The one who bore the title of "Eternal Genin," yet whose true strength and experience were enough to surpass many jōnin.
"Senpai, you jest." Shinichi's tone was sincere. "I've only just become a shinobi. I need to learn from experienced, battle-hardened shinobi like you. To have the opportunity to form a team with you is my honor."
"Hahaha, no need for so many pleasantries." Kosuke laughed and waved his hand. A sharp gleam flashed through his narrowed eyes. "I don't know why the village assigned the two of us to the same team, but from now on we'll be comrades who entrust our lives to each other. This old man ought to understand you properly first. Hearing rumors alone isn't reliable enough. How about this—"
"Let's exchange a few moves. In real combat, things are seen most clearly."
In truth, given Kosuke's usual temperament, it made little difference to him who he teamed up with. He was even less inclined to deliberately test a new teammate's capabilities.
However, this time the situation was special—Third Hokage personally sought him out and earnestly instructed him that this child was a precious sapling bearing the Will of Fire. As a senpai, he must guide him well.
"I've heard you're a swordsmanship genius," Kosuke said as his hand reached toward the large iron pot strapped to his back. From within, he actually drew out a plain, ancient-style katana, holding it in his hand. His posture was casual, yet as steady as a mountain. "As it happens, I also know a little swordsmanship. So then, let's begin with swordsmanship."
"Senpai, in my perception… your strength is very great—far beyond what the level of a genin can reach."
Hearing this, Shinichi took a deep breath, slowly adjusting his breathing and stance.
His right hand steadily and firmly rested upon the hilt of the blade at his waist as he said: "So, in the upcoming test, I will use my full strength."
"Oh?" A trace of surprise flickered across Kosuke's eyes. Then he recalled the rumors in the village that this child possessed sensory talent, and immediately understood.
His kind smile did not change, but his gaze settled. He nodded. "Very good. Come at me with the resolve to kill me!"
"Forgive my offense, senpai!"
Before his words had even fallen, Shinichi transformed into a black streak nearly impossible to catch with the naked eye. Blade-light slashed through the air like cold lightning, sweeping upward from a tricky angle. The air was torn apart with a keening sound; before the blade even arrived, that decisive sharp intent was already surging forth!
This was… a swift Iai strike that fused the Body Flicker Technique with a drawing slash.
There was also a trace of the Steel Fist style within it.
In that split instant, the experienced Kosuke had already discerned the essence of the strike.
His response was effortless, exquisitely precise.
At the instant that razor-sharp blade was about to strike home, Kosuke's sword-wielding wrist seemed to move only ever so slightly. Yet his figure abruptly became illusory, and the surrounding light looked as though it were gently stirred and bent by an invisible force.
It made his whole body seem to merge into a rippling reflection in water, vanishing from where he stood in a blink!
Shinichi's strike—certain to hit, and fused from the essence of three techniques—cut through empty space!
The next instant, a trace of cold, silent sharpness—carrying almost no killing intent and no sound of wind—had already arrived from the blind spot at Shinichi's side-rear, the most difficult angle for his sight and perception to reach, and precisely stabbed toward the vital point at the center of his back!
Konoha-ryū: In!
And Shinichi's response likewise displayed solid fundamentals and instantaneous judgment far beyond what his age would suggest!
Shinichi's body rebounded like a bowstring snapping back tight. With his left foot as the pivot, his waist and hips erupted with tremendous twisting force, driving his entire body into a high-speed spin!
Borrowing that fierce rotational momentum, the blade in his hand drew a full, dangerous arc, slashing upward from below in a reverse cut toward the cold sharpness attacking from behind!
Dōgaeshi!
This was a standard counter in kendō for dealing with a rear surprise attack, emphasizing pinpointing position by sound and a rapid rotating slash.
Clang!!!
A crisp yet deafening sound of metal striking metal exploded across the training ground! Sparks burst between the interlocked blades!
That heavy, forceful rotating slash slammed solidly into Kosuke's ghostlike, unpredictable thrust!
However, under Shinichi's full-power reverse slash—enough to cleave rock—Kosuke's not particularly burly body did not budge in the slightest!
His sword-holding arm was as steady as bedrock, without a trace of tremor, effortlessly absorbing and neutralizing all that force.
Shinichi's formidable strength—bolstered by various Entries and far surpassing ordinary people—was, for the first time in his life, unable to gain even the slightest advantage in a head-on clash.
Yet Shinichi was not surprised by this.
Because he knew very well that this genin before him—seemingly kind, even somewhat comical—had a true level of strength that had long since stepped into the realm of jōnin, and perhaps even higher.
In the original timeline more than ten years later, Maruboshi Kosuke—already past sixty, and having suffered a severe injury that resulted in a broken leg—could still, on his own, deal with a unit composed of dozens of Iwagakure chūnin and genin, and in that situation still easily defeat an Iwagakure jōnin.
This was enough to prove that, among Konoha jōnin, his strength was also outstanding.
And the Maruboshi Kosuke of the present might not match his future self from more than ten years later in experience and technique, but at this time he had only just reached fifty. He had not yet experienced the Third Shinobi World War that would lead to that broken-leg disability, and his body and condition were at the peak of his prime.
In raw strength, he was absolutely no weaker than his later self from that period.
On the field, the two figures continuously crossed, separated, and collided again.
Dense, crisp rings of blades striking linked into one continuous stretch, like a sudden downpour tapping against the training ground's silence.
Although it was a contest of swordsmanship, the two had distinctly different swordsmanship styles.
Shinichi's swordsmanship style was more pure. Whether it was swift iaijutsu, steady slashes, or refined blocks and counters, all were rooted in the sword itself, pursuing the ultimate coordination of power, speed, angle, and timing.
The Konoha-ryū displayed by Kosuke, on the other hand, was a perfect fusion of the ninja identity with swordsmanship.
At times, his body turned into a streak of flowing light, his figure suddenly dissipating beneath Shinichi's blade, only to solidify on the opposite side and thrust out with a sword. Its trajectory drifted like rosy clouds across the horizon, elusive and hard to grasp.
Konoha-ryū: Kasumi!
At other times, the blade-light in his hand interwove with silent shuriken and kunai he threw, forming a net that created a three-dimensional and lethal composite attack.
The sword was the main offense; hidden weapons sealed off movement paths, forcing Shinichi, while parrying the blade, to divide his attention to deal with threats from other angles.
Konoha-ryū: Arashi!
The three-dimensional combination of sword strikes and throwing techniques generated a suppressive force like a raging storm.
Faced with these unpredictable sword attacks that fused the essence of ninja techniques, Shinichi chose to return to fundamentals, breaking skill with simplicity.
He brought his incomparably solid basics to their limit!
Against the phantom assault of "Kasumi," relying on astonishing sharpness and extremely fast reaction speed, he could always, at the final instant, determine where the true killing intent lay and neutralize it with the most concise and effective slash or block.
Against the three-dimensional offensive of "Arashi," he displayed astonishing strength and bodily coordination. His blade-light formed a curtain—deflecting or cutting—dismantling the coordinated attacks of sword and hidden weapons one by one. At times, he could even seize a gap in the offense to launch a fierce counterattack.
The two figures once again closed in at high speed, blades wrapped in sharp whistles, on the verge of another head-on collision.
However, in the split second before the two swords were about to clash, Shinichi suddenly loosened his right hand on the blade!
It was not a loss of grip, but a deliberate abandonment of the clash!
Using the momentum of his forward charge, he twisted his waist sharply. His entire body spun into the air like a leopard. The muscles of his right leg bulged, tearing through the air like a heavy battle-axe, sweeping across with overwhelming force toward Kosuke's side neck and head!
Leaf Whirlwind!
Facing this sudden and ruthless taijutsu assault, surprise flickered through Kosuke's eyes, yet his reaction was astonishingly fast.
His left arm rose like a shield, barring across his side.
Bang!
With a dull thud, leg and arm collided. Kosuke's figure drifted backward with the force, dissipating the impact.
Shinichi, however, was still in midair and had not yet landed, yet his offensive had already risen again!
Borrowing the remaining momentum from the spinning kick, his left leg snapped backward like a whip, precisely striking the end of the hilt of the katana he had just released, which had not yet fallen to the ground!
Whoosh!
The katana shot out as though launched from a powerful bow, turning into a straight streak of cold light and firing directly toward Kosuke, who was still retreating!
It was not over yet!
The moment Shinichi landed, his hands had already become a blur of afterimages before his chest, forming seals as fast as lightning.
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