5 Old Man Yoritomo

—Hours Later—

Laying on a small bamboo pallet with a pillow under his head and a blanket over him, Takeru started moving around as he was beginning to wake up. His eyes slowly fluttered open as he looked around and sat up.

His head felt completely fine, so he stood up and stretched as he yawned.

'Where am I?' He wondered as he looked around. He seemed to be in a bedroom. It was dark with the only light being a candle that was next to him, but he could see well enough.

Looking straight ahead of him, he saw a door and naturally he walked towards it. As he pulled the door open, he covered his eyes from the light and saw that he was behind the desk of the shop.

He also noted that his throat wasn't dry, but he was still hungry. He heard the low rumbling of his stomach as he walked out of the door. Just as he did, the door to the shop opened and he saw the old man along with Toyohisa walk in with a few buckets of water.

Seeing that his brother was okay, Toyohisa gave him a big smile.

"Kid, are you sure you're okay? After all, from what I could tell you should be in eternal slumber from your head injury." The old man said.

Takeru knocked on his head and spoke.

"Seems good to me." He said as he came from behind the desk.

"So, who are you?" Takeru asked.

"I'm just an old man-"

"Bullshit." Takeru said bluntly.

"Ohh, the Daimyo's son speaks such language?" The old man asked in a playful tone.

"Does it matter? They're just words right?" Takeru asked.

"You are correct, but why should I tell you my name? It's just a name right?"

"Hmm, while words are just words, your name is a special word. Would you let someone talk bad about you?"

"I wouldn't care. After all they're just words."

"Would you let somebody kill and use your name?"

"What a silly question." He said.

"So will I get a name?" Takeru asked again.

"Nope."

"I see."

"I'm confused. Just introduce yourselves. That's my brother Shimazu Takeru and this old man said his name was Minamoto Yoritomo." Toyohisa said in a flat tone.

'Minamoto? That clan should have died out around the Kamakura period which was around the 12th century.' Takeru thought.

"I see." Takeru said. He walked closer and without warning he flashed towards the old man. Takeru threw a straight punch at the old man's gut, but was surprised to see the old man tilt his body to the left and easily dodge the attack.

Landing on the ground he jumped up with a roundhouse kick which was also dodged.he followed with an onslaught of kicks and punches which the old man just playfully slapped away and dodged.

"Those are quite the skills you've got." The old man said.

'You're a samurai aren't you?" Takeru asked as he caught his breath.

"Hmmm, no. I WAS a samurai. Now I'm just an old man who runs a run down shop." He said.

'These boys are extremely skilled to be mere 6 year olds. Not to mention their strength. Even that Toyohisa boy has scary strength.' Yoritomo thought as his mind went back to the tree that had Toyohisa punched.

It had a fust prent embedded into it. No six year old should be that strong.

*RUMBLE~~~~*

Takeru fell to his knees as his stomach rumbled loudly m.

"Since everyone is hungry, let's eat." The old man said as he and Toyohisa put down the buckets they were carrying. All four buckets were filled with fish that would soon be their lunch.

…

"So you kids were supposed to be heading to Hakurou Samurai Dojo?" The old man asked.

"Yeah. Apparently it's the beat in Satsuma." Toyohisa said as he took a bite of his fish.

"Hmm, it'd be better for you two to just get homeschooled. After all, you're the Daimyo's sons so there should be someone at the castle to teach you right?" He asked.

"Our father taught us the basics, but he's getting old. Our uncle wasn't even in Kyushu at the time, so we couldn't ask him." Toyohisa answered.

'If only they knew how those schools actually worked.' Yoritomo thought.

After all, he's been to one and to this day it's the reason he stays hidden. He told these kids his name because if it came down to it, he could easily kill them.

"Either way I'm sure the person who'll teach us would get lots of money." Takeru said. The old man's eyes practically turned into golden coins as he rubbed his hands together.

"Why don't I teach you?" He offered.

"Why?" Takeru asked immediately afterwards.

"The money. I need and want the money." Yoritomo said bluntly.

"…So shameless." Toyohisa said.

"Right." Takeru agreed.

"From earlier I know you have skills, but will you actually teach us and not fool around? How will we train with no equipment? If you want money so badly, why set up a shop in an area not many people pass through?" Takeru askdd.

"I'll train you the same way I was trained when I was a child. We have all the equipment here and lastly, it's because of something personal. Now, first lesson, DODGE!!" The old man yelled as he threw an axe kick.

They both dodged by a hair and as the night went on the old man randomly told them to dodge. By morning they were tired and sleepy.

…

"Dodge!!" The old man yelled and threw a punch. Takeru slapped it away then slapped the old man.

"This way of training is ineffective if we can't get proper sleep!!" He said with annoyance in his voice.

"Toyohisa, let's just start heading towards the school." Takeru said as he sighed.

"Hmm, this is a simple test of instinct and endurance. How long can you go without sleep, how sharp are your instincts, how tough is your body?" He asked.

"I think we should stay and give it a chance." Toyohisa said.

Takeru looked at him with a blank expression before signing.

"Fine, but I better learn something while under your tutelage." Takeru said.

"Of course." The old man said.

"Follow me." He added as he turned around and started walking behind his counter. He opened the door and they walked into the room. The room was lit with a lantern that the old man was holding in his left hand.

He moved it over to a locker made of wood he had in the corner. He opened it and multiple bokkens along with some stone weights cane falling out.

"Get a bokken and pick up some weights. Follow me outback when you're done." The old man said as he left the room. Takeru noticed that he and Toyohisa were already clean and although he had his suspicions about what happened, he just kept telling himself it didn't matter.

He grabbed a bokken and two weights that were both about 40 pounds in all. He had the bokken under his arm as he held the weights in his hands. They both walked outside of the shop and Takeru looked at the counter. He grabbed both of their tanto's and handed Toyohisa his.

"Eh, isn't this how we're paying him?" Toyohisa asked.

"No, people have most likely noticed the dead bodies and the carriage by now and father has no doubt been informed. Some samurai should be looking for us any day now and then we can tell them we were in the care of the old man and boom. He gets paid." Takeru explained.

"Ah right. We're geniuses!!" Toyohisa said with a laugh.

"…Right. Let's go." Takeru said as they both left the shop and went outback. He also noticed that when he woke up, he was already in a normal navy blue kimono like the old man's but smaller and so was Toyohisa although he was still wearing the kimono sleeve around his head.

"Now then, I want you boys to sit down and start meditating. To have a strong body, you must have a strong mind. Mental strength equates to physical strength and endurance. Whatever can break your mind can break your body." The old man said.

They saw that he had twelve bowls of water and they wondered how he did that so fast. In the end they just sat down in their usual meditating position and closed their eyes.

One by one they felt bowls being placed on them. One on each knee, one on each shoulder and one on the head.

"You'll sit like this for the duration of an hour and if I see a drop of water come out of the bowls then I'll add 10 minutes to that time." He said.

They heard the sound of the grass as he sat down when they heard the calming melody of a flute.

Takeru kept his breathing calm as he sat with a straight posture. Toyohisa on the other hand had a smile on his face and sat with a straight posture. The best way he knew to stay calm was to think of good memories and be in a happy place as opposed to Takeru just being empty minded.

For the next hour they didn't move a muscle, make a peep, or even breathe wrongly. With the leaves falling from nearby trees, the light blow of the wind and the music from the flute, the scene before other people passing by looked amazing and gave a calming aura.

'I saw it before, but these kids definitely have talent and those weights. 20 pounds each. Can they handle it? No matter, I'll see their limits once our actual training comes in.' Yoritomo thought as he stopped playing the flute.

"Good. Onto the next part of training." He said as he started taking the bowls off of their heads. They stretched their bodies and sighed in comfort as they heard the popping of their bones.

"Pick up your weights and hold our arms out in a 'T' pose. Once I say go, you'll run from here to that tree doing high knees. You'll stop when I tell you to stop. Now go." He said and they started.

After the first 5th laps their armpits were sweating and their muscles were burning. They listened to the advice the old man gave and tried to steady their breathing while doing the high knees as they went back and forth.

By the 15th lap not only were they sweating buckets and their arms stung, but their calves and thighs also started stinging. Their breathing got rugged and their veins were bulging outward.

"Alright you can stop." Yoritomo said and as soon as he did, they dropped the weights to the ground and sat down.

They were breathing in and out heavily as they felt the tension in their arm and leg muscles. The old man dug into his kimono sleeve and tossed Takeru a hair tie. He used it and put his hair up into a small ponytail as they also received some towels and water.

Using them, they both stood back up.

"How good are you boys with a bow?" He asked.

They looked at eCh other and Toyohisa grinned widely.

"We mastered it when we were five years old." He said.

'Talent or hard work? Either way, these boys have it. Their physical fitness is also amazingly abnormal. Some of the other kids would drop after the first 2 minutes.' He thought.

"Good. Then take some rocks off the road and give me a minute." He said as he walked back into his shop.

"What now?" Toyohisa asked with a sigh.

"He'll probably be testing our accuracy without a bow. Maybe a test for us to use some throwing knives." Takeru suggested.

They got to the road and started picking up some nice sized ones that were either round or sharp. They had 10 each and when they got back they saw that there were two wooden dummies and two target boards for them.

The boards were already hung on the tree and the dummies were off to the sides.

"I want you two to take those rocks and try to hit the bullseye as many times as you can. Afterwards we'll be doing sword training then back to physical body training and we'll finish the day off with meditating." He said.

The two nodded as they both picked up a rock and threw it with enough strength that once it hit, it broke the center of the board.

"Is the wood old?" Takeru asked.

"Hmm, maybe." The old man said, scratching his head.

With a sigh they continued. In the end Takeru got a perfect 10/10 and Toyohisa got 9/10. They could tell from the barks that had been broken off from every rock they threw.

"Nicely done." Yoritomo said as he clapped his hands. Takeru and Toyohisa picked up their bokkens and got in front of their respective dummies as they held their bokkens.

Takeru had a thought. Zoro's two sword style techniques could be used with one sword, but he used two for more damage and power. He decided that he'd master the attacks with one sword and later on use two swords.

Of course to do these he'll have to have crazy physical strength, but that wouldn't be a problem.

"It seems you two have a basic stance, so use it and swing your sword 500 times. Once you're done I'll come back and we'll start on round two of our physical training." Yotitomo said.

""Yes Sensei!!"" They said in unison. The old man smiled as he walked back into his shop and began playing his flute. Next to him were two full buckets of water along with two 10 foot long thick ropes.

…

—32 minutes Later—

"We're done." They said as they walked into the shop. The top of their kimono was now down and wrapped around their waist as the old man saw their arms.

"What took so long?" He said.

"We decided to do 1000 swings, since 500 didn't feel like much." Takeru answered.

"I see. Let's go back out there." He said as he picked up the two buckets of water and put the rope around his neck. They nodded and followed him back out as he sat the buckets and rope on the ground.

"We'll be doing something different than what we did in the morning." He announced.