He was doing one of his early morning practices with the sword. He had hoped to encounter Sabo in the valley once more, but it looks like the man has disappeared from the village, and the rivers returned to running clear and blue. With his Takashi blade, he was practicing doing Iaido. With a quick draw of his sword, he would burst forward, taking two steps to cross a commendable distance before launching a quick slash that seemed to have cut the air itself. Musashi quickly realized the limitations of this technique. As he was primarily a dual user, normally it would be hard for him to execute this after drawing out his swrd since both hands would be occupied with a blade. But lately Musashi has found ways to use Iai while still keeping one hand on one handle. While his left hand was holding a sword, his other hand had sheathed the other pair with its grip tight over the handle. Taking a few steps forward, Musashi released it from its sheath at high speed while darting forward, giving his slash an accelerated effect. As he pulled his sword out, he followed the motion by re-sheathing his other blade held by his other hand back into its sheath, which was on the opposite side. Now that he landed back on his feet, Musashi jumped and released his sword from its sheath, allowing him to draw it out at high speed. Right after that, he sheathed his other sword and then drew it out at high speed as well. This level of precision and reflex skill allows him to consecuively employ Iaido in battle. Now obviously there is an interval between Musashi sheathing a blade and him drawing it out, especially when he’s doing it right after he swings another blade. But the speed in which he does this and the mastery over the skill that he has allows it so that only a Taijutsu or Bukijutsu Master would be able to take advantage of it in close combat. But at least he is able to make Iaido practical with his dual-handed style now. And then one moment while he was finishing up his training routine, Musashi heard a loud movement in the water. He turned to see if rocks were being pelted down there, but he was surprised a humanoid standing over the water. He had a mask on, and it seemed to be a creepy hanya mask too. Red in nature, it had the face of an oni. Musashi assumed it must be a spirit who veered off from the spirit world and has entered konohgakure soil. The spirit didn’t have anything on except a loincloth covering the private areas. Everything else was exposed to the hair and bare naked. Musashi sheathed both of his swords, but kept one hand over the handle of one blade. The spirit stood still, until Musashi walked towards it, in which case the spirit walked towards Musashi until it got on land. Musashi stopped and they circled each other in a very amusing, suspenseful way. Circling around each other, it was like they were doing some kind of ritual. The man slays the monster. Musashi clicked his teeth a few times, trying to establish a line of communication with this weirdo. But the demon spirit did not respond. It remained completely quiet and simply moved according to how Musashi moved. The ronin got the sense that it was about to pounce, as well as it was just doing this for self-defense. At last, Musashi stopped the cycle, and the spirit stopped as well. The two looked at each other, before Musashi decided he must broke the silence. With his free hand by his side, Musashi performed two actions simultaneous. One is the leap of faith towards the spirit’s direction. And the other is the instantaneous drawing of his speed as a high-speed slash towards the spirit. Musashi cut the thing as if it were air, and he was able to phase through it, landing just a few meters behind it. The spirit started to flicker like a hologram before it vanished. Musashi sheathed his sword and sighed. The demon had been vanquished.
[EXIT/TOPIC END]
[EXIT/TOPIC END]