[X] Face Fisted (because Kung-Fu Fighting is a shit-tier reference)
Man, and you felt short
before. Everyone in the second year class has at least an inch and a half on you; you need to stand in the front row just to see the demonstration platform.
Sasuke is unbelievably envious of you getting to skip ahead, and makes you promise to share everything you learn. Ami seems to take your advancement as a challenge and promptly redoubles her efforts in taijutsu to catch up. Although, she may just be trying to become Sasuke's new favourite sparring partner. She might be behaving more rationally now that you're kinda sorta friends, but her massive crush on the Lollypop hasn't gone anywhere.
Your speed is no longer the utter game-breaker it was in the lower class, but you've still got a massive lead on most of these older kids.
Most. Not all.
The two biggest exceptions are Uchiha Touya and Hyuuga Neji.
Touya is a tough opponent for you just because he's the tallest kid in the class and has the longest arms, so your usual tactic of dancing out of reach doesn't work on him.
Neji, on the other hand, is quite simply a taijutsu monster.
If he isn't as fast as you are, the difference is so negligible it isn't worth measuring. And his Jyuuken is just... you know, you
thought you understood the style, more or less. When Hinata uses it, it's a thing of beauty, graceful and refined; every movement is only as large as it needs to be, no unnecessary effort is exerted. It actually sort of reminds you of tessenjutsu. It's like a creek, gently rolling downhill, occasionally forming a tiny waterfall or hopping over a rock like it isn't even there.
Neji's take on it is more like dropping the entire goddamn ocean on you and then instructing the moon to do its thing.
To a sensor, it's not exactly a secret what the difference is. Neji has a
lot of rage over something or other, and being from a Noble clan whose esteemed members obviously can't just
talk about their emotions like sensible people, he's decided to express himself via his fists. His chakra doesn't mark him as an enemy, or anything, but it definitely projects an aura of pessimism and misanthropy you could cut with a knife.
His cousin, on the other hand, is just... not a violent person. At all. She has to
force herself to fight. And being that way has made her rather catlike, to your thinking. Cats will only pick a fight if they think they can win it - pride is worth nothing when weighed against survival. Similarly, Hinata's tendency towards compassion means she'll only fight when people make her - pride is worth nothing to her when weighed against the wellbeing of others.
Oddly, in a way, you think this might also have made her a better fighter than she would have been otherwise. She's slow as shit, of course, like everyone else your age, and she hesitates too much, but you get the feeling that when all of you grow up, she's going to be much more
efficient than Neji. Her fights already take less time than his do, comparatively; she seems to be focused on bringing her fights to an end, above all else. Neji sometimes seems to enjoy prolonging his opponents' suffering. The guy is just like his name: twisted.
All of this would be much less troublesome to you if he weren't easily the cutest boy in school.
"Hyuuga Neji vs. Yamanaka Ino."
Personally, you blame Ami. You weren't attracted to children
before you talked to her - fuck, your response to hearing you're about to spar with the boy who left both your arms temporarily paralyzed last time should
not be to grin like a fool.
*sigh* ... if only he didn't have to remind you of Goemon-san. You hate to admit it, but the resemblance is there. It's partially physical, but... that aura. It's thicker and heavier than the one Goemon-san had in the first dream, but you're almost positive it's the same one. The one that says "Leave me alone or I'll kill you."
No one who's had a good life can have that kind of song in their chakra.
Still.
This is taijutsu class, not group therapy.
And barbaric offshoot or no, Jyuuken is still a
damned stylish moveset.
Rising -oof!- palm-heel strike? Yoink! (ouch)
His footwork? (Owgetoutofthewaybeforehedoesthatagain) In the very immediate future, it becomes
your footwork.
(Hell, say goodbye to proper use of your right arm for the time being) Ooh, that twin-elbow sideways thing is cool! Gotta have that.
Aaaaand you're spent. You stumble to the ground, propping yourself up with your remaining good arm.
Yeah. Hinata may have her weak points, but if she were fast enough, she'd put you down the moment she got a chance.
She wouldn't give you time to jack her moves.
Neji frowns imperiously down at you.
You smile innocently back up. "Problem, sempai?"
"I will not permit you to make a mockery of Gentle Fist."
"Pfft. Haven't you ever heard that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery? You should feel proud I thought your moves were worth stealing!"
He laughs humourlessly, and shakes his head. "You're a fool if you think copying a few forms will improve your taijutsu. You lack all talent for the discipline, and you're a coward besides."
[X] "Better a live rat than a dead lion, bure-bure."
[X] "Aw, hell. If it's talent I need, I'll just steal that, too."
[X] "Who needs talent? Or courage, for that matter? We're
ninja. If we can't win fair, we can always just cheat." 8)
[X] Write-in
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So I asked myself, why should Lee get all the fun of being an expy? And the result was that Hinata is now a Jet Li-type fighter. I thought it was appropriate, given the way the animators try to make her look graceful above all else, and the fact that they appear to share an attitude toward fighting, if interviews with Mr Li are anything to go by.