The Pursuit Of Power

Yuuki's breaths rang out in the area as Sakonji just faced him.

"So...? Are we gonna train with a katana?"

"Why did I not know that you knew the Breath of Lightning? I do not- cannot, believe that you have just come up with that on the spot." Sakonji's voice from behind the Tengu Mask which hid his expression trembled slightly before it remained steady.

"Well, I did for that matter. I already mastered the way you breathe which you were going to teach us, correct? I noticed I had some excess energy so I focused it on my legs and that happened. This was after I modified the way I was breathing." Yuuki listed the things he had done without over-thinking and did not see anything wrong with his words.

Sakonji's steady breathing became chaotic for a moment as he stood still, unmoving. When he did move, he rapidly and silently entered the wooden house and threw a katana which was in a sheath at him.

"Go to the top of the mountain and back at least ten times before you swing the sword several times over and over until you cannot feel a muscle move," Sakonji spoke quickly and looked at Yuuki due to his lack of response only to see him quickly moving up the mountain.

Yuuki's passive constant regeneration because of [ Vitality ] was still in effect. Yuuki had endless stamina and the Breath only made his entire body stronger. Granted, he still felt his body strengthening already under the strenuous exercise.

The difficulty of ascending and descending was increased as he was also not allowed to go the same route more than once. Along every route, there were traps set out to train his perception, when it came to sensing the traps, his sight and hearing worked moderately well at detecting them while his smell and other senses were weaker. Thus he tried to block out the other senses and focused on one at a time to increase his sensitivity.

After reaching the top for the tenth time, he would be swinging his blade in several different directions multiple times. Each time he did so, Yuuki would only pause for half a second before he continued his training. He would stop at night and would come back down to sleep.

Sakonji mentioned the other disciple he had finished training yet Yuuki had not met him. Apparently he was within the mountain range in a place where he would also go once he was done with Sakonji's teachings. Yuuki had a wild guess at where he was but never went in that direction as he was supposedly finishing something that would be ruined by his interference, this was only Yuuki's assumption from Sakonji's tone when he mentioned him.

That disciple had a younger sister who was a Demon. Yuuki's slight surprise when he was informed transformed into slight care as he wondered how much of a unique case the girl was compared to every demon elsewhere. The irresistible impulse of wanting to pet her head arose in his mind but then he thought of Hana and managed to ignore it. For now...

Then, after Yuuki's side of training being set, a month before the Final Selection, Hana began being taught the Breathing Method, of course, Sakonji could not explain it well enough and his helpless body language was the funniest thing Yuuki had seen as he effortlessly used the life he spent as a teacher from [ Samsara ] and got Hana to be able to do it in a day.

Sakonji's frustrations were taken out on Yuuki as he took him to train him in the sword. He used a wooden stick to face Yuuki and still forced Yuuki onto his feet every time they sparred. Yuuki quickly learned the Forms of the Breath of Water and taught them to Hana. Though, he modified them again to make them suitable for her body so that it was effective.

Imagining Sakonji's thoughts after teaching these two for a while was not difficult. He felt partially scared, scared that the power these two would have if they became demons would be stronger than anything the Demon Slayer Corps could imagine. At the same time, he was joyful, Joyful that these two terrifying talents were already being trained by him.

In his head, it did not feel like teaching other than him providing instructions and lessons to Yuuki before he was able to copy everything he was taught like he was being controlled by an expert puppet master.

By the time that Yuuki was rather familiar with the 10 Forms of the Breath of Water and had the ability of one who was a Demon Slayer for five years, Hana was perfect to pass the Final Selection. She had a basic familiarity with all of the Forms and was very versatile in her usage of them due to Yuuki's flexibility training he invented after some inspiration while he focused on making his breathing stronger.

Yuuki's dynamic thoughts and mindset allowed Hana's true talent to shine, while her ability with the sword was rather amazing, it was meager in comparison to her dexterous movements with the Katana as she performed each of the Forms one after another while mid-air and with unbalanced weight distribution.

Not long after Sakonji had nothing left to teach, the other disciple, Tanjirou, had his Demon Sister awake. Whether it was coincidence or just an accident, Tanjirou had finished his training also. Sakonji had already determined that Yuuki was such an abnormality that he knew Yuuki would easily pass.

Meeting the kind boy for the first time, Yuuki inspected the young man before him as he looked at the long hair he had.

Tanjiro and Nezuko Kamado, two siblings who only had each other. It was a story rather familiar to him, except his tale had a different ending. These thoughts crossed his mind as he and Hana both shared a glance and squeezed one another's hands.

Slowly, the day of the Final Selection approached.