"Shit."
Niko crouched below a speeding projectile, having identified it as a type two. He had just witnessed Dairu sink below the surface, both his body and Chakra signature vanishing even from his inner field. It was disturbing, not being able to perceive anything below the thin sheet of Chakra under their feet. He barely had time to entertain that feeling as more projectiles moved his way.
It was useless to try and rupture the spheres, as they would simply deform in place rather than split apart. Niko thought Dairu would have seen this hyper-cohesive aspect, as well as their adhesiveness, as Emilia had warned them about it herself. Both cohesion and adhesion were fundamental concepts of water release, and Emilia had used them both to great effectiveness.
Niko worked himself into a pattern alongside Otoha and Gakuji, diverting the path of type one projectiles while dodging type two projectiles. None of them had seen what type two projectiles could do yet, and they were not eager to find out. Minutes passed with this arrangement, until the second round ended at the four minute mark, just as the first round had.
Niko and Otoha were bent over, breathing heavily from the constant action. An essential skill of shinobi was the preservation of stamina, something that could take several years of sustained effort to master. Gakuji returned to his upright posture, arms crossed, regulating his breathing in accordance with his heartbeat. Niko pulled himself upright after some time, still breathing heavily, while Otoha nearly collapsed to the ground.
"Between the first and second rounds… the spheres doubled in quantity…" Otoha muttered under her breath. Niko nodded in acknowledgement, and noted that Gakuji simply ignored her.
"This next round… it's either going to add another two projectiles, bringing us to six spheres per ten seconds, or it'll double, and we will be getting eight projectiles every ten seconds…"
Niko smirked to himself upon seeing Gakuji's eyebrows knit slightly at Otoha's observation. The taller man had not thought about that, apparently.
"Well, I guess we'll just have to find out." Niko said while brushing specks of crusted mud from his robes.
"There's… more…" Otoha wheezed. Gakuji's face twisted in annoyance for a moment, before he reigned it back.
"What's up?" Niko asked.
After a few more seconds of breathing, Otoha pulled herself upright.
"It's, uh, just an observance. The projectiles are, um… vanishing."
Niko raised his eyebrows and motioned for her to continue.
"When they hit the ground, they get… I don't know, absorbed?"
She had watched every sphere that had passed by her, confirming this fact. Their natural course led them to splat into the ground, where she observed them almost melting, rather than splashing apart or exploding. It was the same with both types of projectiles, she noted.
"I think we should try destroying the projectiles before they hit the ground…"
Gakuji sneered.
"You seriously wish to diminish our training?"
The other two turned to look at him. Niko spoke.
"What do you mean?"
Crossing his arms and flashing disdain, Gakuji answered.
"It's obvious. Removing the projectiles may reduce the difficulty of our training. I will not stand for you lessening what has already been stated to be our final lesson. Be grateful to our instructor."
Otoha shifted uncomfortably at Gakuji's words, and Niko stepped slightly between the two. Rather than arguing further, the group fell silent to focus on recovering. When the next round came, the amount of projectiles doubled from the second round as Otoha surmised. Now, they were dealing with eight projectiles every ten seconds.
Like Niko, Otoha redirected projectiles with flicks of her Chakra-coated palms, trying to counter their sticking effect. She made adjustments to her technique, causing projectiles to explode mid-air before they could contact the ground. Despite Gakuji's words, she wanted to try disabling as many projectiles as possible. Also despite his words, she did not wish to diminish their training, but instead wanted to use the experience to widen her understanding of static Chakra. As they all had learned some time ago, she knew that the projectiles were mostly static Chakra, stored and released by the distant seals.
Otoha knew that one problem with static Chakra was the need to 'motivate' it with active Chakra. In this case, she figured that each projectile was likely directed by a small fraction of Emilia's Chakra, relative to the amount of static Chakra. She didn't know the exact Chakra point ratio, irrelevant as it was. Because of this directing active Chakra, Otoha was aware that there was simply no way Emilia could have pre-attached her Chakra to every single projectile, as that would be physically impossible for their instructor.
What Otoha referred to earlier, that she now suspected Gakuji knew as well, was the underlying mechanic of their lesson. She understood why Gakuji was sensitive on the subject, but figuring out such mundane information interested her. Otoha assumed that Emilia utilised the Chakra layer below them as a net, recapturing her active Chakra from fallen projectiles, recycling that Chakra for another projectile. Given Emilia's level of skill, Otoha decided it was plausible for the Chakra layer to possess multiple functions.
Before Otoha could give the subject any more thought, she was forced to abandon it entirely as an unsettling change developed. A minute into the third round, the mix of projectiles began to shift, until there were only type two projectiles. Every sphere from that point held a central grain of Chakra, signalling it as a type two. Otoha did not even realise that such a thing could happen, and must mean that Emilia had more control over the projectiles than originally anticipated. As a result, the three Hyuuga were forced into evasive manoeuvres.
"These damn… watery balls…!" Niko sputtered, dodging a spiralling sphere as it nearly came into contact with his legs.
Even combining the inner and outer fields, Niko just barely survived the onslaught of projectiles. If the next round continued the multiplicative trend, they would be dealing with almost two spheres per second. At that point, he would be forced to use constant ninjutsu. While he was busy struggling for his life, Otoha rapidly thought about their new predicament.
"I think… some of them… are fakes!" Otoha said, getting her words out over several seconds.
"Whadyamean?!" Niko half-shouted, half-stammered.
"Some of… them have… less Chakra…" Otoha could barely get her words out, her breath running out faster than she could replenish it.
Then, in a movement that stunned Niko, she slapped one projectile away. It bounced just as the type ones had, not reacting to her touch like he suspected a type two might.
"HAH!" She squeaked in delight, aiming for another sphere.
Niko paid more attention to the inner grains of Chakra, coming to the conclusion that she was right. Some of the spheres held more Chakra in that grain, though the distinction was incredibly minute. The fact that Otoha had been the first to notice was of no issue to Niko, as he was happy to finally know what he was missing. Gakuji, on the other hand, sneered loud enough to be heard over the rushing projectiles.
"Don't get cocky…" Gakuji spat.
Up until that point, each Hyuuga had been careful not to redirect any projectiles toward one another. With a contemptuous glare, Gakuji flicked a newly identified type one projectile straight toward Otoha's back. She was caught between two other spheres, dodging one and flicking the other away, forced to watch the approaching projectile. Suddenly, Niko kicked out with one leg, his foot wrapped in Chakra just like his hands, and the sphere was flung far into the distance by his kick.
For a heartbeat, Niko and Gakuji made eye contact. Niko saw anger flare in Gakuji's eyes, before it was snuffed out by an incoming projectile. They didn't have time to argue, as the assault continued en masse. Meanwhile, Otoha was busy trying to temper her racing heart after nearly being caught by Gakuji's sabotage. She attempted to focus on the spheres coming her way, but her attention kept shifting to Gakuji, worried of another attack. It also did not help that her curiosity pulled her attention downward each time a projectile splashed into the ground.
With all of these factors in play, it was only a matter of time before she slipped up. The round was approaching four minutes, and Otoha had noticed the final projectile far too late. She began to block it, not registering that it was the wrong type. By the time she realised her mistake, it was a split second from touching the palm of her hand. That moment slowed as she watched in panic, until the tip of a hand pushed her own out of the way, and Niko intercepted the sphere.
The projectile collided with Niko's hand, and violently exploded. The grain of Chakra was formed around pressurised air, which expanded into dozens of spear-like protrusions that extended through the sphere of water, straight for Niko's open palm. A wave of cutting water swelled out from Niko's palm, reshaped from his Chakra barrier, colliding with the wind spikes. The two ninjutsu cancelled out, and Otoha fell to the ground as Niko's timely leap led him to slamming into her side.
The ground jiggled and bounced, causing the two Hyuuga to roll around for several seconds. Otoha caught her footing first, and roughly pulled Niko up to his feet.
"Uh… thanks…" Niko said sheepishly.
"I should be thanking you. If you hadn't caught that, I would be… well…" Otoha held her arms to her chest, shuddering at the sight of the wind that might have shredded her hand.
She looked down for a moment, before glancing at Niko pensively.
"What… was that? I've never seen ninjutsu done like that…"
Still recovering from his half-baked plan to protect Otoha, Niko took several recuperating breaths before responding.
"It's called a reflexive technique. It's like muscle memory, but for your Chakra. You train a jutsu into your body, kind of like the gentle fist technique. Hard to do, but worth it!" Niko flashed a smile as he finished explaining. He caught her dazed expression.
"What is it? You're thinking about something, right?"
Otoha looked up, surprised. She hadn't even noticed that her gaze had drifted to staring at the ground.
"I'm… well, I'm still thinking about the Chakra beneath our feet." She tapped the ground with one foot.
"Um, well, basically… I think I know how our instructor is pulling this lesson off."
Niko looked at her blankly.
"Okay." He tried to look interested in the subject.
Otoha shook both hands emphatically.
"You don't get it! We could all win if I'm correct! Earlier, I said we should break the projectiles, and now I'm confident that will still work…"
Before Otoha could continue, Gakuji sneered, causing the two Hyuuga to look at him. Unlike the last two rounds, his condition had begun to noticeably deteriorate. His breathing was shallow, sweat dripped down his face, and even his hair knot had loosened slightly. Not that their own conditions were any better.
"You still want to ruin the lesson? We are just getting started. Rather than looking for ways to devalue our teaching, you should be more grateful that this fool decided to protect you. That projectile would have severely degraded your performance, should it have made contact."
Otoha felt her eyes widen. Before she could respond, Niko stepped into Gakuji's personal space, the ground wobbling beneath his feet, speaking as he did so.
"Which projectile? The one that exploded, or the one you failed to hit her with?"
Gakuji turned his nose up to Niko's approach, being the taller of the two. He gave a disparaging smile to the shorter man.
"Both. Don't worry, I won't miss next time."
"Try that again, and I'll kick your damned knees out."
Gakuji's smile turned to an indignant sneer. He began to unfold his arms, right as Otoha stepped forward.
"That's enough. It's over, and I'm fine, Niko."
Niko's face had not shown aggression, or contempt, or any emotion. He remained completely still as he stared into Gakuji's eyes. Years ago, Niko was taller than Gakuji. But that size difference shrank until it reversed, and now Gakuji stood several inches over him. Gakuji continued the staring contest for several more seconds, until Niko broke eye contact, walking away and throwing his arms behind his head.
"Let's get this over with." Niko commented under his breath.
They didn't have to wait long for the fourth round to begin.
—
Emilia had been waiting for this final lesson for several weeks. Her objective this time was different from any of her previous lessons, especially considering just how much more effort it had taken. At her request, the clan had granted her permission to use the services of their sealmaster. The Hyuuga clan's sealwork was nowhere as detailed as the Senju clan's, but it was still good enough. After listening to her rather eccentric request, the older man had begun preparing over a hundred seals and filling them with static Chakra.
She had first made that request nearly three weeks ago. Working tirelessly, and in secrecy, the sealmaster presented her with the final batch of these seals the previous night. Emilia had already chosen the location for this final training, and she moved under the cover of night to prepare the site. She had wrapped up her preparations long before any of her students arrived.
Emilia had silently monitored the group as the training began, the first round going as planned, and everyone reacting within her expectations. She noted the small improvements to the group's performance between the first and second rounds, with Gakuji taking the lead. When Dairu fell out of bounds near the end of the second round, she mentally noted his lapse in judgement. Had he used the barriers as the others were, he could have lasted much longer. However, she did not disregard the subtle improvements in Chakra control precision he demonstrated with his gentle fist.
With the third round, she raised the difficulty to gauge their ability to think under pressure. Otoha pushed ahead with her impressive deduction of their new situation. She had a tendency to perform at her best when put under real stress, though both Niko and Gakuji handled the change smoothly as well. Then, Gakuji attempted to cripple Otoha, which Niko prevented. That development was also within expectations, though disappointing to see.
The fourth round was where things got interesting. It did not matter that Otoha attempted to sabotage her setup, though it was annoying. As with the previous rounds, the fourth round doubled their projectiles to sixteen every ten seconds. The amount of Chakra flying around the field only impaired her observational abilities a little. All three trainees barely held on as attacks poured in from every angle, with not even Gakuji being bold enough to make another sneak attack. When the time approached four minutes, they were clearly ready for a break, something Emilia would not offer yet.
By the fifth minute, Otoha had been caught out. She was struck by three projectiles in a row, two of type one, which prevented her from effectively dodging the third, a type two projectile. Raising both arms, Otoha utilised her defences to great effect, only suffering mild cuts across her skin as the attack exploded in a shimmering wave of air. However, causing damage was not the real purpose of the type two projectiles. The burst of wind pushed Otoha backward, right into the path of a third type one projectile.
With three bubbles of water having struck Otoha, she was too heavy to remain above the surface of Emilia's artificial lake jutsu. Emilia remained observing as Otoha was pulled into the depths below. Then, there were two.
—
Niko helplessly watched Otoha get dragged beneath the soggy earth. It was all he could do to prevent his own abrupt end, weaving left and right. By the beginning of the fourth round, he had changed to an unorthodox defence. Rather than simply coating his hands in Chakra and manually slap away projectiles, he slid several bubbles of Chakra across his skin, shifting his stance to bring those bubbles in line with projectiles. That way, he would only need to make minimal movements to defend himself, though he still needed to fully dodge type two projectiles. With this method, he had already infused and expended over a third of his Chakra pool, bringing him down to half.
"Why…"
The word nearly caused Niko to collide with a type two sphere. He wasn't sure if he actually heard Gakuji say anything, or if he simply hallucinated the sound. He got his answer as Gakuji continued.
"I can't… stand you…"
By that point, the two men fought for survival. Niko did not try to speak as he simply defended and listened. Gakuji continued to swat away projectiles with his hands and arms, shifting wildly when compared to Niko's small movements.
"You act… so weak…"
He took several seconds to breathe.
"But you're faking it… because… you're a loser…"
Another series of breaths.
"But I… don't pretend… because I am not… scared of strength…"
The fourth round had lasted nearly seven minutes by that point, and Niko didn't know when they would be getting a break. After waiting for Gakuji to finish speaking, Niko responded.
"I… am…"
Gakuji waited to hear what his hated rival had to say.
"Going to… shit… in your shoes."
"WHAT?!"
Wham.
Just as Gakuji yelled in outrage, a type one projectile slammed full force into his head, which he had turned sideways to glare at Niko.
To Niko's utter surprise, the projectile bounced right off of Gakuji's Chakra-slicked forehead, continuing on its new path up into the sky. The collision did not alter Gakuji's rageful expression in the slightest, telling Niko that he had fully anticipated the incoming sphere. Niko found this somewhat amusing, and a little disturbing. That movement told Niko that Gakuji was perfectly capable of deflecting projectiles with his entire body, like Niko could, but the other Hyuuga chose not to for some reason.
A few seconds later, he was doubly surprised to find the fourth round coming to an end, ducking beneath the final projectile as it swerved his way. His crouched position turned into a flat sprawl as his overheated body broke protocol, giving out on him before he told it to. Niko gasped for air as he tried to get the watery mud to cool him down. He rotated to his back, hoping to get a better angle on his skin to mud contact ratio. He didn't even care to notice that Gakuji had fallen to his knees, unable to remain standing himself anymore.
The two men remained in silence for several seconds, simply trying to not die of exhaustion. Then, Gakuji opened his stupid fat mouth.
"If you dare defecate ANYWHERE near me, I will strangle you… you damned orphaned loser…"
Niko was unable to stop himself from sitting up, propping himself up on one elbow, glaring daggers at Gakuji.
"What the hell did you call me?"
The taller man rose to his full height, towering over Niko's fallen form.
"You heard me."
In a motion too swift for Gakuji's tired out body to evade, Niko hooked a foot around Gakuji's ankle, and kicked out toward his pelvis with the other. That left Gakuji toppling over, his foot held in place by Niko's, and his hands moving too late to protect his privates. Mud splattered outward as Gakuji fell back, and Niko clambered over the top of him, moving to strike the collapsed man. His fist came down with a tremendous force straight for Gakuji's face. Instead, it slammed into the bouncy ground as their positions flipped, Gakuji wrapping one leg around Niko's torso and using that leverage to roll the two of them sideways.
Niko attempted to strike the man again, aiming for his face, neck, or just anything that looked vulnerable. One after another, Gakuji caught his strikes, until both fists were held aloft by the wrists. Gakuji smirked down at the man after having triumphed. That is, until Niko's head shot up to meet his own. A loud crack echoed out, leaving Gakuji stumbling backwards, disoriented from the attack. Something hot and wet ran down his forehead, covering both eyes. Not that such a distraction could blind a Hyuuga.
Before the two men could resume their scuffle, a sudden, overwhelming presence caused them to go still. The austere voice that rang out had them scrambling to stand to attention.
"I am beginning round five. If you are not prepared, you will suffer greatly."
Slowly, both men regained their footing, facing the new threat. Emilia stood still, Byakugan active yet completely calm, just a few meters away from them. This caused both Hyuuga to go on immediate high alert.
"This final round has been made more difficult by the loss of your allies."
Gakuji perked up at her words, but scoffed at the word 'allies'. If he had known that the test would only become more difficult, he would have tried sabotaging the others sooner. Emilia turned slightly to look at him. He tensed.
"Your new objective is simple."
Just as she did at the beginning, Emilia slowly brought both hands up. She formed a series of handsigns that were deathly familiar to both Gakuji and Niko. A technique they had learned to dread, from an experience neither of them wanted to repeat.
The string of concepts for this ninjutsu were liquids, adhesion, cohesion, compression, and finally, rigidity.
Finishing with the last handsign, the ground rippled and split some distance behind Emilia, allowing two bulbous forms to rise from below. Each bubble spanned about three meters in diameter. However, what mattered was not the bubbles themselves, but their contents.
"You must protect your fallen allies from harm. Should either of their water prisons take on too much water and sink back below the surface, you will all fail."
Gakuji felt his excitement lessen as he understood what Emilia intended.
Inside of each bubble floated Otoha and Dairu, clearly restrained by the surrounding water. The water prison jutsu would ensure that neither Hyuuga could escape the technique by themselves. On the face of each Hyuuga sat a small bubble of air, apparently offering just enough oxygen to breathe.
"You must keep them safe until the remaining projectile seals run out of Chakra. Only then will the trial be finished."
She lowered her head, forming another handsign. The ground opened up, slowly pulling her under as she spoke one final time.
"Good luck."
—
Niko rushed forward, hastily forming a dozen handsigns as he slid to his knees right between the two water imprisoned Hyuuga. Finishing his ninjutsu, he slammed both hands palm-down into the ground, and a pulse of Chakra burst outward, shaping and transforming to encapsulate both of his allies in a giant hollow column of water.
Just in time, too, as the first projectile immediately slammed into the newly erected barrier, exploding on contact with a burst of wind. Then another. Niko quickly realised his hopeless situation, as thirty two projectiles were hitting his barrier every ten seconds. Their combined force would build up damage, and his barrier would fall.
Niko had not really considered the shape of the columned barrier, only really making sure it was thick enough to prevent the spherical projectiles from simply boring their way straight through. It was barely a few meters tall, just enough to cover the top of the water prisons. Niko hoped it was enough.
He honestly did not think that his split-second barrier jutsu would even work, considering the layer of Chakra that was still present in the ground. But his own Chakra moved unimpeded right over it, luckily. However, he could not take control of the water already in the ground, instead being forced to create water directly from his Chakra. This obviously used up even more of his Chakra.
A few seconds after the barrier went up, Gakuji leapt up and over the cylindrical wall, landing next to Niko's crouched position. Niko did not look up as he poured more and more of his Chakra into the rapidly draining barrier, slowly losing the battle as the projectiles dealt more damage than he could repair. If they didn't do something quick, Niko's barrier would fall in a single minute.
Niko was too busy to think of next steps, and he hoped that Gakuji would have an idea. Before he could ask the taller young man for his assessment, Gakuji spoke over the roar of pelting water.
"Is this really the best you can manage, a barrier so inadequate you cannot even maintain it?"
The words were grating to Niko's ears. All he heard was complaining.
"DO… SOMETHING… THEN!"
"What the hell do you expect me to do?"
"ANYTHING!!"
Spittle flew from Niko's mouth as his Chakra flowed beyond the rate of reasonable control. Gakuji saw this pitiful fact with his own Byakugan, and nearly spoke up, but held his tongue. He was thinking about their situation, and the action he needed to make left a bitter taste in his mouth. Emilia mentioned nothing about breaking the water prisons themselves.
Stepping toward the water prison holding Dairu, his right arm jutted out, palm flattened, intending to pop the prison with a burst of power using the gentle fist. While the technique was most known for its low usage of Chakra, Gakuji had no intention of holding back, instead filling the length of his forearm with Chakra. He shaped it into a thick needle, as was standard with the gentle fist, that he would extend out from the base of his palm. His hand collided with the prison, he pushed the needle forward, water splashed out, and… nothing happened.
That is, until Gakuji crumpled to the ground from the shockwave of pain travelling up his shoulder. The needle had not even penetrated a few inches past the surface of the prison, and had in fact shattered while still mostly in his arm.
"WHAT HAPPENED?!"
Niko's words distracted Gakuji long enough to gain control over the pain, and he reprimanded himself for losing his composure so easily.
"Worry about yourself, loser!" Gakuji hissed out past a tight jaw. Niko did not argue the point, mostly from intently focusing on his steady Chakra flow.
Gakuji was supposed to be better than this. He was better than the others, by a large margin. That was not just due to skill, or strength, but his heritage itself. He was destined to stand at the forefront, while the others would fall behind. Yet, despite his superiority, the rules of this training restricted him. He wanted to be tested and proven the strongest by his own merits. But this was not a test where he could rise to the top, winning over everyone else.
Rather, this was a test that relied on others for him to pass. He did not wish to be responsible for those who could not even offer the decency of keeping up with him, let alone remain standing at all. He did not want to hold anyone's hand, as that would only slow him down. However, he could not fix this fact while the two idiotic Hyuuga remained trapped in their water prisons, unable to even make their own decisions; completely reliant on himself, and perhaps Niko as well.
Speaking of which, while Gakuji was thinking, Niko began to rant.
"WILL YOU STOP SITTING AROUND ALREADY?! I AM RUNNING OUT OF CHAKRA-"
A precarious decision appeared in Gakuji's mind. If he was going to free the two Hyuuga from their water prisons, he would need to overpower Emilia's absolute control of the prisons. It was a factor he failed to properly weigh before. One of the Hyuuga clan's most well-kept secrets, the reason why many of their techniques could not just be learned by an outsider, was due to an effect completely unique to the Byakugan: Chakra authority, as his grandfather Tomoji had called it.
Chakra authority was an effect specific to the inner field. As long as a Hyuuga's active Chakra remained within the inner field, they could control the Chakra as if they were touching it. There was little drop-off in strength over distance, as any other shinobi would experience. It was this effect that gave the Hyuuga clan their overpowering edge, and was one of their most closely guarded secrets. However, Gakuji knew something even more secretive than that, a technique that truly placed him on the same level as Emilia.
He knew how to manipulate the inner field, a technique passed down to him by his grandfather, and honed by their direct ancestors over numerous generations. He could reshape the field entirely, within his own mental, physical and Chakra limits. He could stretch the field, extending his omnipresence out to a kilometer in a single direction, or even shrink the field. Manipulating the inner field in such a manner could also cause other effects, which is what he intended on abusing here.
His grandfather, the elder Tomoji had forbidden Gakuji from ever using this technique in front of other Hyuuga, in fear of it being reverse engineered. But Gakuji knew that without using it, he would not be able to overpower the water prisons held together by Emilia's Chakra authority.
Gakuji made his decision. If he could not be the sole winner, then he would settle with showing the others that he was superior in their group. He snapped back to attention, seeing that Niko had not ceased his endless yapping for the handful of seconds he had been thinking.
"-SWEAR I WILL SHOVE EVERY ROCK I CAN FIND AS FAR UP YOUR-"
"Shut up, my next plan will work!"
Gakuji's eyes twitched as he forced the words through clenched teeth. A look of surprise flashed on Niko's face, which he did not try to hide. Before Niko could distract him with aimless questions, Gakuji acted on his decision, forming the tiger sign. He heard Tomoji's words echo through his head as he followed the mental steps drilled into him a year prior.
"Eight Trigrams: Inner Field Augmentation."
He recalled Tomoji's opinionated explanation of the eight trigrams. That supposedly, it only served as an umbrella term, used to confuse enemies on the true nature of any hidden techniques of the Hyuuga clan. Gakuji was not interested in ruminating on such lore, however.
Focusing on the inner field, he specifically moved his attention to the boundary of the field, feeling the delicate surface with his control. Then, with a mental pinch, he pulled. In the span of a few seconds, Gakuji's inner field shrank from its normal distance of one hundred meters, down to ten. In exchange for the loss of omnipresence, he gained a subsequent increase in his Chakra authority within that shortened range, which would hopefully be enough to overpower Emilia's control over the water prisons.
Rather than trying to puncture the prison with another gentle palm, Gakuji released Chakra from his left arm, shaping the energy into a long whip extending beyond the reach of his hand. With this form, if his technique failed, the backlash would not cripple his arm again. Then, he slashed out toward Dairu's prison, flicking his arm precisely down its middle.
The prison burst open with a rush of compressed water, which sprayed out over the two Hyuuga. Dairu bounced on the ground with a soggy plop, coughing up water that had rushed in after his personal air pocket was destroyed.
"GUH… AGGH!"
Jumbled voices called out from the now three Hyuuga. Gakuji luckily did not tumble over from the explosion of water, as his Chakra-coated feet kept him upright. Niko, on the other hand, slid and nearly rolled to the side. The barrier around them began to waver as Niko struggled to keep the pour of Chakra going.
Gakuji felt his entire body ache as he strained to hold the inner field in its shrunken form. Restricting the inner field for short periods would not cause serious damage, but making large changes to it tended to result in a feeling similar to contracting every muscle all at once. With a heaving breath, Gakuji leapt toward the prison containing Otoha, his arm ready to slash down toward the prison.
"SHI-"
The barrier that had kept them safe from the continuous barrage was suddenly torn apart in every direction. The world slowed as Gakuji's arm slid down, his Chakra whip cracking past the speed of sound, ripping through the water prison holding Otoha in place. This time, Gakuji put much more force in this second strike, nearly dislocating his shoulder and causing the water to split away so as to not smash into him. He miscalculated, however. The momentum of his arm pulled his body forward with it, and an uncontrollable spin brought him flailing forward for a crucial second.
A projectile entered his inner field's ten meter range, aimed right for his side. His momentum would take him right into it. He would not be able to deflect in time. For the first time in the last half hour, Gakuji panicked.
Then, a slim arm from somewhere in front of him slipped forward, intercepting the type one projectile, flicking it up into the air and away from his falling body. A moment later, he was caught by a second arm, which roughly shoved him upright. He was brought face to face with a snarling Otoha.
"DOWN!"
Before he could register that she had given him a direct order, her arm, which had pushed him upright, dragged him down. A type two projectile passed right through where his head had just been.
With an annoyed crease of his brow, Gakuji released the pull on his inner field, allowing it to expand back out to its full distance. There was a feeling like a rope tugging on his brain as the inner field slammed back into place, and he nearly lost consciousness. Usually, it was best to release such a large manipulation slowly, but being slow now would cause him to lose.
That temporary moment proved far more detrimental to Gakuji than he first considered, as he was practically blind for an unknown time while his Byakugan attempted to readjust. He feared another projectile striking him, but he could not see them through his inner field anymore. Then, he was pulled yet again by the pesky hand that held a death grip on his shoulder, spinning him around and around with disorienting speed. He felt gusts of wind as, presumably, projectiles just barely grazed him.
Otoha was doing her damned best to prevent Gakuji from getting struck by a projectile. Most of the spheres seemed to be directed at her, but she did not want to take the chance of an errant projectile hitting Gakuji's near-lifeless form while he recovered from whatever it was he did. So, keeping her right hand firmly attached to the taller man's shoulder, she redirected him with not-so-gentle pulls while furiously swiping away projectiles with her Chakra-covered left. She was personally dealing with sixteen projectiles every ten seconds again, and her tempo was effectively halved while protecting Gakuji; still, she persevered the best she could.
Dairu had moved to his feet the moment the water had cleared. In the following moments, he was assaulted by a barrage of projectiles. He had thoroughly learned his lesson after the events of the second round. With newfound determination, he no longer cared about frivolous things like Chakra precision as his entire body was coated in a slick barrier. Stepping over Niko's fallen form, he proceeded to do his best to make up for his earlier lack of judgement by protecting his ally.
After a timeframe of barely half a minute, the projectiles suddenly ceased.
Otoha retained her grip on Gakuji's stiff shoulder while she assessed the clearing first with her inner field, then the outer field, checking for distant sources of Chakra. There were none, which could only mean that the last seal filled with projectiles had been emptied. Something about that thought confused her, and after focusing on it, she realised why.
They had exhausted every single seal, gone through every single projectile. Checking her internal clock, she realised that this fifth round had barely lasted two minutes…
"Did we… win?"
She released Gakuji's soaked shoulder, letting him stumble back. He rubbed both eyes before looking around, occasionally squinting. Otoha allowed herself a deep breath, but did not let her body relax just yet. Their instructor could do anything, and she simply waited to see what came next.
Gakuji peered around, seeing Dairu standing over the crumpled form of Niko, his body lit up with the same barrier technique the others had used. His wet clothes clung to his shaky body, no doubt from the adrenaline pumping through his veins from the trial that was seemingly over now. Gakuji had not even gotten the opportunity to defend himself in that final moment, instead being forced to awkwardly dance around at the direction of that… that woman.
"Ugh…"
Niko panted on the ground, trying to get his bearings. His body was practically devoid of Chakra, being the most drained he'd felt in a long time. He flopped onto his back, noticing Dairu standing over him, looking around with stressed eyes. A familiar presence appeared right in the midst of the four Hyuuga, and Niko scrambled to his feet at Emilia's appearance.
Niko, Dairu, Otoha and Gakuji all faced their instructor with their guards up, fatigue slowing their reactions substantially. Emilia turned slowly, her Byakugan making eye contact with each member of the group, before leisurely bringing both hands up and forming a single sign. The others all tensed at her motion, until a single word split the air.
"Release."
The ground reverberated, like a string pulled taut, and returned to normal mud.
"You… pass."
No one moved for several seconds, letting the silence bathe them one by one. Until Niko slipped and fell to the ground.
"Uagh-"
Turning with surprise, Dairu tried to catch Niko, but slipped and fell on top of him. The two men struggled for several seconds.
"Get off-"
"Sorry, sorry-"
"Ow!-"
"Sorry…"
While Niko and Dairu were mud-sliding, Otoha fell to her knees, her body heaving as most of her tension released all at once. Gakuji did his best to remain stoically upright, but his legs felt like jelly. There was still blood covering part of his face, and several sticks were stuck in his hair. After a moment, Niko and Dairu separated, carefully pushing each other to vague standing positions, where they held each other by the forearms.
"We did it!" Niko laughed. Dairu smiled.
"No thanks to me, but you all did it…!"
Dairu was pulled around as Niko erratically shook with humour. Otoha turned her head up to glance at Emilia and asked a question.
"What was the point of this training? You basically just spent half an hour beating us senseless…"
Emilia glanced once at each Hyuuga as she responded.
"My goal was to help you find your limits."
She looked at Niko, completely drained of Chakra, then Dairu, who gave up precision for pure strength. Both had learned to stop holding back. She looked to Otoha, who managed to find her center and perform the best she'd done in any combat exercise to date, one handed no less.
She looked to Gakuji, who stopped hiding the skills he had painstakingly learned.
"Is it really over, then? What do we do now?"
Emilia stared off into the distance.
"It is over. My suggestion now is to leave quickly."
Her tone alerted the others, who turned to look as Emilia had. Their instructor still had her Byakugan active, even as she looked well past the edge of the forest. Almost simultaneously, they all realised she was not staring off randomly.
Gakuji was the first to take off, a complicated expression set on his face, leaving Otoha sitting on the ground where she had collapsed. Carefully, Otoha pushed herself to her feet, the muddy ground trying to slide under her with each step. She began to follow behind Gakuji, glancing back once to see Dairu put a shoulder under Niko's arm, hoisting him up and following to catch up. The two young men passed Emilia with worried expressions, hurrying to get to the edge of the clearing and out of the range of what was soon to come.
A minute passed as Emilia watched over the retreating Hyuuga. When she could no longer see them in her inner field, she breathed a sigh.
"Let's get this over with."
—
In front of her, from the depths of the forest just beyond the clearing, something crept forward with malicious intent. A low rumbling growl shook the air and resonated in her bones. She had already seen the predatory Asura with her Byakugan, so she was not surprised when it stepped from beneath deep shadows and into the light of the clearing. She had not anticipated her training might disturb the local wildlife, let alone draw the attention of the local apex predator.
The rocky black skin of a giant eight-meter long crocodile came into view, pushing through the mud with abnormal strength. Its jaw extended far beyond what was considered normal for its species, a result of having become an Asura. Depending on the nature of the Asura, as they grew stronger through the process known as shedding, they would hyper-fixate on strengthening certain aspects of their own nature. For a boar, that might be their tusks; for a wolf, their fangs, or even their entire head. For this crocodile, it seemed to fixate on its size, and its powerful clamping jaws.
Using the visible aspects of the Asura, Emilia estimated that the beast might have achieved its second, maybe third shedding. With each additional shedding, an Asura experienced a larger leap in their overall power, as well as moving their physical form toward an 'ideal' representation of their nature. Even though most of her Chakra was expended for the training, she managed to reclaim much of the Chakra from her artificial lake jutsu. It should not require much to take care of the beast, but she would still be careful.
She already knew that any Chakra attacks hitting its bare skin would be futile, as evident by the Asura's ebony exterior. Since she only possessed enough Chakra for one or two attacks, she would need to handle the situation carefully. Even then, she planned on overcoming this obstacle in a single move.
Right when Emilia decided her course of action, the crocodile literally leapt into motion, crossing the hundred meters of the clearing in a few seconds. She barely had the time to react, springing upward at the last moment, just to come face to face with the crocodile. It had anticipated her motion, bouncing up with its tail to meet her, spinning to place its oversized jaws on either side of Emilia's airborne figure, jagged teeth ready to crunch her in half.
Emilia realised that this was definitely not a second shedding, or even a third. She was potentially dealing with a fourth shedding Asura. At some point in its development, it likely focused on increasing the strength of its legs and tail, something she should have noticed. With this series of upgrades, the crocodile had become a speeding ambush predator, with jaws that could crunch through trees like soft bread.
While suspended in the air, Emilia pushed her hands together into the dog seal. She poured all of her Chakra into the technique right as the crocodile's jaws slammed shut. The crocodile continued forward through the air until it landed on the mud, sliding to a stop. From start to finish, the crocodile's attack lasted the span of seven seconds.
The Asura barely had time to notice that something was deeply, deeply wrong, before it exploded from a violent outburst of slicing wind. Chunks of blackened flesh and blood rained about the clearing, falling away from the epicentre that was Emilia's bloodied curled form. Having twisted mid-air, she narrowly avoided many of the croc's giant teeth, but several still punctured her skin. She rolled away from the exploding Asura, her body covered in the stinging blood that all Asuras left behind.
If she wasn't drained of Chakra before, she was now completely empty. To top it off, her new bite marks would take several more days than usual to heal up, no thanks to the Asura. Hopefully, no other Asuras would decide she looked tasty while she made her way back home.
Looking down at her ruined robes, she lamented her choice to wear them. Had she known an Asura would attempt to eat her, she would have worn something more fitting for combat. An errant memory played across her mind. For the first time that day, covered in gore and mud, a smile creased her face. She and her parents had always told Kotetsu several times not to wear his robes while training, but he never seemed to get the message.
That thought brought forward the bitter reminder of how unprepared the clan had left her brother. Kotetsu would return, she told herself. She refused to believe anything else. And when he came back, after the next few months had passed, she would do everything in her power to ensure that he was trained, that he was prepared. He would need to be stronger to handle what the clan would put him through.
She wanted Kotetsu back so she could protect him. But more than that, she needed Kotetsu, her last brother, to come back for the sake of her sanity.