As Taro waved to the crowd, they began repeating a phrase. As his hand movement slowed down, and he focused more on the words, he managed to pick out his father’s voice: “TARO, LOOK BEHIND YOU!”
But the warning came too late. When Taro turned, his face met Okuri’s knuckles. The impact sent the skinny boy reeling backwards. Falling to his knees, Taro looked at his opponent.
Okuri was slightly hunched over, with his knees bent in a stance that seemed to be aggressive and bestial in nature. His hands curled into the claw position, and his toes gripped the earth beneath him. His teeth were fully exposed in a bloodcurdling scowl, and he licked where his lips would have been. His brow seemed to contort the upper half of his face, pushing the muscles down and forward, focusing his furious eyes only on what was in front of him. Taro saw his torso expand and contract with every deliberate breath he took. But Okuri’s breaths were not the calm breaths of a meditating monk; they were the breaths of an enraged and ravenous animal. As each lungful of air left his mouth, a low but loud growl swiftly followed it. With dozens of tears in his jacket and his shirt having more holes than fabric, he truly looked like an angry beast from the jaws of hell itself.
“Give up.” The beast spoke.
“NOOO!” Taro screamed. He pulled a kunai from his tool pouch and instinctively tried to stab the monster he saw before him. The mass of fury and muscle brushed his arm away single-handedly, snapping his forearm bones.
The other hand went straight for the throat, lifting him up off the ground. “Give up, or you’ll never see the sun rise.”
Taro slyly slid his other hand into his tool pouch and pulled out a small blue pill, the contents of which seemed to swirl and rearrange themselves randomly. With a flick of his fingertips, the pill flew up into the air and fell gently into his gullet. He swallowed, causing his body to suddenly pulse with chakra, healing all his wounds and forcing Okuri to let go. The pill had instantly granted him all the knowledge of a Hyuuga: every nerve and chakra point stuck out like a sore thumb.
