After the pre-battle trash talk ended, the two approached each other with their swords.
Unlike Tsunade and Miki's explosive start, or the impatient eagerness of typical students, the two advanced slowly and in sync, unhurried.
As the distance shortened, a natural sense of grim solemnity permeated the air.
In swordsmanship, there's an interesting phenomenon called 'Maai', which refers to the effective attacking distance, specifically the distance between two opponents.
From the side, the Maai between two individuals is very obvious, but when the visual perspective shifts to a head-on confrontation, the sense of distance becomes difficult to control.
Mastering Maai, the near and far distances, is equivalent to mastering swordsmanship. This is the most crucial aspect of swordsmanship.
So-called swordsmanship is precisely this: for the opponent, the Maai is far; for oneself, the Maai is close. Grasping this sense of distance is swordsmanship.
Therefore, advancing means either entering the opponent's Maai or entering one's own Maai. The speed is not important; what matters is grasping the subtle distance and effectively striking the opponent.
So, how does one enter the closest Maai for oneself? There are various methods. First, posture is very important. Second, discernment, being more perceptive than the opponent, is equally important.
And there's an even simpler, more brutal approach: extending the Maai.
As the two approached, Chiri carefully estimated the distance between them.
Ten meters, five meters, three meters...
At that very instant, Chiri's brow suddenly furrowed. This distance!?
Hyuga Hitomi made her move, drawing her sword and striking forward instantly.
A mistake!?
Her consciousness hadn't caught up, but her body instinctively reacted, stopping her advance and narrowly leaning back.
A flash of bright steel appeared before her eyes, like a crescent moon carved in the air. A wisp of hair from her forehead was cut by the blade.
A chilling sensation flickered across her brow.
By this time, the drawing Hyuga Hitomi had already sheathed her sword. In her sideways attacking stance, her right hand rested lightly on the sword hilt.
"Tch," Hyuga Hitomi spat coldly, a little disappointed.
The distance between them was still over three meters.
Chiri was certain she hadn't made a mistake.
She had misjudged the Maai. But then she made another mistake, misjudging Hyuga Hitomi's Maai.
This distance was Hyuga Hitomi's attack range. Unbelievably long!
This meant Chiri's sword couldn't reach her opponent at all. What just happened? How did she do that?
The Shinobi who had discerned something began to whisper.
"Is it a jutsu that extends attack range?"
"How did she do it?"
But many still couldn't understand. Until a Hyuga Shinobi exclaimed in a low voice, "Gentle Fist Art!"
He recognized the true nature of Hyuga Hitomi's move: a high-density Chakra release.
Chiri in the arena no longer had time to focus on such things, because Hyuga Hitomi had already launched a storm-like assault.
"Secret Sword: Thirty-Two Cuts."
As Hyuga Hitomi lunged forward, drawing her sword, an incessant flurry of rapid slashes rained down on Chiri's vital points.
It was fast, incredibly fast! So fast that her arm became a blur, so fast that the sword disappeared within the continuous sword shadows.
It was precisely because Miki understood the difficulty that she couldn't help but be astonished. This girl, with just her wrist strength, managed to raise her sword speed to such a degree. Was that sword made of paper? Even if it were made of paper, it wouldn't be this outrageous!
Facing the deadly storm, Chiri dodged and retreated, swinging her swords to parry and block, barely resisting Hyuga Hitomi's one-handed offensive with her own sword speed.
Sparks from clashing blades danced and flickered around the two of them, and a series of ringing sword collisions echoed incessantly.
The dangerous sword dance was beautiful yet full of peril; one misstep could lead to decapitation.
The battle abruptly entered its climax. Incredibly beautiful sword techniques bloomed silently before their eyes, leaving the spectators agape.
Even Tsunade's face was solemn. Compared to Miki's swordsmanship, facing this kind of swordsmanship, she might be cut down within a single round.
Although there were no powerful destructive jutsu on display, the danger was even greater!
"Impossible! It's impossible!" The Hyuga Shinobi from before muttered to himself. He couldn't accept what he was seeing! As for why, "This simply can't be Gentle Fist Art!"
But it really was Gentle Fist Art. The foundation of the Main Family's secret transmission: Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms! Because she was wielding a sword with one hand, the density of the two-handed fist attacks decreased, reducing to Thirty-Two Cuts. But it was equally fast!
This shattered the Hyuga Shinobi's worldview, which he had built since childhood. Simply by taking up a sword, Gentle Fist Art completely lost its peaceful, defensive characteristics as a fist art, transforming into a brutal, fierce sword style!
So, it was impossible! He refused to believe that the Gentle Fist he had practiced since childhood was fake! He refused to believe that what he saw before him was the true face of Gentle Fist!
Others didn't pay attention to his thoughts. At this point, the wave of Thirty-Two Cuts rapid attacks ended. Chiri, using her two swords to dodge, barely managed to parry all of them.
She then consciously pulled back to a safe distance from Hyuga Hitomi. Slightly bent over, both were breathing heavily, recovering from the large amount of stamina instantly consumed.
"This girl!" Hyuga Hitomi was very surprised that Chiri had silently fended off her killing move.
And Chiri was equally shocked by Hyuga Hitomi's swordsmanship. When her narrowed eyes opened, they had changed from blood-red to normal black.
Ah, that's a move I can't learn. At most, I can learn the form, but the essential core conditions cannot be met: ultra-precise Chakra release and control.
Like Tsunade's monstrous strength and Miki's insects, it requires strict conditions to be met. The principle, however, was surprisingly simple.
Well then, let's try this move. Watching Hyuga Hitomi, Chiri slowly lowered her body until she was completely prone on the ground.
Insect Secret Technique: Centipede Dance: Dust Eater. She bit her short sword in her mouth, freeing her left hand to control her direction.
As soon as she lay down, Chiri noticed something was wrong: her vision! Her vision was completely lost! She had to strain her head upwards to get any view. How did Miki solve this problem? This move isn't suitable for me, but this level is barely enough.
"Chiri, that girl, learns quite fast, doesn't she? That convenient Sharingan." Miki chuckled, "My jutsu isn't that simple."
"A clever little girl," the Third Hokage said, biting his pipe. "Against swordsmanship with fixed forms, Mushi-Hime's move is its perfect counter. The ultra-low attack angle forces the opponent to disrupt their own form to cope, drastically reducing the power of their sword techniques."
The Third Hokage wasn't very knowledgeable about swordsmanship, but he knew that Miki's move was a perfect interpretation of Maai, pushing the most important aspect of posture to an extreme, unorthodox level. For herself, it was close. For her opponent, it was far. Tsunade's disadvantage lay in her lack of understanding of Maai. This was no longer human swordsmanship. Rather, would a normal human even conceive of such swordsmanship?
"They are all geniuses," the Third Hokage said, his eyes full of cheerful smiles. Although she didn't make a sound, being able to directly withstand Hyuga Hitomi's frontal sword techniques was an incredible feat in itself. However...
"Why isn't she using Fire Release?" a Shinobi familiar with the Uchiha asked, "Does she not know how?"
"Hmph!" an Uchiha replied, "Of course she wants to defeat her head-on with a sword!"
Defeating the opponent with their own abilities. The Uchiha's pride and mischievousness.
"I'm warning you!" Hyuga Hitomi said coldly to Chiri, "Miki's move won't work on me!"
"No!"
"Mushi-Hime's move won't work on me!"
Only one person in the class would call Miki by her first name. That was Chiri. Calling someone by their first name is a sign of intimacy.
Chiri's gaze towards Hyuga Hitomi became strange. "How will you know if you don't try?"
"Then bring it on!"
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