Sora stepped through the bar's open doorway without causing any change in atmosphere. Inside the bar, it was warm and extremely stinky. The stench wrapped around him, multiple large men packed close together, leaning over tables, arms draped over each other. Faces flushed, eyes unfocused.
None of them could sense the unseen threat that was right before them.
Sora walked through the bar silently, his footsteps too balanced to make a sound. He weaved past chairs and people, positioning himself right behind the loudest voice.
"Oh boy, the chest on that girl I tell ya!" The man burst out laughing, head thrown back, mouth open and completely off guard.
Sora suddenly appeared for a heartbeat.
In that short period where he had returned to being visible, his fist drove forward and connected with the man's jaw with a crack that cut clean through the noise of the room. Teeth clacked together as the impact snapped the man's head sideways, his body following a second layer as he was hurled from his chair to a table.
Before anyone could even register what had just happened, Sora suddenly vanished again.
The large man hit the floor hard, deep and heavy gasps of breath escaping his mouth. The bar suddenly went silent, eyes darting to the man.
"What the hell was that—"
Sora suddenly appeared again behind another man, this one halfway standing up from his chair, still confused. Sora's knee drove right into the man's spine, folding him forward with a yelp. Sora's elbow followed right after, hammering down into the base of his skull and sending the man face first into the table.
The wood exploded.
Blood sprayed out of the man's face before he went limp.
Sora vanished once more.
Everyone in the bar started to panic.
Chairs started to scrape against the wooden floor as everyone stood up in a panicked mess, everyone was shouting, swearing and flipping tables as they searched for an enemy that they could never find. Someone threw a half full bottle of alcohol at a wall. Another man backed himself into a corner, eyes darting around and his breath coming in raspy bursts.
Sora reappeared right in front of him.
The man couldn't even scream before Sora's hand grabbed onto his collar and slammed him head first into the floor. He then grabbed the back of the man's head and repeatedly slammed it into the floor until he went limp.
He vanished once again.
A fist appeared out of nowhere and flew into a man's ribs, the sound of cracking bones rang out once again. The man folded immediately with a cry, clutching his side that was starting to pool with blood, only for a kick to suddenly take his legs out from beneath him and make him fall onto his back. Sora flickered in and out of visibility as he drove a fist into the man's throat, crushing his wind pipe.
The entire bar was trying to fight back, swinging at anything that moved, throwing chairs toward places they predicted he would appear next, everyone screaming in terror due to their blows not hitting anything. One man picked up a table and was about to hurl it, only for Sora to appear behind him and grab his arm mid throw, forcing it back and popping his shoulder out of the socket.
The man screamed in agony, but Sora stomped his head into the table he was holding, shutting him up.
The reason for Sora appearing before him attacking was because in order to use strong attacks, he'd need to empower his body with chakra, and to use a large amount of chakra he would need to be visible.
Although, even when invisible he is able to use chakra, just not enough to use any large scale techniques or enough to empower his entire body.
Across the bar, a group clustered together, back to back, each with an empty bottle of alcohol in their hands. One muttered a prayer to Lord Shuen and the other was about to cry.
Sora scoffed as he appeared above them, dropping from above.
His heel came crashing down like lightning on one man's shoulder, driving him to his knees and messing up their formation. Sora suddenly twisted mid air, bringing his other foot around to kick another man in the nose. Both men fell into a heap.
Sora backed up and stood on a table, staying visible just long enough for them to see his figure, removing the fabric from his eyes for them to get a glimpse of the eyes they worship so fanatically.
The group's eyes widened in horror as Sora vanished once more.
The remaining men broke up.
One tried to flee for the door, only to be grabbed by unseen hands and launched into the wall. Others fell to their knees, hands raised as they begged forgiveness from an entity that did not forgive.
"Keep the name of Fuko Hino out of your filthy mouths." A voice came from an empty space in the room before a figure appeared.
A fist to the gut.
A heel to the jaw.
A knee to the face.
Every single strike landed perfectly, none of the men could see them coming or even attempt to predict them. All of his movements were precise and balanced. He never used too much chakra in his attacks, just enough to get it done before backing up. Unconsciously following the principles of the Mirror Flower Style, his body flickering in and out of reality like some kind of ghost.
One by one, the bar fell silent, the floor littered with groaning old men.
Sora stood alone amongst them, invisible once more, breathing steady.
They couldn't resist what they couldn't see.
Sora spat on the floor just out of spite before he ran out of the bar, his chakra was starting to run low so he needed to escape and clean the blood off himself before he could turn his invisibility off.
He ran out of the bar, sprinting past the crowd that was starting to gather outside after hearing all of the commotion.
Multiple people had fainted, others screamed and some rushed in to help. It looked like a bomb went off.
…
…
Yukio suddenly sneezed. "Ugh… I just got a bad feeling, pretty ominous." He said while wiping his nose.
Takeo just hummed in thought, Yukio had been attempting to hide his chakra signature for about half an hour now and to Takeo's disappointment they weren't making much progress.
Yukio wasn't too upset or down, he was just eager to keep trying. He shook his head to focus and started to circulate his chakra.
A bead of sweat started to form on his forehead as he tried as hard as he could to suppress it and he started to feel it getting lesser and lesser but never fully disappearing.
Yukio surmised that the reason for this is because his body felt really weak and fragile when he wasn't able to regulate his chakra, so perhaps his body is subconsciously trying to force him to keep a flow of chakra flowing so that he can remain strong.
To suppress his chakra, he will need to overcome this problem and finally force himself to return to his former weak self.
Yukio's expression darkened and he grit his teeth. By circulating his chakra, he felt like he could actually do things, like be a regular kid. Without his chakra he was nothing, he was a frail small child. If he wanted to be strong, he needed to not only work on his chakra but his body as well. He needed to be stronger.
Takeo looked at the young boy's eyes and his eyes softened.
Next to Yukio, a figure appeared in Takeo's mind. It was a boy with black hair and brown eyes, his features were soft like Yukio's but that's all they had in common when it came to looks.
The real similarities lay in their immense work ethic. His younger brother, Shima Natsuki was a workaholic. He would spend all day and all night working on his swordsmanship until he dropped unconscious.
He had barely any talent, but he wanted it more than anyone else. He wanted to show that he could become the family head and pass down his own swordsmanship.
Takeo himself was extremely talented, but he was lazy. He thought that everything would come naturally to him, so he barely worked. He treated everyone around him as if they were beneath him, as if he was better purely because he had more talent than them.
"Big… b-brother…" a strained voice rang through Takeo's ears as he saw blood on his hands.
He shook his head and focused on Yukio, who was desperately trying to learn how to suppress his chakra.
Unlike Takeo's younger brother, Yukio had immense talent. But his body was frail and he was extremely insecure.
Yukio and Shima were opposites, but at the same time they were the exact same.
Yukio has talent, but he isn't able to fully utilise it and is docile and insecure. Shima had no talent, but his physical abilities were top notch and he was always training with a bright smile on his face.
Both were burdened by a "what if…?" Question. Yukio with his body and Shima with his talent.
But nonetheless, Takeo knew that Shima had overcome this and had even surpassed him. To this day, Takeo knows deep down that he will never ever see a swordsman greater than his younger brother.
And if he hadn't died to Takeo's blade, perhaps he would've gone to even greater heights and spread their families swordsmanship far and wide.
Takeo's vision began to blur, but was interrupted by Yukio's sudden burst of excitement.
"I-I did it! Sensei, I really did it! Try to sense my chakra!" Yukio said, a bright grin on his face as he suppressed his chakra to the point that Takeo couldn't sense him.
Takeo's eyes widened and he grinned back at Yukio. "Amazing job! How about we go out for something to eat? It's on me." He asked, already knowing Yukio's reply.
Yukio nodded enthusiastically and he ran out of the dojo, Takeo following close behind.
"So, what are we going to get? Ramen? Barbecue?" Yukio said, his eyes practically glowing.
Takeo was about to reply but his gaze suddenly sharpened as he sniffed the air.
The pungent iron smell of blood invaded his nose as he slowed his steps.
Yukio noticed his Sensei's distress and also stopped, quickly noticing the crowd ahead.
Takeo suddenly quickened his steps as he appeared outside a crowded bar, from what he could see, numerous men were strung across the floor unconscious and beaten badly.
Yukio followed behind, bumping into a few villagers as his eyes widened at the sight.
Takeo quickly pulled someone aside and asked them what had happened.
The woman he had pulled aside shrugged and replied. "Apparently they say some sort of ghost attacked them, it kept disappearing and reappearing as it beat everyone in the bar to a pulp.
Yukio quickly put the dots together and had an idea as to who could've done this.
Takeo's face darkened and he let go of the woman. He sighed. "That brat…"