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*Thud*
Ren adjusted his grip as his arm throbbed from the backlash of striking the wooden post repeatedly.
Just after four days, Ren was certain of one thing, the Nuibari is a cruel weapon.
If you had to choose between two deaths, one being slashed and the other slowly bleeding to death as countless small stabs appear on your body, which one would you prefer?
Ren wasn't suicidal, but he would rather have his head sent flying than endure countless wounds appearing on his body, slowly making him weaker and weaker till he died due to blood loss.
The Nuibari was exactly that but worse. Since it has no guard near its handle it is extremely difficult to hold other swords or kunai in place.
The attacker could simply slide their weapon down, and you would lose your fingers, just like that.
Or you could also slide with the enemy's weapon which would guarantee at least one stab to their face or torso.
Arguably, the only way to wield the Nuibari was absolute offence. Either stab your enemy countless times or get them tangled in your thread and cut them in half.
You could also throw the Nuibari, grab it from the other side of the enemy, and keep repeating the process a few times.
*Tada* Now you have a line of corpses at various points along the length of its thread.
The Nuibari is not a protector's weapon, it is a psychopath's weapon seeking only death.
....Or that's what Ren would have thought if not for Eris showing this extra detail of the sword.
[.....Nuibari's wires can also bind chakra, stopping jutsu from going through them.]
Now isn't that interesting? So Ren's opinion went up from it being a psychopath's weapon to now being a serial killer's weapon.
Hey, at least it's an upgrade alright!
Now that would bring the question of why Ren was practising using a wooden 'sword' while the Nuibari was more of a 'rapier'.
The reason is simple Itachi wanted Ren to learn how to use a Tanto or a Sword first.
The Nuibari works mostly by overwhelming the enemy with attacks and by identifying flaws in their sword style.
That was why Ren had been using the wooden sword for four days now, this was the main focus.
Ren's muscles burned with exhaustion as he finally lowered his wooden sword. His eyes flickered towards Itachi, who was standing there, waiting for him.
He tightened his grip on the sword, feeling the familiar ache in his hands. It was now time to face Itachi again.
"'Are you ready?' Itachi asked, standing in his usual posture, one hand on his tanto and the other resting casually in his pocket."
Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.
Ren didn't say anything but just held his sword with both of his hands. His eyes were glimmering with determination, Ren lunged at Itachi again this time making sure to keep his feet firmly grounded.
*slice*
Just as expected, Itachi dodged the attack without much effort. Ren took one step forward and used the momentum of the sword to fuel another attack.
*Pierce*
*clang*
Itachi slightly deflected it, trying to break Ren's momentum and make him tumble. To which Ren thrust his sword on an upward motion as he bent his left leg.
*slice*
Which avoided a slash by Itachi. But Itachi was simply too experienced for things like that and just kept on attacking Ren.
Though Itachi had limited his abilities to a chunin level, his sword skills were unmatched.
*clang*
*clang*
But Ren too was no slouch either, as his senses kept following Itachi's sword. His Premonition skill helped him massively as he dodged dangerous attacks by the width of a hair.
*pierce*
Ren tried to exploit an opening, he saw in Itachi's stance but was thrown to the ground. Ren rolled to distribute the impact of the fall.
Another thing Itachi had taught him along with how to fall without breaking any bones.
'Tch'
Undeterred, Ren got up again and started attacking Itachi.
*thud*
'Once more' Thought Ren as he got up again
*clang*
*pierce*
*thud*
'One more time' his hands hurt.
*slash*
*pierce*
*crash*
'Not yet' The pain in his hands was starting to become intense.
*crash*
...
...
...
...
...
*stab*
*crash*
'No... ' Ren got up again, his palms felt numb. His whole body was exhausted and was aching.
He stood in front of Itachi again, sword in hand.
This time Itachi attacked first, just a simple slash. Though Ren could see the slash, his arms didn't budge.
*slice*
Ren was already too exhausted at this point to dodge the attack and just simply met it head-on using his sword.
*clang*
*shatter*
Both the wooden swords shattered on impact causing Ren to widen his eyes as he looked at the hilt of the sword in his hand.
'Fuck.. These swords belong to sensei' thought Ren with growing horror as he quickly apologised for his mistake.
"I am really sorry Sensei, I didn't mean to break the sword." Ren bent his head as he bowed ninety degrees for his mistake.
*chuckle*
"Eh?"
Ren looked up as he saw the bizarre event of his sensei Itachi Fuckin-Uchiha chuckling.
"Get up, Ren. If you hadn't broken the sword, we would have had to wait longer for a C-rank mission," said Itachi as he removed his hands from covering his mouth. Though he seemed to be in a good mood.
"Eh... Didn't I have to land a hit on you for that" Ren motioned his hands in a slashing motion trying to convey his thoughts.
"No... if you had done that you wouldn't have needed my training in the first place."
What Itachi said was true. Itachi hadn't taught ren any sword styles, only the basics of how to grip the sword, how to slash, stab...etc you get the point.
"The task was meant to fail from the start. I wanted you to learn how to swing a sword without any unnecessary movements so I gave you an impossible task to bring out your desperation. " Itachi threw the sword away and then continued.
"That is the reason why I made you exhausted every time before training with me." Itachi then took out a real tanto from his storage scroll and then threw it to ren.
"Cut down that tree with a single slash" Itachi pointed at the tree next to Ren. The tree's width was about the size of a head. Not too thick and also not too thin.
Confused, Ren raised his tired hands once more to squeeze any bit of energy once more. His grip on the hilt of the sword tightened. But Itachi suddenly called him out.
"No. Don't tense your muscles right now, do what you did with the slash that broke the sword."
Ren nodded, relaxed his grip and then slashed again making absolutely no excess movement.
*slice*
The tree stood unmoving like it had not been cut, though Ren was pretty sure the sword at least hit the tree.
*thud*
It was indeed cut cleanly, so cleanly in fact that it didn't even move from its position until a little wind blew making the small tree topple.
'I.... did that!?' Ren was left with his mouth hanging as he looked at the part of the tree which looked like it had been smoothed out using sandpaper.
There wasn't even a little unevenness in the cut tree.
"That is how to swing a sword optimally without wasting one bit of energy. Keep in mind the feeling that you had when you used the slash and transfer it to all your attacks"
Whenever someone uses the sword the sword would usually have excess momentum in different directions which makes the final attack weaker and uneven.
By training yourself to exhaustion and then swinging the sword, the mind will force only the most efficient motion itself unconsciously, to save energy.
This attack would have the least excess momentum and also the most energy-efficient.
'I thought it would take at least two more weeks for you to achieve it.' Thought Itachi as he folded his hands.
Though Itachi was thrilled that his student got the technique right, he now had to change all the schedules he had built.
Ren had already gotten over the astonishment and was now looking at Itachi with a victorious grin.
"Sensei, does this mean we will now do C-rank missions from now?"
"Yes"
****** ° ° ° ****** ° ° ° God Shinobi ° ° ° ****** ° ° ° ******
****** ° ° ° ****** ° ° ° God Shinobi ° ° ° ****** ° ° ° ******