Chapter 9
"The Agent of Fear"
"Do you understand your mission?"
In a dimly lit room; three figures sat in the shadows, looking down to another figure that was kneeling before them in complete submission. "Hai." The tone was completely monotone - there was no conveyed opinion in it at all. It was like listening to a machine confirm the action that a human wished for it: the control was absolute.
"For an indefinite amount of time, you shall be stationed in Koryou." The shadowed figure in the middle repeated as a formality. "This is the will of Lord Hokage. Dismissed."
The kneeling figure inclined his head ever so slightly and left the room.
His footsteps did not make a single sound.
Elsewhere
Honoka was currently on a slow but steady walk back from her school. It had been another slow day from the teachers again. For some reason, her mind just processed at a higher pace than the others in her class. She didn't know if it was because she practiced martial arts or what. If she didn't know any better, Honoka would have fancied herself as a genius - but she knew her Master would have smacked her upside the head if he knew she carried such conceited thoughts.
She was currently in her final year in middle school and was cruising past all of the older classmates. This really made it difficult for her to make friends outside of school since everyone just regarded her as the 'Genius' girl. People really did get nasty when they were confronted with things that they didn't understand. Honoka was just another enigma for them to make rumors about.
With her classmates alienating her, Honoka's only hope of making a friend lied at the orphanage and Yokohama.
Sadly, she did consider that Renka skank a friend (very, very loosely), no matter how sad that was.
Now her thoughts were just getting too gloomy.
"See! See! I told you guys that this was the way those two took!" An annoying voice yelled loud enough to be heard by the entire block. "And look, the big-breasted babe is with him! This is perfect."
Being the nosy person that she was, Honoka subtly slipped into a nearby alley-way and decided to eavesdrop on the conversation - she needed to determine if her intervention was needed or not. After all, it did her no good to fight bullies that could be handled by the supposed victim.
"R-Ragnarok."
"Ken'?" The brunette's eyes snapped up from it's previous closed position. "That's his voice. What's going on?!"
Honoka had something of a soft spot for her brother. Ever since they were young, he had protected her from bullies when no one else did or had the courage to do [other than her Master]. Despite being very weak himself, she admired his determination more so than anything else. She didn't care what others thought of her brother; whether they called him a coward or a deluded fool, to Honoka, the boy was her beloved brother who would always stand beside her, not matter the obstacle in front of him. Her brave, foolish older brother who often misread situations and did stupid but funny things.
She did not tolerate anyone picking on her brother. The girl had remembered the face of each and every single bully that she had seen picking on him. The next time she met one, there would be fists raining down from the Heavens. Right now, Honoka felt her fists tighten to the point where blood was almost drawn.
The girl was now attempting to calm herself. It wouldn't do her good to lose control of her anger now. It never did.
"Still training even when your shopping? Not bad at all, Kenichi!"
"What do you want?" He asked cautiously.
"To talk. Come with me for a bit, Kenichi!" The mop-head teenager replied.
"I was on my way home." He watched as the mop-head's cronies began circling around them. Kenichi tensed. "Don't get in my way!"
"You've got nothing to worry about! We won't harm the girl. Come on, let's go somewhere we can have a man-to-man conversation - just us men. Sorry girl, you can go home." Miu looked affronted at the dismissal but shook it off.
"Wait a minute! That's not what you said would happen. You said that if I lead you to them, you'd crush Kenichi and let me have the girl!" The annoying voice spoke up again. The hidden brunette only shook her head at the arrogance of filthy gang members. They were too cocky for their own damn good - if it were up to her, she would have long broken the fool's legs.
"Quiet you piece of shit! I absolutely hate guys like you!" The mop-head, who Honoka figured was the leader of the crew, growled in anger. The annoying kid looked like he wanted to throw a temper tantrum - and so he launched a slow, ever so slow kick (at least to Honoka) at the side of his head. The leader grabbed it with his bare hand and threw the boy over by a pile of garbage.
Maybe he wasn't so bad after all.
Kenichi looked a little shocked by the guys raw strength. "What, scared? If you're a man, show me some guts!" The mop-head smirked.
Kenichi nodded to Miu who immediately ran to find a telephone. Honoka followed her brother from a safe distance and hid high on a nearby tree that gave her a good view of the upcoming confrontation. "Mind as well put on the mask for now." She also put on her red-cloud cloak that had been in her second bag that carried extra gym clothes.
Somewhere else in the clearing, a hidden Ma Kensei grinned and looked up at fairly distinct tree on the other side of the clearing. "Interesting." He had also been following Kenichi and directed Miu to stay out of the battle.
"I've been noticing Kisara's troops bothering you. Let me tell you something, I don't have weaklings like that in my crew! Kisara is planning on crushing you." The mop-head said out-loud. Somewhere along the line, one of the flunkies mentioned his name which was Tsuji or something along those lines. Honoka didn't really care for the name of gang members. They were all the same to her.
"Come under my command, Kenichi! If you do, they won't be able to touch you. What do you say? I like having strong guys in my group! You have nothing to really lose right?"
"What do you people really want anyway?" Kenichi countered.
"Isn't it obvious? A man's strength is determined by how many punks he can control! One day, we will be able to take over the top of Ragnarok!"
"What will you do then? When you get to the top, you guys will just graduate and your punks will have to find jobs." It was a logical argument.
Logic was not something that most fighters had, unforunately for him.
"Stop talking about such complicated things! Don't you see that it's a man's romance to be completely free! That's what I want! Freedom to do as I please all over the world!"
Kenichi narrowed his eyes. "Freedom means that you have to stay within certain boundaries of not harming others. A gang like yours that would be free to do as they pleased and ignoring the suffering of others? That's not freedom, that's tyranny!"
He turned away and ignored the irate look on Tsuji's face. "I have no intentions of joining Ragnarok. So excuse me."
"Wait then Kenichi! If that's your answer, then fight me!"
"We have no reason to fight." The disciple replied calmly. "You haven't given me a reason."
"You insulted my dream. That's all the reason I need. If we can't settle this with words, then we'll do it with our fists! That's how the world operates at it's very core!"
Kenichi tried to walk away. "I'm against violence."
"You're just all talk, you useless moron."
Honoka bristled from where she stood but kept herself cool. She breathed in and out calmly.
"Don't call me a useless moron!" He exclaimed back before turning around to face him. Tsuji smiled.
"That's more like it!"
From where Miu and Kensei was watching the fight, they were also in a deep discussion. "Shouldn't we help him!?"
"No. It is unwise to mindlessly come to his help, Miu. Just watch for now." The Master just grinned carelessly.
The fight between Kenichi and Tsuji had began. Honoka was kind of looking forward to see just how much progress her brother had made over the past few weeks. He was easily dodging Tsuji's attacks and was doing an average job at striking back, from what she saw at least. However, she noticed that the mop-head had more than enough stamina to take on his hits. "Idiot brother. You need to use his own strength against him!"
The fight was very frustrating for Honoka to watch. Even though Kenichi had improved by leaps and bounds from where he was before, said advances were only noticeable because he was just very weak before. The teen had no-where but up to go when his training began at Ryouzanpaku. There were a ton of openings in the mop-head's guard but Kenichi was either too slow or too inexperienced to take it. "His Masters must seriously be taking it easy on him. At this rate..."
Tsuji was not unfamiliar to fighting. He was one of Ragnarok's top Lieutenants for a reason after all. Even though he lacked a distinct style, his brawler-like instincts did more than enough of a job at holding back Kenichi's superior skills. His strength was also superior to her brother's.
"I can't interrupt now." She gritted her teeth. "Defending people who cannot do so themselves is a lot different than defending someone who could but is losing. I cannot just crush Ken's pride like that."
She knew this because she would have felt the same. At that moment, Tsuji had stepped right on Kenichi's foot to prevent him from moving and dodging the incoming punch that drew blood. "Idiot! Use your arms! Didn't your Karate Master teach you to counter?!"
The fight looked pretty even to the eyes of regular people but martial artists could tell differently. Slowly but surely, Kenichi was losing his ground. He did manage to find excellent opportunities but often misused them - like when he slipped the mop-head's feet from below him. Kenichi had opted to take a step back to regroup rather than land a finishing move, like Honoka would have done.
"His footwork is decent but he has no knock-out combos. Only punches and simple throws - and he can't even land a throw!" When Kenichi got his legs scissored in-between Tsuji's legs, that was when the fight ended. Honoka had held high hopes that her brother would have been able to slip out but that was not to be. His strength and stamina just wasn't at that level yet.
Just as she was about to intervene, a blue haired teenager came out of nowhere and decked the mop-head in the face with a right jab. "Southpaw? That was pretty good for a jab." She acknowledged. "Ah man, even Kenichi has more friends than I do!" That was a bit depressing to realize.
She sulked for a millisecond.
"Itsuki Takeda! What do you think you're doing?! Aren't you a part of Ragnarok?!"
"I'm here to help out my pal, Kenichi!" He smiled and knocked out a nearby flunky with his right. "Oh and about that Ragnarok thing...Yeah, I'm quitting!"
"You know what that means, don't you?! The deserter's lynch will be on you like white on rice for this! We'll crush and grind you into dust!" Tsuji stood up. Realizing the grim situation, Takeda took Kenichi and bolted to the bridge. "After them!" The Ragnarok Lieutenant commanded.
As Takeda was running, he saw one of the weirdest things to be seen in modern day. On the other end of the bridge, a short masked figure wearing a black cloak with red clouds awaited. "Don't stop. I'll take care of them." Honoka declared confidently, her cloak bellowing dramatically as the wind currents changed abruptly.
"Cool! I didn't know Superheroes existed!" He ran past her and never turned back.
Kensei and Miu looked at the enigmatic figure curiously. "Miu, go after Kenichi." She hesitated but nodded. The Chinese Master wanted to see the girl in action - "Same build, height and ki. Definitely Honoka Shirahama."
"And who are you?!" Tsuji sneered. "We ain't got no time for weirdos!"
Honoka glared at him from behind the mask. "I am Xinku."
That stopped the large teen in his tracks. "The mystery girl that single-handedly destroyed an entire battalion of Valkyries." He remembered that story from a conversation between older Ragnarok members. "Don't get in my way or I'll crush you!" He roared. The boy turned back to his crew.
"Take her out!"
Two of them charged at her from the front with their arms held in front. Honoka waited for the last moment before deflecting both punches; followed by a fast in-step into their guards. She rose two connected fingers each from her right and left hands, lowered her knees for a moment and drilled them into their bodies. "Zhipao (Finger Gun)!" The two delinquents arched forward. The girl proceeded to grab both their heads and slam them hard into each other - temple to temple - drawing blood from their heads before grabbing their shirts to throw them off the bridge into the river below.
"Holy Shit." Was all Tsuji could say.
All he saw was the blood.
Kensei analyzed her movements. "She is definitely no regular disciple. No wasted movements at all in that bout - then again, those two were extremely weak." The enigma that was Shirahama Honoka only grew more and more as he watched.
"I'll take you myself! A General should lead his men personally, y'know!?"
The masked fighter nodded. "I could not agree more. Shame that you're injured. This won't even be a fight."
Honoka did not care to get into a stance. The boy's skill level did not warrant it. Even if he had been at full strength; even a fraction of her skills would have been more than enough to dispose of him.
"Don't underestimate me! That punk-ass Kenichi didn't even hurt me!" And with that, the large teen charged and threw a wide, very wide right punch. Honoka stepped in, used her left forearm to drill back his right shoulder and in that same movement, her right elbow fluidly rammed right into Tsuji's temple. "Longzhifang (Dragon's Fang)!" Her attack did not end there.
Quickly catching the boy's face with her left hand, Honoka brought her swinging elbow and rammed it backwards into the other side of his face - cutting his cheeks in the process. "Shuangzifang (Twin Fang)!"
"That's Bokator." Kensei observed with carefully. And as if a light-bulb had been lit, a stunning realization crashed upon him. "...It couldn't be, could it?"
He only knew of one man that moved exactly like she did.
Kensei tried to imagine the man's movements and the girl's movements and realized, "They're the same!"
Honoka did not give Tsuji any time to spit out the blood that had accumulated into his mouth. She drill kicked him in the gut, making him fall to his knees and cough up more red liquid. Honoka then lifted her right leg in a perfect vertical motion and dropped it straight down on the back of Tsuji's head, executioner style. "That's enough punishment for today." His face most likely had an imprint on the bridge. The mop-head had lost consciousness.
She looked at the other flunkies who had pissed themselves in fear. "I'll let you all go. However, send this message to your leader, Odin." She brought out a napkin with the characters, 'Xinku', written in inky black - and dropped it on Tsuji's bloodied head.
"I'll be hunting."
And with that, she walked away. Kensei decided not to follow her back. He walked straight back to Ryouzanpaku to report this little bit of gossip back to the Masters.
Ryouzanpaku
"The summit of Ryouzanpaku has officially begun!" Akisame declared and sat along side his fellow colleagues. They usually had these meetings now and then to discuss certain world-related topics. Not that they really got anything done to be honest - it was more gossip than anything. But ever since Kenichi had come to the dojo, their meetings were livelier than ever.
"It would be shameful to our individual factions if our disciple would be finished like this! We have been too lenient with Kenichi! Therefore, I propose a plan that shall astronomically increase his growth!"
"Eh?" Miu eavesdropped from behind the door. Luckily, they hadn't noticed her yet.
Or rather, she knew that they knew she was there but didn't bother shooing her away.
"We are going to dye him with our very color of martial arts!"
"And for us to achieve that, what should be done?" Hayato pushed on. He was more than a little amused by his comrade's recent eccentric behaviors. It had been funny during times a peace, but with Kenichi around to stimulate his insane mind, it was downright hilarious.
"He must live in Ryouzanpaku! Breathe Ryouzanpaku! Smell Ryouzanpaku! We're going to dye him every single color of martial arts for the rest of his life! He will be granted the martial arts! Healed through the pain with the martial arts! Notice the martial art's expectations through his thoughts! Martial arts! Martial arts! He shall live for the sake of martial arts! We shall give him an ultimatum, live with our martial arts...or DIE!"
Miu thought Akisame would have made a fine cult leader. He was certainly insane enough...and powerful too. Demonic was the right word.
"So...what you're saying is, we should make him a House-Disciple." Hayato clarified.
"Yes. That's the basic idea."
Miu looked more than a little hopeful at that idea.
"We can finally begin...the REAL training!"
The Masters all laughed insanely with one another and Miu couldn't help but pity Kenichi a little. The poor guy had just been given a certain death sentence.
"Hm..." Oh, the meeting wasn't over. Miu curiously stayed hidden. "Anything else?"
"Ah yes. I would like to share some of my...observations." Kensei commented and kindly yelled out. "This is not for your ears, Miu-chan!"
Embarrassed, the girl quickly scampered away and back to her room.
"Well, what is it?" Sakaki asked. Kensei waited till Miu was gone from hearing range and nodded.
"Kenichi's fight was not the only one I recorded." He smiled and took out the tape, placing into a VCR. "Watch."
On the television screen was the battle between Xinku and Tsuji's gang. "Is that?" Akisame asked curiously.
"Yes. That's Honoka-chan." The other Master's now seemed eager. Hayato sighed and rubbed his beard.
"I guess it can't be helped. So you've figured it out, Kensei?" The Chinese man nodded. "My apologies for not letting you all see her in action before. I wasn't sure if it was the best idea at the time."
"What do you mean by that?" Sakaki asked as he kept his eyes on the fight, impressed by the girl's efficiency.
"Showing Kenichi just how far he truly is from his own sister. It was not for my own personal sake, but for Honoka-chan's. She seems to be the type of person that holds her brother's pride over her own skills. An admirable characteristic."
Shigure piped up. "She is...quick."
"Indeed. The camera can barely see her movements on regular focus." Akisame agreed. "Those techniques are very lethal and yet, she aims to subdue painfully rather than kill."
"The girl's not exactly on the kind side either." Sakaki smirked. "Those flunkies are probably gonna spend the rest of the school year in the hospital."
"Oooooh! That's Bokator!" Apachai pointed and shook in his seat. "Good form!"
"Ancient Bokator? There are very few Masters living." Hayato petted his impressive and manly beard. "Chinese Quan Fa, Bokator..."
"Is that?!" Akisame looked at a stance the girl had stood in for a mere millisecond - he had paused the video perfectly on the spot. "Can it be...?"
"You are correct, Akisame. The girl is using a very advanced form of the Konoha-ryuu." Kensei confirmed.
"She's the disciple of Uzumaki Naruto!" Sakaki realized at that point. "I knew I saw him around here sometime ago but he's been quiet, very quiet."
Shigure sulked a bit. "She didn't use her sansetsukon..." Kensei comforted her.
"What a twist of fate!" Sakaki roared in laughter. "She is being trained by the Hero of the Killing Fist and her brother is being trained by us, the Heroes of the Fist of Life!"
"This is a very...interesting development indeed. However, she does not seem to walk the path of Satsujinken at all. I knew there was something interesting about her!" Akisame patted his laps, as if to congratulate himself. "It is difficult to measure her skill with such weak opponents. Perhaps we can trick Kenichi into sparring with her." The video had long ended and the consensus between the Masters were the same.
The girl was excellent.
"It certainly explains how she knew I was the Grand General of the Phoenix Alliance. Perhaps she frequents Yokohama? I'll have to make sure to visit my Uncle later."
Sakaki shrugged and looked at his colleagues. "How do we break it to Kenichi?"
"We do not." Hayato replied. "I'm sure you know why it is essential to keep her style a secret. However, maybe we could do him a favor and give small hints now and then. We don't want him fainting when he finds out. "
"It will get out soon. Once she meets a Master who has seen Uzumaki Naruto's style, they will connect the dots and the world will know in mere moments." The jiujitsu Master pointed out. "I do agree with you though. Besides, I do not think Kenichi will be happy to know that his sister is being trained by a man known for bathing in the blood of his people."
"He might die of shock!" Apachai yelled. "But it might be better than Apachai accidentally killing him again!"
"She will be a good sparring partner for Miu." Shigure said wisely, or so she thought to herself. "It would be an interesting...bout."
"It would." Hayato agreed. "They might be evenly matched."
The Masters spent the rest of the evening discussing the turn of events.
Arcade - Koryou
"Fuck!" Nanjou Kisara cursed as she lost again to the player beside her. They had been playing an arcade fighting game for longer than three hours now and she had yet to win a single match. But the red-head was determined to defeat the boy. He was weird but she kind of liked his aloof attitude.
The boy was very young. He had spiky silver hair that defied gravity and what seemed like a headband that held it in place. His clothes consisted of black pants and a gray hoodie with a scarf that covered the majority of his lower face.
"Shit, I'm out of coins. You got any?" She didn't think he would be that kind but was pleasantly surprised when the boy held out his hand and dropped three hundred yen worth of coins. "Wow! Thanks kid."
He didn't answer, preferring to look back at the screen and chose another character.
"Hey!" Exasperated, Kisara turned around to the voice. "Are you two done yet?! We wanna play too!"
"Yeah!" Seven others chorused.
"Get the fuck out of here, punk! I ain't got time to deal with ya'!" She scoffed and turned around. Angry, the punk decided to throw a punch when she wasn't looking. Unfortunately for him, she was not a complete idiot - Kisara dodged it blindly and delivered a spinning heel to the boy's stomach.
"Fuck outta' here kid." She smirked.
"And you! We'll take this weirdo then!"
The boy didn't even acknowledge them - he was still waiting patiently for the red-headed girl to choose a character.
Just as two punks were about to hit him, Kisara watched in shock as they had fell to the ground unconscious. "What just happened?!" She looked at the young boy who looked only about thirteen or fourteen, "Did he do that?! I looked away and missed it."
The punks looked at him frightfully and ran off. Kisara regarded him for a moment before putting in coins she had been granted - the girl only continued her losing streak. As they played throughout the rest of the night, Kisara couldn't help but voice a question.
"Hey kid, what's your name?"
He shrugged. "They said that I was the Third Kakashi." His voice was monotone but had a hint of childishness in them.
"Weird kid. But it's not like Thor and Siegfried are any better..." Kisara smiled and patted his head affectionately. "Well, I like you Kakashi-kun! Wanna join my gang?"
The Chronicles of Uzumaki Naruto - 2
It was a cold night. Naruto was wearing a large cloak above his usual clothing. He was currently travelling in between two villages to find shelter for the night when night had fallen still.
However, there was something in the air that made him uneasy. The Master ventured carefully. He was travelling the country-side so anything could really happen here.
In the distance, he saw a large amount of smoke rise into the air. "Fire..!" Abandoning his slow pace, the Uzumaki dashed and made it there in record time.
There were screams of both horror and delight. It seemed as if a local bandit group had decided to come and pillage the place dry. "Hahahahahahaha! Time for you pigs to meet the might of Kanryuu-sama's army!"
Disgusted, he jumped in front of a bandit that had his sword poised to strike a young girl. Without even saying a word, Naruto struck him in the stomach and picked the girl up and away from danger.
"You're not getting away!" One of the bandits yelled, catching the attention of his comrades. "We're gonna slice you into pieces!"
Naruto sighed and prepared for battle.
But that was not necessary.
In a flash of red and black, a crimson-haired man that stood at 5'10 flashed in between him and the bandits. He drew a very distinct blade and cut down two opponents at a very high level of speed.
A speed that also shocked the seasoned assassin for a brief moment.
It did not take long for him to defeat the rest of the bandits and the leader of the group. During that time, Naruto had gathered a few more innocents and carried them to safety.
By the time it was all over, the two men merely acknowledged each other with a nod. The townspeople they had saved included the daughter of the local mayor who was incredibly grateful to the heroes. "I would like to ask for your name. Please?"
Naruto seemed a bit hesitant before settling with a lie. "Nara Shinta." The mayor nodded and announced that to the people. He sneaked away to find a place to stay but stopped when he saw the red-haired swordsman.
"...Nice fake name, Uzumaki Naruto." He commented lightly and walked away.
"I see that you know my name." Naruto replied carelessly and quirked a brow when the swordsman stopped. He chuckled and shrugged.
"You can call me, Hiko Seijuuro."
And with that, the enigmatic Swordsman walked straight towards the rising sun.
END
That's right ladies and gentlemen, Hiko Seijuuro was the one! Except, since the time of Himura Kenshin is over, there must have been hundreds of Hiko Seijuuro's by the present. So, I just call him Hiko Seijuuro instead of adding a long roman numeral behind it. Notice his description? Is it fate?
Kakashi here is half an OC. He's technically Kakashi III, as in Hatake Kakashi the Third. That's right, the third. Since that's such a famous thing to do now, you know. We'll call him HKIII. Or...KHIII, oh! Like the game that should have been out years ago!
Masters being nosy as usual. By the way, this chapter took place in CH33-CH37 in the Kenichi manga. i wouldn't say I'm speeding through it, there's just a lot of scenes that can be passed by, like the Horinji Island thing. We'll be in the 50s next time.
Oh, and to the reviewers that pointed out back in CH6 that the series I was talking about was "Legend of the Condor Heroes". Thanks, I have very bad memory. I'm actually re-watching that on my free time! The 08' one since I can't find the older version that focused more on story.
I hope you enjoyed the newest element I introduced. I am on a roll right now since CH 10 is almost finished.
Have a nice day.