"That was a fine strike, boy. What is it called?"
The Raikage, despite having been pierced through the body by Unintentional Blade, could actually question him at leisure. Had the strike not hurt him? Deeply puzzled, Anyo hurriedly pulled out his blade and retreated several steps, replying with a slight frown, "Iaido."
The Raikage praised him. "A fine name, and fine swordsmanship. Unfortunately, your methods are rather underhanded. You actually coated your blade with poison."
In the darkness, the blood at the wound was dark red. The Raikage easily forced the poison out of his body, and the wound left by Unintentional Blade rapidly healed.
How was that possible?
Observing with his Sharingan, Anyo finally understood. It was body activation. The cells throughout the body were dividing at high speed. Under these conditions, the poison, a foreign substance, could not integrate into them at all, so naturally it could do no harm.
The Raikage continued, "Although your swordsmanship is good enough to pierce my flesh, it is still far from enough to kill me. You would need to unleash tremendously powerful Wind Release for that."
Faced with the Raikage's "kind" reminder, Anyo could offer no rebuttal. The crucial point was that he did not know Wind Release, either. He could not defeat the Raikage alone.
Although the Raikage could recover, this ninjutsu had an obvious flaw: every recovery came at the cost of overtaxing his body. Anyo could clearly sense that the Raikage had weakened somewhat, but a single Iaido strike could only accomplish this much. With his steel-like body, the Raikage could withstand at least ten more similar attacks.
Anyo understood this all too well. The Raikage was absolutely his nemesis. Fighting him felt like a tiger trying to drag a turtle along—and worse, this turtle had spikes.
The