Ikeuchi Mentaro

* Seeker 1
* Seeker 2

**Ikeuchi Mentaro** (池 (いけ) 内 (うち)  面 (めん) 太 (た) 郎 (ろう) , *Ikeuchi Mentarō*; *"Mentaro Ikeuchi"*), also known as **The Seeking Fist** (求 (ぐ) 道 (どう) の拳 (こぶし) , *Gudō no Kobushi*), is a 2nd Dan karateka, formerly of the Nito Style school of Karate. He entered two Rokushin Kaikan Tournaments, including the no-holds-barred tournament. Ikeuchi was one of the alliance's warriors in the war against the Manji army.

## Appearance

Ikeuchi has short, close-cropped hair and is fairly large, being noticeably larger than Kureishi Mitsuyo. His most distinguishing feature are his prominent cheekbones. He also has developed cauliflower ears over the months since the first Rokushin Kaikan Tournament. After abandoning karate, Ikeuchi stops wearing his gi and instead wears a pair of boxing shorts during his fights.

## Personality

Ikeuchi is a noticeably driven individual. He is also humble enough to recognise and acknowledge his own weaknesses.

## History

Ten years before the Rokushin Kaikan tournament no rules took place, Mentaro was still one of the troublemakers in the neighborhood when Futoyama Baitatsu forced him and the others to become disciples, most of them left after a day but Mentaro was one of the brave ones who stayed and gradually became Futoyama's best disciple.

Three years before *Fist of the Seeker* started, Ikeuchi met Ito Juttosai in a martial arts technical exchange and quickly became friends.

Six months before the beginning of *Fist of the Seeker*, Ikeuchi entered a Rokushin Kaikan Tournament and successfully made it to the final eight competitors before being defeated by Yamada Kentaro, an unprecedented feat for a non-Rokushin fighter, earning him the nickname "**The Ultimate Outsider**".

## Plot

Troubled by the gap in strength between him and the rest of the Best 8 from the recent Rokushin Kaikan Tournament, Ikeuchi brought his concerns to his master, who confirmed his fears: Ikeuchi had reached the limit of his ability as a karateka and would not be able to improve from there. As a result, Ikeuchi decided to abandon karate.

Two days later, Ikeuchi went to Shinjuku to meet Ito Juttosai and discuss his future. Afterwards, Ikeuchi asked Ito if he was up to spar the following week.
The following week, Ikeuchi met up with Ito, who had also invited Kureishi Mitsuyo along. To the shock of both Ito and Kureishi, Ikeuchi demanded Kureishi fight him by MMA rules and without holding back. During the match, Ikeuchi countered Kureishi's attempts to grapple him with not only karate blows but also by employing counter-grappling measures he developed in the six months since the Rokushin Kaikan tournament. However, neither fighter was able to knock each other out and the match ended after time was up. Kureishi admitted defeat, while Ikeuchi bemoaned his inability to knock out someone who was both smaller and lighter.

When a second Rokushin Kaikan Tournament was announced, Ikeuchi was initially reluctant to enter the tournament until he was confronted by his old enemy, Hayakuwa Samato, who declared that he would enter the tournament. In his sleep that night, Ikeuchi conducted image training, commanding his mental projection, "Blackie", to fight him as first Ito and then as Hayakuwa; after defeating Hayakuwa in his image training, Ikeuchi decided to enter the Rokushin Kaikan Tournament.

On the day of the tournament, he arrived at the venue and was greeted by Kureishi. Fighting in the first match against Yamada Kentaro, who defeated him in the previous tournament. Yamada initially held Ikeuchi at bay with a storm of Brazilian Kicks, but Ikeuchi responded with a flurry of strong blows of his own leading to a comfortable victory over Yamada.

## Power & Abilities

Even before "abandoning" karate, Ikeuchi was a formidable karateka, able to make it to the final eight of a Rokushin Kaikan tournament as an outsider. His sensei, Futoyama Baitatsu, even described him as his number one disciple. However, despite his first-class power and toughness, his Achilles' heel was his comparative lack of fighting intuition, which meant he would never be able to match the top level of karate practitioners. In response to his mental limitations, Ikeuchi branched out his techniques, learning grappling in order to create counter-grappling techniques and shifting the focus of his blows to the meridian line to compensate for his lack of intuition. Kureishi considers Ikeuchi a natural grappler, able to swiftly gain an understanding of grappling even after only six months.

### Nito Style

The **Nito Style** (新 (にい) 刀 (とう) 流 (りゅう) , *Niito-ryū*; lit. *New Sword Style*) The school of karate that Ikeuchi had been practising up until his first Rokushin Kaikan Tournament.Because the Nito Style allows blows to the face, which most karate styles traditionally do not permit, Ikeuchi also has an advantage in terms of the amount of damage he is able to withstand.

### Ikeuchi Style

The **Ikeuchi Style: All-Around Striking Art** (池内流全局面打擊術) is a style that Ikeuchi created to overcome his lack of intuition. The attacks of this style are mainly aimed at the middle (chest) and dantian (below the navel). Perfected from the limit that Ikeuchi realized from out-of-body experience, focusing on hitting the center of the body so it was difficult to dodge even though the damage wasn't too high, was first used to defeat Yamada.

### Ikeuchi Formula

The **Ikeuchi Formula: Zero Range Cannon** (池 (いけ) 内 (うち) 式 (しき) 零 (れい) 距 (きょ) 離 (り) 砲 (ほう) , *Ikeuchi-shiki Rei kyori-hō*) is the name of the fajin that Ikeuchi uses. Ikeuchi will close to the opponent and then use one hand or foot to hold the opponent, the other hand will punch a powerful punch with almost zero distance. According to Hayakuwa, it was just a normal attack that was unlikely to cause injury, but with Ikeuchi's strength, Hayakuwa couldn't stand it eithe.

## Etymology

* **Ikeuchi** means "pool, pond" (池) (**ike**) and "inside, within" (内) (**uchi**).
* **Mentaro** means "surface/face, side, facet, mask, corner, mug, facial features, face guard, page, phase" (面) (**men**), "thick, big, great" (太) (**ta**) and "son" (郎) (**ro**).

## Notes & Trivia

* Ikeuchi is a staff member at Koyo Academy college.
* Ikeuchi's karate career has allowed him to meet and befriend all kinds of people, including MMA fighter Kureishi Mitsuyo and kenjutsu fighter Ito Juttosai.

## References

1. ↑ Chapter 50 (Seeker)
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 Chapter 1 (Seeker)
3. ↑ Chapter 17 (Seeker)
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Fist of the Seeker: Rokushin Kaikan Tournament character profiles
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Chapter 5 (Seeker)
6. ↑ Chapter 4 (Seeker 2)
7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Chapter 10 (Seeker)
8. ↑ Chapter 66 (Seeker)
9. ↑ Chapter 2 (Seeker)
10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Chapter 5 (Seeker)
11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Chapter 19 (Seeker)
12. ↑ Chapter 6 (Seeker)
13. ↑ Chapter 11 (Seeker)
14. ↑ Chapter 20 (Seeker)
15. ↑ Chapter 52 (Seeker)