe he’ll learn more… He will have to if he is to do what Napa wants him to… 

Deciding that it would be best to try and salvage what he could from the day, Max would set his hands in the position of the hand seal he saw in the pictures in the scroll. It was a seal he wasn’t used to making very often, but he would place his hands together and focus. He would recall some of what Satoru had said, and how this Nara clan stuff was similar to puppetry in a sense. Was that why he was slowly but surely figuring it out without dedicated study? Well, until he actually learned what those scrolls held, he can’t really say that he “figured it out.”
 
With his hands in an unfamiliar position, Max would try his hardest to force his chakra upon the shadows that were on the ground. Despite his best efforts though, he had little luck actually doing anything with them. Just moments ago he saw the effects of the Nara clan techniques. His anger was controlling the shadows it seemed, and while that was a start he couldn’t allow rage to cloud his judgement in future encounters. He would have to learn how to utilize it in such a way that he could effortlessly manipulate the shadows around him. The better he hid the technique the more likely it was for the prey to fall victim to the trap he set. If he mastered these abilities, even the strongest of shinobi would end up at the young puppeteer’s mercy. He would be one step closer to realizing his goal of removing Lord Mortarion from power.
 
Despite repeated efforts, Max wasn’t able to get a real grasp on the shadow jutsu’s. Well, he knew that the library in Hoshi was rather large, he saw the monstrous building when he first walked in to the village. If there would be any place that had information that he sought, that would probably be the place he should look. It might have knowledge of the Nara clan hidden techniques, or maybe some background information on the clan.
 
Napa would just silently smile, a wide, fearsome grin. As Max became stronger and more capable of harnessing his Shadow Techniques, he would be closer to finish what he started. The shadows around the puppet himself now flickered, Max unconsciously manipulating them with the angry thoughts of Napa still fresh within his head. Mortarion was going to fall, even if it manages to take the young boy to his limit.
 
The shadows grew, until the darkness was becoming too prominent to not notice…

---Exit---

WC: 917
TWC: 2732

OoC: I had Komon's permission to end the thread prematurely.

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+1 Threads working towards Nara BL

Approved at Max, since I also saw the convo saying you could do so.