The Pursuit Of Power

From the many chunks of metal, none seemed special to Yuuki. But his eyes were not his only source for this information.

Heavily, he tapped on each and every one of the alloys before he lifted them to his ear and tapped them again and smelled them also. In the end, his deduction led him to believe that he had found the best piece.

Seeming to be smaller than the rest, the piece Yuuki picked up appeared to have been 'hiding' as its dullness was rather dispiriting.

Yuuki was only able to do so after being allowed the first pick by the two twins. If not, he would not have attempted to touch them without being given the signal to do so.

Once he lifted his alloy, he smiled subtly and there was a faint grey mark on the alloy in the shape of Yuuki's fingerprint, Hana glanced at it curiously before she turned back to the alloys as she had to choose now.

Not long later, everyone had picked their alloy and during the time between each choosing, Yuuki learned everyone's names.

There was the girl who had her hair styled in a ponytail to the side who was Kanao Tsuyuri. Her breathing method was rather similar to the Water Breathing yet at the most difficult points of the method her breathing was more mellow and could be compared to that of a flower.

Zenitsu Agatsuma, a guy who wore a yellow styled Haori with triangles all over. His breathing was similar to what Yuuki's was after he modified the Water Breathing to complement the footwork of [ Blink] and [ Flash Step ] and listening to it, Yuuki could identify things that differed from the Water Breathing. Judging by his color of choice, he seemed to be a practitioner of the Thunder Breath.

Genya Shinazugawa was the guy who kept interrupting the two twins. Out of all the people he had met until now, his Breathing Technique was the most different from Water Breathing. It seemed as though what Sakonji had told Yuuki was correct. All of the breathing methods were derived from the original breathing method yet clearly made more things than others stand out. For example, Zenitsu's Thunder Breathing seemed to direct the energy towards the legs when it was used.

Only Kanao was capable of constantly using her Breathing Technique other than him and Hana but that was not surprising, instead, Kanao could be understood to have more of a foundation than the others and Yuuki and Hana were just monsters in relation to their capability to adapt. Hana's physique became special after Yuuki purged her body by using Mana.

She had passively begun to absorb whatever was near her like a sponge in water. Over and over this would be repeated and each time her body reached the limit to the amount of Mana it could take, she would gain another boost to her physique such that she became stronger even when sleeping. It was a weird prospect but she seemed to be unable to use any force stronger than what Yuuki could manage after he magnificently took 3 days to up his stats to the max in this world through three daily quests.

Anyway, back to the people who passed, there was someone who did not appear with the rest. He wore a boar mask on his head and had dual swords covered in ch.i.p.s. Yuuki had met him and his unique breathing was similar to the breathing of Genya.

Suddenly, the thought of merging the breathing styles was brought to the forefront of Yuuki's mind. Not only merging, but Yuuki also theorized that he would be able to utilize the Breaths by taking pieces from each and assimilating them into his style which would be even more effective as he tried it along the way in multiple places and terrains and had a new way to develop his breathing methods.

When the trio of Yuuki, Tanjirou, and Hana got to where they trained with Sakonji for a while. After announcing their arrival, they were greeted by a fully awake Nezuko who hugged Tanjirou. He was tired even after they took breaks along the way so Yuuki carried him to a place he could rest peacefully after he passed out.

Before he passed out, Sakonji held the four of them in a group hug. Noticing his shaking hands made it easy to understand how he felt. The bond they felt was rather nice and Yuuki enjoyed the feeling of having this relationship similar to that of one between a parent and their child. He missed it. Deeply.

Sakonji had never been unfair nor unkind to them since they had met him. His uncanny kindness behind the Tengu Mask could not be understated any more than how he seemed at a first impression.

Nonetheless, days passed by, and two figures appeared.

One wore a sunflower-patterned robe whilst upon his head rested a woven hat which floral wind chimes dangled from, Yuuki noticed him a while ago from his hearing while Tanjirou and Sakonji smelled the duo as the other approached first.

The other wore a long, pale robe and a black haori.

Taking a step each time they would come closer and reveal more of their body and appearance. However, they both wore masks.

On the left, the guy with the wind chime hat spoke first.

"My name is Haganeduka. I am the one who forged the blade that will be used by Tanjirou Kamado."

Subsequently, Tanjirou introduced himself and invited Haganeduka to take a seat inside a hut... only to end up ignored and Haganeduka sat down where he was and took out the blade.

Taking this moment to speak, the other man who wore the long, pale robe and black haori turned to Yuuki and Hana. His gaze on Yuuki, a sound came from behind his mask.

"Hana and Yuuki?"

"Well, I am Yuuki, she is Hana."

"That is what I said... is it not? You are Yuuki and He is Hana." Pointing this time instead of only looking, their swordsmith made the two speechless.

"...Yes, that is us." Nodding, Yuuki smiled at his silliness.

(A-N: Well, I feel guilty now. I didn't upload for quite a while and feel bad. See, I am an incredibly amazing... procrastinator. I can almost never do work done when I need to and it's something about myself I wished I could change at the snap of a finger. Anyway, enjoy the chapter. I will attempt to upload chapters fairly reasonably.

Quick Question: If Yuuki were to gain a new power that he could use in this world from a Lucky Draw, what power would you guys like to see? A hidden quest will be redeemed from the completion of the Final Selection with a reward being skill points and a lucky draw.)