The step carried through into the next without slowing. Roen was already inside the movement before the last thought had settled, weight shifting forward as the punch drove out clean.
Elbow followed.
Tight. Same line.
The kick snapped low into the thigh.
No pause.
The gap opened
he stepped into it anyway.
The next motion lagged. Half a beat behind. The sequence stretched, edges rough, not lining up the way they should.
Still
it held.
For a second.
Then it slipped.
His breathing picked up. Dirt shifted under his feet as he drove back into it, again, then again, each entry landing, each follow-up just slightly off. The rhythm was there.
Incomplete.
Close enough to feel.
Not close enough to stay.
He pushed harder.
Shoulders turned sharper this time, hips driving through the elbow, the kick coming lower, faster
the break tried to form.
He forced straight through it.
Didn't let it collapse.
Even when the chain dragged behind him.
It kept slipping.
Not enough to stop him.
Just enough to stay there.
He stepped in again, punch, elbow, low kick, and forced the next motion through with more weight, the sequence holding longer this time before it dragged again, his stance shifting to catch it. Breath came heavier now. The ground had started to mark his steps.
He didn't notice when someone arrived.
The next step didn't land right.
The rhythm slipped just enough to throw it off before it could settle, his foot setting down a little wrong, weight shifting too soon to fix it.
He stepped out, short, pulling back, breath not sitting right, focus tightening.
someone was there.
Roen's gaze shifted.
A man stood off to the side of the ground, arms folded, watching without moving.
Green.
Too bright.
It sat wrong against everything else.
Roen's gaze lifted.
Hair cut straight.
Then
eyebrows.
Roen paused a fraction.
That's… Might Guy.
The thought sat there.
"…seriously?"
Up close it didn't get better. The eyebrows were worse in person. Thicker. More solid. His face had that same intensity Roen remembered, like everything about him was turned up slightly past what it should be. Something about it felt out of place and completely stable at the same time. Like he'd walked out of a different world and landed here without adjusting anything.
Guy didn't speak immediately.
He just kept looking.
The silence stretched a little longer than it should have, just enough to register, just enough to make the moment sit awkwardly between them. Roen held his position without shifting, breathing still uneven from the last sequence, dust settling around his feet.
Then
"YO!"
It broke all at once.
Might Guy stepped forward like the ground had been waiting for him to move, energy snapping into place with the motion, his grin wide, posture opening like he'd been holding it back on purpose.
"What a display of youthful effort!"
His voice carried across the empty ground without needing volume, full, sharp, like every word had direction behind it.
"I am Might Guy! The noble Green Beast of Konoha!"
He brought a fist to his chest with the introduction, the movement hitting with more force than necessary, then pointed straight at Roen without hesitation.
"And you!"
A beat.
His grin sharpened.
"You have been training with great intensity!"
Roen didn't move.
"…Roen," he said.
Guy's eyes lit up slightly.
"Roen!" he repeated, like the name fit into something he'd already decided. "Your taijutsu"
He stepped closer.
"is interesting!"
The word landed heavier than it sounded.
Guy tilted his head slightly, still looking directly at him, the grin not fading but shifting, something more focused settling behind it.
"But something feels off."
Roen didn't answer straight away.
He held his gaze for a second longer than needed, then shifted his weight slightly, the last of the movement settling out of his body.
"…Where?"