2 Nanomachines and Time So Far

Edit muscle composition...how they're arranged on a molecular level...add in some lattices of carbon-based graphene in between the layers of muscle to support their contractions...increase muscle density ever so slightly but not enough to impede growth...Make sure the bones, tendons and ligaments can handle this growth and...done.

Opening my eyes, I felt the feeling of stable power flowing through my muscles. Clamping and relaxing my fist, I could hear my joints popping and cracking while my muscles hummed as I gave them a reason to work.

Standing up, I walked over to the practice dummy I was sitting in front of, I slipped into a combat stance. I controlled my breathing, squared my shoulders, before I flexed my feet, sending power up my legs and to my hips. I rotated my hips, then my shoulders and threw out a right straight at the diaphragm of the dummy and with a low boom, the dummy, despite being nailed to the ground, bend backwards, the metal post holding it up contorting and bending under the pressure of my fist.

I was 8-years-old and yet I held enough power to bend metal with my fists. "Hahaha..." I started laughing, innocent pearls of high-pitched chuckling ringing throughout the practice hall. Anyone who saw me wouldn't be able to tell I was a reincarnated assassin.

Nanomachines are hard to control. It's even harder to manipulate your body to become better - it's thousands upon thousands of years of evolution. It's not easy to just improve it. Well, not as easy as some novels would tell you.

It took time. Too big a change? Could cripple my young body. Too small a change? I'd barely feel the difference. What was I currently trying to do? Increase my muscle and bone density, while also slowly swapping out materials that make them up. Graphene was slipped in between my muscles and the layers of bone, and it had done wonders for both my durability and my explosive power. It wasn't even that hard to make. All I had to do was eat some carbon and then have the nanites harvest it in my stomach and then rearrange it into a lattice of Graphene. Best part about Graphene? It's about an atom thick. Meaning I can stack hundreds of layers of the stuff in between each muscle layer, each bone layer, and each skin layer. Two layers of graphene can stop a bullet.

I currently have around 3 layers spread throughout my skin, muscle and bone, and the only reason I don't have more is because I need to keep expanding them so I can grow. I have edited them a little to allow them to stretch to allow for growth, but I'd rather not risk it.

Graphene is where my durability comes from, and yes, it had helped my explosive power, but my true physical strength comes from the unique muscle arrangement and density I've given my muscles. By now, my muscles are about 3 times denser than a normal human's, and they're arranged in such a way that gives me the perfect balance between strength and speed, stamina and flexibility. There's nothing different about how they look on the outside, but on the inside it's completely different.

Sadly, until I'm in my teenage years, this is the limit to what I can do. Even then, it's not too bad - I am stronger than top class Olympic-level athletes at the age of 8. By a considerable margin as well.

Suddenly, I heard clapping from the side of the hall where the door was. Two sets of enthusiastic clapping and another set of clapping that was quieter and more...refined, I guess?

"Are you sure you're not an Oni who replaced my little brother, huh?" a green-haired blur sped towards me, moving with speed most people would find hard to see. I, on the other hand, could see it perfectly, I just knew better than to stop what was about to happen.

Genji, who was 12 and taller than me, pulled my head into a headlock and ruffled my hair. I could have resisted - easily - but I just smiled before shoving him off, "Give it a rest, Genji," I laughed as I said this to my second oldest brother. Genji was exactly how it had been explained - he was playful, almost goofy at times, and he didn't take many things seriously. He was very carefree.

He had dyed green hair and green eyes* and mixed with his handsome features, well, he was definitely a focus of the girls in our town.

(*A/N - I know that Genji doesn't have green eyes, but his whole color scheme is green, so why not just change this little thing, right?)

"Give our brother a rest, Genji - at least he's training," Hanzo said as he slowly walked over to us. While Genji was dressed in a simple white shirt and some beige cargo shorts, Hanzo was wearing a traditional blue kimono, with a black haori over it. He had a black obi sash around his waist as well, and overall, he gave off a refined air, like you'd expect from the scion of the Shimada clan.

He was 3 years older than Genji and 7 years older than me, so he was 15 right now. Even then, he didn't give off an immature air. Just sharpness. He had piercing blue eyes* and straight black hair which was a little below shoulder-length and he was everything you'd expect a young master of a famous clan to be.

(*A/N - Same thing with Genji - it fits his color scheme.)

Hanzo, when he got in front of me, just ruffled my hair before smiling down at me, "Little brother, keep up your practice. Don't turn out like Genji," he smiled and said such a harsh thing, but Genji didn't take it badly and just smiled.

Shrugging, Genji retorted, "Sorry I don't wanna be in meetings all day or get my gaming time eaten up by lessons about 'how to run the clan'..." Genji mockingly said before he quickly changed his tune, "Speaking about eating...You guys wanna go get some Ramen?" he asked, practically drooling at the thought of it.

Hanzo and I shared a look of slight despair, but nodded none the less. Finally, the last person who clapped for me came over; it was our mother.

She wrapped her arms around all three of us. Genji blushed in embarrassment at the intimacy, Hanzo tried to look like he wasn't enjoying it, and I just hugged her back, not ashamed or embarrassed in the slightest that I enjoyed hugging my mom.

"My little dragons...How you're all growing in such wonderful ways," she smiled, tightening her hug, "Genji, the comedian, Hanzo, the voice of reason...and Akahiko, the glue that stops them from fighting," she smiled before raining down kisses on each of us, laughing at Hanzo and Genji's attempts to get away. But how could they - she was also from a ninja/martial arts clan, you know?

"Mom!" "Mother!" Both Genji and Hanzo went embarrassed and tried to wiggle their ways out but fighting against mother when she wanted to kiss us, her children? Impossible. Unless I wanted to use my enhanced strength to break us out, and I don't really want to.

I'd never experienced such loving care before, so I'd take as much of it as I could, thank you very much.

But even then, the last thing she said...Would I be able to stop their fight? The fight that makes Genji...Genji? Guilt pangs ran throughout me as I thought about how my rational side wanted to let it happen still because Genji was a major part of Overwatch and Blackwatch. Could I deprive the world of one of it's best protectors? No, I couldn't. But I could definitely help my brothers and not have them hate one another.

If anything, I could make it so Hanzo can't injure Genji too much...

Mentally pulling at my hair, I wondered how one was supposed to balance both rationale and emotion. I hadn't had to worry about this in my past life, not since I went through the conditioning of the assassination clan I was born in. Everything could be sorted out through pure rationale and logic. But now I had emotions added to the mix.

I didn't regret my last wish. I'd never regret it. I'd experienced a life of no emotion - it was dark, and grey, and without warmth. It was horrible and dull.

But it didn't mean the third wish didn't make making decisions just a little bit harder than before.

...I'll try my best to stop the fight but seeing how Hanzo is, and especially how Genji is still the way he is, maybe even more so than what I read on the Overwatch Wiki back then...I really doubt that I can. At least in a non-violent way. If I had to fight Hanzo, he'd come for my life. There's no doubt about it.

Hanzo's whole way of thinking revolves around honor and the clan. If I go against that, he'll force himself to overlook our brotherly bond just like he will with Genji.

But looking at my brothers getting flustered as they were hugged by our wonderful mother...I knew I'd do anything to protect this peace. To protect MY peace. The 8 years that I'd been in this world, I'd known nothing but love and care. My brothers looked after me, even if they knew I could look after myself. My mother and father doted on me even if they knew I could get what I needed on my own.

This was my family, and with these emotions brewing inside of me, I knew that I'd do anything to protect them. But could I do that while keeping the peace?

Only time will tell, I guess?

"So, my little dragons, how about we go to the kitchen and you let your mom cook you up some Ramen!?" mom let us go from her hug and Genji and Hanzo soon shot out of range in case she went on the 'attack', while I just stood next to her side and nodded. Genji, hearing her, forgot about his 'fear' and also gave rapid nods, his Ramen addiction clouding his thoughts. Hanzo tried to look serious and dignified but the desire for Ramen couldn't be hidden in his eyes.

He also gave a nod.

...For now, I can enjoy the peace.

. . .

"Akahiko...Why don't you take up the sword or the bow like your brothers?" my father, Sojiro, asked with a slightly exasperated expression on his face. He was currently smoking a cigar as he leaned over his desk at me. I was sitting down and just looking up at him.

To my right, was Hanzo, who'd taken to shadowing our father so he could get a better understanding of how to run the Shimada Clan when the time came. He also had something to say, "Little brother...you've shown more skill than Genji or I, so why do you squander your talents? Do you think I would be envious - that Genji would be envious?" he asked, a bit of disbelief leaking into his tone as he put a hand onto my shoulder, "Because if that's the case, please know that neither of us would show such an ugly emotion because of our brother's achievements! If you wish, I will teach you all I know about the bow!" his voice sounded as if he was begging or pleading, but it still had the firm dignity he always spoke with.

But I still shook my head, "I...I don't see the point in learning how to use a sword or the bow. My hand-to-hand combat is strong enough on it's own, and for the ranged aspect of combat...can't I just use guns?" I asked, knowing my talents all too well, but still not wanting to use them.

Why? Because I didn't want to waste time on sword and bow skills, when I could be refining my hand-to-hand combat and my marksmanship. If I had a normal human body, I'd probably think about learning the ninja skills of the Clan...but with Nanomachines, did I really need them? I was already bulletproof. I was already superhuman.

The Clan's techniques were meant to allow a normal, albeit very well conditioned, human to show superhuman characteristics. For me, they were useless.

"But you've awakened the Dragon, Akahiko...you need the clan's techniques to know how to use it," father said, an awkward smile coming over his face at my indifference to the Shimada way. Hanzo also had the same look on his face.

Lifting my arm, I closed my eyes but not before I saw dad and Hanzo's confused looks.

Feeling inside of myself, I found an energy - the Spirit of the Dragon - and I activated it. Genji's Dragon needed a sword to activate. Hanzo's needed a bow. Mine...could activate on my fists.

Opening my eyes, I saw a red eastern dragon coiling itself around my lifted arm, it's head and fang filled jaws completely covering my fist like a gauntlet. The dragon didn't look real. No, it looked like an energy construct that had taken on a very life-like appearance.

"Ryuu no Ken," I said as the dragon let out quiet roars and growls as it shifted and moved around my arm, like it had a mind of it's own. Slowly, the energy dragon dissipated and I looked up at my father who looked mildly shocked, "I don't need anything other than my fists, father. I will continue to practice the clans martial arts but I will not take up the sword or the bow."

After I said this, I got up and left. I had training I needed to do. Just because I could improve my body with Nanomachines doesn't mean I have to. Physical conditioning, plus Nanomachines is the best way to improve my body.

I have a lot to prepare for.

Especially seeing as the Omnic Crisis was delayed decades and is going to kick off during my lifetime.