Change: Battle

Seeing the frost-covered blade drawing ever closer, Zi Xu raised his sword and struck back. Since he did not know how to use a sword properly, he might as well wield it however felt most natural.

"Clang! Clang! Clang!" The blade collided with ice crystals, and the heat from the friction melted the shattered ice into tiny droplets that scattered across the surrounding ground. Zi Xu swung his sword purely with brute force, but it was not as though he had learned no technique at all.

"Can energy be attached to a weapon? Haki can be infused into one, so why can't an ability user's power?" Zi Xu mobilized the Silent Power within his body and tried to coat his blade with it.

The blade collided with the ice blade again, but this time, there was no sound at all. At the instant their blades met, Zi Xu seemed to vanish from Bai's perception for a moment. Not as though he had disappeared into thin air, but as if his presence had completely sunk away.

Zi Xu noticed Bai's reaction as well, and delight rose in his heart. It worked.

"Hmm, come to think of it, does Kaido even use a sword? I've barely seen him use one. Never mind. Now that I've infused my power into a weapon, I should name this move according to tradition. What kind of Eight Trigrams should I call it...?"

After taking Zi Xu's powerful strike, Bai was forced far back, his feet carving deep furrows through the grass. He flexed his slightly numb hand, glanced at the sword that had begun to crack, then sheathed it.

"Your style is not suited for wielding such a short samurai sword. It cannot bring out your full strength." Bai pointed at the "sword" in Zi Xu's hand, which had shattered until only the hilt remained. That strike had been overwhelmingly powerful, impossible to deflect. If Zi Xu's sword had not been so short, Bai would have been in an even worse state.

"Yeah, I'll make do with it for now. When I get the chance, I'll choose a weapon that suits me better. But your swordsmanship is really impressive. I never expected a ninja to be so good with a sword..." Seeing that Bai had no intention of continuing their spar, Zi Xu patted him on the shoulder. He truly had not expected a ninja pretending to be a samurai to be this formidable.

"You flatter me. My strength is still quite weak..."

"You said before that being a samurai was only a disguise. Will you still use a sword in the future?" Zi Xu interrupted his modest words. He felt that Bai seemed naturally suited to wielding a sword, and it would be a shame if he stopped using one because of his disguise.

"..." He lifted half his mask, revealing a pair of dark blue eyes. His black pupils appeared especially clear under the moonlight. After hesitating for a moment, he gently nodded.

"I will continue to wield my sword until its blade is no longer sharp, until I exhaust the last of my Chakra, until the final moment of my life. I will protect that person..." Bai smiled with a sense of relief and put his mask back on.

[The host has changed the course of the world]

[The host has completed the Fate-Changing Mission: Wandering Samurai—Bai]

[You have received 5,000 Reward Points]

"Hmm?" Zi Xu's eyebrows rose unconsciously. He had not expected to stumble into completing a mission, and the reward was quite substantial.

"What's wrong?" Bai asked when he saw Zi Xu spacing out.

"Ah? Ah, nothing. I still have a few questions about infusing Chakra and other forms of energy into weapons..."

Although he had not practiced Sage Mode that night, Zi Xu did not feel that he had wasted his time. Bai's explanation of the techniques for infusing energy into weapons had inspired him greatly. At the very least, it had laid the foundation for him to master more advanced applications of Haki in the future.

"Haah~" Early the next morning, Hatsumi stretched comfortably. She had not slept very well the night before. In the middle of the night, those Ronin locked in cages had started making irritating noises. They had been loud, but after a bout of ice cracking, they had quieted down considerably.

"Huh? Why are Zi Xu and that White-Clad Samurai fighting? Chino! Come out, quick!" The moment Hatsumi stepped outside, she saw Zi Xu and Bai clashing with samurai swords in hand. Cold blue energy coated Bai's blade, while faint black-red energy seeped from Zi Xu's sword.

Chino rubbed her slightly messy hair. Unlike Hatsumi, she had slept well last night. It was rare that the people from the main family did not drag her up for early training, so naturally she intended to get a good night's sleep.

"What is it?" Though somewhat reluctant, Chino still crawled out of bed and pushed the little Panda clinging to her leg aside.

"Zi Xu and the White-Clad Samurai are fighting!"

"What?"

She hurriedly activated her Byakugan and looked toward Zi Xu. The two figures darted and shifted amid flashing blades, occasionally locking weapons as they tested each other's strength.

Their fighting styles were clearly different. The White-Clad Samurai moved lightly and nimbly, skilled at using his Ice Release techniques to block Zi Xu's attacks. Zi Xu's style, on the other hand, was broad and forceful. In his hands, a samurai sword was wielded with the imposing momentum of a staff. The whooshing sounds of the blade slicing through the air proclaimed the power behind each strike.

"Eight Trigrams..." An Eight Trigrams Formation appeared beneath Chino's feet, as though she intended to help Zi Xu fight.

"Don't mind them. They're only sparring..." Tenzo appeared from nowhere and lightly patted Chino on the shoulder. The Eight Trigrams Formation beneath her feet dispersed on its own.

The Black-Clad Samurai also watched their fight with great interest, nodding appreciatively.

"He can already infuse energy into a weapon without even knowing his Chakra nature... Though his swordsmanship is far too crude. He'd probably be better off with a wooden stick than a sword..." The man frowned his nonexistent brows, clearly dissatisfied with Zi Xu's way of using a sword.

"Judging from the energy fluctuations he's giving off, there seems to be fire-nature energy. There's a sharpness to it—perhaps lightning-nature as well? I thought it would be a while before they came into contact with Chakra Nature Transformation. It seems we can test their Chakra natures ahead of schedule." Tenzo secretly made his plans. These little fellows had brought him quite a few surprises, though things always differed from what he had planned in his lesson outline.

"Clang, clang~" The two locked blades again, but while droplets of water covered both swords and the blades were in contact, Bai used Ice Release. Their swords froze together, and Bai abandoned his own sword before using the Body Flicker Technique to appear behind Zi Xu. He sent a kick filled with icy energy toward Zi Xu's lower back.

But Zi Xu seemed to have anticipated the attack. When Bai vanished, he did not stop moving. He flung away the samurai sword in his hand, leaned forward, planted one hand on the ground, and inverted his lower body. His legs bent in the air, and the instant Bai appeared, he unleashed the kick he had already charged.

"Take this! Supreme Slippers!" Zi Xu shouted something strange as a pair of huge slippers collided directly with Bai's ice-covered kick, erupting in bursts of steam.