When Xiang first found the book named "Fencing for Commoners", she had no idea she would become hooked on the prospect of fighting with a rapier. Hyuga normally don't use weapons when they can't help it, preferring their eyes and fists, as their body was a weapon to them already. Juken is also one of the most effective fighting styles in history, even though many feats since its creation have surpassed it. Shutting down someone from the inside without leaving a mark whatsoever was a good skill to come by, after all. Yet, despite all of these reasons for not using anything else having been crammed in her brain all those years, the sheer thrill of finding anything at all that she could make her own was enough to influence her to buy the guide, alongside a flimsy practice blade. That was the beginning of her career as a swordswoman.

In the first month of her obsession, she read this collage of basic fencing styles and training exercises from front to cover, ranging from the correct way to parry to the mechanics of Passata Sotto. Her clumsy way of practicing on it was what caught her mother's attention, to which Xiang would find another pleasant surprise in her life. It turned out that her mom once wielded rapiers in battle as well, and happened to be quite skilled with them when she was young. She only gave up the art due to marrying her father, which didn't surprise Xiang. He had always been one for tradition, while her mother wanted to branch out. Xiang herself was always somewhere in the middle, which made sense, since she was the whole of two parts. Anyway, when she was told this, her mother decided to dig into her closet full of valuables, and picked up one of the most beautiful looking weapons of war one could have ever laid eyes upon...at least, in the eyes of this beholder. The MAR - or what her mother called it, the Whiplash - was a magnificent collaboration of tradition and modern tech, which showed with the revolver-like chamber near the hilt. From then on, it became not only her practice tool, but her weapon of choice, as she wanted to learn the secrets of her mother's weapon, and past.

Now having some free time in her own self inflicted training schedule, she was going to test herself today, to see if she was worthy of it anymore. It's not that she felt as though she wasn't, but she only finally gotten down the final move of her fencing basics book days prior. So, it was time to complete the ultimate test of her greatness within the realm of using rapier. To do this, she decided to take an errand from one of the people in her village in need of her services, with bandits having been a problem for the past week or so. She would stand guard until dawn from midnight, standing exactly in the center of the room, stalking the point of interest like it was her prey.

[Current WC: 521]

Almost as if bandits aren’t the most intelligent or strategical of minds, they decide to attack the store again; after all the sixth time's the charm, right? There is a small group of them around eight strong, most of them brutes and toughs, typical of a bandit. Most didn’t even know what was so valuable within this place, they just wanted an excuse to break in. A single bandit with a much more imposing baring seems to be leading his more brutish brethren. The group splits into three groups, two groups of three taking the front and rear entrance respectively. The Leader and one other bandit sneak onto the roof, descending through the rafters silently. They notice the lone sentinel; the other two groups, however, do not have such a luxury after picking the locks and making their way into the shop proper.

As soon as she saw the door creak open, the Hyuga girl was on them like a hungry, feral tiger, the MAR drawn and now crackling with electricity, ending at a fine point of the tip of her blade. Swiftly, hopping forward slightly, she attempted to strike at the closest hand she could feasibly see, with a second thrust predicting the face of another bandit coming in as soon as she could pull back and pierce once more, moving to her left afterwards.

She had the element of surprise so the first bandit took a deep cut to his shoulder, dropping down immediately. Even he was smart enough to know this was not his time to strike. His ally fortunately dropped back mainly out of surprise although he caught flat footed it was enough to keep him out of the range of her second strike just barely. Hearing the commotion the 3rd member of that group draws his weapon. A large spiked club, he was unfamiliar with the weapon she wielded but its blade looks very thin and not very capable of blocking a heavier weapon like his club so he swings at the assailant, partially in hopes of hitting her, the other to give some cover to his allies who were knocked back and thrown.

The group behind her saw an opening as she moved towards the front door team, utilizing ranged weapons they throw a set of kunai with strange windmill-like items on the top of them. They have 2 downwards facing curves on the handle, they hope to strike her in the back while she is preoccupied.

While feeling as though she had downed the first, she definitely failed at doing much to the second, now needing to reevaluate her battle plan. As the bandit fell back, however, the third came into her sight, drawing out a barbaric club to strike at her with, though with great strength compared to her own. This was too fast for her to dodge, but she had enough wits to activate the Item Reinforcement Technique in the lapse she had to work with, then boldly slide the club along the right side of her blade all the way down onto the hilt, pushing his arms to the left in the process with a forcible shove. Despite her cleverness, she hadn’t noticed the group behind her at all yet, so, while the bandit she fought likely took two of the kunai due to her moving so rapidly, she got the remaining weapons near the shoulder blades, grunting in pain, though they weren’t nearly deep enough to disable the usage of the arms for now.

Although the bandit took one of the kunais to the leg, it had descended far too much to do any real damage, as he was thrown off balance from the shunt of the rapier. One of the kunai also hits the one with the leader, dropping from the rafters, while the Leader remains concealed, observing this foe intently. The one who dropped does so silently, immediately aiming for the back of her knee with a sharp kick, hoping to use the element of surprise to grab her head and slam her down. He doesn’t appear to be armed, or at least she wouldn’t see any weapons in his person. The one who got struck with the first kunai drops back, shielding the one who took the deep wound to the shoulder. The one with the club holds it towards his body, standing side on in a decidedly defensive stance. They may not be the smartest, but they know how to fight it seems.

With the first group backing down yet again, aside from the one with the club, she had turned her attention to where the kunai came from, but ended up getting caught off guard by a kick to the back of her knee. Though she fell, she used her momentum to thrust at the direction the kicking foot came from, while using her free hand to catch herself. All the while, a series of nerve clusters sprouted from her eyes, as she activated her Byakugan, her field of vision increasing dramatically to two hundred seventy-five degrees and showing her the tenketsu and chakra systems of her opponents in a basic diagram of lines and such. With this, she hoped she’d have the advantage, especially considering that any light they had was simple moonlight, which would conceal her for the most part.

The one up close stays up close, he seems to at least be aware of what she was doing, to counter this he stays very close, quick fast strikes making sure he demanded most of her focus, leaping into the air for a dropping kick. Its predictable and easily blocked but that was the point, using his ally as a cover the leader drops down concealed by the body of his ally flipping over her while she is reacting to him and striking but instead of going for any of her vital points he instead slammed his open palm into the Kunai that was still sticking out of her, an immediate weak point and an area that could disable the limb.

While Xiang hadn’t the vision to see directly through others, she did have the fortunate fact that she knew more were in the room to aid in her intel. Not only that, but the kunai stuck in her shoulder blade was going to be a real pain if she didn’t fix it sometime soon. So, instead of blocking the kick coming for her, she dropped down onto the floor onto her belly, then rolled to the left on her side, reaching behind herself to grab at the kunai stuck inside of her. While the spikes near the handle would stab a bit into her hand, she grunted and shrugged it off for now, adrenaline overriding it a bit. She jimmied the metal a bit, causing the wound bigger, but making it so that she could pull it out without tearing through flesh later. Whether or not she would have the time to do that was up to debate though.

The leader drops into a roll, seeing his opportunity to slam the kunai slipping away; he still sees an opening. In the moment the kunai is nearly all pulled out, he would slam against her spine with his shoulder sliding into a grab, swiftly raising her and slamming her to the ground, using the pain as an opening to slip into her blind spot. The other fighter keeps pushing the offensive to keep her occupied while he does this. Seeing as her Byakugan gave her a few seconds to react, she only had one option here before she was pegged by the slamming of the leader. Letting out another huffing noise, she released the lightning cloak on her blade, infused it with normal chakra, then threw it over to the side, away from everyone else, right before the hit landed. She squealed in pain, blood gushing out of the wound from the impact, and another pained squeal from falling onto the floor to capitalize on her blind spot. She stayed still after this, shivering in silence to herself, looking down at the floor. To be fair, it wasn’t like she could do much more...right?

[Current WC: 1376 + 521 = 1897]

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The leader, suspicious and knowing there was more to this girl than met the eye, gestured for his second in command to step back. He stands relaxed above her, saying “Be quick with your trickery, girl, I know that was not enough to bring you down. Save yourself the indignity of defeat, and surrender now and I assure you that you will not suffer any further harm.” The bandit with the club scoffed, “No, that bitch damn near sliced Inui’s arm off! I ain’t letting her walk away until she has suffered the same!” He stomped over, club raised, “An arm for an arm is fair, right boss?” The leader simply steps back saying, nothing.

Right as the bandit with the club was about to clobber her, as the crude weapon barely brushed onto her soft skin, she struck up a smirk secretly, her whole body puffing into a little white smoke. Replacing her seemingly crumpled body was MAR, the weapon she threw off earlier, to which she jumped out of the prior location of the relocated blade and came down on the leader from behind with juken-laced jabs, at the back and sides of his neck, respectively. The first strike hits dead on, leading the leader to flinch, but instead of tensing his body, goes limp, his shoulder rolling back, leading her to lose her sense of positioning with the next strike, allowing him to move at the very last instant, avoiding it by mere centimeters. Jumping back, he created some room, cracking his neck. “As to be expected, foolish girl.” He charges forward, his stance open intentionally, plenty of vulnerable spots.

By now, she realized he was way too prepared for her to be tricky like she usually was. This gave her an idea she learned from the Academy many, many years ago. Her instructor had told her a saying that, while she found hilarious, was going to come into fruition with a strike she was wanting to end the fight with. He said… “Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face.” So, with a hyping up yell, she dashed forward, and extended her arm outward, hand cupped into a fist, putting as much force as she could into it, aiming to sock him right in the kisser and send him corralling the opposite direction.

The saying was indeed correct, it would probably hold a great deal of impact, figuratively and literally, if not for one little thing. She had disrupted a plan very successfully, as there is a loud thud of a body hitting the ground. Sadly, it was the thug with the club, hoping to sneak a good hit in only to find himself unintentionally blocking the punch with his face. Now all he sees is a fist engraved into his mind, as well as his first memory; she really hit him hard. The leader shakes his head, “You were a noble sacrifice.” Seemingly wanting to pay no more attention to this, he adopts an actual fighting stance, fist covering his cheek and the other held strong down by his waist, hopping back and forth on his feet. “So you aren’t afraid to brawl. Good; that’s where I excel!”

While she was disappointed at the fact she hadn’t taken out the leader, and somehow didn’t see the thug despite her widened field of vision, she shrugged it off and got in her own stance, left leg extended, the other one bent, her fingers in the shape of a hook and guarding her neck and chest. This is after she jimmied the kunai in her back the rest of the way out, throwing it to the location of the other thugs to let them know to not try anything else. With that, she simply watched him bounce up and down, her eyes following every movement precisely, and anything else in the room, while focusing in on him a little to find an actual weak point. “You trust your eyes too much, girl.” He leaped forward, covering a pretty decent distance in a single bound, swinging his leg downwards in a brutal axe kick, aimed straight for her face, giving her little reaction time. To make matters worse, his second in command lunges at her with an overhead bolo punch, knowing she can see him, but making it harder for her to react to both simultaneously.

Seeing as he believed her to not be a great multitasker (in her perspective), Xiang used this to her advantage by going for a bold, rather cheap move; though that hardly mattered in fights with bandits, now did it? She made a quick, very small leap from her position, very nearly being slammed by his foot, only to duck her head and slide under him, letting the puncher most likely end up hitting the leader instead, while she herself decided to go for a nut jab with both fingers. Fortunately, the leader was stood on his back foot, leaning back, allowing him to avoid any collisions. As the leader sees her attempt to attack his manhood (or as a desperate last act cop a feel, your choice), he merely hops back, resuming his original stance. The second in command, however, was not so nimble and dexterous, taking the attack pretty squarely and being forced to keel over, wrenching in pain, on the verge of throwing up. This leader guy was much better than his teammates, but Xiang wasn’t about to give up despite her many setbacks. She quickly stood up from her lowered position, then went at him with one swift movement, this time with a palm strike, initiating a close quarters clash, this time keen on not letting him move around as much anymore.

He took the palm thrust, knocking him back slightly, but he immediately rebounds, also sticking to close quarters; he seems to be very adept at dodging, letting her make the majority of the swings. Responding with swift, sharp jabs, occasionally attempting to sweep her leg. This time Xiang was in the zone, letting nothing else distract her but the adept man before her. In any other timeline, she would have loved to be a training partner with someone as skilled as he was. Unfortunately for him, he was her enemy, and she showed no mercy to those that messed with innocents. With her spherical vision, she was able to combat the sweeping leg with her own using equal force, all the while redirecting his jabs and going for her own, all on equal footing, though her eyes were starting to sting with so much usage of her Byakugan. Not that it was anything she couldn’t handle, seeing as ever since she obtained them she has trained the eyes to no end. By now it was going to be a battle of stamina.

He kept pushing, knowing both of them are trying to burn each other out stamina wise, going on the offensive. He keeps adding quick crosses to his jabs, blocking her punches with grabs, forcing her to react more and rely less on her perception, looking for an opening to deliver the finishing blow. With the pressure being pushed onto her side, she quickly attempted to copy the same grab he had done to her, now wanting to go onto a struggling standstill, with fingers interlocked and pushing at each other, her brow furrowed and body tensing. He pushed back against her, being heavier and a bit taller, he is able to exert a bit more pressure on her a bit more easily. His face tensed as he was putting his entire focus on this. Whoever won this struggle would surely win the battle.

Knowing she had got him right where she wanted him now, utilizing his own weight and height against him, she twisted her body, turning to the side, while bending his arms over her shoulder, using her knees to give her the strength she needed to slam him down right over herself onto the floor, enough to cause the antique wooden flooring to crack a bit. He slammed into the floor with an audible thud, knocking the wind out of him, leaving him vulnerable; it looked like he was about to regain his bearings, so this would be her only moment to take advantage of his vulnerability. Before he could even think about gathering himself up, she had the thin heel of her boot right up to his neck, while the flat pressed and ground into his face, keeping him in one place. She held a finger up, shaking it at him, before putting her hands on her hips and staring down at him angrily. “I think I had enough fighting for today, and I don’t want to be the death of you. So I’m gonna go ahead and tie you up now, alright? Otherwise I will kill you on accident.”

“Hmph...you think you have gained victory? No, I merely cease hostilities for now. Do not think this is the last you will see of me, girl.” He is obstinate even in defeat. His colleagues are not as strong willed, fleeing at the sight of their leader pinned to the floor.

“HEY! IF YOU RUN AWAY I’M SURE THE ROOT WON’T BE AS NICE!” she ended the leader’s consciousness via kicking him hard in the head, before proceeding to chase after the rest of the goons into the sunset, intent on tying them up and bringing them into the authorities. But man, what a crazy day this had turned out to be. She took on eight guys at once, despite being stabbed with a hook-like kunai and taking a bit of a beating, and even managing to scare off said guys all on her lonesome. Though something did come up in her mind as she took all of this in... she might be skilled in swordsmanship, but she has a long way to go before becoming a master.

[EXIT]

[Final WC: 1674 + 1897 = 3566]

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