[indent]The offense that Nazo had taken was indeed the first sign that this fight was well under way. The attack itself was always Nazo’s initial attack in any of his fights. In most of them, it would end there, either by death or the other warrior conceding to defeat. On the rare fights that Nazo would be in, that it would go pass the first attack, Nazo would always try to defeat them in the second attack. There has only been one other fight that Nazo has been in that would was prolonged throughout an hour. This fight against Seisui is the second time he sees this happening. He would like to avoid that.

As Nazo went in for his attack, his back was turned, which is an odd way to attack, but that is just how he rolls. In any case, it was blocked like it was nothing. First, Seisui seemed to use the hilt of his Chinmoku to parry Nazo’s sword, and then using his scabbard to hit Nazo on the left side, right above the hip. It hurt, sure, and yeah the parrying of his blade took him by surprise, but Nazo still tried to remain active and focused. It wasn’t until he felt the force of the scabbard into his side. It definitely hurt like hell. It surprised him momentarily, but a moment is all one needs to win, and that is what Seisui seems to be doing as he quickly slashed upward and then downward at Nazo’s hand.

The slash was only an instant, and there was only that inbetween the preperation of the slash and the initial contact. That’s how much time that Nazo had to redirect it with his sword, and that’s what exactly he did. All he had to do was twist his body accordingly to where the slash would only hit Nazo’s own katana. The sound that was the result of the two swords clashing caused the birds in the trees nearby to fly away, releasing cries of surprise of their own. By the time that they all were gone, Nazo was turned face-to-face to Seisui. He had his sword still in reverse grip and it was in a diagonal position. Nazo was trying his best to avoid the sword from cutting into him. That is why he did a dodge roll to the side. It was just in time to cause it would seem Chinmoku would have overpowered Nazo’s own, considering he was in a crouching stance.

[b]“Too close. Need to be careful.”[/b] Nazo said as he was on one knee.

Nazo knew he had to be more careful, but he also didn’t want to be on the defensive throughout the entire fight. Nazo also knew that the stance he was in was also not going to work for the time being. Perhaps later on in the fight, he would be able to go back to it, but for now, Nazo felt that taking a more traditional stance would be the best thing to do. In light of that, he switched to an Iaido stance. This stance was vastly different from the Tenmatsu-suru stance. The Iaido is a more traditional one where the user has their sword semi-out from the scabbard and only when an attack is utilized does it come out. It’s a more quick-and-easy type of style. Nazo prefers this one for prolonged battles.

So, as he stood up, Nazo found himself once again face-to-face to Seisui, but this time he stood strait and poised for intensity. He, this time would wait for Seisui to take the offensive. He had to be careful not to rush in again. It was probably the heat of the fight taking over then. Or maybe, that’s’ what he wanted Seisui to think. Maybe he was just getting a good measure of how quick this man can react. Perhaps he was just doing that to scale the man’s skill. Yes, it was definitely that and furthermore, he will use it to further his edge in this fight. Now, the waiting game is where it will decide the outcome of the next series of attacks.[/indent]