"I give up! I can't do this nonsense! It's impossible!" Sora suddenly moaned as he failed at replicating the sixth page, Shattered Reflection.
Three weeks had passed since Sora and Yukio had first started practicing the Kagamihana technique and Sora painfully had to admit that Yukio was quite a bit better than him when it came to learning things from a book. Sora was far more hands on, learning in the heat of battle so trying to learn a whole technique off a page was quite annoying.
Sora was stuck on the sixth page and Yukio had roughly mastered it all and was now focusing on refining it to perfection. In only three weeks! At this speed Sora would be left behind.
He didn't let it get to him, not yet anyway. Of course it damaged his ego a little but it wouldn't kill him, if it came down to a life or death battle Yukio wouldn't stand a chance.
Sora suddenly shook his head. "No, why am I even thinking about a life or death battle with that little kid? So stupid." He clicked his tongue in dissatisfaction before he got back to practicing the Shattered Reflection technique, which was stupidly difficult for him.
Honestly it wasn't too difficult of a technique but Sora just couldn't seem to establish a rhythm and then suddenly break it and re-establish another rhythm on top of the previous one, it got so bad Sora completely forgot about the added weights and was more focused on how difficult this damn training was.
"Hey kid… why are you so insistent on learning swordsmanship when you are blessed with those eyes you can achieve so much more if you'd just… focus on training them."
Sora didn't ignore the voice this time, honestly it did have a point. Swordsmanship was an awesome technique but he'd be better off just shooting a blast of golden energy through someone.
"I mean, you are right. But honestly it's pretty fun, I've gotten closer to Yukio and have actually been enjoying myself." Sora replied, talking out loud even though he was able to communicate mentally.
"Useless. You cannot attain the power of god through getting closer to people and enjoying yourself. The path to godhood is a lonely and dangerous one."
Sora sighed, the same old condescending attitude had returned as he decided to just ignore it and get back to training.
…
During this time, Yukio had been not only refining the style but he had also been running laps around the village, he was used to the added weight by now and his body had made noticeable improvements.
Takeo hadn't gone far in his search for whatever the hell was strange in the village recently, he had returned to work in Shuen's temple with Tsubaki.
…
Another week later, after Sora had finally managed to learn the sixth and seventh movement, he was in the process of learning the eighth when he saw something quite strange with his eyes.
It was easy to pick out Fuko in the village thanks to her absurdly large chakra quantity and that quantity had suddenly doubled.
Sora's eyes widened as he noticed the sudden spike of chakra across the village, immediately rushing over to see what had just happened. Even using the teleportation technique a few times to skip across the rooftops, burning through his chakra.
As he got closer and closer, he hid his chakra signature and turned invisible while hiding on a rooftop near the edge of the village.
He looked down at Fuko, who's chakra had returned to normal.
However, there was something not very normal going on. There was a second Fuko with the exact same amount of chakra as her, as if she had perfectly split her chakra in half and created a clone.
His eyes widened in shock, suddenly remembering that the old man had said something about knowing how to clone himself.
Sora kept focused so that he wouldn't reveal himself and slowly got closer and closer to hear what she was saying.
"Alright… that's quite a bit of information, the kid has gotten way stronger in such a short period. Oh? That man has started trying to manipulate even my shadow clones now? Pathetic." She said, spitting on the floor in dissatisfaction.
Sora's focus nearly fumbled as he heard the words. Was she talking about their ancestor? So it wasn't only Sora? And what is a shadow clone?
He quickly regained his focus and kept listening in on what she was saying.
She sighed and her clone walked off into the village. "I just hope nothing bad happens while I'm gone this time, I'm sure my shadow clone will be able to handle anything that happens." Fuko said that last sentence before she leaped to the top of the village wall and left the village.
Sora's concentration was fully disrupted as he fell down, turning visible once more. "What the hell is she up to?" He said, leaping to the top of the wall to see if he could see her in the distance and failing. She was long gone.
He clicked his tongue in disappointment. "So… she's been leaving the village this entire time, coming back to replace the clone every so often. The audacity of that woman to try and lecture me about leaving the village." He said, tempted to leave the village right then and there.
And then he thought of Yukio and the old man. With a sigh, he stepped off the wall and fell back into the village. "I suppose I'll stay a little longer." He said, surprised at his change of attitude.
…
…
Another week later, Yukio was once again doing another lap around the village with his weights on.
He was a little sweaty but he had completely gotten used to the added weight, his muscles were a lot firmer and his veins were becoming visible while his hair started to get a little messy from not having it cut for a while.
Running past the training area as he usually did, he noticed Sora was practicing the tenth and final movement of the Kagamihana style.
Yukio suddenly smiled and started to run even faster, eager to grow fast to be equal with Sora.
Sora noticed the boy running past him and that only motivated him to just keep training harder.
A few hours later, Sora noticed the sun was starting to set and so he picked up the training sword he had been given by the old man and started walking home.
On the way home, he noticed Takeo walking toward Shuen's temple and shouted to get his attention. "Hey, old man! I've completed your task! Now what?" He exclaimed, easily getting the old man's attention
"Sensei—! Oh? Sora you're here too?" Yukio ran over from the opposite side, making Takeo sigh in relief.
They both looked at him with a little bit of confusion before the old man smiled softly. "Well done you two, now we must go out to celebrate." He suddenly said, making Sora's confusion turn to delight.
"Really? Where are we going?" He asked, getting more excited than he'd like to express.
"Yeah, where are we going?" Yukio asked as well, mirroring Sora's excitement.
Takeo calmed them down with a gesture before answering. "Let's go get barbecue while I tell you both about what has been on my mind regarding the village recently, many things have become more and more worrying." He said with a slightly more serious tone.
The two boys looked at each other with worry before their expressions hardened and they nodded at Takeo.
The old man smiled warmly and ruffled both of their hair as he started walking towards the barbecue.
"But aren't you going to work?" Sora asked, following close behind Takeo.
He just sighed. "There isn't any point in me trying to slow it down, it's bound to happen eventually and me staying close to The Lord won't change anything."
This made Sora's expression even more serious, Yukio also starting to fidget uncomfortably.
After a few minutes of walking they ended up in the barbecue restaurant at the end of the street.
Sora ordered ribs, Yukio ordered chicken wings and Takeo ordered Beef Brisket.
After their food arrived, Takeo got straight into his explanation.
"Alright, I'll start from the very beginning. On the day my younger brother died, I had activated The Lord's eyes."
Sora's eyes widened at this statement.
"After that day I had vowed to never use those eyes again or to ever use all ten pages of the Kagamihana technique. But that is all besides the point. After I used the eyes, my family shut me out and slowly died out. The only reason I was able to stay alive and have shelter was because Lord Shuen had allowed me to guard his temple." He said before taking a quick break to dig into his brisket.
"When my family eventually died out I was automatically made the family head and was able to take back the house and dojo I had grown up in. But… the reason that Lord Shuen had to keep me close was because of the influence of a dead god."
Both of the kids stopped eating their food at this moment and all of their attention was focused on the old man.
"Apparently… the eyes that Lord Shuen and young Sora have belong to a being who had died hundreds of years ago. That being resides within Lord Shuen and is constantly trying to break out and cause havoc across the world. The reason that everyone in the village are born with the potential to awaken these eyes is because that being's will has been imbued into Shuen's feathers and anyone born within the radius of the feathers will be born with white pupils."
Sora and Yukio were no longer interested in their food as they listened closer.
"The eyes are strong, yes. But they require an absurd amount of chakra to activate and maintain… and there is another downside, which is the main reason that Lord Shuen is against people using the eyes…" he dragged out the end of the sentence.
"What is it you old geezer?!" Sora exclaimed, not in the mood for a cliffhanger.
Takeo sighed dramatically. "It is because once the eyes are activated, that being will be able to communicate and manipulate you through your mind. If the eyes are active, then the being will be able to slightly control your body like being able to suppress chakra or adjust emotions. The Lord kept me close so that the being wouldn't be able to influence me."
Yukio nodded. "So what exactly is the problem?"
"I'm pretty sure multiple people in the village have activated their eyes and are currently fulfilling that being's plan. I'm not sure what his plan is, but he has even tried to influence me with the promise of power. I'm more than certain something huge is coming and so I need you two to be strong enough to handle anything that comes at you." He said, finishing up with his food at the same time. Looking at the two children with a serious expression.
Sora and Yukio simultaneously gulped but deep down they were slightly excited at the idea of a reason to show what they are capable of.
"And that is why I expect you both to meet me at the dojo at 5 AM tomorrow morning for our next big step." Takeo said, smiling once more.