Blood & Hidden Leaves

Chapter 14: Three-on-One



(AN: I rewrote a significant portion of the previous chapter. If you haven't already, please reread that first as important things were changed.)

In an instant, combat erupted.

Kusuri, Nori, and even Taga furiously formed hand seals, each watching Takeshi like a hawk.

But he kept his stance, just like he had said he would.

A few seconds later, the student had all finished forming their Jutsu and announced them near simultaneously.

"Raiju's Paws!" Taga shouted, quickly entering a jumping stance. A moment later, a thin sleeve of crackling lighting overtook his limbs.

"Power Rush!" Kusuri shouted, placing one of his palms on Taga's back. A moment later Taga's pupils began to dilate as adrenaline rushed through his body.

"Falling Earth!" Nori shouted, placing her hands on the ground. A moment later the ground beneath Takeshi's feet opened up into a pitfall.

"Shit!" Takeshi shouted, now in midair.

Then Taga exploded into action.

The combination of two generous boosts and his natural abilities made his speed boggle the mind, possibly even comparable to a weighted Lee. Which meant it hurt all the more when he slammed into Takeshi's stomach at full tilt.

Takeshi was launched back at least four meters by the rapid impact. He would've been knocked back more, but he was slammed into a tree, knocking the wind out of him even more than it already had been.

With a wheezy, strained voice Takeshi said, "That... was a cheap... shot."

He slowly stood back up, legs a touch wobbly from the impact, and gave his students a look that told them they were not going to like his retaliatory efforts.

Something proved by the now bulging veins around his eyes.

Seeing this, Nori turned to the team's resident strategist and asked, "Alright, we got the drop on him, now what?"

"Lose," said strategist responded, staring at her with rather blank eyes.

"What?"

"That was the whole plan. I just wanted to score one win before he kicked our asses."

"And now that we've ticked him off, he's going to do it even harder now, isn't he?"

"Almost certainly."

"Dammit."

Kusuri cracked his neck while Nori began forming a second Jutsu.

A moment later, Taga ran over as reinforcements, repositioning himself to how they were when the combat began.

Kusuri walked next to him, figuring they were likely to need more melee than ranged combatants.

 He didn't have any specialized combat techniques like Taga did but he did know that specialized or not, single combat with a Hyuuga is essentially a death sentence.

They both tensed their bodies for the beating that was undoubtedly coming their way.

Takeshi, on the other hand, seemed perfectly calm as he sauntered towards him, having mostly recovered. It seemed he had mellowed out a bit from the initial rage, which was definitely a good thing.

That, unfortunately, was not enough to get him to deactivate his Byakugan.

"Do you think he'd let us surrender?" Taga whispered into Kusuri's ear.

"Hell no," Kusuri responded at full volume.

----------

"Uggghhh."

"We get it, Taga, you're hurt," Nori barked, "Well guess what, so am I!"

They were both sprawled out on the ground, trying their best not to move as their now-blocked chakra points screamed at them. 

Their eyes, despite this, were filled not with pain, but malice.

"Wait, so the Byakugan can't see color?"

"It actually can! The only color we can see is that of chakra, which is a bright blue."

Kusuri and Takeshi were happily talking away, Kusuri posing question after question about how his techniques and abilities worked. With the way he was acting, one could swear he wasn't even injured, or at least not to the same level as Taga and Nori.

He was of course, but not that one could tell the difference.

"Whenever we get better, we kick his ass. Agreed?" Nori asked.

"Agreed."

As they said this, they finally managed to get Kusuri's attention. His gaze, after at least ten minutes of them mentioning his name, at last turned in their direction.

"It's not my fault you guys don't know medical ninjutsu. Besides, I'm just as hurt as you guys, all I did was shut down my pain centers. I'll go back to feeling it all the moment it wears off. Happy?"

"NO!" the other two responded simultaneously.

"You just can't please some people," Kusuri sighed, trying to hide a smirk, then turned back to Takeshi to continue their conversation.

"So, is there anything more you can tell me about the Hinketsu? Beyond what you have already, I mean."

"Well, like I said, not much is known about them. I could look into them a bit if you're interested though. I'm sure I could find something if I tried."

"That'd be great!"

"Alright, I'll do that then. You are certainly one curious kid."

----------

An hour or so passed and Taga and Nori were finally recovered enough to both walk and kick Kusuri in the shin.

It was very cathartic for them.

It would've been more cathartic if he hadn't immediately dulled his own pain again, but it still felt pretty good.

Together, the students began the walk back to their respective homes. Taga went to the Hatake clan compound, Nori went to her family's house in the residential district, and Kusuri finally got back to his house, which was right next to the border of the commercial district.

He entered the front door rather slowly, betraying his utter exhaustion. He took off his shoes, placing them with the others. Just as he finished he saw a pair of very welcome faces rushing over to hug him.

They stopped rather quickly after he yelped in pain.

"Sorry," he apologized, "Bruises. Lots of bruises."

More than a bit scared for their grandson's wellbeing, they led him over to the table and sat him down, despite his protests that he could do it himself. Then, they began to pester him with questions.

"So... who's your sensei?" Kusuri's grandfather asked.

"Takeshi Hyuuga. I think he'll be a good fit for the three of us."

"Your sensei's a Hyuuga?!" his grandmother said, more as an exclamation than a question.

"Yep. He is... quite strong."

Kusuri then began to recount the events of the day, going long into the night, and no matter how boring some of it was, his grandparents more than enjoyed it.

Especially when he recounted the one on one fights.

Next chapter will be updated first on this website. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

Tip: You can use left, right, A and D keyboard keys to browse between chapters.