The Ways of the Gentle Fist

Konohagakure no Sato was a shinobi village filled to the brim with prospective shinobi and kunoichi. Many citizens would dream of becoming such things from very young ages, but it would only be those who had passed the rigorous and tedious training provided at the ninja academy who could say that they were truly a ninja.

The prospect of becoming a shinobi was something that Hyūga, Yuma had always been intrigued by, so in this manner he was no different than anybody else. What did separate him from most, however, was the fact that he had hailed from the world renowned Hyūga clan. For as long as the clan had been banded together they had been known worldwide for their drive towards perfection, and while that was a noble thing to strive for, it was something that most children in the clan despised. From the time they could walk they would begin their training, and it would be a day-in and day-out occurrence until they graduated from the ninja academy. Even beyond that they would train until they could finally say that they were able to achieve high-ranking positions within the village's government. For that reason, most people outside of the clan looked to its members as 'just another member of the Hyūga clan, and their individuality would be stripped from them through cautious glares and fake smiles.

Yuma had always despised this fact, and his individuality was something that he would do just about anything to keep.

"I'm not like you, Father," The boy said one day as he stormed out of his family's private training ground in the courtyard of their home. "I'm not going to be just another cog in the clan's wheel, and I'll prove that to you and everyone else!"

Any calls to the boy from his father would simply fall upon deaf ears as he made his way into the main hall of the house. He would not even stop to advise his mother that he was stepping out, instead he would walk without hesitation toward the genkan, placed on his sandals, and exited the house with a slam of the door. With a huff he would walk through the village that he called home until he arrived at the training grounds. Typically he would have walked himself to the academy, where he would break in to train alone in the gym hall, but Nokino had put a stop to that when she caught him red-handed a few weeks prior. Hot worrying about it the boy would walk through the gate and continued walking until he found a good spot to do his training. Three training dummies had been spoked into the ground on metal poles for open use by the village's forces, and Yuma felt they would be good to help him in his Gentle Fist training.

After doing some introductory stretches the boy would take a fighting position, stretching out his right leg behind him as he bent his left knee and rose his two open palms towards the dummies...