By now, Kubota Noriyuki had completely dropped his guard. Those three exchanges had thoroughly convinced him: the person before him was undoubtedly a true martial artist.
He thought that although Bai Sui wielded a fairly uncommon double-edged sword, his technique was exquisite and his strikes astonishingly powerful.
He had no idea that Bai Sui had never specialized in any swordsmanship at all. He relied purely on his excellent physical condition: he moved faster, reacted faster, and hit harder.
The two paused briefly. After all, this was a sparring match, not a fight to the death, and Bai Sui hadn't kept pressing his attack.
Seeing that Kubota Noriyuki had regained his balance, Bai Sui attacked again with a simple step forward and a downward diagonal slash.
Kubota Noriyuki had been watching Bai Sui's every move since the start. He reacted at once, lowering his center of gravity slightly and bringing his long sword across to block. He knew he had no advantage on the offensive, so he could only defend for now and look for an opening in Bai Sui's moves to counterattack.
Bai Sui, however, pressed his advantage, stepping forward into a reverse upward cut before turning his wrist and sweeping his sword across, forcing his opponent to defend.
After a brief exchange of moves, Bai Sui had figured out his own limits. He was simply relying on his physical strength to overpower his opponent; he had never learned any refined techniques. Even if they kept fighting, it wouldn't change much for him.
So Bai Sui thrust downward, forcing his opponent to turn aside and defend, leaving him no choice but to meet the next strike with one hand. Bai Sui, meanwhile, pulled his arm back and swung in a half-circle, sweeping across with half his strength.
Blade met sword with a ringing clang. Under the tremendous force, Kubota Noriyuki felt the web between his thumb and forefinger split, and the long sword was knocked from his hand.
Looking at the torn, bleeding web of his right hand, Kubota Noriyuki bowed to Bai Sui. "I'm terribly sorry. I even doubted whether you'd really trained with a sword. I was blind to the truth. I'm sorry!"
Seeing how sincerely the other man apologized, Bai Sui was at a loss for words. What was this? Was this what it meant to defeat your opponent with sincerity?
Bai Sui hurried over and helped him up. "Not at all. I really don't look like someone who's trained with a sword, so it's only natural you had doubts. Come on inside. I'll take a look at your leg."
After asking Kubota Noriyuki how it felt and examining the painful area, Bai Sui confirmed there was no crepitus or obvious deformity to suggest a fracture. "You've sprained your ankle. Have you sprained it before?"
Kubota Noriyuki nodded. "I sprained it when I was little and training in kendo. It's always the same foot, too. Over the years, I've twisted it every now and then."
Bai Sui nodded to show he understood. He took out a fine needle he had made by grinding it with his Qi Sword and inserted it straight into the Kunlun Point, between the outer ankle bone and the Achilles tendon, about one cun deep. Then he guided the earth-aspected chakra within him into the point.
"Ah..." Kubota Noriyuki drew in a slight breath.
Bai Sui asked casually, "What does it feel like?"
"It's sore and numb, all the way from my ankle to my toes," Kubota Noriyuki answered at once.
Bai Sui nodded without further comment. He continued at the Juegu Point, also known as the Xuanzhong Point, three cun above the outer ankle bone. He inserted the needle straight in about one cun and guided the earth-aspected chakra into the point.
This time, before Bai Sui could ask, Kubota Noriyuki spoke up. "Now it's not just my toes. My whole foot feels sore, and kind of swollen."
Bai Sui left the needles in while the other man lay down for half an hour. Then he removed them and sensed the chakra he had infused into the acupoints. When he found it had flowed along the meridians to the injured area and settled there to nourish it, he felt reassured.
This was a method Bai Sui had figured out on his own over the past few years. By simply injecting earth-aspected chakra into the appropriate acupoints, he could greatly improve the treatment's effectiveness without causing any side effects. The only thing he had to watch out for was making the results so good that they attracted too much attention.
After removing the needles, Bai Sui took out an ounce of wood sorrel, crushed it, and applied it to the sprain.
"All right, put this medicine on and you can take it off tonight. You don't need to come tomorrow, but come back the day after, then once more the day after that. Three treatments should cure the underlying problem. Also, avoid strenuous activity and putting too much pressure on your ankle for now, so it doesn't get worse," Bai Sui instructed him before he left.
The herb was actually unnecessary; the needles alone had already cured the injury. Bai Sui had only applied it to make the results seem less remarkable. Likewise, even if the other man went home and started exercising, it wouldn't cause any harm. The chakra clinging to the injured area would have nearly healed the damage by the time he got home.
That was how Bai Sui had spent the past few years: using his miraculous chakra and his rudimentary skills as a Needle Doctor to cure the village's men, women, and children of all kinds of ailments, great and small.
The village was simply too small, and many illnesses were rare there. Bai Sui hardly ever got the chance to treat them, even when he tried to learn by following diagrams.
Besides, everyone did physical labor and was therefore quite strong. They rarely got sick. Most of their complaints were just wear and tear, and Bai Sui had managed to treat nearly all of those.
These days, Bai Sui was often frustrated by how effective his chakra was. After all, it left him with no chance to practice.
At the same time, his own sense of morality wouldn't let him delay treating the villagers. If he could help them and chose not to, that would be a different matter.
But an outstanding person was always bound to attract attention.
Sure enough, a few traveling merchants who had visited the village spread the word about Bai Sui, the miracle doctor.
Of course, his reputation circulated mostly among the common folk. After all, this world had ninjutsu.
Even if they weren't as adept at it as the Senju or Uzumaki, people would always find ways to develop chakra's miraculous potential.
In particular, those clans had inherited their traditions for centuries, even close to a thousand years. Over that long span of time, every clan that had survived to the present had done more than focus on developing its secret techniques and bloodline limits; it had also explored a wide range of other fields.
Thanks to the use of chakra, it wasn't only the ninja clans that benefited. The nobles of every country could enjoy its advantages, too.
So even if people heard about Bai Sui, they merely assumed he had mastered a technique that was decent by civilian standards. They would never believe he could compare to a ninja.
Bai Sui simply didn't know how things worked here. Otherwise, he would have been grateful for their underestimation. Quietly staying in this little village and slowly raising his life level was exactly what he wanted.
As for power, fame, and fortune, Bai Sui had never been very interested in such things. His temperament had always been that way, and the experience of watching his family fall from a position of prominence in his previous life had taught him a great deal about gains and losses. It had made him deliberately distance himself from power.
Besides, Bai Sui knew that once he cultivated the Dao Fruit, he could easily obtain the power that ordinary people longed for, if he wanted it.