Reminder, I have a pat reon, look up azndrgn making fanfic. Donators get perks!
Sadly my beta's seemed to be busy, so this chapter might have some mistakes..
The two groups calmly watched their opponents, ready to fight for their lives and freedoms. As a few tense seconds passed by, Gorobe and Fortuna charged at their opponents, knowing time was not their ally.
Fortuna Fight
"Insolent children! Don't think disobedient children won't be punished!" scolded Fortuna as he wound his fist up, "I'll kill you first, Spartacus, then the others will fall in line!"
Fortuna moved too fast for Spartacus to try to dodge, but he had never planned on dodging in the first place.
Spartacus planted his feet into the ground, his arms up, ready to receive the punch. If he could hold the punch for even a second, then it would be worth his life!
"Don't be so willing to throw your life away!" shouted Thor as he stomped forward, "Live! For all the fat people in the world!"
Spartacus didn't exactly understand what Thor was saying, but he understood enough that Thor wanted to help tank the hit.
"Poppy Knuckle!" roared Fortuna as he threw a punch right at Spartacus.
This punch would've crushed both Spartacus and Thor's insides if landed properly, even with their training. However, just before the punch landed, Fortuna felt a sharp jab in his bicep, piercing right at a nerve spot.
Fortuna's punch suddenly declined in power and speed, thus lacking the requirements to smash Thor and Spartacus. However, it was still powerful enough to have both of them cough up blood upon impact. Still, Thor and Spartacus latched onto fist, grabbing it in hopes of keeping Fortuna in place.
"Halt his movements!" ordered Spartacus.
Alec and Octavia latched onto one of Fortuna's leg while Crixus and Iris latched onto the other one, trying desperately to pull him down.
"I got him!" hissed Kisara as she jumped up to deliver a sweeping kick.
Fortuna tilted his head away before suddenly catching Kisara's leg in between his head and shoulder. Unfortunately, while swinging his head, he ran in headfirst right into Takeda's Neko Megaru Punch. Unable to keep a tight grip onto the leg, Fortuna let go it, allowing Kisara to land safely.
Fortuna shook his head, fighting off that concussion that he had been given. He also mentally notched Takeda up higher on the list, as that punch had certainly hurt. Just as his vision cleared up, Hermit was already in front of him.
"Eat this! A move I learned directly from Ma Sogetsu!" roared out Hermit as he slammed two loosely penetrating thrusts into Fortuna's sides. His third hit slammed right in the center of Fortuna's stomach.
Kyousa
Right as he finished, Renka jumped off Hermit's shoulder.
Senkyuu
Renka sent a flying kick right into Fortuna's face, reeling his head back.
"Enough!" roared Fortuna as he lifted his left hand up and slammed a punch right into the ground in front of him.
The impact sent Renka and Hermit back while loosening the grips of the Pankration team. Without hesitation, Fortuna ripped the disobedient brats off his legs and hurled them into the floor hard.
"Everyone!" shouted out Spartacus as he saw his brothers and sisters on the floor, coughing out blood, "I'll kill you Fortuna!"
"Not if I do so first," growled Fortuna as he took out a mouse-sized spear out of his bicep, glaring at Tochumaru. He knew full well just who had intervened.
"This is what I do with disobedient brats! You will all learn from this death!" shouted Fortuna as he raised his right hand, intending to smash down the rushing Spartacus.
Suddenly, Fortuna froze for a bit, unable to move. Seconds later, Spartacus's shoulder charged right into Fortuna's stomach just as Fortuna spat out blood from the damage Hermit had caused.
"How!?" wheezed Fortuna as he stumbled backward, glaring at Hermit, "How could this attack have affected me? Unless...is this?"
"The principle of Gamma Knife," nodded Hermit, finishing up Fortuna's thoughts.
Niijima gave a quick and simple explanation of how a Gamma Knife worked while Siegfried summarized it.
"Mine!" shouted Fortuna in desperation as he lunged at Kisara, who nimbly dodged his grab before kicking his chin with a backflip.
"Everyone attack now!" shouted Takeda, "Now's our chance!"
Everyone roared as they charged in, eager to finish the fight.
"Iris, Octavia, aim for his upper body!" commanded Spartacus as his fellow brothers and sisters got up.
"Roger!" shouted the girls while Crixus and Alec launched them up.
"We'll go for that too!" shouted Renka towards Kisara, who nodded in reply before jumping up with her.
Fortuna was met with a barrage of attacks, all landing home. He couldn't move his body like he wanted as the damage done by Hermit and Renka was too much. Then Takeda began punching his liver, causing his breath to shorten while also making it difficult to breathe. He saw Spartacus, Alex, and Crixus landing any punches they could with much glee on their face. Then he couldn't really see any of them due to the fact the girls were now attacking his face, blocking his vision. He felt someone bear hugging his legs, locking them up so he couldn't even move. Soon enough, his knees buckled as he fell down into the ground, his knees and hands being the only limbs supporting him.
"How?" coughed Fortuna, "Why?"
"Falala! You merely added our strengths together and thought you would win when the reality is that our combined strength is not merely the added together, but rather 10 or even 100 time more than its sum!" sang Siegfried.
"No... I was so close... to having the... ultimate property," whispered Fortuna, raising his hands towards the other group, specifically Kenichi.
"Oh that's enough out of you!" growled Kisara before dashing towards Fortuna. She spun right before she reached him and smashed a spinning heel kick right into Fortuna's face, destroying the goggles he had on his head while knocking him unconscious.
Gorobe Fight
"We'll move when you do," said Freya as she positioned her staff in front of her.
Everyone knew she was referring Kenichi and Miu, as they were the only ones that could really deal with Gorobe.
Kenichi nodded as he closed his eyes for a second, taking a deep breath. Gorobe shifted his foot, thinking he could take this chance to attack when Kenichi's eyes snapped open again, this time glowing with Ki. Ryusui Seikuken along with Ki no Shouka had been released, causing Gorobe to pause. Miu's eyes began to glow with Ki, except she was using Ki no Kaiho. Despite having touched the realms of Shouka, she was not experienced enough to use knead the necessary Ki for it.
Gorobe growled as his attention was solely focused on the two threats. He had lost to them once already, he sure as hell wasn't going to let that happen again. Gorobe's vision soon narrowed right at the two that was the biggest threat, ignoring all the small threats that wouldn't dare move unless these two did.
Or at least, that's what common sense would dictate on normal people.
"I got him!" shouted Tsuji, shocking Gorobe back to noticing his surroundings.
Gorobe quickly dodged a palm strike heading for his head and was about to retaliate by kicking Tsuji in the chest, possibly caving it in when Miu was already instantly in his face.
'Fast!' thought Gorobe as he abandoned that attack and dodge the arc kick to his face by ducking. As Miu landed behind Gorobe, Gorobe whirled around to deal with Miu when he barely noticed and dodged Kenichi's hook.
Gorobe growled as he now had to split hi attention between the two, dividing the center of his body to deal with both opponents. On the right side, he had to fend off Kenichi's attacks. On the left side was Miu. And unlike the Elder, he was unable to divide his body perfectly and control each hemisphere independent of their own actions.
'Damn these brats!' Gorobe mentally shouted as Kenichi began to invade into his territory, taking ground little by little. Kenichi would always already be slightly ahead of him when it came to foot placement, causing Gorobe to always be off-balance. Gorobe tried to shove Kenichi down when their thighs met, but to Gorobe, Kenichi was a firm tree with strong roots into the ground. He was a pillar that Gorobe could not knock down easily.
It also didn't help that Freya, Tsuji, and Siegfried were taking potshots at him, forcing him to be on the defensive in fear that if one attack hit, it would open him up to more hits from Kenichi and Miu. It also annoyed him that any time he tried to attack them, Miu or Kenichi would intervene either by pulling their friend away from danger or even parrying his attacks away from them so that it would miss.
Gorobe tried to knee Siegfried in the chest with his right leg, only for Kenichi to suddenly push his right leg while Miu pulled on his left leg, causing him to misfire. His knee ended up hitting Siegfried's shoulder, who rolled along with it with a spin. Gorobe suddenly found Siegfried clinging onto his back, who used the momentum from his spin to knee him in the back
"Meikai no Watlz!" sang Siegfried as he planted a double knee strike into Gorobe's back.
Gorobe flinched as he felt the impact up his spine and quickly rolled away for safety and to get Siegfried off his back. As soon as he felt Siegfried let go, he immediately turned to deal with him.
Then he felt a pole smashing into his face.
Kugatachi Ryuu Gokui, Final Move: Sen Un
Freya had done a front flip in midair with her jo staff bent backward before releasing it from her back to add to her momentum and slam it into Gorobe's face.
Gorobe stumbled back when Tsuji was already near his chest. Gorobe quickly tried to clinch Tsuji, but his arms were grabbed by Miu and Kenichi respectively, both twisting his wrist to ensure he didn't escape.
Koppou no Tsubusu
Tsuji smashed a palm strike right into Gorobe's sternum, aggravating the injury Gorobe already had from Miu.
"I'll kill you!" roared Gorobe as he managed to kick Tsuji away, despite him putting his arms up.
Tsuji winced as he swore he could hear some of the bones in his forearms crack, threatening to fracture. Gorobe managed to free himself from the two-time traveler's grasps and whirled around to deal with Miu, thinking she was the bigger threat. After all, she was the one who had dealt the finishing blow that knocked him out despite the Kenichi had that monstrous Ki control.
"You first!" Gorobe howled as he aimed a punch at Miu when he noticed Kenichi trying to knee him. Gorobe barely caught wind of Kenichi's attack, barely blocking it as it was in his blind spot.
'I can just push it off,' thought Gorobe before noticing something horrifyingly wrong. Kenichi was breaking through that guard with ease, his knee attack changing into a vertical kick. Not only that, but Gorobe noticed the Sei Ki that Kenichi had been projecting suddenly turned to Dou Ki when he wasn't looking.
'Shit, he can use both Ki types!?' whimpered Gorobe, realizing the real threat he should've focused on was Kenichi. He had been too focused on who dealt the finishing blow, forgetting the Kenichi had managed to not only fend him off by himself but even counterattacked.
Fuurinji-ryu Kai! Korui Dou Nuki!
Kenichi had revised the move so it would include the explosive force of Dou Ki into the attack, sending Gorobe flying away while knocking him unconscious, fracturing if not breaking the rib cage.
Kenichi took a deep breath before collapsing onto the floor, coughing out blood.
"Kenichi!" cried out Miu as she quickly kneeled down to help, "Are you alright?"
"Yea, dealing with the backlash of switching Ki," coughed Kenichi, trying to calm his body down with a deep breath, "No wonder Seidou Gouitsu was so destructive on the body. My transition from one Ki to another wasn't smooth and caused conflict within my body."
"Why would you do that?" scolded Miu.
"I needed to end this fight and make sure that he wouldn't get up again," breathed out Kenichi, "That seemed to be the only way to ensure our win."
"Well don't be too rash," frowned Miu, "Remember, Sakaki was already rushing over here. We could've just played the delay game against Gorobe."
"Ah... I forgot about that," admitted Kenichi with a blush.
"Who cares, we just beat the Master Class!" cheered Tsuji before looking at the other group, "Hey, looks like they did too!"
While the Shinpaku Alliance began to celebrate their victory, the Pankration team could only look at their own hands.
"Finally," whispered Spartacus, "After all these years... We are... free."
"Now that we're free... where will we go?" asked Iris.
"Err... leader, you did put some thought into that, right?" asked Crixus.
"... I'm embarrassed to say I haven't," blushed Spartacus, "But I'm sure we'll find something."
"If you don't have anything planned for the future yet, might I make a suggestion?" whispered Niijima.
The Pankration team turned to Niijima, who was smiling at them. They couldn't help but feel a chill down their spine, and despite knowing the sweet laden promises that surely had poison in them, they were lured in and baited. They never stood a chance against Niijima's Mass Brainwashing technique.
With the defeat of Gorobe and Fortuna, they were all quite safe now. Especially when Shigure brought a tank she had affectionately named Cattleya. A few soldiers tried to desperately kill her to rescue Fortuna, but she easily cut through armor, guns, and even bullets with ease before knocking them out. As soon as Shigure arrived, Hermit immediately vanished while everyone was distracted.
"Dang it, he was supposed to stay and take responsibility!" huffed Renka.
"Again with that?" sighed Miu dryly.
"No, he made me do something unforgivable! Something new!" pouted Renka.
That caught Miu's curiosity, but before she could ask, Jenny had arrived with a heavy machine gun, demanding to know where Fortuna was, ready to kill him. When she discovered that Fortuna had been beaten up by a bunch of kids, more so by his own children, she couldn't help but laugh, knowing Fortuna could no longer escape.
The rest of Ryozanpaku arrived at the docks after making sure that the rest of Fortuna's forces wouldn't be a threat. That included infiltrating the main fortress and forcing Fortuna's commander to surrender, to which he did after babbling how it should have been impossible to penetrate. Their scenario clearly did not include Apachai chucking Kensei into the fortress from above.
Soon, the Shinpaku Alliance was back in Ryozanpaku's boat while the Pankration team said their farewells to the others, as they would be helping Jennifer thoroughly dismantling Fortuna's empire.
"I can not thank you enough for this chance of freedom," stated Spartacus, shaking hands with Niijima, "Once my brothers and sisters have finished with this job, you can be sure we will aid you in any way we can."
"You have my number," grinned Niijima.
'And you'll be my ticket into expanding into the European countries!' added Niijima in an afterthought.
As Sakaki was getting ready to leave, he felt a tug on his jacket. Turning back, he found himself facing Jennifer once more.
"What is it Jenny?" asked Sakaki in slight confusion.
Jennifer motioned Sakaki to lean down, putting her hand up and cupping it over her mouth, as if to whisper to his ear. Sakaki naively obeyed, thinking she wanted to say something. In the old timeline, Jennifer had let go of Sakaki... so to speak. She knew she couldn't keep him chained down. In this timeline though, where she had gotten 'proof' that Sakaki was dating Shigure, she did something drastically different.
Instead, Jennifer quickly wrapped her hands around Sakaki's head, straightened it out, and planted a big kiss right into Sakaki's lips.
Choju Giga monkeys swung around the background as everyone stared at the scene in shock with jaws dropping. Miu couldn't resist, raising her hand to her chest with her fingers forming a triangle with a heart suddenly appearing within the said triangle.
"There, now we're even," declared Jennifer as she finally let go. Sakaki obviously could have broken out of the embrace, but he had been too shocked by Jennifer's daring kiss to even move.
Jennifer walked up to Shigure with a bit of swagger in her hips, stopping in front of her.
"There, what do you have to say now?" asked Jennifer with a smirk. Shigure truly had no clue what to really say or do. Not because she was embarrassed or angry, but just plain confused at Jennifer's actions. She wasn't able to read the social cues that were coming out from Jennifer's body language.
So Shigure began to think for a bit. She was interested in seeing what it would be like to be in a relationship as she saw Kenichi and Miu were happy. Out of all the males she knew, which were very few, only Sakaki was the one who stood out, and that was mainly because he took her on a 'date'. She knew not of internet dating or blind dates and had no other female friends to hook her up. Shigure did not want to get in Jennifer's way either, but nor did she really feel like just moving.
Then she remembered reading one of Kensei's book that he left laying out, recalling two girls hugging one guy, who had his arms around both of them.
"Share then?" asked Shigure bluntly.
"EHHHHHH!?" shouted all of the audience, including the swinging Choju Giga monkeys.
"S..s..s..s.. ?" whispered Jennifer in shock while looking up and down at Shigure.
'Is she bisexual?' thought Jennifer, 'Is that why she's willing to share? Is she checking me out? I can't tell with her face so expressionless, nor does anything in her body language give anything away? I mean sure, she has a cute face, those nice legs without any blemish, those seductive hips, those huge, most likely very firm and soft breasts... wait why am I checking her out? Am I bisexual for contemplating these thoughts and thinking about agreeing to it?'
While Jennifer was having a bit of a crisis in her mind, Akisame slowly turned towards Shigure with a stony face, his hands already crackling slowly towards Sakaki.
"Shigure, where did you get such an idea?" Akisame asked frostily.
"Kensei's... books," said Shigure, both saving Sakaki for a bit while dooming Kensei.
"KENSEIII!" roared Akisame as he charged towards his target.
"Wait, nononono how is this my fault?" wailed Kensei as he began to flee.
"I've told you not to lay those books around the house!" hollered Akisame, "It's very impressionable to the younger generation, especially to girls! Miu may have come out alright, but you know Shigure's mental and physical state doesn't match! Now take your punishment!"
While Akisame was chasing Kensei, Miu had snuck up next to Kenichi while pinching his hand.
"Don't even think about having such ideas," whispered Miu.
"Trust me, you're all I want and need," replied Kenichi.
"Good boy," smiled Miu.
Meanwhile, Shiratori was contemplating on the idea of whether Kisara would be up to having the same idea as Shigure.
After all that chasing, everyone was ready to depart for home again.
In a dark room, all of the Nine Shadow One Fist were standing there in person, a very rare occurrence to ever happen in Yami.
"Report," boomed One Shadow's voice, who was Senzui currently disguised as Saiga.
In front of them were the Yomi members who had attended the DFOD, all kneeling in respect. Well, most were, as Ryuto was unable to do so for the while. On the side standing in attendance were Satomi with his two female bodyguards/friends and Chou Enshin. The two females, Natsuki and Hatsuki, were rumored to be twins, though their body structure seemed to speak out against that as Hatsuki had a more slender and petite build while Hatsuki was much more curvaceous, her bust clearly bigger than her sister to the fact that it almost matched Miu's. It wasn't difficult to tell the two apart because of that, otherwise, their facial and hair structure looked identical.
"We witnessed Ryozanpaku's disciple Shirahama Kenichi fight in the tournament, observing his movements. As ordered by our masters, we," started Sho before pointing to himself, Tirawit, Chikage, Ryuto, and Rimi, "Did not participate in the tournament. Ethan and Rachel were unable to fight Kenichi due to the sudden raid."
Akira Hongo nodded, secretly pleased that his disciple could actually follow orders. He was sure that Sho would've gone into the tournament and take one of the team's placement just to fight if he had not given expressed orders.
"And?" asked Senzui, "From Ogata's report from the first time encountering Ryozanpaku's disciple, he rated that it would take several of Yami's members to match him. In your opinion, how would you rate this Shirahama Kenichi and his skills?"
Sho suddenly looked uncomfortable as this question, which was noticed by all of them. Boris, Ethan, Rachel, Chikage, and Tirawit couldn't help but express pity at Sho's current situation.
"He's... strong?" said Sho.
Hongo raised his eyebrows as he pushed his sunglasses up, even though they were in a dark room with barely any light. Why he wore sunglasses indoors was a mystery, but that wasn't the topic.
"Sho. If you were to fight Shirahama Kenichi at your current state, would you win?" asked Hongo directly.
Sho's eyes swiveled to his master, who was giving him a firm but gentle gesture to have Sho speak his mind without reprimand.
"If Shirahama Kenichi and I, Kano Sho, the current leader of Yomi and disciple to all 10 masters of Yami, the primary disciple of Akira Hongo, known as God Hand, were to fight at 100% of our abilities... I would most likely lose," conceded Sho.
That caused a slight uproar to everyone in the One Shadow Nine Fist, excluding Ogata, Diego, and Jenazad. Satomi and the others in observation also looked at Sho in surprise at that statement. There was no doubt in their mind that Sho was somewhat cocky. He hated to lose or admit defeat. Though he definitely had the skills to back up all his talk. Sho was from the Kuremisago village, the same as the twins and Senzui, and was regarded as one of the strongest in Yami.
Even Hongo looked at Sho with concern in his eyes. He knew his disciple well, and the fact that Sho actually admitted to all of them that he would lose was a rather big step in humility. He was also curious if his rival Sakaki had somehow trained a monster.
"As I thought, we should have chosen my disciple to be the leader of Yami and inherit our skills," declared Mikumo Kushinada, "You're not fit to be a master, God Hand."
"The emotionless fist is the basic principle of Yami," lectured Cyril Rahman, "To withdraw your fist before even attempting to fight to observe your enemies is quite concerning. Even my disciple had to be ordered to retreat, though I don't know why Diego didn't let my disciple go at it. To think this is the one who would inherit..."
He didn't finish the sentence, but it was a sentiment that was shared among most of them. Sho could only clench his fist at this jab but kept silent.
"Now now, people let's stop this internal fighting," pacified Alexander, "We shouldn't judge someone this harshly. Not when we've yet to hear what the rest of the disciples have to say."
"Kekeke, internal fight?" giggled Jenazad while munching on some grapes, "Each one of us believes that our sole martial arts is the strongest! Gathering together was a mere solution to avoid fighting each other. We've never had such comradeship in the first place! But I do disagree with the old hag and beard about their words."
Kushinada and Cyril glared at Jenazad for such words, but also in confusion why he would say such a thing. The fact that he was defending Sho when he personally had a hand in his own disciple's death (or so they believed) was surprising.
Agaard Jum Sai shrugged, "That's true. Even if it was my disciple that was to inherit us all, I wouldn't want him to learn any martial arts than my own. I want to prove that Muay Thai is the strongest there is!"
"Now now, let's get back to our original topic," placated Ogata, "I do believe we agreed to have all the disciples give their own analysis."
"Hmph, Sho's judgement must be colored by your teachings," harrumphed Kushinada.
"Well, then let's hear it then," stated Agaard before turning to his disciple, "Kokin, give me your honest judgment. What are your chances?"
Tirawit couldn't help but shake very slightly now that all the attention was on him now. Giving himself a few seconds to calm down, Tirawit began to speak.
"If I was to fight with the same conditions as Suparana had listed, then it would be 90%..."
"Ha, see, my disciple says he can deal with it," grinned Agaard as he turned to face them.
"... of me losing without landing any crippling or life-threatening damage," admitted Tirawit, interrupting his master's boast, who stopped with his jaw still open.
"Two of them?" questioned Jisei Ro, "I believe we should heed Ogata's words and have them all talk before passing judgment."
"Boris, report, full disclosure," ordered Alexander.
"Mission would end in failure," replied Boris succinctly.
"Chikage?" asked Kushinada, looking to her disciple/adopted daughter.
Chikage fell silent for a bit before answering, "... very low chance of winning."
"Shishy?" asked Cyril, turning to his disciple Ethan, using the Hindi word for disciple.
"... I would risk my life to bring more information for future victories," intoned Ethan, not denying he would most likely lose."
"How is this possible?" asked a puzzled Jisei, slightly turning his head towards his own disciple to hear his own reaction.
Chou Enshin had a visible sneer on his face, judging all his fellow disciples in Yomi as below him as they admitted to being weaker without even fighting. Satomi seemed intrigued by this turn of events and was withholding judgment for now.
"It's not surprising really," laughed Diego, drawing their attention once more, "After watching Ryozanpaku's disciple fight, I can't help but admit Ogata was right about his analysis. No offense Castor, but you aren't ready for that fight."
"Si Maestro," nodded Rachel.
"Kekeke, it's not surprising that our apprentices aren't confident in defeating this Shirahama Kenichi. I don't think anyone in Yomi is," laughed Jenazad, "If only I found him first. He truly would have been a work of art."
"I think anyone who found him would have certainly changed the world of martial arts," stated Ogata dryly.
Now the others of the One Fist Nine Shadows were very confused at what was going on. Why were they not concerned that their disciples admitted to not being a match against Shirahama Kenichi?
"I think it's time we let them know," laughed Diego, "Otherwise they'll be going around in circles. Is this why you didn't want to tell the others Sage Fist? In hopes of grabbing him first?"
"Perhaps," acknowledged Ogata, "So who should spill the news?"
"I can!" proclaimed Diego, "For you see, Shirahama Kenichi-"
"Can already use Ki no Shouka," interrupted Jenazad.
"Don't ruin my fun Demon God Fist!" shouted Diego, "But yes, Ryozanpaku's strongest disciple is already capable of utilizing Ki no Shouka."
Shouts of disbelief and outrage could be heard coming from the other masters before Senzui slammed his hand onto his knee to silence them all.
"Are you telling us that Ryozanpaku's disciple is already capable of utilizing Ki that only masters are capable of?" asked Senzui with a note of interest in his tone.
"Well yeah," nodded Diego, "I swear by my Laughing Fist that he is capable of using such Ki quite proficiently. In fact, some of us could use a few pointers from him."
Many twitched in indignation at that suggestion but kept quiet.
"How is this possible?" asked Kushinada, "Is it possible that this Shirahama Kenichi is not of the age he says he is? Could his information be false to lure us into a false sense of security?"
Kushinada didn't think that Ryozanpaku would do such a thing, of course, but it was something to consider. A teenager being able to use Ki no Shouka, and apparently very proficiently, was very unlikely. A more plausible reason would be that Kenichi looked young but was actually an adult, somewhere in his late twenties perhaps. After all, she was somewhat the same. Though she would never tell anyone her true age, it was easy to guess she was much older than she looked, as she had lived through World War 2, working with Hayato Furiniji to stop the previous Setting Sun. Not she would tell anyone her age, as that would be rude. Nobody knew just how close her guess was to the truth.
"Now now, age may be a factor, but don't forget that there have been instances where some people became masters at a young age. One example would be Mayu Tanaka from Tenchi Mushin Ryu, who ascended to the master class at the tender age of 18," criticized Ogata.
Diego tsked at her before replying, "Don't insult me. I always double-check to make sure my contestants are of legal age. I check my contestants multiple times to make sure my information is correct."
'And yet you let three masters into the tournament,' thought out the Yomi members, though not voicing their thought.
"After he showed that ability, I had my intelligence team triple-check to make sure Shirahama wasn't a hidden master who was over 20. All paperwork, trails, everything leads up to the fact that Shirahama Kenichi is indeed only 16 years old, his birthday on October 12th. There's even documentation of his birth on that specific date, taken by his father who was apparently crying in with tears of joy as he recorded it. I followed up on his family tree and found no notable names relating to martial arts at all. Plus, even with his control, I'd still place him in the Expert category. His body hasn't hit it's prime yet, after all."
"A genius then," hypothesized Alexander.
"I'd say more than that, perhaps a blessed prodigy that comes only once every thousand years," mused Cyril.
"Indeed," nodded Ogata, "My disciple, Ryuto, was in an unfortunate accident while testing out a new move against Ryozanpaku's disciple. The backlash of the technique if not properly contained and used involves a ravaged Ki network and potential permanent damages to the body, including permanent paralysis of legs. However, despite misusing this technique, Kenichi was able to not only defeat him but at the same time, balance his Ki network so as to mitigate the damage. Someone who foolishly believes in Katsujinken."
"He's certainly been dyed in white," cackled Jenazad, "But that makes it all so much easy to dye him in red if given the chance."
Hongo frowned at that statement but said nothing.
"So what should we do then?" asked Agaard, "If nothing else, I've got some better things to do than just chatter. Kokin, looks like you got some catching up to do, but I'll be damned if I let Apachai's student get so far ahead of you."
"Yes Khru," acknowledged Tirawit.
Senzui took this time to meditate on the situation. The fact that someone at the age of 16 was able to use Ki no Shouka was indeed surprising, but it was shocking to find that Kenichi had no trace of martial arts ancestry within his family. He suspected a hidden family from the Kuremisago but dismissed that. All members of the clan were carefully monitored, and anyone outside of it was already dead, with the exception of Miu.
"Diego, distribute the videos of the fight to all of us," ordered Senzui, "I wish to analyze this footage myself."
"Alright, can do!" grinned Diego, "I'll even throw in a free music video with it!"
The others internally groaned at that, but all were interested in the video.
"Oh, and I forgot to mention, Shirahama Kenichi wasn't the only one to use Ki no Shouka. His fellow disciple mate, Furinji Miu, also ascended to it too," added Diego.
That caught Senzui's attention. How could it not? Miu was the child of the friend and woman that he loved. The one that he had spared because he couldn't kill her. The silver lining in this was that they had someone who as descended from the Kuremisago clan that could show the world how strong they still were.
"Another child? Ryozanpaku's training must be quite something," chuckled Hongo, "If we have nothing else to discuss, I will take my leave. Sho, we have work to do."
"Yes sir!" grinned Sho.
"Two disciples most likely stronger than ours," hummed Alexander, "Ryozanpaku certainly have hidden their fangs well. One false move and it could set us all back."
"I will meditate on this more," declared Senzui, "We will convene once more when a decision has been made. I want our spy network to get more information about these two disciples. Dismissed!"
As one, each one of them began to leave, each disciple leaving with their respective master. As Cho passed by Sho, he whispered, "Coward."
Sho resisted the urge to pummel Cho, choosing to catch up to his master instead.
Satomi chose to remain behind as he had some thoughts to air out later. As he mused on about Kenichi, his fists tightened in slight anger. He had worked his ass to get to where he was! And now, his opponent/enemy of Satsujinken was apparently a prodigy like no other.
'I'll show him,' hissed Satomi to himself, 'That even with all that talent, he'll still fall by my hands, he who never understood how much pain and suffering I went through to get to where I am!"
Satomi had no idea how wrong he truly was about that statement.
Few days later
The Shinpaku Alliance had come back from a dangerous tournament only to find themselves in another dangerous situation. This one, however, snuck upon them! Well, it snuck up on a few despite knowing the fact it was coming. This was one situation that despite all their physical prowess and abilities, they could not escape from this net. Takeda, Ukita, and Tsuji were in the most danger out of all of them.
For you see!... Exam week at Koryo High School was coming soon.
" #$# #$%^%$# $%!" cursed Takeda as he tried to solve a math problem from review notes that he borrowed from a classmate.
They were all coming close to the end of the third semester, as it was already March. Ukita could be found with Takeda, both of which were desperately trying shore up their academics. Tsuji was in a worse situation, having basically ditched school right before the first semester had even ended. He took one look at the review notes and tossed them, stating that he didn't need academics. It was painfully obvious that he had no idea how to do half the problems listed.
Truth be told, Ukita and Takeda had thought about winging the exams without studying. If they failed... well it just meant another year in Koryo High. Surprisingly, their parents seemed to not really care about their grades. Most likely because they had given up on trying to tame their ex-delinquent sons. However, it had been Ukita who started to desperately study to pass his classes as soon as they got back from Fortuna's island.
The reason for this was because his master, Taiki, had ordered him to study and pass his classes. Taiki did not want his own son thinking that because Ukita didn't pass that it was ok for him to slack off in his own classes. Not only that, but Taiki did want Ukita to be more than a martial artist and have more opportunities. Seeing Ukita study, Takeda couldn't help but be dragged into his pace.
It wasn't just them, though. Each member of the Shinpaku Alliance who had attended the DFOD were all studying for their finals.
"Hey, how come you two aren't studying?" whined Kisara as she looked up from her book while petting a kitten that Siegfried had brought for her.
"We took the exam early, before the DFOD," smiled Miu as she clasped hands with Kenichi, getting ready to leave their base, "Both of us got our results back already and passed with straight As. We're going to celebrate."
Most of the members grumbled at this, but continued to focus on studying.
"So where do you want to go?" asked Kenichi as they left the base.
"Mmmm," hummed Miu, "I know! There's one place I didn't get to really explore too much back in our last timeline."
"Where is that?" asked Kenichi curiously.
"To the village where the Kuremisago once resided. To the uninhabited land that once belonged to my mother."
"Kaede, I'm home!" shouted Natsu as he returned to his mansion. He had managed to return home from Fortuna's island by having his master commandeer a boat so he could drive them back.
"Onii-chan, welcome back!" curtsied Kaede before tackling Natsu in the stomach for a hug.
Natsu easily took the tackle with a smile, putting his hand on her back before lifting her up to his eye level.
"Were you a good girl? And did you eat enough at the Shirahama household? Did the Zanshin Taisha-ryuu do their job correctly?"
"Yes to all," smiled Kaede, "Did you have fun on your trip? Did you get me anything?"
"Well I found someone," smirked Natsu as he gestured to the door with his head.
Kaede leaned over her brother's shoulder to see Ma Sogetsu waltzing in the room while drinking from his usual flask once more.
"Uncle Big Ma!" exclaimed Kaede with a smile.
"There's the other brat," grunted Sogetsu, though with no real harshness in tone. Instead, he ruffled Kaede's head before kicking back onto a coach.
Natsu gently put Kaede down, who immediately went to Sogetsu, pulling out a Mah Jong set from who knows where.
"Are you ready to admit complete defeat?" grinned Kaede as she opened the box, "I'll have my 100th continuous win streak from you in this game!"
"Brat, you've only won 98 times! Don't think I'll hold back now!" shouted Sogetsu in reflex before blinking for a second, his eyes nervously snapping to Natsu, "But first, there are a few techniques I have to teach your brother as well as check for damages."
Natsu snorted and was about to reply that the training would have to wait due to the fact he had to check over the budget for the company, study for his exams, and write a check to the Zanshin Taisha-ryuu as well as get a full report from them when the doorbell rang.
"Who could that be?" muttered Natsu as Kaede quickly trotted over to the door, using the camera system to check who was outside.
The door could be heard opening, and a few seconds later, Renka came charging in.
"What the hell are you doing here!?" shouted Natsu, "And how the hell do you know where I live?"
"Looking for you and Kaede showed me where before," replied Renka before noticing Ma Sogetsu on the coach.
"You!" growled Renka.
"Me," replied Sogetsu with a dull tone, "What, you going to try to beat me again after what happened last time?"
"Maybe next time, but I have more important things on hand than dealing with a bad seed of an uncle," snorted Renka, dismissing Sogetsu for now.
Sogetsu blinked in surprise at this dismissal and felt a bit angry at being dismissed so nonchalantly. What happened next made him grin and relax back onto the couch once more.
"Help me study for the exams!" begged Renka, pulling out books from between her chest. Natsu blinked at the sudden stack of books that she had pulled out, puzzled where the hell she managed to fit them but dismissed it for a rather more important subject.
"Why the hell should I help you!?" shouted Natsu.
"You're smart," whined Renka, "You know this stuff better than I do. It would do wonders for your nice guy persona that you put in school."
"How the hell does me tutoring you help with my mask at school?" argued Natsu, "You're wasting my valuable time right now, too!"
The two began to argue back and forth, much to Sogetsu's amusement as he watched this …... romance drama while sipping his drink. He was having too much fun to intervene.
As Natsu was beginning to push Renka towards the door, Kaede entered the room carrying a tray of mixed fruits and a tea set with peppermint tea already prepared and boiled to perfection.
"Indeed, studying is important," smiled Kaede as she almost shoved the tray into Natsu's hand, who was looking confused, "It's also a good friend's prerogative to help those in need. You don't have enough friends that you can afford to burn bridges so easily. Doing this will help you connect with more people once they hear how good you are at tutoring. Now go to your study room and help Renka out! It'll also be a good review for you, too."
Kaede then began pushing the two towards Natsu's study room, much to both of their confusion as they were urged inside. None of them had any power to argue physically or socially before they were already inside the study room, with Kaede shutting the door behind them.
"So... that happened," blinked Renka as Natsu stared at the door, still holding the tray of snacks.
Natsu shook his head to break out of his shock before placing the tray onto the table. With a huff, he placed a chair on the opposite side of his desk before sitting down at his usual seat.
"Don't you need help? How am I supposed to help you if you don't sit down and tell me what you need help with?" asked Natsu, seeing Renka still standing there.
"Oh, right!" blushed Renka as she quickly sat down, "I need help with math..."
Sogetsu blinked as he saw Kaede returning to the room, plopping down in front of him with the Mah Jong set ready.
"So... what's that all about?" asked Sogetsu curiously.
"Hm?" replied Kaede.
"Don't 'hmm' me brat. I know you're a lot more cunning than you let anyone now," chuckled Sogetsu, "What's your plan here?"
"I've already stated it," smiled Kaede as she began shuffling the Mah Jong set.
"There's more than that that you didn't mention," pointed out Sogetsu.
Kaede smirked, "Well, this event might bring them closer to each other. I'm not lying that I do want them to get together. Renka is unlike all those other girls who fawn over my brother during his business parties that are sent by other families, trying to get their hands on the corporation. She won't bend over to my brother's whim, nor will she try to seduce him to get him to give up his power. With her, she'll be the perfect deterrent against all those other gold-diggers. Not to mention she can easily defend herself if they try to hurt her. And in the event they somehow do hurt her... well her father isn't someone you want to mess with."
"Hmph," mused Sogetsu, though quite impressed with Kaede's plan.
"Then there's the family connection of course. If she does marry him, then you'll really be my Uncle by law," smiled Kaede.
Sogetsu froze at that sentence, his mind racing through that statement. He was Ma Kensei's older brother, therefore Renka's uncle. If Renka married Natsu, then...
"That, of course, means that I can tortu... play more Mah Jong with you," finished Kaede.
'Shit she's right,' thought Sogetsu, realizing that Kaede was far more cunning than he thought. Did he mind becoming her uncle? Not terribly, but the fact that he would have no excuse to escape his humiliating defeats in Mah Jong would be something he'd have to face with forever.
At Yami base
Yami had once again met up without their disciples to discuss the future. There were ideas thrown here and there about what to do. One idea that never came was them personally dealing with Kenichi. They had their pride as Masters, and after reviewing the video, they deemed him in the Expert Class. Just a year or so, he would surely be in the Master Class. But they would deal with him when he reached such a level. Not before.
"Which brings me to one point, has Fierce God Ma Sogetsu betrayed the One Shadow Nine Fist and joined Ryozanpaku?" asked Agaard.
"If he has, such a traitor must be dealt with swiftly," intoned Kushinada.
Jisei blinked as he raised his voice, "May I be filled in on how this topic was brought up?"
Seeing as Jisei was blind and had obviously not watched the video, the others quickly brought up Natsu and Renka's match vs the Three-Headed Dragon team. They couldn't blame him for not watching it as there was a lot of commentary from Diego.
"Ah, I think that's a more personal matter," smiled Jisei, "As you know, Sogetsu was once a part of the Phoenix Alliance in China. After he met me and learned true power, he left China to explore a little before coming into Yami. However, the Black Tiger White Dragon Alliance has a rather antagonistic policy towards him. Several times they have tried to kill him when their paths merely crossed each other, and Sogetsu, of course, killed them. The Phoenix Alliance has a more lax attitude, most likely due to his brother's influence, and choose not to provoke him. Most likely when he heard that the fight was going to be against them, he threw his disciple in just to annoy them."
"That's what I was saying!" exclaimed Diego with a laugh.
"So you are sure that Sogetsu has not joined his brother in Ryozanpaku?" inquired Senzui.
"Positive," confirmed Jisei.
"Then we shall move on from this topic," motioned Senzui, "Next will be about our disciples..."
"Are you sure about this?" asked Kenichi as they rode a train towards the uninhabited village, "Won't it be dangerous?"
"Yami and Yomi have yet to make a move yet," said Miu with a convincing tone, "This may be our only time to visit before everything else. After that, we won't be able to go out as often anymore."
"That's true," sighed Kenichi, "Well, onto the village then!"
With full knowledge that he was in the next coach, sat the Elder. They had asked him to come with them just as a precaution. The other masters of Ryozanpaku were busy with other tasks. Sakaki had been called in by the police for some details about the raid, Shigure was off on another sword hunt, Kensei and Akisame were at their clinic, and Apachai was guarding... or rather playing with Kaede and Honoka again.
It didn't take too long before they reached the isolated station, giving a little thought of why such a station was clean despite being clearly abandoned. The two began to run towards the uninhabited village that the Kuremisago once resided.
Thanks to the extra training and techniques, Kenichi was able to more or less keep up with Miu while using Nanba Hashiri. Soon, they had reached the village after jumping over multiple fences.
"It's beautiful," whispered Miu as she inspected the village closely. The last time they were here, she barely had time to inspect the village before dealing with Hayami and Seto among other things.
"Despite being abandoned, there are people that clearly still come here to manage the land," noted Kenichi as he examined the land. The lawns were mowed, the trees were pruned, and upon inspection, there wasn't as much dust as he thought there would be in the buildings.
They had been wandering about for half an hour before they were met with a sight they never thought they would ever see. They saw someone who they never thought they would meet so early.
Miu and Kenichi had been walking around the corner when they met face to face with Saiga Fuurinji, who was carrying a memorial tablet of Shizuha.
Both parties blinked in surprise as they met face to face. While Kenichi and Miu had come so Miu could feel a closer connection to her mother's side, Saiga had come to mourn and remember his wife. It had been completely coincidental that the two met with each other. To make it worse, Saiga had opted not to wear his usual Mr. Okamoto disguise.
Silence reigned in between both of them until...
"What?"
Boom! Surprise curveball muhahaha! Who expected this!? Saiga and Miu meet up much earlier! Will they talk more? Will Ukita and Takeda pass their exams! Find out next time!
Oh, some of you may think I'm writing Satomi a bit OOC against Kenichi when he liked him in the canon. Well it's because Satomi thought he could relate to Kenichi, having no talent in martial arts, but with pure tenacity and training, manage to defy those limits. In this new timeline, Satomi thinks Kenichi is some sort of genius, like Sho. So because of this, he thinks he can't relate with Kenichi, thus disliking him.