Path to Strength

Takemichi was confused. With Naoto's help, he was able to find out that on the day of the festival, a big battle took place, leading to the death of two people, Ken Ryuguji and Osanai Nobutaka, both fatally stabbed in the stomach. But why was Osanai in the battle? On his last return, he discovered that Osanai was part of Yuji's new gang, Yggdrasil. Why would both gangs face each other? Some kind of turf dispute? Takemichi didn't know, but when he returned to the past, he set himself a goal. He should save Draken and Osanai, so that the future would not be bleak.

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Festival.

Mingling among the crowd of people at the festival, the members of the Yggdrasil gang were just waiting for the start of the conflict between Toman and the gang of former Moebius members. Yuji, along with Akira, were enjoying the games in a tent, the second boy, because he still had his arm bandaged, being slaughtered by his commander.

While Yuji played, he thought about the situation. The fight would definitely happen, the information he received could not be wrong, but how exactly would it happen? Originally, Draken was ambushed by Peh, but that was unlikely to happen under the current circumstances. Perhaps Draken would still be attracted to someone else...

'What a headache.' Yuji sighed and decided not to think about it. He was there with the intention of ending it all. If Hanma was out there, Kisaki would also be hiding somewhere, that was for sure, so he just needed to fight long enough for them to find him.

Flashback.

Yuji and Shiki walk side by side as they make their way to the festival, the two seemed to be having a casual conversation, on various subjects. To the others around, it didn't even seem like they were headed for gang warfare.

"By the way, I need you to look for someone when the fight starts." Yuji began.

"Huh?"

"Don't misunderstand, I'm not trying to take you out of the battle, but this is important. The person I want you to find is behind all of this. If we can take her out of the game, we will win." He explained, this making Shiki look thoughtful, before nodding in agreement.

"Okay, let me tell you what he looks like..."

End of flashback

Beep beep

Yuji blinked as his cell phone vibrated, the boy grabbing it from his pocket and checking it, finding a message that said, They've begun.

He cracked a slight smile before saying, "Looks like it's started." Akira hearing this, immediately agreed and pulled out his cell phone, sending a message to all the gang members. Having received the message, everyone started moving.

"Looks like we're going to have some fun."

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Facing an intense battle between Toman and the gang formed by the former Moebius members, Takemichi was moving through the teenagers. It was by pure coincidence that he discovered that the person who planned to stab Draken was Kiyomasa, and after being beaten and tied up, he was able to recover only because of the help of his girlfriend, Hina, who encouraged him and gave him the confidence not to give up.

But now, looking for Kiyomasa and Draken, his confidence was about to plummet again. Nervousness and fear were hindering his thought process, and he felt completely lost in that situation. He wanted to change the future, but since he returned to the past, all he has been doing is pacing back and forth, praying that his actions will make his time a better place, where he can live happily with his girlfriend and friends, without worrying about anything.

But this is not enough, it would never be enough.

Takemichi slapped his face a few times, his eyes shining in determination as he regulated his breathing. Losing hope wouldn't save anyone, he knew that, so he tried to throw those thoughts away as quickly as possible. He needed to save Draken, that was the goal in front of his eyes, when he completed it, he could whine all he wanted.

"Draken!" Takemichi shouted as he began to run, taking care not to be hit by a punch or piece of iron. His eyes moved around frantically, and just as he was about to turn to go another way, his eyes caught a blond wig amidst the people.

"You may come!" Draken shouted and punched a member of Valhalla, sending him like a rag doll through the air. The blond was full steam ahead, knocking over more and more delinquents like a tank.

Takemichi seeing this, wondered how the hell Kiyomasa would do to hurt Draken, but seeing a tall figure stealthily approaching the blond, Takemichi's eyes widened.

"Draken!"

He shouted, this getting Draken's attention, who turned to see Takemichi pointing at something beside him. 'Takemichi?' He thought, his eyes turning to see someone from Toman approaching him. Initially, he didn't think of the figure as an enemy, but when it, close enough to him showed a knife in its hands, Draken's eyes widened, but due to his delayed reaction he could do nothing as the person attacked him with a stab to the stomach, the blade flying quickly towards him.

"Kiyomasa, no!" Takemichi shouted, using all the strength he was able to muster to try to reach the two.

Draken, seeing that he would be unable to escape that situation, frowned and prepared himself for the worst.

"..."

But the worst never came.

Takemichi froze, his eyes twitching as he watched the scene in front of him, his legs giving way and causing him to fall to his knees.

"If you want to solve something, do it with your fists, don't use a gun, you idiot."

Everyone around for a moment stopped fighting and turned to that scene. The tip of Kiyomasa's blade stopped inches from Draken's stomach, a hand gripping his wrist that prevented him from continuing with the assassination attempt. The person responsible for stopping the attack blew smoke out of his mouth from the cigarette on his lips.

The members of Valhalla seeing that, widened their eyes as they recognized the person responsible for interrupting the entire fight, his lips trembling as they found themselves confused as to why he was there.

"That-that's Osanai?" One of them asked, starting a commotion among his companions.

"Osan-" Kiyomasa, who's eyes were full of madness, turned his face to face Osanai, but he didn't expect to see a fist in front of his eyes.

Boom!

Kiyomasa's head flew back, his body being pushed away as the light faded from his eyes, indicating his state of unconsciousness. The delinquent's body landed against the ground, being dragged for a few meters due to the wet ground, before stopping thanks to Hanma, the Valhalla leader, stepping on his head.

Faced with that scene, several footsteps began to sound on the wet night floor, this drawing the attention of everyone in the place, who turned to Osanai, only to see dozens of teenagers emerging from the streets and crowding behind the blonde.

"What the fuck is that?" Draken asked, his eyes narrowing. He no longer knew what was going on, but it seemed like it wasn't something good.

"Looks like the newbies have come to have fun too." With his sharp teeth, Hanma smiled as he snapped his fingers. His fight against Mikey had been interrupted, but he was not irritated, as the situation now was making him even more excited.

Mikey, who was also confused by the whole situation, widened his eyes as a feeling ran through his body. With a calm expression, he looked around, his vision landing on a figure that was beginning to emerge from the new crowd of teenagers in the place, she passing Osanai and walking towards him with quiet steps and a serene expression.

Hanma who was standing next to Mikey, couldn't help but lick his lips. "Looks like the leader has come straight for the big boys, doesn't it? Yuji Shinakawa!"

The figure walking toward the two was none other than Yuji himself. The people around hearing who it was about felt overwhelmed, after all, Yuji was known for taking down a huge gang single-handedly, and beating B1 in a challenge proposed by the arena itself. His strength was respected, but above all, feared.

But of course that wouldn't stop the more idiotic ones from attacking him.

"Die!" Two of the Valhalla teenagers shouted as they leaped toward Yuji with pieces of iron in hand.

Yuji, seeing this only as a nuisance, did not even mind the two. Among the Yggdrasil members, a figure exploded toward the two attackers with extreme speed, catching up to them in the blink of an eye.

"Wha-" Before the two could question what that was, their faces were hit in mid-air, the bodies of the two rotating before landing on the ground with a loud thud.

"Irritating." The person responsible for such a feat was none other than Akira, the captain of Yggdrasil's third division.

The delinquents of Toman and Valhalla were startled by the boy's speed and strength. The fact that his arm was bandaged made them even more shocked.

Yuji, free of interruptions, stopped in front of Mikey and Hanma. The two stared at the boy with intensity, but Yuji didn't seem to be intimidated as he snapped his fingers.

"I saw that you guys were having fun around here." He smiled and lifted his chin, a clear gesture of superiority over the two teenagers in front of him. "So I saw a great opportunity to claim the rank of strongest gang, how about it?"

Mikey frowned, while Hanma could barely contain the excitement in her bones. "So be it." Mikey said, his body moving at an extraordinary speed toward Yuji.

The Yggdrasil leader seeing this, closed his eyes, quickly moving his hands to the side of his head, being able to parry the blond's kick that hit him like a cannonball. Mikey was clearly surprised by this, but didn't have time to think about when he needed to block a punch from Hanma.

"Don't leave me out of the party!"

Hanma tried to hit Yuji in the face, but was easily avoided, receiving a punch to his chin that caused him to stagger backwards, before pulling himself together.

"Don't worry, my fists are enough for both of you."

And with that brief exchange of blows, the war between the three gangs was finally beginning.

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Chaos was occurring on the battlefield. Although Valhalla was greater in numbers, Toman and Yggdrasil didn't have much trouble dealing with them. In battle, Toman demonstrated a greater level of strength, with its members putting pressure on Valhalla with only brutality. Yggdrasil showed a greater knowledge of combat, with even its weaker members being able to deal with the Toman members through the use of their techniques.

Akira focused on eliminating those with greater physical stature. The boy was a Jiujitsu practitioner, and due to his strength and skills, even with his arm bandaged, taking them down was not a problem.

With Osanai, however, he was engaged in an intense battle, with his opponent matching his own strength, despite his clearly better technique.

Bam!

Osanai blocked a punch from a figure well known and respected for his strength, the one who was second on the Toman, Draken. The two had been exchanging blows for a few minutes, but the fight seemed to be evenly matched, with the two on par. Osanai had to admit that Draken was strong, but he showed no expertise in any martial art, which gave him a tremendous advantage.

Boom!

Osanai dodged a punch from Draken and hit him with a powerful hook to his chin, causing the blond man to stagger to the side.

"Son of a bitch." Draken cursed, a smile full of teeth on his mouth as he spat out some blood.

Draken sent his fist toward Osanai's stomach with extreme speed. To Osanai, it was like someone swinging a sledgehammer in his direction, but it didn't intimidate him. When he trained with Yuji, he felt as if a truck was advancing to crush him.

'A sledgehammer is nothing!' Osanai braced himself for impact, a confident smile on his lips as he refused to dodge the attack.

Boom!

The punch hit him, Draken's fist crushing his stomach as it pushed him backwards. Draken, who saw this as an opportunity, tried to continue the attack with a straight, but he did not expect that Osanai would be able to recover from the attack quickly and send a punch straight to his chin. Taken by surprise, Draken was unable to defend, his brain rattling in his head as he lost control over his own body.

Osanai, with saliva running down his chin, quickly continued the attack with a sequence of blows to Draken's face and torso, the attacks pushing the blond's body backwards as Osanai followed him with a flurry of attacks. Draken, seeing that he was in a difficult situation, tried to grab his opponent's shoulder and pull him to his knees, but was easily hit back with an uppercut to his chin, the attack causing him to lose the strength in his legs as the glow in his eyes faded, him falling face down on the wet ground.

Osanai, seeing his opponent fall, cracked a victorious smile, but before he could declare himself the winner, his eyes rolled to the back of his head. At that instant, he fell backwards onto the ground, unconscious. Draken's blow was so strong that Osanai's only reason to remain standing was because of the adrenaline coursing through his body.

In the end, the fight seemed to end in a draw.

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Yuji blocked a kick from Mikey, barely having time to step back before he had to dodge a punch from Hanma, countering at the same instant with a punch to his stomach. This caused the Valhalla leader to double over in pain, and seeing this as an opportunity, Yuji tried to advance, but the boy's situation revealed it to be a bluff when, just as Yuji approached, Hanma grabbed him by the shoulder and hurled him towards Mikey.

'Shit, fuck logic. He threw me with a single arm, as if my weight was nothing.'

The blond boy, seeing the boy flying towards him, prepared to kick him. Yuji's eyes widened at this, and he rotated his body in the air, his jaw clenching as he prepared himself.

When he got close enough, Mikey sent his kick, but the blond couldn't expect Yuji to rebound his attack with another kick from him. This caused the two attacks to collide, but with Mikey's kicking power clearly superior, Yuji was pushed away, where he landed on the ground with his leg throbbing with pain.

"Oh, so you're not a boxer? I guess you wanted to keep your cards up your sleeve, didn't you?" Hanma laughed.

"Well, I didn't want to fight seriously so soon, but with you two, I can't really play around." Yuji spoke up.

Slowly changing his stance, Yuji adhered to a base similar to Wing Chun, used by practitioners of Jeet Kune Do. Mikey had already proven to be stronger than him, so he would need to go all in from the start, or he would not be able to win.

"I will take it seriously."