Gakuji Hyuuga stood with confidence, his arms crossed, eyes closed, and posture relaxed. His light brown hair was wrapped tightly in a knot atop his head. Somewhere in front of him, two more Hyuuga stood an equal distance apart. They were subtly assessing each other. Gakuji was not worried about where his lessers gauged themselves, for in relation to him, they squabbled for the position of second best.
The three stood in the middle of a clearing, host to a marshland, where the only plants were sparse reeds and dense shrubs on muddy ground. He had, of course, been first to arrive at the training location. His arrival was followed shortly by the female, Otoha, and a male he had once considered a peer, Dairu. Neither Hyuuga bothered to speak to him when they arrived.
The three Hyuuga had been alone for all of fifteen minutes before the fourth member appeared. With a slight turn of his head, Gakuji confirmed what his senses had already reported, seeing the distant silhouette of Niko Hyuuga. Before his head could return to where it had rested, a subtle pressure blanketed the area. That time, his head lifted on its own to witness the fifth and final presence, Emilia Hyuuga.
Watching in silence as the two newcomers approached, Gakuji felt the beat of his heart grow louder, and louder. Whatever their instructor had prepared for them today, he knew he was ready. He knew he would not fail.
Emilia halted right at the edge of the loose circle formed by the three Hyuuga. After a few seconds, Niko caught up, moving to stand beside Otoha and Dairu. Gakuji did not look Niko's way. Performing a cursory inspection, Emilia found nothing of offence to note, and spoke.
"Today's training will take no more than half an hour. This will be the final hands-on lesson regarding advanced Byakugan techniques."
Gakuji considered their instructor's words. So far, every lesson Emilia had taught was brutally effective. Six months ago, she was forced into the teaching role for their group of ten Hyuuga. Six months later, the group now numbered four, the other six being wholly unable to keep up. The rest of the clan had not spoken out at her removal of the six members from the group, agreeing that their remedial training was outside the scope of her lessons.
"Your objective is to last for as long as possible. You will be bombarded by water-based ninjutsu. If you wish to pass, all of you must utilise your Byakugan to its fullest extent, combining both the inner and outer visual fields."
As Emilia explained, she raised both hands, unhurriedly moving through a series of handsigns. It was done deliberately to show them exactly what they would be facing. She appeared to perform three separate ninjutsu, one after the other.
Gakuji observed this first set of handsigns, converting them in his head to the concepts he felt they best represented. She began with the concept of liquids, followed by compression, then plasticity, cohesion, and finally, adhesion.
"There will be two types of projectiles. Both will be identical in form. The first type will be restricting, sticking to your body. These will accumulate with one another, until you are unable to move. Defending is optional, evasion is advised."
Gakuji was pleased to note that her verbal description matched the concepts he had lined up. He watched as she weaved the second set of handsigns, beginning with the concept of liquids again, then compression, capacity, rigidity, and finally change, as in the changing winds.
"The second type of these projectiles will be more damaging. They will contain dangerous attacks that release upon contact. Do not rely on your defence against these."
Once again, her description matched his conversions, much to his pleasure. Gakuji assumed that Emilia was finished, until she began forming the handsigns for an unknown third technique. It was simplistic, only needing three handsigns, yet it did not match any ninjutsu he had seen before. Still, he tried to guess the concepts anyway. Watching silently, he guessed the concept of being cohesion, followed by plasticity, and ending with change. Before he could piece together just what kind of technique those concepts could form, their usage became clear.
"We begin… now." Emilia stated with finality, before sinking into the ground as if it were water.
Instantly, she vanished from all of their senses. Performing a technique like that primarily using water release was significantly difficult, unless the earth was already heavily saturated with water. Considering the surrounding marsh, that made her disappearance act less impressive to Gakuji.
While everyone else went on guard, Gakuji paid more attention to the marshland beneath their feet. With his Byakugan, which he activated following Emilia's disappearance, he spotted an incredibly thin layer of Chakra just beneath the ground that blocked his sight. That layer spanned much of the clearing, seeming to follow the ground exactly. The exact purpose of the Chakra was unknown to Gakuji at that time. He noted that the ground was much more watery as well, and after adjusting his stance, he realised just how unstable it had become. Just as he understood part of their instructor's ploy, the tutoring began.
—
Dairu activated his Byakugan seconds after Emilia vanished into the ground. Just as he suspected, she had completely escaped his senses, as he was unable to spot her beneath the earth. There was something else off about the ground, too. With his Byakugan, he noticed a slim sheet of Chakra just under the surface that stretched across the clearing, its purpose entirely unclear to him.
Before he could inspect the sheet further, more sources of Chakra from the horizon caught his attention, where he spotted… dots. Dozens, easily a hundred dots, each one a Chakra source, all scattered among the treeline. Their teacher mentioned projectiles. At first, he worried they might have come from below, surging at them from the mass of Chakra beneath their feet. Now, he worried they would come from two sources. Either way, the distance from his position to the treeline ranged from 80 to 100 meters, so whichever direction attacks originated, he should have plenty of time to respond.
As he finished the thought, a bright flash of Chakra in the distance caught his Byakugan's sight. At the same time, something curved out from the dense branches, heading right his way. It was a sphere of water, and it shot toward him at precipitous speeds, giving him less than three seconds to react. Stepping to the side, he allowed the projectile to pass by harmlessly. Something went wrong with his footing, and a simple dodge turned into a stumbling fall. Before impact, Dairu twisted his entire body, stretching one leg beneath him in a panicked motion, catching himself at the last possible moment.
The ground felt as if he was walking on the surface of a lake, a fact he was alarmed to learn so suddenly. He did not seem to fall through the mud as Emilia had, luckily. Glancing around, he noted similar reactions by the others, except Gakuji, who stood in his usual arrogant position. Dairu's Byakugan had caught glimpses of three identical spheres aimed for his fellow Hyuuga, yet Gakuji managed to dodge his projectile without losing his footing.
Imitating the taller man, Dairu straightened himself, assessing the distant treeline with his outer visual field. The main aspect of the Byakugan, which he had been rigorously taught, was the leverage of what the clan referred to as the inner and outer visual fields. Both fields offered a complete 360 degree range of vision, and a Hyuuga was capable of 'assigning' one or both of their eyes to viewing either of the visual fields.
With the outer field, Dairu could detach his vision from his body, moving his perception where he pleased in a range of several hundred meters centered on his body. He could adjust his perception, changing his range of vision from its circular 360 degrees, to something more conical. The outer field was most useful for scouting and far ranged viewing, such as offering a birds-eye view.
Taking a breath, Dairu assigned his right eye to the outer visual field, utilising the full 360 degrees to sweep the distant treeline, doing his best to remain focused. He was rewarded as a moment later, a second projectile came rushing from the branches, aimed right for his center mass. It rapidly approached, sliding past 80 meters, then 50, before closing in on 20 meters, all within two seconds. Being careful of his footing, he began to sidestep this second projectile, only to find it curving to meet him.
Dairu launched into motion. At the last moment before it impacted, he flicked himself into the air, momentum sending him upward just barely enough to count. The projectile zipped past, cutting the wind as it did so. Dairu once again twisted himself, stretching his body to the limit as he aimed to place his feet back under his body right at the height of his jump. He landed heavily, his left foot crimping awkwardly from the liquidated ground.
By the time he had settled back into position, the third projectile was coming.
Then the fourth.
It was all he could do to remain standing, as seconds turned into minutes. A new projectile seemed to head his way every four to five seconds. Dairu attempted to predict the next projectile's incoming angle by monitoring the distant Chakra sources, but he failed to locate a pattern. Sometimes they curved, sometimes not, sometimes they flew at twice the speed, and other times they glided along at a leisurely pace. Dairu had lost his ability to think beyond the immediate next projectile. Until eventually, after a time that felt like an hour, the projectiles ceased entirely.
"It appears we have been given a break."
Gakuji calmly spoke, making Dairu jump.
"How…" Dairu took a moment to swallow, trying to wet his throat. "...How long was that? I lost track of time."
Dairu was not afraid to admit something like losing his sense of time. He was being pushed to his limit, and that was not shameful to admit, not when he had already come farther than most. He could stand his own ground thanks to Emilia's efforts to shape him into a real Hyuuga, and he was grateful for that.
"That was roughly four minutes, I think." Niko answered. Unlike Dairu, Niko appeared more collected, even going so far as to wear a light smile on his face.
Dairu glanced at Gakuji out of the corner of his eye just to see how he was faring. Unsurprisingly, he hadn't even broken a sweat.
"I've been trying to figure out what type the projectiles are… But it seems quite difficult to tell them apart… Though I may have found something, I'm not sure yet…" Otoha commented.
Gakuji sneered Otoha's way, causing the others to look directly at him. Once he had their attention, he spoke.
"You need to catch up if you seriously can't spot the difference yet. I found the distinction in the first minute."
There was a hint of boast in his tone, but Gakuji mostly just spoke as a matter of fact. His perpetual sneer remained on his face, until Niko spoke.
"Yeah, well, I think I know the difference, too, but I'll need to confirm it. I don't think that will be a problem, though."
Dairu had kept his eyes on Gakuji's face. For a fraction of a second, he saw disdain, before it was wiped back to a neutral sneer. Otoha had turned to face Niko, speaking at the same time.
"Maybe we should… work together more? If we create a formation, we could… um…"
She teetered off.
Niko flashed a bright smile back at the young woman.
"It's alright. We're strong, we'll get through this, I'm sure. Meanwhile, let's focus on the immediate future…"
Dairu didn't have anything to add on to the discussion, so he remained silent, putting his focus toward not getting distracted. Keeping an internal count of time, he continued to sweep the clearing's edge with his outer field. The time had just passed a minute when the first projectiles were speeding right for them. With renewed determination, he decided that he would put all of his effort into this final lesson. He would find the difference between the projectile types, and do his best to be part of the team.
Forming the tiger seal, Dairu infused his Chakra to the limit. Half a second before the projectile would have hit him, he used Chakra to grab the ground beneath his feet, and used his new leverage to literally slide sideways. He noticed a slight curve to the projectile's path as it missed him, meaning it would have tried following him had he dodged earlier. Before he could collect himself, he noticed another sphere two seconds later. He was given no time to think, forced to let his reactions move him as the projectile onslaught continued.
As the seconds dragged on, he understood what their instructor meant by fully utilising both visual fields. If he didn't command full spatial awareness, he would not last long. Another sphere shot by him as he focused his left eye on the inner field, and his visual prowess grew exponentially. Unlike the outer field, which acted like a remote eye, the inner field granted complete observance up to a certain distance, as if they could see everything, everywhere simultaneously. The inner field could not be obstructed by most physical barriers, and could even penetrate certain Chakra-based barriers.
Instantly, Dairu could see everything around him out to 60 meters. He once heard that some Hyuuga could perceive up to hundreds of meters with their inner field alone, but he focused most of his training on the outer field. He could still make effective use of the inner field, and could now retain concentration on dozens of objects at once. Dairu's inner field was unable to freely move like his outer field, and so was more suited for close combat. Using the inner field, he identified and dodged the next several projectiles.
When most Hyuuga awakened their Byakugan, the outer field offered more immediate advantages over the inner field. Extensive training was required to properly utilise the inner field, while the outer field mostly required getting used to the new expanded range of vision. As such, a Hyuuga would rely on their outer field in many situations, including taijutsu. This resulted in a crucial blind spot: their own body. Dairu had been shown that blind spot once, years ago, and as a result he vowed never to lose track of his footing again.
Something Dairu had noticed was the other's actions going into this second round. Within the first handful of seconds, Gakuji had begun swatting away projectiles as if they were flies. It was done seemingly at random, applying precise bursts of Chakra that acted as a momentary barrier with each block. Gakuji offered no explanation, and Dairu would not ask him for one anyway. Instead, Dairu waited for the others to make their move, which came shortly after.
Between one projectile and the next, Niko circulated Chakra through his arms, and created a constant barrier along the skin of his hands. This was not the gentle fist technique, nor any variation as far as Dairu knew. Niko intercepted one projectile with his palm stretched flat, angled away from him, redirecting the sphere away from his body. The difference between Gakuji's and Niko's approaches were minute, with Gakuji using Chakra at the moment of impact, while Niko retained the Chakra across his hands.
Dairu spoke between hurried breaths as he dodged several more spheres.
"What… is the… difference..?!"
"The type one projectiles… only have… one elemental Chakra!" Niko responded, also between breaths.
Dairu thought furiously about Niko's answer. His original inspection of the projectiles in the first round had only shown him water elemental Chakra. The spheres themselves were actual water, with the Chakra only shaping them. He had considered himself skilled in Chakra sight, as he had become plenty familiar with the Byakugan's power while learning the Hyuuga clan's gentle fist technique, but clearly he was still too naive.
Identifying the elemental makeup of Chakra was mostly easy. Once shaped and released as ninjutsu, the Chakra behaved almost like its physical counterpart. Some shinobi were skilled in changing the fundamental properties of their elemental Chakra to make it behave like another element, such as changing lightning release to appear as fire release. However, this was a complicated skill, and likely not what Emilia was doing.
Dairu dodged several more spheres before finding what he was looking for. Inside the volume of a projectile, he found a tight, compact ball of Chakra, no larger than a grain of rice. He reprimanded himself for not seeing this earlier in the first round, as they were obvious once he knew what to look for. The elemental makeup of these Chakra grains were wind release, unsurprisingly, which told him what the technique might do upon impact. Once he located the grain, he successfully identified it in four of the next ten spheres, confirming that the mix of types was roughly even.
Next came the part he worried about. Dairu would need to defend against a type one projectile, and he considered what method to use. If he used the same technique that Niko, and now Otoha were using, he feared losing focus or running low on Chakra before long. There was no way he could copy Gakuji's pristine method, it being clearly too high level for him. He considered why the others weren't using the gentle fist, as that technique required much less Chakra overall, and should defend against the projectiles just as well. In his haste, and dwindling stamina, he made a decision.
He identified the next projectile as a type one, and prepared to use the gentle fist technique. With his right hand, he extended his middle and pointer finger, filling them with thin needles of Chakra. The gentle fist technique utilised singular points of Chakra, a standard unit that the Hyuuga clan were exceptionally familiar with, shaped into the most lethal form possible. Chakra points, as far as Dairu was aware, had something to do with the body's involuntary infusion of Chakra, and supposedly resulted in an exact amount of Chakra between every person. All he cared about was that he could use the gentle fist hundreds of times thanks to this precision, and expand his taijutsu prowess to the extreme.
With his two fingers extended, each filled with a single point of Chakra shaped into needles, he stabbed forward with the intent to pop the bubble of water. Niko's voice called out, too late to stop him.
"No! Don't use-"
The projectile hit his fingers, the needles of Chakra attempting to puncture its surface. Instead of popping, the ball of water deformed, stretching and reshaping to cover Dairu's hand like a balloon. To his horror, the sphere expanded, growing nearly three times its original size. The sphere stuck like glue to his entire arm up to the shoulder. In the heat of the moment, Dairu had completely forgotten Emilia telling them about the projectiles being restrictive.
Then, a second projectile hit him. Seconds later, a third. All of them were type one projectiles and clung to his body, growing and absorbing him into their mass. Before long, he was completely submerged in a large globule of water.
Everyone's last sight of Dairu Hyuuga was his shocked expression, right before he was dragged under the surface of the wet marsh.