"BAHAHAHA!!" Ryu laughed uproariously as he knocked another young man to the ground, "WEAK! ALL OF YOU ARE MUCH TOO WEAK!"
Wooden swords clashed against each other, and with each clash, another young man was sent flying backwards. And it seemed Ryu's calm personality all but disappeared when in the heat of battle, almost making him feel like a different person all together.
Surrounding Ryu on all sides lay about 12 kids his age all spread out on the pristine white stone. And taking another look around surrounding the group of kids were adults, all watching on in stunned silence at what Ryu had just done. That is, single handedly defeating all of his opponents in a 12 on 1 situation. And to make matters worse, it seemed as if Ryu didn't even put any effort into it. It was a complete beatdown, and had the Adults known any better, they would've thought they children were bullied.
"Ryu, hone in your excitement. Do not allow your ego to be inflated. Stay grounded in your thoughts." Takashi, Ryu's Father said. All while trying to hide his smile.
Ryu spun around, finding his Father's voice, "Yes Father." He replied curtly, trying to take the advice to heart. Though, his personality seemed to clash with his Father's, thus making it hard to do so.
Looking up into the vast open sky Ryu had a thought 'What if I wanted to boisterously laugh in front of everyone, to declare myself the best? What is wrong with that?'
The small gathering of 20-30 seemed to start growing, and soon there were a few hundred, more kids joining the fun with their parents there to watch. And though this could be a good thing for the younger generation, political undercurrents were still to be watched for. Especially with the current situation Takashi had to deal with, with the Elders all forming their own Camps. Effectively splitting the Clan up into many different factions, none wanting to give the Patriarch the power he should have.
Takashi's gaze sharpened, a boy slightly older than Ryu was approaching with a crowd gathered around him. The boy was dressed in fancy white robes with golden embroidery adorned with golden jewelry. It seemed a certain Elder decided to send forth his descendent to try and test Ryu.
Noticing his Father's gaze and who he was looking at, Ryu immediately understood the situation. His parents had already explained some of the happenings and undercurrents of the Clan. Thus Ryu understood what he had to do, win.
Straightening his pure white robes Ryu smiled. He was looking forward to this...spar. Running his hand through his short white hair Ryu looked like a young model causing some of the girls in the crowd to start chattering to each other.
'How fun, hopefully this kid is stronger than these 12.' Ryu thought as he waited for the boy to approach, not caring about the little bit of fan fare the boy seemed to have.
Ryu's response to the fanfare seemed to annoy the boy.
"I Amin Hoshinomori challenge Ryuto Hoshinomori to a sparring match." The boy, Amin declared aloud.
Ryu tried to hide his smile but in doing so a smirk formed on his handsome face, making the already annoyed boy even more so, almost angering him.
"Hahahaha! Good, lets see what Elder Amethyst's descendent can do." Ryu laughed.
Raising his wooden sword Amin did the same with his wooden spear and from the skies Takashi declared the match to start, "Begin!"
Immediately Ryu stepped forward and slashed downward at nothing but the air in front of himself. Amin, who was confused also stepped forward thrusting his spear out at Ryu. However Ryu seemed to have expected exactly that reaction as he stepped past the tip and kicked it away. Taking more space and smacking Amin in the stomach with the flat of his sword.
"Too boring." Ryu whispered to Amin as he was forced to take a few steps back from the force of the hit.
Takashi shook his head, having heard clearly what Ryu had whispered. And how could he not? His cultivation was much too profound to miss what Ryu had said.
'This boy seems to know exactly how to anger people, it must be a talent of his we simply cant see...' At that thought Takashi shook his head again, imagining the sort of troubles Ryu will cause in the future, and with Ryu's looks, oh god...
Amin having been truly infuriated launched forward thrusting at Ryu with as much speed and precision as possible for his 8 year old self.
Smiling Ryu returned in kind swiftly parrying every strike as if they held no force. And finding an opening of about 3 seconds in between Amin's 4th thrust of his 5 thrust attack, Ryu took advantage.
'3 seconds is enough time for me to close the distance and deliver a clean blow.' Ryu thought to himself as he parried another barrage of strikes.
Strike 1 parry, strike 2 sidestep, strike 3 counter, strike 4 side step, close the distance. Moving forward at full speed Ryu cut through the hole in Amin's stance and slashed from Amin's shoulder to hip at full strength.
SMACK! Amin was sent reeling backwards, rolling a couple feet from the force of the strike. Struggling to breath and trying not to cry from the pain of the slash Amin lied there, not daring to show the pain on his face. He didn't want to embarrass his Great Grandmother, Elder Amethyst, more than he already had by losing his temper and losing the spar so easily. To someone younger than himself no less.
Ryu looked over at Amin with pity in his eyes. He could sort of grasp what Amin was thinking and he thought it was truly unfortunate a kid was sent here to test him. But, that was all Ryu felt, pity, nothing more, nothing less.
A couple seconds after registering what had happened, Takashi declared Ryu the winner. And immediately after 3 Adults came forward and picked up Amin to make sure he was not badly injured, and to help him recover. All while glaring at Ryu and Takashi, albeit while trying to hide their facial expressions.
Of course, openly glaring at the Patriarch would be an Act seen as highly offensive and punishable in whichever way the Patriarch felt was the best, hence why they tried to hide it.
Obviously Takashi seen the anger in their gazes, but what could Takashi do? He didn't particularly care they were mad. They wanted to test his son and now that his son won they were mad? How hilarious.
"Father, I'm going to take my leave. I'm quite tired now." Ryu said while feigning tiredness. Of course, Takashi clearly seen straight through this and knew his son was bored.
"Alright, return to your Mother and rest some. I will be over in a bit."
"Yes Father." Ryu replied with a smile as he ran off.
'Finally I could escape that old man.' Ryu laughed as he ran through the massive pathways, heading in no particular direction.
Continuing on his random path Ryu's smile seemed to grow. He could tell he was coming up on his Mother, or rather, his Mother seemed to have crossed into Ryu's path purposefully.
"Little Ryu, did you think you could escape? Don't you have some more to study with me?" Lysa called out in a bell like voice.
Increasing his speed to the max Ryu laughed some more, he knew better than anyone that his mother was a fierce person. and studying with her would not be a fun experience. So he tried to run.
Full sprint little Ryu crossed many courtyards, but he could feel that his mother was always right in front of him. And suddenly he was stuck mid air, having been picked up by his Mother's Qi.
Ryu's bright smile faded into a helpless smile, he knew he was done for now. There was nothing he could do. He was now going to be stuck studying with his mom for the rest of the day.
The best he could do was try and butter her up, "Mother, you look even more beautiful than the setting sun have I ever told you that?"
Lysa smiled even brighter than before, "Awww thank you Little Ryu, I'll make sure you can see my beauty up close and for longer with our studying tonight."
Black lines formed on Ryu's forehead as he was dragged away. He had failed, and quite miserably at that. His mom clearly knew what he was trying to do with those compliments.
Wishing he had said nothing he looked up into the sky and could've sworn he seen his Father laughing at his helplessness.