5 Years and Plans for the Future

POV Change - Yukiro (3rd Person)

In a dark-ish room, Yukiro was sitting with his legs crossed. He was breathing in a peculiar pattern and if one didn't look closely, he simply looked like he was meditating.

Yet if one had a keen enough eye, they would see that the defined and compact muscles making up Yukiro's body, were vigorously shaking, expanding, and compressing themselves, over and over again, like they were being tempered by a hammer.

The subtle grinding of bones could also be heard, and it seemed to be caused by his vibrating muscles.

This was the next step after the stances and positions to fully temper his body. All of his muscle had been converted into the super-tissue aka Pink Muscle, and now, he was pushing that muscle to perfection. Though it took a lot of effort due to the density of his muscles and the tenacity of the Pink Muscles anyway. It was like an uphill battle, though Yukiro continued push on, his breathing accelerating and decelerating in juncture with the muscles vibrating quickly and slowly.

It had been 5 years since his father, Yujiro had thrown that rock at Shouko, his older sister, and just like Doppo-sensei had told him, his training had indeed been advanced further in intensity.

Every single bit of potential was squeezed from Yukiro's body and mind, pushing him forth in both physical strength and technique. If the Yukiro of 5 years ago tried to fight the Yukiro now, he would be squashed like a bug. Not even five of the old Yukiro could beat the new one.

His physical strength, his durability, his stamina, his reaction speed, his technique - everything about him had undergone a radical transformation.

Despite only being 11, Yukiro looked like a 14-year-old, in both height and appearance. His muscular frame also added a lot to his mature look.

His physical appearance had changed in more than just height and musculature as well. Most, if not all of the baby fat on his face was gone, leaving on handsome and angular features. His already tan skin was now light brown from all the time he spent training in the burning hot sun, and his dark brown hair had lightened somewhat due to it's massive exposure to the sun. Along with his athletic build, he looked incredibly handsome, enough so that most middle school girls who see him are infatuated with him.

This is a constant annoyance for him. And his older sister Shouko who doesn't want her little brother being stolen by some vixens as she put it. Even his mother is annoyed by the attention he gets, not wanting her little boy to grow up too quickly.

Yukiro's eyes opened, showing his ruby colored eyes that sparkled like blood in sunlight. A smile spread over his face showing his pearly white teeth and his slightly too sharp canines.

Standing up, Yukiro's joints let out pops and cracks as he stretched them out. A pleasureful grown came from his mouth as he stretched his arms and yawned, "Ahh~ That was a good training session...I should be pretty close to unlocking Dou Ki," he mused, looking down at his fist as his clenched and relaxed it, feeling the power flowing through it and at his command, almost like an energy was flowing through him.

This was Ki, that Yukiro knew. He knew that there were two types of Ki - Dou and Sei Ki. He knew he had the potential to wield both, and he knew what that meant. But things were different when compared to the Ki from the show. It had to be awakened through training, rather than you just getting it after practicing martial arts for a while.

Ki was present within every martial artist. The way to awaken it, however, was to sense it and then use it.

Dou Ki was to be used like an explosive, bursting forth with anger and instincts to rip apart your opponent, while Sei Ki is to be calm and cold, using wit and skill to slowly take apart your opponent.

Yukiro had already unlocked Sei Ki. It was exactly hard for him. He was innately talented after all.

Though Dou Ki was quite hard for him. Despite all the anger inside of him, it seemed like there was a block of some kind that proved too hard for him to move. Even now, with him on the precipice of awakening Dou Ki, he just couldn't make it explode outward.

Yukiro thought that it had something to do with his Sei Ki being too abundant, yet knowing he had the potential to wield both, he thought that wasn't really the answer to his problem.

Just as Yukiro was thinking this, a bald man with an eye patch entered the room, with a grin on his face, "No luck unlocking Dou Ki, huh, kid?" his rough voice was full of teasing as he looked at Yukiro, his student.

This was of course, Doppo Orochi.

POV Change - Yukiro (1st Person)

Looking up from my fist, I wryly smiled toward Doppo-sensei, "No, not yet, sensei. Though I feel that it's close to awakening," I shrugged at the thought before walking over to sensei, "So, what training have we got to do today?" I asked with an excited grin. I felt a breakthrough coming and I wanted to push at it as much as possible.

But to my surprise, sensei answered me with something I didn't expect to hear.

"Haah~!" he let out a sigh while scratching the back of his head, "You're already at the Expert level, kid. Other than sparring, I can't help you much. You've gotta make your own way from now on, which is why I've come to talk to you about 'the' plan we came up with a few years ago," he said with a smile that was both sad and proud.

Hearing him, I felt my excited grin weaken a little before I sighed, "So I've gotta go on a journey, right?" I asked, not really wanting to do it, but knowing if I wanted to advance, I had to.

Nodding his head, sensei replied, "Yep...And not just any journey. If you want to advance and evolve as a fighter, you need to experience the world, Yu. We've already sorted it out with your mother, remember? So there's nothing stopping you," he gave a chuckle, "And don't worry, the other masters and I will keep an eye out for your family while you're gone, okay?" he clapped me on the shoulder before turning around to leave, "Come. We've got to have a spar before you leave."

With that, Doppo-sensei left the room and headed for the courtyard.

I sighed. I knew this was coming, that this was a necessary step but I was still anxious that while I was gone, Yujiro would hurt my mother and sister...but this step was necessary for that very reason. This journey would hopefully allow for me to evolve and grow. To grow strong enough to protect what was dear to me.

Walking to the side of my personal room, I picked up a towel before wiping the sweat from my perfectly sculpted body before washing my face and hands with some water.

I had only just entered the Expert-level in terms of technique in the last month or so, but my physique was already at the Master-level. I guess that's the perk of my abnormal constitution, huh? But that wasn't enough. Not for to battle my father, at least. That man was brute strength and brilliant skill, combined. I would need both of those things and more to overwhelm him.

Exiting the room with only the lower part of my gi on, I made me way to the courtyard where I found my master, sitting in the middle of it in the seiza pose and his eye closed.

Though his eye quickly opened when I arrived, a wild smile spreading across his face.

Just as I stepped onto the gravelly ground of the courtyard, I lifted my arms up to defend myself from Doppo's attack. My instincts were right as sensei appeared in front of me, his leg lifted high.

He brought his leg down onto my arms in an Axe Kick, the force causing me to sink slightly into the ground as a boom spread throughout the yard. Though I didn't feel hurt by the impact, only incensed into excitement, "Is that all you've got, old man?!" I roared before pushing his leg up and doing a low leg sweep to his lone leg keeping him up.

He hopped over the attack, smiling a smile that matched my own, but he didn't have time to attack as I used my hands as a fulcrum, gripping he ground and using my momentum to send a two-footed kick at his chest.

He brought his arms together in the shape of an 'X' to block the attack, yet he still grunted and flew back to the other side of the yard. Not wanting to give him any time to recover, I flipped myself back up and charged at him, feeling the Ki inside of me vibrating and heating up, like nitroglycerin getting ready to explode.

"Oh oh~! You're inhuman strength always warms my muscles up and rattles my bones, Yukiro!" Doppo roared as he dropped into a stance and sent a pair of Nukite at my ribs.

Nukite, or as the literal translation would tell you, is a spear hand attack, otherwise known as Penetration Hand. It's practically akin to facing a sharp blade when used by a master such as Doppo-sensei.

Yet I didn't worry and simple dropped into a stance of my own and let the Nukite hit me.

*Chink!*

Two collision sounds, like a knife hitting metal and being unable to pierce through it, sounded out as Doppo hit me. His hands which could pierce through metal, were stopped by my muscles tensing like steel wires and the natural hardness of my bones.

This was Sanchin, a special stance that allows the user to take damaging blows with little actual damage by focusing their mind, breathing pattern, and footwork to withstand and disperse the force. The stance was especially suited to me with my hyper-dense body tissue.

But I still wasn't done.

Changing my stance yet again, I began rotating my arms in a counter-clockwise motion. It looked slow yet it was actually blindingly quick. Doppo's spear hands were instantly thrown to the side, his stance left wide open, and after adjusting my stance and taking in a deep breath while lowing my hands to my side, I threw out a simple Seiken.

*Boom!*

The air around my fist instantly dispersed and there were subtle crackling sounds as my fist traveled through the air and collided with Doppo's stomach, which caused the booming sound.

Yet it felt like I punched a ball of cotton wool, and all I could see was Doppo's smile growing wider and more savage.

"Hahaha! What a brilliant Seiken, Yukiro!" Doppo gave a hearty laugh as his smile stretched from ear to ear. The force of my Seiken seemed to disperse from his body and into the ground, cracking it, but also leaving Doppo practically uninjured.

Knowing the stance he was using could only do such a thing once of twice in short succession, I quickly sent another punch, this time at Doppo's head. But the man who had superior experience in fighting knew exactly what I was planning to do and slipped under the punch, letting it glide over his shoulder. As it did so, his hand grabbed the side of my face as I felt myself get pulled into a body-lock of some kind.

We were still standing, but I couldn't move away from him.

My instincts screamed and I quickly acted on them, and tensed the side of body with everything I had.

A punch right to my kidney. Despite all the hardness and strength in my muscles defending that area, the force seemed to just bypass it like it wasn't even there, and instantly attacked my internal organs. I felt a slight amount of blood trickle from my mouth, yet it didn't dissuade me from continuing the fight.

Instead I smiled even wider, the blood on my teeth making me look especially brutal and wild.

My blood boiled with excitement as I used my free arm to send a punch of my own to Doppo's side. The punch collided and Doppo gave a groan of pain before letting me go from the body-lock. But I didn't let him back off. My Ki and blood were rushing throughout my body like fire in my veins and I threw myself at Doppo, my skin slowly turning red as the heat billowing off my body got more intense.

"You're finally using that form, huh, brat!?" Doppo roared and laughed as he charged to meet me.

There were no more fancy techniques. No more body locks or tactics. No more thinking.

This was just a bout of pure strength and technique now. We threw dozens, maybe even hundreds, of Seikens at one another, throwing in a few dozen kicks here and there, sending barrage after barrage of attack at the other.

I was physically stronger and my body was much harder, yet Doppo-sensei had me beat in terms of technique, no doubt about it.

We were like a pair of wild beasts, fighting each other for the right to rule over a piece of territory.

The courtyard was completely wrecked. The ground was kicked up and filled with craters, and the rocks decorating the courtyard were smashed open and reduced to thousands of pebbles; it was chaos and destruction by the end of our fight.

Even if Doppo-sensei wasn't my equal in terms of raw physical strength, he was more than enough to push me to the edge when it came to a fight. His skill was astonishing.

And that's where we are now, with me covered in bruises, bleeding from my nose and mouth, yet still smiling like a maniac.

Doppo-sensei was in a similar state, covered in bruises and cuts, but he had a broken nose, while I didn't. Seeing this, I smirked, "Hah~? You going senile or something, Doppo-sensei?" I asked with a very delinquent-like expression and voice, "You've got a broken nose and it was your student who gave it to you - I wonder what people would say if they knew that~!" I gave a laugh, seeing Doppo-sensei's face go a bit ugly.

"It's not my fault you're bodies abnormal, brat!" he gave a fierce shout, yet the pride in his eyes told me that he was only playing along, "Even then...to think you actually broke my nose..." he trailed off before he dropped out of his stance and, "HAHAHAHAHA!" started laughing...

God of War...Tiger Slayer...Man Killer Orochi...Such a fierce reputation and here he was, laughing like a mad man after having his nose broken.

If his fans saw him, they'd no doubt be broken by such a sight.

He quickly walked over to me before ruffling my hair, "You're a goddamn brilliant student, Yukiro!" he gave another hearty laugh before lightly slapping the side of my head, "Now go and get yourself cleaned up, we have to go and tell your mom that we're leaving in a week," he said before resetting his nose with a crack, before blowing out the blood clogged in his nostrils.

Rolling my eyes at the disgusting display, I jogged off to the clinic to get myself cleaned up.