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| - It was a wonderful day outside. The sun was shining, the birds chirping peacefully in the trees. The flowers had started to bloom, for it was springtime. a young woman made her way through the forests below, looking for the young girl that she was to challenge. Since she was spending a couple of weeks in Konoha to learn more about her dojutsu, she decided that accepting the Kagutsuchi clan's request to test once of their own wasn't too bad of an idea. After all, Senkakusha kept getting on her case about testing the abilities and knowledge that it had passed down to her, its descendant. Pondering the state of things, she wondered what the young girl would look like and just how powerful she would be. From what she had researched, the Kagutsuchi clan was known for the fire affinity and prowess, as well as their regimented discipline when it came to implementing that affinity and training their young. She had even heard a wild rumor that they killed children that did not display any affinity to fire. Hei doubted that was true....then again, she had seen crazier things in her travels. Meanwhile, in the Kagutsuchi clan. Things were going as planned as they indeed accepted the challenge of the outsider. She seemed to be passionate and strong. She wanted to fight the princess of the Kagutsuchi clan, known as Yūka. The clan did not turn down that offer, which shows their confidence in Yūka rather than disrespect or underestimation of the opponent. They had already question Hei about her lineage and her affiliations and they made sure she didn't come in an assassination mission to finish Yūka off, which encouraged them to accept the challenge. She seems to have heard about Yūka and the clan in general and wanted to test her strength and as the Kagutsuchi were known to never let down a challenge, they accepted Hei's. The issue was that Yūka was eleven years old, she was not as experienced as Hei. However, she did get seven years of training. Starting her training at four years old and till her current age, Yūka was a genius by nature. The Kagutsuchi clan gave Hei instructions to come to the training grounds in order to battle their princess. They gave her the specific time that she was suppose to be there in. There were three men and Yūka accompanied them. One of them was the clan's elder who looked at Yūka and smiled "You have a bright future, little princess. As one of the Kagutsuchi, we demand that you must win this fight. Losing is not an option." he said. Yūka looked down at the ground as they awaited Hei's arrival. She was upset and calmly said "Yes, I understand." she looked very upset and the reasoning behind that was that she was forced to do everything by the elders of the clan. She was never free to do what she wished. Nonetheless, she obeyed orders and awaited for her challenger. Hei arrived at the compound to see that the clan elders and the challenger had already arrived. "Wait, the challenger is an eleven year old girl??" Hei thought, "that can't be right..." then she felt the burning chakra wash over her senses, making Hei slightly feverish. Surprised, Hei looked for the source of all that burning chakra, and pinpointed it to the girl. "Wait, is that girl a jinchuriki? I never felt such powerful/intense chakra before, even in my travels to the other great nations," Hei thought, steeling herself for the confrontation. She then noticed the girl wore a face that signaled that she was upset, either about the proceedings or something else. "Are they forcing her to do this?" Hei wondered as she eyed the three men behind her. Cracking her knuckles in anticipation, Hei spoke first. "Is she the challenger that you speak of?" she asked the three men. "Do know that if she is, I will not take her lightly, despite her young age," Hei said, shifting from foot to foot. Meanwhile, Hei was already planning for the battle in her head. "I wonder if her abilities are tied to her emotions?" Hei pondered, remembering the wave of burning chakra and the upset expression that the young child wore on her face. Hei took out her shakujo, feeling more at ease with it in her hands rather than on her back. She experimented with the staff, twirling it a few times, getting used to having it back in her hands. Hei kept her expression impassive as Senkakusha spoke in her head, "Remember what I taught you," it said, no doubt intrigued by the chakra that it had felt through Hei's senses. "Yūka is a special girl. She is no Jinchūriki, she was naturally born with this immense chakra. Something like that was not seen in any generation of the Kagutsuchi clan. Her chakra alone is enough to beat the opponent. From the expression of your face and how your fighting pose is a bit odd, I conclude that you can feel her chakra. I don't blame you, even members of the Kagutsuchi clan found her chakra irritating to be around. She was suppose to have learned to control the sense of her chakra, but she loses control when pressured emotionally. She must be excited for this battle." said the elder. He was correct in everything he said except at the ending of his speech. Yūka was not excited for the battle, in fact she didn't wish for it to happen as she was not in the mood for a spar. Yet, she had not choice. "Alright then, the spar shall begin. I warn you outsider, and that's for your own safety, do not get hit by her flames. They were strong enough to turn the head of the clan, her father into a crisp." he said as Yūka tensioned up from the thought of her father that she killed unintentionally. Her chakra got five times more intense. However, she managed to hinder her emotion for another time. This was one of the reason she disliked the elders of the clan. She stepped forward into the training ground, not uttering a word. "She's a user of the gentle fist, I can sense that by her Byakugan. I heard she was an outsider, I didn't expect her to have any relation to the Hyūga. I must be cautious and keep my distance as it would be fatal if I got hit by her gentle fist." thought Yūka. "Begin!" said the elder to announce the start of the battle. Hei activated her Byakugan, staff in hand. Hei stepped forward cautiously, monitoring Yuuka's chakra. From what she could tell, that bit of information about Yuuka's father at hit a sore spot. For despite Yuuka's best efforts, Hei felt momentary rise in the chakra's presence before it died down. "Are flames of this girl out of control or not? Only one way to find out," Hei thought. With one smooth stroke, she leveled a strike at Yuuka's feet, expecting her jump back upon near contact. Once the strike had progressed, Hei moved to the area directly behind Yuuka, preparing her Gentle Fist. With a few fluid motions, Hei began the Eight Trigrams Thirty-Two Palms, increasing her speed with each attempted strike. While doing so she remembered Senkakusha's saying, "speed and Technique are everything in the ninja world, if you have those, you will live to fight another day," Hei tensed her muscles, preparing to jump back at any moment should Yuuka activate her flames. "This should be an interesting fight, my gentle fist, sword, and staff techniques versus her flames," Hei thought, "I wonder which is faster, and if that will decide the match?" Hei put her staff away, prepared to commence in either hand to hand combat or combat with a sword, depending on what the situation called for. As Hei directed an attack on Yūka's feet, she simply changed her footing my moving her foot to the side in a casual fashion, effortlessly as if she wasn't even trying. She was trained in fast combat and she was used to great levels of speed. She then found Hei suddenly behind her back. "She's fast" she thought as she put her hand in her pouch, getting out a flash bomb and throwing it behind her, the flash bomb was activated and emitted a light that was intended to temporarily stun Hei by taking her vision for a few seconds to allow Yūka to do her next move. As Hei's gentle fist connected with Yūka's back, she disappeared and was replaced with a log that had about ten explosive tags on it. The tags were triggered and the log exploded. The action of throwing a flash bomb was to prevent Hei from seeing the log and avoiding it. Yūka then appeared from behind a tree to see the results of her counter while staying on guard. With the flash bomb detonated, Hei was forced to rely further on her Byakugan to see her target. Upon realizing that she had struck a log that was armed with several explosive tags, she jumped back, narrowly avoiding the chain of explosions from the log. "She's more experienced then I thought," Hei said, rubbing her eyes to get them used to the normal lighting. Standing calmly, Hei utilized her Byakugan to survey the area before spotting Yuuka's chakra signature behind a formidable looking tree. Hei didn't hesitate, immediately throwing three kunais armed with explosive tags in the direction of the tree. She then appeared several feet behind the tree, pulling out three more kunais and launching them into the fray. Hei paused for a second, surveying the explosions for any sign of movement. She then took out her sword, preparing to launch into Iaido the moment she spotted movement from outside of the explosion. Using her other hand, she pulled out her staff, positioning just behind her back. "From what I've seen, she relies on overwhelming me with her speed, I need to be cautious with that. She likes to put one in a surrounded scenario where he's attacked from everywhere around him." Yūka thought as she used Body Flicker Technique in order to channel chakra in her feet, vitalizing them for a few seconds as she moved toward the area that wasn't attacked, which was her sides. She went to the right of the position she was standing in. She noticed that Hei stepped inside the maze of trees, which was her initial target. After getting away from the explosion. She molded chakra inside her stomach as she weaved the following hand seals in order to help her mold chakra (Horse → Snake → Ram → Monkey → Boar → Horse → Tiger). "Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu" she said as she fired a giant fireball. The flames were blue and it was very intense. She took advantage that Hei was standing inside the forest and fired this technique directly at her. Once the fireball got close enough, she used Kajin, the hiden of the Kagutsuchi clan in order to expand the yang energy inside the fireball causing its explosion. The fireball exploded and emitted blue flames that spread almost everywhere around Hei. However, the explosion itself was enough to kill whoever was exposed to it. The heat of the flames were unbearable. They were very intense, a true signature of the Kagutsuchi prowess. The explosion itself was big. Yūka used this fire technique with the intension of setting the forest ablaze in order to damage Hei. The forest was filled with the blue flames as everything started turning to ash. The sound of the flames was like a hungry monster devouring its prey as it ate through the forest. Yūka stood as she watched the burining forest while the blue flames reflected in her eyes. Hei laughed, a surprising sound to hear in the middle of battle, especially with a large fireball barreling towards her at a high velocity. Positioning herself in the Gentle Fist Stance, Hei released chakra from all parts of her body, creating a shield of chakra. With the surprise explosion after, Hei's shield wavered, before sustaining some damage. However, by continuing to spin rapidly, she was able to take the edge off of the fire, effectively depriving at least part of it of the all important oxygen. However, after stopping the rotation, Hei's clothes were soaked through, blistering heat still surrounding her from the flames that Yuuka had released. Once ready, she shot out of the flames, getting herself higher than the flame line. Utilizing chakra, she created a few steps of chakra, jumping down from the last step to outskirts of the flames. Once away from the fire, Hei was able to fully appreciate just how hot those flames were. Within seconds, the entire forest was ablaze, and within minutes the forest was nothing but smoldering twigs. "Damn," Hei thought, "that could of been the end of me,". She turned her attention to Yuuka, who was watching the flames intently. "From what I can tell, she already figured out my "need" for speed, yet that blast could have easily killed anyone with slower reflexes. What is her endgame?" Hei took out her sword, before sharpening the blade. "I guess I might have to use it, but how to get close enough?" Looking for a distraction, she began a technique before sending it just ahead of her. With it running in front, Hei decided to closely mirror its movements in order to make it appear like one person. As soon as the "clone" reached the target, Hei leveled her sword behind it, preparing to strike with several quick slashes. It was time to marry Iaido and the Byakugan in lethal fashion. Yūka noticed that Hei was trying to confuse her with the clone in order to get close. "well look, she's doing tricks now." she said as she weaved a few hand seals. "Katon: Hōsenka no Jutsu" she said as she fired multiple fireballs at Hei. She fired two of them at the ground in front of Hei and made them explode, which set the grass in her path on fire. She then fired three fireballs towards Hei and her clone. The fireballs didn't make contact as she made them explode as soon as they got close to her. The forest was burning in blue flames. The heat in the area was unbearable even for someone who isn't close to the flames. Yet, Yūka didn't shed a sweat drop as she was entertained by her fight with Hei and she began to get excited. After her first assault, Yūka didn't wait to see the result of her attack. She got too excited and weaved more hand seals and took a deep breath "Katon: Gōka Mekkyaku" she said as she fired a wall of light blue flames. The flames looked like a hungry monster as they were coming towards Hei's location. Hei was surrounded, to her back was the fire that was caused by the earlier fireball, so she couldn't go anywhere to her back. In front of her was a fire caused by the few fireballs that were thrown onto the grass by Yūka as well as a giant wall of blue flames coming towards her. Of course, she would worry about those if she had even survived the earlier attack of explosive fireballs. "Someone's getting excited," Hei thought, while saying, "don't wet your pants fire girl!," Still speeding towards Yuuka, Hei watched her clone go up in flames, before stowing her sword away, chakra still whistling through the blade. She set up shop just before the explosions occurred, positioning her hands to create some cover. With some cover now available, Hei got down to work. Placing her hands in front of her, she began her favorite technique. Pouring her yin and yang energy into the chakra, she slowly began to shape the chakra into a jelly like form. She started with the legs, shaping them with gentle curves, melding them to the hips and butt effortlessly. Hei continued up to the love handles, continuing to cultivate the body in her own image. At last she reached the shoulders, caressing each what gently as she molded the front to mirror her own quality bust. It was quite exhausting work, especially when maintaining a shield of the Eight Trigram's size. However, it was worth it, especially when her faithful (albeit grumbling about the stupidity of youth today) teacher lent some of its own chakra to the mix, allowing her to maintain a shield in a fire that would easily engulf her otherwise. However, she was almost done at that point, having put the finishing touches on the design of the being i.e cultivating the byakugan in the creation. Thus, a mirror image of Hei stared back at her, before beginning to stretch and yawn. "Now the real fun begins," Hei muttered, as she installed a little surprise. "Well," Hei thought, "let's see if this plan works," before sharing the plan mind to mind with the lady she dubbed Hei II. That was one of the advantages of "creating" her allies, as by sharing information telepathically she didn't have to worry about anyone overhearing, even though Senkakusha dubbed it a side-effect of the foundation. Sitting calmly in the fire, she instructed Hei II to do what she had meant to do from the beginning; to "finish" this match-up already. As Hei II disappeared into the fire, Hei sat down, meditating while maintaining the very shield that would prove to be her lifeline. "To think I would be pushed to using this," Hei thought, "this girl is truly something else, no wonder the Kagutsuchi were so eager to have some fight her," Meanwhile, Hei II crept through the undergrowth until she was just behind Yuuka. Though there was fire all around her and fire burning her, she wasn't bothered, having a affinity that was making life just a little bit more comfortable. Using Nike's speed , she brought herself behind Yuuka's back, delivering several speedy punches to her back before pressing a blade to the back of Yuuka's neck and pressing her foot on Yuuka's back. "It is finished," Hei II thought, as she dug a little harder to make sure she had a chance to secure Yuuka should she resist.
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