After concentrating his mind, Aoto focused intently on following Chokata's instructions and practiced suburi.
As for Chokata, he wielded his bamboo sword and wandered among the apprentices, supervising their practice.
Each time his watchful gaze swept over Aoto, there was a flash of astonishment in his eyes.
——This person... is amazing...!
When beginners practice suburi, they often make various small mistakes, such as swinging the sword downward instead of forward; or flipping or twisting their wrists while swinging the sword...
Generally speaking, it is completely normal to spend several days practicing suburi until there are no more mistakes.
If one can practice standard suburi in just one day, it's already considered extraordinary talent.
Yet this new junior... he watched the demonstration once, practiced once, and was able to execute faultless suburi...
——His talent... might even surpass Brother Kondo and Mr. Hijikata...
Chokata couldn't help but focus almost half of his attention and gaze on Aoto.
The young man tasked Aoto with practicing until he could no longer swing the sword, to see what his current limit was.
In standard suburi, every swing must use one's maximum strength, which is especially taxing on physical strength.
By the 32nd swing, Aoto felt his arm muscles ache intensely, and his arms were unable to lift any longer, so he had no choice but to give up practice and loudly inform Chokata, "I can't swing anymore."
"Hmm... Not bad." Chokata slowly walked over to Aoto with his bamboo sword, "I've been silently observing you to see if your moves are standard."
"You did far better than I expected."
"Except for the last few swings, where due to insufficient strength your posture got a bit messy, every other swing was incredibly standard."
"It's a bit embarrassing..." Aoto said with a bitter smile, "I couldn't swing past 32 times..."
——This body is really weak!
Aoto lamented several times about this new body of his.
"Beginners shouldn't worry too much about the number of suburi repetitions." Chokata smiled slightly, "Whether the suburi moves are standard is the most important thing."
"It's better not to practice at all than to perform a thousand non-standard practices."
"Initially, I wanted to dedicate the entire day teaching you how to do suburi."
Chokata now showed a slowly emerging look of helplessness on his face.
"But your rate of improvement... far exceeds my imagination. Your suburi has no other corrections needed, so let's proceed to the next step of practice."
"Next, I'll teach you how to draw and sheath a sword."
"Drawing and sheathing a sword is the most basic of basics in swordsmanship. If you can't even draw or sheath a sword properly, there's no point in talking about swordsmanship."
"Take a short break now, and call me when you're ready. I'll go fetch the tools for drawing and sheathing practice."
"Yes."
...
...
Aoto rested for a full half an hour before he finally felt the soreness in his arms dissipate considerably.
After informing Chokata that he had finished resting, Chokata trotted out of the dojo and returned with two sheathed wooden swords.
"So heavy..." Aoto exclaimed softly in surprise as he received the wooden sword from Chokata, unexpectedly feeling its weight.
"These are specially designed for practicing drawing and sheathing swords," Chokata explained. "They're purposely weighted to perfectly simulate the weight of a real sword."
Aoto hefted the sheathed wooden sword in his hand—it indeed weighed exactly like a real sword.
"Alright, watch me demonstrate once." Chokata attached the wooden sword to his left waist, "The key to drawing and sheathing is one thing—guide your hand along the shortest route to the sword, don't make any unnecessary movements."
"Watch closely."
With that said, Chokata swiftly raised his right hand, pressing the wooden sword on his left waist and drawing it from the sheath.
Whoosh—!
The sword left the sheath with a sharp sound of air being sliced.
After deftly drawing the sword, Chokata sheathed the wooden sword with the same clean motion.
Chokata's movements were clean and concise, just like his earlier suburi demonstration, making even those unversed in swordsmanship want to shout, "Awesome!"
"When drawing, remember to grip the sword with your right wrist in this manner..."
Chokata succinctly explained the various details one must pay attention to when drawing and sheathing a sword to Aoto.
After finishing, he clasped both hands and his bamboo sword behind him.
"Alright. Now you try it once."
"Yes."
Aoto slightly spread his feet, lowered his center of gravity, imitated Chokata's earlier movements, and slowly reached for the wooden sword on his left waist.
Watching Aoto prepare to draw the sword, Chokata thought to himself with a mixture of expectation and pride:
——Drawing and sheathing... surely can't be mastered in just one or two attempts, right?
Having witnessed Aoto's astonishing talent, a peculiar curiosity arose in Chokata's heart—the curiosity to explore the depths of Aoto's talent.
With eyes filled with anticipation, Chokata eagerly watched as Aoto pressed his right hand on the wooden sword's hilt.
A "high-speed camera" in Aoto's mind activated once more—
Whoosh!
The wooden sword's blade was swiftly drawn out of the sheath, inch by inch, and Chokata's eyes widened correspondingly.
After drawing the wooden sword, Aoto imitated Chokata's earlier movements and returned the sword to the sheath.
——This person... had he really never received formal swordsmanship training before?!