Roen stepped in first.
His foot landed inside Genryū's stance and his hand drove straight through the middle, elbow tight behind it, shoulder already coming with it. No wind-up. No testing. He went in like he meant to stay there.
Genryū moved at the last moment.
His palm met Roen's forearm with a sharp tap and turned it just off the line. His heel slid across the dirt as he shifted his weight, and Roen's strike passed along his shoulder instead of through him. The contact stayed. The hit didn't.
Roen didn't pause.
His other hand came in straight away, catching again, his next step planting deeper to hold the space he'd already taken. He tried to pin it there, keep Genryū in front of him long enough to build off it
Genryū wasn't there.
He had already stepped out half a line, close enough to touch, far enough that nothing landed clean.
A second presence came in from the side.
Itachi didn't go straight at him. He stepped off-line, angled in, his hand snapping toward Genryu's ribs. Not fully committed just enough to draw a response. His other hand stayed ready, eyes locked in, the red already turning.
Sharingan.
Two tomoe… already?
His elbow dropped, turning the strike down instead of taking it clean. His foot shifted with it, body angling so Roen's next step cut into Itachi's space instead of his own.
For a beat, they overlapped anyway.
Roen's hand came back up, catching Genryu's wrist. Itachi stepped in tighter, trying to seal the angle before it slipped. Their timing nearly locked, two lines arriving close enough that the space around Genryu narrowed.
Almost.
Genryu stepped through the gap between them.
Roen's grip slid off as the angle changed. Itachi's follow-up hit empty air where Genryu had been a moment earlier. The line broke before it could settle into anything real.
Distance opened.
Roen didn't wait.
His hand dropped to his pouch and came back up with a kunai already turning in his grip. The metal flashed. A faint blue line ran along the edge, thin and tight, humming as his chakra settled into it without spilling.
He stepped in again, faster this time.
The first strike came short and direct, testing the line. The second cut across slightly lower, trying to catch Genryu's movement instead of chasing it. The blade whistled.
Genryu's hand met his wrist mid-path, redirecting it just enough that the edge slid past him. His other hand tapped Roen's shoulder once, shifting his balance a fraction off.
A kunai came from the side.
Itachi's throw cut across the space Roen had just opened, angled low to catch Genryu's step if he moved the way he had before. His eyes tracked it cleanly, the tomoe in them turning as the line formed.
Genryu didn't move where the throw expected him to.
He stepped inside it.
His hand caught Roen's forearm again, turning it across his own center so the next motion would run into Itachi's path instead of his. The kunai passed just behind him, embedding into the post with a dull knock.
Roen didn't hesitate. He shifted his grip, turning the blade back in, trying to keep the pressure close.
Itachi was already moving again, not repeating the same line, stepping wider this time.
Genryu stayed ahead of it.
Roen's foot slid back half a step as he set himself, breath steady, eyes fixed. The edge in his hand didn't waver.
Roen's hands came together, quick and tight.
Wind gathered along his arm as he stepped in
Then he cut forward.
A thin blade of air tore low across the ground, fast and tight, skimming the dirt as it sliced through the space in front of him.
Wind release: Vacuum Balde
Genryu dipped his shoulder and let it pass across the space he'd just left, already stepping into the next opening.
Flames followed it.
Itachi's hands had already moved. Smaller bursts split off and tracked forward, each adjusting slightly as they closed the distance. They filled the gap the wind had opened, forcing the space to narrow again.
Genryu moved through the seam between them.
His steps stayed tight, cutting between the lines before they fully closed. One flame clipped the edge of his sleeve, fabric singeing at the tip before he was past it.
Roen was already there.
Fire ran from his mouth in a narrow stream, enough to flood the field, just enough to chase the lane Genryu had taken. It followed the path he'd read, forcing it tighter.
For the first time, Genryu had to move wider.
His foot planted harder as he shifted out of the line, angle opening just enough that the pressure didn't stack cleanly behind him.
Itachi's hands came together again.
The fireball formed fast, launched toward Genryu.
Genryu moved again.
Further this time.
The heat passed across his side, the edge of it catching air where he'd been a moment before.
The ground settled.
Roen's hands came together.
Shadow clone jutsu
The clones split off clean, two of them forming on either side without breaking his line of sight.
One pushed forward from the front. Roen angled right. The other shifted left, closing the space from the side.
Itachi stayed just outside it, not stepping in yet, his eyes tracking the openings instead of forcing them.
The first clone closed.
Genryu stepped in to meet it.
One movement. Clean.
The clone broke.
It collapsed the moment contact was made.
Roen was already there behind it.
His kunai came in from the right, line tight.
Genryu was already inside.
His hand met Roen's wrist before the cut formed fully, turning it just enough that the blade slid past his side instead of through. His shoulder drove forward a fraction, collapsing the space Roen needed to continue.
The second clone came in from the left.
Itachi moved with it this time, stepping in just as Genryu's body committed to the first exchange, kunai angled to catch the opening that should have been there.
Genryu shifted once.
The opening wasn't there.
Itachi's blade met air. Genryu's hand came across and checked him at the forearm, not striking hard, just enough to stop the chain before it built.
Roen's next movement stalled for a fraction.
Genryu stepped forward.
The rhythm broke.
Roen tried to re-enter, but the space he needed wasn't there anymore. His second action didn't form cleanly. Genryu's hand cut across his line before it did, forcing him to back off mid-motion.
The last clone moved in.
It didn't land.
Genryu erased it with the same clean motion as the first.
The field thinned.
Itachi stepped back half a step, eyes still locked, sharingan turning faster now, trying to catch the shift.
Genryu's attention touched him once.
Itachi's next entry stopped before it started.
Not because he chose to.
Because there was nowhere for it to go.
Roen felt it.
The difference.
Genryu wasn't waiting anymore.
He was already there before things happened.
Roen moved anyway.
The ground pushed back, body turning in, kunai coming up
Genryu was inside it.
His hand struck Roen's forearm cutting it short.
Roen's balance shifted.
He caught it, stepped back once.
Genryu didn't follow.
He stood where he was for a moment, posture settled, breath even. Then his hand moved to his side.
The kodachi came free without sound.
The shift wasn't loud.
But it changed everything.
Roen saw it immediately.
His chest tightened once, the memory already there before the thought formed. The courtyard. The blade. The pressure.
Itachi's eyes locked onto it too, the red in them sharpening as the weapon came into line.
Genryu didn't rush.
The blade tilted slightly in his hand.
The air around it changed first.
Not heat. Not light.
Pressure.
Wind drew in along the edge, tight enough that it didn't spill outward. It wrapped close, compressing, the line of it barely visible unless you were looking directly at it.
Lightning followed.
Not wild. Not loud.
It settled into the wind like it belonged there, held in place, contained along the metal instead of breaking off it.
The space around the blade bent slightly.
Roen felt it before he moved.
His grip tightened on the kunai without him thinking about it.
Itachi's stance shifted, weight lowering, eyes tracking the smallest movement.
Genryu stepped forward.
And the distance disappeared again.