[Yamamoto Shosuke]

And there it was, clear as day. As Shosuke rebelled against Shigure and called him out for his unnecessary cruelty, letting him know that that was no way for a clan lead to behave, Shigure revealed his true character.

Ironically, by calling Shosuke a brat, all he did was prove himself to be supremely childish. He couldn't handle criticism, couldn't handle not being acknowledged, and so labeled someone who cried out against him as a brat for not just accepting his natural superiority.

Shosuke, someone who had given up his entire life into the hands of others so that he could achieve their goals, was being considered a brat.

The entire idea was laughable.

There was no doubt that Shigure was a great and powerful Shinobi in his own right, the very proof of that was just how easily he shrugged off the best that Shosuke had to throw at him. But there was a difference between being able to wield power and being able to lead. If this was how the man led, how could anyone in the Hyuga consider themselves to be well represented?

Even so... The man might be petulant, arrogant, and self-obsessed, but there was no denying just how clearly he cared about his family. That he would turn so quickly to rage, to death threats, to demanding that his sacrifices and his worthiness be acknowledged... well, it was about as respectable as it was pathetic.

Despite the death threat, Sho simply looked up into the eyes of the elder Shinobi, his eyes as cool as granite as he did so. It was one of those moments, it seemed, where his entire sense of self-preservation and all other concerns melted away, and he was given a job right in front of him to do.

Something that he had to communicate to the elder Shinobi so that he didn't think this was just some petulant tantrum.

"Threats of violence and feats of strength will NEVER make people want to follow you. All you're doing is pushing people away.

You asked me for a demonstration of my strength and then you bullied and derided me for it. Of COURSE you're better than me, I'm a Genin. What did any of this actually go to prove?"

It was two forces butting heads, diametrically opposed. The raw, white fury of the Hyuga vs the cold, quiet condemnation of the Yamamoto, both acting entirely against their family's expectations.

The Yamamoto were supposed to be warm, loving, affectionate and the Hyuga were supposed to be quiet, peaceful, respectable. In this moment, neither could be considered to be their clan's best.

And then, with a flash, Shigure was gone.

446 words | Hyūga Shigure

SPOILER: Click to show

D-rank EXP 7/8
Jutsus Used: None

[Yamamoto Shosuke]

Left alone on the training grounds, Shosuke moved back to what he had been doing, training idly by himself. He knew it was ineffective, but he was heated, annoyed to say the least. Everything about his meeting with the older Shinobi played over and over again in his head, keeping him heated and angry.

Now that he didn't have a mission, something to direct his actions towards, something to keep him grounded, he just had all these emotions inside him that refused to go anywhere.

What was the point of any of that? Why had any of it happened?

He hadn't asked to be bothered, he hadn't asked to "prove" himself to some man from an allied nation who clearly thought himself of great import. And when he had been kind enough to go through with it, all the man had done was beat him up and then threaten to kill him.

Shosuke was usually a precautious fighter, making sure to fight from a distance and as such his training was usually ranged base. Instead, he had found himself a training dummy and he was going to town on it, side-hooks and upper cuts and repeated strikes to the "sternum" of the straw-stuffed mannequin.

He could feel his hand, unaccustomed to such roughness, beginning to hurt. He knew on a logical basis that this wouldn't help, that this wouldn't do anything but further ingrain his anger, but he couldn't stop.

He was just so damned furious about everything that had happened.

How DARE that Hyuga bastard act as he had? Sho wasn't stupid enough to think himself of any major importance, if Shigure had killed him the village would likely have swept it under the rug to keep the peace between the allied nations alive. Even so, who the heck did he think he was? What sort of delusional, half-baked, arrogant, self-aggrandising, violence-obsessed...

His hand struck the side of the dummy, the head of the mannequin exploding, sending a shower of straw and water-stained linen spilling across the floor of the arena, landing with a wet, anti-climactic splat upon the hard earth of the training arena.

"Shigure Hyuuga..." he muttered to himself, taking deep, irritated breaths like a bull charging at a red flag. For the first time in years, he was genuinely angry, unmoored from his almost constant acceptance and mediocrity. His hand clenched and unclenched, as if squeezing some sort of unseen stress-ball.

Then, finally, he stopped.

He blinked.

He was angry. He was genuinely deeply angry. That was new. The man had affected him in a way that he hadn't previously known he was still capable of feeling.

He wasn't sure how long it had been, but his emotions had felt dampened for some while now. Perhaps he had seen too much in the medical wards, or perhaps he was simply tired and overstressed, but this was the first time in what felt like quite a long time he had felt an emotion quite so strongly.

He had felt nervousness, anxiety, discomfort, and even fleeting joy, but all of them had been faded out, as if bleached underneath the sun for too long.

What did it say about that man that he was able to manifest this level of emotion?

"Shigure Hyuuga..." he murmured, feeling the emotion beginning to ebb, no longer quite as spiteful but now almost reflective. Just what was that man actually capable of?

561 words | Hyūga Shigure

SPOILER: Click to show

D-rank EXP 8/8
Jutsus Used: None