Chapter 5

"The Underworld of Martial Arts"

Five Months Later - Yokohama Chinatown

Shirahama Honoka sat tiredly at the mini-bar of Hakubi's personal restaurant. Her head was droopy and her hair was frazzled to the point of being comical. Every single muscle in her yet to be developed body ached in what was akin to white hot fire due to the training regimen her new martial art master had put her through. It had been five long, grueling months for the girl who decided to walk the path of a martial artist. It goes without saying that one should often be careful of what they wish for.

If there was one thing she learned in the past five months, it was one simple fact.

Uzumaki Naruto knew no mercy.

Sure, Honoka had suspicions when he had been nonchalant when asking her to run up a ten mile mountain and back in under thirty minutes. Fortunately, compared to what he was forcing her to do now, that old exercise would have been heaven on earth. When Honoka had finally cut her regular time from two hours to forty minutes, Naruto had decided to give her a weighted gi. Of course, this only forced her back for the first few weeks before getting accustomed to it.

But her Master would only continue to add more and more.

She had many exercises that was prior to her basic form training. Many of them ranged from having to run with weighted clothes to having to do underwater running. No, underwater running may have sounded silly to a regular person, but her training was anything but regular.

He didn't know how he did it. How he managed to produce fast and violent whirlpools inside of an inside pool (apparently, the Orphanage had one of those too) was beyond her. When Honoka asked, the blonde merely shrugged and said, "Some weird fellow helped me with the design." The girl was hesitant to even ask why such a design was implemented in the first place.

Anyway, Honoka was resting at her new friend's restaurant at Chinatown. After their first meeting, the ice had broken between Honoka and Hakubi and she used whatever allowance she had left to visit him now and then. One would think that it was dangerous for an eight year old to be going to Chinatown alone and against her own Master's wishes. The girl didn't really care; her sense of danger had dulled three months ago when Naruto made Haku throw knives at her during evasion practice.

The Master had said, "If you can dodge knives, you can dodge punches." The logic didn't make any sense whatsoever in her opinion. She had been nicked dozens of times but luckily for her, Haku turned out to be a skilled medic of sorts. Any wounds she had after a particularly dangerous day of training, the dark-haired teenager would take care of them.

Honoka was very grateful for the very feminine looking boy. He had a heart of gold.

As she slurped up another helping of noodles, the girl reflected on the fighting style she was being taught. Needless to say, when she finally decided to stop a handful of bullies from picking in Konohamaru; the true nature of Yúnlóngquán (Cloud Dragon Fist) was very clear. It was a bittersweet moment for the young brunette girl. Despite the overwhelming and almost zealous praise Konohamaru rained down upon her, she could still taste the blood of the bullies in her mouth as the sheer power of her punches drew it from their wounds. The taste of blood was like metal and she hated it.

It was quite clear that the style she was learning was meant for one thing and one thing only.

To kill.

Did she really know what she was getting into? Maybe her impulsive youth really had gotten the best of her this time. Perhaps she was a bit too young to really getting blood on her hands. Though she hadn't killed, Honoka had certainly hurt the bullies. There was one thing that she would never forget that day as well.

The way the older teenagers had looked at her when the deed was done. They had looked at her as if she were something abnormal...something like a monster.

That was unacceptable. She was learning this art to help people in need, not to be seen as a violent child. It completely contradicted her beliefs.

Sighing to herself, Honoka shook her head. No, this was what she wanted; strength to protect her precious people and to be the best in the world. The goals coincided, fortunately for her.

"Is something the matter, Honoka?" Hakubi gazed down at her. Despite his small grin, his eyes glistened with something akin to curiosity in them. "You seem...tired."

"Just training Uncle. Sensei has been...relentless as of late. I didn't think my body would have been capable of what it's doing these days, say, five months ago. I'm tired."

The shades wearing old man nodded. "I understand. However, you've done a great job so far. My, I don't think I've seen Naruto this excited in a very long time. He truly enjoys teaching disciples you know, even during the dark times of his life, teaching was his light within a spiral of darkness."

"...I don't know what you mean Uncle. Was Sensei like super famous of something?"

"I would say he is more infamous than famous. But yes, he is well known in the martial arts realm."

Honoka nodded. Usually, she would try to pry more out of him but when she tried, Hakubi would just shut it down. If she wanted to get information on her Sensei, she would have to do so herself. The girl didn't suspect her Master to just tell her his past so...easily. Besides, he had always told her that gathering information was a useful skill in any profession. Perhaps she would start some other time.

"So how is your training going?" He asked.

The girl took a moment to consider her response. "Conditioning is on track. Sensei says that I am progressing well and my speed and leg power are improving at a rapid pace. He usually has me repeating katas for the longest every training day and during weekends, I say the most time would be three hours on them max. Also, he's been giving me several unique lessons once or twice a week to enhance my repertoire of techniques. I began practicing telegraphing an opponent's movements a month ago."

"Telegraphing huh?" Hakubi roused. "Very advanced for a child."

"Yeah. It's really hard though because sensei's punches are so hard to keep track of. Despite his best efforts at holding back, his movements are still too fast to follow so Haku-chan volunteered to spar with me in his place. I can telegraph movements but I still have a hard time countering." She admitted. "Well, countering Haku-chan is hard I mean. I can easily take down street punks."

"My, my...you are improving so much for one so young." The old man observed. "You remind me of my nephew's daughter. She is also a very talented martial artist."

"Sensei demands a lot. I just try my best." Honoka replied. "He says that I should practice more on my countering to make up for lack of strength. Since my conditioning is more focused on flexibility and speed, I'll be lacking in strength."

"Strength can be compensated with technique. Naruto is rather clever. He believes your strength will grow as you age."

"I feel plenty strong. My punches drew blood from some bullies I was fighting off a while back." Honoka sighed and took in another bite.

"Bullies?"

"Yeah. Some dumb gang was picking on some kids from another elementary school. When I fought them, my punches were one hit KO's. They thought I was a monster or something." Honoka mumbled. Hakubi only smiled and ruffled her hair.

"You are no monster, silly girl. I mean, you are way too cute to be a monster." She glowed at the compliment. "Well, it is getting really late." He pointed to the clock. It was seven.

"Ok, I'll be going Uncle." She began to take out her wallet, only to stop as Hakubi pinched her cheeks affectionately.

"Silly Japanese girl, I've told you this a million times. It's on the house. That is until you stop visiting of course..." He mumbled darkly. "Nobody ever has the time to visit Hakubi anymore."

"Xièxiè Uncle! And thank you!" She waved and ran off to catch the next train.

"So after five months, she finally realized that she can earn points with me by speaking Chinese. Silly girl."

Orphanage Backyard: Personal Training Ground

The Next Day.

"Honoka! Enough, come here. Stretch and finish up first."

"Hai, Sensei."

Naruto sat calmly with his hands resting beneath his head as he allowed his gaze to reach the blue sky. His mind was going over his mental list of lessons he had contemplated going over for the next few months. The girl was without a doubt a hard worker and she soaked up his lessons like a sponge to water.

Honoka wasn't what people would call a genius by any means. Despite cliché popular manga plot-lines, geniuses in battle definitely appeared only once in a generation, or even less than that. Even those who many could perceive as geniuses were most likely trained from birth. Being given a head start and having an abnormal amount of talent were two different things as far the the blond was concerned. Honoka was one of the many that stood in between average and genius. She had surpassed Naruto's initial expectations and her fire for learning the path was still driving her to push past her boundaries. That was a good thing.

The toughest job was usually putting a foot in the door. Now she just had to maintain her form.

"Sit." He pointed in front of him. Naruto took a moment to set up a square board with dozens of pieces placed on individual tiles. "Have you read the rules?"

"Hai! I've memorized the movement of each piece and I've been playing with almost everyone I meet for the last month." Honoka explained as she wiped the sweat from her forehead.

"Well done. Let's play then."

"If you don't mind sensei, could you tell me how this effects my training? I mean, it's a really fun game! But it's just a game."

"Good question. It's tactics, Honoka. Shogi will keep your mind sharp and constantly on the move."

"But in a fight, everything happens so fast. When would I be able to even think?"

"Do you remember my last lesson?"

Honoka's eyes lit up and nodded. "Hai! Predicting and countering telegraphed movements. I can see how things fit but in shogi, there is a lot of time to make moves."

"Before a battle, you must always have a plan of action. Running into a fight without one is just too foolish to consider." He replied easily. "However, in the midst of battle, plans will change so your point is valid. But I have fixed that easily."

"How?"

"Easy. We're going to change how this game is played." Naruto took out a small timer clock. "We both get ten seconds to make a move. Once the time is up, a piece must be moved. If you don't, I will move one for you."

"I-I see..." That sounded difficult. To force her to come up with tactics on the spot like that was a devious thing to do. "That sounds really tough."

"Don't be intimidated, disciple. This is only the beginning. I will eventually lower the time to five or three seconds. So...enjoy the ten seconds I am giving you."

And so they played. The first time around, Honoka only last eight moves before getting crushed. The second time, it was fifteen moves. She only got better and better in the two hours they played.

The blonde found an interesting mind in the brunette. While she didn't come up with elaborate or unpredictable strategies, the girl did manage to eventually adapt to the flow of a game. She usually never made the same mistake twice but that ended up being her downfall, since she followed a pattern. Honoka was still a novice so it didn't really surprise him.

"Alright, that's enough for now." Naruto said, sensing a presence nearby. "Go punch out the candles for an hour. Make sure to strap the weights. After that, do two thousand squats in the pool."

"Hai!"

That was another drill she didn't really understand either. He had told her that it was supposed to, "Emphasize the explosive nature of her punch." She hated it when her sensei spoke so indirectly. Did that mean that it made her punch stronger or do something else?

She left and went to the room designated for that.

xxx

With Naruto

As soon as the door close, Naruto called out. "Asuma?"

Sarutobi Asuma appeared from behind the corridor and went to stand behind him. "I have news. Bad news." He said grimly with a cigarette in his mouth.

"What is it?"

The older man sighed and gave him a folder he had held. Naruto opened it and felt a cold sweat break at the images.

"Shikamaru faxed this earlier today. Your enemies have grown stronger. They can now afford to attack the Council of Sun without serious repercussion. Two of the five Masters have already been killed."

Naruto merely flipped through the files in silence. But Asuma could tell that he was shocked.

"So...soon." The blond grimaced. "I knew the Council of Sun would fall one day but they were the only ones that would accept me into their ranks. They only intended to use my name to scare off any potential enemies."

"If the Council falls, than you will be seen as vulnerable once again. Once your enemies realize that you are without the proper backing of a company, they will send them."

Naruto nodded, "Agents of the ANBU Black Ops. It has been a while since I've seen them. They are not strong individually-"

"-Maybe to a beast like you." Asuma grunted.

"-But they move in large groups. I have no doubt that they will send multiple platoons to assassinate me." He finished and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Honoka will be in danger." His fist tightened. "And this orphanage..."

"Yes. If the Council falls, they will come here and they will raze this place to the ground."

There was a tense silence.

"I must speed up Honoka's training in case...the worst happens." Naruto concluded darkly.

"What would the worst be?" Asuma asked.

Naruto moved a random piece on the shogi board. "They hire an army of Masters to come hunt me down. It all depends. How long do you suppose I have?" He asked conversationally, changing his tune almost instantly.

Asuma scratched his chin thoughtfully. "Maybe one or two years. If you're lucky. The Council of Sun is not exactly a powerful name to hide behind."

"Plenty of time to teach her some worthwhile techniques."

"Not all of them...And you are assuming you will survive the coming storm." Asuma pointed out.

"I have a promise to keep, Asuma. I won't die." He smiled. "Anyway, it will be a good experience for Honoka. She is still young. I want to see how she works with what I give her."

"Ah..." The bearded man realized. "That's why you're starting up her tactics training now. You never intended to teach her any more than the basics."

"Not at all. I'm not that cruel. I will be teaching her the 'Sky Dragon Steps'."

"So soon? She's just a kid! Not even Hanabi..." Naruto waved him off, silencing his opinion.

"It is my judgement call and I think she will be ready soon. I think I will begin teaching her that next spring. Her body should be strong enough to handle it. If not, then give or take a few months. Either way, she definitely won't master it while I am here."

"Power like that in the hands of a child." Asuma only shook his head. It's not that he didn't believe in Honoka, it was just something he wasn't sure was the right thing to do.

"I believe in my disciple!" Naruto stated with nothing but pure conviction. His eyes (literally) glowed when he faced the man. And suddenly, Asuma felt as if he were the foolish one in that conversation. The blonde's words were filled with so much confidence that the older man found himself questioning his own training methods.

"I understand."

"Thank you for informing me, Asuma. You have done so much for me these past years." The older man waved off his thoughtful comments.

"It is the least I could do for the man that saved my family. What are you planning, Naruto?" Asuma asked, watching the blonde randomly move around shogi pieces again.

"I am unsure. Despite my friendship with Hakubi, I cannot join the Phoenix Alliance. That would cause too much inner turmoil. I've made enemies with more than half of them in the past." He sighed. His sins of the past really were catching up to him now.

The Sarutobi seemed to be contemplating something. "...How about Yami?"

The shogi piece in between Naruto's finger cracked. "Not an option. Besides, I fight for the Katsujinken (Fist of Life). Yami...is quite the opposite." His tone left no room for argument. There seemed to be something lingering at that topic but Asuma didn't go further.

"I see. Man, this really is a problem."

"It is." Naruto acknowledged. "I have two years to plan for that time. Do not worry yourself Asuma. They will only aim for me, and me alone. Not you or this orphanage. But me."

"Perhaps Shikamaru..." Naruto shook his head at Asuma's suggestion.

"I have brought enough grief to his clan. We may be friends but his clan will not accept me as an ally. I am sure they would rather kill me." The blonde explained curtly. "And do not even bring the Hyuuga into this conversation." He saw the look in Asuma's eyes.

"You have way too many enemies at thirty-three, kid." The Sarutobi scoffed.

"Such is life. It is unfair, as they say." Naruto shrugged. "Don't worry about it Asuma. I will figure something out. For now, I wish to train my disciple."

"You might die when they come for you, Naruto. You are strong, very strong I admit, but you are not invincible. Nobody is invincible."

Naruto smirked inwardly. "I'm sure there is at least one person in this city that disagrees with you."

The elder man waved off that comment. "No human is invincible is what I meant. I'm pretty sure that guy you're thinking of has Super Saiyan lineage; technically making him an alien. He's a blonde isn't he? Yeah. My point is made."

Rolling his eyes, the young master nodded. He didn't mention his own hair and how it also resembled the fictional race. "You would have to ask him. Jokes aside..."

"- I wasn't joking but yeah, I'll have to ask Shikamaru about it. I know you insist on doing all of this yourself but you do have friends that will help. He will find a way to help you." Naruto sighed and nodded in resignation.

"Very well."

"Good." Asuma grinned. "Well, I'll leave you to your student. Later."

Naruto nodded and moved another piece on the shogi board. His Silver General had just put the King in check.

One Month Later

Honoka whistled a song as she walked down Yokohama. She knew that if any member of her family knew where she was, they would most likely freak out completely. Her sensei was not joking when he said there was a lot of gang activity around here, and the problem was, most of the gangs had the backing of the local Chinese Mafia. Apparently, the Mafia had a base here and would occasionally hire Master level fighters to protect their base. Even if Honoka wanted to fight off those bastard gangs, she would risk fighting people that were way stronger than her. This couldn't happen.

That was something to think about for another time.

She had just come from another dinner with Hakubi. It wasn't really too dark yet so she could afford to explore some more. Honoka sighed as she looked at all the stores around her. Like her mother, she had inherited a love for shopping and such. But Honoka knew that money was not to be spent so carelessly.

If only...

"Argh!" A yell came from a random alley way. "S-shit!" Being as nosy as ever, Honoka followed the noise from a distance. She had noticed the look of fear on the residents around and slipped from all of their eyes, not wanting to be seen as somebody who was involved.

She walked into a nearby, parallel alley way and made her way up a building. Jumping atop a trash can, she used that to position herself to make a leap at a nearby ladder that was too far up from the ground to reach initially. Quickly climbing up those cases, she easily made it to the roof and crouched down low to watch just what the hell was going on.

"Well, well...You're that piece of shit that was making trouble for my friend the other day." A snide voice spat. He was a relatively tall looking person, standing at 5'11, standing in front of two unmemorable people, probably just regular flunkies. They were speaking in Chinese but fortunately, she was fluent enough to pick up a few words.

"You're gonna pay for causing us so much trouble!"

"Yeah." His flunkies agreed. The guy looked positively terrified and was cowering in front of the man.

"I-I didn't do anything! It was your friend who was harassing me! It's not my fault he was bothering the restaurant owner who kicked him out!" He defended himself. "I didn't do anything."

"Well...who cares? We can't mess with that old guy so we'll take it out on you!"

Just as one of the flunkies was about to punch the guy on the ground, Honoka jumped down from the side of the building, and spun in a sideways motion as she landed a double kick on the back of the delinquent. "Tianfang (Sky Fang)!" The attacker fell down, out-cold. The ground below showed signs of being cracked under his body. He definitely broke a few bones from that attack.

"W-what the fuck?! Who are you?!" He watched as the girl took a stance. She lowered her feet and stood diagonally with her left arm held tightly in front of her while her right arm was protecting her face. Her hands resembled claws. "...I don't recognize that stance!"

"Don't worry about it." She said. Even though the girl's voice was childish, the fighting aura she had produced made the two hesitant.

"She's a martial artist..." The leader of the two flunkies bit his lips. "Who are you?"

"Just a school girl. If you stop picking on this guy, I just might leave you both in one piece."

"You think we'll be intimidated by some stupid little girl?!" Flunky number two scoffed. "I'll take you on!" He ran right at her, ignoring the orders to stop from his leader.

"Idiot!"

The flunky positioned himself for a side kick. Honoka saw it coming from a mile a way; she jumped and spun into the attack while aiming her elbow to his chest. His forward momentum forced him to run right into her sharp strike, unfortunately for him, and as her elbow struck - the delinquent lost complete conscious. "Longxuan (Dragon Spin)!"

"A counter..." The leader grimaced when underling collapsed like a string-less doll. "Shit, that looked painful."

"Oh, it is." Honoka nodded openly. "Want a taste?"

"Hmph! You have no idea who you're fucking with!" He got into his own stance. "I am also a user of Quan Fa! You can't beat me."

The girl looked at him seriously for a moment, before chortling loudly. "Pft. Yeah, sure." Her eyes twinkled at him.

"Don't underestimate me, stupid girl!" He was certainly faster than the other two, Honoka acknowledged. His in-step was sharper and better than his friends.

But compared to the likes of Haku, this teenager was little better than an ant. The young brunette calmly weaved through his slow strikes and swept his legs from below. She watched him float in mid-air for the shortest of moments and timed her jump as he was in mid-air. Honoka spun her body forward when she felt that the ground was about two feet beneath her, gaining velocity in a split-second, and landed a deadly heel kick she had developed after watching Haku fight a bear.

"Longuizishou (Dragon Executioner)!"

"Argh!" The leader flunky grunted loudly before losing hold of his consciousness. Honoka began back in front of the previously cowering person. He looked at her in awe.

"You were the one that underestimated me." She muttered and smirked as she felt the feeling of yet another successful bout. "A Quan Fa rookie could never beat me." Honoka turned to the guy who was watched and grinned.

"Are you OK?"

He nodded, not quite believing what was happening before him. "I-I think I'm dreaming. A little girl just beat down a frequent from the Yokohama Battle Dome!" Honoka twitched at the little comment. She was still growing!

"Well, be like that then!" Honoka turned around and march away before something he said caught her mind. Turning back, she asked. "Yokohama Battle Dome?"

"Yes. Around Japan, there are places where fighters go to fight for money. They are paid for fighting other opponents. A lot of gangs hang around there to recruit members."

"Sounds like a really shady place." The girl observed. Nodding, the bullied guy continued.

"It is the first step into the realm known as the Underworld of Martial Arts, so they say. The deeper you get, the more monsters that appear. It's a den of monsters!"

"Monsters...?"

"Many participants use martial arts! Hell, some of them aren't even from gangs. They just want to test themselves," He admitted. "Man...this dream is very weird. Everyone around here should know about the Dome. It's a really big place."

Honoka widened her eyes at the implications. "No...I'm learning to protect the people I care for, not to earn money."

She stalked off to catch the next train. "But I really want to keep improving myself. What would Master say?"

Thoughts of the Battle Dome and the Underworld of Martial Arts plagued her for the rest of the month.

END

Before I go off on my usual after chapter comments, I do read my reviews. So I want to respond to one. There are quite a few I want to respond to actually but for now, just one. Reminder, I cannot pm guest accounts.

To 9TH: I really wanted to PM respond to you but I can't because it says you turned off your PM system or something. Honoka will be strong at the start of canon but I will confirm to EVERYONE right now that she will be under say, Shou Kano AKA "Suparna"(A beast and was my favorite character) in terms of fighting. I'm still re-reading the manga (At DoD right now) so it'll take a couple weeks to catch up. It's taking a while because I have to keep myself from being exasperated at Kenichi's scenes, I admit, they were amusing when I was younger but his demeanor throughout the story IS very annoying. I love the humor in the story but there's a lot of face-palming moments too.

I don't think he's talent-less but compared to everyone else, he mind as well be (Super Siegfried FTMFW). However, he has good determination which is why he's so interesting to Ryozanpaku. He has great masters. I mean, he went from a nobody to beating Shou Kano in ONE (or two?) year. Shou had trained since childhood from a clan of freaking NINJA and he lost to Kenichi somehow. Ryozanpaku knows their shit. I believe Kenichi's only problem (from where I last left off when he was fighting Koukin), Kenichi has a problem maintaining his skill. He is fairly careless, as shown when Tsuji kicked his ass because he assumed that he would win no matter what (he would have if he wasn't so lax). I don't know how much better he's gotten though. I do know that he is on the level of all of Yomi. DON'T SPOIL ME IN THE REVIEWS PLEASE! Lol, I got spoiled about Saiga already. I don't want anymore. Not yet.

This has nothing to do with anything but after Sky, my favorite Yomi is "Steel" (If you read, you know who that is). And yes, you hear my tone right. I am butthurt that Shou lost to Kenichi. How someone can go from losing in one-shot to winning is beyond me. But...I do acknowledge that Kenichi at full strength is a beast.

Anyway...That's why I'm giving Honoka Shaolinquan core training. They emphasize on repetition. When Naruto can't train her, she can do it herself.

ALRIGHT. To my typical post-chapter musings. As you see from the plot, I plan to enter the world of Martial Artist we don't really get to see in the manga for a long time. Remember when Kenichi went with Sakaki to make some money to help Miu manage the dojo? Yeah. It's like that. To specify, it's the part when Kenichi first met Castor.

I've yet to come up with a tasteful way to display Chinese dialogue. So...don't mind that yet.

Have a nice day.