2 2: It's not a Lightning Style Jutsu

The next morning arrived quickly. Since word of last night's fight spread, huge crowds have gathered at the Isshin Dojo; it appeared that the entire population of Ashikaga Town had made the trip to see the fight today.

Shoji, seeing another chance to make more money, had the students collect admission fees from the crowd just like he did yesterday.

Izumo was very confused by his son's action, so he went to ask him. "Didn't you already give the samurai some money yesterday? Why are you still collecting money?"

"F-father?" Shoji sputtered and coughed awkwardly, trying to put his thoughts in order. "Father, do you not see how poor our town is? I feel sad just seeing how hard they live."

"And what does this have to do with you charging them?" asked Izumo.

"I'm going to save this money for the next competition. What if we hold this competition every year? I'm pretty sure many samurai will come to this town," Shoji replied.

Still, Izumo didn't see how this was going to help the people in the town.

When Shoji saw that his father was still confused, he hurriedly went on to explain. "Don't you get it, father? Many people will come to our town. They all need to drink, eat, and have a place to sleep, so where are they going to get this from? The town, of course! This means everyone can make money!"

After Shoji had finished explaining, Izumo finally understood what his son's plan was. He reached over and patted his son on the shoulder.

"Haha, what a great plan, Shoji. I'm proud to have you as a son," laughed Izumo.

While Izumo was bragging about his son to a friend of his, Satoshi Hino who won yesterday had finally arrived at the dojo.

Without wasting much time, Shoji quickly entered the ring after picking up his katana. In this fight, there wouldn't be any shinai, just live steel.

When Hino entered the ring next, the dojo master, Izumo, followed. He waited until he was sure both combatants were ready before starting the fight.

As the two contestants sized each other up in the ring, an eerie silence fell over the crowd.

A moment later, Hino drew his katana from its sheath and grasped it in both hands. Shoji, meanwhile, shifted his weight forward onto his right foot, leaned forward ever-so-slightly, and rested his right hand on the pure-white hilt of Wado Ichimonji.

"Sorry, but I don't plan to lose. This battle is very important to me." Once Hino was done talking, he went straight for Shoji.

"Huu~" Shoji breathed out as the wind picked up, and he dropped even lower. His chest was rising and falling rapidly with each breath he took.

A samurai in the dojo turned to Izumo next to him, and asked about Shoji's posture. "Is Shoji planning to use Iaijutsu?" (A quick-draw sword technique)

Izumo nodded with a smile on his lips. "Yes, but it isn't what you'd expect. See for yourself."

To be honest, he wasn't even sure how strong his son was now. It had already been a year since Shoji defeated him.

Then, all of a sudden, Shoji was surrounded by lightning, which made everyone gasp.

"Lightning Style Jutsu?"

"Did he just use chakra?"

Every samurai began to gather around Izumo, asking if his son had learned how to use chakra.

With a shake of his head, Izumo said, "No. It's not a Lightning Style Jutsu. At first I thought he was using that as well, and it wasn't until much later that I realised it was only an illusion created by his momentum."

Hearing that, the samurai turned to the ring again. Indeed, those flashes of lightning and claps of thunder that appeared to be circling Shoji were not real and couldn't do any damage at all.

Under everyone's eyes, Shoji stomped the ground with his right foot, leaving a deep crater, and then he shot forward like a bolt of lightning.

"Thunder Breathing First Form: Thunderclap and Flash!"

Shoji's figure instantly flashed past Hino.

Click!

Before anyone could react, Shoji had already sheathed his katana and was standing a few feet behind Hino.

"So fast…" muttered Hino, before he fell to the floor with a thud.

Soon after that, the crowd cheered and applauded while chanting his name. Shoji calmly left the ring and asked the students to take Hino to the infirmary. It was just a competition in his opinion, so there was no need to let him die.

'Okay, how should I explain this to them?' he pondered.

Everyone's gaze fell on Shoji. His earlier display was still fresh in everyone's minds. They knew Shoji didn't use chakra just now and were eager to find out more.

"Ding!"

"Mission accomplished!"

"Reward: +100 Points!"

'Just 100 points?' he thought with a small frown. 'You're being stingy, system!' he scolded.

However, he didn't expect the system to release the next task immediately, which caught him by surprise.

"Ding!"

"Mission: Restore the samurai's glory!"

"Description: Congratulations! You shocked everyone with your amazing display. You also show that you can win against a chakra user even if you don't have any chakra. Now all samurai in this dojo think of you as their leader. With great power comes great responsibility. So please answer their questions."

A heavy sigh escaped him as he finished reading the details of this mission. Why can't he simply be left alone?

"Lord Takeda! I was wondering if you could teach us your technique?"

"Lord Takeda! Will you take me as your student?"

"Lord Takeda! Can I have an autograph?"

"Lord..."

He was short of breath from being squished in the middle of the crowd, but thankfully, his father, who was standing off to the side, was able to push his way through and rescue him.

'This is all your fault, system, for putting me through this,' he roared inside his head.

"Quick, say something," Izumo urged his son. He didn't think he'd be able to hold everyone back for much longer.

When Shoji saw the situation was getting out of hand, he quickly put up his hand. "Everyone, please be quiet!" he bellowed across the room.

A sigh of relief washed over him as everyone in the dojo went quiet. Facing everyone, he continued. "Everyone, please sit down first. I'll answer all your questions in a minute."

At his request, everyone sat on the floor in a seiza position. They straightened their backs and looked at him with respect, like students facing their teacher.

Once everyone was seated, he cleared his throat and began to speak. "Before anybody asks, no, I have never learned to use chakra. Today was the first time I've met someone who could use chakra."

As soon as the crowd heard what Shoji said, they began to stir. Then, he raised his hand again to silence everyone. "Just to make things clear, I am not taking any students at this time," he added.

Almost immediately, a few people in the crowd raised their hands to show their disapproval.

"Please, calm down. I haven't finished talking yet." Here, he paused as those who had put their hands up brought them back down.

"But I can share this technique with you." And then he just kind of threw the bomb at them.

"What?"

Suddenly, Takeda Izumo sprang to his feet. "Shoji..." The noise from the crowd drowned out his next few words.

Everyone else, however, was on the verge of leaping with joy. They at first thought Shoji would keep his secret to himself.

After all, they were in the Naruto world—not that they would ever know. Clan was a big thing here. Everyone had a firm belief in the importance of family, and because of this, many people would want to keep their special abilities to themselves.

So, it came as a complete surprise to everyone when Shoji said he would be willing to share his technique with them. They certainly weren't expecting that.

Many samurai, upon learning this, immediately covered Izumo's mouth out of fear that he would dissuade his son from disclosing his secret technique.

"Lord Takeda, please enlighten us," everyone said respectfully.

And in the midst of it all, Izumo was having a hard time breaking free. The hands covering his lips muffled his shouts.

His struggles did not go unnoticed by his son, Shoji, but he chose to ignore him. He figured out that the only way to get these samurai to leave him alone was to teach them the Breathing Styles he had learned from the system.

"Before anything else, let me say that this method isn't nearly as effective as chakra," he began. "Although this is just one of the few methods I've found, it's the safest. And I'm still developing a new power that isn't inferior to chakra. Don't worry; I will also share that with you once I've mastered it."

"New power?" Murmurs broke out in the crowd.

The Iaijutsu Shoji used earlier had already impressed them. When they heard that Shoji was still working on a new power, they couldn't help but dream of the day when the samurai would return to their former glory.

"All right." Shoji waved his hand to get everyone's attention. "What I used just now is called Breathing Style. It is a swordsmanship technique that makes use of an esoteric breathing technique. The Iaijutsu you've seen me use earlier is called Thunder Breathing. It is a Breathing Style derived from the Sun Breathing, the first Breathing Style I created. You can also tinker with the Sun Breathing to suit your own needs, just like I did."

As everyone listened to Shoji talking about the Breathing Styles, they took down notes, not wanting to miss out on any information.

"To put it in simple terms, Breathing Style is actually a special breathing technique of inhaling exhaling in a pattern to allow your blood to obtain a large amount of oxygen. This method will allow you to improve your physical and mental abilities and let you use more powerful sword techniques in a short amount of time."

After Shoji finished his lengthy explanation, he began teaching them the Sun Breathing. Well, he only taught them the breathing technique, not the sword technique. He wasn't exactly generous, so they'll have to come up with one on their own.

Despite spending half an hour talking, he still didn't get the prompt from the system indicating that he had completed his mission. In the end, he had no choice but to ask everyone if there was anything they didn't understand.

Following that, hands went up one by one and Shoji, his shoulders slumped, began to answer their questions. It wasn't until he had finished responding to all of their questions that he finally completed the mission.

"Ding!"

"Mission: Restore the samurai's glory! — Mission accomplished!"

The ding sound was like music to his ears as he quickly dismissed the prompts. "I think everyone already understands how to use Breathing Style, right?" Everyone nodded. "Good, so let's stop here for today."

Everyone rose to their feet and gave him a deep bow. "Thank you for teaching us, Lord Takeda!"

"No problem, you may leave now," he said with a big smile on his face.

While everyone was leaving the dojo, Izumo grabbed his son by the arm, and the two of them huddled in a quiet spot.

"Why did you teach them about your technique?" Izumo asked. There were times when he wondered if he should have given the free reign to his son. He didn't think his son would just give away his secret technique like it was a freebie.

"I don't think they will leave me alone if I refuse to say anything to them, father," Shoji pointed out.

Izumo sighed. "I know, but at least you should discuss it with me first. That's a secret technique, you know?"

"Don't worry, I only taught them the breathing technique. I didn't tell them about the other Breathing Styles I have developed. Those are only for our dojo students," Shoji replied, assuring his father.

They locked up the dojo after everyone had left and began to make their way home. Along the way, a thought suddenly popped up into Shoji's mind.

"I think I may have just found the reason why he did that," Shoji thought out loud.

"Huh? What on earth are you talking about?" Izumo turned to his son, feeling confused.

"Have you ever wondered why the Sage of Six Paths spread chakra to humans?" Shoji looked back at his father.

Izumo pondered this for a second before giving a shrug. "I have absolutely no clue. Do you know why?"

"I think he did it to stop people from bugging him," Shoji replied, stifling his laughter.

"You..." Izumo was torn between laughing at his son's bad joke or being angry at him for disrespecting the founder of chakra.

Two days later, Satoshi Hino awoke with a start. He grunted in pain as a sudden tightness in his chest hit him.

There was a bandage over his chest, he realised as he looked down. Alive and well, he was surprised to find he hadn't died. As he took in his surroundings, he found himself sitting on a tatami bed in a small room. On the table next to him was a jug of water, which he quickly emptied.

"Hello, is anyone there?" he asked loudly, but there was no reply.

After a little while, he got out of bed and walked about. He found his way to the room in which he had fought and lost. There, on the porch, sat Shoji, the young man who had beaten him with a single bow. He was sipping his tea while gazing at the cloudy sky above.

Shoji glanced across at him briefly and set down his cup. With a kind nod, he gestured for him to join him. For a moment, Hino just stood there in silence before making his way toward Shoji.