[Hyūga Hinoe]

The sun shone brightly as the leaves of the forests around Konohagakure felt the first chills of the beginning of Fall. From the look of the sky, it was going to be a nice and sunny, though not so warm, day. In Hinoe’s opinion, this would be perfect for training. For this reason, she had selected a secluded training area in one of the woods within the village, where she would not be disturbed or discovered as she trained. Her reason for this desire for secrecy was simple: she was going to begin work on something she knew, going by the standards of her clan, that she should not be training: the esoteric Jyuken style known as the Six Harmonies Jyuken.

Some days ago, she had stolen a box from her grandparents’ room, a box which housed her father’s effects. The fact that her grandparents had never bothered to give her the box was something that had always puzzled her, although she had pretended not to be too interested in its contents. She was smart enough to know that if she expressed interest in the box, they would take greater pains to hide it from her. So she had acted indifferent to whatever it contained, until fate dealt her a good hand. Hinoe’s grandparents had traveled, and she had taken the opportunity to sneak into their room, and steal the box. Unwilling to have it revealed that she had tampered with the box, the young Hyuuga quickly went through the contents of the box, and soon realized why her grandparents had been unwilling to give it to her: because of the Scroll of Six Harmonies Jyuken, and a memoir of her father, which had suggested what information the scroll was supposed to impart.

[Hyūga Hinoe]

Quickly going through the memoir of her father, Hinoe realized that he had been trying to improve on a substyle of Jyuken, which even Branch House members would be allowed to learn, one that would hopefully improve their prowess to be able to match that of Main House members. A style which had been developed by Hinode’s great-grandfather, and passed down and improved in secret till it had gotten to Hinode. So that was what Kisaki had meant, when she said that Hinode had been trying to "uplift the Branch House". In a way, Hinoe found it a little bit ironic that the anti-establishment behavior that was her issue with other Main House members seemed to run through her family. It was something to be proud of. In any case, Hinoe was beginning to realize the burden of what she had to bear. With Hinode's death, it seemed that the Six Harmonies Jyuken would be hidden in obscurity forever, but Hinoe had found the scroll which contained the information of the style, and something had to be done with it. To her, it was the legacy of her father; she would certainly not let it disappear from the world. But Hinoe had to be careful. She wasn’t as strong as her father had been, and he had apparently been killed to shut him up. Until she was strong enough to defend herself, Hinoe would make sure no one knew of her discovery of this secret.

[Hyūga Hinoe]

Hinoe had wasted no time in creating a forgery of the scroll, which she had returned to her father’s memento box, and she had returned the box to her grandparents’ room, looking for all the world as though no one had tampered with it. Even as Hinoe went through the scroll, she felt she could understand why her grandparents had not bothered to destroy the scroll. It contained interesting knowledge, and being a studious person, Hinoe’s grandfather would have simply wanted to keep the scroll, both as a keepsake of his son, as well as something which future generations might learn from, if ever its secrets were allowed to be brought to light. Perhaps he was, in his own way, also a rebel, though nowhere near the level of his dead son, and presently alive granddaughter, who seemed hellbent on causing his family grief with the way she was going. In Hinoe’s opinion, however, her standing in the clan was for other people to be concerned about, not her.

Still, Hinoe understood that her travails were borne, if indirectly, by her grandparents, who were the only remaining members of her immediate family. She knew they loved her, and they wanted what was best for her, but she could not accept to sit down and shut up when the Hyuuga Clan was rife with inequality. She would try not to cause them too much grief, but to stay silent was an insult to her father, and to every other Hyuuga who had tried to ensure that the two Hyuuga houses became equal.

[Hyūga Hinoe]

Now, as she sat in the empty training ground, Hinoe read the scroll quietly. For a martial arts scroll, it had quite a lot of philosophy, but Hinoe loved to read; perhaps she had gotten that attribute from her grandfather. It was called the Rokuwa (Six Harmonies) Jyuken, because, according to the philosophy, it was Jyuken that focused on the six directions: north, south, east, west, up and down. Of course, from a literal point of view, that didn’t make too much sense, as the Byakugan was known for its ability to cover visual range in all directions (save for the blind spot). So, if the Byakugan could see in all directions, then Jyuken surely would focus on all directions, wouldn’t it?

Further reading revealed that the six directions were metaphorical, and connoted 'directions' in a more philosophical sense. The directions were attributes of combat-related importance, and they were grouped into Yin and Yang, as well as three categories: offense, defense and environment control. Two times three equaled six. According to the philosophy of Rokuwa Jyuken, if one were able to become an expert in all six metaphorical directions, one would be nigh invincible, a true master of the art of combat.

[Hyūga Hinoe]

The North indicated attacking; Jyuken by nature, even though it was called ‘Gentle Fist’, was aggressive, and as the north was often the most visible direction on the compass, so attacking would be the chief direction of this style, being an offshoot of Jyuken. This was Yang Offense.

The South indicated blocking; being diametrically opposite in alignment to the north, it involved responding to an attack without dodging, which meant stopping or deflecting the attack. This was Yin Defense.

The East indicated retaliation; whether from having received an attack, or making a successful defense, it was like the rising of the sun, reversing the dark of night, even as the practitioner reversed their opponent’s attack. This was Yin Offense.

The West indicated evasion; just as the sun set in the west and brought darkness, so evasion was meant to confuse and inhibit the opponent, like one inhibited by darkness. This was Yang Defense.

Down indicated resourcefulness; looking down, one saw the earth, which represented the environment, and using the environment to one’s advantage was key in a fight. This was Yang Environment Control.

Up indicated character; this was the most important tenet of Rokuwa Jyuken philosophy, and was above all the others. Nothing was more important than the building and refinement of character, which was controlling one’s ‘internal environment’. This was Yin Environment Control.

[Hyūga Hinoe]

To Hinoe’s delight, she saw that the scroll had exercises, movement patterns and suggestions with which one could attempt to train in any of the six directions. She would focus on the West today; the exercises for evasion training seemed relatively straightforward and suited to her style. Also, she felt that she had discovered some potential in the art of dodging attacks and movement aimed at mitigating damage. Best to focus on her strengths. Weaknesses, she would improve in time. The exercises seemed repetitive, but Hinoe understood that repetition resulted in familiarity. She would keep at them. If she got bored, she would remember that her father had died for the information in this scroll, and that would inspire her to get motivated again.

The training exercise involved plenty of water, so Hinoe would have to find a water source where she could practice. While she could easily get a lot of water back home, it was the last place she wanted to go, as Hinoe had no intentions of revealing to anyone that she was training under this new regimen. It seemed that luck was on her side. A bit of searching around the area with her Byakugan revealed another unoccupied training field which possessed a large pool of water. That would be sufficient for what she had planned for today.

[Hyūga Hinoe]

The whole idea of this training was to strike the surface of the water with a Jyuken palm, hard enough that it would throw droplets high into the air. Of course, Hinoe would inevitably get splashed, but the initial splash was not what she was interested in. The secondary droplets, that flew higher into the air, she was to spot them with her Byakugan, and attempt to dodge them.

While Hinoe was fine with how the training exercise was to be carried out, she quickly realized that returning home wetter than she had left would raise some eyebrows, even if she was known to be an insufferable iconoclast by the members of the clan. Normally, on a good day, Hinoe would have taken every opportunity she could to scandalize the uppity Hyuuga, but today was not one of those days. Today, she needed to appear normal enough to not draw attention to herself. Besides, wearing wet clothes did not seem very comfortable, especially as the sun was not warming the earth up that much, as Fall had turned the corner.

Fortunately, there was not a soul in sight to witness her training. That meant that performing the exercise in her undies was a viable option. She would quickly get cold, but that would create better incentive to avoid as much water as she could.

[Hyūga Hinoe]

The advantage of having the Byakugan was that, even with Hinoe's less that incredibly impressive vision range (by clan standards), it would be extremely difficult for anyone to approach without her being aware of it. Even though the Hyuuga always had their blind spot, Hinoe suspected that, as she would be often moving, she would be able to notice anyone approaching, unless they were masters of stealth. And why would any master of stealth be sneaking around and following her about?

Stripping down to her undergarments, the Hyuuga took one last look at the scroll, before placing it down with the bundle of her clothes, far enough from the water, so that she would not inadvertently splash the scroll or her clothes. Walking to the edge of the pond that sat in this training field, Hinoe tested the temperature of the water with one toe. It was rather chilly, causing her to shiver slightly. She thought about how, if she had mastered the Water Walking Technique, performing this exercise would be easier, but one would have to make do with what one had.

First she performed a few quick stretches, to ensure that her muscles would be ready for the exercise. Then she took a deep breath, and prepared herself.

[Hyūga Hinoe]

Crouching beside the pool, Hinoe placed a hand close to the water, took in a deep breath, and thrust her palm. Though her hand barely skimmed the surface of the water, the chakra plume that was emitted from her palm shot a surge of water up into the air, about a quarter of the volume of water spraying the Hyuuga. The feel of the icy water caused Hinoe to temporarily freeze, a terrible mistake, as much of the rest of the cascading water descended on her.

Hinoe summoned all the willpower she had to keep from screaming. But she remained where she was; endurance was the way of the ninja, she told herself. This was sufficient punishment for not moving when she should have. Fortunately, there was no steep price for failure, maybe except the unpleasant feel of cold water, and the possibility of contracting a cold. But training was done so that mistakes would not be made in the heat of battle, when such things mattered most.

Hinoe prepared herself and tried again. The results were a bit better than the woeful failure of the first try, but she still found herself drenched. As she tried again and again, Hinoe attempted to remember the hints the scroll had said, regarding this exercise. While it was an exercise focusing on evasion, the scroll suggested its reader attempt to include a more passive form of environmental control, in this case merely being aware of the environment. Utilize the so-called 'area of divination' of the Byakugan, and respond to the falling water that entered the area.

With every attempt, Hinoe felt she was getting more comfortable with the practice. For four solid hours, she kept at it, resting when she was out of breath and resuming as soon as she could. Eventually, dripping wet and shivering, the Hyuuga tried to dry herself as much as possible. Next time, she would be much more prepared for this training. With persistent practice, Hinoe only had the option of improvement.

FINISHED