Ryu POV
Training with Sensei Satoru wasn't something I thought would feel this… frustrating. Not because I couldn't keep up — but because he didn't teach the way normal people did. He didn't explain anything. He didn't warn us. He just walked us into a forest at dawn, held up a small white flag, and said:
"Your mission is simple. Take this from me."
Then he disappeared into the trees.
Now we were standing in a silent forest, just the four of us. The air was heavy, the kind that made the back of your neck itch.
Jin broke the silence first.
"So we're just supposed to steal a stupid piece of cloth? That's it? Easy."
Ayame didn't even look at him.
"You won't touch it."
Sora stood with his hands in his pockets, eyes scanning the treetops like he was trying to predict an ambush.
I exhaled slowly. "Focus. He's watching already."
Jin snorted. "Let him watch. I'll make this look good."
He didn't get three steps before a chunk of earth exploded beside his feet. Jin jumped back screaming something that definitely wasn't brave.
Ayame clicked her tongue, annoyed. "He's toying with us."
Sora nodded once. "He's testing reaction. Not ability."
"Exactly," I said. "Move in pairs."
Ayame briefly met my eyes, then looked away as if the idea annoyed her. But she stepped forward anyway.
"Fine. I'll go with him," she said, pointing at me like she regretted it.
Jin threw his hands up. "What about me?!"
"You talk too much," Ayame said.
"I agree," Sora added.
Jin gasped dramatically. "Is that betrayal?!"
I shook my head and moved through the trees with Ayame beside me. She was quiet, but not timid. Her steps were controlled, calculated. Even her breathing didn't break rhythm.
We pushed deeper into the forest until I felt it — a faint Ki signature flickering behind us.
"Down," I whispered.
We dropped right as a blur passed overhead, kicking up leaves and wind. Satoru landed lightly on a branch, twirling the flag around his finger like he was bored.
"Good reaction. Bad execution," he said.
Ayame launched forward immediately, her Ki flaring around the edge of her hand. A slicing strike aimed for his ribs.
Satoru wasn't there.
Her attack cut through an afterimage.
"He's behind—"
I didn't finish. Ayame already twisted, blocking a kick with her forearm. The impact sounded like wood splintering.
She didn't even flinch.
I rushed in, sword sheathed but ready. My father always taught me: A sheathed blade is the most dangerous kind. I slid step-to-step, lining my stance.
Satoru parried my first strike with a single finger flick against the sheath, redirecting the force. My arms buzzed from the shock.
Ayame struck again, heel flipping upward toward his chin.
He vanished between us.
A palm hit my back gently — too gently — but I still flew forward and crashed into a tree trunk. My vision shook.
"Sensei has no mercy," I muttered.
Ayame landed beside me. "Then neither should we."
We regrouped with Sora and Jin. They were both panting.
"He took me out three times in a row," Jin said, hands on his knees. "He didn't even break a sweat. I think he hates me."
"He doesn't hate you," Sora said calmly. "You make yourself easy to hit."
"THAT'S WORSE!"
I looked around, scanning for Ki trails. Satoru was moving. Fast.
"We spread out. Trap him," I said. "Sora, you're with me. Jin and Ayame, flank wide."
Ayame nodded and disappeared instantly, moving like a blade cutting through air. Jin followed, louder than he should've been.
Sora stood beside me. "You think this will work?"
"No," I said honestly. "But we'll learn something."
We moved through the trees in sync. Satoru's Ki was faint — controlled to a level I'd never seen before. Suddenly Sora's hand shot out, stopping me.
"He's right above us."
Before I could look up, a foot descended like a hammer. I blocked with my forearm — sparks of Ki and pressure slamming against me. I felt the bone vibrate.
Sora countered fast, a slicing wind-like burst from his palm, forcing Satoru to shift mid-air.
Good.
Ayame burst from the right, Jin from the left, and for a split second, the four of us synchronized without planning it.
Ayame's heel.
Jin's fist.
Sora's palm strike.
My sheathed blade.
Satoru dodged all four.
But only barely.
He grinned. "Now you're starting to feel like a team."
Jin lit up. "Did you hear that? He complimented me—"
Satoru chopped him lightly in the neck. Jin dropped like a sack of potatoes.
"Don't get cocky."
Ayame glared. "He deserved it."
"Agreed," Sora said again.
I stepped forward, exhaling once. "Satoru-sensei… we're ending this now."
"Oh?" he said, amused. "Show me."
Sora and Ayame charged first. I followed, keeping pace, letting instinct move my body. Every strike I threw was one my father drilled into me. Every counter my muscles remembered from years of training.
Satoru slipped between us, but he was starting to move less casually now. He blocked Ayame's elbow with his wrist, dodged Sora's sweep, then parried my blade with his forearm.
But I felt it.
Pressure.
He was taking us seriously for a moment.
I slid under his arm, striking at his ribs. He twisted away, but Ayame was there, heel aiming for his jaw.
He ducked that too.
Sora's low kick forced him to leap back.
But when he did—
I lunged.
Not with speed.
Not with strength.
With timing.
My blade rested against his throat before he even finished landing.
"It's over," I said quietly.
He blinked, surprised. Then he smirked.
"Not bad." He tossed the flag toward me.
I caught it.
Jin groaned from the ground, waking up. "Wait— did we win?!"
Ayame crossed her arms. "Ryu won."
"I helped," Jin argued.
"No, you got knocked out," Sora replied.
Satoru exhaled, studying me longer than the others. Not angry. Not happy. Just… thinking.
He knew something wasn't normal about me.
He just didn't know what.
Yet.
But for now, he let it go. He clapped his hands once.
"Training's done. Good work… all of you."
Jin raised his hand. "So, uh, Sensei, when you say all of us—"
"You were unconscious," Satoru said.
Jin groaned again.
Ayame smirked slightly. Sora just shook his head.
I wiped sweat from my chin and looked at the flag. My hand still shook with leftover Ki.
This team…
This world…
This path…
All of it was opening up.
And this was only the beginning.