Michael
From her position — kind of distressed, head against the upright log, frown etched upon her lips as though carved from ice — it wasn't difficult to spot the figure approaching her. Taller than she was (because, honestly, who *Wasn't* Taller than Hikari?) with a sort of animalistic mask worn on their face, their eyes hard to divine from behind it. A large, bully sheathe was visible on their back; some strange weapon of sorts, perhaps? It was possible. The redhead raised her head from where it was resting against the pole — her forehead protector now visible, Hikari had forgotten it was there after so much time spent wearing it — and looked at the person who approached her directly, with blatant curiosity.

Hyūga Masumi, huh? That was a surname Hikari *Had* Heard of by now, though that was pretty much all she knew. Something about their eyes...? Them and another clan. Uchari, maybe. She couldn't remember.

His hand gesture to her trench knives was met with a light blush and a gauche laugh. "Uhm, yeah, if you have the time...? I, er, don't really know how to use these yet. Just bought 'em the other day. I've got a really basic idea of just, uhm, punching with 'em? And then stopping a bit short, like, distance-wise, to hit with the blades only? But I've got so much muscle memory from actually *Hittin'* That it's hard to, y'know, purposefully miss so much."

Another laugh escaped her mouth at the end, more embarrassment than awkwardness, and the girl's blush intensified. Really, she'd been trying her best to learn how to do this for a few days now, but it just... Didn't click. Not like just punching did. Not yet, she hoped.
Pamela
*Many recognized the Hyuga clan name, as it was an Accord clan of Noragakure, but he wouldn't be surprised if there were some that simply didn't recognize it. It was a big village, there were bound to be some, and that was okay. He rathered be known for the person he was than the clan he was born and raised in. They weren't the best supporters of his methods, but he supported himself and that's what mattered.*

"Always have the time. I've never had the pleasure of using a melee weapon before, but I can try to relate. What I can gather from how it looks, it looks like you need to aim for the person, but just barely missing to the left or right depending on the knife."

*He mimicked the use of a trench knife, slowly punching the air, his fist visibly diverting to the left. Then his other fist did the same, but diverting to the right. Although, he had no clue what he was talking about, he could only.*

"I know, muscle memory can sometimes be a big issue, but it's all about just drilling that method into your brain."
Michael
Hikari wondered how her clan was perceived. She didn't know much about politics or anything — like she knew that some clans were looked at as "More important" Than other clans, and that some were there during the founding and others weren't, and that some had more missing-nin than others, or something like that. She'd heard Tou-chan complain a lot about this cousin or that nephew "Going AWOL" (whatever AWOL meant), and that it would just make people think worse of their clan. Hikari had never understood why. Did the actions of one person make an entire group of people suddenly less liked? It didn't make any sense.

Were the Uzumaki seen in a bad light, then, if they had "So many rogue shinobi" (also as Tou-chan had said in the past)? Hikari frowned internally. She hoped not. If someone thought bad of her before even knowing her, would they think less than nothing of her after they adopted the attitude of her former classmates...?

She shook her head visibly and focused on Masumi's words. Just barely missing, yeah? That's what she was trying to do, but maybe another set of eyes would help... And speaking of eyes, her own gray ones trailed the older boy's fists as they moved back and forth. He looked very practiced. Was he a taijutsu expert? There was no wasted movement; pure efficiency and knowledge of where his hands were and what they were doing, to a level past basic muscle memory. Hikari remembered that tall scarred man from watching Masumi move. They were the same, then. Pure physical might. Though, Masumi's body wasn't as overly-bulked-up as the man with a thousand scars had been. Maybe he was more focused on speed...? It didn't matter.

"Barely miss..." Hikari echoed, turning a quarter-circle and facing the log again. She made a jabbing motion with her left hand, skewing it to the right so that the main thing hitting was her blade — but she missed entirely. The girl grit her teeth and tried again, only to not skew far enough and connect with her knuckles. Pain flowered through her hand.

Fed up, Hikari actively tried punching the wood with her right hand this time, only to accidentally miss the punch — and get the trench knife's blade lodged in the wood in a direct hit. Dumbfounded, the redhead pulled her arm back with some effort and tried analyzing what she did to no avail.

"Er, Masumi..." Hikari began, sheepish. "Didja happen to see what I did just there a second ago? I, uhm, wasn't fully paying attention... Also, uhm, I didn't give ya my name yet! It's Hikari! Uzumaki Hikari!"
Pamela
*Masumi knew a fair amount about the Uzumaki clan. Although, he knew that they weren't the biggest clan, though they still had some size to them in terms of numbers. He also knew that they lived pretty long, in terms of age. In terms of battle, he didn't know. He had not fought alongside an Uzumaki, maybe that would change in the future. He would just have to see.*

*He watched their movements as they attempted to follow his advice. It was kind of working, although with the length of the blade they needed to be a bit closer. They were getting a bit closer each time. He nodded each time they attempted a strike, only for his hopes to be slightly dashed when they missed. There was always the time after. He watched as their frustration piqued and the blade struck the wood. He smirked slightly as they pulled the blade out, and then they looked at him to ask what happened. He blinked several times at them as they then introduced themselves.*

"I think you were actively trying to hit it, missed and then the blade got lodged into the log. I think just need to wait until the last possible moment to miss. Ah, nice to meet ya."

*He nodded, getting his guess of their clan correct.*
Michael
Masumi's description of the events that had occurred made sense, Hikari acknowledged. She'd gotten upset and missed her punch — Tou-chan always said that anger was best left outside of a fight — but it had the good fortune of being just barely a miss, to the point that the blade of her trench knife had gotten stuck in the wood. At least now she had a good basis on where her hand should end up, right? 

"Thanksya, Masumi!" Hikari chirped, bad mood forgotten at her new acquaintance's considering words — she had turned her head to face the taller Hyūga boy, and now returned to facing the wooden post. "Rrrrargh! Rock You!"

It was one of her taijutsu techniques, really, though it did have the added benefit of *Almost* Sounding like a very particular cuss word. In any case, the movement was a hook feint by nature; it was *Supposed* To be used as such, and then become an elbow strike or a back-handed punch as a subsequent action, but it really did work well as something to practice her trench knives with.

Her left hand moved forwards in a hook motion and Hikari *Felt* The blade drag against the outermost layer of the wooden post, but it was just that — the outermost layer. She stopped the taijutsu technique before the mix-up portion happened and tried to find even the lightest mark, but frowned at not seeing any. Maybe this idea was a bad one?

No, she couldn't let just one mistake force her to give up! She was Uzumaki Hikari, dammit!

"Rock You!" She shouted again, leaning into the punch and sharply hooking it left right before it impacted — barely miss, Masumi had said sagely — and Hikari found resistance as she tried swiping further left. Eyes widening, she kept dragging the blade with all of her might, and the noisome noise of metal trying to rip through wood sounded through the area — the blade slipped free and Hikari, now with approximately *Way too much* Kinetic energy in one direction with no stopping force, stumbled backwards and landed on her rear end.

Even so, she grinned up at Masumi triumphantly. "Lookit! I did it! No, no, we did it! Thanks Masumi, so so much!"
Pamela
*Masumi nodded in acceptance of their appreciation. He watched as they turned back to the woon post and attempted to strike the post with the use of a technique. Being slightly taken aback by the words said, he watchd as it did not work. His expression turned to being puzzled, unsure of what Hikari was doing. He scratched his chin as he watched them try it again.*

*He nodded as they hooked it left sharply before the impact. He watched as the blade found its target, and it ripped through the wood at the front of the log. He then watched as they fell over. He found their attempt amusing, and finally understanding the name of their technique, still confused on the origins of that.*

"Good job. That was all you, you put the advice into motion."

*He gave them a thumbs up.*
Michael
Hikari giggled, making no move to pick herself up from where she sat on the grassy ground. "Nope! If it was just me, then I would've been able t'do it all by myself! You helped, Masumi!" She gave him a thumbs-up in reply to his own.

She stood, then, and made a show of dusting off her posterior. How long had Hikari been here, again? When she'd arrived, the sun hadn't reached its peak point in the sky, and it looked like it'd start setting soon... Uh oh. Kaa-chan was probably making dinner, now. How to avoid any backlash for it...? Oh! Kaa-chan always didn't mind if she was with a friend!

"Masumi, Masumi!" Hikari stage-whispered, sidling up next to the taller boy and giving him a *Look*. "Listen, I'm really hungry. Wanna grab a bite to eat? My treat!"
Jacob
"Y'know, I'm always surprised this place don't stink too much, considering' everyone comes here after trainin' and sweatin' their asses off," Nagiha would muse aloud as she entered the famed establishment with her student. It was a time-honoured Shinobi tradition to come here after training, making it - in Nagiha's opinion - the most culturally important location in all of Noragakure.

It did help that she didn't really give a shit about the self-aggrandising clan monuments, though.

Stretching tired bones, Nagiha would approach the counter to take a seat, beckoning one Uzumaki Hikari along to join her. "I'll spot ya some ramen. Frontier Patrol payout's got me feelin' generous, after all," The Sabaku girl would say eagerly, looking to her student with all the pride of someone who'd just been paid.

"Unless you've gotten on some missions yourself already, and gotten somethin' outta that."