Training With Ogata...And A Fight That's Been a Long Time Coming...! (Part 1)

"May I ask how we're going to train here, Ogata-sensei?" I asked with a neutral face as I looked over the nature-filled view in front of me. A massive, deep-blue lake, surrounded by a lush grassy plain, which was in turn surrounded by thick and study pine trees.

Next to me was Ryuto, who looked equally as confused as me. The both of us wondered how either of us could gain anything from this place.

Even if Ryuto was only a High-level disciple, he was still above the average human by quite a bit. Meaning that normal training couldn't quite improve him anymore, and with my extreme physique, I needed even more extreme training than he did. Hence why we wondered how such a place could help us improve.

Ogata-sensei, on the other hand, was just smirking and without talking, he flashed off into the woods.

Squinting my eyes, I could see him jogging toward a log cabin. He must have something there.

While we were waiting, Ryuto and I had a little spar. It was mainly me kicking his ass while pointing out his mistakes, but it was highly helpful for him. For me, it was just a way to pass the time, nothing too helpful. It didn't even serve as a warm-up.

Anyhow, it didn't take Ogata-sensei too long to get back, and this time he was jogging while holding two...well, the best way to describe them, would be suits of armor.

Multiple springs attached to one another, with interconnecting pieces of 'armor' which upon closer inspection, turned out to be weights. Pretty heavy ones with how Ogata-sensei was just jogging back instead of sprinting. One of the 'suits' was much bulkier than the other and had springs that looked much more constrictive.

...I'm pretty sure that one is mine.

When he got near to us, he threw the 'suits' at the two of us, and each of us felt the weight of our suits. Ryuto nearly fell over, while I was only shook a little because of the momentum of the dead weight colliding into me. I weighed it up and down a little, letting my muscles feel it out, and I've got to say:

It was pretty heavy, even for me. I could bet that the springs would add an even higher difficulty to it. That simply thought made me smile.

I'd been stagnating in my physical training for a while. Even the poses I'd gained from Akisame and Kureha were giving me extremely slow returns. The only boost to physical strength I'd get, was when my body grew bigger and my muscle mass naturally went up due to puberty. But this suit felt like it could help me break through in my physical training and continue improving my body.

Because the suit was made of springs and plates of dead weight, it was pretty easy to put on and I slipped into it like it was a full-body onesie. Then I only had to wait for Ogata-sensei to come and do up the springs on my back.

Once he'd done that, he started to tighten the springs all over the suit until it felt like I was being crushed. Even the slightest movement needed extreme effort.

It was like trying to move a dump truck with only my pinky finger.

Every muscle, no matter how strong and no matter how small and unused it was, was being worked to the maximum by this suit.

...Good!

I felt an excited smile spread across my face as I began to work on the poses Akisame and Kureha had given me, and for the first time in a very long time, I felt immediate improvement from them. Each of the poses causing my muscles to burn as they had to move in ways that put them in direct confrontation with the springs and the dead weight.

It was like being weak again! Like I had so much room for improvement! Every move made my muscles throb and my bones ache, and that's exactly what I wanted! That's the sign of improvement!

Letting out a laugh, Ogata-sensei spoke next to me, "Hmm, interesting poses. They seem to pit the body against itself...perfect for a body such as yours that can't gain as much from normal exercise as normal body's can. Here, try implementing some of these poses into your training regime. They're from an near-extinct ancient martial art that focuses on tempering the body. Similar to Yoga, is how I'd put it," he said with a seemingly happy smile, throwing a notepad at me, that hit me slap bang in the middle as I couldn't move quick enough to grab it.

But this didn't annoy me, and instead made me smile.

Like I said earlier, it was like being at the bottom again, with so much to improve on. The thought of how I'd be after this year of training...it filled me with such savage excitement that I nearly couldn't contain a primal roar of excitement which was threatening to burst out from within me. Instead I settled for a wide and brutal smile as I nodded in reply to Ogata-sensei, bending over and picking up the notepad which was full of stances, poses, and exercises.

Flicking through the notepad, I discarded the ones that served no purpose to me, and instead focused on ones that filled in gaps in the technique Kureha and Akisame had given me.

Ryuto gained the same thing, but slightly different and personalized to him.

Looking toward Ogata, I mentally nodded my head; the guy was a good teacher. Just a little bit too fanatical about martial arts.

But with enough thoughts like that, I began the long arduous journey of getting used to this weighted suit.

. . .

It was a long journey. But a fun one, at least.

The first six months of the year, were spent with my suit being constantly tweaked, tightened, and having it's weight increased. By the time Ogata-sensei settled on a weight, I must have weighed as much as a Rhino. Which is a lot, by the way. The ground quaked wherever I walked, and I wasn't let inside the log cabin because it couldn't support the weight of the suit.

But even then, it wasn't the weight that gave me the most trouble; no, it was the springs. The springs that forced me to use every fiber of my being to move my hands and fingers in a normal way. My more major muscles, like my biceps, my triceps, my quadriceps, my hamstrings or even my pectorals - they were fine and adapted easily enough to the springs. But the muscles that I'd neglected a little due to there not being many ways to work them effectively? They were forced through hell and back to become as strong as the rest of my muscles.

At the end of the six months, you could say there wasn't one bit of useless or weak muscle on my body. Even if all my muscles were pink muscle, there were still strong muscles and weak muscles before I started using the suit.

Not anymore, there weren't.

An exercise that I'd taken to was playing the piano with the suit on. It had helped develop my fingers into iron-like extremities that can move however I want them to and against whatever force I want them to. I have complete confidence that my pinky finger as many times more strength in it than an Olympic Athlete does in their whole body.

Anyway, we weren't allowed to take off our suits for anything but sleep/rest. So everything I did, needed to be done with the suit on. Which helped my adaptive body, well, adapt to it.

Which is why, at the end of the first six months, Ogata-sensei gave me an oxygen tank before forcing me into the lake.

The lake was practically a perfect bowl shape, with it slowly getting deeper the further into the lake you traveled, with the center being the deepest part. And the center of the lake was very, very deep. Probably around 250 meters deep. Ogata-sensei told us that the lake was a man-made one, made by him and a few other Grandmasters who used it as a training ground for themselves and their stronger disciples.

Made me wonder why Alexander or Sogetsu didn't bring me...

Whatever.

Now with the springs constricting my movements, and the pressure of gallons upon gallons of water pressing down on me from all sides, I was back to step one again. Which was good. The problem? I only got one tank of oxygen per day, which limited my training time. So, I forced myself to only take breathes of oxygen from the tank when I absolutely needed it.

Which improved my lung capacity and efficiency by miles, along with the overall efficiency of how my body used oxygen in the first place.

It reminded me of Spec, a character from Baki, who could hold his breath for 5 minutes and attack aggressively and not need to pause to take a breath. Basically, for five minutes, Spec could continue to attack without leaving a chance for his opponent to counter-attack.

I could probably do that before this training, albeit with a bit of difficulty. Now? I could easily do the same thing as Spec, but for around 10 minutes.

I've gotta love the fact that my body adapts to things so well.

Not only my efficiency was improved but also my endurance and strength, under the constant tempering of the suit and the water pressing down upon me from all sides. It took me 2 months to get to 100m deep and then another month to get to 150m deep, then after another month, I was finally at the center of the lake, so 250m deep.

By the end, my body was sturdy beyond belief. Bullets couldn't break my skin, let along my muscles or my bone. They could only leave bruises, with Sniper Rounds could possibly split the skin if they were fired within 40m. Knives? Practically like trying to put a toothpick through a sheet of metal.

Anyway, it had been a year, and around this time, I would have usually have left for another master or another place. But Ogata was just too good a teacher, so I stuck around for another 6 months where I focused on learning martial arts from him. Together, we came up with a martial arts style which combined every style I'd learnt so far, into a the perfect martial art for me. He even added in some ancient martial arts techniques and stances that filled in the gaps, if there even were any.

The strikes of Shinshinkai Karate and the Strong Fist Styles of Chinese Kenpo, the submission holds of Combat Sambo, the versatility of the Ancient Martial Arts - all mixed together to make the best martial art style for me and my unique constitution.

The style focused on raw power, using every bit of strength in my body to make my punches and kicks like massive hammers swung by giants. But it wasn't a slow style. In fact, it's explosive speed was incredibly high, as was the flexibility and versatility of the moves. The style practically made me into an unstoppable juggernaut...no, an unstoppable titan.

The techniques from the previous styles had been reformed and edited to better fit the style and therefore myself, so I wasn't even able to call them what they used to be anymore. They were new moves, and part of a new style.

The 'Nishimiya Style', as I called it. For now, at least. I was trying to come up with a more imposing/badass name, but I suck at stuff like that.

(A/N - Please help me come up with a name! Post your suggestions in the comments, please!)

Alongside the creation of this style, Ogata-sensei imparted to me how to use both my Ki at the same time, and how to employ it properly.

'Seidou Goitsu'. That's what he called the technique. The technique that allows you access to both your Ki at the same time. With your Sei Ki compressing inside of you, enhancing your mind, and your Dou Ki exploding outward like nitroglycerin coming from your veins, enhancing your body, they would react with one another giving you a tremendous power boost. As long as your body could handle it, at least.

My 'Seidou Goitsu' was different, however, as it was made to fit perfectly with my Overdrive form. So, I called my 'Seidou Goitsu' technique something a little different. I called it 'Seidou Goitsu: Overdrive', nice and simple, right? Anyway, with it, my power wouldn't just double, or triple, it would quadruple, making me a true force to reckoned with.

Why did I only stay for another six months? Because I had a fight to do, after all.

A fight against my father. Yujiro Hanma.

. . .

Sitting on a log, a few mountains away from where Ryuto and Ogata were, I was snacking on some premium vanilla ice cream, courtesy of my father.

"Hm? You're eating it? I was sure you'd throw it away. It's a greeting gift from me, after all," Yujiro mused, sat on a log opposite mine, staring at me with his red eyes. Hearing his question, I just shrugged before putting the spoon down and thinking for a few seconds.

Finally, I had my answer, so I replied, "I guess my love for ice cream is bigger than my hatred for you," I mused, pausing for a for seconds before continuing, "But, I guess it would be because my hatred and anger toward you has cooled down somewhat. Not lessened - not in the slightest - just cooled. At least enough so that I don't get immeasurably pissed off at the mention of your name anymore," I laughed a little before I continued to eat my ice cream, "I still hate you, and the very sight of you pisses me off but if you're gonna give me free ice cream? I'm not gonna stop you," I quipped before swallowing another chunk of the chilled goodness.

"Hm," he frowned for a second, gauging my reactions, before he cracked a smile and laughed, "Haah~ You truly are the best person to talk to sometimes, Yukiro!" he chortled, not minding his image as the strongest creature, and just acting like an old man for now, "Everyone else tip-toes around me, scared I'll kill them, but you! You say what you want, even if you knew I'd come at you because of it! It's so refreshing to meet someone with the same kind of arrogance as me, you know?!" he shouted, his laughter gaining volume and shaking the trees around us, and scaring the birds and other critters away.

Though the laughter no longer shook my bones. It was like he was just a normal person laughing next to me. That caused me to smile, honestly.

"The reason tip-toe around you is because you probably would kill them if they said something wrong. You're short-tempered like that, you know?" I said, looking off in the distance and eating ice cream, only to hear his laughter pick up in volume and intensity. This was a little too chummy for my liking. He always does this. Trying to act normal around me.

Frowning slightly, I gave him a sidelong glance, "We gonna fight or what, then?" my frown turned upside down at the thought of a fight, morphing into a savage and wild smile that would send shivers down any normal persons spine, "Because I've been wanting to stretch my muscles out a little lately!" I gave a loud shout, my red eyes meeting his own, our battle intent clashing against one another.

All I got in reply was a smile ever so like me own, before he charged at me.

Heh, at least I could see him charge now.