Rise of the Dragon - Chapter 008 (Patreon)

[A/N: Found some real motivation to contiue writing this story, even though I wanted to work some more on The Phoenix to get it finished soon, so I am unsure what to do now, but I guess I will just go with the flow.

Enjoy the chapter!]

Chapter 008 – Battle Prowess

[Year 69 – May – Konohagakure – Senju Compound]

“I cannot promise you that, Yui.”, Ryuma conveyed to her via Spiritual Speech, “But I will not let you or the Clan down.”

“Young Lord, you … “, Yui began, obviously intent on protesting, but at the end she just sighed, before taking out a white, spotless handkerchief and wiping away the sweat of Ryuma's face gently.

Yui was aware of the weight and burden that rested on Ryuma's small shoulders, as he represented the sole hope of the Senju Clan's survival and revival, and she did not want to add to his burden by reprimanding him and protesting against his decisions.

And so she simply voiced out quietly, while suppressing her tears, her gaze turned downwards: “You are not alone, Young Lord. I will be by your side for the rest of my days, as will the Elder and Paku.”

“I know you will.”, Ryuma replied slowly, as he looked at the woman who raised him.

…

[Year 69 – October – Konohagakure – Senju Compound]

Barely avoiding the blade that was thrusted towards his eye by retreating half a step, Ryuma almost reflexively slashed at the Paku's wrist with one of his tantos, though the weaponmaster had seen the attack coming and delivered a kick towards his Young Lord's chest as a countermeasure.

Ryuma knew that his attack would probably cripple his opponent if he decided to ignore the kick, but considering that a kick of such strength would probably shatter his ribcage, that was a very rash and reckless choice.

And so Ryume intercepted Paku's kick with his second tanto, the force of the blow making it necessary to take several steps back, while his hand was turning slightly numb.

Ryuma didn't rest though, not even for a moment, as he rushed forwards once again, his blade drawing an arch, which Paku easily blocked with his own tanto. The force of the blow though was too light and the weaponmaster immediately realized that it was only a feint, but Ryuma had already moved to initiate his follow-up attack.

The muscles in his feet tensing and pushing him forward half a step deep into Paku's personal space with a powerful spiralling force, as he jumped up. His momentum allowing him to perform a lightning-fast full spin in the air and aim a spinning kick at he weaponmaster's chest.

Paku had meanwhile raised his other tanto, its blade tearing through the air and aiming at Ryuma's knee. Once again the weaponmaster defended himself by attacking, as his blade aimed to cripple or even remove Ryuma's leg in its entirety.

Suddenly though, just before the tanto could make contact with the leg, Ryuma's body's position in the air shifted a few degrees, which instantly caused the blade to miss by a narrow margin, causing while Ryuma's kick to solidly connect with the weaponmasters chest.

The next moment incredible strength erupted from the small child's leg, as Paku's whole upper body was shattered into rockshards, which were sent flying over the whole sparring field.

Using the counterforce of his blow, Ryuma performed a backflip and landed solidly on his feet, though a minsculine twitch of his right brow betrayed his calm expression.

He had not yet mastered Chakra Enhanced Strength, so Ryuma had slightly strained his leg muscles with the last move, while also receiving hairline cracks to his bones.

Though Ryuma was realtively unconcerned about that, as it would take him no more than a few minutes to recover from such a state with his heritage, the Senju's powerful recovery abilities staying true to their reputation.

When applying the Mystical Palm Technique internally to circulate weak healing chakra through his body, like he had learned from the elder, it took only mere seconds though.

“Well done, Young Lord. Defeating my Rock Clone while it only used a quarter of its strength at your age is a great achievement.”, Paku's voice entered Ryuma's ears from behind, as the Taijutsu master approached from the side of the field.

“Thank you for the praise, Master Paku.”, Ryuma replied humbly, knowing that he still had a long long way to go, before he could be proud of his achievements.

In Ryuma's eyes there was no use comparing himself with other children his age or even the regular Shinobi, as he knew that for the true monsters in this world he was considered an ant.

“Using the Chakra Strings you had secretly attached to the clone's foot to shift your position while airborne was a good move, though keep in mind that more perceptive Shinobi would not be fooled so easily.”, the weaponmaster remarked, “Though I see that your Chakra Enhanced Strength has advanced another step.”

“It is indeed a good technique to deliver fatal blow, but remember not to overly commit to such direct strikes. Deceptions and tricks are an essential part of battles between Shinobi and such direct attacks will leave you open for counters by more experienced and stronger opponents once you commit too much.”

“Always have an alternative or trick up your sleve, Young Lord. Never only consider straightforward clashes with your enemies, though if you do so, kill them in one fatal blow. Never hesitate.”, Paku stated earnestly, pointing out the flaws in his technique and imbuing Ryuma with his accumulated wisdom.

Paku, like Yui, saw more than just the Heir of the Clan in Ryuma, the stern weaponmaster having grown fond of the child while seeing him grow up slowly.

He taught Ryuma with all his heart, hoping that his lessons would make the Young Lord unrivalled and ever victorious.

“I understand, Master Paku.”, Ryuma calmly accepted the arms masters words, trying to burn the words into his memory, as he could only benefit from doing so.

“Good, our lesson ends here for the day. I am sure Yui has already prepared dinner.”, Paku stated lightly, already moving towards the Main House in anticipation of Yui's cooking.

Ryuma though remained behind, as he thought about the spar he just had with the weaponsmaster.

Neither of them had used fatal techniques like Chakra Flow or Chakra Scalpel, in addition to Ryuma's opponent being nothing but a Rock Clone. He knew this was necessary as sparring without any rules would easily end in fatality with how deadly most techniques Ryuma had learned were.

And yet he knew that he would not stand a chance against the weaponmaster even if he used every technique in his repertouise, as the difference between their experience was simply too great.

It truly didn't just come down to strength or technique, but experience.

Ryuma simply could not measure up against Paku, who had decades of fighting experience and had even polished his techniques on a real battlefield.

HIs current chakra amount was also still a good bit lower than the Master's and while their techniques were equally fatal, Paku surpassed him in raw phyiscal strength and sheer experience.

Ryuma knew that it was simply impossible to gain true battle experience by simple fighting against clones, as they had innerherent weaknesses and would be hard pressed to reflect his true lethality in battle.

With Chakra Scalpel for example he would need not more than to slightly touch an opponent's spin to directly sever the nerves protected within, crippling his oppenent completely.

He also had Kokuyo as his summon, who by herself had the strength of an high-level Chunin even now were she was still considered an infant of her species. Indeed the little butterfly had some very unique and deadly techniques, but it would take more time before she could grow into her real strength.

At the end these spars would only help him slowly ingrain his combat techniques into his body and give him the chance to get so familiar with them that it would be easy to use them in combat, though real battle experience could not be learned from spars, but only by battling a real, deadly opponent.

Still, Ryuma understood that all it would take was time to develop his battle prowess, until he could measure up against any of the Moha Clan members, which was only normal considering his harsh training and heritage, but this also inevitably caused a deep frown to appear on his face.

Already he was leagues behind in comparison to the greatest threats to his existence like Pain, Obito and Madara, to speak nothing of Zetsu and Kaguya. So how could he feel comfortable with the fact that it would probably take more than a decade before he could comfortable stand before a Kage-level combatant?

Knowing the dangers that surrounded him, Ryuma simply found that unacceptable. It simply was not enough to cheat with a dozen Shadow Clones to accelerate his learning process, neither was saving time with the Resistance Seal.

He needed something else. Something that would alleviate him into the ranks of a top fighter much much faster, a trump card so to speak.

And Ryuma already had his eyes on what exactly that was.