Akaza vanished from where he stood.
That speed was beyond what human eyes could follow. Almost at the same instant, a blast of wind from his fist, charged with the utmost martial intent, struck toward Kyojuro Rengoku's face.
"Umu!"
Kyojuro's reaction was just as extraordinary. Rather than retreat, he stepped forward, sweeping his Nichirin Blade upward in a burning arc.
Flame Breathing, Second Form: Flame-Heaven Ascension!
Blade and fist collided in midair.
Boom!
A violent shock wave erupted around the two, blowing away the snow on the ground and the wreckage of the train. Kyojuro felt an irresistible force surge through his blade, numbing the web of his hand and sending him sliding several meters backward.
Akaza, meanwhile, had already used that recoil to turn like a phantom toward Uesugi Sasuke on the other side.
"Those eyes of yours are a real nuisance!"
Akaza's voice seemed to come from every direction. His figure left several afterimages in Sasuke's vision as three blasts of wind carrying "Destructive Death: Air Type" sealed off all of Sasuke's escape routes in a triangular formation.
He intended to cripple this greatest variable immediately!
Yet in Sasuke's Three-Tomoe Sharingan, those three lethal attacks seemed to move in slow motion. He could clearly see their trajectories, the patterns of compressed air, and even predict where they would land a tenth of a second later.
Sasuke neither used Chidori nor formed hand seals. He simply moved in a way that defied the ordinary laws of physics, turning his body slightly just as the blasts converged and slipping through the tiny gap between two of them with the smallest possible movement.
Completely unscathed.
"What?" Akaza's pupils abruptly contracted.
Just then, Kyojuro's furious shout rang out again.
"You won't lay a hand on my companion!"
**Flame Breathing, First Form: Unknowing