Knitting Fate (Canon Patchworking with Uchiha Ren Part II)

Twenty-Ninth Thread

"You're not obligated to win. You're obligated to keep trying. To the best you can do everyday."

― Jason Mraz

Ren takes a deep breath and clenches her fists slightly. She's been fighting to stop herself from touching the itching, still slightly open wound on her nose. Fortunately, Hana, ever prepared, had sealed it from all the dust of Iwa with a bit of cloth after flushing it with some liquids – peroxide and... herbs? So, there's that.

Aside from her itchy nose, she was also starting to get anxious. She is pretty confident that she can beat Hibiki – she has been doing so ever since she woke up and was allowed to attend the Academy, really, even when he went at her with Jūken. It's the actual weight of the final match that has started taking its toll on her. Regardless of who she gets matched with, she's pretty much screwed. Her only hope is that they would still be worn out from their previous match.

When the proctor signals the end of the break, she sighs and looks at the rapidly paling Hyūga. Honestly, she'd never thought he could get paler than his clan's usual complexion, but, well. You learn something new every day.

"Good luck," she smirks before jumping off the railing.

"Fifth match!" the proctor yells as they take their places, "Uchiha Ren versus Hyūga Hibiki. Same rules apply as before – fight until the other party yields or is incapable of continuing the fight. Turn away and take ten steps."

Ren turns and does just that, then turns again and looks at her teammate, who is visibly trying to put on a brave face. However, as much as Ren likes to joke about his limited mentality, he knows full well that this, unlike Academy scuffles or training with Shibi, is a real fight. Ren had, after all, pretty much effectively cut off her opponent's hand – and would have decapitated him, or at least severely injured him, if he hadn't chosen to yield.

"Begin!" the proctor says, loud and sharp, and Ren bolts forward instantly, Sharingan spinning wildly. The only thing she has to truly look out for are Hyūga clan techniques, due to their destructive power and little to no field to counter them. She's pretty sure that, if she's actually hit with a Jūken, she would have problems winning this one, and doesn't even want to think about what would happen in the next round.

That, and his ability to block Tenketsu separately even when not using Jūken. He'd never done this before, but-

Okay, Ren had not expected him to actually throw kunai at her. She is glad to see that he's taking all this seriously, but he should know better – between him, who never really used ninja equipment aside from mandatory Academy training (fucking Hyūga traditionalists) and Ren, who'd grown up using them, well.

Dodging two, she grabs the third and, involuntarily pushing chakra into the metal, jumps up and spins above him, hurling the blade with all her might at his back, where she knows the Byakugan weak point is. However, he manages to jump away as the blade knicks his sleeve before imbedding itself into the ground. Deep. Ren blinks at it while landing, and while she did push chakra into it, hers is fire natured, so she would expect it to scorch the clothing, and not-

And not act as if it were wind chakra. Huh. If that was actually wind chakra, and not her mind making stuff up, then, well. Having a secondary nature would probably be pretty useful. That is, when she actually has the time to think about it.

She ducks under a punch and brings her own fist to strike him in the jaw. He sees it coming – that mean uppercut is one of Ren's favorite moves, after all – and moves to the side, thinking himself safe. And that's exactly when Ren decides to provide further proof that she was right to cut her hair up to her neck.