I Formed the Strongest Swordsman Group-Chapter 47: Acquired Talent: [Eagle Eye]!

"Father, you want to go up yourself?"
Both Kondō and the other apprentices sitting around the dojo edge showed surprised expressions when they saw Suzu raising his bamboo sword toward Aoto.
"Hohoho... I haven't properly moved around in quite a while." Suzu twisted his shoulders. "The other day when I accompanied your mother back to her family home, it completely exhausted me. My shoulders and waist are still quite stiff even now."
Right after speaking, Suzu suddenly seemed to realize something and hurriedly looked around.
After confirming he didn't see his wife's figure, he sighed in relief and continued: "There just happens to be a new apprentice in the sword school whose swordsmanship level I haven't personally witnessed yet."
"Since that's the case, this is the perfect opportunity to kill two birds with one stone—testing the new recruit's abilities while loosening up my stiff arms and waist."
Having said this, Suzu raised an eyebrow at Aoto. "Tachibana-kun, you just finished a match with Kondō. Do you need to rest now? Or shall we begin immediately?"
Aoto paused for a moment, then quickly answered without hesitation: "I can start right now!"
Spar against Kondo Shusuke?
This suited Aoto perfectly!
Aoto, whose chest still held the intense joy from just obtaining a new powerful talent, was eagerly looking forward to quickly discovering whether this third-generation headmaster of Tennen Rishin-ryu also possessed some extremely remarkable talents.
Since Suzu had declared he would personally test Aoto's abilities, Kondō and the other sons and apprentices naturally had no ability or room to object or argue.
Kondō obediently retreated to the edge of the dojo, making enough space for Aoto and Suzu.
"Hmm?" Aoto only now noticed that neither he nor Suzu seemed to be wearing protective gear. "Master, aren't we wearing armor?"
"Hohoho, wearing protective gear is too troublesome. Too lazy to put it on, this is fine! Don't worry, I'm quite sturdy. Feel free to attack with all your might—no need to fear injuring me, and no need to fear being injured by me. Us old men from the 'no-protective-gear era' are most skilled at not hurting people."
Since Suzu said so, Aoto said no more.
Squatting at opposite sides of the dojo, they bowed to each other, then together simulated drawing their swords, pulling the bamboo swords from their left hips before slowly rising.
Just as Aoto stood up—
Whoosh!
A slender afterimage arced toward Aoto's legs!
Thwack!
Aoto felt pain spread through his left thigh.
After delivering a horizontal slash to Aoto's left thigh, Suzu quickly retreated three steps, creating distance.
Looking at Suzu who had retreated three steps away, Aoto's pupils contracted sharply.
—I got hit...?
Aoto hadn't clearly seen either the timing or the trajectory of Suzu's strike!
"Hohoho, Tachibana-kun, concentrate." Suzu slowly lowered his blade, switching to a lower stance. "You can't wield the sword well without concentrating."
With that, Suzu stepped forward, closing in on Aoto again.
Seeing this, Aoto quickly took a deep breath, focusing all his mind and attention.
Although Aoto had tightened his nerves, widened his eyes, and was staring intently at Suzu's hand movements and blade trajectory...
Even so, he still couldn't clearly see Suzu's sword.
Suzu's bamboo sword fell on various parts of Aoto's body like raindrops.
Often, Suzu's bamboo sword had already struck Aoto before he belatedly realized: Ah, so his blade was aiming there?
Suzu truly was as he had said—very skilled at not injuring people.
Although Aoto had now been "hit dozens of times," all the struck areas only hurt momentarily before the pain quickly faded.
Completely suppressed—forget counterattacking, he couldn't even organize proper defense.
Despite the overwhelmingly unfavorable battle situation... no discouragement or dejection showed on Aoto's face.
Rather... quite the opposite.
Indeed, you can't judge by appearances... Someone who could become the headmaster of a swordsmanship style's main family definitely couldn't be weak.
The opponent before him was so powerful, completely overwhelming him, yet Aoto felt no fear or hesitation.
Aoto only felt his heart beating faster and faster.
As his heartbeat gradually quickened, Aoto felt his condition continuously improving! He felt increasingly battle-ready!
Feeling the changes in his body, Aoto was initially slightly surprised, but he quickly realized—this must be the effect of "Lone Courage" activating!
And indeed, that was exactly the case.
In his talent list, the newly obtained talent: "Lone Courage" had been emitting brilliant golden light since earlier!
And "Sword Prodigy" also began to glow immediately after "Lone Courage"!
—Kondo Shusuke's main attack direction... is my two legs...
—Since that's the case... then lower the blade slightly...
—Holding the sword lighter... seems to make defense more convenient...
Taking advantage of a gap in Suzu's attacks, Aoto quickly lowered his blade.
Swordsmanship talent amplified to 50 times normal... The effect brought by "Sword Prodigy" wasn't just making Aoto's swordsmanship training speed far exceed ordinary people.
It also brought—extremely high sensitivity to "sword changes and forms" during combat!
Feeling his physical condition continuously improving, Aoto slowly discovered that he... seemed to vaguely be able to see Suzu's sword techniques!
Although Aoto had tightened his nerves, widened his eyes, and was staring intently at Suzu's hand movements and blade trajectory...
Aoto swung his palm-held sword horizontally to his right side, parrying Suzu's bamboo sword aiming for his left waist! For the first time, he blocked Suzu's attack!
"Hoho..." Looking at Aoto who suddenly could block his sword, Suzu's extremely narrow eyes slowly widened slightly.
After Aoto successfully defended against Suzu's attack for the first time, the battle situation slowly changed.
Suzu still heavily suppressed Aoto.
But Aoto was no longer completely unable to handle Suzu's strikes.
"Sword Prodigy" made Aoto adopt the most suitable defense strategy.
"Lone Courage" gave Aoto's physical condition a direct boost.
These two major talents' support transformed Aoto from being unable to handle a single strike to barely being able to handle one or two strikes out of every ten Suzu delivered.
Among the apprentices sitting at the dojo edge, many were seeing Aoto for the first time, unaware that their Shieikan had gained another swordsmanship genius after Okita.
Watching Aoto transform from "completely defenseless" to "slightly able to block a few moves" under Suzu's sword in such short time, they all widened their eyes in astonishment.
As for Kondō, who already knew about Aoto's talent, he now crossed his arms over his chest, showing Suzu a satisfied smile.
This expression seemed to say to Suzu: See, Father? I wasn't wrong, was I? Tachibana-kun's swordsmanship talent truly doesn't lose to Soji's!
This smile Kondō showed was destined to go unseen by Suzu.
Because Suzu now focused entirely on Aoto before him.
"Hohoho... To realize so quickly what to do to more efficiently defend against my attacks..." Suzu murmured in a voice only he could hear, the smile at his lips growing stronger. "Then... I wonder how your 'instinct' is..."
As his murmur ended, Suzu suddenly stopped attacking Aoto and quickly retreated.
He only stopped retreating after putting a full five steps between them.
After stopping, Suzu slightly shifted the bamboo sword held before him in middle stance to the right...
The deviation was very slight—without careful observation, one might not even notice the change in Suzu's bamboo sword position.
While slightly shifting his bamboo sword right, Suzu also slightly changed his body's center of gravity, leaning it slightly to the right.
The change in Suzu's center of gravity was like his sword—without careful observation, one might not notice any change.
At this moment, looking at Suzu standing five steps away holding his sword, Aoto felt... for some reason, as if an electric current shot through his brain.
He couldn't explain why, but inexplicably, this thought flashed rapidly through Aoto's mind—now is a good opportunity to counterattack Suzu!
As this thought flashed through Aoto's mind, he immediately acted as if by instinct, a conditioned reflex—his body moving with his mind.
Feet sliding, ground sounding!
Aoto closed the distance to where his sword could reach Suzu in one breath, raised his bamboo sword high, and the blade advanced toward Suzu from above!
"Hohoho..." Looking at the bamboo sword descending toward his shoulder, Suzu emitted a light laugh tinged with delight.
Just as Aoto's bamboo sword was about to hit Suzu's shoulder—
Thwack!
Suzu's bamboo sword arrived just in time, blocking Aoto's attack.
Seeing Aoto's rare counterattack blocked by Suzu, some apprentices watching from the dojo edge showed regret—given Aoto's momentum earlier, they thought Aoto's strike might actually succeed in hitting Suzu.
Unable to properly control his momentum, Aoto followed his forward momentum past Suzu, stopping two steps behind Suzu before turning around.
But just as Aoto turned back, expressions of shock immediately appeared on his face.
Because he saw—Suzu currently covering his right shoulder with his left hand, face showing pain.
"Father?" Seeing this, Kondō's expression immediately changed, and he hurriedly stood up and rushed toward Suzu.
The other apprentices also quickly followed, gathering around Suzu with worried expressions alongside Kondō.
Not understanding what was happening, Aoto also put down his bamboo sword and rushed toward Suzu.
"It's fine, it's fine." Suzu waved his hand toward Kondō, Aoto, and the others with a smile. "It's just my old problem acting up—my right shoulder is somewhat painful. Some rest will make it better."
After reassuring Kondō and the others, Suzu smiled and turned his gaze toward Aoto, who now stood at his side.
"I originally wanted to spar with you a bit longer." Suzu said in a helpless tone. "But my right shoulder seems to have been overworked..."
"No helping it. The testing of your abilities can only end here for now."
Suzu handed his bamboo sword to an apprentice beside him, signaling him to put it away properly.
A cold system voice sounded in Aoto's mind at this moment:
[Ding! Talent detected]
[Successfully copied talent: "Hawk Eye"]
[Talent introduction: Dynamic vision far stronger than ordinary people']