Strike Without Thought (Kakita rank 5) in last-blood iaijutsu duels

Question

Legend of the Five Rings, first edition.

Iaijutsu duels usually happen like this:

1. Determine "initiative" (not an actual initiative roll but still)
2. Contestant with higher initiative decides who has to start declaring 'strike' or 'focus'
3. Contestants, in turns, must declare 'focus' or 'strike', one can declare 'focus' at most a number of times equal to his Void ring score
4. Declaring 'focus' just skips one's turn, as soon as a contestant declares 'strike', the other contestant strikes
5. Resolve hit/no-hit and eventually damage for this first attack
6. If the contestant who suffered the attack is still conscious he attacks as well
7. Resolve hit/no-hit and eventually damage for this second attack
8. If both contestants are still conscious, a regular skirmish takes place

Now, Kakita rank 5 says:

At the very beginning of the combat, before initiative is even rolled, the bushi makes a [...] roll [...]. If he succeeds, he gains one attack before combat even begins. Usually the TN to hit a motionless target is 5.

The Core Rulebook Errata Corrige specifically states that this rank applies to iaijutsu duels as well:

CRANE CLAN SECTION

Q: Does the Rank 5 Kakita Bushi School ability apply to both Iaijutsu duels and combat?

A: Yes.

So, assuming the kakita bushi succeeds in its roll, what happens?

• He strikes first, before point 1 above takes place, as if the opponent declared 'strike' beforehand, then his opponent strikes second, then the skirmish takes place normally.

OR

• He strikes first, before point 1 above takes place, the iaijutsu duel basically doesn't happen. Skirmish starts and the opponent still has to draw his blade.

OR

• Some other way I can't think of

Answer 1

I'm posting an answer as well, I've had this discussion with my GM and this is what we came up with.

The mechanic

Steps from 1 to 4 happen normally, then when one of the characters declares 'strike' the contested Void roll takes place, and in case of success the Kakita bushi gains a free attack at TN 5 before anything else happens.

The movement is insanely fast, in a split second the bushi strikes and then put the blade back in its sheath. Just like this.

After this, the duel resumes normally. If the bonus strike missed, or the duel is to the death, the samurai who did not declare 'strike' rolls his attack and so on. Otherwise the duel is over, and the opponent lost without even being able to draw his blade.

Why

The rules clearly state that the Kakita bushi gains an attack in case of success, hence whatever ruling we're going to conceive it must grant the bushi an additional attack.

At first we thought that the lightning-fast movement of drawing-striking-sheathing in a split second was too unrealistic, but after all so is the rank 5 technique of the Hida bushi school (which allows one to keep fighting regardless of the amount of damage received for a number of rounds), or some effects of Void points expenditure.

One might also oppose that this way it's 'too strong', because a Kakita can single-handedly win first-blood duels with a Void roll, but that's both disputable (after all you still need to win the roll) and out of scope, since we're talking from a rules-as-written perspective.

Answer 2

The way I am reading the rules, you get one free standard skirmish attack against TN 5+armor of the defender if before an Iaijutsu duel. My book ends the description of the technique by saying "Usually, the TN to hit a motionless target is 5". It's the sentence right after where your quote stops in my book.

Therefore I would see your second answer as the most likely solution. If the Void roll fails, they have to go through a traditional duel. The Kakita and the opponent are preparing for a duel, and the strike comes before the opponent even has time to read the Kakita's intention if they win the Void roll. If the attack hits or misses would then determine how things continue. With a failed Void roll, nothing special happens and the iaijutsu duel happens as normal.