Planning For Success

China, the Middle Kingdom, is renowned for its deep history and its continued prominence in literature, science, and philosophy. More relevant to me, however, is its reputation as the birthplace of 4000 years of Chinese Kenpo.

"Why are you asking Kuzan?" asked my sister, confused understandably since the question was out of left field.

"I was thinking about taking everyone there for a long vacation after your school ends. I have some business there so I would be staying there for your whole summer break and probably even after it ends, so this way I can still hang out in the summer together."

"Hummm, since you are gonna be gone for so long I think Aunt Lizi will be sad. I don't want to spend my summer break having Aunt Lizi crying on my shoulders while hugging me, and I do want to go sightseeing, so I think it will be a good ide-"

"Oh what did I hear from upstairs, did my little apple pie get made with sour apples today? Otherwise, why would she be lying about who was the one crying on who's shoulder when Kuzan didn't come for a week?" interjected my aunt while walking down the stairs from her room, with an entrance dramatic enough to make Ru Paul jealous. "Oh, where did we go wrong in your teachi-"

"Uh, Aunt Lizi, Kuzan wants us to move to China!" deflected my sister, hoping her outrageous statement would divert attention away from her. Luckily for the little devil, her plan worked.

"Ara Ara, did my dear nephew get seduced by a vixen from overseas? Dropping everything from home and running away with her?" questioned my Aunt with one of her eyebrows raised high, and curling the right side of her lips up, all the while giving me a side-eye. 

"Uh, what-" I asked while shaking my head left and right to break out of my amazement. It took me a second to catch up to my aunt's crazy line of thinking. 'It may be useful to looking into that too, confusing your opponent so much by your words that you can get the drop on them'

"No, I was just planning to go there starting Meslissa's summer break in 4 months. I think it would be a beautiful change of scenery, China is known for its mountains after all."

"I think it would be a good idea love, given our frequent business trips and how busy we recently have been attending all those Gala's, a summer vacation in the wild sounds like a great idea to relax. You can be like that guy on that nature documentary you were watching recently, the Crocodile Hunter." my uncle tried to convince my aunt.

'I am sure that summer vacation with his attractive wife would be incentive enough for any man,' I thought.

"Sweetie, you always know how to convince me. Ok it's setteled, let's go to China for sightseeing in the summer! But Kuzi, why did you pick China of all places?"

"I heard that they have great hot springs within the mountains in China, so I couldn't help myself from seeing them."

"Surreee it is." said my aunt while giving me a wink.

As always, my aunt was right on the money. I could care less for the natural hot springs in China.

The way I saw it, I have two different paths moving forward after I exhaust the teachings I could pursue at home. I would continue hiring different instructors to build a broad understanding of various martial arts. It's crucial to establish a solid foundation before narrowing down to a specific martial path. 'However, no matter the amount of money, the martial artists willing to be swayed by it would be a cut below the ones I am familiar with. Their instructions, although helpful, would only slow down my progress over time.'

Mr. Nomusana assured me that he would speak to an acquaintance of his about taking me under his wing after I showed my progress in Karate. When asked about the identity of this mysterious martial artist, he would only speak about his accomplishments but never his name. "Stop asking," he would say, "focus more on learning your current teachings rather than worrying so much about the future, Kuzan. I guarantee you will be satisfied with the person I am going to introduce you to. The God of War is what some people call him, but I bet that even he would be interested in you after seeing your talent."

So, I currently had two avenues to pursue after I finished my training in America. I could either go to Japan to become more proficient in Karate, or I could head to China to learn from the plethora of martial institutions and temples there.

I also wanted to reach out to a famous medical professional who was currently residing in Japan, the supposed "Super Doctor." After receiving [Anatomy Mastery], I had tried to self-study to get a good initial grasp on some medicine related to the human body, but I found that my progress was painfully slow. 'I guess I am more of a hands-on learner after all. I need to convince him to take me in as a disciple as well.'

Whenever I received personal instruction from a teacher, whether through demonstrations or conversations, it felt like I had a photographic memory. I could effortlessly store all information related to martial arts and combat, but I couldn't memorize entire textbooks on medicine in the same way. Although the previous Kuzan was a genius, he only possessed a good memory, not a photographic one. Yet, when it came to martial arts, once I learned something correctly, I couldn't forget it even if I tried.

After thinking about it for some more time, my decision was swayed, and I decided that the best thing I should do going forward would be to first visit China to learn their teachings before visiting Japan. I made this decision after analyzing my current progress, as well as my current shortcomings. I came to the conclusion that, currently, I had a glaring shortcoming aside from my lack of foundation in martial arts due to only knowing Karate as of yet. 'I desperately need more actual combat experience.'

Although I fought with some of the other disciples of Mr. Nomusana, those were more a test of Karate than a test of fighting ability. I knew I couldn't continue to be coddled like that or it would have a negative impact on my senses as a fighter. 'I can solve the issue for now by getting into the underground fighting circuit, but given the Rosen family's fame in L.A., it's only a matter of time till someone identifies who I am.'

The underground fighting circuit was a set of contests run by mafias from across the world. The mafiosos would pick fighters to settle business disputes in the ring while also gambling on the winnings. 'Given our family's wealth, the Rosen family was no stranger to the underbelly of the business world, but due to the personality of Kuzan's dad, there were no official ties or agreements with the mafiosos. I am sure I can get a few phone numbers from Aunt Elizabeth if I really need it, but I would rather not have the family know about me participating in underground fights.'

Any set-up fight in the underworld would only end when a fighter was seriously injured, unconscious, or dead. Although the previous Kuzan was known for going all in when something caught his interest, fighting in life-or-death battles would certainly not be met with full support from his aunt. 'Worst-case scenario, she could even stop helping me entirely in pursuing martial arts if she finds it to be too self-destructive to me in her view.'

'I need her connections for more of my future projects. Although I hate having to keep relying on her, it would take too much time to set up my own web of connections in a short period of time. Maybe once I am a more well-known fighter, it would become way easier with people coming to me, rather than me to them.'

I also planned to eventually participate in the matches within the Underground Arena in Tokyo, as it was an oasis for fighters. They would travel from all across the world, masters possessing different martial paths coming together to settle the most fundamental question in martial history, who's martial art is stronger?

For those exact reasons, given that I had so much to do in Japan once I got there, including furthering my Karate teachings, learning medical knowledge from the Super Doctor, and fighting in matches in the Underground Arena, I would not have the time to leave for China for a long time if I went there initially. 'It's better that I first get a solid understanding of the Chinese Martial Arts, just as I did with Karate, before moving to Japan and continuing my training there.'

Chinese Kenpo and Karate were nowhere close to enough to satisfy me; I wanted to learn as many martial arts as I could. 'Using Karate to beat a Judo practitioner is not nearly as fun as learning Judo to defeat the Judo master.'

Others would choose not to go down this path either due to their lack of talent or due to the extensive time it would need to become stronger in such a manner. Someone who has mastered Karate to a proficient level would beat a person who has mastered 10 different marital arts to a basic level 100 times over. The process would be excruciatingly long and frustrating, and given that you would not be able to see any short-term improvement in your strength, it was considered a fruitless endeavour by many to pursue. 'But I will show the world that it's possible, I will become not just a martial master, but the martial master. The encyclopaedia of martial arts.'

'As the saying goes, a jack of all trades is a master of none, but oftentimes is better than a master of one.' 

[Elizabeth Pov]

My nephew had finally finished his training under Mr. Nomusana and had returned home for dinner, an event that was becoming more infrequent lately. 'And now he is already making plan's to go away again. He's lucky that he thought of asking us to come for a vacation there as well, otherwise I would show him what's what.'

Given my frequent talk's with Mr. Nomusana about Kuzan's progress, he was apparently very talented in martial arts. It was through these discussions that I got to see a side of Kuzan I was not familiar with before. 'I don't know how I didn't pick up on his love for martial arts before. I never even saw him watching a boxing match or anything. Was I so busy with work recently that I forgot to pay enough attention to my nephew and neice's interests! OMG I am such a terrible Aunt, thats it, I am not working or attending any event till the vacation. I am going to stay home and spend time with Kuzan and Melissa.'

I was sure that it was more than a simple fascination. Unlike his interest in business, which was motivated by his dad's and my dear's work, I could see his genuine fascination with martial arts.

'Couldn't you have picked a safer path to pursue, Kuzan, really,' I lamented in my thoughts, happy that my nephew was growing up, while not perfectly content with his choice. With this bittersweet feeling in my chest, I turned my head to focus my gaze on him. I could see that he was deep in thought, but his expressions while thinking confused me.

Given my line of work and past experiences, I had become very good at reading people and their thoughts. I wouldn't say that I was a perfect judge of character 100% of the time, but I could at least read people pretty well even if it was the first time meeting them.

Since I had known Kuzan for so long, I would say he was the second person, right after my husband, that I could read the emotions of clear as day. It was for that exact reason that I got so confused when I saw his face. I saw an emotion with such intensity that I had never felt from Kuzan before, not even when he was discussing his future business plans with my husband. A raw emotion that I was familiar with seeing around me, but never in Kuzan—it made my stomach turn. It could only be described by one word,

Greed.