I teach judo in Tokyo.

It is very likely the lost technique of the legendary swordsman "Ito Ittosai"!

Itō Ittōsai's three most famous secret techniques are Cutting Down, Fusha Sword, and Musō Sword.

Of these, only the core technique of the One-Sword Style, "cutting down," has been passed down.

His two most mysterious special skills only have names, but no lineage to them.

The "Musou Ken" is the strongest sword technique that Ittosai mastered after finding his own "path".

There are also some anecdotes about the creation of this sword.

It is said that after reaching the pinnacle of swordsmanship, Ittosai sought to further develop his own unique swordsmanship, pondering day and night, but could not grasp that spark of inspiration.

Since he could not comprehend it on his own, he placed his hopes on faith and the divine.

In order to receive divine revelation, he went to a temple and prayed continuously for seven days and seven nights.

Until the seventh night, while he was focused on prayer, without any distractions.

Suddenly, I felt someone sneaking up behind me.

At this moment, his mind, after praying day and night, was in a state of "emptiness".

In this unconscious state, he turned around naturally, drew his sword, and slashed down.

However, there was no one behind him.

The sword he swung at was nothing more than his own shadow.

Looking at everything before him, he suddenly understood.

In a daze, yet still conscious, with this tiny, dust-like glimmer of light, the body was driven, and naturally, a divine sword imbued with "nothingness" was unleashed...

This is the ultimate essence of swordsmanship that he has always pursued.

It was then named the Sword of No Thought.

......

Of course, the above are just some anecdotes, and whether they are true or false, no one knows.

In reality, this sword technique called "Musou no Ken" (無想剑) along with another powerful sword technique created by that swordsman, "Fusha no Kata" (拂舍刀), were unfortunately lost.

The techniques of this sword style recreated by contemporary Itto-ryu Kendo dojos are merely moves imagined by later generations based on fragments of seemingly plausible texts, and then simply given the name "Musou".

Sosuke knew that compared to those nonsensical, impersonating sword techniques, this was a far cry from the true essence of swordplay.

His trick is the real deal.

At least from what he perceived, the effect of using this sword technique certainly lived up to its name, "No Thoughts."

While he was thinking, Sosuke saw a small hand waving in front of him again.

Then he turned and glared at Mifune Yumi with an annoyance: "What are you doing?"

The class monitor stared at him with her big, round eyes, blinking rapidly: "Teacher, what were you thinking about just now? Couldn't you hear me?"

"Hmm, I'm thinking about what kind of massage service Yumi-chan can give her good teacher later." Sousuke chuckled.

"Oh!" Mifune Yumi's face flushed red instantly. Her eyes darted around, and she secretly quickened her pace. "Teacher, we had extra practice too late today. I'm so tired. Can I postpone it?"

The next second, Sosuke grabbed her by the back of the neck, pulling her back like a kitten.

"Teacher! Please let me go!" Yumi Mifune pleaded pitifully.

Sosuke chuckled, then deliberately said menacingly, "No massage is fine, but you have to settle the venue rental fee for today!"

"I have no money!" Yumi Mifune shouted confidently.

Sosuke: "Then I'll repay you with hard work, haha!"

"No! Teacher's College, you're a pervert!"

"What are you afraid of? It's just a normal massage, you won't get pregnant."

"Don't don't!"

However, in the end, the class monitor gritted his teeth and, with a flushed face, gave the teacher a massage.

......

......

A little after ten o'clock, Atobe Sousuke stretched and returned to his room.

Considering that Yumi Mifune was indeed tired from training, he only teased her on purpose, and this time he let her go without making her tired for too long during the massage.

Of course, although the overall time was reduced, all three required procedures were completed.

The back, limbs, and most importantly, the straddle-style front massage were all included.

The main character is someone who goes to great lengths to save tuition fees for the class monitor.

Feeling refreshed, Sousuke looked up and saw Iga-sama and Tazaki Yuta lying on the bed watching him.

"You're back?" Iga Yahiko greeted Sousuke with a teasing smile.

On the other bed, Tazaki Yuta looked at him with a strange smile: "Atobe-san! Manager Mifune is so petite, can he handle your training?"

"How could you two be so filthy!" Sosuke returned to his bed with a righteous expression. "I was giving her special training so she wouldn't be defeated by others and lose her spot, crying about it."

"Hmm... I believe you!" Tasaki Yuta nodded in a pretentious manner, but his serious expression only lasted a few seconds before turning lewd.

"You've had a full-on special training program, from throwing techniques and parrying techniques to 'ground techniques,' right?!" The guy's expression became even more twisted when he mentioned the word "ground techniques."

"You pervert, you should have smashed your head open back then and made some of that yellow stuff spill out," Sosuke said with a laugh.

He then didn't want to talk about this topic anymore and abruptly changed the subject.

He turned to look at Yahiko Iga: "So, tomorrow morning we'll play two more rounds of team matches, and in the afternoon we'll play three rounds of individual matches, and then we can head home, right?"

Iga Yahiko: "That's true."

"Are there any formidable opponents?" Sosuke lay down on the bed with ease, chatting casually.

"As long as we take it seriously, they pose virtually no threat."

Iga Yahiko looked relaxed as he answered Sousuke with a smile.

It feels so good to no longer have to carry four pigs like a god!

Chapter 63 Warning Declaration

Sunday's experience was actually no different from Saturday's.

After eliminating half the teams in the first round on Saturday, the schedule has become even tighter.

In the team competition, Atobe Sousuke and Captain Iga Yahiko performed steadily, with the two core players winning both team matches and successfully leading the Tsurumine team into the top eight in their group.

Next week, they only need to play two more matches to become the top seed in their group and compete with the corresponding seeded teams for a spot in the semifinals, and ultimately, for one of only three tickets to the national tournament.

In the individual competition, after three consecutive battles, Sousuke and Yumi Mifune both successfully advanced and became the top eight players in their respective weight classes.

That's right, the individual competition is different from the team competition; it's grouped by weight class.

For example, in the men's category, there are five weight classes ranging from 60 kg to 100 kg (and above). Iga Yahiko is in the 70 kg class, while Atobe Sousuke is in the 80 kg class. The two are not in competition with each other.

The women's group is divided into five weight classes, ranging from 40 kg to 80 kg (and above). As a petite woman, Yumi Mifune is in the lowest weight class of 40 kg.

(The actual weight classes in the national competition are not divided in this way (there are seven weight classes). This article simplifies the division for convenience.)

Tsuramine High School's outstanding performance had already attracted the attention of top-tier students who had previously been focused on Iga Yahiko.

Now it has been directly recognized as one of the top teams in the Tokyo area.

As the core of the team, Atobe Sousuke occupies the position of general, which is rumored to be no less powerful than Iga Yahiko, the ace of the major high schools.

Moreover, they can always easily defeat their opponents with a single, basic technique.

Therefore, the students from various universities, whose "chuunibyou" (middle school syndrome) spirit was overflowing, eventually gave them many nicknames.

Dragon from Heaven, Ghost Card from Crane Peak, etc...

This pertains to judo.

As for kendo, Hefeng's men's kendo club performed well, successfully advancing to the top eight in their group.

However, the women's kendo club, led by Motoko Itsuka, fared much worse. After barely winning the second round, they were defeated by a strong opponent in the third round.

After all, even someone as strong as Motoko Gofuku couldn't win three games on his own under the constraints of the rules.

In the individual competition, the situation was completely different. Motoko Itako, whose strength was significantly greater than that of the other female fencers, fought her way through the competition, finishing each match within ten seconds, and finally made it into the round of 16.

Sousuke glanced around through the system panel and, at least in the Tokyo area, didn't see any female players who could reach Motoko Itō's kendo level.

Not to mention that it also needs to have special entries.

Not to mention Motoko Itsuka, he didn't find a single SR-level talent like Yumi Mifune throughout the entire event.

However, judging from the stats, there are actually judo players whose skill level is similar to or even higher than that of Yumi Mifune.

If there is any difference between them and the class monitor, it is probably only their appearance.

This made him even more certain of one thing—the dog system's evaluation of aptitude did not only consider the disciple's martial arts aptitude.

Instead, they will make a comprehensive assessment based on the disciple's appearance and status.

Furthermore, this system has never, to date, offered advice to any male disciple.

Is this dog system some kind of shady system that some powerful being just casually peeled off from some butter?

With this, the first round of the preliminary knockout stage has come to an end.

***

In the evening, after packing his luggage, Atobe Sousuke followed the main group from Tsurumine to the bus, ready to board the bus back to Tsurumine High School.

As it turned out, several uninvited guests had been waiting quietly next to their bus for quite some time.

They were six boys dressed in black tracksuits, with wicked smiles and an aura of danger.

“They’re from Kirisaki High School…” Iga Yahiko reached out to stop Atobe Sousuke beside him, his expression somewhat grave.

Sousuke casually pulled over the bewildered Mifune Yumi and calmly looked at the group of people.

That's right, it was none other than "Onishima He," the ace player from Kirisaki High School whom I met the day before yesterday, who came to our door with his team.

The reason for their approach is quite obvious.

The seeded team for Group D, where Sosuke and his team competed, was Kirisaki High School.

Currently, the team with the highest chance of standing out in Group D and ultimately competing with Kirisaki High School for a spot in the next round is Tsurumine.

So they must have come to demonstrate.

With a wicked smile, Onishima He stepped forward and said, "Iga, I never expected that your trashy judo club would actually have the chance to stand in front of our Kirisaki!"

Iga Yahiko remained unmoved by the opponent's low-level provocation, simply replying calmly, "Kirizaki High School, always fourth place, is actually not that great. To be honest, when I saw that our group's seed was Kirizaki, I was actually..."

"On the contrary!" Accompanied by a series of sarcastic remarks from Iga Yahiko, Onishima He was successfully provoked to a bit of anger.

Iga Yahiko: "Of course I'm relieved!"

As he spoke, he deliberately turned to Sosuke and said in a coordinated manner, "Sosuke, don't you think so? If the seeded teams are the three strongest teams, it will be much more troublesome for us to advance."

Minister, I never imagined that you, who seem like such a gentle and law-abiding citizen, could be so venomous when you're mocking people.

However, I have high hopes for you!

Sousuke chuckled and picked up where Iga Yahiko left off: "I did feel a sense of relief; the pressure suddenly lessened to almost nothing."

"You—!" Onishima He's expression was ferocious. At the same time, his five teammates, like thugs, immediately approached him menacingly.

"So, what do you say? Should we fight?!"

"Koraaaaa! Kneel down before me!"

"A bunch of well-behaved students, how dare you anger the boss! You're finished!"

Sousuke narrowed his eyes slightly—no wonder he's a low-quality member from a disreputable high school. His threatening words are even more sophisticated than those of the yakuza outside.

The noise from the group attracted the attention of the other passengers on the bus.

Looking out the car window, Motoko saw someone confronting Sosuke's group. She immediately frowned, grabbed her bamboo sword pouch, ran off the car, and quickly walked to Sosuke's side.

"Atobe-kun, what happened? Do you need help?" Her voice was cold, her eyes sharp as she stared intently at the group from Kirisaki High School. The bamboo sword pouch in her hand was slowly pulled open, as if she were about to draw her sword and slash someone at any moment.