Ryo Gaiden

Yahiro and Rikimaru had been training for hours. "You're quite good at martial arts, Riki," said Yahiro, out of breath. "But it seems you have significant gaps when it comes to elements," he added. "Actually, your elemental releases aren't bad, but there are deficiencies. Your father couldn't have taught you only martial arts."

Rikimaru sat on the ground, listening carefully to what Yahiro was saying. "Actually, he taught me everything, but I slacked off a bit. I didn't read most of the scrolls I was supposed to for the basics."

Yahiro looked at Rikimaru in astonishment, let out a sigh, and went to sit next to him. "Listen carefully, I'll summarize this nicely for you. It's very important that you understand and grasp this."

Meanwhile, Soma had returned to check on Rikimaru as it was getting dark, but seeing him with Yahiro, he waited behind a tree and listened to them.

Yahiro was making hand gestures to illustrate what he was explaining. "To begin with, you need to understand energy; energy exists in everything in nature." When he mentioned energy, he made a circular gesture with his hand. "Inside us, the energies of certain elements are hidden. These show your elemental affinities."

He continued, "Also, humans have two types of energy: life energy and our natural energy reserve. These emerge from the elements within us and can be replenished daily. When you rest, your body and energy renew themselves. Your life energy is your existence, you can think of it like the blood flowing in your body."

Then he looked into his palm, a small fire had appeared in his hand. "To perform element release, you need to direct the energy inside you," he said. As he rotated the fire around his hand, he added, "Then, when releasing the energy, you sense the energy of the element you want to use and merge with it. This way, you can perform any elemental release you want."

Rikimaru realized he was doing these things more or less, but what he didn't understand was shouting the names of the elements. "So why do we shout something when performing a release?" he questioned.

Yahiro laughed, "Ah... because imagery has a huge effect when directing the release and adjusting its impact. Also, it's the easiest way to determine exactly what you want to do with the element. With the name of the ability you know, you form an image in your mind and easily express this shape outwardly. It's also more functional when expending energy and less tiring."

Rikimaru, with this information, fell into deep thought and stood up. "Thanks, Uncle Yahiro, I've got some good ideas. Let's call it a day." He walked towards the village with heavy steps. Soma, hidden behind a tree, looked at his palm and clenched his fist. "Wait, Rikimaru, one day I'll be a worthy opponent for you," he muttered. Yahiro had sensed Soma's presence but didn't react. As he watched Rikimaru's retreating back, suddenly his eyes transformed. He clutched the area around his eye with his right hand; he felt incredible pain.

When his blood eyes opened uncontrollably, it was nothing but pain, even with only one eye activated it was extremely painful. Maintaining his silence with bloody eyes, he looked towards Rikimaru and noticed an energy inside him. "Life energy, energy reserve... but what's that other one?" he muttered. When Rikimaru disappeared from sight, his eyes returned to normal. "What was that all about? I think I should talk to Kamiya and Kinjo," he said to himself.

Meanwhile, before it got dark, Number Three had thrown Tailo to the ground. He lifted him up so he could see and leaned him against a tree, breaking the tree bark with a few hand movements and pinning Tailo to the tree. "Son of a bitch!" Tailo shouted, "Let me go! I have no quarrel with you!" But no matter how close he was, Number Three didn't even react.

"Shut up!" his voice was very deep and heavy, making Tailo tremble. "Tell me what happened in Yuiken village?" Number Three asked. "If only I hadn't used so much energy..." Tailo thought, maybe he could have fought back, if not win the fight, at least create an opportunity to escape. "I tried to take revenge on Kamiya Naizen. Nothing else happened." He was sure that if he told the other details, this powerful monster in front of him would kill all the innocent people there. Tailo's issue was with the Naizen family, he had nothing to do with the other clans. "Anything else?" Number Three's tone was quite calm.

"There's nothing else, really. I just fought and ran away when I failed." Tailo was sweating cold. He couldn't tell what he had learned to anyone outside the city; moreover, in exchange for this information, he could instantly gain his freedom and the energy weapon he wanted. Number Three knew Tailo was lying. Even without touching, he just pretended to grasp with his hands, and the tree bark tightened around Tailo. "Ahh..." Blood poured from Tailo's mouth and nose, his mask fell to the ground.

He spoke with difficulty, "Stop... Please..." he said, his eyes staring blankly despite the pain. Not wanting to die without taking his revenge, he decided to talk. "I'll talk..."

Number Three stopped applying pressure, "This is your last chance, Tiger Mask."

"My name is Tailo Zhang. Listen, I don't know what you want, but from what I understand, you're an enemy of that village." He swallowed, tasting the blood in his mouth more intensely. "We could work together."

"Get to the point!" Three shouted, his patience wearing thin.

"Alright, calm down. My real goal was to kill Kamiya Naizen; he killed someone I loved. Recently, during a celebration, I secretly infiltrated the village." He swallowed again. "At that time, I also took a look under the building in the center of the village. There were coffins and scrolls related to secret techniques. I think Sato Ryo is being kept there too."

"I see," said Three, raising his hand again. Tailo was aware he was about to die, but perhaps Three could take revenge in his place. Even though he wanted to do it with his own hands, in this situation, he had no other choice to stay alive. He closed his eyes and murmured, "I'll see you soon, Hama."

Just as Three was about to close his hand, Five suddenly appeared and grabbed Three's arm, saying in an excited and cheerful tone, "Wait, Three." Five continued, "One's orders are to let him go. He might be useful to us in the future." After saying this, he released his arm.

"You're lucky, Tailo Zhang," said Three, and both of them vanished.

"Bastards, do you have to be so terrifyingly strong? Ah, I have no strength left," Tailo muttered weakly before losing consciousness.

Three and Five teleported to a large, dimly lit space. "Ah, these comings and goings are wearing me out badly. The more distance, the more my energy depletes," Three complained. The place they were in was a vast underground area. There were twelve large stone pillars with chairs in front of them. Despite the torches around, the environment wasn't bright enough.

Some chairs were empty, but numbered masks rested on them. Chairs up to number eight had masks, while the others were completely empty. They sat in their chairs. Number One was also there, but the area he was in was completely dark—only his yellow eyes were glowing. "You've lost control recently, Number Three. Do you have anything to say?" he asked, his voice calm and relaxed.

This interrogation was making Number Three uneasy. On one side, a snoring sound rose; Number Five had fallen asleep in his chair. "Disrespectful," Number Three muttered.

Number One interjected: "It doesn't matter. He used a lot of energy to bring you here, he deserved to rest. Now answer my question!"

"There's someone who can defeat me," his voice was a bit anxious but he maintained his composure.

"You're one of our strongest, able to fight on par with Sato Ryo and Kamiya Naizen, but from what I understand, this is someone else, isn't it?" Number One inquired. "So who is this person?" he said.

"Yahiro Ryuko. He has a power that manipulates blood." Remembering how he almost died, he became angry and clenched his fists.

"Hmm... The cursed eyes of the Ryuko family. They've always intrigued me, but since most of them died in the war, I've neither been able to recruit one into our ranks nor have Four examine their eyes. If we can capture one alive, it would be quite a prize." Number One's voice sounded pleased.

"It will be difficult to approach him. If he fights alongside Kamiya, they could kill most of us. We must wait for the right moment," said Number Three as he stood up. "Perhaps we could weaken them with beasts," he suggested.

"Not yet. We must first obtain the energy egg from Sato Ryo," said Number One.

"So you want to immediately replace what you've spent," said Number Three, while thinking about how to defeat Yahiro. Suddenly, he glanced at Number Five. Maybe not me, but he could do it.

"Wait before you go, tell me what you learned from the tiger-masked one." Number One also stood up and walked towards him. As he stepped into the light, he was wearing a mask with demonic motifs, though it bore no number. The others had similar motifs, but they weren't as striking.

Number Three recounted everything he had learned. Then he retired to his own room to rest.

By the time it had grown dark, Kamiya, Kinjo, and Yahiro had gathered in the office. Kamiya was sitting at his desk while Kinjo was leaning against it, both listening to Yahiro. "There's something strange about Rikimaru," Yahiro said.

"How so?" Kinjo inquired. "There's another energy inside him... I'm not sure, but it could be an energy egg," Yahiro said, a bit tense. He was honestly reluctant to spread such information as it could put Rikimaru in danger.

Kinjo and Kamiya received this information with surprise. "This is confidential information, but I suppose we can trust you," Kinjo responded. "Perhaps it's energy passed down from his father." He glanced at Kamiya, who was listening silently. Recent events were still on his mind, though he felt no regret. With Kamiya's approving nod, Kinjo continued: "Sato was carrying an energy egg. We think this is why Miki attacked. This egg had been inside Sato for a long time. I know it was placed inside Sato by Hirabayashi's brother."

Yahiro brought his hand to his chin. "So you're saying that Sato's uncle placed this energy inside him before Sato was born, and then when Sato had a child, part of the energy was transferred to him. Am I understanding correctly?"

"Yes, we can assume something like that happened," Kinjo confirmed.

Suddenly, there was an explosion at the village entrance. "What's happening?!" Kamiya exclaimed, jumping up. As they looked out the window, they could see a cloud of dust rising at the entrance.