In another few weeks, were he back at home, there would be no slow hiss of steel being drawn from the sheath across his back, Masamune required no such thing. The nameless katana, however, absolutely did, and there's the faintest ghost of a smile at how much it put him at an advantage to have a four pound sword versus an eighty plus pound sword - and in fifteen years, when Cloud faces off against a far more dangerous version, the stance will be exactly the same.

Blade raised, shoulder height. Different weapon, different size opponent. Same person, same calculating gaze.

They're both slower than they could be, that much is immediately obvious. Sephiroth is less hindered by his choice of weapon and lack of staggering strength, and as the Buster sword cuts its vicious descending arc, he doesn't attempt to block it, stepping back just barely enough to allow the blade to slice past, and immediately steps inside its reach, right hand aiming for the dull side of the massive weapon and shove it further awry from its target in an effort to unbalance Cloud. At some point the katana's turned in his hand so when he swipes at Cloud's hypothetically unprotected side, the tip might leave a scratch, but with the sword rotated to strike with the flat of the blade it's only going to sting like a bitch instead of slice the not-quite-SOLDIER open.

This too is a test. Of how fast he can react with that bulky weapon. How much training there really is, how much he leaves himself defended or not. Sephiroth had been warned not to push some things but this is surely fine.