The two stood six meters apart—not too far, not too close. Neither was at a particularly safe distance from the other.
Without warning, Yura's body didn't move, yet she vanished in an instant.
Outer Style: Godspeed
She concentrated her chakra in one point and exploded off the ground.
But they were on the sea! It was fundamentally different from being on land. On the water, many ninjas couldn't use their Body Flicker techniques properly; they could only maintain enough chakra to stand on the surface.
Fast!
Mito's pupils contracted sharply. Her body reacted before her mind. A sword technique etched almost into her instincts sprang into action as she watched Yura suddenly rush straight at her with the Body Flicker Technique, while eight waves burst up behind her.
An ordinary ninja would have been caught off guard by Yura's movements.
But in the eyes of a sensor ninja like Mito, every Body Flicker had its tell.
That stance...
In Mito's line of sight, Yura raised her sword with both hands and feinted a downward slash at her face. A direct cut?
A feint...?
Then I'll bait her with this move. Mito raised her left hand and flashed a sword down toward Yura's face. It was also a direct cut, but her Nodachi was longer than Yura's sword. If both blades fell, Yura would be struck first. Mito's right hand moved with it...
As she charged in, Yura's form flickered like a ghost. She slipped past Mito's left side beneath the descending blade, shifted her two-handed grip, and followed through with a dragging slash at Mito's abdomen.
A two-handed grip wasn't just an advantage in strength. The leverage of both hands on the hilt made it easy to change the sword's path—what you'd call a forced cancel in gaming terms.
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