The Path to Justice (solo)

Masaru Arata entered the dojo briskly and with confidence. His veiled eyes swept around the room quickly and landed upon the nearest available instructor. He approached this man (whom he dwarfed by about 3 and a half feet) and said, "Please, teach me all you have to teach about Zanjutsu." The man smiled as he looked up at Masaru. "All business eh? I like that. All right." The man drew his katana, and Masaru drew his massive nodachi. "The only thing that is worth teaching is experience; so I will just keep coming at you until your arms turn to lead!"

The teacher stabbed at Masaru, aiming low. The tip of Masaru's giant blade came down and struck the teacher's blade aside, whereupon Masaru countered by swiping back up at his teacher's head. The teacher leaped to the side and aimed two more strikes at Masaru, this time aimed high, at his arms. Masaru jumped with his teacher, and deftly struck out to parry both blows as they circled each other. His teacher then darted in close and began launching a flurry of small, deft strikes aimed at Masaru's upper body in general.

Masaru fought desperately to parry all these lightning fast blows; unfortunately, his blade was too big to move around as fast as his teacher's blade was- and Masaru did not have the experience and training that would have allowed him to compensate. His teacher's sword took nicks and bits out of Masaru's uniform as it darted in out, quick like a bird's beak. Finally, Masaru made a misstep, and his teacher's blade was at his throat. "Well done," the teacher congratulated him.

"For what? I failed to defeat you," said Masaru.

"So? You learned something, and held out far longer than others have. You have potential, and the ability to learn. I noticed how you adapted to my strategy change, and that is good. Let us take a five minute breather, and we'll go at it again, shall we?"

Masaru nodded his agreement.

Round two of his Zanjutsu training with this man he so dwarfed. Masaru held his massive nodachi with the point directly at his teacher's eye level. It wasn't the standard defensive stance he normally took, but Masaru wanted to try something new in terms of strategy. His blade hovered in front of his teacher's face as they circled each other, each looking for a sign of weakness, an opening in the other's defenses.

Masaru thought he saw a brief tightening around his teacher's eyes, which he took as a sign that his teacher was about to attack. His blade shot down even as his teacher's blade whipped across. Masaru's sword knocked the offending blade off-course and away from his body. Immediately, Masaru brought it right back to his teacher's eye level, and then attacked by slashing across. His teacher's blade flicked up to knock it high, and Masaru was forced to take two steps back so he could bring his blade back to position.

And so it went for several minutes, small, isolated parries and ripostes, as if the two were feeling each other out. Every time he made a movement, Masaru always brought his sword back to point between his teacher's eyes. He was hoping to get his teacher to fixate on the point, just for a second, and follow for too long, or have it be a distraction. Or, have it so that his teacher would assume that every time Masaru did something, it would end with his sword back between the eyes.

And then it happened. Masaru stepped around and brought his blade across; his teacher sidestepped and for an instant, his eyes followed the point for too long. Masaru gave a triumphant growl and brought his blade back across in a backhand side strike; only to have it meet his teacher's sword.

"Very good, my student! That was an excellent strategy. One criticism; it took too long. You won't have time for that kind of thing in battle. But it nearly worked, haha, if I wasn't so darn experienced, I'd be nursing a serious injury right now," Masaru's teacher congratulated him.

"Thank you for the advice, sensei," Masaru replied.

Once again, Masaru was facing his teacher in a round of combat. Today, they were not fighting inside the dojo, but instead, outside in an open field. Masaru was happy for that, as he had always been scared in the dojo that his oversized sword would cause unintended damage to either the dojo itself or someone unfortunate enough to be in the way. As it was, Masaru stood facing his teacher, both with their swords at the ready.

Masaru acted without warning, feeling that they had bypassed the need for conversation before battle, and attacked. His sword swished down in an overhead strike toward his teacher, which was met with a horizontal parry. Undeterred, Masaru simply began to press down, intending to use his great strength against his teacher. Initially, his teacher tried to resist with his own strength, but found that Masaru was simply too big and strong for that approach to be most effective.

Instead, his teacher sidestepped around, hoping to cause Masaru to stumble forward- no such luck, Masaru had anticipated that and now his sword was coming in to meet his teacher from the side. Again, their blades clashed together, and again, Masaru's teacher was reminded of how physically powerful Masaru was. At this point, his teacher decided that the best defense was a good offense, and began launching quick strikes at Masaru.

It seemed Masaru had learned however; he was forced to give up ground initially, but soon there was enough distance between the two so that Masaru could simply bat his teacher's strikes away with the upper portion of his blade. In fact, now they were so far away from each other that only Masaru was within striking range with his blade, and he was largely successful at keeping his teacher at bay.

Masaru watched with interest as his teacher's eyes betrayed a hint of desperation, as sweat beaded on his teacher's forehead. Have I surpassed my teacher? thought Masaru to himself. New vigor crept into his movement, and Masaru began to press his own offense, launching heavy handed but brutally quick strikes directly at his teacher. Again and again, Masaru's heavy blade crashed into his teacher's, and each time, Masaru felt a quake within his teacher's muscles as they fought to compete with Masaru's strength.

And then, the perfect moment to strike occurred. His teacher seemed tired, barely able to hold his own against Masaru, who for once, felt that he was in control of the battle. He feinted a final blow at his teacher, one coming from below, and even as their blades met, Masaru twisted his wrist, turned the blade into a horizontal movement that brought both points away from both combatants. Masaru stepped forward, and his left fist hit his teacher square in the chest, sending him tumbling back and onto the ground.

Masaru's booted foot stepped onto his teacher's wrist as his teacher's hand reached for his sword. "I believe I have surpassed you, sensei. Thank you for your part in my growth."

"It was nothing. Go and become great, Masaru. Follow your heart," said his teacher with tears in his eyes.

"I will follow...the law. If I have a heart...that is where it resides," without another word, Masaru sheathed his sword and walked off.