Cold eyes cut across the cragged expanse of the pit, dry plumes of powdery dust still rolling away from the small impact crater. His bandaged fist rose up, flecks of pulverized earth falling from the crevices between his knuckles as he flexed his hand. Removing his eyes from the frightened gazes they had locked, the man looked through the thin golden blonde lengths of his bangs at his palm, as if there were something to be observed there.

And then, cued by something no one else could discern, he cracked a shallow grin.

“That would’ve been it for the both of you, had I connected…”

The three youths standing away from him gave a collective gasp of fear, though, they hushed their anxieties and stowed them away just as quickly. Not one to tolerate such meekness, whatever restraint their stand-in trainer had shown so far would be cast aside immediately if he sensed even a fragment of hesitation.

Still, their inaction at the moment wasn’t routed it cowardice. And he knew that.

“Hmph…!” the lone girl of the genin trio scoffed, crossing her slender arms.

A fierce kunochi with the countenance of a harmless child, Yuuko Ogino was likely the most proficient of the three of them in terms of close-quarters combat. The perennial heir to the Ogino, famed for their many skilled taijutsu practitioners, she was one of the top graduates at the academy and one of her generation’s more promising prospects. And, to top it all off, she commanded the adoration of all her peers, in spite of her shortsightedness.

All in all, she was accustomed to success---which was precisely why the immovable object standing before her irked her so deeply and so easily.

“This is stupid!” Turning her nose up, and looking away, Yuuko bellowed, “We can’t even touch you, and you’re trying to kill us!”

That was all it took.

“I’m going home! I---”

There was a blur of movement mere inches in front of her. She shuddered, feeling the shadow cast over her even with her blue eyes shut, and snapped to. Her opponent, brooding and statuesque in her young eyes, loomed over her, his own icy blue eyes leering down and utterly brimming with cold malice.

Both of her teammates gasped, still looking at where the man had been a moment ago, ‘safely’ several meters away from them. Yuuko, still frozen in shock, didn’t move even as the man’s bandaged hand rose up with the utmost deliberation over her head. Setting his palm down on her crown, his fingers clasped down gently on her short-cut blonde haired head.

Confused, she laxed herself somewhat, and so did the other two of Team Kaneda.

“Is that what you would say…?” the man hissed through clenched teeth. “If I were an enemy…?” Then, those gentle fingers grabbed tighter and tighter on her skull, eliciting a sharp yelp of pain. “Is this what the next generation has to offer? Huh...?”

Looking to his right, the man found the girl’s brother, Sozen, wrought with panic. The strategist of the trio, if any of them could be considered as such, the raven-haired boy understood exactly what the three of them were up against. Not one to beat his head against such a wall, Sozen shared his sister’s disinterest in getting pummeled for no particular reason. Unlike his sister, however, the young shinobi wasn’t so ready to voice his frustrations with this ‘training session’...

Especially not with this man.

“Tsuchikage-sama…!” Sozen managed, nervously swallowing down a wad of spit. “I hate to tell you... but I’d have to agree with my big-headed sister.” The fierce glare of the Tsuchikage narrowed, then. A meek grin surfaced on the boy’s mug as he looked over Yuuji’s shoulder, locking eyes with the third member of Team Kandea. “Which is why we might as well get this over with as quick as possible…”

Suddenly, hurried footsteps approached the Tsuchikage from his blind side.

“...Isn’t that right, Maze?”

Moving quickly, Sozen clapped both hands together. Glinting faintly, the thinnest lines could be seen trailing from the crevices of the boy’s hands toward Yuuji’s ankles. Having already taken advantage of his sister’s unintended distraction, Sozen had already applied the binding tethers of his chakra threads to the man’s ankles, leaving him open to the assault coming from his teammate.

Hair fluttering in the wind, Shimazu---better known by the preferred handle of ‘Maze’---dashed toward the Tsuchikage, his gloved fist balled and reared behind him with all his might curled inside it. True to his self-professed motto, the dark-skinned boy wouldn’t be startled or stifled by ‘the likes of him.’ In fact, it had been the opportunity he was looking for…

To, quite literally, knock his father’s greatest rival down a peg.

“Is that right...?” Yuuji said, unperturbed.

Closing faster and faster, it seemed Maze would connect as the Tsuchikage stood motionless, almost as if he were waiting to be hit.

Then, yanking her up by her collar, Yuuji heaved Yuuko off of her feet and into the path of the oncoming punch. Barrelling forward without the time to redirect himself or his fist, Maze managed only to gasp before all four knuckles crashed hard into the girl’s stomach.

Moving seamlessly out of their path, the Tsuchikage jumped right past the two, utterly ignoring the restraints applied by Sozen. Pulled by the force of his own chakra threads, the boy was hurled forward, straight into his two teammates as they tumbled over one another. A collective yelp of pain shot through the clearing in front of the waterfall.

“Damn…!” Maze groaned, rolling himself off of his teammate. “Almost had him that t---!”

Before he could finish, a hard fist blasted him in the cheek, propelling him away from Sozen and the girl who clocked him.

“You little dumbass!” Yuuko hollered, her fist trembling and her teeth gritted harshly. “Pay the hell attention to where you’re swinging, idiot!”

Maze whimpered something unintelligible, his face planted in the dirt. “S-Sor… ry…!”

Sozen laid flat on his back, staring up at the clearcast sky. For a moment, he thought about playing dead, just as quickly realizing how futile it was.

“Guh…!”

Looking on the three of them, the 'future' of the Hidden Rock and the shinobi world at large, Yuuji uttered a similar sentiment under his breath.