Of course, this "strike" looked simple, but it placed extremely high demands on wrist coordination and hand control—not merely in terms of intensity.
After tapping up and down twelve times, Mirai suddenly changed direction. The blade abruptly tilted left and right. Within a single breath, Mirai struck another twelve times.
After practicing "strikes" for nearly ten minutes, Mirai moved on to "thrusts," "parries," and "washes."
These were the fundamental techniques of swordsmanship. No matter which school of swordsmanship one looked at, these four movements formed the foundation of every style.
In the past, Mirai had relied on his own strength and skills, never having learned even the basics of swordsmanship. But now that he was truly studying it, he finally understood the nature of swordsmanship.
In Hokage, ninjutsu was the most commonly used form of combat, followed by taijutsu, with weapons coming last. Shinobi had never truly explored the ways weapons could be used; they merely wielded them with brute force.
Whether it was taijutsu or weaponry, failing to explore them did not mean they lacked power. On the contrary, it meant the opposite.
There was no need to mention taijutsu. Its representative figure was naturally Guy, who had pushed taijutsu to its utmost limit. After opening the Eighth Gate of Death, the forbidden taijutsu technique of the Eight Gates, he had nearly brought about Naruto's end.
As for weapons, things like shuriken and kunai served, at most, as a prelude before battle for the characters in Huo Ying. The real battle—and the real matter of life and death—came afterward, when they competed with their opponent's endurance.
Of course, there were also people who focused on researching such things while striving to grow stronger. As a result, they could easily kill their opponents without using ninjutsu.
However, some shinobi also