Ch 4

The following weekend)

One Saturday morning, having spent the better part of it after training wandering around the village aimlessly since the crack of dawn, the lonely and incredibly bored Naruto, his orange vest's hoodie pulled up over his head, had decided to go for an explore of the local neighbourhood. So far his adventure through this upper-class part of the village had been relatively uneventful, with the majority of the villagers he'd passed steering clear of him (as usual) while he ambled down the road with his hands in his pockets.

Keeping his face hidden, the youngster was kind of lost in his thoughts, which were dominated by ideas and thoughts on his training, as well as all the studying he'd been doing.

While he was ambling down a road behind some private estates in an area he wasn't too familiar with, the blonde's head perked up when he picked up the distinct sounds of shouting and talking. Tracing the sound towards one of the properties a little further down the dirt path, the aspiring bad guy jogged on over to check it out. Vaulting up onto the ceramic roof of the wall surrounding the home, the boy then crouched down on the platform and took a quick peak at the garden.

Much to his surprise, the youngster found himself staring down at an enormous dirt courtyard with over two dozen children standing in the centre of it- boys and girls around his age, with brown and dark blue hair respectively, and all dressed in matching grey training gis. What's more, all the kids were arranged into rows and dropped into horse-riding stances, and were currently practicing palm thrusts under the supervision of their trainer.

Every time they threw an attack, all the children shouted at the top of their lungs and in perfect unison. There was a brief pause between each strike and, during every pause, the teacher walking between their rows would come up behind one of the children and correct their stance or position, just to make sure they were doing the exercise properly. This meticulous and repetitive form of practice was something that would normally be found in a typical dojo or a self-defence class, where youngsters were trained for competition purposes or otherwise. But as Naruto observed from his spot on top of the perimeter wall, this wasn't just some ordinary martial arts class.

On closer inspection, the blond quickly realized that he'd actually wandered into the Hyuuga Clan district and had just happened to come across one of their private compounds, where members of the powerful family were currently practicing the basic techniques associated with their world famous taijutsu style, Juken (Gentle Fist).

This was something that Naruto wasn't expecting to stumble across while on his little village walk, but it certainly wasn't unwelcome. In fact, the blond cracked a genuine smile as he made himself comfortable and proceeded to watch the class with interest.

As the children continued going through their palm exercises, their instructor, a tall Hyuuga kunoichi with Bob-style brown hair, pale skin, crystal blue eyes, a scar across her right cheek, and wearing a purple qi pao kimono, walked between them with a stern expression in play. During which time she began to speak. "Remember... every movement you make must be accompanied by a breath... and every step a pause. You must be fluid with each of your strikes, but also decisive... inhaling and exhaling throughout. Any attempts to hold yourself back or restrict your movements will result in rigid attacks and a fragile defence." She then stepped over to a young girl and pushed her arm up when she noticed she was hitting too low. "Feel the ground and your surroundings. Breathe and maintain your focus. And never let your guard down. Understand?!"

"Hai, sensei!"

The collective response of the students echoed across the area, informing the kunoichi that all of her students understood. With a nod, she then turned around and headed back out of the formation to begin moving around the outside. "Change it up. Crescent repulse and double-palm strikes. On my count!" She then heard a loud stomp as every single child stepped forward with their left foot and assumed offensive stances. "Ready. One! Two! Three!" The woman counted on and watched as all of her students began executing two simultaneous techniques one after the other with both arms.

Naruto became incredibly fascinated and enamoured in the training session taking place in front of him and continued to watch for the next few minutes. Upon seeing the kunoichi woman sternly correct four of her students by having the others stop and getting the offenders to perform the techniques individually, the blond then decided to 'join in'. He did so by standing up, assuming the Gentle Fist stance that the children were using, and copying their movements at the kunoichi's count.

His arms moved in semi-circles around his body as he performed a stepping flourish, followed by a return of both palms to the front before pushing out with them. He then repeated the motion over and over, making sure to stick the pattern and maintain his footing on the tiled roof. When he felt his body was too rigid, he matched his breathing techniques with his body movements and, sure enough, he started to execute his technique with grace and precision.

For the next half an hour Naruto stood on that wall, copying and mimicking the techniques being practiced down below. When the children moved into practicing simultaneous deflection and counter attacks with a partner, Naruto continued, practicing being both the attacker and the defender with his own shadow.

During this period, the kunoichi instructor below suddenly took notice of the blond boy up on the wall. As her students continued on with their session, she watched the whisker-marked child in the hoody for several moments, raising an eyebrow as she took notice of how he was executing each technique with confidence and poise.

Unfortunately, just as Naruto was getting into the swing of the practice, he suddenly heard a voice yell out to him. "Hey! You!" Looking down at the street, the orphan suddenly spotted a Hyuuga male with a ponytail and wearing a shinobi uniform glaring up at him. A rather irritated expression was currently slapped across his face. "What do you think you're doing up there?! Get down! Now!"

"Uh oh." Quickly disengaging from his stance, a surprised Naruto turned tail and ran, jumping down from the wall and sprinting away as fast as he could. The Hyuuga Chunin gave chase, but then gave up halfway down the road when the child managed to disappear around the corner seconds later. Figuring it wasn't worth going after him, Hoheto Hyuuga gave a low sigh and turned to head back inside.

The kunoichi instructor meanwhile, after seeing the blond take flight, cracked a small smile before returning to coach her students, all of whom had been too busy to notice the commotion going on nearby