"Maybe it's because Ishikawa Hyōma is trying his best to restrain the disciples in their hall." Regarding the question of why he has been so calm for more than a month, Hanbei found someone for himself and Ogata who he thought was the best.
Reasonable explanation.
"Although Ishikawa Hyōma doesn't like our Sakakibara Kenkan, he is a person who understands priorities."
"He is a person who pays more attention to real life than illusory things such as honor and dignity."
Hanbei, who had been dealing with Ishikawa Hyōma for a long time, talked eloquently.
"There have been too many turmoils a while ago. Ishikawa Hyoge certainly doesn't want to cause more turmoil and get his sword hall into greater trouble."
"In order to avoid causing more trouble, Ishikawa Bingma must have restrained the disciples in their hall for more than a month, so that the disciples in their hall will not come to you for revenge."
"Yeah." Ogata nodded, "This should be the only possibility."
"Anyway, it's been calm for more than a month, which is a good thing." Hanbei smiled, "Ogata, you actually came at the right time today."
"Just right?" Ogata asked puzzledly.
"As early as after you won the God Sacrifice Competition, I wanted to give you something. But because you needed to recover from your injuries, I temporarily stored it."
"Now that your injury is almost healed and you can move around freely, I think it's time to give you that thing."
After saying that, Hanbei turned his head and shouted to the people practicing swordsmanship in the dojo:
"stop!"
As soon as Hanbei shouted, all the disciples who were practicing swordsmanship in the dojo stopped what they were doing, turned their heads, and cast doubtful glances at Hanbei.
"gather!"
…
…
Everyone in the sword hall, including Ogata, knelt obediently in the dojo, waiting for Hanbei's return.
After asking all the disciples to stop practicing and gather together, Hanbei left temporarily.
According to what he said - he was going to get the things he was going to give to Ogata, and he would come back as soon as he went.
And Hanbei didn't deceive them.
Soon, Hanbei returned to the dojo carrying a scroll.
After sitting down in front of the disciples, Hanbei shouted in an energetic tone:
"Ogata!"
"exist!"
"Come forward!"
"yes!"
Ogata stood up from the ground, walked quickly to the front of the disciples, and then sat down again.
"Ogata, this is for you."
After saying that, Hanbei handed the scroll in his hand towards Ogata.
"This is...?" Ogata asked doubtfully.
Hanbei smiled slightly: "You will know what this is after you take a look at it."
"yes……"
Ogata stood up again with doubts, walked slowly to Hanbei, and then knelt on the ground again.
He stretched out his hands and respectfully took the scroll from Hanbei's hand.
"Master, can you open it now and take a look?"
"sure."
"Then...disciple, I would rather be respectful than obey your orders."
After neatly untying the string binding the scroll, Ogata pulled the scroll open in one breath.
There are many big characters written on the scroll with flying dragons and phoenixes.
Ogata saw the words "Sakakibara Itto-ryu".
Then I saw the master's name again, and then I saw his name again.
After pulling the scroll to the end, the four Chinese characters written at the end of the scroll made Ogata's eyes suddenly widen.
These four Chinese characters are exactly the meaning of "free of charge".
"Master! This is...?!"
"That's right." Hanbei nodded, "This is the certificate that is passed on to everyone."
As soon as Hanbei finished speaking, gasps and exclamations could be heard in the venue.
The other disciples who were kneeling behind Ogata looked at Ogata with mixed emotions.
"Master..." Ogata's face was full of astonishment, "How can I get a certificate that exempts everyone from being passed on?"
Ogata's words were not meant to be modest.
He said this from the bottom of his heart.
Ogata thought - he had not yet mastered the four major sword skills of Sakakihara Itto-ryu to the point of proficiency, so how could he be qualified to obtain the certificate of exemption from the Kaden?
"Ogata, feel free to accept the certificate of exemption."
"Our Sakakibara Itto-ryu has different standards from other schools in assessing whether disciples have reached the level to obtain a certificate for Yoshinori."
"Most schools require their disciples to master the sword skills of that school and practice them to perfection."
"But our Sakakibara Itto-ryu is different."
"Although our Sakakihara Itto-ryu also pays attention to the mastery of sword skills, we pay more attention to another thing."
"Different schools have different standards for granting or not granting certificates of exemption."
"There are only two conditions for the award of our Sakakibara Itto-ryu."
"As long as you can meet these two conditions, you will be able to obtain the Sakakibara Ito-ryu's certificate of exemption from all disciplines."
"Article 1: Can you master a certain sword skill?"
"Article 2 is also the most important one: whether you have realized the most important principle in a life-and-death duel."
"I don't require you to practice every sword skill of Sakakihara Itto-ryu to perfection."
Hanbei's words were not only spoken to Ogata, but also to all the disciples present.
"My brother - your uncle - was traveling around the world and competing with masters, and he realized a truth in actual combat."
"That is - 'To understand everything is to be lax in everything'."
"Your uncle has encountered many masters, but they only practiced a certain move to perfection."
"Even if they don't know other sword skills, it doesn't prevent them from becoming frightening masters with the only move they know."
"Your uncle is like this too."
"Although your uncle created the Sakakibara Itto-ryu school, he did not master every move of Sakakibara Itto-ryu."
"In terms of the power of 'climbing the stairs', your uncle can only be regarded as ordinary."
"But your uncle has practiced 'Shui Luo' to the pinnacle."
"The power of the 'Shui Fall' used by your uncle is even frightening to the Satsuma people who practice the 'Kisegen-ryu'."
"Your uncle relied on this 'Shui Luo' move to cut countless masters in half with their swords."
"It is precisely because your uncle knows that it is not necessary to practice every sword skill to perfection, so before he died of illness, your uncle specially held my hand and told me: as long as you can master it,
If one has mastered a certain sword skill in the Sakakibara Itto-ryu, even if the person's other sword skills are average, he or she will still be qualified to obtain a certificate of exemption."
"As early as when we held the competition in the museum, I noticed that Ogata's level of 'Bird Thorn' has reached an extremely high level."
"In terms of power, the power of the 'Bird Thorn' you are currently using, Ogata, should be higher than mine."
"So as early as when the competition was held in the museum, Ogata, you have already met the first condition of whether you can obtain the certificate of exemption from our genre."
"And in the God Sacrifice Competition, your words, Ogata, made me understand - you have understood the most important principle in a life-and-death duel."
"One...word?" Ogata said hesitantly.
"It's the saying, 'As long as you can win, whatever you do is right.'"