Shisui missed with the first strike and changed moves instantly. With a turn of his wrist, his blade flowed like quicksilver spilling across the ground—cutting, wiping, lifting—its angles impossible to predict, every slash carrying astonishing speed and penetrating force as he pressed Mikami Yuu hard!
This was the famed Uchiha-style swordsmanship, known for its agility and unpredictable shifts!
Mikami Yuu unfolded Hatake Swordsmanship in response, meeting him head-on!
Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!!
A storm of rapid impacts instantly filled the entire training ground! The two figures became like intertwined whirlwinds, blades flashing cold light as their bodies crossed and blurred into one another.
Asuma and the others watched in a daze. Rin gripped the edge of her clothes tightly, holding her breath.
To be honest,
out of everyone present, Shisui had the highest talent and the highest ceiling.
Otherwise, there was no way he could go on to earn the title "Shisui of the Body Flicker" during the Third Great Ninja War despite being a year younger than Asuma and the others. Even Kakashi, who was always called a genius, only really began building his reputation after gaining the Sharingan.
And that talent was already showing now.
In terms of raw strength, Mikami Yuu and Shisui were about the same—if anything, Mikami Yuu was slightly stronger.
But Shisui's force application and timing made up for the difference.
Every time he moved, he drew out the maximum of his power, always looking several steps ahead. His offense didn't look as brutally overwhelming as Kakashi's, but the moment he gained even a slight edge, he would keep reinforcing and expanding it, snowballing it bigger and bigger.
In a way, that style was a little bit of a bad matchup for Hatake Swordsmanship.
(Come to think of it, based on how it went with Kakashi last time, the galgame system should be about to trigger an [Encounter] quest, right…?)
The thought had only just crossed Mikami Yuu's mind—
when he heard:
[Ding! High-quality potential romanceable target detected: "Uchiha-style swordsmanship"! Begin encounter: Yes/No]
"It's here!"
Just as Mikami Yuu took a deep breath, preparing to activate Transformation Technique: Partial Transformation and trade with Shisui for a while to complete this [Encounter], another voice suddenly rang in his ear—cold and proud:
[Hatake Swordsmanship: Hmph! Mere parlor tricks, and he dares show them off in front of me? I'd say this brat doesn't even have me in his eyes!]
[Hatake Swordsmanship: Little White Hair, don't bother with her. Give me time, and I'll carry you beyond "Uchiha-style swordsmanship"!]
"…?"
Mikami Yuu's eyelid twitched.
So as fellow combative arts, Uchiha-style swordsmanship and Hatake Swordsmanship not only lacked the "family connection" that Great Fireball and Phoenix Fire had, they even had a kind of mutual-repulsion thing going on?
That was a development he'd never seen before…
If he listened to Hatake Swordsmanship and rejected the [Encounter], would that raise her affection?
The thought only lasted a few seconds.
Then Mikami Yuu made his choice:
"I refuse."
—Having another romance target was a good thing, but a person's time and energy were limited.
Mikami Yuu's Hatake Swordsmanship had only just begun. He hadn't even unlocked the stage-one trait at 25 affection yet, and he still had a pile of other jutsu to practice on top of missions. If he encountered Uchiha-style swordsmanship now, he simply wouldn't have time to train it, and it would just sit in the list gathering dust.
So it was better to focus first and conquer Hatake Swordsmanship.
If her trait turned out to be strong enough, then there would be no need for him to learn any other sword style at all. At most, through ordinary sparring, he could borrow good points from other styles and further refine the already excellent Hatake Swordsmanship.
Sure enough—
just as Mikami Yuu expected, when he chose No, the galgame text box changed again:
[Hatake Swordsmanship: Hmph. That's more like it.]
[Hatake Swordsmanship affection +3! Current affection: 9/100 (Stranger)]
And then—
Mikami Yuu felt a cold, razor-sharp intent pour directly into his mind:
[Hatake Swordsmanship: Three steps front-left, under the pine's shadow! His next strike will absolutely come through that gap and target the Zusanli point on your lower leg! Drop your hips! Sink your center of gravity, lower your blade three inches! After the block, thrust straight into his sternum! Force him to change moves!]
"Huh?"
So she was doing live instruction now?
And the callouts were this precise—even down to "lower your blade three inches"?
Mikami Yuu had some doubts, but still followed the instruction.
Clang!
Sure enough, the instant his blade dropped, a viciously angled flash of steel drilled out from the gap in the tree shadow to his left exactly as Hatake Swordsmanship said, stabbing straight for his calf—only to be caught perfectly by his lowered blade tip!
"…?"
A flicker of astonishment passed through Shisui's eyes.
That move, Sun Halo Dance, was one of the most concealed ambush techniques in Uchiha-style swordsmanship. Its angle was vicious and its speed was fast enough that anyone who hadn't seen it before should have no way to read it—let alone block it precisely!
—And in fact, even seeing it wasn't enough. Shisui's attack speed was extremely fast, and combined with the Uchiha clan's superior dynamic vision, ordinary people simply couldn't keep up.
And at the exact instant Shisui's move was broken—old force spent, new force not yet born—Mikami Yuu stepped in hard, driving his short blade straight at Shisui's vital point in the chest!
"?!"
Shisui's eyelid jumped. He jerked backward while snapping his wrist, his short blade drawing a dense curtain of light in front of his chest!
Clang-clang-clang-clang!!
A flurry of impacts so rapid it sounded like popping beans exploded outward! In that tiny span of time, the two of them had already exchanged over a dozen moves! The afterimages left by their crossing blades looked like splashes of water bursting apart!
Only when Shisui used Body Flicker to widen the distance did the pace finally ease for a moment.
At this point, the shock on Shisui's face was impossible to hide.
"As expected of a senpai who's already become a genin. Not only is your taijutsu excellent—even your swordsmanship is this strong… Next, I'm going all out!"
"No problem. Come on!"
After a brief buildup—
Shisui charged again, even faster than before. His whole body seemed to split into two or three overlapping shadows, while the short blade in his hand turned into a continuous silver web of light, pushing the speed and unpredictability of Uchiha-style swordsmanship to the limit.
"Gale Sword!"
And yet—
under Hatake Swordsmanship's live guidance, Mikami Yuu fought as if he'd opened some kind of divine eye. His dynamic vision couldn't quite keep up with Shisui's attack speed, but he always managed to choose the most efficient and direct way to block, evade, and counter. By the narrowest of margins, he dissolved one crisis after another.
[Hatake Swordsmanship: Hmph. Another feint! His weight is on the right leg, and the blade is angling off-line to strike your left ribs! Half-step to the side, hold the blade across your chest, then twist and trap his sword after the block!]
[Hatake Swordsmanship: Three inches back-right—swing horizontally to force his line to bend! His next strike will cut your right-side opening! Turning slash! Seven parts force!]
[Hatake Swordsmanship: My swordsmanship values speed, precision, and ruthlessness—one strike, one kill! Ignore his follow-up shifts and stab the center line directly!]
~~~
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