22. Diverging Paths

No matter how you spin it no one enjoys getting beaten up, and the fact that it was by a guy who spent the last five years in a coma while you train your ass off only makes it more insulting. Not to mention the fact it was one versus five… the situation left a bad taste in all their mouths, no one was content to be crushed in such an utterly humiliating way and do nothing about it. As soon as they get up, they are working to devise methods to bridge the gap that appeared overnight.

Since early in the morning after the fight, in his room with all of the furniture pushed against the walls a bandaged up Yami drenched in sweat practices his sword swings. "Nine ninety-eight, nine ninety-nine…a thousand, a thousand and one…," he continues to count while paying painstaking attention to every motion in every stroke. From here on out every motion had to be prefect, nothing less would be acceptable. His eyes reflect nothing but pure determination to surpass his limits. Yoriichi completely outclassed him in swordplay during the fight.

Practicing so intently Yami falls into a sort of trance, getting lost in the sword's motions. As he drifts deeper, he hears a voice speaking to him. He doesn't know who it is, but they feel vaguely familiar… "Boy you sure got your ass handed to you, in grand fashion. Totally uncool." The voice says in a disappointed tone.

"Piss off! I didn't expect him to be that strong…the guy had been in a coma for five years. I'm a firm believer in surpassing your limits, but how does someone get stronger in their sleep!?!" Yami shouts back trying to rationalize the absurdity that came with Yo waking up. When last they fought, they were roughly even. Now he had plenty of help and still couldn't put up a fight. He wasn't even the last to drop. How high of a mountain was he going to have to climb to catch up to Yo?

"Hey, hey, don't start with the waterworks. It was just one loss."

"One loss? You mean a one-sided beatdown?" Yami corrected them angrily.

"Hahahaha true. He made you guys look like training posts," The voice laughs. "I'd be disappointed if you thought it was anything less."

"Don't laugh at my pain jackass!" Yami barks back.

"Don't worry you won't be losing to him forever, not with my help anyways."

" Of course I'm going to- Wait your help?" Yami says catching that hint. "Are you my-"

"That's right! It's about time you listened long enough to hear my name." The voice responds with a more excited tone. "Now get your ass up, we've got work to do. My name is-"

Yami suddenly breaks from his trance stopping mid swing. "Meliodas huh? Why does that sound familiar?" As soon as he spoke the name an incredibly dense sinister spiritual pressure rocked his entire house, cracking the walls and furniture. "What the!?!" Then as suddenly as it came it vanished. He didn't notice because it vanished as soon as the surge of spiritual pressure subsided, but for a brief moment a black tattoo appeared on his face around his left eye.

"Yami what are you doing up there!" A woman's voice calls from another part of the house.

"Sorry Ma! I was practicing a jutsu!" He yells back.

"Take it outside!"

Turning his attention back to the sword which now had a black luster to it. "Whoa…" As he stares at the sword it dons on him he's heard it the name one of Yo's random rants about…demons. Meliodas is a demon of the highest class in his world, a demon king who could command darkness. This monster was his zanpakuto spirit? Nice!

However according to his understanding the closest things to demons were the tailed beasts, which aren't actually demons but living masses of chakra Yo also explained…however he also talked about a distant land that supposedly did have demons. "Heheh. Once I master the power of a demon king, I'll become the darkness that swallows the sun itself!" Yami declares to himself before packing a bag. "Stinkin' pretty boy, I'll show you who's boss! Ma! I'm going on a journey!"

...

Elsewhere Toph is just outside the village alone, angrily striking a massive boulder. The cracks in it deepen with every strike before she completely shatters it. It's clear that she's been at it for a while as her hands and feet are scratched and bloody, but she has no intention of stopping. Being defeated so soundly, how can she afford to take it easy? "Again…" she says in between breaths. Stomping the ground, much of the earth around her is launched into the air, and with the clasping of her hands it all compresses together into an even bigger and denser boulder that drops in front of her. She takes a deep breath and continues her training.

'…Damn how did that pretty boy pass us by like that? There's no way I got weaker I don't get it…' she thinks trying to figure out why they lost so badly. "UGH IT'S SO INFURIATING!" With her next punch she completely shatters the boulder. She lets out a deep sigh and turns towards the trees when she notices someone coming by. "Who's there?"

"…YOUTH! YOUTH! YOUTH!" Someone shouts coming along getting increasingly louder. She 'watches' a bushy browed man wearing a loud green skintight suit and leg weights, sprinting by on his hands. "Hmm? Is that you Toph?" When he notices her, he stops and does several flips landing onto his feet. "What's going on here?"

"What's it look like? I'm training…and you?" She asks now completely sure this is that taijutsu specialist Might Gai.

"Hahaha! Good to see the fire of youth burning bright! Train hard and with passion!" Gai says with a beaming smile and a thumbs up. "I myself am actually doing the same."

"By walking on your hands?" Toph questions thinking it seems kind of silly.

"It's a great way to build upper body strength, your fists should be as powerful as your feet right?" He answers with no hint of being offended. Toph only nods as he did have a point. "I have to get ready for my big rematch with my rival, Kakashi Hatake."

"Oh, I can relate to that." Toph says thinking about yesterday's events. "I'm gonna beat Yo to a pulp next time!" She declares, pounding her fists together.

"Yo? The Hero of the hollow attack Yo?" Gai asks.

"Yep, he kinda left me in the dust while he was asleep… It's like the coma improved all of his abilities. Is that even possible?"

Gai stops to think about that for a second. "Hmm, I can't say I've ever heard of something like that happening… Yoriichi is a one-of-a-kind monster indeed."

"So…is this pointless?" Toph says as her frustration starts to win over a bit.

"No," Gai answers resting a hand on her shoulder. "Improving oneself is never pointless. While I can't tell you how to beat him, I can tell you this. Continue to sharpen your all of your weapons. When your opponent is more talented, you have to work harder. Assess your strengths and weaknesses carefully and use them to light a new path! Be creative. You'll be sure to find something to pull a victory from under his nose!"

"Huh… I didn't think of it like that." Toph says taking his advice to heart. "Alright, I'm going to find a new way to train…something even Yo wouldn't think of! I can't wait to see the look on his face when I win our next match!"

"Yes never lose heart! I can feel your passion now! Let the fire of your youth burn bright and hot!" He gets excited because of her energy, which suddenly inspires him to go train some more. "Before I go, I want to impart something on you that will undoubtedly make you grow stronger ten- no, one hundred times faster."

A star stricken Toph wonders what it could be as he stands there grinning confidently. After his dramatic pause he pulls something out of his flak jacket's pocket. Laying it in her hands, Toph's excitement immediately dies when she realizes what it is. "Uhhh, what is this?"

"A master of taijutsu like you will understand when as soon as you put it on," Gai says not noticing her dying enthusiasm. "Train well young one, and you will reap the fruits of your labor. Also, always remember the power of YOUTH is on your side!"

With that he leaps onto his hands and dashes off, leaving Toph standing there 'looking' at the suit and debating if she's really fallen that far yet. "N- no! Never! She throws the suit away in a flustered panic. "What are my strengths?" She asks herself, wondering what she should do next.

...….

"What's bothering you Sis?" A five-year-old Kiba asks Hana who sits at the table with him spacing out and hardly eating, at the main branch house of the Inuzuka clan.

"Hmm? What's that?" She responds.

"You seem out of it today… does this have something to do with that Yo guy waking up?" As soon as Kiba spoke Yo's name she suddenly snaps her chopsticks, which startles him into jumping back.

"I- I was useless…as soon as he got serious, I was taken down in one move…" Hana says clenching her fist tightly. "I've never been defeated so easily before…"

"Wait he beat you up? How dare he lay a finger on my sister! I'm gonna go kick his-"

"No, no, it isn't like that. We were sparring…but it went miserably is all." She slumps a bit as her grip relaxes. 'And what would you do against him anyways?' She thinks as her brother sits back down.

"Oh…what do you mean by miserably?" With a deep sigh Hana shakes her head and explains to him what happened up until she was knocked out anyways, because after that she woke up at home.

"So that's what happened…yup, I'd be pretty embarrassed too, you were the weakest link there. Does that mean Toph and Yami have been carrying you on missions?" He asks seriously not trying to make her feel worse, but that's exactly what he did.

"Shut up I didn't realize it until now!" Hana groans putting her head down. "I have to figure out a way to get stronger faster.…maybe I can get mom to teach me some more advanced clan techniques…or maybe…" she trails off thinking back on everything she saw yesterday. How did they move? What kind of unique jutsu did they use? What were things that separated her from the others? Of all the techniques she saw the most useful seemed to be that breathing technique Toph, Yami, Itachi and Yo all used to amplify their other abilities. Not only was it versatile enough for there to be a style suited to all of them, it also didn't seem to be a kekke genkai so maybe she could learn it too.

"That's it! I'll learn that breathing and use it to amplify my man beast taijutsu!" She hops up with sparkles in her eyes. Picturing what she saw, adding flames or even darkness to her jutsu would be an incredible boost to her abilities. "Now how do I breathe darkness?" She thinks out loud. "Never mind that won't work, who would just give away such a valuable technique?"

"Breathe darkness? That doesn't even make sense…you ok sis?" Kiba asks looking concerned that this loss got to her more than he thought. "You ok sis?"

"I have to try! I can't just train more than normal to catch those monsters. I can't afford to just be sitting around!" She runs out of the room.

"I wonder if she remembers she supposed to be watching me…" Kiba sighs watching the door.

"Wait I can't leave you home alone, you come with me we are going to the Uchiha compound." Hana says as she bursts back into the room.

...…..

Having been aware of what Yoriichi is really like longer than anyone, Itachi takes the loss with the least difficulty. However, only a fool would believe he was fine with just losing. He had no intention of staying in Yo's shadow. However, the only thing he could do to close the gap was to work harder. Total concentration breathing, a zanpakuto, kido, the sharingan, high ranking ninjutsu, all of these things that made Yoriichi so powerful he knew also. Yoriichi taught him most of it with no fear of ever being surpassed, and yesterday showed him why. He needed to come up something new, something that would set him apart from everyone else. Sitting on the rooftop of his home he pondered on new strategies while watching the clouds.

"Heeeeeey partner," The playful voice of his zanpakuto, Ban, sounds off in his head while he was deep in thought. "Still moping about that ass whooping?"

"…" Itachi ignores him and keeps thinking.

"Hey! What's with the silent treatment?" Ban barks.

"I'm not sure how I can go about fighting Yoriichi." Itachi says in a low voice.

"I have a few ideas," the silver haired spirit says with a toothy grin. Itachi merely shifts his eyes to look at Ban. "For starters it's "snatch" eternity, not "steal" eternity. Just that word being wrong resulted in a less powerful release of your shikai."

That actually surprised Itachi, his own weapon held him back. "What? Why would you-"

"It's for the long game, relax Itachiii. Yo won't expect for you to have been holding back. It'll be one of our many surprises next time we fight." Ban says with a sly smirk.

'This spirit thought about that much…devising this strategy being aware of our current power gap? He is crafty…' Itachi couldn't help but wonder if this is how Yoriichi perceived him.

"Also I wanted to see you get taken down a peg hahaha!" Itachi could confirm the sword is a bit of an ass though. "Now I know of a few things we can go get our hands on, they'll definitely help you get much stronger."

"What kind of things are you talking about?" Itachi asks.

"The first thing we're going for is going to be something that will help increase your chakra reserves. We're going to be heading to the land of the sky. They've got something really fun locked away over there." Ban explains.

"Land of sky?" Itachi asks having never heard of them.

"Before your time kid, let's go get the zero tails. It'll be fun." He chuckles.

"I will not rob another country at a sword's request."

"It's a fallen country that will use it to attack the hidden leaf in the future anyways. You'd be doing the village a favor. Besides, it's not like anything here will help you surpass Yo. There really aren't many treasures worth stealing here in the leaf." How confidently Ban spoke made Itachi think about how the greedy sword spirit could have some innate knowledge of where treasures in this world were hidden. Did this also relate to Yo, and his uncanny knowledge of the world? "Sooooo?"

"Very well, we shall claim this zero-tails. If it will help the village…" Itachi agrees reluctantly. The sword spirit may have a volatile personality but he's very upfront about the things he wants Itachi to acquire, it hasn't sent him on a vain heist yet.

"Helping you is helping the village. And we'll be taking out one of our enemies before they get too strong." Ban says in an assuring tone which makes Itachi a little uncomfortable. "Lets get ready to leave asap."

"Hmm," Itachi nods and vanishes from his perch to go prepare.

...

Late that night Yami is at the gate of the village with a bag packed ready to head out. "Land of demons look out, Yami's coming to kick ass!"

"Yami what are you doing here?" He's startled to see Toph standing behind him with a bag packed as well.

"Dammit Toph are you following me?" Yami asks.

"No I'm going on a journey to train." She responds.

"I'm going on a training journey. You copying me?" Yami asks more annoyed.

"Now why I would I copy an idiot like you!" Toph's anger matches his.

"It seems the loss to Yoriichi has weighed heavily on all of us." They both jump seeing Itachi standing next to them, also prepared for a journey. "I feel the evolutions necessary for us to reach Yo are not here in this village. I'm sure our paths will take us different ways but it would be more efficient if we travel together for now." He says already walking out of the village gates.

"Hey eyelashes don't just walk off like that!" Yami says rushing after him.

"Yeah we were still talking!" Toph runs over too and they both grab him ruffling his hair and shoving playfully.

Itachi was already kind of used to the rough housing because of Yo, but two more of them was going to make this a long trip. He turned into crows and flew ahead a few paces and kept walking.

"Hey, don't act too cool to walk with us!" Toph shouts after him.

"Yeah Mr. Cool guy get back here!" Yami shouts as Itachi picks up his pace. With that the three of them began their journeys racing through the night.