Background- Born in the Chugoku Mountains of Japan, Reiji was raised in the more rural life of Japan. His childhood was a bit strange for the area however. His mother was of Anglo-Saxon descent, causing him to suffer almost no end to the xenophobic reactions to his half-bred heritage. He Grew distant from the people around him and his father sought some way to bring his son back.

On the hope that perhaps Reiji might find his place in America he took a leave of absence and took Reiji to the foreign country at the age of only 9. Once there, Reiji found himself still more comfortable alone, in the wild, than in the company of other people. At his insistence, Reiji’s parents took him to see national parks and other serene wonders. At one Reiji found a wolf cub that had been abandoned by its mother. Reiji, separated from his parents (a common occurrence by this point), took the cub with him and hid it in his bag. The two gained a bond as they finished the tour of the nation and headed back to Japan.

Still un-phased from his previous separation from humanity, his father once again sought for an answer. It came in Gairyu, a shotokan master who agreed to take Reiji under his tutelage. The two trained together for 2 years before Gairyu refused to teach any longer. He felt Reiji was becoming dangerous, his obsession with perfecting his kick technique to the exclusion of almost all his other skills combined with his loner nature gave Gairyu the fear that further instruction might lead Reiji down the same dark path of the infamous Akuma.

Gairyu left, leaving Reiji’s only friend being his wolf whom he had secretly stowed aboard the boat back and let free in the mountain forest to hunt. The two’s bond grew stronger still as Reiji decided to run away, leaving humanity behind. He trained for nearly 7 years in the secluded mountains, obsessed with perfecting his technique. Survival was rough, the training was rougher still. At last, when Reiji was able to break down whole rows of stone stalagmites did he consider himself ready to leave and seek competition with whom to continue to better himself.