A Real Master

...

"-Sigh...- You are lucky that the kid those children were bullying talked nicely about you. Otherwise, I would have taken your video games away if the principal suspended you"

"Are you a demon?"

"... How can you be so cheeky...? -Sigh...- Your father's antics are brushing on you. I think I will talk with him later"

"Sure, you do that"

A few minutes passed after my mother was called by the principal because I beat up the three kids who were bullying that other kid during lunchtime.

I know I said that I would try to resolve things peacefully... But damn, those brats really got on my nerves.

Who knew that kids could be so annoying? They were really asking for a beating.

However, I was not a brute. So even if they were annoying, I held back, and I just whacked their head a few times so that they would learn the lesson.

Though, while I was doing that, I forgot that I had the strength of an adolescent, and by the time I finished disciplining them they were already in tears and screeching in pain like little pigs about to be killed.

But we can ignore that part.

Arata, on the other hand, was hit a little bit in the face by the brats because he meddled with them before I was able to whack them. However, after I left them crying, Arata looked at me with stars in his eyes as he muttered "bro..." or something in a low voice.

Honestly, I hope he doesn't turn into a delinquent because of this... Like, you know, calling me Aniki, and using my name to get into fights left and right.

I've seen some guys like that in this school, and I certainly didn't want to become one of them just because I had beaten up three kids four years older than me.

Now, as for how the whole matter was resolved... Fortunately, the kid that we helped came and spoke with the principal while my mother was already interrogating me and threatening to ground me.

That somehow got me off the hook and allowed me to get away with a simple warning to not do it again.

After that, my mom and I left the school right away. However, we didn't go home, as most people would have done.

No, instead, we took a slight detour.

We walked for a few minutes, and it was only when we entered an area that was in the middle of a small forest by the side of the city, that we finally came to a stop.

"...A-are you sure this is the address, Suzaku...?"

There, In front of us, was a dojo... I think.

The entire building looked like it was about to collapse. The stairs of the entrance were all broken down and the windows were completely shattered aside from also being completely covered in spider webs. All in all, it looked as if human hands had not touched the building for over a decade.

'But well, I remember he said that he had left for a self-discovery trip a long time ago. So I guess it's natural for time to have done its job on this poor dojo through all these years...'

Nodding my head with a satisfied smile as I theorized why the Dojo was in this state, suddenly a voice came from inside it, and made my eyebrow twitch slightly after hearing it.

"Ahhhh, seriously, how nostalgic! It's been a decade since I have been here, and it looks the same as when I left!"

'... It looked like this before?'

As I was processing what the voice's words meant, a figure suddenly emerged from inside the haunted ruin and made my mother widen her eyes in surprise.

I already knew who the person that had appeared was, though.

"Ah, little Suzaku, you arrived!"

Sawaya Tatsuo, the old man who had offered me to become his disciple a few days ago, was now standing at the entrance of the run-down dojo looking at both my mother and me with a warm smile on his face. Oblivious to the strange impression that he had left on my mother.

Yes, as you might have guessed, my parents had agreed to let him teach me!

However, it took a little bit for them to accept the proposal of me becoming his disciple. After all, my first teacher ended up being some kind of psycho.

It's not easy to believe just anyone right after that...

Even I, despite how excited I might have been inside for learning from a real master, was a bit skeptical at how coincidental his appearance had been, or what his intentions were.

However, after a private talk that he had with both my mom and dad where he had been carrying some sort of papers, both of them agreed quickly and even seemed pushy about me becoming his disciple.

My father more than my mother. He actually seemed set on me becoming his disciple.

The look on his face was almost maniacal as he yelled at me "YOU MUST BECOME HIS DISCIPLE, SUZAKU!" that day.

Maybe he had shown them his credentials as a Martial arts master? Who knows.

And well, I had no more doubts about him after that. After all, my mother was the best person for judging others. And if she saw no problem with him even after using her Quirk, then there was no reason for me to doubt him anymore.

I only needed to focus on becoming strong!

"Ahem... Good evening, Sawaya-san"

"Hmm? Oh, you are here as well madam! Good evening to you as well"

As I was steeling my determination by imagining the bright and bountiful future that awaited me in my path as a hero, soon, my mother and the old man greeted each other before they began discussing some matters.

"I brought Suzaku as we had accorded, but... Is this place really where you will train him...?"

"Hmm? Ah, don't worry about the exterior of the Dojo. This unsightly appearance is part of the tradition that has been going on ever since it was founded. I myself trained in it when I was still a young man, and it still had the same appearance as it has now, as none of my masters wanted to repair it to maintain the tradition"

"I-is that so...?"

'What a weird tradition...'

"Despite that, the insides are maintained properly, and we have everything that we may need for the training. Don't worry"

Hearing him, my mother heaved a relieved sigh, before she then nodded her head and bowed slightly in understanding. Then, turning around in my direction, soon she knelt in front of me and gave me a little kiss on the forehead. Making me groan slightly.

"Alright Suzaku, I'll come back for you in three hours more"

Nodding my head in agreement as I looked at her, soon she smiled as she patted my head before she bowed her head at the old man and said "Then, I'll leave him under your care". Leaving soon after that, and leaving only the old man Tatsuo and me at the Dojo.

It was only after my mother had finally left, that the old man turned to look at me as he began summarizing what we were gonna do today.

"Well, Suzaku. To begin with our training, I will first tell you where the martial art that I'm about to teach you originated from, and how it came to become what it is today"

Walking while closing his eyes as he raised his index finger, soon, the old man pointed toward a pretty sturdy log embedded into the ground that had several marks on it as if someone had hit it with something hard repeatedly before he then began to explain something very interesting.

"... My master, the original creator of this martial art, was a man who always loved Martial Arts as a whole. His love for them was so big, in fact, that he devoted most of his life to learning the several Martial arts styles that he came across during his life, and then fusing them into what he made sure to be the most complete and effective martial arts style ever..."

Looking with a bit of nostalgia at the sky for a brief moment, the old man then continued talking as he approached the log without minding my curious expression.

"However, it was also during his time alive that Quirks came to be. Which, although unknown by many people, also meant the disappearance of several martial arts schools due to Quirks being something that rendered most martial arts useless, which sadly, considering the worries of the people of those times, also rendered the learning of martial arts as something not worth the time in the public eye..."

Heaving a sigh, old man Tatsuo continued.

"... People were too busy adapting to the changes in society that Quirks were bringing at those times... I don't know if they are teaching this nowadays to kids of your age or not, but that was the way it was when Quirks began to arise... People had no time to waste learning how to fight with their bodies when there were evil people out there that would kill them with just a flick of their finger... They were more focused on survival rather than anything..."

Then finally arriving in front of the log, soon, the old man looked at it with a slightly sad expression, before he shook his head and continued explaining.

"... In front of the uprising appearance of Quirks, even my teacher found his long-cultivated and developed martial art to be almost useless when faced with a really powerful Quirk... After all, no matter how good you are at dodging kicks or punches, as soon as someone who can shoot an enormous destruction ray from their eyes appears, you are pretty much done for..."

I nodded my head in understanding. 

Until now, I have been lucky that my physical strength was enough to deal with the few people that I've confronted.

That psycho teacher that I kicked in the balls, for example, had a Quirk that allowed him to separate his fingers from his hand. Something that hadn't helped him in the slightest to catch me.

There were also the kids that were bullying another kid during lunch at school. Although their Quirks wouldn't be said to be bad, it wasn't as if they were dangerous Quirks that could put my life in danger.

What would have happened if that psycho teacher of mine had a really powerful Quirk that could make him run at high speed? Even with my great physique, I doubt I could have been able to run away from him.

What would have happened if any of those kids had a really dangerous Quirk that would have put not only my life but the lives of all the other kids in danger? Surely, even with my great physique, I wouldn't have been able to do much.

It made sense that no matter how good he had become at dealing with humans thanks to his martial arts, as soon as the said humans got a non-human factor, in this case, the Quirks, his martial art became useless as he had not trained to deal with them.

However, just as I was acknowledging the story that he had told me, suddenly the old man let out a sneer, before he then looked at the log in front of him with a serious look in his eyes, and hit it fiercely with his bare fist.

-Bam!!!-

-Crack...-

The impact had been so powerful that the part where he had hit had been peeled off slightly, and a large crack had spread across the log.

'Does he have a strengthening Quirk?' Was the question that rose within me once I saw that. The log was pretty thick, after all. For someone without a Quirk to be able to do that, I don't think it was possible...

... At least, not in my old world.

However, before I had the chance to ask, he suddenly spoke up again.

"... However, I said that it became ALMOST useless, not that it became completely useless. For people with weak quirks or Quirkless people, the Martial Art that he developed was still one of the very few ways in which they could be able to subdue a person with a powerful Quirk, even if unlikely..."

Smirking slightly as he walked towards a nearby rock, soon he sat down on it and groaned slightly before he began speaking again.

"... And be it because fate decided it that way, or simply because it was a coincidence, but when my master began thinking of getting himself some disciples to pass down his martial art to future generations, Vigilantism also began causing an uproar in society... An era in which people wanted justice, and in which they would deliver it to those that deserved it, even if meant to do it by their own hands..."

Confused, I tilted my head for a moment, before then I remembered something about the history of this world that my teachers at school had taught me, and imagined what he was going to say next.

"You mean—?"

However, I was rapidly interrupted when the old man laughed slightly and shook his head.

"I know what you are thinking… No, he didn't train Vigilantes... He was far too old to do that. However, he did indeed train some children who had wanted to learn from him... And one of those kids was me"

Then, standing up from the rock, the old man suddenly puffed up his chest as he pointed toward himself with his thumb, before then a smug expression appeared on his face as he continued telling me the story.

"... After several years of training under him, and some more years perfecting and developing the martial art that he had created, I finally became his successor and inherited the dojo... However, I decided to not stop there as I saw potential in the fighting style that he had created, and as such, I began researching and developing ways to deal with people with Quirks. After all, that was the reason why my master had reached a wall in the first place..."

Then, tightening one of his hands into a fist, the old man soon grinned viciously, as if he was some third-rate villain who had gotten away with his evil plan.

"... And what better way to do that, than to fight with the bad guys that were ruining our beautiful country at that time? HOHOHOHOHO, thanks to them, I quickly became able to bring the martial art that my master had created to a whole another level!"

Laughing creepily with arrogance obvious in his tone, soon, he pointed towards the dojo with a proud expression on his face, as he delivered the final point of his story.

"That's the point of the fighting style that I'm about to teach you, Suzaku... The perfect fighting style, created with the sole purpose of opposing those that have dangerous Quirks!"

Hearing him, I felt dazed. At that moment, the old man seemed like a fiery sun brightening my face with his energy.

Hearing his words, I felt as if I had struck the lottery without having even noticed!... After all, my original purpose was to simply learn some Karate to be able to deal with Thug B or Robber A, taking advantage of my great physical prowess to overwhelm them...

... However, hearing him now... Could it be that if I learned from him I would eventually become able to deal with way more than that?

Such expectations suddenly began rising from within me, as excitement began boiling inside my heart.

'Did I actually get myself an amazing master...?!'

...

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|A few minutes after that...|

...

"FUCKING OLD MAN, HOW THE HECK IS THIS NOT CHILD ABUSE!"

"You are quite insolent for a six-year-old... Come on, continue hitting that log!"

"GIVE ME SOME GLOVES AT THE VERY LEAST"

"Gloves? That's for sissies..."

"Old bastaaaard...!!"

...

I think I may have spoken ahead of time.

...

-To be continued...-

(A/N: If we manage to reach 100 powerstones within this same day, I'll provide you with the next chapter. Take it or leave it.

Also, say it with me... Amen)

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