Weird

Another month passed seamlessly. Tatsuo spent his days training and learning, causing the people in the house to worry about his sanity.

They now saw him as a training maniac. He even skipped meals sometimes, opting to continue his reps.

All of his training was not for nothing. He could now use chakra, and could do things like walk on trees and water.

The first time he walked on water made him feel some kind of way. It was every person's dream to gain powers such as these. This made him feel blessed.

His body grew stronger at an even faster pace than it used to. He could now wear all twelve golden weights as he trained, without breaking a sweat.

He felt like he was now ready to train the Thunder God Constitution technique.

Sitting on top of the tallest tree in the area, Tatsuo looked over the village and let out a sigh.

"Even though I'm training this much, life sure is boring here. I'm craving a good fight right now."

Getting up, he breathed in before jumping down the forty-meter tall tree.

As he fell, Tatsuo felt the adrenaline rush throughout his body, making him feel better than he ever had.

Smiling, he infused chakra into his hands and caught the closest branch to the ground, flipping around it and landing on the ground uninjured.

"Hah! That was the best!"

...

Tatsuo left the area with a grin plastered on his face. In his past life, nothing made him feel this way. Falling to his death almost felt as good as a great fight.

Reaching Atsushi's hill, he felt that something was wrong. Again, his sixth sense was going crazy.

"There's a strong person nearby... I can feel it."

With a serious expression, he sneaked into the house's entrance, choosing to erase his presence by controlling his respiration and any outflow of chakra.

Moving through the shadows, he silently made his way around the house, checking every nook and cranny.

'Weird, there's no one in here.'

The house usually had a bunch of maids running around, doing their business. Right now it was empty.

Suddenly, he heard voices.

"Please, at least let my daughter go! She has done nothing to you!"

'That's Atsushi-san's voice...!'

Tatsuo silently got closer to the origin of the sounds, rapidly reaching the main courtyard. Inside were Atsushi and his daughter, facing five unknown men. All the maids were in a corner, holding each other in fear.

One of the unknown men took a step forward, pointing at Atsushi.

"You. Tell me where that white-haired brat is!"

Hearing his voice, Tatsuo's remembered the man's identity. It was the guy he had killed! How could he still be alive?

Taking a closer look, Tatsuo noticed that the man was covered in bandages, and was standing on two crutches, barely maintaining his balance.

...

Looking at him fiercely, Atsushi looked like a real Samurai.

"I shall never betray the hero that saved my daughter's life. I'd rather kill myself than do so!"

Hearing this, the bandaged man's face twisted in anger. These foolish people were so hard to work with.

"All right then, if you want to play, we'll play. Daisuke. Kill a maid!"

"Gladly."

One of the guys behind the man, measuring at least two meters in height, started walking towards the maids in the corner with a dead expression.

"No!"

"Heh. Let's see if you can keep your mouth shut after this."

Ignoring the woman's screams, Daisuke placed his massive hand on a maid's head, lifting her up in the air.

"Please! I have a family!"

Daisuke smiled a little and started gripping her head more tightly.

Before he could crush her though, he saw a weird light flash in front of him.

Suddenly, the maid fell to the ground, the hand still grabbing her head.

Before he could react, Daisuke's arm had been cleanly cut off, catching him off guard.

Blood started spraying everywhere, covering the maid who fainted from the shock.

"GYAAAAH! MY ARM! MY ARM!"

"What! Daisuke, what happened!"

Turning around, the rest of the men noticed an extra person in the room.

He had long, glistening white hair, and his eyes shone with an ominous red.

In his hand was a Katana, which didn't even have a drop of blood on it. Atsushi immediately recognized it as his own.

"You!"

Ignoring the now screaming Daisuke, the bandaged man smirked.

"So you came... You thought I was dead?! WRONG! I survived your dirty attack! You bastard! Because of you, I can't even walk properly anymore!"

Staying calm in face of the man's anger, Tatsuo replied in a cool tone.

"I'm sure that I pierced your heart. How are you still alive?"

Hearing this, the man smirked.

"I'm known for my tenacity, see? Some time after you ran away, I woke up in a pool of my own blood, dying."

"Luckily I had some rare medicine that I kept for times like these. I would have died if not for that! I got back to my people after a month of perseverance... Even so, because of the lack of blood flow in my limbs, I have lost some control over them! All because of you!"

Tatsuo listened to the man's words intently. It never occurred to him that there would be medicine in this world capable of such restorative feats.

Sighing, he made use of the opportunity before him and threw Atsushi's Katana at the nearest man's shoulder, piercing it and rendering him useless.

Nobody in the courtyard expected him to do that, and thus they were caught off guard. The guy didn't even know how he died.

...

"You... You piece of shit! Kill him! I want him dead!"

Heeding orders, the last two men ran towards Tatsuo with blood-thirsty expressions.

'Let's see what ninja are capable of.'

Smirking, Tatsuo got into his usual stance and waited for them to arrive. In terms of technique, he was confident.

The first punch came for his head, so he moved it slightly, dodging the hit cleanly.

He quickly threw a punch at the man's gut, making him cough up blood.

Not letting him rest, Tatsuo twisted his body and raised his leg, Performing a round-house kick that landed perfectly on the man's cheek.

Unable to stop it, the ninja was sent flying a small distance away.

"You're dead!"

The other ninja ran was now behind Tatsuo, aiming his Kunai right at the latter's head.

Tatsuo breathed out and flexed his knees, doing a perfect backflip to dodge the attack.

Turning around, the ninja could do nothing as Tatsuo landed a clean-hit right into his chin, sending him flying with his comrade.

"Whew. That was great exercise!"

...silence...

"What in the..."

The bandaged man had eyes filled with disbelief. He didn't remember this kid ever being this strong.

Suddenly, he thought of something.

"Use Ninjutsu! He's no Ninja!"

Looking at each other, the now bleeding men nodded their heads before gathering chakra.

Tatsuo watched as they performed hand-seals in quick succession. Suddenly he felt a disturbance in the air.

The men roared in unison as their chest expanded.

"Katon : Shōkyaku-no-Jutsu!" (Fire style: Incineration Technique!)

They both opened their mouths wide, spitting out two clouds of fire that joined up into one bigger one.

It was headed straight for Tatsuo.

If it reached him, judging by the temperature of the flames, he would be burned badly.

With no other option, Tatsuo started coating himself with as much chakra as he could, forming a protective layer.

It was very draining, but he endured.

As the flames enveloped his body, he felt as if though he was in an oven.

The fire slowly burned through his protection, inching closer by the second.

"GRAH!"

Pushing himself to the limit, Tatsuo performed his breathing method, circulating chakra at a rapid pace.

The fire started slowing down.

"Just... A little more!"

Finally, he managed to repel the fire.

After the flames dissipated, Tatsuo remained there, unharmed but drenched in sweat.

"Haha! I survived! Time to take these off!"

Laughing wildly, Tatsuo removed his weights and threw them on the ground.

He then picked up a Kunai that one of the ninja had dropped and flickered out of vision.

When he reappeared, he was in front of the two ninja. They had no time to react as their throats were slit.

"No hard feelings, but I kill anyone who tries to kill me. It's kept me alive so far."

...

"Not so fast."

Suddenly, Tatsuo felt a hand grab his leg. Looking down, one of the men he thought he killed was performing a strange hand seal.

"I'll take you with me!"

Tatsuo could do nothing as the man murmured some words under his breath.

Suddenly, red markings started making their way up his leg, restraining all movements.

"What is this! I can't move!"

Tatsuo tried everything, from strength to chakra, but he couldn't move an inch.

'Shit, he got me!'

"Kekekeke... KEHAHAHA!!"

Suddenly, the bandaged man's maniacal laughter resounded throughout the house, sending a chill down everyone's spines.

"Well done! My plan was successful!"

"Plan? What are your talking about!?"

The man ignored Tatsuo, slowly walking up to him with a wicked smile.

"You turned me into a useless man. My life has no meaning anymore, and I won't be able to keep my job as a mercenary!"

In anger, the man retrieved a knife from his pocket, and aimed it at Tatsuo's stomach.

"DIE!"