Training the Body and the Mind

[Zao]

ThreadShow

[Opening Thread]
D-Rank Taijutsu Discipline
After years of training and study, the user has learned how to more quickly recognize openings and weaknesses in their opponent's defenses and fighting style. This Discipline represents the user's reduced reaction time required to take advantage of an opening that presents itself in the middle of combat, thus increasing the likelihood they will score a successful hit when targeting the vulnerable area. This does not grant them any protection against falling for feints or traps sent by the opponent.

Zao wasn't at the normal training grounds this morning, but instead he found himself out in one of the many dojo areas on this day. Though he wasn't alone as a handful of yards away was the young man who had the task of following the Bannin around the village and keeping track of his movements and activities as the white haired shinobi was not quite in the good graces of anyone on the current council at the moment due to the events of the past. But that was something he was slowly working on. Today though the man had come to visit an old friend, one of his former academy classmates and someone that as a genin he competed with on a number of occasions. That person was the muscular looking young man to the Bannin's right side who had long fiery red hair and very well defined muscles, feeling the need to not were any clothing on his upper torso to let everyone else know this fact as well. The Sand shinobi had teased his friend about it as soon as they ran into one another here, it was almost like old time between the two men who hadn't seen one another in nearly a decade, it was good to have a friend to talk to considering his current house arrest style situation.

"Did you see it?" The two men appeared to be discussing the currently spar as the muscular Sanzo pointed at the two chuunin that were exchanging blows with one another, not in a full out fight but probably going at about seventy five percent of their max. "I missed it again." Zao could only shake his head as he attempted to sharpen his concentration on the pair fighting. His friend was slowly trying to develop the man's fighting senses, a weakness that the Bannin knew he had having always pushed himself towards the support area using his ninjutsu and spirit companions to do that part of the heavy lifting of him. Specifically today Sanzo was attempting to help him develop the insight into the fighting lines. Though this was just the name of the concept and one really wasn't able to see any sort of lines around the fighter of course. No, it was the ability of one to see the way a person fights and slowly learn the gaps and surfaces to that particular way of fighting. Suddenly the man saw it, the briefest of openings in the left side opponents defense that was almost reactively seized by the other fight.

Allowing for the fighter to squeeze in a powerful left hook to the lower ribcage that was exposed as the fighter over extended himself and was no paying the cost of over extending as he rolled to the side from the blow sucking air, the right arm dropping low guard the injured area. "I saw it, the guard on his right side drops just barely when he is pushing to hard to score a hit on the target. 'An opening thread...'


508/400

[Zao]

AirwayShow

[Airway Expansion]
D-Rank Taijutsu Discipline
After years of training and study, the user has mastered basic breathing techniques to fully oxygenate their bloodstream with minimal effort. This Discipline allows the user's body to reach homeostasis with less energy expended, thus reducing the amount of physical stamina used while attacking and defending in combat, making them able to last longer in a fight. This Discipline also doubles the amount of time the user can spend underwater or holding their breath for any reason before having to surface for air [Endurance].

Soon the little spar ended after the gaps in the opponent's defense were discovered by the other fighter who exploited them to his own advantage finally causing for the opponent to give up, at least this time. They had each gained some valuable fighting experience that they could apply to their real life missions when their life could be put on the line or those of their comrades. As the arena cleared the fit man stood up and smirked, "Well, guess we can go over a few of the basics that my old man taught me when I was first learning the ways of combat." Zao nodded, a half smile forming on his thin lips as he pushed up off the bench seating with his sole arm and walked down the stairway that brought them down onto the ground level were a number of small areas were distributed throughout the indoor training area that shielded the fighters from the nasty hot weather outside. "Learning to fight using only taijutsu is on the different side of the coin that your use to, but the first thing one needs to learn isn't about how to punch or kick. No. The first thing one needs to learn is the ability to breath correctly?"

The man's words caused for the older looking shinobi to tilt his head to the right ever so slightly as if not fully grasping the meaning of his words, "Breath correctly you say?" Sanzo only smiled and nodded before he took up a one handed stance which caused for Zao to shake his head from side to side gently before he to brought his one arm up in front of him assuming a similar looking Taijutsu stance. "If you can't learn to manage your breathing that you'll be gassed long before you opponent, allowing them to easily overtake you when that happens. " Explained this way it made a bit more sense to the Bannin as the pair pushed forwards and collided forearm to forearm, the man slowly pushing Zao backwards as he spoke without even the slightest hint of his breathing increasing. "Focus just on your breathing as he exchange moves."

'Just focus on breathing...' The two men began to move about rapidly as their speeds increased to the point that their figures would blur slightly to the normal eye, the exchanges were quick and Zao was nigh at a complete disadvantage from his friend who was only using a single hand against him as they traded a few blows before coming to a stop. Sweat dripped from Zao's face and his breathing was a bit labored while his sparring partner looked completely fine. "Just breath..." That was all that Sanzo said before he dashed forward and the Bannin moved to counter as the duo went into another exchange, though as he focused on just breathing while moving he felt himself almost relax to an extent as breathing became easier than before. 'Just breath....'


494/400

[Zao]

SeamlessShow

[Seamless Skill]
D-Ranked Taijutsu Discipline
A skill realized by those on the path to mastery of their particular weapon, users of Seamless Skill are actively able to transition between offensive and defensive usage of the aforementioned weapon. By transitioning so seamlessly, the user is able to save a marginal amount of energy while attacking.

The waist lengths of white hair fluttered to the side as the Bannin slide across the stone tiles of the sparring arena, his breathing while deep was still under control as his single arm was raised up in a defensive position as the short sword gripped in the slender fingers was in a reverse grip position as the spine of the blade ran against his tattooed forearm. "You ability to transition between attack and defense is crazy..." A slight smile could be found on the middle aged mans thin lips, barely revealing his teeth as he spoke towards his friend who was helping to whip him back into fighting shape. Though it more so felt like the man was just beating him up at this point while tossing in a few pointers instead of actually doing any real teaching. But this was just the manner which his friend taught, through raw fighting experience and lessons learned from the pain of failure. Zao pushed forward with his tired legs as the man who had just been on the offensive had already seamlessly transitioned between his previous offensive attack to a more defensive state as he kept just enough distance between himself and the Saint to stay out of striking range of the blade the long haired man carried.

"Hah, you'll need to be faster with your transitions to keep up with me. You must be getting to old after all." The muscular man on the other end of Zao's attack was able to let out a light laugh before poking back at the long haired man with his words about getting old, though it was a joke the two men should have been the same age but even he could tell that Zao seemed to have aged more than he should have in the time since they last spoke. What he couldn't know was that their was a price to travel through space and time, and that there were places were time flowed differently than here in the human realm leaving the spirit saint to have aged probably seven or eight years more than his friend whom had been the same age as him in the academy. Their fight was a fluid one as the Bannin found himself quickly back on the defense as his ability to read the movement of his opponent were slowly increasing which allowed for his response time between attacking and defending to short ever so slightly, though it was not something he was able to notice himself but the experienced taijutsu expert that was his opponent could see the subtle changes.

This only led the man to push harder, he had to drive home the point the Bannin...in doing to it would transition the movement of the body from being sheerly based on the mental capacity of the fighter to being a refined muscle memory movement. When Zao was able to reach that point then he could focus on other things more when in combat and his transitions would become just something his body would do out of training. Thus the man continued to push the man with each of rounds the pair traded with one another, very slow but steady improvement was all he wanted to see...


543/400

[Zao]

AmbiShow

[Ambidexterity]
D-Rank Taijutsu Discipline
After practicing for a long amount of time with the concept of using both of their hands with equal skill, the user has developed a level of ambidexterity that allows them to utilize both hands equally and as effectively without any penalty. This extends to other methods of combat or simple everyday life as well.

"Finally..." The worn out shinobi plopped down on a bench just outside of the sparring arena, taking a drink of his water as the man turned his bright blue eyes to the muscular fight seated next to him, the man had been sparring with him day in and day out for the last week or so and Zao's base Tai skills were increasing with each sparring session. Of course this also came with the price of getting his butt kicked every day by the younger looking man who couldn't help but chuckle lightly at the expression of his friend as he to sucked down some water and wiped his face with a towel before rolling his head from side to side stretching out a bit, a light popping sound could be hear as he tilted the head to the left and then to the right. "So there is something that I've noticed, Zao." Swallowing his water Zao turned to his comrade as he placed the water bottle down and grabbed his own towel to wipe his face at this time, "What's up?"

"Even with your new puppet arm, I can tell that you still favor doing things with your right side over your left side, the precision and strength are both a bit above your left side. This is something that will continue to hold you back from being a strong fighter until we fix it." The statement made sense to the Bannin as he nodded his head before tossing the towel onto his head for a moment. He had always been right handed and ninjutsu required good coordination between hands but that was it and it was now to the point that he didn't even need to use hand seals due to his absurdly high level of control and experience in ninjutsu. "What are you suggesting? It sounds like you already have something in mind." The other man just gave a light laugh and nodded, "Of course. Let's finishing resting first." The pair would talk about various things as each rested and before long the pair were back in the center of the training ring only this time the blade was in the new puppet arm that replaced the missing left arm of Zao's.

"You will only be able to use attacks with your left hand and left leg from now on until we've built up the skill and strength in them that matches your right side." Without wasting any time the man dashed forward and Zao moved to meet him, though his left hand was a puppet limb now he was still able to control it as thought it was his real arm. But even he could tell that his proficiency with it was slightly below the right arms and in turn it caused him to be knocked back as he didn't deal with the strike as well as he could have. It would be a slow process for sure, not something that one could change over night from practices for a lifetime. But the manner in which his mentor was teaching him forced him to grow or get knocked down, the enemy doesn't care about you only able the weaknesses that you show him which he can use to defeat you. Zao was seeking to rid himself of the weaknesses that he could...he needed to be stronger...

561/400

[Zao]

GazeShow

[Penetrating Gaze]
C-Rank Taijutsu Discipline
After years of training and study, the user has significantly increased their visual acuity. They can now accurately see out to a [15] of meters in foggy, misty, or cloudy conditions (such as while in the effect of a smoke bomb), at night or other low light vision, or through the natural distortions caused by water. Their normal range of sight is doubled in normal or favorable conditions.

Today the long white haired man found himself in the outdoor training area, currently he walked side be side with his friend who was also his fighting trainer as Sanzo was setting up a handful of different projectile targets around the arena before the pair ended back up on the opposite side of the area. "What are you planning for today?" Zao couldn't help but question the rather suspicious actions from his friend at the moment, while he could stay that he wasn't quite at the level of Sazno he was a very proficient long range fighter with both Taijutsu and Ninjutsu. Something like this wouldn't even been a challenge for either of them and was something that he might have honestly set up for a genin team to go through and assess their kunai and shuriken throwing skills. "Hehe, well you'll see in a moment." Though the man couldn't help but put on a face of interest, as the man then pulled out a scroll from his hip pouch and unrolled it to reveal a large storage fuuin written onto the inside of the scroll.

Forming a hand seal the man then placed his hand down upon the center of the fuuin formula before a poof of chakra smoke revealed a small pile of shuriken and kunai, the standard weaponry for genin and academy students and one of the most widely used tools throughout all ranks of ninja. Then he pulled out another small scroll unrolling it before doing the same thing as a small pile of round smoke bombs were pulled into existence. "Smoke bombs?" The younger looking, muscular man didn't even respond as he reached down grabbing a few projectiles and a single smoke bomb before tossing down the smoke bomb between himself and the targetry. A small explosion of smoke occured concealing the targets and then he could see Sanzo's gaze change as he looked into the dark cloud of smoke before the man launched the kunai in his hands and on the other side of the training area one could hear the plunking of wood. As the smoke dispersed even Zao was a bit amazed when he could see that each of the three projectiles thrown had hit their target, not just hit but pierced straight through the center of each.

"As you train your mind and body one must train their senses, as well. Your eyesight is truly one of your most powerful tools, but if not trained it will become one of your biggest weaknesses in combat. We will train until your vision has been strengthened to the point that you are able to make out and engage targets through the smoke." Even the experienced shinobi Zao couldn't help but raise his eyebrow just a bit at the comment, was it really possible to improve a sense such as sight to a degree? Only the following week of training would be enough to change the educated mind of the scholarly man...


498/400

[Zao]

Step LightlyShow

[Light Steps]
C-Rank Taijutsu Discipline
After years of training and study, the user has learned how to maintain their full speed and move while making minimal contact with the surface upon which they are running, thus reducing the amount of energy required to move at full Speed. This Discipline represents the user's ability to conserve physical Endurance with optimized movement of their legs and feet, allowing them to last longer in a fight.

Today's adventure would have Sanzo and Zao at a different training area, one a bit more specialized for the training methods that the muscular man used to teach his own students how to control and move their body to fight more efficiently during combat and every day life. The pair entered into another building escaping the scorching heat of the Wind country summer at the shaded arena was vastly different than anything the man had seen so far training with his old friend. Instead of an arena floor it was a ten to fifteen meter pit that had numerous three or four inch wide circular poles standing up within them that mirrored were the floor of the fighting stage should have been. The larger man turned to his friend and started to speak, "This is an area we use to train the young ones how to properly control their body and how to land lightly, decreasing the amount of energy you spend while moving. Though this doesn't look to challenging I think you will find that its a bit more difficult than you might think."

With a lightly laugh the man took off at near his full speed and seemed to easily move between the tips of each pole as he zigged and zagged across the 'arena floor' with what seemed to be no trouble at all before finally making it across to the other side now. "How about giving a try?" There was a certain smirk on the man's lips as he offered Zao his turn now and simply waited and watched for what was about to happen. The single armed man moved and jumped across the short game landing on the nearest pole with his right foot with relative ease. But that ease quickly deteriorated as he put his weight onto the foot preparing to push off as the tall log sudden started to drop under him. Quietly he reacted and sidestepped to the log on his left which did the same thing.

One log after another would fall as the slender figure attempted to move across the assorted course of upright standing pieces of wood. He had to move more quickly and use the logs as temporary adjustments steps to his direction of movement, the man was putting to much effort in trying to move. Finally making it across sweat dripped from the experienced shinobi's Brin as he used the back of his single hand to wipe it away. "It seemed that towards the end you were finally figuring out how to focus on controlling your bodily movements to a much more refined level." Zao simple shook his head and smiled as he replied back to him. "I guess you could say rhat." Though he wasn't confident in his own words the man would simply motioned for him to follow a la he started back through the course moving even faster now. Exhaling heavily the shinobi just shook his head and followed the lead of his friend and started through the course again...


/400

[Zao]

AntiShow

Anti-Shinobi
C-rank Taijutsu Discipline
Prerequisite: [Perception]
Trained in opposing shinobi, this user has learned to recognize when other shinobi are about to use jutsu, instantly recognizing chakra channeling intuitively, even as the glow of chakra is forming or movements that signal towards forming hand seals. This allows the user to adapt their attack, may it be through whatever weapon they have available at the time, to prevent the execution of such jutsu.

The two shinobi could be found that afternoon sitting on opposite ends of a carved stone bench, the muscular man perfectly find while the slender white-haired man was still catching his breather. Covered in sweat Zao sipped on some water from a wide bamboo container in his lone hand as the pair rested and watched the younger generation training nonstop, it was a heartwarming sight for the man who knew these children would one day be the very backbone of Suna. But how would he shape the world before it was their time to take over the mantle of protectors for the Sand village and the now much larger Wind country. Just as he was about to drift off into deep thought on the matter his good friend and training partner Sanzo reached over and poked the side of the sweaty man's head.

"Don't be drifting off, we're about to start our next session. This is one that I have specifically geared towards you, my friend. After all, fighting a powerful and precise Ninjutsu user is no easy task." What did he mean by that? What was this next training session have in store for the bannin? The excitement for whatever was coming next could easily be seen on the smirking face of the slender framed shinobi as he reached down to take hold of the short, bladed sword leaned against the end of the bench as both men moved to a nearby training ring. "I want you to try to use ninjutsu again me." "Oh, are you sure?" "Of course, hurry up." A bit of sure of what his friend was trying to get at the one-handed man began to channel chakra throughout his body as a soft glow outlined his athletic form but before he could finish channeling chakra for his low ranking the shirtless fighter rushed him in a blink breaking his concentration and focus as Zao raised his single blade to clash against the sword of the other shinobi.

Sliding back a few inches from the impact the man relaxed his arm and spoke again, "If your opponent can't finish their hand seals or channeling process, they can't use ninjutsu against you." Sanzo stated it as a matter-of-fact statement, of course this was an obvious thing, so Zao looked at him with a bit of confusion before his friend continued. "You must train yourself to recognize when others are preparing to use jutsu, instantly recognizing chakra channeling intuitively, the faintest glow of chakra or movement that signals toward the formation of hand seals. Now, you go..." The man jumped back creating a ten-meter gap between the pair as Zao assumed a fighting stance once more and his sparring partner sheathed his blade and moved to start forming hand seals, instantly the man pushed forwards attempting to interrupt the series of hand seals, but he was too late, and the man kicked up a thin wall of earth between the two. All he could hear from behind the wall was..."Faster, recognize and act. It must become instinctual...." Again, and again the pair exchanged with one another as the time slowly passed and improvements were gained...

/400

[Zao]

Crushing GripShow

*[Yoshin • Crushing Grip of the Great Serpent]
A-Rank Taijutsu Maneuver
Prerequisite(s): 35 Speed.
A technique designed to utterly maim and debilitate one's opponent, the practitioner will launch a flurry of strikes, all targeting key muscle groupings, tendons, joints, and gaps in the skeletal structure such as the ribs and spine. As the strikes make contact and sink into the opponent's flesh, the practitioner will violently twist the blade upon entry and upon exit. The violent twist will cause miniature air pockets to form and violently expand in the wound with a Strength equal to half of the practitioner's Strength stat, rounded down. These air pockets worsen the damage and bleeding, rendering the affected parts of the body and any parts of the body directly connected to them immobile and paralyzed unless the opponent has a Rigid Structure technique of equal or higher rank than this technique that protects bones, muscles, or skin against damage. For example, a blow to the shoulder would render the entire arm below it limp, and a blow to the spine would render anything below the affected vertebrae paralyzed. This paralysis is permanent until the opponent seeks highly skilled medical attention.

"So, you're finally getting it." The man's long hair swept across his sweaty face as he let his guard drop for the first time in a while as he exhaled slowly allowed for his rapid breathing to slow in the process. "A little, I think." Both men laughed and smiled at one another, it had been a rather intense sparring session for Zao and Sanzo as the two continued to press one another until the more experienced Taijutsu user, Sanzo, had started to pressure Zao into a corner. Taking a break after the round had finished the two men wandered off to the side, grabbing some water the man's friend spoke. "Your precision with the blade is good, but I must say you are kind of weak in the strength department, my friend." Though the muscular jounin was picking on his slender sparring partner at the moment he was just pointing out the obvious, but Zao knew that his strength was one of his personal weaknesses. It had always been something he knew and thus worked diligently with his ninjutsu and summoning to be able to cover and hide it from others. Shaking his head almost dismissively towards the larger man Zao tilted his head back as he gulped down some water from the water bottle as went over the last round in his head taking in both the good and bad, and where he could improve with his technique against his comrade.

Though he wasn't able to fully digest the round as the other man placed his strong hand upon the slender white haired shinobi's left shoulder as Zao turned to him, "I wasn't finished brother, I've been analyzing your speed and control. From what I can tell even though you lack raw physical power your ability to strike at the smallest opening and with the utmost precision. Thus, I want to teach you a technique that I learned from the Yoshin style. I normally wouldn't offer to teach this technique as it requires a profound understanding of the human body and its nervous system, but you are far more experienced in the medical field than I'll ever be." This new revelation from Sanzo cause for Zao to take a step back, of course he'd heard of the Waterfall country style of fast swordsmanship that targeted vulnerable points of the body, but the precision needed to pull off attacking pinpoint areas in the mist of combat was almost unthinkable. Yet, his friend and college wanted to teach him? A short while later the middle-aged man found himself standing before a man size target with several dime sized dots painted onto it and combining this with his own knowledge of the human body the bannin was able to visualize all of these points on a living target.

In order to use this technique successfully Sanzo had explained to him that he needed to not only strike the tiny dot with the tip of the sword almost perfectly in the center but that it was a two-step strike that Zao needed to produce a twisting motion at the end to create additional damage to the target. The warmup was just him slowly striking with his single arm at each of the dots, committing them to memory and allowing him to strike at each through instinct alone, strike after strike. When Zao felt he had a decent starting grasp of the technique, and the striking areas was when the muscular man stepped in and as Zao attempted to hit the target rocks were thrown at him forcing him to dodge and often completely miss the mark with his strikes. But a determined man wasn't so easily swayed as he slowly improved and in return the taijutsu user started to use kunai forcing the man to dodge or be injured by the actual thrown weapons. Then after several days of working he managed to get a perfect strike back-to-back, it was at this point that the throwing weapons stopped and Sanzo himself stepped in between Zao and the target withdrawing two short swords. "Not bad, but now you have to do that while I try to defend the target. This will be the true test you'll have to pass to say that you've gained the initial mastery over the Crushing Grip of the Great Serpent..."


/400

[Zao]

PerfectedShow

[Perfected Chakra Thread Aim]
A-Rank Taijutsu Discipline
Having mastered the art of ranged combat with his chakra threads, the practitioner is capable of calculating all outside factors while controlling their weapons via chakra threads. Ambient factors such as temperature, winds, moisture, any terrain, and even lack of sight on their target cannot hinder their aim. So long as they have a means of detecting the location of their opponent and no impassible objects or unavoidable defenses stand in their way, the practitioner's attacks will strike their target with pinpoint accuracy without fail. Living targets must have a Perception technique equal or higher in rank to be able to perceive the practitioner's attacks without some sort of additional defense.

Several days had passed since the last sparring session had come to an end, even know the bannin was practicing the Crushing Grip of the Great Serpent as it was such a precise and refined technique that Zao was never truly sure that he'd actually be able to fully master it, but he set aside a decent part of his day to dedicate to just that. Though since the last session the man had undergone quite the change as he'd been able to finish crafting his replacement arm and had been able to surgically attach it to his left shoulder with the help of the outstanding medical shinobi at the Suna Hospital who were mostly all comrades of Zao from his years of studying and working there before the war. The white haired bannin walked slowly out towards the training area where he'd meet Sanzo for the daily workout and to gain more comfortability with the artificial hand and arm, it was nice to be able to have an arm but that lack of true feeling of touch was something that would take some time to get used to.

Though his new arm, at least the first prototype, wasn't the only reason why he was coming out to meet his good friend and sparring partner on this cool spring morning in the desert highlands where the Hidden Sand village was located. His friend raised an eyebrow as Zao waved with the left hand now, making a short comment, "Ah, you've got an upgrade I see. One of your own?" Zao laughed a little as he simply replied, "You know me to well, but I hope you're ready for something a bit different today." His comrade could only smirk as the pair walked shoulder to shoulder out through the entrance and into the wide-open area surrounded by a number of large boulders that were used for different aspects of training by the younger generation as older shinobi used the bigger training areas found on the northern rim of the village. Almost as though the scene was out of an old western the two men squared off as the sun was rising over the eastern protective wall of the village and the first rays of sunlight struck both of the men. "I've took everything that you've taught me and meditated upon it for several days before coming up with this...."

His hands clapped together and when he pulled them apart chakra threads flowed from the real right hand and attached to three ninjato style swords that were held in place on his back in a special holster, each of the blades being pulled from their protective sheaths as Sanzo removed both of his own blades. "Let's not hold back now." With a flick of his hand and expansion of his finger the three blades shot across the short training area seeming to arrive right in front of his partner causing the man to defend out of reflex and conditioned instincts alone as he deflected two blades and received a shallow nick on his left shoulder as he dodged the third attack but as he was above to pivot forward he dodged backwards as a blade stabbed down from above in what should have been his blind spot. Even saw was at awe with the man's spatial awareness, it was almost as though anything within a few meters of his body couldn't escape the man's senses. Zao increased the speed of his attacks, reducing the time between attacks as the man was driven strictly into a defensive as he attempted to circle around the man, but the blades moved in inhuman patterns which kept the experienced swordsman guessing and having to rely upon his wealth of fighting against unknown opponents to adjust to the attack patterns that weren't limited by the normal human physiology.

"Haha, good! " Though he was being beat back and caught on his heels the man couldn't help but laugh in excitement, it was training like this that excited him. One it was something he'd never fought against, at least not to such a precise degree that his friend Zao was capable of using puppetry to attack with lethal pinpoint attacks. Secondly was the fact that all his efforts in helping to develop his comrade was well worth it, if he could help improve the strength of a Bannin, then perhaps his own strength would soon be recognized...


/400

[Zao]

VisionShow

[Vision of the Master]
S-Rank Taijutsu Discipline
Prerequisite: [Perception]
Taking one's situational awareness to the next level, Zao has become constantly aware of his surroundings to such a degree that his eyes seem to automatically track any movements made within his range of vision. While this allows for him to be able to track the movements with an indefinite amount of precision, as long as the speed of the movement doesn't exceed his own level of [Speed]. This does not allow for him to simply automatically dodge or block attacks. The man must still have the physical capabilities to keep up with his mind's processing power but allows for him to see the movement that might escape the eyes of others.

The furious exchange between the two men didn't stop and in turn only became more and more intense as Zao added a fourth sword into the mix against the experienced swordsman, gaining a bit power but he ended up exchanging the precise attacks that he was able to manage with three blades. Though he believed this would be enough to overpower his fellow Suna nin he couldn't help but shake his head as the man seemed to almost be having an easier time keeping up with the four blades compared to previously with just the three. It would seem that his own level of concentration was lacking due to the need to keep up with the movements of all four weapons that he was currently controlling and match them with the movements and anticipated movements of his sparring partner. 'How is he able to keep up with all the blades attacking him near simultaneously?' If Zao had the time to scratch his head in this heated exchange between the two high ranking ninja he would have. Was it just the sheer amount of experience fighting at close range or was it more the man's instincts and trained muscle memory of combat? Zao had no other option at the moment but to continue to press on with his current method of combat as he wasn't sure that he could keep up with any more swords without creating a gap that Sanzo would without a doubt exploit to close the distance to him.

Though there was something that not even Zao was aware of at the moment, that within his own mind as he fought his comrade with the peak of his abilities versus the peak of Sanzo-san's own abilities putting them both already at their upper limit his mind was actually beginning to more quickly process his visual signals between his brain and in return to his own body. This was happening extremely slowly, thus the reason that Zao was unable to notice if for himself, as the blur of blades that were his opponents and his own clashing together shooting a few sparks from each exchange was ever so slightly becoming more and more clear. A few minutes had already passed as both men were dripping in sweat and once again Zao was able to just slightly begin to push back the shirtless man into a more defensive posture as the monk like man's attacks had started to regain their precise nature from before. The bannin had not competed at this high level of combat in quite some time, still recovering from his time of imprisonment by the Demon Hegemon and the mental trauma of dealing with the aftermath of everything to include the Great War itself. For the first time he truly felt that he was able to let go of all of that, even if it was just for this moment right now, as he actually took a step forward, one foot after the other, slowly inching his way closer and closer to his comrade as his blades became even more fierce and harder to predict.

Finally, one of the blades managed to slip past the airtight defense of the Suna-nin and slash across the left bicep, then a few exchanges later another, then another. Though each of the wounds were truly superficial wounds for a powerful fighter like Sanzo each of them would begin to add up in the end as he broke combat appeared to yield to this exchange. Of course, the other man hadn't used all the tips and tricks at his disposal to fight back as he was trying to help his friend reach at least this level of enlightenment in the art of fast paced combat, where if one attack slipped past their acute vision it could spell the end for them...

/500