Dry. That was the word Masato settled on to describe how his eyes felt that day. Not because it wasn't humid, or even windy. His eyes simply felt dry this time of year. Three whole years, since he had lost the son born to him and his wife. Two years, since he had sent the remaining son out into the wilderness, hoping with all of his heart that he would come back safe, come back strong.
But coming back strong was never a given. Masato had not come back strong, though he considered himself to be back then. The Trial of Survival was not taken lightly, but it was not as respected as it should have been. Back in his day, it was not even a question of 'surviving', but more just… waiting. Waiting with your fellow Hyuuga, as despite making contact with one another being forbidden, every young clan member did it anyway.
Moving together, taking minimal challenges, and barely improving on one's skills were how the clan treated the Trial of Survival back then. It was not right, obviously. A trial is supposed to be something one endures, something one can look back on and see just how much they've grown. But it was a mistreated endeavour.
Despite this, the Trial was still a perfect opportunity for many wandering Hyuuga to get a lay of the land. Sometimes, the young trainees would even form connections with the larger established families and lords. These connections would prove useful to those who became more powerful and influential later on in life.
For Masato's generation, most of those connections sadly never came to bear fruit, as their idyllic situation came to an unfortunate end. Back then, Masato was lucky to have that strange white-haired boy by his side, otherwise, the Hyuuga clan would have a different clan leader.
A distant noise brought Masato's focus back toward reality. Inhaling deeply, the smell of newly lacquered wood fills his nose. Opening his eyes, he looked up from a table littered with various scrolls and writing paraphernalia, standing to get a better view of the hallway from the open room he was in. The front door slid open to reveal a dishevelled and bloodied Emilia.
Taking a close look at his elder daughter's face, he spoke.
"How was the lesson?"
With a kick of her feet, two sandals unceremoniously flew to the side. Emilia walked into the hallway with a partial limp, but Masato suspected it to be exaggerated. After displaying the appropriate amount of poor etiquette, she finally spoke.
"The students passed."
Emilia proceeded to walk down the hallway with quick steps. She was not actually in a hurry, but simply conveyed her intent to not discuss anything. Masato was too quick, however. Before she could reach the wash room, Masato slid past her with deceptive speed, appearing between her and the shoji door.
"What about the Asura?"
In a flash, Emilia's eyes widened. Immediately after, her face immediately contorted into something that resembled a pouting fish.
"How do you know about that?" Emilia questioned indignantly.
With a glacial patience, Masato pointed to a spot of ebony blood on her robe.
"Your robe carries the offending evidence. Not to mention, its effect on your Chakra is obvious."
"Oh."
Emilia seemed to be in a trance as she considered her father's words. Meanwhile, Masato was busy assessing his daughter, no longer having to look so far down to make eye contact. She had grown taller in the last two years. Not as tall as Niko, or even Gakuji, but still a noticeable difference. However, when it came to her growth as a shinobi, no one else in her entire generation could meet that measurement.
During his inspection, Masato noticed the slight tinge of worry on his daughter's face.
"How strong was this Asura, anyway?" He broached.
Emilia seemed to wave him off.
"Fourth shedding at best. It was nothing, truthfully."
"Only fourth shedding, she says…" Masato chuckled slightly at Emilia's lack of care. Any other Hyuuga her age would struggle against such a threat. If that wasn't what she was worried about, then…
"...And what of your students?"
Once again, Emila seemed disinterested.
"They performed adequately. Most of their reactions met my expectations. I see no reason to keep them from any advanced missions going forward. In fact…" A smile creased her lips for a moment.
"...I fully recommend them for an advanced combat mission, if applicable. They can handle themselves."
Masato lifted an eyebrow in response to his daughter's sudden light mood. Perhaps there was nothing for him to worry about after all. With a sigh, he stepped out of her way, waving toward the door with a sweep of his arms.
"Proceed."
She curtsied out of amusement. Some dirt fell from her robes, scattering across the wood floor. Masato made a note to clean it up before his wife discovered the heinous crime. Emilia moved into the wash room a moment later, the sliding door clicking shut behind her. With the conversation out of his way, Masato moved back into his cramped study, looking down at the mess of various reports, mission offers and resource statements.
"Where was I…"
—
Emilia closed the door with a soft click. Afterwards, she took her time getting cleaned up. The act itself was not important or relevant to her current stream of thoughts. An underlying tension had slowly built up in her mind over the last six months. It began in the early spring as an intrusive thought, breaking into her daily calm. Over time, it grew from errant thoughts, to scenarios, then worries, before settling on nightmares. It was a question she didn't know if she wanted an answer to.
The question of if Kotetsu would ever come back. If he was capable of coming back, or if he was in trouble, or incapacitated. To combat this growing fear, she developed a mantra.
"When he comes back, I will protect him."
She whispered this to herself while scraping filth from her skin. The wash room held a massive central tub which could be filled with water from a piped reservoir nearby. The water would be cold, but that was remedied with a flick of the internal heating seals. That old lady Mayuka had her work cut out for her after the clan finally began to construct its housing in earnest. Emilia was happy the clan was finally settling down, but the feeling was ephemeral.
For the past two years, no news relating to Kotetsu had appeared whatsoever. As far as Emilia was aware, her father had paid information brokers, scouts, and even made favours to nearby villages for anything regarding her brother's whereabouts. In all of those two years, Masato had reported… nothing. Emilia was aware they would never have his precise location, but someone like Kotetsu would be difficult to miss. So to have absolutely no information on Kotetsu's status, or even a bare sighting, was highly unusual. Emilia trusted her father to find this information, and so far, no such findings were made.
With a hard shake of her head, Emilia attempted to clear her thoughts. The distraction of a nice hot bath was good for her senses, and her frayed mind. That constant worrying was a drain on her energy, and she did much to alleviate its potential toll on her abilities. She continued to wash up until dawning clean robes, before finally emerging back into society.
Now that her short period as a teacher was coming to an end, it was time to put her own training first again.
—
Syuka Hyuuga stood with patience before the group of young girls and boys of their clan. Today was the first day of their lessons with her as their teacher, and the group of six year olds were far more active than usual. There were only 15 children, but the way they energetically bounced around would make one think there were about 50. She continued to listen in on their antics while considering the best way to move forward with her lesson.
"You can't do that, hey, stop pulling-"
"Take this, flying wind knee kick jutsu!"
"-You stomped my foot! I'm telling-"
This was obviously far from Syuka's first time dealing with enthusiastic kids. The hard wood beneath her feet reminded her of the days she taught in open fields, and the spacious hall was definitely an improvement. There were many approaches she could use to sway their attention back to her, but one in particular shone in her mind. She took a step forward with clear intent, moving directly into the middle of the bustling group.
One by one, the children noticed their teacher's movements, but failed to understand her goal. Most days, their teaching consisted of boring things like language, history, or even the dreaded maths. However, this was their first class on proper Shinobi training. Hence, their brimming excitement.
Syuka stopped in the middle of the hall. Out of the 15 children, only three had truly realised something was happening, and froze in place where they stood. The other 12 were completely caught off guard by the overwhelming pressure that fell over them like a suffocating blanket. The noise and movement ceased within half a second of feeling that presence.
15 students turned toward their teacher, some unable to maintain their stance as they looked upon two fully active Byakugan. One after another, each child either looked away, stumbled to the ground, or simply found themselves unable to move. Only those that noticed her earlier movements were capable of standing and maintaining their gaze, and Syuka turned to observe the three pairs of recently awakened Byakugan that stared back. Even then, she noted how their heart rates quickened dramatically.
The initial assessment Syuka made was that this class would have an uphill battle regarding Shinobi training. But perhaps it was not as bad as she first assumed, seeing how trepid they acted in her presence. It was time for a little test.
"Assemble yourselves in a circle around me, no more than eight steps away."
Her words took a few seconds to sink in before the group of children began practically bowling over one another to get into place, their excitement building back up. Of course, the first to move had been the earlier three, who arranged themselves roughly equidistant to one another. She wondered if that was on purpose. Her student's anxiety had mostly fled in the face of finally getting to the Shinobi training, and many were unable to stand still, bouncing on their toes or rocking side to side, shoulders lightly brushing their neighbour's.
"Good. We can begin with something simple for today."
With a slow and deliberate movement, Syuka reached into her robe and pulled free a wrapped bundle. It softly clinked, making the students wonder at its contents. Many of them guessed wrong, as upon unwrapping the cloth, she revealed 15 perfectly smooth wooden rods. They were small enough to fit in the palm of her hand, and extended about 15 centimeters out. She held one rod up in the air.
"Our first lesson will be about focus. As Hyuuga, focusing on your opponent is a matter of survival. However, the opponent is not the only thing you must keep in focus."
She began casually spinning the rod between her fingers, showing off her dexterity. Every student looked up at her display with wrapped attention. Well, except for three.
"The goal of this lesson is extremely simple..."
A mischievous smile fell upon her lips as 14 sticks began to rise from her other hand, each one filled with a single point of Chakra. She hardly needed even that much to make her next move, as the wood of these sticks were particularly well suited for Chakra. One by one, the sticks slowly manoeuvred around her waist, each pointed at the head of a student. Many of them still looked up at the lone rod deftly spinning in her right hand.
"...Dodge."
In a flash, each hovering rod flew forward at the same time. The results only took a moment to appear as, without warning, 12 new welts now adorned the heads of her students, one per head. That included a particularly shocked Hyuuga, who thought he was safe because none of the rods were pointing his way, according to his Byakugan at least. So naturally, Syuka sent one of the neighbouring rods for him instead.
As for the final two who had dodged, a girl and a boy, they both ducked low to the ground with clear readiness. They had not missed the sleight of hand Syuka performed, or so they thought. From behind, the two rods which had whiffed above their heads, had never actually landed. A simple application of her inner field's Chakra authority was all it took to achieve this effect. Syuka idly wondered if they would notice this second attack. From behind the two young Hyuuga, the rods reversed, aimed right for the backs of their heads.
The boy was unlucky enough to turn at the last second, clearly sensing the incoming attack, just too unprepared to handle it. It thunked against the side of his head. At the same time, the girl rolled to the side, bumping into her neighbour and causing the smaller girl to slip. The rod meant for her flew right back into Syuka's offered hand.
12 - now 13 children, plus two on the ground, groaned while rubbing their heads where they were hit. The rods were not particularly dangerous, but they were quite sturdy, and emitted a nice thud. One final child stood in the midst of the aftermath, completely unscathed by rod or fellow student. He looked from side to side with wide eyed stupefaction, completely unaware of the danger that lurked directly in front of him.
Syuka casually threw the final rod she had spun between her fingers right for his head. It hit right between his eyes. He fell backwards at the sudden attack, having completely forgotten about their teacher. He looked down at the rolling stick, back up to Syuka, then back down at the stick. This repeated several times. She left him for the moment, turning her attention back to the class.
"Let's do that again. Oh, and fetch me those rods, please."
A mix of soft grumbling washed through the room at their teacher's order. However, they moved nonetheless, because this was Shinobi training, and they were not going to miss it. Even still… Over the next several hours, each child was thoroughly sure of one thing. Maths was no longer their most hated class.
—
Masato rubbed his fatigued eyes. He had spent the entire day cooped up in that study, pouring over and sorting scroll after scroll. In the last few months, the amount of missions offered to the clan had nearly tripled to an unprecedented number. It would not be right to refuse any, or even a few, as the Hyuuga clan had a bit of a reputation to uphold. However, even their honour may need to shift, as the number of missions was not the only thing which had increased.
The cause of this sudden flood of missions could be attributed to the drastic increase in Asura attacks on human occupied land. Massive hordes of low powered Asuras were carving a path through many territories, and the lords of those territories were willing to pay hefty sums to have these monsters cleared out at the source. This would not be so difficult if it weren't for the sudden return of one thing: Human Asuras.
What began as rumours and sightings a few years ago, slowly evolved into dangerous encounters. One such attack on a distant farming village the previous year was of particular interest to Masato, but many such attacks had occurred since then. The human Asuras had definitely grown more powerful in their time away from the lands Shinobi called home, but so had the Shinobi.
Despite his assurances, Masato had no clue what goal these Asuras were aiming for this time. Before all of this, Masato remembered last seeing them when he was invited to the Azuchi Kingdom by Kouga. The purpose of that meeting was ultimately to discuss the Asura's objective at the time, which turned out to involve the destruction of the Cinder-led Kingdom. That meeting stood out in Masato's mind for multiple reasons, but one ruled over the others.
It was the second to last time he had seen his friend alive.
A pang of guilt hit him square in the chest at the sudden thought, and he quickly buried the memory before it threatened to consume him whole. He could deal with that another time. Reaching over to the seemingly endless pile of scrolls and picking up another, he untied and unrolled the thick paper.
"Request of personnel… Watchduty… Another one of these, huh."
He continued reading down the paper, barely absorbing the details.
"Fifty thousand Ryo… One month… Wait, five personnel?"
A finger came up to scratch his eyebrow. The expected pay amount and duration were reasonable at first, but… five people seemed like overkill for a simple watchduty mission. Not to mention the offered Ryo per Hyuuga. All they would do is stand around and look tough, essentially. If it were a group of younger Hyuuga, then maybe. Slowly, his attention waned. He could likely toss this one in the 'forget me' pile and move on….
"Inoto province… Border town… Oh, special request? Wait, that's the Inoto family's personal crest…"
Masato perked up, as clearly this was not an ordinary mission. He saw nothing wrong with using it to train younger members, and simply sending an experienced chaperone with them. Tossing the opened scroll to his 'forget me not' pile, he reached for another scroll. Before he was able to open it, the familiar sound of the front door sliding open greeted his ears.
"Oh thank the Sage."
Masato giddily dropped the scroll and practically leapt from the table. He was already peeking out into the hallway when he heard his wife's voice.
"I'm home!"
A soft click of wood indicated the front door sliding shut, and Syuka turned to take her shoes off. Masato was too impatient to wait for her and launched into their usual conversation.
"How was your day?"
Syuka flashed him a light smile.
"It was good, dear. How was yours?"
"Oh, too many requests. The Hyuuga clan will be spread quite thin over the following months. How did it go with the new class?"
With a wave, Syuka said, "As usual, they don't take it seriously until I get serious. The real struggle will be convincing them not to train during their other classes…"
Clearly done with that subject, a look of concern appeared on her face.
"Is the Asura problem really that bad? I thought the nearby provinces were employing local Seal masters to create a perimeter…"
Huffing in annoyance, Masato shook his head.
"They are. It is simply a growing problem that seems unrelenting… there are even rumours that others may be riling the lesser beasts."
"Others, like shinobi? Who could possibly enrage Asuras to such a point?"
Masato grew agitated at the mere thought.
"Shinobi, yes. Many suspect the Se-"
The front door clicked and slid open again.
"-eee- uh, the… Sealing shinobi. Rogue seal masters, yes."
Emilia stepped into the hallway. She looked nowhere near as dishevelled as she did earlier, but it was clear she was out training.
Syuka picked up on Masato's caught voice. Turning, she smiled brightly at her daughter.
"Emila, what a surprise! It isn't often we get home at the same time. How was your day, child?"
Looking up from her freshly discarded sandals, Emilia eyed her parents.
"It was… fine. Why is father tense?"
A hand waved away the question as Syuka led the topic.
"He is just tired from pouring over missions submitted to the clan. You know how boring paperwork is."
Rubbing his neck and stretching, Masato attempted to shrug off his slip up.
"Yes, I am quite ready for dinner and a good sleep. As I'm sure we all are, so let's-"
"-What were you discussing before I came in?"
Emilia's voice was casual as she stepped past her mother and further into the hall. Stopping beside Masato, she looked up with questioning eyes.
"Did you find something about Kotetsu?"
Masato suppressed a shudder as he regained his thoughts.
"-No, not yet. I am sure it is only a matter of time, however."
Trying not to let Emilia control the conversational flow, Masato jumped in after himself.
"As for what we were talking about - just some silly politics. Drama between some nearby lords and shinobi, that's all."
He smiled reassuringly.
"Don't worry. It's nothing."
Past Emilia's assessing gaze, Masato caught Syuka's stare. It set off warning bells in his head. He knew that the Senju were a delicate subject for his daughter, and he thought his wife would understand, but perhaps he had misjudged something. If she wanted to tell Emilia, she could do that. He wasn't going to yet.
Syuka's eyes tightened. Before either parent could breathe a sigh of relief, however, things turned for the worse.
"Shinobi? Oh, is this about the Asura hordes? I heard that several villages had their defences overrun by Asuras potentially due to some rogue group. Is that correct?"
Masato put an inordinate amount of effort into keeping his eyebrows still.
"Yes, the reasoning behind this acting group is still being discussed, last I checked. We don't have any more information unless we request it, or events get out of hand."
Emilia appeared satisfied at this answer. Bobbing her head side to side, she made her way further down the hall, skipping the wash room entirely.
"I'll put on tea. I saw the kitchens were busy on my way here, but I didn't see what they were cooking. I'm hoping for steamed fish."
Emilia turned the corner and continued on down to the main living room and adjoined tea room. When her footsteps were barely audible, Masato heard another quick series of steps come up behind, and two fingers pinched his ear.
"Ow-"
"What are you doing?"
Syuka's scolding tone was delivered in a quiet murmur, while still radiating pure heat. Masato felt as if he had seconds to explain himself.
"-I don't want her to worry, she has enough to deal with… I do not need her to go on a warpath right now…"
He rushed the last few words out with haste, unable to even turn his head as the fingers became hard pincers. After a moment, the grip on his ear softened.
"...I don't want her to discover all of this later. It will not do her any good to be doused with all of this at once. The more you lie to her, the deeper you entrench yourself, husband…"
The final word was spoken with real anger, and Masato felt a need to protect himself. He did not act on that feeling. Instead, he turned, and faced his wife.
"Maybe… you're right."
Masato visibly deflated as he considered her words.
"I just don't want to see her so angry again… It was near impossible to keep her in place last time. Not to mention, when she learns what I found regarding Kotetsu…"
He pinched the bridge of his nose and let out a slow breath. Syuka reached out and took his other hand, squeezing.
"Keeping all of this bottled up is not good for you. I believe you should have told her long ago. She is a member of this clan, just as you and I are. She deserves to know."
Taking a deep breath, Masato closed his dry eyes. He resolved himself to tell Emilia every last detail, and leave nothing out. He squeezed his wife's hand back.
"Okay, tomorrow. I will convince her to stay here in the morning. I'll tell her then."
Syuka nodded. Her eyes were still hard, but she seemed mollified for now. Masato really would tell her everything. But even with that declaration made, his gut still felt queasy at all of the lies he made.
His wife's words caught his attention yet again, both at the contents and the sudden, flaring intensity. She was looking down at the door leading to the wash room.
"Is that dirt?"
He forgot to clean that up.