"And due to an unexpected bout of misfortune, Shirahama Kenichi will be taking a leave of absence from the school for the next three months, in order to make a complete recovery. Let us pray for his speedy recovery," Yasunaga sensei announced to the class, and made his way out, leaving the class to its pace.

Instantly, many of the students began to whisper amongst each other, wondering about what had happened to weak legs Kenichi, while Miu silently watched the proceedings with a knowing smile on her face. Ever since Naruto-san had come into the dojo, Kenichi had been forced to endure a hellish regimen of training, which even by the standards of Ryouzanpaku was considered as too much, and that was saying something.

After a discussion amongst themselves, the masters had agreed to the proposal that Naruto had put forward. Since, time was of the essence, and seeing that Naruto could spare only three months, they had taken the decision to make Kenichi take a leave of absence for three months.

However, there was one person in the school, who was not buying the theory of Kenichi being sick. Niijima Haruo, the resident evil(?) genius of the school, who had been planning to cultivate Kenichi as his pawn/underling/friend as per the need of the hour, realized that something was up. Now, due to his superior intelligence gathering (read sheer nosiness), Niijima had learned that Kenichi had had a major run-in with Ragnarok a couple of days before.

Details were sketchy, but if rumors were to be believed, one of the technique trio of Ragnarok, Koga the Kicker had been brutally beaten. None of the mooks in the gang were willing to speak, and seemed rather terrified of something about which they were not speaking, which made Niijima instantly rule out Kenichi as the cause. The fool was chivalrous and honorable to a fault, so it could not have been him. And as cowardly as he acted out, cutting and running was not really his style. So, this three month absence was not Kenichi being sick (which he did not believe for a second) or him cutting and running away to hide, but it was for something else, and by god, Niijima Haruo would find out what it was.

As he made his way forward, Niijima did not notice someone leaning against one of the electric poles at the side of the street, observing him.

"Hey … kid!" suddenly, a voice rang out, which made Niijima turn around, and take notice of the person who was calling out to him. At nearly six feet tall, the speaker was a blond young man, wearing the uniform of a martial artist of some kind, most likely Chinese in origin.

"You are Niijima Haruo, right? I need to speak with you for a few minutes … you okay with that?"

"Who are you and how do you know my name?" Niijima asked instantly suspicious, and tried to use his own method to sense the guy's strength as he usually did with many of the fighters he came across. As soon as he tried to, he felt the air around him get heavier, and sweat began to trail down from his forehead. The person in front of him was an absolute demon, and one he could not ever truly measure, but before he could even think any further, a hand grasped his own, and steadied him, even as he took deep breaths.

Naruto was deeply impressed. The kid in front of him had actually attempted the most rudimentary form of chakra sensing, pitiable as it was due to the lack of chakra within him and in the surroundings in general, but it was impressive nonetheless. It also proved that Niijima had faint traces of shinobi blood in him. He would never be a fighter, but he would fit well within his plans.

"I would advise you not to try that again, at least not without proper guidance," Naruto spoke casually, while Niijima narrowed his eyes. "Don't look at me like that kid, I am here to help you. Well, I am here to help Kenichi, but that means I will need your help as well, and by the way, the name is Naruto, Uzumaki Naruto," he continued as he made his way towards a coffee bar, while Niijima perked up with attention at the mention of news about Kenichi.

After an hour, Niijima watched with wide eyes full of awe while trembling in excitement as he watched the man, whom he would henceforth consider as his mentor and role-model walk out of the coffee bar, while multiple thoughts raced through his mind. He had a lot of work to do, and by god, when Kenichi returned, he would be in for a hell of a surprise.

As he walked back after the refreshing chat with the surprisingly clever Niijima, Naruto was smirking in smug satisfaction at the pace at which his plans were progressing. Automatically, his thoughts went towards the conversation he had with old man Hayato the previous day.

"So, what is it that you wish to discuss, Naruto-kun?" Hayato asked, while Akisame, Sakaki, Apachai and Shigure sat around, as Naruto began to explain.

"Well, how should I put this, my being here and training Kenichi has had an unexpected complication, one that I had hoped would not pop-up soon."

"Oh, and what might that be?" Akisame asked in a curious tone, while Naruto sighed.

"Yami is aware that I am in Japan, and that I am at Ryouzanpaku."

Instantly, all the masters became extremely attentive, and looked at him with full attention, while Naruto continued.

"While they have not approached me directly, they have sent a communication to Wudan, asking for clarification on this matter, and the council of elders admitted that I was somehow politely persuaded to train the disciple of Ryouzanpaku," he lied matter-of-factly, while the other masters cringed at that, partly in shame.

"Yeah, Yami is now aware that History's Strongest Dojo has finally taken a disciple, and that he has received additional instruction from the Wudan sect as well. This does not bode well," he concluded, while the masters became pensive.

"And? … I do not believe that Yami would be just content with that response," Akisame spoke out, while Naruto nodded in agreement.

"As a compromise, and to maintain the balance in the martial arts world, after training Kenichi, I will be required to train one of the disciple's of Yami for the duration of three months as well. It was necessary and unavoidable to keep the peace."

"Yare … Yare … and it was just getting peaceful too …" Sakaki sighed, even as he took a swig from his beer can, while the elder seemed pensive.

"You have something in mind," he noted as he looked at Naruto who nodded.

"Kenichi will not be enough, you will need more disciples," he spoke out and raised his hand to forestall any objections as he continued. "Yami and by consequence the 'One shadow Nine fists', have ten exceptional disciples at their command, and that is excluding the Hachiou Danzaiba, who will soon become active as well. Kenichi and Miu will be outnumbered by a huge margin. As good as they are, they will need friends, friends who can and will stand with them when the time comes."

"What are you proposing?" Hayato asked with a stern voice, even as everybody became tense. The room froze. The walls trembled and the wooden floorboards creaked as a huge swell of Ki blanketed the area. The masters were paralysed, each limb locked in place by the sheer intent behind the Ki. Akisame looked deathly serious while the other masters froze in their seats. The incredible pressure weighed down on them all but it was not suffocating killing intent that poured forward.

Each one could feel the heavy iron-laden will roar into existence as the willpower of Fuurinji Hayato emanated from his very body,' the invincible superman' emerging from his aged counterpart.

"Kenichi will be your successor, I have foreseen it, from the kind of training you have devised for him. He will inherit all your styles, and merge it to form his own style in the future, when he will rise from his disciplehood to become the next leader of the Katsujinken. But, that day is far away, and in the mean time, I propose that you take in other students, to be trained exclusively in your own disciplines as well. Kenichi, despite learning everything from you, cannot lead the Katsujinken on his own, he will need allies, friends and brothers in arms, and the disciples you will take in, will fill that role."

"Hmm … a fair point, we have clearly been far too lax, and Yami clearly has a lead on us, at least when it comes to having deserving disciples," Akisame nodded, while the elder relaxed, and sat down, deep in thought.

"Even if we were to agree, Naruto, it is not like we can find skilled disciples at a whim," the old master pointed out, while Naruto smiled in reply.

"I do believe I can help out in that matter. I am about to enact a plan, which will force quite a few skilled young martial artists into the open, and you can choose your disciples amongst them. Of course, this will mean that for now, Miu will be forced to fight quite a bit for the next three months, and the threats she will face, will motivate Kenichi to complete his training that much quicker," he concluded, and immediately was blasted with a fair dose of Ki, from Hayato in return for that tidbit of information.

"Nothing too threatening, old man, she will be facing opponents within her caliber only. However, she has become too complacent in Ryouzanpaku, and it is my opinion that these fights will help her gain the experience she will need to fight the disciples of Yami, when they finally appear. Besides, I will be right beside her to ensure that nothing too untoward happens," he added, at which Hayato let off.

"Besides, having all the new disciples should alleviate the financial problems of Ryouzanpaku somewhat, which means more money for beer, Sakaki," Naruto added slyly, at which Sakaki's eyes glowed in happiness, and Naruto knew that the man was sold on that idea at that very moment.

"So, what is this … plan of yours?" Shigure asked with her trademark lisp, while Naruto grinned and began to outline his plan.

A week after his meeting with his newly acquired mentor/master, Niijima met up with Naruto at the meeting place, they had decided earlier.

"Ahh … Niijima-kun, I hope everything is ready?" Naruto asked, even as Niijima nodded.

"Hai, Naruto dai-sensei, the books are ready for distributions, and my underlings are ready with the necessary rumors to ensure that they get the attention that they require."

"Good … good, do you have a copy for me to review?" Naruto asked as he camly sipped his coffee, while Niijima slickly slid over a copy of the book over.

While Naruto was glossing over the book, Niijima asked the question, which was burning in his mind, since their initial meeting. "If I may ask, sensei, what made you choose me, and approach me for this?"

"Well …," Naruto paused, as he looked at Niijima, before continuing, "You are greedy, cowardly, manipulative, shrewd and cunning beyond measure, but above all else, you have a good heart ... kid; and I like you, that is why," Naruto concluded with a smile on his face, while for the first time in his life, Niijima Haruo blushed.

"Besides, I like playing pranks, and can you imagine the chaos that will unfold, once these books hit the streets and the school?" Naruto asked with an evil glint in his eyes, while Niijima smirked.

Next day at school, Kisara Nanjou, the newly christened eighth fist of Ragnarok was surprised, when she noticed a kind of uneasy atmosphere at school. Wherever she went, she could notice people huddled around with what appeared to be a orange-covered book in their hands. She could swear that a few of them had actually shuffled a few pages in their book as soon as they saw her face, but maybe it was her imagination.

As she made her way into her hideout, she could notice all her underlings bunched together whispering furiously, with those same books in their hands, and a few of them noticing at her oddly, but they averted their gaze as soon as her eyes fell on them.

"Geez, what the hell is going on?" she muttered, even as her aide/best friend, Shiratori approached her.

"Uhh …, Kisara-sama, have you perhaps had a look at the new book that is currently circulating around the entire city?" she asked timidly, while Kisara looked at her in surprise, as Shiratori meekly handed a copy of the book over.

As she took the book, Kisara noticed the title which stated 'Koryou High Bingo Book'. With an uneasy feeling, she opened the book and began to read it.

Greetings, one and all, and welcome to the first edition of the Koryou high Bingo Book, courtesy of the Shinpaku Association. This is the first edition, in what we hope to be a continuing series of innovative sports commentary bulletin. We are a bunch of aspiring sports journalists, who have taken upon ourselves the noble task of conveying to any and all interested readers, the latest and most interesting news with regards to the noble skill of martial arts.

We have noticed that quite a few bit of aspiring martial artists call our own school Koryou High, and this district of ours as their home. As such, our reporters have painstakingly collected the details of all the top martial artists in the school and in the region, including hidden videos of their fights with their opponents. We have then had these videos appraised by professional masters of the martial arts in the country and asked them to rate and evaluate the various fighters concerned.

"Are you serious, Shiratori? Who the hell are these Shinpaku guys, and are they for real?"

"Yes, Kisara-sama, and it appears to be a legitimate amateur newsletter. From the rumours spreading around, it seems that the rankings in the magazine are made by genuine masters of martial arts and are as real as they get." (Somewhere, Niijima and Naruto sneezed)

With palpable excitement, Kisara began to eagerly read the next section.

In our desire to evaluate truly skilled martial artists, we have not discriminated, and you may find that quite a few of the faces in here belong to some delinquent gangs as well, the most prominent among them being 'Ragnarok'. For this reason, we the reporters of Shinpaku shall never disclose our identity to anyone, for our own safety.

Kisara let out a short bark of laughter at that, and continued reading.

The ranking system which we use to measure the skill of martial artists are as follows. You can find a picture of each martial artist next to their name, along with the type of martial arts they practice (Please note that for a few of the martial artists, we could not identify the type of martial arts they use, and that field has been left blank).

D – Trash (not worth anything, and should quit martial arts)

C – Below Average (not really talented)

B – Average (Talented, but needs help)

A – Good (Skilled martial artists, who have a bright future)

A+ – Very Good (Exceptionally skilled, and can make a career in martial arts if they so choose)

S – Exceptional (The best of the best)

SS – He is God as far as you are concerned (flee on sight, you are no match for this person)

Kisara raised her eyebrows at the ranking system, as finally the reason for the unease amongst her underlings became clear to her. Eager to see her own ranking, she went ahead with reading the book.

First, we shall cover the D – Ranks.

There are three people in this category. Koga Taichi aka 'Koga the Kicker' of the technique trio of Ragnarok. The other two are Tsukuba Takahashi, and Daimonji Ichiro from the Koryou high Karate Club. After viewing a few clips of their fights, the esteemed panel of masters rated their skills under this category emphatically.

Kisara smirked. Koga was a pain in the ass and the other two were in the same mould. Her respect for the evaluators slightly went up, as she eagerly moved on to the next page.

Next, we shall cover the C – Ranks.

There is only one in this category. The 4th fist of Ragnarok aka 'Strategist Loki'. After viewing a few clips of his fights, the esteemed panel of masters rated his skills under this category after much deliberation. The reason given was that Loki apparently relies too heavily on tricks and misdirection, and in a pure battle of skill, he would be no match for even an average ranked martial artist.

"Holy shit!" Kisara spoke softly as she re-read the description. Yeah, there was no way Loki was going to take this insult lying down. She would not be surprised if Loki's underlings were searching for these Shinpaku at the moment.

"Heh, serves the bastard right, never did like him anyway," she muttered, as she eagerly moved on to the next page.

Now, we move on to the B – ranks, and there are quite a few of these in the book. As such, we will be providing the names of these martial artists one by one, along with their pictures and their chosen discipline in the field of martial arts.

Itsuki Takeda aka Takeda the Puncher (Boxing)

Ukita Kozo aka Ukita the Thrower (Judo)

Tsuji Shinnosuke (Street fighter)

Shiratori (Taekwondo)

The reason why all of the above are ranked as B is because, according to the opinion of our reviewers, these students appear to have abandoned their training mid-point in their learning, and as such, need to complete their training in order to improve.

"Heh," Kisara smirked with a smug tone, even as she noticed that all the members in the B – page, were all members of her gang, with the exception of Tsuji, who was a pain in the ass.

Now, we move on to the A – ranks. These are true martial arts disciples, and according to our reviewers have the potential to go far, but the only thing they lack is combat experience. There are three who fall under this category.

Kisara Nanjo aka Valkyrie – '8th fist of Ragnarok' (Taekwondo)

Yuma Chiaki aka Thor – '7th fist of Ragnarok' (Modified Sumo)

Kugenin Hibiki aka Siegfried – '5th fist of Ragnarok' (Self-taught style)

"Hmm…," she pursed her lips tightly as she re-read her ranking, and as much as she wanted to protest, she knew that she could not refute the fact that she lacked experience. Maybe kicking the ass of a few more few more people would see her ranking improve in the future. Suddenly, she noticed something else.

"Wait a moment, Hermit is not in the A list, does that mean he is a higher ranked fighter? But, Siegfried is ranked higher than him, what the hell?" she quickly moved ahead to the next page.

Now, we come to the A+ ranks. These are ones, who in the opinion of the masters who reviewed the videos of their fights (Which were very hard to obtain), stated that these disciples are guaranteed to become masters of martial arts in the future, and only need more time to hone their skills to near perfection.

There are four who fall under this category.

Kaname Kugatachi aka Freya – '3rd fist of Ragnarok and one of the three of cards' (Seems to be a weapon user and favors Staff based styles)

Kitsukawa Shougo aka Berserker – '2nd fist of Ragnarok and one of the three of cards' (Self – taught)

Asamiya Ryuuto aka Odin –'1st fist of Ragnarok and one of the three of cards' (Unable to gain details on type of martial arts used)

Hermit (Real name and identity unknown for the moment) – '6th fist of Ragnarok' (Chinese Kenpo)

"Damn, they really did it, they dared to actually rank Odin and Freya-nee, for their sake, I hope those Shinpaku guys fall into their hands. But seriously, I knew there was something which Hermit was hiding, heh, now he can't escape the attention," she smirked in smugh satisfaction. Hermit was the most anti-social person amongst all the fists, and the amount of attention this book would bring down on him would no doubt infuriate the boy.

She was about to close the book, when she noticed that there were two more pages. She then remembered the ranking details at the first page and frowned. But did that mean, that there was someone who was actually ranked higher than the 'three of cards' of Ragnarok? That was impossible! Ragnarok was the gang with the best martial artists in the city. It was absurd ... and yet ... she had to know. Hesitantly, she moved on to the next page.

Now, we come to the S-ranks. Normally, we would not have bothered with this kind of ranking, but we have come to learn that two students of martial arts, who are known at the national level are actually studying in Koryou High. Please learn about the unknown stars who are actually amongst us and be as amazed as we were, when you learn the truth of these disciples.

There are two who fall under this category.

Fuurinji Miu (Fuurinji Style) – is the best female martial artist in Japan under the age of 20, and is considered as one of the top three female martial artists under the age of 20, in the entire world.

With trembling hands, Kisara Nanjou stared at the photo of Fuurinji Miu, and burned her image in her mind. She actually bit her bottom lip so hard that it actually cracked, and a drop of blood leaked out. As she eyed Miu's phenomenally developed physique and absent-mindedly compared it to hers, she decided that she did not like Miu Fuurinji one bit, not at all.

As shocking as that was, the 2nd entry literally blew her mind away.

Shirahama Kenichi (Uses Karate, Muay Thai, Chinese Kenpo, Jujitsu & Kawazu kumite) – is the strongest martial artist under the age of 20 in Japan and is the 2nd strongest martial artist under the age of 20 in the entire world and has been granted the title of 'Strongest disciple in the history of martial arts'.

Note: Apparently, Shirahama Kenichi likes to masquerade as a weakling, and acts cowardly at times to throw challengers off trail, as he does not want the level of his skills to be known and dislikes being the center of attention. Not Anymore … hahahaha!

"You have got to be shitting me! This is nuts…," Kisara roared as she threw the book away, and began to pace around the room angrily, chewing on her thumbnail, while her gang wisely stayed out of her way.

"I knew that bastard was hiding something, but this … aargh" she roared in frustration, even as she sat on the sofa with a huff. "When I see that punk, we will see how tough he truly is. Strongest disciple in the history of martial arts indeed."

She noticed the book, and then picked it up, as she still remembered that there was still a page left.

Now, dear readers, we have a true treat for you. We have learned that one of the greatest martial artists in entire Asia is going to be coming to Koryou High as an exchange student soon for a duration of three months. Our investigative reporters have unearthed this golden nugget of information after painstaking research.

Name: Uzumaki Naruto (Has been trained in the legendary Wudan monastery of China, and is considered as a near master of Chinese Kenpo. He is considered as an expert, and is ranked above the rank of disciple, and has been give the title of 'journeyman', which means that once he returns to China, he will be officially given the title of 'Master of the Martial Arts.'

Is hands-down, the best martial artist under the age of 20 in the entire world.

"Who the hell is Uzumaki Naruto?" Kisara wondered, not knowing that every single fist of Ragnarok was brooding upon the same thing at that moment.