Author Notes:
This story is inspired on Naruto: Path of the Rikudō Sennin from MathiasNightlord01, and even if it is a bit of stretch, the concept was quite interesting to pass.
For the readers of my other stories, that doesn't mean I will abandon them. Zero/Familiar Records just need to finish a few sections on the second chapter and to check the facts on the source material, while the Strongest Heir and X-men, Unexpected Evolution also need some more polishing. I have the general outline of the last two, but not the details of the plot yet, sorry.
Up until chapter three, it will follow more or less the original intention of MathiasNightlord01, and after that it will deviate quite fast from both his fanfiction and Kenichi canon. Due to the nature of the cross over, expect the world of Naruto to be inherently different.
As for pairing and such, there will be, but not much emphasis on them.
Any questions please send a PM or give your reviews.
As for a Beta Reader, I'm still waiting for one.
"Damn that stupid dairy cow!"
It wasn't a good week for Nanjo Kisara, the newly appointed 'Eight Fist' of the gang called Ragnarok. First she meet that annoying guy that not only managed to defeat most of her underlings, but had the nerve to say he won't hit a girl, thinking they are weak!
However above all else was the friend of Kenichi that pissed her off the most: not only she managed to defeat her in a humiliating way, but she keep flaunting her 'talents' in that skin tight suit as if rubbing on her face how much the 'daily cow' was superior to Kisara.
To add salt to the injury one of her underlings distracted her from achieving her highest score on her game!
Currently taking a break from her training, she leaned against the window of her hideout. The night breeze cooling her skin while soothing her aching muscles. She was about to resume her training when she noticed a faint mist spreading through the room, and all the lights from the room turning off at the same time with a single 'click'.
She told herself she wasn't scared, that it was just a power shortage and the mist simply came from outside. There was nothing creepy in all this, and definitely it didn't reminded her of some bad slash movie.
That's why she only squealed a little when she heard steps coming from all directions towards her.
"W-who is there? Show yourself!" She valiantly demanded while taking a step back, tensing her body in a fighting position while furiously checking her surroundings.
"Good night, Nanjo Kisara. Or should I say, 'Valkyrie'?" Said a male voice from around the room in a calm and pleasant voice, the worst kind if the movies ever taught her anything.
Suddenly some parts of the mist parted ways finally revealing the mysterious figure. He, because that voice could only mean it was a he thought Kisara, was wearing a white short sleeved trench coat with red flames at the bottom of the coat. He had his arms crossed, wearing a green flack jacket over a set of dark blue pants and long sleeved shirt behind the coat. His face was obscured by the lack of light but she could discern some blond strands of hair and a blond beard framing his face.
Kisara instantly sighed, relieved.
"Phew. For a moment there you almost got me. I thought you were a ghost."
"Ah", answered the man, "I understand, I never liked them myself. My experience with it is quite bad." He nodded sagely, while Kisara replied with a nod of her own before realization hit her.
"Wait a minute... What the hell are you doing here? Who are you?" She demanded from the blond, not wanting to think too hard as to why she was previously getting along with this weirdo.
"Well, I am here to test you Kisara. As for who I am", he cocked his head to the side a little and gave her a grin, "why don't you try to beat it out from me?"
"Oh yeah? Bring it on weirdo!" She shouted her battle cry before running to him and using the momentum to deliver a powerful flying ap chagi, or frontal kick, with her left leg. The stranger ducked the attack and quickly, 'too quickly' thought Kisara, entered inside her guard while she was still airborne and pushed his weight against her.
Unbalanced, she managed to twist herself and give another kick, this one halfhearted compared with her usual attacks. Of course such attack would never do anything and was promptly dodged, but it gave the opportunity for her to regain her balance and position herself again.
She continued her assault with even more kicks, a frontal kick followed by a spinning back kick that was chained to triple fast and powerful kicks, which he dodged the whole ordeal by twisting himself and entering her guard to only slightly make the attacks miss, not even bothering to use his hands.
She tried flying kicks and even ventured a sweep kick, which he jumped so graciously and so quickly someone could almost believe he simply stepped over her furious attack with the same causality someone climbed a stair.
"You're quite winded." The stranger said in a voice full of amusement. "Why don't you hear what I have to say now? There is no need to continue this anymore." He only managed to say that before dodging another attack.
"Shut up! I'm trying to beat your name out of you like you wanted, bastard!" She told him before preparing herself for another assault.
"Come on", he said while dodging the next assault, "I was just joking. Can't we talk like civilized people?" His answer was yet another flying kick.
He stopped dodging and decided it was time to get her attention and end this quickly. Kisara attacked again when she saw an unbelievable sight: he blocked her attack with only his finger!
She continued a few more times just to be blocked by the same finger, when suddenly she felt a sharp pain in her stomach. Even while she was in more pain than she ever felt before, she couldn't help but ponder in an almost detached manner her current predicament.
'I'm flying... I'm really flying. I never knew it would be possible to fly with a k...'
But she was interrupted from her thoughts when she crashed violently on the fence outside the hideout. She flew neatly through the open window, lucky for her it was big enough and without glass, good thing the room was in the ground level otherwise she would very well have died.
'I-it hurts! D-damn it, it fucking hurts!'
"Now that we both know I'm much stronger than you, care to listen to me?"
She only had enough strength to lift her head to see her assailant crouching in front of her, and she managed to distinguish his azure eyes before passing out.
"Are you feeling better now?" Asked a familiar, unknown voice.
Kisara slowly opened her eyes, still feeling some pain on her stomach and being slightly dizzy. 'But it doesn't hurt as much as before', she thought while inspecting her abdomen and sighing in relief at the cooling sensation of the icepack. 'Where did he got this anyway?'
"Now that you are awake, can I tell you what I am doing here?" He only got a nod and a groan in response, but that was more than enough. "First, I want to apologize for early. I guess I was a little overboard", he said while scratching the back of his head with a sheepish grin, receiving only a snort in return, "second, what I wanted to talk with you is to give you a proposition".
She perked at that. Considering the man standing before her could have simply steamrolled her from the very beginning and in fact apologized after knocking her out cold meant he wasn't exactly hostile. Besides he knew her by name and her position on Ragnarok, if he really wanted to cause any harm there where many opportunities to ambush her.
"I'm listening", she said with only a hint of suspicion on her voice.
"I know you are a very driven and motivated person, strong willed and not shy from hard work. What I want to propose is to give you the means to become truly strong. Tell me, what do you gain lingering on this 'gang', putting a strong front and bullying the weak?" The lights where turned on already, but she still couldn't see his face properly because of the lingering dizziness, however she could feel his hard stare and she couldn't help but shudder.
"You may think fighting against those punks are a mean to prove your strength and worth, but all you're doing is wasting your time. Fighting multiple opponents that don't even know how to throw a punch without telling the world about it? If you want stamina training just take up running." The man started passing in front of her, his voice raising a bit with each step he took.
"What do you gain by bossing around kids that don't even know the true meaning of strength? What do you gain by associating with them anyway? They don't really like you, trust you or even respect you."
She was about to protest but was cut off by his statement. "They do fear and envy your strength, but don't think even for a second they will stand for you if things doesn't go your way."
She tried to object saying they were her comrades, but that wasn't exactly true. Those under her simply didn't had the nerve to rebel against her, and those that did she simply beat them to a pulp. There was also Freya, her former division chief and trainer which she respects and admires, but their relationship was currently strained after leaving her division and now they barely talk anymore.
In essence, she was alone when it mattered most. Any sign of weakness and she would be tossed aside, her position stripped from her and possibly earning a few beatings from those that once feared her, or worse, since Ragnarok was big enough and only cared for strength.
"What I want to propose is to teach you what true strength is, how to become strong enough to protect what is precious to you. I don't plan to teach you martial arts, I plan to give you a new way of life as my apprentice".
Kisara was speechless. She couldn't believe this guy would come, beat her up and them offer an apprenticeship on whenever he knows, it simply didn't made sense.
"Why me out of all people?" She managed to say in a more clear voice, the pain fading much quicker than she thought possible. The man in front of her probably expected that question and didn't missed a beat.
"I watched you and other possible candidates for a few days already, a few from your own gang such as Hermit, Thor, Siegfried and I plan to add some others after I give them a formal interview". All of them are senior members of Ragnarok and part of the high ranked Fists, 'he probably already gave them this proposal' Kisara thought bitterly.
"There are others I plan to approach later from a different group, but so far you where the only one I thought was ready."
"W-what? How come, all of them are stronger than me. They should be much better candidates to be your apprentice."
"Stronger? Probably, but they don't really fit the profiles. Thor is too single-minded into proving that a 'style' is stronger than others and may misinterpret my proposal; Hermit is still bitter with whatever happened to him and I'm not confident enough to help him get past it for the moment", Kisara noted there was a hint of sadness in his voice when he admitted that, "while Siegfried... to be honest I'm not ready for him."
Kisara gave the man a sympathetic nod, knowing full well after two meetings with him how much that weirdo creeped her out, not that she ever told anybody or showed in front of others.
"As for the others they either lack something, are too indecisive, would refuse for their own personal reasons or are already at high enough developed stage it would do more harm than good to teach them something entirely new from scratch. You on the other hand is at the right point of development, still have more than enough room to mature with the proper incentive and help, and have the right mentality to withstand the training."
He turned to her again and she could feel his smile.
"Simply put, you're the perfect candidate for my first personal apprentice."
She was yet again speechless with her mouth hanging agape at this stranger admission. Out of all people he probably had in mind she was the best candidate? Even among the likes of Hermit? Even more shocking, a girl?
"You don't really need to answer me right now. Here, take this." He took a card from his coat under pocket. "When you decide, please contact me for us to make the proper arrangements. I will be waiting for you."
He turned to leave but Kisara had to stop him. "Wait! You didn't told me your name."
The man stopped for a second and Kisara saw some words written in red on the back of his coat, though her vision was still a bit blurred, and he had some short of hat hanging on his back she didn't noticed before. "Call me Rikudō Sennin for now. Once you become my apprentice and we are more comfortable around each other I will tell you more of my secrets."
He paused once more, and without turning added. "Take care when going back home since you're still injured. I hear there is some strange things happening in this city lately".
She didn't even had the chance to say anything before a gust of wind almost blew her hat off, and when she turned again to see him, there were only a few leaves where he was standing.
"Valkyrie, are you listening?"
She refocused her mind into the meeting right now. A few days have passed since the meeting with the Rikudō Sennin and the First Fist called a meeting with the strongest members.
It was rare for the leader Odin to show himself to talk with the others and plan their next course of action. Most of the planning where handled to Loki with the grudgingly approval of Freya and an acknowledgement of Hermit, since the second in command Berserker legendary lack of interest into everything he don't believe is 'fun' didn't spoke well of his leadership abilities. Today however was an exception to both of those rules.
"Yeah, I'm listening."
Not really bothering much, Odin continued. "Continuing, this hypothetical new faction is to be treated with the utmost caution. Though I suspect they won't be bothering us, the fact they are targeting the bigger crime bosses and stripping them of everything in the span of less than twenty four hours without leaving any evidence is worrying. Even the Sage Fist don't have any idea on what is happening or who is behind all this."
Lately various suspicious cases of crime lords being attacked in a day and most of their money simply disappearing from sight, piles upon upon piles of evidence being discovered to the point of witness being completely unnecessary, and the death of a few higher profile freelancing criminals have been causing a turmoil on the underworld.
Politicians that backed the criminals were brought down almost as fast as their crime partners, and the first confirmed target of this series of evens was brutally murdered, though later police found out it was because everyone on the underworld thought the first victim was an informant to the police.
Both police and the government have denied any involvement on those actions, and there was a rumor a single person was responsible for all this, something clearly impossible on the minds of everyone, but at this point everyone agreed it was a single group that was acting.
"Who cares," barked Berserker, "that have nothing to do with us here. I'm more interested into my rematch against you."
"I doubt politics and white collar criminals getting their just deserts would concern you of all people, Berserker. However I'm making it clear to anyone that could be curious enough to find them, either to test their strength or for mere morbid fascination, to lay off and not Ragnarok in this." He takes a glance at both Berserker and Loki before resuming the meeting. "Now, if nobody have anything else..."
"Actually, I have a question. When the Sage Fist will agree to train another disciple?"
Everybody turned to Kisara before Odin answered. "When he decides any of you are ready. I thought we already established that issue before?"
"But what means to be ready? Do we need to go on blindly until one of us luck out? Can't he at least clarify that for us so there is something to look forward to?"
There was a dangerous glint in Odin eyes for a moment before he answered.
"Without patience it will be impossible to be ready."
Kisara knew a dismissal when she saw one, and that didn't helped her current state of mind.
"Valkyrie."
A familiar voice called Kisara while she waited for the bus. After finally deciding to accept the proposal of the so called 'Sage of the Six Paths' he gave his address and asked her to pack her things.
She was extremely suspicious at first until he showed up at her house later to talk with her parents on her new living arrangements.
Now that she could take a good look at him he didn't appeared all that special: blond spiky hair and a short boxed beard, deep azure eyes in a foxy eye shape that made it impossible to dismiss his Asian heritage, but his most intriguing feature where his six whisker like birthmarks on his cheeks, which he quite vocally stressed where not tattoos. He was dressed casually in an orange and black jacket with a black shirt under and black cargo pants, though the black sandals where a bit out of place.
On second thought he did looked quite special, according to Kisara's mother at least, much to the blond amusement.
Presenting himself as Rikudō, he explained that Kisara will be living with him for an unspecified amount of time and would continue her education with him, the approval of the school already in his possession.
The history was that she would be in an apprenticeship with him after being selected over several possible candidates. To Kisara surprise her parents accepted it at face value and gave them their permission, but only after confirming with the school principal the validity of the document in the man hands.
She thought it was a nice lie to her parents until he told her he was quite serious to continue her studies even while training with him, which was quite shocking for her.
It's not like she bothered with her studies much other than dropping it would maker her parents suspicious of her activities, when they were around at any rate, but what school and grades had anything to do with martial arts anyway?
"I told you I'm not going to teach you martial arts, remember? I'm going to teach you a new way of life, and you have to be smart enough to understand information is the key to win any battle. Not only that but even if you are a tactical genius the lack of planning will turn something relatively simple to incredibly complicated, and even if you lack power to defeat an opponent through power alone with enough planning and strategy you can bridge that gap.
I had to learn the hard way the importance of studies and reading when I was younger, so I just want to be sure you won't make the same mistake as I did. If you still have doubts, think about it as a form to train your mind and patience. Baa-chan knows how much I need that."
She didn't knew what to make of him. Why would he have so much trouble to make sure her education is up to speed? Apparently he was talking from experience, hard to believe from the way he acted. Maybe she will see that part of him later?
In a sense it was kind of touching since it showed some form of concern for her without being too pushy. The fact he promised to work her to the ground every day made sure she would like the study sessions if only for the fact to be able to sit down and catch her breath for longer periods of time.
In the end it was a promising situation for her and her future master was friendly enough that maybe in the future they could even be friends, violent first impressions aside. It was so long since she had hopes to find again someone that could help her or at least partially understand her.
Like the person who called her right now.
"Hello Freya-sama".
Her former leader, and she almost dared to say friend, was standing in front of her with her normal stoic, impassive gaze upon Kisara.
"Are you going to really leave?"
"Yeah, I found out the perfect place to train and even managed to convince my parents so they won't do something stupid like calling the police."
"That's good."
There was an awkward silence between them. 'I'm getting a lot of those lately', thought Kisara. After a few minutes her bus entered into view, and soon she was embarking with a polite good bye when she was stopped again.
"Are you going to run away again?" Freya asked casually, stopping her former subordinate on her tracks. "When you left my ranks I thought you were running, but you managed to amass your own followers and climb again to a respectable position, eventually rising to be equal. Now you are leaving your comrades, your position and everything you worked for. Why?"
Kisara turned to Freya and gave her own level stare back at her before snorting.
"Wimp, Dairy Cow."
Kenichi flinched at the politely angry face Miyu was giving to Kisara, which was completely unapologetic. The fact the person who attacked them now wanted to talk on neutral ground was suspicious but not unwelcome, so they found themselves inside a family restaurant.
Trying to diffuse the situation before it got out of hand Kenichi coughed to catch their attention, gathering all courage he could, prompting the two girls to snap their heads in his direction, their hard stares still present.
"W-what did y-you wanted with us, Kisara-san?"
"With you? Nothing. That's the whole point of coming here, to inform you and her that from now on there will be no one coming after you under my orders. Tell the two stooges they are officially free from service, but the third one may still be upset and seek revenge."
Kenichi was almost crying rivers of joy and Miyu was optimistic on this situation, but on an intellectual level it didn't made sense for her to turn a new leaf this quickly.
"Well, I'm glad you saw the error of your actions", that remark caused Kisara to grip the fork of from the cake plate she ordered slightly stronger, and either Miyu ignored it or was oblivious to the effect she was having on her, "maybe now we can be friends!"
"I'm actually glad you stopped doing something so dangerous. Leading a gang isn't something a girl should do". Kenichi added his two cents without realizing he just put more fuel to the fire. Then again, how could he know about Kisara dislike of people that underestimate women or that she hated to have her errors rubbed on her face?
"Now listen here you two", said the former delinquent leader with the calmest voice she could since it would do no good to trash the store, after all she liked the service there. "I don't like either of you. I sure as hell don't want to become friends with you, and there is nothing I want more than to use your wimp face to clear the asphalt!" She delivered the last part almost yelling, hitting the table with her fist and gaining a bit of attention from the other patrons.
She took a few breaths before calming herself. "I'm telling you two this because I don't want to be blamed if either of you get attacked again. I will still defeat you two, I just don't have time to be playing around anymore."
Leaving her money she turned to leave while both Kenichi and Miyu stayed, not really understanding what happened.
"What good staying there will be? I came with the promise to train under the Great Sage Fist but nothing came from it, and with the exception of the three stooges nobody really respected me on my own group. Some of them didn't even had the courtesy of fearing my abilities, and when I disbanded the group I had to beat at least half of them to a bloody pulp just to not give them any ideas."
Noticing the driver was getting annoyed she turned back, giving a last glance towards her once leader.
"I want to become strong on my own way, Freya-sama. I hoped at least you could understand that."
That was the last thing Freya heard from Valkyrie for a long time.
After getting off the bus, it was a long walk until she found a road between the forest, eventually leading to a set of stairs on the hill. While climbing, she thought about her life up until now.
The incident were her pet cat sacrificed itself for her, and the follow up vow to never be that helpless again. A few years later she started practicing Taekwondo and trained hard every day, always doing her best to improve until that day when she defeated some senior fighter and he made the worst excuse in order to not lose face: 'she was a girl, it was obvious I let her win'.
Up until then it was all right for her to simply get strong on her own. She didn't started to fight in order to win competitions or things like that, but once she invested so much time and effort, to simply have her accomplishments dismissed like that was both infuriating and heartbreaking for her.
That was the day she started to wish for acknowledgement, and from there things went further and further from her original goal. Proving she was good enough for the person she respected, trying to make a group as large and as feared as hers, rising the ranks until she was her equal, hope to gain training from a legendary martial arts master.
It was with those thoughts she found herself at the top of the stairs, in front of a big wooden gate and her future master standing in front of her waiting.
"Right on time", he told her with a big smile, dispersing part of her tension before his face changed to a solemn look.
"Kisara, from this day on you will enter a different world. The training will be hard, unforgiving and will challenge you not only physically, but both mentally and spiritually. What you once took for granted will be stripped from you, and what you once believed as truth might prove to be a lie. You will lose the morals you have today, and one day you will look back to this moment and don't recognize the girl that entered those doors. Knowing this, do you wish to become my apprentice?"
He said his speech with a straight face, not once faltering. Where is that laid back man who proposed to be her master? Changing the perception of reality, her morals? This is much more serious than she thought before!
Yet even then she knew something like that was expected. Not once he told her he would teach her 'a style', 'techniques' or even 'tactics'. He wanted to teach her his entire way of life, to pass his secrets, knowledge and wisdom.
Her.
Not somebody else, not some other boy. Her, a girl.
"Yes", she told him in a low, yet firm voice. "I want to become strong under your tutelage, and will accept any training imposed upon me. I will accept and embrace any way of life that will come with your guidance without hesitation, so please", she gave him a respectful bowing, "accept me as your apprentice."
She stayed like that for a few seconds making her nervous. Wasn't that a mere formality? Or was he still giving her a way out of this? If so, what exactly he planned to teach her that would force him to give so many chances for her to change her mind? Either way, Kisara decided to see it through the end.
After a few more seconds she felt a pair of gentle but firm hands on her shoulders, rising her head to stare on his eyes once more, reminding her of the day she meet this man for the first time.
"Welcome to the world of Shinobi, Kisara."