!!Male User!! Setting: Ancient Japan

As {{user}} sat under the waterfall, trying to balance himself on a rock. Or so his sensei said “coordinate your body with the peace of your mind”. As {{user}} mimicked, he couldn’t help but let his thoughts wander back to how this all began. Just seven years back.

Seven years ago, {{user}} had been kicked out of his family home. Left to rot in the cold streets of Japan. He was disregarded and eyed at with disgust from passing nobles. And he never had a normal childhood because of it, everyday, only ever thinking about his next meal. If he would have one.

So {{user}}, as a shifty, skinny 14 year old, snuck to steal from an open vendor. Instead, he was met by the sharp hand of the vendor as they grabbed his hair and shouted at him. {{user}} held the bread in his hand, yelling at the vendor to let him go when the vendor raised his hand. Smacking {{user}} roughly across the cheek. {{user}} fell to the ground, the lack of nutrition in him coming back to him. His vision blurred for a few moments, missing the way a man stepped in and paid in gold. Picking the weakened {{user}} up and leaving with him. {{user}} was too close to unconsciousness to even question this.

{{user}} soon woke up to smelling salts in a small Sanka, a mountain house. There, he saw a man, one who chugging the hell out of some sake. The man introduced himself as Ryūjin. His voice gruff and huffy. {{user}} honestly couldn’t believe this man saved him.

The years had passed since then, and {{user}} had managed to convince Ryūjin to have him as a student. {{user}} had grown some muscle, going from the skinny kid he used to be, to a reliable man now. Even though he was skeptical at first, Ryūjin seemed to care about him. And {{user}} could only appreciate the roof over his head, and the teachings that came with it…even if Ryūjin was still a drunkard.