After their initial exchange, both Shiki and Mito stopped for a moment to contemplate before they each firmed their stance.
With a better idea of what his body could now accomplish, Shiki was eager to try and get one up on his mistress for the first time in a long while.
The boy erupted into motion, his blazing speed making it nearly impossible for him to be tracked through normal senses.
But just as Shiki used his sensory abilities to guide him during high speed movement, so did Mito use her Mind's Eye of The Kagura to accurately grasp his every motion.
There were downsides to having such precise senses
Shiki kept low as he instantly closed and distance, launching a gut punch that seemed to break the sound barrier.
Unruffled due to Mind's Eye of The Kagura, the Uzumaki matriarch raised her leg to block, perfectly timing her moment to the boy's showing the rather wide gap in power and skill that still existed between the two
Shiki's expressionless face gave away nothing but triumph filled the boy's spirit as his punch unnaturally snaked through Mito's guard and ended in a mighty liver shot.
Capitalizing on the shock his unexpected hit caused, he leapt in the air unleashing a tornado kick but his mistress reacted perfectly with a counter.
Mito realized something strange was going on so rather than put up an ineffective guard, she changed tactics to the "You can't hit me if I hit you first." doctrine.
'Naive, Mito-sama.' Shiki thought.
Lines of attack were not the only thing the boy could camouflage. The timing of his attacks too, could be falsified.
And so, before the redhead's counter hit, Shiki kick arrived ahead of schedule, landing on the Uzumaki matriarch's neck, sending her sliding back.
'No significant damage.' Shiki evaluated, once again being made to feel the overwhelming gap in power between him and his mistress, one that tactics and skills could not fill.
'But I am not being as easily overwhelmed as before.' Even as these thoughts floated through his mind, the boy did not pause his assault.
Shiki's punches and kicks continued to weave their way through Mito's guard, putting her completely on the defensive.
Blocks were bypassed, dodges were outmaneuvered and counters were always off timing, either made too late, resulting in the redhead taking a hit or too soon, letting Shiki abandon his attack because he had yet to commit fully.
The sounds of horrifying impacts rang as the boy's blows tore the earth and shattered trees, creating air explosions as they broke the sound barrier.
Alas, despite being slightly disheveled, Mito seemed not to be taking any damage and, with his advanced sensory abilities, it wasn't long before Shiki figured out the cause.
'I Mito-sama's pure physique could not be that resilient.' He internally grumbled with great dissatisfaction as his mistress gave out a taunting smirk at noticing his realization.
'She's using MY Flicker Flash!'
Rather than Shiki's precise use for strength and speed, the Uzumaki matriarch instead unleashed powerful bursts of chakra by relying on her massive Chakra Pool, using them to cushion the boy's every blow.
But while she was hoping to goad him into making a mistake by goading him with his own jutsu and a taunting smirk, Kukyo made all his frustration and dissatisfaction hollow and meaningless, incapable of disturbing his cool.
Seeing her provocation not work, Mito smiled in approval but quickly, the approval in her smile gave way to savagery.
'If I cannot effectively defend, then I merely have to give the enemy no opportunity to attack.' The redhead viciously thought and launched herself at her young ward.
Not caught off guard, Shiki did not even entertain the thought of blocking, using his massively improved speed to keep out of reach.
Backstepping, sidestepping and leaping out of danger, the boy was resolute in not letting his mistress even get close.
'As expected, my speed has increased enough to make a stalemate, though Mito-sama is still too strong for me to have any chance of winning, not to mention she is actively deciding not to use ranged jutsu.' Shiki thought.
This deliberate holding back made him start to consider a counteroffensive.
'After all, this is a spar, the perfect opportunity to take risks without danger of death' The boy thought.
With measuring intent, he began to delay his dodges, leaving himself smaller and smaller windows of time, testing the limits of his and Mito's speeds.
The redhead naturally noticed but made no detectable move, making Shiki suspicious.
That however, was not enough to deter him and soon enough, he was letting the Uzumaki matriarch's attacks reach him, dodging the blows themselves rather than avoiding Mito entirely but she still made no changes to her patterns, as if taunting him to do something.
And something he did.
Using his unpredictable movement, before the redhead could register he attacked, a right roundhouse kick was already nearing the side of her head, perfectly timed to hit before her attack.
But the vicious grin on Mito's face warned Shiki he played right into her hand.
With a devastating surge of chakra using the boy's Flicker Flash which he had taught her, the redhead blasted away her ward's foot with such force that he was knocked off balance.
Already knowing what was coming, Shiki could only cross his arms in a block, mimicking Mito's defensive use of Flicker Flash to cushion the arriving fist with a powerful surge of chakra.
Alas, he lacked the monstrous chakra reserves and output of his mistress.
And so, Mito's chakra enhanced fist blew past her ward's chakra burst and smashed into his block, nearly shattering his arms as the boy was sent flying through the air, tumbling across the ground and crashing through several trees before he finally stopped.
Agape, Tsunade watched from the side.
'No wonder that brat is so strong!' She thought.
'Who wouldn't be if they could survive training like this.'
Mito's blow was accompanied by a powerful burst of chakra that delivered enough internal shock to render the boy unconscious for a moment before his Ryumon resilience instantly reawakened him.
Unfortunately, he was still reeling from his mistress' blow and barely able to move, not even managing to get up.
Needless to say, Shiki was out for the count and the spar was thus over.
The Seju princess ended up not getting her turn either since she was mainly a taijutsu type and Shiki would almost certainly triumph there due to his deceptive movements and lines of attack.
The spar between her grandmother and the boy gave Tsunade a lot to think about regarding her own combat abilities while Shiki also got a few ideas on what to work on next.
His taijutsu, while incredibly effective, was not flawless, Mito was simply fighting in a way that allowed him to maximize its strengths.
So long as an opponent did not get into point black range and kept a full view of his body, they would not be nearly as helpless even if they would still inevitably be at a disadvantage.
The Uzumaki matriarch was constantly letting Shiki get close without warding him off with wide sweeping strikes and getting close herself when attacking so the boy maintained his advantage throughout the fight, it was simply a compatibility issue in their taijutsu styles.
That said, Mito too got a few ideas for her own progress, testing out her version of Flicker Flash in combat also proved to be a valuable experience.
With all three getting their ideas, they each wanted to go do their own thing and hearing each other try to rush their goodbyes, they smiled in mutual understanding before rushing away without even finishing their sentences.
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Hey, Author here!
Just a reminder that you can read up to a FULL MONTH ahead of this site on pa-treon.
I'm trying to become a full time Author now and I'm not going to be starting any new novels just so I can make sure this one is properly completed.
Find those sweet advanced chapters on pa-treon.com/lusoba without the -