Raimei to Senpuu, Chapter 1: Sins of the Father [Chae][C]

[EITO]

Whap, whap, whap, crunch.

The telltale thuds of a training bag being utilized echoed throughout the area, the crunching of bark and branch hinting that it the tool was suspended against or on a tree of some kind. Like always, Hidana was in his own little world, his combinations of kicks and punches sounding out as he awaited impatiently for his brother. Good at heart but physically weaker, his brother missed out on the discipline and training that their father had meted out in the past, leading to him being a far less capable user of Taijutsu. While Hidana wasn't able to correct his inability to use Ninjutsu so easily, he knew that rounding out the abilities of his brother could lead to at least one of them appearing better in the eyes of the academy.

"Hyah!"

Heel planted, hips providing torque and elbows tucked for optimal momentum, Hidana rotated his body nearly two hundred degrees before outstretching a leg, which promptly penetrated the "stomach" of the training bag, sending it rocketing into the bark of the tree. Hopping back to normalize the strain, he watched and admired his handiwork, the forty pound bag still swinging wildly from his kick. Letting the equipment get some well deserved rest, Hidana turned to face the bushes and trees that hid the entrance to his secret training hovel, which in reality amounted to a stolen weight bag, some trees and a couple of moldy training dummies in the likeness of people. To somebody without a proper training facility, however, this was a marked improvement. Not wanting to burn out the entirety of his energy on wooden effigies of people, Hidana crossed his arms and watched the entrance to the area, hoping his brother wouldn't have to face the punishment associated with being late.

[Chae]

For eighteen long years, Chae resided safely within Kumogakure no sato's walls, never leaving their shelter outside of select missions that required them to leave for extended periods of time. The point? It would've been unlikely that he'd have gotten lost in a land that his mind already mapped out mentally years ago, however, on the off chance he did lost sight of his way, the violent, echoing sounds of flesh pounding away at a training bag told countless warnings of the area. 

Dipping his head as his left hand swiped sidewardly to separate a part of the training hovel, Chae stepped in before the entrance returned to his previous shape. Stepping forward, only a handful of meters separated Chae from his Twin brother Hidana to which the former greeted the latter with a warm & cunning smile.

"Right on time. But I guess that mean's I'd be late if we were around dad. Anyway, What's up? Not surprised to see you'not' here. haha."

Despite taking a jab at how much time and dedication Hidana put into his body and Taijutsu, Chae knew that he spent and equal amount of time honing talent's that could've easily been described as an opposite to his brother's own. Nevertheless, stepping forward before he'd stop, Chae folded his arms as he diligently waited for an answer from his brother. Knowing him, it couldn't have been anything short of interesting. 

[EITO]

There he was, Hidana's dear brother. Greeting him with oddly youthful exuberance, Hidana simply nodded his head in response, maintaining a stoic look on his face as he staunchly approached his twin. "Only place I can train without running the risk of bumping into father, I'm sure you understand." He replied rigidly, knotted shoulder cracking loudly as he rolled it habitually, eyes looking his twin up and down. They were born on the same day, within the same minute and shared the same genes, but their paths had divulged so much as they grew. While Hidana was confident in his own ability to circumvent his weaknesses, he knew that Ninjutsu users had a very real weakness: proximity.

"Do you know why you're here, Chae?"

Hidana's words were calm but sharp, his back turning to his brother as he slid the green cloth that adorned his chest off of his arms before discarding them on the rugged dirt and stone beneath them.

"I've been at this for ten long, hard years. But you never had to train with father like I did, you never had to get beaten, get humiliated."

Despite the implication of what was to come, the tone of his voice didn't reflect any vitriol. Hidana cared for his brother too dearly to put him through a similar regiment to that of his father.

Taking a wide stance, Hidana clenched his fists and shot his brother an intense look. "Hit me, square in the abdomen." As if to illustrate his point, Hidana clenched his abdominal muscles and lightly braced himself, his gaze never once breaking from his brother's face. "I've no intention to stop growing and if I'm going to grow, so are you, even if I have to drag you to my level." Frozen like a statue, a stiff breeze blew through the bushes and trees, as if the winds he was named after were willing his brother to act. ".. I won't lose you in battle simply because you don't know how to defend yourself up close."

[Chae]

Chae grinned in response to Hidana's remark about bumping into their farther and raised an eyebrow towards Hidana as his following inquiry mildly caught him off guard. Confused, the result had been not responding entirely, instead Chae merely stood there and allowed his brother to continue on with his words until he finished. Watching, intently, Chae's eyes slightly lowered out of sadness once his eyes gazed into the new layers of flesh that filled the empty space of old wounds inflicted by none other than their father. 

Although Chae had never had to deal with the full brunt of their fathers training, he knew just how rigorous and exhausting it'd been for Hidana's body. The scars were apart of Chae just as much as it'd been apart of Hidana's body itself, it was a reminder. His speech was motivational, so much so that it moved Chae to the point where -even if he could- he had not even a single way to dispute the point his brother got across. They were brothers and most of all twins, reading each other's playfulness down to the serious sides had been something that existed as second nature. 

Sighing as his brother assumed a fairly familiar stance and ceased his words, Chae barely allowed a single breath escape his lips before he gripped the right shoulder of their father's old coat that covered his torso and pulled away at it's fabric. Throwing the coat to the wayside, a deceivingly calm wind passed over the area and once it settled, Chae stepped in. 

Chae's hips slightly shifted as a means to provide an ample amount of torque as his right, leading foot advanced. In tandem, His upper body mimicked a similar motion as it dipped down towards his brother's abdomen. Finally releasing his breath, a left straight snapped forward and would've slammed into the center of Hidana's stomach. 

Uncertain of the result, Chae keenly observed his brother's reaction.

[EITO]

".. Hmph."

A frustrated noise permeated in the halls of Hidana's mind, his fierce eyes staring straight at his brother as his fist connected with his abdomen. He noted that the form was good and that it was likely he had seen their father throw that very same punch, perhaps at Hidana himself, but didn't understand the comfort needed to use it effectively. As his fist retracted, the fist shaped red mark on his stomach faded instantly, returning to the golden tinge it was prior. "Good form, but you aren't comfortable with your striking, Chae." As if to demonstrate, Hidana turned so that his chest was perpendicular to Chae and then motioned for him to watch. Moving in slow motion, the muscles of Hidana's back flexed, followed by his serratus and finally abdominal muscles. "You need to build a good foundation in your muscles for the strike, Chae. Let the force start from your back, through your sides until it reaches your abdomen." Repeating the motion a few more times for good measure, the more physically able brother started to add in the actual punch component of the attack, at first raising his left hand as both a distance gauging tool and as a feint, a habit forged through hundreds of hours of training and sparring. "You aren't good enough to guess distance, brother, so make sure you gauge it with your left. Remind your eyes how long your arms are before you throw out the punch." As if to illustrate this, Hidana let out a full force punch at the air, the loud snap and whip of his jab showing the disparity between their abilities. Soon after, he threw four more punches and then retracted, his eyes confirming that his brother understood.

"I'm a target that doesn't hit back, if this was a battle, committing your entire body to a blow would leave you open."

Confident that his brother understood, Hidana pushed off of the ground and slipped into the space directly in front of his brother, fist cocked at his stomach. ".. Uncomfortable, right?" He joked, eyes staring down into his smaller siblings own hues. "Enemies will want to get in your face, to stop your hands; to stop your heart. Tell me, what do you think you should do in this situation? I'm faster, I'm stronger, simply backstepping won't get rid of me." Keeping his fist pressed to his brother's side, the atmosphere of the room completely changed, devoid of the playful banter and illustrative explanation from before. This was a lesson his brother needed to learn, but Hidana wasn't going to beat it out of him like his father, beatings didn't make him as good as he was, so why would it work for his brother?

".. DEFEND!"

[Chae]

An audible thud snapped into the openness of air as Chae's fist landed squarely in the center of Hidana's abdomen, however, it seemed that the power exerted seemingly amounted to nothing against his brother's chiseled body. According to his brother, his form had been fairly good, however, lacked confidence in his striking ability. Chae couldn't have agreed more considering even he himself often relied to heavily on his Ninjutsu-based Talents. Returning to an upright stance, Chae watched as his brother went into a well-formulated demonstration. Appropriately nodding along with Hidana's lesson, Chae slowly realized that his brother only held his best interest at heart, knowing that someday someone will surely get close and seize any amount of time Chae normally would have to weave handseals and properly prepared him for it. 

Soon, Hidana advanced and infiltrated the precious space that existed in front of Chae, leaving a finely cocked fist at his stomach. Slower, weaker, and with no time to weave hand signatures, Chae had easily been at a disadvantage; and unfortunately for him, back stepping hadn't been an option readily available. Taking a deep breath, he defended himself to the best of his abilities on his brother's "DEFEND" Command. 

Using his right hand to push Hidana's fist off and away from his stomach from the arm's 'inside', In tandem he stepped forward with his left foot whilst thrusting his left hand forward in the form of a tiger's claw. With the tip of his fingers aligned with Hidana's chest, five individual bolts of reactionary lightning emerged from each finger and aimed to pepper Hidana's chest. In lieu of the attack, his hand would've continued to thrust forward in an attempt to slam the 'claw' into Hidana's solar plexus. Trying his best, he awaited the outcome.

[EITO]

"Lightning?!"

Surprised by his brother's instant response, Hidana's eyes slanted as he saw the sparks and crackles of lightning form at his brother's fingers, which seemed, in his mind, to be heading directly towards his heart. Right shoulder rocketing back, the taller brother used his reach advantage to take a single step back, the aimed lightning assault sailing passed his chest and shoulder, however one of the bolts of lightning skimmed the flesh of his right forearm, causing him to let out a sharp ''hrk" noise. Fighting his own instincts to strike back, Hidana moved himself a full two meters away from his sibling and raised a hand, a serious look on his face.

"Save it for the enemy, Chae."

The thin electrical burn over Hidana's arm didn't particularly hurt, but he knew that if that shot had landed on his chest he would have been in definite trouble. Still, not wanting to chastise his brother for a good response, the older brother finally broke his serious demeanor and smiled. "A claw strike is good, you can grab somebody to push or pull them, but leaving your left foot forward like that leaves you open to a sweep." Mimicking the same motion his brother had just made, Hidana nodded down at his foot that was ahead, leaving a clear spot for somebody to either grab or kick his leg to the side, rendering his balance moot. "Use your hips and shoulder, your left foot is a telegraph that simply isn't needed. Here, try this." Walking over to the forty pound training bag that was hung from a nearby tree, Hidana assumed a wide footed stance before demonstrating a strike not too dissimilar to his previous explanation. Feinting with his left hand, he threw a calculated strike at the center of the bag, using the momentum of his chest turning and his rear foot to drive it into the center of the bag.

"A claw or palm to the center of the chest isn't where you want to put it. Remember, unless it's a friendly sparring session it should be assumed they want to kill you. If you want to kill them, zap their heart, if you want to stun them, crush their throat." As a punctuation to his last statement, he performed the same claw motion from before and gripped his fingers at the end of the attack, mimicking a fundamental Taijutsu technique. "Try hitting the bag a couple of times, Chae. Just.. try not to light it on fire this time, please."

[Chae]

The lightning seemed to have missed, barely, however, the claw itself missed it's intended target entirely. Being the faster one of the two, Hidana distanced himself just two meters away from Chae as he made his comment about leaving Chae's ninjutsu. The claw strike was good, however, another mistake had been made in it's place; Chae's left foot. Peeping his Brother's nod, Chae cut a quick glance down to his foot - bringing the mistake itself to Chae's immediate attention. So much information spilled from his brother's lips, however, he somehow managed to catch and absorb it all before it foolishly escaped his mind. Returning a more relaxed stance as Hidana motioned towards the training bag to demonstrate another less, Chae controlled his breathing and flicked his nose with his left thumb. 

Listening and watching intently, he laughed at Hidana's comment regarding the training bag being set ablaze. Shaking his head, the younger twin approached the bag and assumed the same stance that Hidana performed just moments prior.

"Like This?"

Drawing from the momentum of his chest as it turned along with using his rear foot to draw from and eventually drive the transferred power into his extending arm and soon the actual training bag. Screaming with a confidence he lacked just moments ago, his tiger claw snapped forward and dug deep into the fabrics of the training bag. Upon contact Chae's finger's clinched and tightened, enough so that it grabbed the bag's 'stomach'.

Pulling against the bag towards himself thereafter, Chae's free arm bent inwardly mid-swing and came forward with a side-swiping elbow that collided with the neck and lower-side Jaw of the bag. Attacking with the intent to "Kill", he hoped that his more recent display had been more ideal than his previous attempts.

[EITO]

"He learns quick."

Hidana crossed his arms casually, his eyes paying careful attention to his brother's movements which seemed to mimic his own so perfectly. Hearing a sharp whap against the bag when he delivered the elbow, Hidana stepped in once more, his body wordlessly showing Chae how to better deliver an elbow. "Elbows are all shoulder, your fist is a bludgeon but your elbow is a blade. Keep it diagonal." Throwing a few quick elbows into the air, Hidana looked to his brother in mutual understanding and then smiled, dragging one of the few archaic training dummies closer to his brother, such that they could train next to one another.

"Okay, now we're going to learn about the roundhouse kick, it's important to note.."

---

Many hours passed..

Whap, whap, crack.

The sounds of intense training still sung out from the trees and shrubbery, two brothers engaged in mutual betterment. It would be a long road, but this was their first step to becoming legends, to fulfill their monikers prophecy.

- end thread