Despite the cool winter air, Kotetsu felt his arms and legs sweat. He started to get worried, as his waterskin had only lasted him up to a few hours ago. He hoped these fine young men would see that he was just passing through, and let him back on his way. He somehow doubted it. Kotetsu raced through potential ways out of the situation. Maybe telling them he had to use the bathroom would work. The hand that gripped his shoulder suddenly lifted, and the boy behind him continued to speak.

  “What, too scared to talk? Probably for the best. I’ll tell you what, you tell us who you are and who you work for, and we’ll maybe think about letting you go.” The boy behind Kotetsu said.

  Kotetsu didn’t want to get himself confused, so he began to name the boys. The speaker would be stumpy legs. Kotetsu turned around, slowly, and looked up into the smirking face of stumpy legs. His eyes were black, his hair dark and shoulder length. Kotetsu spotted a knife affixed to his belt, right next to a fine looking leather satchel.

  “Uh… My name? You want my name? And what do you mean by… ‘Work for?’ I don’t get paid.” Kotetsu spoke haltingly.

  Stumpy legs’ smirk grew wide until his teeth showed. “Yep. Your name. Come on already.”

  “...Kotetsu.”

  Stumpy legs raised one eyebrow.

  “Kotetsu.”

  “Yep.”

  “Just… Kotetsu? What’s your clan? Come on, kid. I won’t tell.” Stumpy legs prodded.

  “Oh. Hyuuga. I am from the Hyuuga clan.”

  As stumpy legs and Kotetsu spoke, the other two boys approached slowly. Then, all three burst into laughter. Stumpy legs wheezed and grabbed at his stomach, bending over. They laughed for several seconds.

  “A HYUUGA!” Long arms, the first boy, joked.

  The three boys continued to laugh. Kotetsu felt his cheeks flush. Why weren’t they taking him seriously?

  “Fine. You want proof? Come at me!”

  Kotetsu struck a pose. Stumpy legs leaned against a tree, trying not to fall from his convulsive laughing.

  “Stop! We get it!” Stumpy legs said through gasps.

  Kotetsu felt anger well up. He made his move, leaping right for stumpy legs. Sadly, the upturned root sticking out of the ground had other ideas.

  Stumpy legs pointed, laughing even harder as Kotetsu fell flat on his face, his bag spilling up and over his head and onto the ground. Kotetsu scrambled to get onto his feet. Nose hair, the second boy that had appeared, spotted the sword that had been attached to Kotetsu’s bag. Curious, he walked over as Kotetsu was still getting up, reaching down and picking up the sword.

  “Hey… Check this out. This is one seriously nice blade…” Nose hair said, inspecting the handle and running a hand over the sheath. He attempted to reveal the blade in vain. He pulled harder, finding that the sword would not give. Kotetsu finished getting up and brushed himself off, looking over to find his sword in nose hair’s hands. He raced over to stand in front of nose hair.

  “Give it back!” Kotetsu cried. He reached for the sword, but nose hair danced away, clutching the blade up and over his head. He had a grin on his face, though he had stopped laughing. He continued to try and separate the sword from its sheath.

  “Why won’t this budge? Is it stuck or something?” Nose hair asked.

  Stumpy legs had stood up, catching his breath. He looked over to see Kotetsu and nose hair circling each other. Stumpy legs felt his eyes begin to water as he barely held the laughter back.

  Long arms had stayed still after approaching Kotetsu, keeping his laughter in check. He watched the scene continue to unfold. Kotetsu stopped circling nose hair. He didn’t think that Kotetsu could actually be a shinobi, given that he willingly gave them a last name, even if it was fake. That was one of the strict prohibitions that shinobi abided by.

  “I’ll give it back… But first, you have to do something.” Nose hair taunted.

  “What? What do you want?” Kotetsu pleaded.

  Nose hair barely kept a straight face as he gave his cruel demand in a mocking tone.

  “You have to show me your Byakugan!”

  Kotetsu felt his face drop. He spoke in a meek voice.

  “But… I don’t have the Byakugan…”

  It was too much. Stumpy legs felt tears run down his face as he choked with laughter, looking at Kotetsu’s dumbstricken face. Nose hair flashed an evil grin at Kotetsu as he spoke.

  “I think I know why I can’t pull the blade out… This feels heavy, but I bet it’s a fake, right? You wanted to look cool and got a wood sword, huh? I don’t blame you. But, It’s time to move on..!” Nose hair spoke, his voice taunting Kotetsu. Right after finishing his sentence, he grasped both ends of the blade and brought the midsection straight down onto his knee. There was a loud crack, nose hair released the blade, grabbed his knee, and fell over backwards. Kotetsu dove for the blade as nose hair howled in pain.

  Stumpy legs had fallen to the ground, giving up all pretense of reigning in his hysterical laughter. Long arms looked on in pity at nose hair after he discovered that the blade was, in fact, real. Kotetsu looked his sword up and down for any damages. Long arms felt his eyes widen when Kotetsu pulled the blade slightly from its sheath, revealing a mesmerising green sword with a single silver edge. Kotetsu checked the blade from both sides, presumably confirming that it had not bent. After a single glance, long arms knew that the sword was made with superior craftsmanship. He watched as Kotetsu resheathed the sword, the other two completely unaware. Long arms felt suddenly suspicious. Who was this boy, wandering alone? Why would he claim to be a Hyuuga, despite so very clearly not being one? Why was he dressed in shinobi style robes? And what about the sword? Questions without answers raced through his mind. Before he could come to a decision, a fifth presence appeared.

  The newcomer looked everything over. Long arms knew that they were screwed now, having been caught goofing off with a potential threat. He stood at attention.

  “What’s the meaning of this?” The newcomer asked quietly. Stumpy legs stopped laughing. Nose hair looked up, despite his personal suffering. Long arms stood still. Kotetsu sat on the ground, picking his bag up and cleaning everything off.

  “We were, uh, interrogating the intruder.” Stumpy legs said, attempting to get up and brush himself off. His hair had a twig in it. The newcomer did not smile.

  “You were shirking your watch duties, is what I have seen. Who is this?” The newcomer spoke in a neutral but commanding voice.

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  Kotetsu finally looked up at the voice to find a fourth boy, maybe 15, standing a distance away. Despite the similarity in age, the other boys all seemed to defer to this newcomer. The boy had dark brown hair that sat flat on his head. Kotetsu listened as the other three explained the events so far. After they were done with their recollection, the fourth boy slowly walked toward Kotetsu before speaking.

  “You’re seriously claiming to be a Hyuuga? That could get you killed, you know.” The fourth boy said.

  Kotetsu did not smile, or frown. He simply looked up into the waiting face of the new boy, who he dubbed as scary face in his head. He decided he did not like scary face very much.

  “It’s Kotetsu, right? What’s your business in this area?” Scary face prodded. Kotetsu decided he’d had enough with this game.

  “I’m just passing through. Now either beat me up, or get out of my way.” Kotetsu tried to act tough. Scary face looked down with raised eyebrows.

  “You… Think we would just… Beat you up?” Scary face asked. Kotetsu nodded after a moment.

  Scary face continued to glare down at Kotetsu. His expression was stony as he spoke his words.

  “We would have to kill you, should you prove to be a threat to us.”

  Kotetsu stared at scary face. He began to stand up, letting his bag fall to the ground with a thump. Getting to his feet, he looked up into the face of the taller boy.

  “You’re a shinobi?” Kotetsu asked, face neutral.

  The two continued their staring contest, the other three boys strewn around getting nervous.

  “Yeah. You are too.” Scary face said.

  “I thought that was obvious. Do I not look scary to you?” Kotetsu immediately asked.

  Scary face scoffed, then turned around. “Get this idiot out of here. He’s genuinely lost. Don’t come back around here. If we find you lurking, you’ll get hurt for real.”

  Kotetsu watched as without any warning, scary face jumped nearly 20 feet straight into the air, then proceeded to kick off of trees as he moved faster away. The thick cover of trees hid his passage after only a few seconds. Kotetsu looked up open mouthed, then shut it when long arms approached.

  “Time to leave. Grab your stuff.”

  “Wait, I have a question though… How do you do that?” Kotetsu asked, finger pointed up.

  Long arms looked annoyed.

  “You’re not gonna distract us any longer. We have a job to get back to.” Long arms tried to herd Kotetsu, but the boy stood his ground.

  “I want to know how to do that. Show me how, and I’ll go and NEVER come back. Please?” Kotetsu begged.

  Long arms was getting frustrated now.

  “No. Time to leave.” Long arms reached for Kotetsu’s shirt collar.

  Kotetsu watched the hand approach. He reached out, grabbing the wrist, then pivoted one foot around the other as he dragged the arm forward. Long arms had no time to react as Kotetsu casually placed another hand on the older boy’s back, pushing him forward. By the time long arms caught himself and turned around, Kotetsu was standing as he was. Long arms began to sputter.

  “That’s it.” Long arms marched back to Kotetsu and put both hands on his shoulders. “You’re gone. I’ll drag you out myself.”

  Before he could move, his arms were suddenly cartwheeling in an attempt to regain balance. He fell on his back. Kotetsu just stood there, the same stupid look of questioning ignorance on his face. Stumpy legs tried to soothe the brewing storm he knew was coming.

  “Hey, let’s stay calm, alright? There’s no need to get violent…” He attempted. Long arms turned a withering glare onto stumpy legs. Stumpy legs backed away slowly. Long arms twisted back to Kotetsu, coming to a decision.

  “Fine. I’ll show you… If you can beat me. Then you have to leave.” Long arms casually said.

  “Really?” Kotetsu perked up.

  “Yep. I’ll even let you make the first move.”

  Without hesitation, Kotetsu jumped straight at poor, unsuspecting long arms. All long arms had time to see was Kotetsu’s stupid little grin before a palm flattened itself against the side of his face. The smack was loud and reverberated through the forest. Long arms staggered back, grabbing the side of his head, where a welt began to grow. He looked down at Kotetsu in shock. Stumpy legs had approached again.

  “Come on, that’s enough! Atsuo is gonna kill us if he finds out we even attempted this!” Stumpy legs spoke pleadingly.

  Long arms' expression changed from shock to guilt. But, something within him could not give up. Kotetsu got a cheap shot in.

  “No. I’m gonna give this little idiot a piece of my mind first. Atsuo can punish me for it if he wants.” Long arms snapped.

  “Let’s do this.” Long arms approached Kotetsu.

  “Just remember, no… You know…” Stumpy legs said.

  “I know.” Long arms said quietly.

  The match began.

  Over an hour passed. The fight had escalated quickly, going from a light scuffle to an all out sparring match. Neither wanted to give up. Kotetsu had his mind set on learning how to jump like scary face- who the other boys had called Atsuo, and long arms had his mind set on giving this kid a beatdown. Neither succeeded yet. Every time long arms thought he had the upper hand, Kotetsu would pull out some new move or suddenly get just a little faster, throwing the other boy for a loop. Stumpy legs and nose hair mostly watched in silence, occasionally following a particular punch or a dodge up with an ‘Ooh!’ or ‘Close one!’. The three observed Kotetsu as his fighting style changed over the course of the hour. What started out as mostly dodging and slapping turned into full punches, body throws, refined footwork and overall clear martial experience. They weren’t sure what to make of the strange boy.

  Kotetsu had been intrigued by the way the older boy fought. At first, he seemed to hold back quite a lot, which Kotetsu made sure to take advantage of. As their fight progressed, long arms appeared to give in to the inevitable and start fighting for real. What piqued Kotetsu’s interest was the fact that the boy seemed very straight forward in his tactics. Step here, strike there. Sidestep. Block. Attempt grapple, back off. The fight was almost boring, even though Kotetsu was being pushed closer and closer to his limit. He began to suspect that there was something missing, like the boy was holding back even more. If only he could squeeze the secret out of him…

  Long arms didn’t know what else to do. If he decided to actually fight for real, pulling out his technique, the clan would surely bury him alive for his blatant rule breaking. He just knew that Atsuo would personally dig the pit himself. He had to stop this fight. It was time to give in, though it gave him a sour taste just thinking about it. He broke off from his latest grappling attempt.

  “Stop.” Long arms ordered, raising his hands. “I give up.”

  Kotetsu just stood there, arms held in front of his body, breathing heavily. Both boys stared at each other for a long moment, just panting. Kotetsu began to lower his arms.

  “So… You’ll show me? The jumping thing? For real?” Kotetsu asked between gulps of air.

  “...Yes.” Long arms said. Then, to Kotetsu’s surprise, he stuck out a hand.

  “Call me Dan.”

  Kotetsu grabbed the offered hand and shook.

  —

  “If we find you lurking, you’ll get hurt for real.”

  Atsuo spoke his warning, then jumped up and maneuvered through the tall trees. He moved just out of sight from the group, then took up a spot high above to monitor the group. Atsuo had meant his warning. If the others didn’t succeed in scaring off a single child, then he would personally bury all three of them alive. He stayed to watch in case the others failed in this easy task. That’s what he told himself, atleast. To be truthful, there was curiosity. Something about the boy piqued his interest. It might have been the sword, the fresh packed bag, or maybe just the way the boy carried himself. Either way, a trespasser was a trespasser.

  Atsuo felt disgust wash over him as he observed Dan willingly engage with the boy. This was clearly not proper protocol, and he would have to rejoin the group, letting the others know that he didn’t really trust them with patrol. But just as he was about to make his way down, the fight began to get more intense. Then something truly interesting happened. That boy, Kotetsu, began to actually fight like… A Hyuuga. That’s what it seemed like, at this distance. Atsuo was caught off guard by this, and had to activate his Sharingan just to confirm. To his astonishment, the boy did in fact appear to use the Hyuuga fighting style. He kept still to study the ongoing fight. As the skirmish progressed, Atsuo came to the conclusion that while Kotetsu did not fight completely like a Hyuuga, he appeared to have developed some sort of pseudo-form of combat that was derived from the style. Atsuo felt his mind race at the implications. Suddenly, this boy was a lot more interesting.

  Atsuo decided that it was his duty to find out more. Now, he just needed an excuse to approach the group again…