Finally Taijutsu!

Sato and Fukushima made their way towards their training ground. Fukushima walked not to hurriedly but he also did not walk to slowly either. He had a calm gaze on his face and he brought Sato with him.

Sato being a four year old boy at the moment was not able to keep the same pace effortlessly like Fukushima.

Sato's legs weren't as long and strong as Fukushima's so he expended more effort to keep his pace but this was why Fukushima neither had a hurried or slow pace to his walk.

As they were walking they came before a training ground that was expansive in size and filled with small ponds. Sato came and stood before Fukushima who then looked at Sato.

"Today we will start your basic taijutsu training." said Fukushima. "But before that I need to know just how strong you are so we will do a spar first to test your abilities."

Hearing this Sato became excited. From the first time he cultivated he never had a chance to test his might and never fought anyone before.

"Okay" replied Sato excitedly.

Then once he replied he took a stance ready for battle. Fukushima looked at Sato and nodded his head. Fukushima who had his arms crossed in front his chest and hidden in his sleeves took them out and placed them at his side.

After doing this he said to Sato come and with a gesture he started to attack Sato with a palm strike. Fukushima kept his hand level to his chest and send it straight forward with speed and strength. His palms were open and facing Sato and proceeded towards him to strike at his head.

Sato was not tall so the strike would not hit his chest at this height but it would instead hit him in his head and this was bad. He knew that his grandfather only wanted to test him and that this was probably not his full strength.

Still this was a fast and powerful strike and he could only dodge it so he moved forward towards the strike and tilted his head a bit to the right dodge it and tried to counter with his own palm strike from his left hand.

Seeing the planning and the movement made by Sato a shocked expression could be seen on Fukushima's face but he did not panic and after missing his strike he quickly withdrew his arm in an attempt to block Sato's palm strike.

Sato's palm strike was aimed at his stomach because he was not able to reach his head or his chest so the next target was his stomach where he could probably aim for Fukushima's lungs. A lung strike was a vital strike because the lungs contain oxygen within them.

Hitting the lungs would force the oxygen out of them and also do critical damage to the opponent. This would cause a problem with their respiratory system and they would not be able to breathe.

Without the ability to breathe his opponent would be gasping for air and then Sato could then drag it out into a battle of attrition by dodging and running. His opponent could only try to recover the oxygen and heal his lungs.

Fukushima decided to not take this strike lightly and using both hands protected his stomach. As he was about to receive Sato's palm strike Fukushima twisted his upper body and rotated his hips.

He was preparing to send a kick to Sato's head. Sato saw the movements Fukushima made and was already planning his next actions as he could not stop his palm strike now.

His palm connected with fukushima's arm that protected his stomach and then he withdrew his hand and used his right hand to protect his head.

Sato knew that he did not have the skill needed to dodge this time and could only protect himself so he bend his arm and formed a triangle with his elbow pointed to his front at Fukushima and he absorbed the blow.

Fukushima's kick land on Sato's hands and he was sent stumbling to his left a couple feet. Fukushima saw this as a opening and followed his attack up with a spin and dashed to Sato arriving in mere seconds.

Sato on the other hand felt a stinging sensation on his arm and knew that this was the power of the kick he blocked. He knew he could not take another attack like that or else he would be defeated in a few seconds.

He tried to regain his footing as much as possible and his eyes was focused on Fukushima. He saw Fukushima spin and dashed towards him before he could react. Stabilizing his footing now Sato prepared another attack to stop the pressure that Fukushima gave him with his speed.

Fukushima saw the attack of Sato and was once again impressed.

He thought, "He can recover quickly after being disadvantaged from an attack and even counterattack. This is good."

Then Fukushima easily dodged Sato's punch and sent a punch of his own towards Sato's stomach.

Sato looked at the attack his grandfather threw at him and his eyes widen in disbelief. He knew he could not evade this punch nor could be block it. The speed of this punch far out matched him and he received it full on.

He was hit squarely and he buckled over clutching at his stomach in pain. Like this Sato took a position as if he was kowtowing in front of Fukushima.

"Arghhh" groaned Sato. "That really hurts."

"Ha ha ha" laughed his grandfather. "You have a good grasp on battling your opponent but you still need to work on your strength."

Sato took a pose that looked like he was kneeling on one foot while resting his hand on his other then looked up to his grandfather.

Fukushima then said "You don't need to worry about this. You are only four years old now you will surely get stronger as you get older".

"The muscles in your body aren't developed yet as you are still a child but if you train them as you get older and temper them, they will become much stronger." continued Fukushima.

This gave an understanding to Sato. He had forgotten that he was still a child and that his body could not keep up with someone like his grandfather. His grandfather had been training more than he has and was probably even holding back.

How could a child like him be faster or stronger than his grandfather?. His muscles aren't developed yet and wanting to fight against someone whose muscles had been developed and trained to fight was just courting death.

Sato accepted his defeat and then after a short rest came to his grandfather.

Fukushima let Sato rest for a bit then once he thought he was ready he began instructing him on some exercises that he should start with.

It was only basic stuff like push-ups, sit-ups and running. This was stuff that Sato already knew before but he was told to do them because he should not strain his body too much.

Sato readily agreed and started doing his exercises.

Fukushima gave Sato these exercises to do and said that he will check up on him from time to time so he should keep doing them for now.

Sato understood that this was only to build his strength and train his muscles so that they would become the building blocks for the strength his body would gain in the future. He knew that he had to build himself up with a solid foundation first before he could reap the benefits later.

Even though it was tedious work he did not mind for he had a goal and to reach this goal he would bear with anything no matter how harsh it was to gain his strength.

So for the next couple years this was to be added to his daily routine. Sato would wake up doing his taijutsu exercises and then have lunch. Then he would come to his mother to check on how she was.

Akina was still in a comatose state so he would stay by her side for a couple hours.

After that he would come to the painting and stare at it trying to gleam anything he can to increase his cultivation of the sword.

Sato did this because he understood that it was by doing this the first time was how he acquired the sword qi.

If he wanted to increase his sword qi then the only method he had for now was this painting. After spending some time staring at the painting Sato would then obtain his dinner and rush back to his room to cultivate, eat and then rest. This was his daily routine for the next year.

During this year Sato was able to breakthrough to the qi disciple seventh stage and came across a bottleneck again. Sato's only choice was to accumulate more qi and consolidate the qi in his meridians before he attempt to breakthrough again.

As he did his daily routine his body became much more stronger and he start growing in height. Sato was looking more and more like a five year old now. He was no longer stuck with short arms and legs.

Even though he isn't stuck with short arms and legs they were still small but they weren't like how they were when he was only a four year old. They had grown a couple of inches but not by much.

But a problem had arisen in Sato's cultivation. This was the problem he had noticed when he broke through the fourth stage to the fifth stage of qi disciple.

While it was a small matter then it is a different matter now. This caused Sato a headache. While he was able to find abundant amount of yin qi in Kirigakure, he was lacking yang qi. This meant he had to find somewhere else that contain yang energy sufficient enough to once again balance the qi in his body.

Without balance the yin qi in his body would become prominent and his yang qi would be devoured. This spelled doom for Sato as this would then cause all the qi within his body to freeze and his cultivation would dissipate.

The only reason why it hasn't already dissipated is because Sato held another type of qi within him which is the sword qi. His sword qi was currently holding the balance between his yin and yang qi but soon even that will not work.

He needed a solution and he needed one fast. Sato had a plan however but it was not something that he thought his grandfather would accept.

Sato came before his mother and was talking to her even though she is still in a coma. He would still tell her news and anything he find interesting. He would look at his mother's face and tell her about everything.

Midori would also come by and she would see Sato telling his mother stories and news. This brought tears to her eyes as she thought,

"Just how good of a son you have Akina".

After Sato finishes saying all he could say he would look at his mother with a sad expression on his face and then he would mumble,

"Mom did you hear me?. Mom why won't you wake up?. Do you not want to see me anymore mom?".

Sato would stay near his mother and ask these questions. He tried his hardest not to feel depressed but when he looked at his mother he could not help it. He would then cry by his mother's side.

After staying for a while Sato would compose himself and stop his crying and go to the painting to try and spark an inspiration from it.

Today however when he went to his mother he told her his plans. He told her that he would leave Kirigakure. He said that he needed to become stronger and that staying here would not help him anymore.

Sato was sad at this thought because it meant that he would have to leave his mother. His mother was the only one he had now.

Even though Sato came to the yuki clan and got along fine with everyone.

He knew in his heart that only his mother could love him like she could. Only his mother love him the way he wanted. Only she could make him feel like he was a kid with a loving mother.

She was his hope, his light in the darkness and the only one that was able to make him forget all his bad memories.

But Sato needed to leave. He needed to gain power, to become stronger so that he can protect that light, to protect that love.

After staying a moment longer at his mother's side Sato made up his mind and came before Fukushima. Standing before him Sato told him of his plans and looked at him with a determined gaze.

Fukushima heard what Sato said and started pondering. It was only after an hour that he finally spoke.

"Are you sure that you will not stay?" asked Fukushima.

"I can't. There are things that I have to do and only I can do them." replied Sato his gaze was firm and full of resolve.

Fukushima nodded his head and then said "Then I will allow you to go but I have a condition."

"What condition?" asked Sato.

He was determined to leave and would accept any condition but if it was too steep a condition he might have to leave another way.

"You will bring Midori with you" said Fukushima.

Stunned by what his grandfather said sato dipped his head to his chest and pondered.

After a couple of minutes he replied, "Okay i will bring aunt Midori with me".

Then Fukushima nodded and Sato left his residence and made for his own room to rest tonight. He had already prepared for tomorrow's departure and only need to rest for the trip.