Deep in the dense woods.
Obanai Iguro and Shinobu Kocho crouched silently on a treetop.
Like hunters lying in wait, they silently watched several swordsmen pass below.
Only after those figures had disappeared completely into the woods.
Did Little Shemaru lower his voice and say, "Shinobu, this training camp explicitly bans using poison against people."
"That must make it hard for you to show your strength, right?"
The girl wearing the butterfly hair ornament merely tightened her grip gently on the specially made bokken at her waist.
And shook her head with a smile.
"Obanai, my sister has been giving me plenty of personal training lately."
"Even if I'm not as good as you and Kyojuro..."
"I'm more than capable of handling the other ordinary senior swordsmen."
Obanai, who excelled at stealth, and the light-footed Shinobu Kocho.
Had received personal orders from their Commander-in-Chief to serve as the vanguard for several reconnaissance squads and infiltrate toward the Red Team's high ground.
About a hundred meters diagonally behind them, on either side.
Several other skilled White Team swordsmen were also feeling their way forward.
It was called a grand training camp.
But each side actually had only a dozen or so combatants in total.
Across this complex wilderness spanning over a thousand cho, once they scattered, even running into the opposing side took luck.
Tengen Uzui's strategy was simple.
First, they had to determine the Red Team's troop distribution and strategy.
Then, without exposing themselves, they were to prioritize seizing the enemy's war flag.
Shinobu said, "It's a shame Kyojuro ended up on the other side this time."
Obanai said, "We should be thankful he's on the other side."
If that hot-blooded idiot had come with them, stealth would have been impossible.
The two lightly jumped down from the branches.
Then