Where the Strongest Gather

A Larger World, Chapter 1

Within the, there never would be a dull moment. Whether the residents were training, eating, or what have you, they were always full of life. The meaning of "half-assed" didn't normally apply to anything they did, at least to the common observer.

Slicing through the air of the training hall, Hinata Kusuhana thrust her kick toward her opponent like the sudden motion of the summer breeze. Similarly, in just as swift a motion, Botan Nakandakari moved her forearm in response to block the kick. Both limbs collided with a brief shockwave of air escaping where their arm and leg connected. The two, student and instructor, were in the midst of a training session. Pulling back, Hinata swung her body around and performed a spinning heel kick, aiming for Botan's head. But Botan, seemingly anticipating the succeeding attack, had also spun her body in the opposition direction and ducked her head as well. Using the momentum of her motion, Botan held out her fist, looking to perform a spinning back fist for Hinata's open abdomen.

Hinata may have seemed open but she was definitely still on guard. Displaying her excellent acrobatic skill, she jumped off her other leg and momentarily spin in mid-air, narrowly dodging Botan's backfist, and in response, swung down her other leg in hopes of kicking Botan's face once more. Though a clearly skillful maneuver, Botan was still the senior in terms of experience, and such a move would not deter her. A simple sidestep allowed her to dodge the kick. And in doing so, she thrust her fist outwards, striking at the tip of Hinata's heel. The purpose in doing so was to influence Hinata's momentum and throw off her center of gravity, which would create an opening.

So it was that Hinata would herself losing ground as Botan thrust out her open palm with the intention of thrusting into Hinata's back and sending her flying. But even in this unfavorable position, Hinata was still not out quite yet. In a last ditch move, Hinata pushed her elbow back and connected with the palm thrust, canceling out the strength of Botan's blow, but her positioning could unfortunately not be rectified. After clashing that time, Hinata dropped to the floor and landed with a subtle thud as she grumbled; disappointingly.

It should be noted that all of this occurred in less than a couple seconds. Such is the speed of martial artists of this degree.

"Not bad, Hina-chan, but you need to stop putting yourself in such risky spots like that." Botan mused before chuckling softly under her breath, concealing her wide grin.

Hinata chuckled in response, nodding her head as she rubbed the back of her head.

But their brief moment of silence was interrupted by the sound of a large crash in the adjoining room.

"Hm...? It seems Sei-chan and Mina-kun are still going at it."

Curious to observe, Hinata walked over to the open door and took a look inside the training hall that was beside where she and Botan were training.

The first sight she saw was the vicious clash of fists between Seireitou Kawahiru and Minato Kuramoto. While the silver-haired master's face was as calm as usual, the brown-haired student had a face riddled with a grin that, if anything, symbolized his passion. Both of their fists collided with one another and produced a massive burst of air that filled the room and all rooms connected to it, even making Hinata's hair flow backwards as she watched this sparring match.

Minato wasted no time, proceeding to deliver a swift barrage of punches straight for Seireitou, who had begun to block them with the same hand he used to punch earlier.

Seireitou, in turn, slowly curled his lips into a smile. "C'mon Minato, is that all you've got?"

Shifting strategies, almost as if it were natural, Minato ceased the multitude of strikes and instead swung his leg around in a sweeping motion; his heel aiming for his master's side.

"Oho..." Using the same hand, a fluid motion of the arm allowed Seireitou to block the kick, again with the same arm.

But the student wasn't done. Not by a long shot. Despite being in a posture most would find being at a disadvantage, Minato had developed rather impressive flexibility, and even from this spot, he thrust his other foot upwards in a straight shot for Seireitou's chin. In turn, Seireitou merely found himself smiling, as he prepared to grab hold of the foot. But then the unexpected happened. Minato's kick purposely missed. Rather than hitting the chin, it deliberately went past Seireitou's head off onto the other direction.

The true purpose of that kick was to build up momentum. Minato's body followed the motion of the kick and his fist thrust out, with the boy grinning as if he managed to pull a fast one on his teacher. A loud crash once more resounded, as Minato's fist collided with Seireitou's open palm. The force behind that attack was great enough that steam actually aired off from the point of impact.

"You've really come a long way." Seireitou answered, slowly lowering Minato's fist as the latter dropped to the ground on his feet.

"You sure have." Hinata added, approaching the two as Minato smiled up at both of them.

"That being said..." Seireitou coughed into his fist before looking at the both of them seriously. "Make sure to continue training hard. Go out back and run a couple reps of practice."

In the following hour, Minato and Hinata went out in the backyard of the school and began to undergo their usual exercise regimens.

Well, not exactly...

Hinata was working her hardest, performing a series of one-finger push-ups with her other hand fastened around her belt, but Minato was laying back on the grass with a carefree expression on his face.

"Aghh... And that makes... two hundred." Hinata stated before grasping at the ground and slowly picking herself up, giving a look over at the restful Minato with a look of annoyance. "You do know that we're supposed to be training, right?" she remarked.

Minato let out a soft sigh. "Ah it's alright. There's no rush, you know?"

"Eh?" Hinata rose an eyebrow.

Slowly picking himself up, he looked over at Hinata. "The only one left for us to beat is Master Seireitou. And I'm well on that path. Another year or so..." He let out a yawn. "So why rush it? I can take my time and get there little by little."

The conversation was not just between these two but it was overheard by the other residents of the dojang as well, who were inside the room that faced the backyard of the compound.

"He's been getting lazy as of late." Kuniharu Inuzuri stated, to both Botan and Seireitou who were sitting at the table, seemingly playing a round of shogi.

Botan snickered a bit. "Another year, huh? He's certainly sure of himself."

"I suppose I shouldn't blame him." Seireitou responded, letting out a yawn. "He's only fought against the Virisancti Knights. Or rather, "Knight". They're about as strong as a Gotei Captain, so I bet he thinks, since he can handle an opponent like that, there's nobody left to train for except to surpass me."

Kuniharu turned his head to face them. "So what are you considering we do? Are you gonna take your spars with him more seriously?"

Seireitou let out a soft laugh. "Oh no, what do you take me for? Besides, it wouldn't do anything. He knows the gap between me and him is still too large to even compare. Demonstrating that wouldn't change anything. He needs to know how big the world really is." he explained. "I have a much better idea. And in retrospect, perhaps we should have introduced them a long time ago."

---

"Eh? We're going where?" Minato asked with his eyes blinking in surprise.

Seireitou, Saori Sumeragi, and Kuniharu were standing at the doorway together with Minato and Hinata.

"District 33, Ryūgawa." answered Seireitou, with a bit of a smirk. "It's gonna be a fieldtrip."

"But..." Hinata spoke up. "Among the four districts with the number 33, none of them are called Ryūgawa."

With a chuckle, Seireitou nodded. "That's true. You see, Ryūgawa isn't the name of the actual district. Or rather, it's not the current name. Shisawa is its current name. The "Quiet Pond". But it used to be called Ryūgawa a long time ago, before the various martial art schools of Rukongai were suppressed and forced to go underground."

"Underground? Martial art schools?" Minato asked with his eyes narrowed in confusion.

"You didn't think our school is the only one, did you?" Kuniharu chimed in.

Minato blinked once more. "But if that's true, how come we've never heard about them until now?"

Seireitou turned to look at Hinata briefly. "You probably never heard about this in the academy, but over a thousand years ago, when the late Captain-Commander Yamamoto seized rule of the Soul Society and Central 46 was handed judicial command, it became outlawed for there to be other schools that trained others in the combat arts. It was viewed as an act of treason against the Gotei 13 and the Soul Society. While many of them were destroyed, a great portion went "underground" and continued to train in secret. But over the course of the last nine years, as the Gotei lost a great deal of its fighting power, as well as its powerful Captain-Commander, it was deemed safe enough by many of the schools to resurface out in the open. But then..."

"Even over the course of their hidden practices, under threat of death, the community of martial artists within Rukongai remained strong and resolute. Among those that trained in Hakuda specifically, eight masters continued to lead the others even during Yamamoto's campaign of domination. These eight would go on to become the Eight Sage Fists."

Minato's eyes widened at the mention of their name. "The Eight... Sage Fists?" Hinata too remained speechless at the explanation Seireitou gave.

Saori and Kuniharu, on the other hand, both couldn't help but smile.

"Just where exactly are we going?" Hinata spoke up.

With a grin, Seireitou looked at the two students. "To the place where the strongest gather."

END