Forty years later, Heihachi Mishima is blasted several miles from his temple at Honmaru. He awakens amidst the rubble in which he landed, and crawls to a nearby temple to recover his strength. He rests for several weeks, before he prepares to return to his company.

Just outside the temple, a warrior waits. His uniform is grey and very similar to Heihachi's, though he wears a large set of prayer beads around his neck. His hair is bright red and tied in the back top, with grey streaks near his ears betraying his age. Not wishing to delay his return, Heihachi moves to pass the warrior, but the fighter impedes, denying him progress. Agitated, Heihachi decides to deal with the fighter.

"I have business to attend to, monk. If death is your wish then I will grant it later." Heihachi scowls at the warrior, who stands firm. The fighter raises his face and reveals two pale white eyes. His build is relatively even with Heihachi's, slightly heavier.

"You, have you recovered?" asks the fighter.

"What business is it of yours?!"

"I saw you fall from the sky. I've been waiting for you to recover. Tell me, are you at full strength."

"Heihachi Mishima is no ordinary man, wanderer. My wounds have healed and I am as dangerous as I have ever been."

"Good, then now I will kill you. At your best, it's the only way to get a challenge."

Heihachi answered the threat at first with a steady glare. "You can try if you wish, but you will fail. Before I kill you, you should tell me what to label your grave, so that the vagrants know which one to relieve themselves on."

"I am called Akuma, the one who became strong. I kill any fighter that can challenge me."

A grin cracked on Heihachi's face, "Akuma? So, you fancy yourself some kind of Devil then, eh? I know a few things about Devils, and you most certainly are not one. Prepare for the cold embrace of oblivion."

Akuma doesn't answer except by dropping into his fighting stance. Heihachi does the same, preparing to unleash his family's own Mishima-Ryu style of Karate. As they do an old beggar emerges from the temple and sits on the ground. As the beggar falls asleep, he drops his smoking pipe, which the two karate masters use as the signal to kick start the fight.

Heihachi throws the first punch, a strong straight right, which Akuma catches. He responds in kind, which Heihachi easily blocks. They continue trading strong attacks as the smack of their blocks sounds like a tree being split in half. Akuma starts using high kicks, which Heihachi blocks with knee strikes. Instead of blocking they now answer each attack with an attack in kind. Their knuckles smash against each other, their knees clash and their elbows crack.

Eventually Heihachi takes a different stance. He waits for Akuma's heel kick and catches it. He then nails a straight kick of his own right to Akuma's midsection. To Heihachi's surprise the blow doesn't even stagger his opponent, who only grunts under his lips as he brings his heel back down, hooking Heihachi's leg and nailing him with a strong elbow. Heihachi reels for a moment, freeing his leg and taking a defensive stance.

"I know you're stronger then this" says Akuma, "I could sense as much when I first saw you land in that rubble. If you don't fight hard, I will just kill you now."

"It seems I underestimated you, Akuma. Very well, I'll see how you handle my Raijin Stance!" Striking a wide stance, Heihachi focuses his energy as lightning crackles around his body. He starts off with his patented Iron Fist strike, which Akuma blocks with effort. Not slowing down, Heihachi dips right into his impressive repertoire of attack combinations. He starts off with quick combinations, sidestepping inbetween to attack from different directions. Akuma remains on the defensive, focusing to stop each attack and prevent damage. Mishima then launches into his larger combinations, scoring ten straight hits on his adversary. The final blow is a dragon uppercut that punches through Akuma's block and nails him on the jaw. Akuma lifts into the air and Heihachi nails him again before he can even fall with a powerful Demon Uppercut. Still Akuma recovers in the air and lands on his feet. He's unable to get his defenses up before Heihachi nails him with a fully charged lighting fist strike to his gut. Akuma bends over and Heihachi lifts him up. He leaps into the air and slams Akuma into the ground with a jumping power bomb. More lightning flashes as Akuma impacts with the ground and creates a small crater.

To Heihachi's surprise, Akuma grabs him before he can release him and tosses him to the ground. Both fighters rise and lock eyes with each other once again. This time both fighters take a wide stance and charge their energy. Akuma's fiery crimson aura clashes with the stray cracks of lightning from Mishimas for a moment. Then Heihachi leads off again with a strong kick which Akuma leaps into the air to avoid. As Akuma passes over Heihachi he twists around and nails Mishima with a spinning kick to the back of his head. Heihachi winces but recovers quickly. He launches Raijin's Wrath, a quick and powerful attack combination that nails Akuma and causes him to spit up blood. Akuma still counters quickly and tosses Heihachi over his shoulder. This time Mishima recovers as he hits the ground. He looks up to see Akuma has cupped his hands behind his back. Heihachi can feel the energy as it quickly gather's in Akuma's palms. Akuma throws the Hadouken at Heihachi, who barely moves fast enough to get out of the way. The ball of energy hit's a tree and takes a large piece out of it, causing the tree to collapse.

"What kind of attack was that?!" Heihachi says to himself as he takes a moment to recover. "Maybe he really is a devil…" Heihachi discovers his break is over as Akuma approaches him with incredible speed. On one foot as if floating, Akuma leaves behind a trail of images as he seems to pass right through Heihachi, who remains stunned. Now behind his target, Akuma nails him with a strong elbow strike to the back of his head. Heihachi staggers and Akuma takes to the air once again. This time with a single hand he throws another Hadouken, but Heihachi has already passed under it and nails Akuma with a Dragon Uppercut. Akuma recovers before he hit's the ground again as Heihachi chases after him with another Iron Fist punch. Akuma jumps up again and spins into his Tornado Whirlwind Kick, nailing the unprepared Mishima several times in the face before sending him crashing to the ground.

Their lightning and crimson auras flash as the battle continues. Each warrior strikes decisive blows against the other, but each retains the stamina to continue on. Each fighter is marred with busted lips, swollen bruises, and deep lacerations from their opponent. Even their clothes become tattered as they knock each other around through trees and into the ground. More lightning crackles as Heihachi gets Akuma into a headlock and tries to snap his neck, but the tough street fighter buries his elbow in Heihachi's stomach a few times to get him to release the hold. Akuma then stuns Heihachi with a strong Uppercut and immediately follows up with a Rising Dragon Fist. The attack sends Heihachi flying through the air and crashing to the ground. A battered and bloody Mishima picks himself up but is unable to focus on his surroundings. With his opponent in a daze, Akuma prepares the finishing blow. Charging all of his energy for one final assault, Akuma stands on one foot again and begins his teleportation technique. Before he reaches his target, someone else teleports in front of him and sends him reeling with a powerful kick. Akuma staggers back, the energy he stored up gone. A new warrior has joined the fight.