Ryoma seemed not to have expected Tobi to have the samurai he had trained prove his ability. Astonishment crossed his face, and the three Guardian Ninja with him looked equally surprised. The Guardian Ninja from Konoha, meanwhile, felt that their quiet observation from the sidelines had finally uncovered something.
Kana had already told Asuna and Mizuki that Tobi was secretly training samurai, and the two had passed that information on to the others. They all knew how formidable the Chakra Samurai were, and how quickly they could close the gap between samurai and ninja. The Daimyo clearly had ulterior motives in assigning Tobi this task. They had intended to gather more information, only for Tobi to openly lay everything before them.
"Your name is Tobi, correct? You say you've been teaching samurai to cultivate chakra, but surely you haven't been at it long. Do you think samurai like that can defeat ninja like us, who specialize in chakra training?" Ryoma asked.
"You're welcome to try. If I'm willing to bring them here, that means I have confidence in their strength." Tobi spread his hands. "Precisely because they haven't trained for long, wouldn't giving you some trouble prove my ability?"
"Then you'd better be careful. I won't hold back." Ryoma gave a soft snort as he spoke to Tobi.
"That's fine. Give it everything you've got. If you get careless, you might have an accident," Tobi said casually.
Seeing that neither side objected, the Daimyo nodded slightly. "In that case, let the samurai Tobi has trained fight Ryoma. It's a little cramped here. Let's move somewhere else!"
Everyone began making their way to a more spacious training ground. Along the way, once they were some distance from the Daimyo, Mizuki whispered to Asuna beside her, "Asuna, how strong do you think