AN: To all readers, I hope you are all staying safe at this time of the world with the current situation of the corona-virus and at this current time either in the process of returning to somewhat normality or will be at that point within the next month or so.

In the meantime, please continue to stay safe and to follow the guidelines set by your respective governments, governors, scientific boards etc. Remember, we will all get through this, together.

That being said, welcome and enjoy the chapter below. Remember to rate, review etc.

All H.O.T.D are not owned by myself in any of the works I create. The OC's though, they're mine. All mine!

"I'd appreciate it if you didn't kill them…"

Came the voice of one James Carter who had finally arrived and had placed himself in between the masked figure and the Busujima family.

"James-chan!/James-san!" came the gasps of the two family members.

"Looks like I arrived in the nick of time." James commented.

Since his arrival, his focus was on the hooded figure in front of him, a few seconds of eyeing details on the figure itself gave him all that he needed to know about who he was facing.

'So it's Dad himself huh? I better put on a good show at least' the young man thought.

"Careful James-chan. This foe is not normal." Kage shouted to the young man in front of him.

James heard the words spoken to him and placed a hand inside his hoodie.

"That's okay Oji-san, I'm not either…" James responded.

With the hand he placed into his hoodie and drew out his Ninjato sword and took his stance with the blade in his right hand in a sideways stance with his left shoulder facing the opponent in front of him. The figure took a two handed defensive stance similar to that of a Kendo variation but not one of the five known stances.

"I was not aware that James-chan was trained in swordplay?" Kage commented.

"Neither did I." Saeko spoke as the two looked at each other.

"Should we make it through this, that boy will have some explaining to do." Kage grumbled as the two fell silent to watch the battle start.

James and the figure started to circle each other, neither of them taking their eyes off one another as they waited for one of them to make the first move. After what seemed like an eternity, the young man stopped moving, lowering his stance, he put more weight into his front foot and rushed the figure. James stopped short to switch to a two-handed style and aimed a vertical strike for the figure's side which was parried, after which the two exchanged sword blows as they moved around the dojo which James changing between one and two handed styles each time the figure made a position change and forced his opponent to change styles to keep the pressure on.

Meanwhile the observers were watching as the two combatants were clashing their swords. The girl of the two clutching her sword tightly.

"I didn't know, James-san had this in him." Saeko spoke out as she tried to keep up on their movements.

"It is most impressive. If I didn't know any better, I would think James-chan is more skilled than the both of us. However…" Kage commented with Saeko turning to him as he paused.

"James-chan is putting more energy into his movement and his attacks, like there is something holding him back. If this battle is drawn out he'll lose." Kage summerised as his daughter gave him a look of concern.

Saeko looked back at the battle and eyed the young man closely. In her mind, she hoped her father was wrong.

The figure however, began to put pressure on the young man in question which forced James onto the defensive, losing more and more ground as he was forced into a two handed style to parry attacks as he moved closer to the dojo door. It was then the figure then forced a clash of blades as he stepped forwards closing the distance between to the point where both fighter's chests were supporting the blades as they pushed against each other. James however, knew he was going to lose the battle of strength between the two and used a lot of his strength to push away from the figure to create. Unfortunately for him, the push did not move the figure at all and as a result, the figure stepped forwards and landed a kick to the abdomen with enough force along with James' initial push to force him out of the dojo. The young man took advantage of this once he regained his momentum to jump further back into the courtyard, gaining himself a few meters distance between them.

*Wheeze* "Not bad." the young man hissed.

The figure moved into the courtyard and walked to the other side, making sure that the same distance was kept between them both.

"You're not bad yourself, much better than those two I fought earlier. However, someone of your family, I expected better." the figure bluntly spoke out.

Both Busujima family members had now made their way to the dojo door keeping their swords on them should they need to rejoin the fight. James noticed this but they knew that jumping in at this stage would not be wise as this wasn't over. The young man chuckled slightly.

"Who said I was done?" James rhetorically asked as he stuck his sword into the green next to him.

The three that was present watched as the young man removed his hoodie and threw it on the floor. He then proceeded to remove what looked like a baggy shirt to reveal the upper half of his body. Both Busujima's gasped slightly as they saw James' figure for the first time, the words they would describe as, perfectly chiseled for a man of his size, the muscles were not large but were built with no excess fat or unneeded muscle on them. In other words, designed for speed not power. Saeko had gasped louder than her father although she kind of expected it.

'I expected James to be physically active, but that…' Saeko thought in her mind before a smile crept on her face.

'...looks tasty.' Saeko finished her chain of thought.

*THUD*

Came a sound which broke everyone out of their thoughts when James dropped the shirt onto the floor on top of his hoodie. None of them expected it to drop like that unless…

"Weighted clothing huh? Interesting design." the figure remarked.

James massaged his shoulders whilst moving them in a circular fashion one at a time to lessen the feeling he was getting having removed the additional weight.

"My own creation, based on some very hard to come by materials which allows it to be worn under normal clothes." James explained.

The figure looked at the clothes pile and then back at the young man, eyeing him with a suspicious look.

"How much did that weigh?" the figure asked.

"Hmm. I only started this regime a couple of weeks ago so only 20kg which was plenty at the time for me." James recalled.

The young man then picked up his sword by the handle and resumed a one-handed fencing stance.

"Still this will make me faster than before." James commented as he brought the blade level with his shoulder with his arm outstretched.

The figure saw this action and took a stance that was familiar to both their observers.

"That's…" was all Saeko could get out before Kage interrupted her.

"Chūdan-no-kamae." Kage spoke as they both looked on.

James charged forward at a much quicker pace than before, intending on using a diagonal slash from right to left, however this was blocked, spinning to avoid possible counter attacks, he aimed a slash for the abdomen which was again blocked. The young man switched to fencing strikes as he shot stab and strikes in quick succession in an attempt to make the figure use energy by forcing him to dodge. Unfortunately for the young man, the figure was not budging, in fact despite his stance he had not moved at all.

'The iron gate isn't breaking down, if I can force him into another stance though…' James thought.

The young man switched his assault and aimed his strikes lower to target the figure's legs. If he could force a stance change, he could create an opening he needed for a strike to work. Sure enough after a few strikes, the figure switched stances to another that their observers recognised.

"Gedan-no-kamae." Saeko pointed out with her father nodding.

"This person seems to be knowledgeable in the Kendo arts. It's no wonder, none of our attacks worked on him. James-chan better be careful with that stance." Kage placed a hand on his chin.

"The Gedan stance relies on parrying your opponents move to create openings." Saeko commented. Her Father nodded at her assumption.

"Indeed, therefore James-chan has to either move faster than his opponent to strike before a parry can be made or to out maneuver him to force him change his stance and create an opening himself." Kage agreed.

They watched as the two combatants reengaged each other with the figure continuing to not move and just parry the strikes away. Any normal opponent would have been countered already but since James was no longer restricted by his weighted clothing, he closed any openings off with sheer speed by transitioning into another strike to keep the figure on the defensive. Suddenly, on his next strike, the figure stepped forward and parried the strike with reasonable force that the young man would not stop the next strike.

'There!' James reacted in his mind.

In the midst of showing an opening, in truth it was a feint, to allow the parry to knock his sword back further than he would normally allow it, the figure threw a strike intending for the young man's right side.

"James-san!" came a feminine voice as Saeko was held back by her father as she cried.

*Clash*

The young man managed to twist his wrists in such a way where he switched to a two-handed style to block the blow. Seeing an opening, James put all of his weight on his right leg and kicked the back of the right knee with his left foot. The figure was brought down to one knee and the young man sent a right knee into the figure's chest causing him to roll backwards a few feet to create some distance between them.

"Good, you are a worthy opponent at least." the figure spoke as he rose to his feet.

The figure gripped his sword and took his stance, it was different again as he had his left foot forward as he held the blade with both hands with the blade itself pointing upright.

"Hassō-no-kamae" Kage recognised the stance as another one of the Kendo stances.

The elder was still holding Saeko's arm tightly as she struggled to break free from her father's grasp

"Let me go, Father, James-san needs our help." Saeko pleaded.

Her woods were met with a cold look piercing her very being before being pushed back towards her father.

"You saw what happened to us Saeko-chan. If you go back in, you'll only hinder James-chan as he will have to worry about you. The speed of his attacks, his movement with his blade, all of it right now is him giving one hundred percent into this fight. He cannot be at his best if he cannot concentrate entirely on his opponent." Kage explained to his daughter.

His words seemed to calm her down as she finally listened to reason and as such he let go of her arm and she stayed in place.

"If it looks like James-chan is in a bad spot, we will jump in but only if it's safe to do so. In the meantime, just observe and maybe you'll learn something." Kage continued as the two returned to their observer role.

James looked at his opponent with the new stance, he knew it was another Kendo stance same as the other stances the figure was using. The young man knew that this was just a show match anyway but accidents could happen if he didn't give it everything and strike connected.

'I'm getting tired of this charade.' James thought.

The young man spun and brought his blade above his head in a two-handed stance with the blade pointing upwards as if he was ready to go on the offensive.

"Jōdan-no-kamae?" Saeko commented rhetorically.

"So James-chan knows Kendo too?" Kage brought a hand to his face to shroud himself in thought.

James charged forwards and the two clashed once more constantly blocking each other's strike. James kept up on the pressure he was placing was being the aggressor pushing forward utilising both two handed blows for attacks and one handed styles for movement and defense. With the figure losing ground, he was coming to the edge of the courtyard steps leading into the main house. As soon as he reached the bottom step, he forced a clash of blades with his younger opponent. Using the clash to his advantage, the figure used his strength and additional height from the steps to force the young man onto one knee and the figure dove over him blocking a strike as he landed on the ground. James aimed the next few strikes low as he span around causing the figure to roll out of the way, seizing the moment he rushed forward forced another clash of blade, this time since the young man was at his feet and the figure was crouched on the ground, James delivered a swift kick to the figure's chest which caused him to roll away from the force of it.

The two combatants looked at each other as the figure rose to his feet then he darted for the wooden fences. Since the courtyard was a traditional Japanese style outlook, it had a wooden walkway surrounding it, the figure used this to start climbing aiming for the roof of the main house.

'Tch. Fine be that way.' James tutted and made his move towards another side of the courtyard to climb onto the Busujima's roof.

The two observers were watching both combatants maneuver themselves onto their homes' roof.

"I didn't know our home could be used in such a manner?" Saeko commented once more as she looked on in wonder.

"Have you noticed yet, Saeko-chan?" Kage asked.

Saeko turned to her father and then back to the two fighters. She thought for a quick moment before shaking her head.

"It proved just how much both of us have to learn. This fight isn't just some spar. Just look at them." Kage told his daughter to which Saeko looked back to the battle just as the two fighters clashed their blades on the roof.

"It's like they are fighting based on instinct alone. The movements in their strikes are faster than anything I have seen. They use the environment to their advantage when it presents themselves. They can go at a frightening pace for long periods of time. That figure has been fighting almost constantly now for around twenty minutes straight. Half of that time against James-chan and he is not showing any signs of tiring." Kage explained as they watched James switch back to a more a fencing one handed style of swordplay

"So what are you trying to say Father?" Saeko asked.

"I want to ask that boy a few questions if he survives this." answered Kage.

"As do I Father. As do I." Saeko responded as the two resumed their silence to observe once more.

The two fighters continued to clash and parry their strikes one after another as the two fought for control of their battle. The trouble that presented the two was keeping their balance as the roof was slanted and the tiles were slippery. This had a profound effect on their ability to unleash powerful strikes as placing too much weight on their feet could cause either of them to slip and fall off the roof. This was why James switched back to his fencing style as light but fast strikes would be more effective than styles that require more power.

Unfortunately for the young man, the figure went back to the Gedan-no-kamae stance of Kendo and simply batted away the strikes as it would take little power to do so. James frowned at the situation that he found himself in.

'His experience is showing here. The environment is hampering my movements to create openings in the Kendo stances. I'm in a tight spot.' James thought to himself as more and more strikes were blocked and parried almost with ease.

The figure then edged forwards toward the young man who stepped backwards to maintain his distance from his opponent. However, James noticed that his back was towards the edge of the roof overlooking the courtyard. Switching to a two handed style in last ditch defense, the young man sent strikes with more power in an attempt to force a clash so he could better position himself. This though was what the figure wanted, he swatted away the strikes and sent a horizontal strike aiming for the chest. James knowing he could not block it with his own blade, arched his back to expertly dodge the incoming strike. Knowing he could not stop the next attack, he did the only option available to him. He bent his knees and with all his available strength he could muster, he launched himself off the roof before the next strike could land.

"James-san!" Saeko called out fearing for his safety.

The young man however, flipped and twist himself around mid flight so that once the ground approached him, he landed in a way where he could throw his momentum forward into a forward roll using his left shoulder as the one to take the energy into the roll as that one was his main sword arm and thus was stronger than his right which was where his blade was now. He turned to find the figure had jumped after him and was already in a forward roll motion in a similar method to his own. The figure rose quickly and before the young man could muster a defense, his blade was struck away by a powerful strike which also knocked him to the ground. James performed a backwards roll before any strike was followed up on. The figure made a move to indicate a stabbing motion with his right hand on the handle of the blade and his left on the bottom of the handle with an open palm.

It wasn't till the last second when the young man dodged out of the way of the blade which dug itself into the tree which was behind him. Taking advantage of the situation, James aimed a roundhouse kick with his right leg to just above the now stuck blade. The figure let go of his sword and jumped back to avoid the incoming blow.

The two fighters, now swordless, stared at each other waiting on their next move.

'Grabbing the sword behind me is pointless as it's likely stuck in there and would require me to physically open myself up to any attack if I even try to remove it. So fist fight it is.' James thought as he took a traditional fighting stance. One based on the Shotokan which is one of the more traditional forms of Karate. The figure instead took on another style of Karate in his stance one more linked with Goju-Ryu. The two onlookers observed the change in scenario between the two fighters filled with intrigue.

"So now it's down to their bare hands. Interesting." Kage looked on.

"I've seen James-san fight like this before, I cannot deny he is an amazing fighter taking down multiple foes who are bigger than even he is." Saeko commented as her father looked at her, taking in her words.

"This is the first time I have seen him fight properly. It has been even up till this point, I just hope he lives up to your words Saeko-chan." Kage replied as the two looked back to the fight.

James made his move first, moving quickly towards his opponent. He threw a feint with what was a left hook to see if the figure gave away his attack plan. The figure moved his arms, keeping his palms open as he attempted to close the distance between the two but was met with James aiming a quick kick to the figures right knee which was blocked.

'Grabs huh?' James made note in his mind.

The young responded by aiming more kicks at the figure's legs as those could not be so easily grabbed, all the while moving around avoiding the hands trying constantly to get a hold of him. James knew that this tactic would not hold for very long as his opponent will eventually start to time his attacks so a counter could be made. Having swatted away an attempt by the figure to grab him, James decided to aim a right handed punch to the right shoulder in the figure in an attempt to force a weakness in the figure by giving him a dead arm to nurse with or something similar.

Unfortunately for him, the figure caught on to this and stepped forward, side-stepping the attack and grabbed the right arm of the young man with his left hand. A quick striking move to the back of the left knew brought him down to one knee and using his right hand, he forced the young man to the ground. James reacted by sending a strike of his own with his left to the figure's left knee as soon as he hit ground to cause the figure to lose his balance slightly, this gave him enough time to break free and dove right at the figure spinning around him and placing him in a rear naked choke hold to wear him down.

The figure took a few seconds to recover from the initial blow and to plan how to get out of his current situation. Deciding on his next move, he used his left elbow and thrust it backwards into the young man's abdomen. He then used his right arm and threw it behind himself, grabbing the young man and throwing him over his head and onto the ground, the figure then using his own body weight pinned him down and drew out a small knife in a hidden ankle pocket and held it to the young man's throat.

"You should always cater for another weapon." the figure spoke bluntly.

"James-san/chan." came the voice of both Busujima's as they started to move forwards towards them.

James chuckled at the figure's statement.

"You're right, but so should you…" James responded.

The figure felt something poking his chest where his heart would be. Looking down, he noticed what looked like a wrist blade sticking out of a bracer he noticed when the young man took off his weighted clothes. The figure chuckled and rose to his feet and gave his hand to the young man gesturing him to his feet which was accepted.

The Busujima's, who had stopped running at this point, stared at the two in shock.

"I think it's time we stopped the charade and come clean right Dad?" James asked.

The figure removed his hood to reveal his face causing both Busujima's to open their mouths.

"Dad!?" all was they screamed out.

AN: So lets give some context to this fight. I needed James' cover to be blown to Saeko and Kage without a fallout and I felt this would be the best scenario to do it.

Comparing Father to Son, James is quicker in his movements in both offense and defense and tactical positioning to influence his strikes and blocks. However, Chris is a more rounded fighter, having more physical strength and vastly more experience in battle. Whilst it may look like a close fight up until the final part, the final almost forced ending to the fight gives the feel that Chris can end the fight should he felt the need to. Was he going 100%? Well lets say if the weighted clothes were on him, with no hidden blades? James would still lose here as Chris' experience gives him a superior edge to which the same outcome would be applied. To put it at a number, lets place James (without weights) at 100 for a benchmark. With his weights, I would place him at 80. Chris on the other hand, going all out would be at 115. As for Kage and Saeko they are placed at 50 and 45 respectively but before the Saeko fans get at me for feeling that she's being nerfed, she is weaker than her father for a reason that will be explained later in this story.

That being said, I wanted to make James a little human here. In both stories so far, he has won every fight either with ease or little to no trouble and it is not my intention to make him and the Carter family to be OP 'demigods' OCs. The difference between your average trained martial artist and the Carter family members however is large but for a good reason which will also be explained in both stories at some point when it is convenient for either story to do so.

Anyway, that is enough from me. Rate, review etc.

Until next time.

Chapter 8 - Explanations and Assignments