Chapter 9: Progress I

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- 3 years later -

The Zoldyck Family owns Kukuroo Mountain and its surrounding area. The property encompasses from the point of the Testing Gate, the dense jungle, all the way to the mountain.

Somewhere in that forest, a young boy could be seen walking around aimlessly, or so it appears.

He has short black hair, black eyes, and a black clothing set, though what's strange is that no sound could be heard from him.

Every step of his is perfectly silent as if sound wasn't allowed to escape his grasp. as if it was only allowed to reach his ears, no one else's.

What's even stranger is his heartbeats. If someone could hear his heartbeats they'll notice a bizarre activity, his heart is beating so slow that It can be estimated that it beats less than 30 beats per minute, this is Yasuo Zoldyck.

Suddenly his walking speed started to get faster and faster, and so walking turned into running until his silhouette looked more like a shadow moving across the forest, though what remained constant is his silent movement.

A man with brown hair wearing a butler uniform could be seen about 70 meters away from him with his back facing him, this is Hassam, the Zoldyck family's butler.

While the butler is looking around, Yasuo kept changing his position accordingly to make sure he is always facing his back. Once Yasuo reached the 32-meter mark, the butler instantly turned around and got into a fighting stance.

Yasuo narrowed his eyes and instantly adjusted the anatomy of his hand to transform his fingernails into razor-sharp claws, making his hand as sharp as a knife capable of slicing through human limbs with ease. He noticed Hassam did the same.

Once the distance between them shortened to 5m, the butler instantly attacked making use of his longer reach, though Yasuo seemed to have predicted it as he moved to the left just enough to no get hit.

He then instantly aimed at the butler's right arm that was about to cut him. the butler reacted just enough to be able to hold Yasuo's hand before it cut his right arm.

Crack!

That was the sound of Yasuo dislocating his arm, what followed is him jumping just enough for his right leg to be in reach as he targeted the butler's face.

The latter had to let go of Yasuo's hand to defend though what ended up happening is Yasuo using his leg to push himself away and attack again after instantly relocating his arm.

The butler was forced to avoid every attack. he seems to know that the only way is to avoid the fatal strikes, defending would lead to Yasuo slicing through him.

Yasuo's attacking speed only kept getting faster and faster though the butler seems to be keeping up somehow.

Each strike is deadly with no wasted movement, this is a combination of two techniques, the Snake Awakens and Claw.

By contracting the muscles of hands in a certain way to make it much stronger and sharper and transforming fingernails into razor-sharp claws, with enough strength and speed, it's possible to slice through steel.

And like that, the 'spar' went on for another hour until...

"stop!"

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- Yasuo POV -

"stop!"

"That's enough training for today," Stated Hassam with an emotionless tone that couldn't hide his heavy breaths. I instantly stopped my attacking spree, turned around, and left with a smirk on my face.

He may seem emotionless, unfazed aside from irregular breathing, but I can sense the sweat coming down his back.

After all, he had to use Nen to keep up with me. 2 years ago my Zetsu got to such a level that he was forced to use 'En' to detect me before I reach him.

'En' is an advanced application of Ten and Ren. En is when one extends their Ren so that their aura extends further than normal, then uses Ten at the same time to contain and give shape to that aura, normally a sphere.

Someone using En can feel the shape and movement of anything within the area covered by their aura, with the degree of awareness and finesse depending on their level of skill.

According to my observation, his En envelops the area around him with a radius of 32m, which explains how he detected me once I reached that amount of distance from him.

However, he didn't use any Nen ability or technique except 'Ren' which allowed him to keep up with my speed.

'Ren' Expands the size and intensity of the user's aura to boost their strength and durability, and that says a lot considering the weight of the clothing I'm wearing.

I closed my eyes as I let out a sigh, one of happiness. 'I've come so far, I achieved what would be considered impossible in my past life. I've never felt so satisfied since I've come to think for myself. I'm looking forward to exploring what this world has for me and beyond.'

I then continued on my way with a smile on my face, a smile that soon disappeared as my expressionless face returned.

Once I returned to the mansion, I noticed Ryuu sitting in the family room like always. Ryuu is my father's dog, he is a silver dog and is most likely the gigantic silver dog that was in my father's room in canon though he is still relatively small now.

My mother is also there with Milluki playing beside her, yup Milluki was born last year, we're in the year 1980. 'Hmm, I guess Ging should be beginning to study archeologists' websites and blogs this year.'

Anyway, I turned my head to pay more attention to Illumi who is sitting by the side of the room, though what I focused on is the large, round head needles he is messing around with.

'Hmm, so that's where the smell of blood coming from, they look the same as those he uses in canon... Interesting, so it's time.' I looked thoughtful as a gleam of determination surfaced in my eyes.

"Yasuo sweety, tomorrow in the morning, head to the isolation room, your father has a test for you, Illumi already passed the test perfectly,"

Instructed Kikyo in a cheerful and excited tone, her happiness and anticipation apparent to all.

I nodded then turned my head to illumi, nodded, and said, "congratulation," he nodded back then continued playing with his needles while I went back to my room...