22. Tournament

Swordsmanship tournament, a yearly event in the Capital city of the Land of Iron. There is no rank or age restriction to participate in the tournament.

But they need to have a certain level of skill as the minimum requirement to participate. It is to filter the participants quickly because there are always so many people that want to participate.

So the 1st stage is simply a skill test or as people say it's a Qualification Round. It's still done in the arena because people were also enjoying it and they started choosing their favorite fighters there.

The skill test is cutting wood logs. This tournament uses real swords, so they can perform and show their real skills. But it also makes the tournament dangerous because it can cause grave injuries or even death.

Of course, the organizer has set up some precautions, but they can't 100% remove all those risks. There is always a chance of people dying and it happened a few times in the past.

That's why when they register, the participants need to sign an agreement that they may lose their lives in the tournament and won't blame anyone.

Anyway, the Qualification round finally starts and they do the test for 10 people at once to save time. They put 10 rather thick wood logs in the arena and call the fighters.

Zoro is number 72, so he still needs to wait for a bit for his turn. He watches the participants that do the test before him and he is quite surprised because there aren't many who can cut the dummies.

"Hey, you said this test is always the same every year. So why are there still people who fail this test?"

Zoro asks the participant beside him who talked a little with him before about the tournament.

"W-well, those wooden logs aren't just normal wood logs. They are reinforced with Fuinjutsu. Official samurais always use reinforced targets for their training because they can easily cut normal wood like butter. So our country then hired a shinobi clan that's on the verge of extinction. I forgot the clan name, but they are quite good at Fuinjutsu. We offer them protection in exchange for their Fuinjutsu. I think it's the gist of the story."

"Heh, I see."

Now Zoro understands that even if the Land of Iron is neutral regarding the shinobi world's affair, they are still involved with shinobis. There must be more shinobis or even shinobi clans hiding in the Land of Iron, but it's none of his concern.

Soon, his turn finally comes and obviously he becomes the center of attention. After all, he is the youngest person who participates in the tournament.

Zoro stands in front of the reinforced wood log and probes it with his Observation Haki. It indeed has some chakra inside and the chakra is most concentrated on the bottom, most likely where the Fuinjutsu is located.

'Reinforced or not, I will still cut it.'

Zoro unsheathes a sword and stands right in front of the wood log like everyone else. He holds the sword above him with both hands. Then when the referee starts the round, he slashes his sword down diagonally.

*Swish*

His sword seems to have just passed the wood log as if it doesn't hit the log. Then he stands upright to sheath his sword again and right at that moment, the upper part of the log slides to the side before falling.

"Hmph! Light Work."

This obviously surprises everyone because they never thought a 12 y.o can cut the wood log so cleanly. Some of the participants in his group failed, including the guy who talked with him before.

"Who is that child? Is he an academy student?"

The Daimyo who sits in a special room in the stadium is asking the man who stands beside him.

"I'm not sure, sir. An excellent child like him should be known, but I never heard of him. Should I send my men to check it for you?"

The man answers truthfully. This man is Mifune, but he is a lot younger than when he appears in the story.

The Daimyo nods, so Mifune calls his men to check Zoro's background. Even if the Daimyo doesn't order him, he intends to check it either way because the way Zoro cuts that wood log has piqued his interest.

No chakra, only pure swordsmanship. It's not a feat that average academy graduates can achieve. But he never heard of this talent before, that's why Mifune is curious about Zoro.

'I doubt even the most talented graduates can do that. His cut is so clean that it took a while for the log to separate. Even high-ranking samurais might not have that level of swordsmanship.'

Mifune can do the same thing, but average high-ranking samurais won't be able to do that without using chakra blades. That's why Mifune is very impressed by Zoro's level of swordsmanship.

"What?! He is not an academy graduate? A mercenary? Is this true?"

At the end of the Qualification round, Mifune finally receives the report about Zoro. But he can't believe what he reads in the report.

"We have checked a few times and everything is correct."

"Are you sure he is our citizen?"

"Yes, he came to the Capital a few months ago. Previously, he lived in the rural town and moved from place to place as a mercenary."

"A 12 y.o mercenary with that level of skill. He must have a very great master. But who is it? I know most of our country's Great Swordsmen, but I never heard any of them taking disciples who weren't from the academy."

Mifune is getting more confused as he thinks deeper about it. Then eventually, he stops thinking about this issue.

"Hmm, well, there's no rule that forbids people from learning swordsmanship out of the academy and samurai corps. So it isn't strange for Great Swordsmen to emerge from the civilians. There's no problem as long as they don't betray the Land of Iron. For now, keep an eye on this boy."

Mifune is more curious about Zoro's skills than anything else. He doesn't care about Zoro's background. As long as Zoro isn't a criminal, then everything is fine.

After the Qualification Round ends, there are still 87 people left. There were more than 200 who registered and now they are left with 87 fighters.

But it's still too many for the main Battle Stage, so they do a 2nd Qualification Round. The 2nd round is group battles. Fighters will be chosen randomly using numbered sticks and put into 16 groups.

Everyone in the same group will fight each other at the same time and the winner will enter the Battle Stage. So with 87 people, there will be 9 groups with 5 people and 7 groups with 6 people.

Zoro is in group 9 that has 6 people in it after taking a numbered stick. So he needs to defeat the other 5 to advance to the Battle Stage.

His round finally starts after waiting for 2 hours. The previous battles were quite interesting because most of the fighters were official samurais. Their skills were good.

The battles between official samurais were interesting to watch. Zoro also finally could see the samurais' chakra blade skills. They use short swords, but they use chakra to make extensions, increasing their overall sword length.

It makes Zoro think that maybe they can increase the length of their swords even longer. That will surely become a good strategy to surprise their opponents by extending their chakra blade right before hitting their opponents.

But while their chakra blade technique is great, Zoro can't say the same about their swordsmanship. He is confident he won't lose to these official samurais if it's just about pure swordsmanship.

'Seems like I need to worry more with their chakra blades. But I still can't underestimate their swordsmanship. Maybe there will be more skillful samurais among them and there is a high possibility they are hiding their real power because this is still just the Qualification Stage.'

Zoro enters the arena along with the other 5 fighters. He doesn't know which ones are the official samurais because they don't use their samurai armor.

All of them just wear normal kimonos, so he can't differentiate them just from their looks. 2 of them use normal length katanas, but he can't be sure they aren't samurais because some of the previous samurais also use normal katanas. Luckily, there's a method to find them out, Observation Haki.

'Oh? All 5 of them are official samurais?'

Zoro's Observation Haki has gotten better in the last 2 months. Its range is a lot wider now and he can sense people's chakra more clearly.

'Well, let's see how good official samurais are, shall we?'

Zoro stretches his body a bit before unsheathing just 2 of his swords. Time to test his swordsmanship against this world's true swordsmen.

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Chapter 42. Grudge

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