Shinji wasn't surprised in the slightest when his strike missed.
If his teacher couldn't even dodge a probing attack like that, it would have been utterly absurd.
He landed without pausing, planting his feet as firmly as roots to absorb the recoil. His Sharingan locked onto Sakumo's movements, which seemed casual yet held endless subtleties.
With a flick of his wrist, his blade shifted instantly from an overwhelmingly powerful downward slash to a vicious, unpredictable horizontal sweep. The long blade of Blazing Inferno traced a cold arc toward Sakumo's waist!
At the same time, the fingers of his free left hand danced, forming several seals at incredible speed as chakra gathered at his fingertips. These were the simplified one-handed hand seals he had refined with the help of his Sharingan!
"Fire Release: Phoenix Flower Claw Crimson!"
Under cover of the sweeping blade, five or six shuriken wreathed in scorching orange flames shrieked through the air. They shot toward Sakumo's upper-body vital points and blind spots from fiendish angles, sealing off every conventional escape route!
The close-range pressure of his kenjutsu and the mid-to-long-range harassment of his ninjutsu arrived almost simultaneously. Their seamless coordination left his opponent practically no room to breathe!
This was Shinji's true fighting style now!
Using the Sharingan's extraordinary perception and his own superb chakra control, he broke through the pauses ordinary ninja needed when switching between taijutsu-
and ninjutsu, achieving a fluid, ferocious attack rhythm that almost resembled wielding magic and martial arts together!
While his opponent blocked or dodged lethal sword strikes, they also had to divide their attention to deal with ninjutsu of different elements coming from different directions. Defending against one meant leaving an opening for another!
Yet Hatake Sakumo's response once again surpassed Shinji's expectations, giving him a profound understanding of the