Hashira are busy with many duties.
Therefore, they have no time to mentor juniors other than their tsuguko. Missions are also basically performed alone, and unless one wishes otherwise, no other members accompany them.
However, rarely, by the will of Lord Kagaya, a junior member may be attached to a Hashira's mission.
It means that member is excellent enough to assist the Hashira,
or that they are a problematic individual only a Hashira can handle—
"My name is Uzui Tengen. Now, don't be shy! Worship me splendidly as the god of festivals!"
"God is dead."
This guy was a hundred percent the latter.
At the mission location guided by Takechiyo, a man nearly 2 meters tall was standing.
With flashy makeup and dangling accessories, carrying two thick Nichirin Blades on his back that looked like special orders. Isn't that too conspicuous? Did he just walk out of a runway?
The familiarity I felt for a moment due to his reddish eyes and white hair vanished like bubbles in an instant.
"I heard my mission partner was a Hashira, so I wondered what kind of guy it would be, but a more splendidly plain guy than expected came. Still a brat, aren't you? How old are you?"
"My body is fourteen, but don't underestimate me. My mind is a hundred years old."
"Is your head weird, you..."
"I don't want to hear that from a self-proclaimed god."
What on earth was Lord Kagaya thinking when he assigned me this member who spits out rudeness as naturally as breathing?
To Lord Kagaya. I have no idea what your descendants are thinking.
Lord Kagaya was the type whose thoughts immediately showed on his face, but the Lord Kagaya of this generation had a subtle smile as default, making it impossible to read his mind.
Well, unlike during the Shabana era when I lived as a neighbor of the Ubuyashiki family, now it's the relationship between Lord Kagaya and a swordsman, so it can't be helped.
"What's that forehead cover? Are you a ninja? Promoting that you're from a ninja village? Can you use chakra?"
"You saw through that I'm a ninja. For such a plain appearance, you have a good eye."
"You were really a ninja... I've never seen such a flashy ninja before."
"I don't have the hobby of being happy about compliments from men. Sorry."
"Ah, sorry. That was sarcasm."
"Hey, damn brat, do you know who I am? This Uzui Tengen is a ninja who splendidly made a name in that world!"
"Do you know that a ninja whose name is known is third-rate?"
"You brat!!!"
Huh? Do I really have to do a mission with this guy?
I want to decline. I want to refuse. Is cooling-off possible?
But since Lord Kagaya himself said "Please take good care of him," I guess there's no choice. When the boss orders, as a Hashira, I have to work. Besides, I already receive more budget than other Hashira for research funds and such.
"My introduction is late, but... I'm Tsuyuri Kōgetsu."
"Oh, nice. Your name is a bit flashy, isn't it?"
"I may look like this, but I'm a Hashira, you know? Your superior, you know? You must follow orders."
"Yeah, yeah."
"Let me say this in advance, it's better to refrain from that attitude with Lady Water Hashira or Lord Flame Hashira too. You'll be purged immediately."
One is a heroic woman who has held the Hashira position for over 20 years, and the other is a stubborn man who values hierarchy. If this man ever does a joint mission with those two, he'll definitely fall out of favor and cause a bloodbath.
"Thanks for the advice, Lord Moon Hashira."
But in response to my goodwill, Uzui Tengen snorted. Ha, I want to hit him once~ I want to break that confidence along with his arrogance~~
Whatever, let's finish the mission quickly and part ways. Yes, let's do that.
"Did you hear the mission details?"
"Of course. Isn't it the extermination of a pack of beast demons that appeared around here?"
That was correct.
If it were one or two beast demons, it wouldn't be a job for a Hashira, but this time there were at least fifteen.
Incidents of them attacking villages in groups were occurring frequently. The attacked villages were completely annihilated, not a single bone left.
The type of beast seemed to be monkeys, but according to reports from the Kasugai Crow in charge of aerial reconnaissance, perhaps due to the influence of demonization, their bodies were considerably larger than ordinary monkeys. Specifically, sumo wrestler-level?
"Uzuten, have you ever slashed beast demons?"
"Hah?"
"I'm asking if you have experience, don't you?"
"I do, but... what, what's this Uzuten."
"Uzui Tengen, shortened to Uzuten."
"Just call me normally."
"No. Your first and last names are too cool, it's annoying."
Exterminating a pack of beast demons is a quite difficult mission. Taking care of a junior while doing it doubles the burden. But it didn't seem like I would lose.
"Time is precious, so let's go quickly. Don't get lost, U-zu-ten."
"Shall I knock you down before the demons!!"
Because, you see, this mission location is a bamboo forest.
Bamboo is bamboo. Nothing more, nothing less.
"Now~ it'll sting a bit. Wait quietly there."
Bamboo is bamboo. It's not a spear that pins prey to the ground.
"Don't go towards Uzuten. Yes, well stopped. Good, good."
Bamboo is bamboo. It's not a whip that threatens prey.
"You coordinate well and are really smart. But you shouldn't forget the traps under your feet."
Bamboo is bamboo. It's not a trap that trips prey.
"It hurts my heart like animal abuse, but sorry. Don't run away. As long as you harm people, I can't let you go."
Bamboo is bamboo. It's not an arrow that cuts off prey's breath.
To Uzui Tengen, bamboo is just bamboo.
Nothing more, nothing less.
Then, is the bamboo that Tsuyuri Kōgetsu stabbed, struck, swept, and thrust into nearly twenty monkey demons not bamboo?
No, it's bamboo. Unmistakably bamboo.
But can bamboo that acts like the ultimate weapon while being bamboo truly be called bamboo? Uzui Tengen doesn't know such special bamboo. It didn't grow in the ninja village either.
First of all, what is bamboo? The bamboo that makes bamboo bamboo-like, for bamboo to be bamboo, the truly bamboo-like bamboo, is the bamboo we call bamboo really bamboo? Isn't it another existence resembling bamboo? My own perception of bamboo becomes doubtful ah what shape was bamboo what color was it plant or animal inorganic or organic in the sky or on the ground reality or delusion bamboo is bamboo to bamboo with bamboo for bamboobamboobamboobamboobamboo——
"No, is this a new philosophy!!"
As Uzui Tengen, barely escaping the monochrome bamboo thoughts, shouted, Tsuyuri Kōgetsu frowned and said, "Don't shout in the middle of the night, it's irrational."
Pointing at Kōgetsu, Tengen retorted in an even louder voice.
"The one doing splendidly irrational things is you!"
"It didn't violate the laws of physics, barely."
"That was dangerously close to the realm of magic!"
The Hashira's fighting style that Tengen witnessed from the front row was absurd.
The battle technique that utilized bamboo without leaving any trace was as if bamboo itself was breathing. To the extent of causing an illusion that bamboo became Kōgetsu's faithful limbs, something that couldn't possibly exist in common sense.
A truly invincible fighting style, fitting the expression "one against a thousand."
Thanks to that, Tengen never got a chance to swing his sword. He didn't become a burden, but he gritted his teeth in frustration at himself for not being able to provide even one cover despite acting so arrogantly.
'This is... a Hashira.'
It had been several months since he left his hometown with his wives, tired of the plain life hiding in shadows.
Uzui Tengen, who joined the Demon Slayer Corps to find a place where he, a ninja, could live, was, to put it splendidly, filled with arrogance.
Thanks to his ninja fundamentals, he was stronger, faster, and more experienced than other members, and had the skill to rise to the Kinoe rank at an unusual speed.
So he thought lightly, 'Next after Kinoe is Hashira, right?'—but
'It's not just a different dimension.'
He saw with his own eyes and keenly realized how big the gap between Kinoe and Hashira is, and how absolute a pillar Hashira are for the Demon Slayer Corps. That's not a realm achievable overnight.
While feeling pathetic over his shattered arrogance, Uzui Tengen strangely didn't feel displeased.
'Good, good! The world is wide after all!'
A strength he could never have known if he had stayed in the narrow, stifling ninja village.
Before his eyes now, a new world was unfolding like a treasure chest. A sense of elevation he couldn't even imagine in the ninja village.
'Can't help but laugh at something like this!'
Just imagining what expression his father, who boasted that Uzui's ninjutsu was the strongest, would make if shown Kōgetsu's movements made him laugh.
Even his younger brother, who was as ignorant of the world and dry as his father, would definitely have his expressionless face crumble at Kōgetsu's sight.
"Uzuten, why are you giggling? Were you attacked? Did you hit your head or something?"
"Shut up. No, I didn't. Mind your own business."
"Then that's good. The second attack will come soon, so focus."
"What?"
Wasn't it over with the twenty from earlier?
For a moment, flustered, Tengen pricked up his ears. The hearing he had honed since his ninja days captured the sound of footsteps approaching from afar. A very faint sound, only audible with considerable attention.
"...Did you notice this? Are you plain and good at hearing?"
"No, it's my eyes. In the bamboo forest, my condition improves and I can see through things."
"Hah? See through...?"
"The big ones are bears. Five of them. Over there are horses, I think. This side, three."
"Hmm, three horses. Good, I'll handle that side."
As Tengen, saying it would be pathetic to leave all the fighting to the Hashira, gripped his Nichirin Blade with overflowing motivation, Kōgettsu calmly shook his head.
"Uzuten, don't stray from me. Focus only on evasion."
"Hah?! Don't underestimate me. Five bears or so, I—"
"Uzui Tengen."
Chills.
The moment his name was called, a cold sensation shot up from his toes to his spine.
"I told you at the beginning, you must follow your superior's orders."
As Kōgetsu's reddish-brown eyes sharply pierced through him, Tengen fell silent for a moment. But since he wasn't convinced, he soon pouted his lips.
"Reason?"
"Because the beast demons' target is Uzuten."
"...Those monkey demons earlier did seem to be targeting only me peculiarly, but why?"
"Because Uzuten has white hair and red eyes. White hair and red eyes are a favorite prey for demons."
"...Hahaa?"
"Huh? Didn't you know? White-haired, red-eyed people are easily targeted by demons."
"No, that's not it! That's not it! Listen carefully, it's true my eyes are red. But my hair isn't just a plain white-like color! Open your eyes and look properly!"
As he removed his forehead cover and headband, the color revealed underneath made Kōgetsu go "Ooh" and widen his eyes, then,
"It's a color like somen noodles that kids would like."
"Was there no other expression, you brat!!!"
Mixed with white were light pink and pale green, soft sky blue. The hair color with various shades mixed in could never be called pure white.
If you only saw the hair ends sticking out from under the headband, they might have looked white, but the fact that he was misunderstood as such a plain color made Tengen's anger about to explode.
It was rage on the level of when he received the order from his biological father, "Your hair is too conspicuous, so shave it bald or hide it."
"Now, calm down~ So, the thing is, from here is the main point."
"What is it."
"The leader of the beast demons is nearby. Otherwise, bears and horses wouldn't mix and swarm like this. So, Uzuten, while evading, can you find the leader's location? You have good ears, right?"
"Can't you find it with your eyes?"
"At least not in the bamboo forest, above ground or underground. So pay attention to the sky... Now, they're coming."
Kōgetsu's low voice was soon buried by the roars of the beast demons that erupted.
Five bears. Three horses. Beasts of different species and ecology charged at Tengen like monsters sharing a single will. Their claws, fangs, hooves—Tengen focused only on evasion as ordered.
Immediately after, bamboo and bamboo leaves swirled like a storm in the bamboo forest, and the eight beast demons, whose movements were bound, had their necks sliced off one by one by moon slashes.
At that exquisite skill, Tengen inwardly clicked his tongue and concentrated all his nerves on his ears.
Directing his consciousness skyward, instantly, a presence rapidly approaching from above. A quiet, agile, and coldly settled killing intent grazed his nape.
"Da...ngerous!!"
Following the intuition cultivated during his ninja days, he jumped back and retreated. A sharp hooked claw passed by Tengen's head by a hair's breadth. If he had been even a little late, his nape would have been torn for sure.
Seeing it soar into the sky with a shriek, Tengen let out an irritated exclamation.
"A bird demon! Is something like this possible?!"
"Demons are basically capable of anything, you know. Watch out!"
Kōgetsu lightly swung his arm. Immediately after, a bamboo spear pierced the body of the bird flying in the night sky. Seeing Kōgetsu instantly behead the neck of the falling bird, Tengen groaned.
"Is bamboo such an all-purpose thing?"
"Bamboo is used for a thousand things, you know. Huh? Didn't you know?"
"Don't talk like it's common sense."
"It's common sense passed down since the Heian period. ...So, did you locate the leader?"
"Of course. Rear sky."
Without looking back, Tengen pointed behind him with his thumb.
"A cowardly guy, watching comfortably from afar. Splendidly keeping his distance. Now, how do you plan to slash him?"
"...Huh? Umm? That guy's eyes..."
"What is it?"
As Kōgetsu narrowed his eyes, curious about what he discovered from the demon, Tengen looked back.
The flapping of giant wings circling in the dark night. The silhouette in a tailcoat holding the bird's leg, and their eyes met. And he noticed.
Far up high, the number engraved in the eyes of the demon looking down at this place.
"Hahaaaa?! Upper Rank 6?!"
With the shout, as he dashed out, the leader of the beast demons immediately turned its back and fluttered away into the sky.
Was it since the Meiji era that I last faced him? I guessed the leader of this beast demon commotion was that guy, but I didn't know he would have become Upper Rank 6.
To seat the guy who turns beasts into demons in the Upper Rank 6 position, that's really not right, you know. Lord Muzan, I doubt your personnel policy. No wonder beast demons seemed stronger compared to before.
"It's one of the Twelve Kizuki! Hey hey hey, this is a splendid development!"
Uzuten running alongside me laughed like that with his mouth, but his eyes were seriously chasing the Upper Rank.
Encountering one of the Twelve Kizuki, and an Upper Rank at that, is rare. The thought that we must defeat it here and now was the same for both of us.
"Can't you knock it down with a bamboo spear like before!"
"The altitude is too high, it's difficult!"
"Then I'll splendidly throw you up there! And slash!!"
"Such a simple idea!! No, wait a minute...?"
My imagination, boosted by the home ground bamboo forest buff, flashed.
Yes. There is a way to reach that demon. A method that suits me perfectly, and only I can do.
Running through countless excellent bamboo, I slash one as I pass by. This grip that fits perfectly in my hand. The feeling of being adequately dry yet flexible. I was sure. With this, I can reach.
There's no time to hesitate. A little further ahead, we'll leave the bamboo forest. I have to finish quickly while Take-Tori old man can push my back.
"I'll show you——!"
Preparing to jump, I thrust the long bamboo I held into the ground.
With a creak, entrusting my body to the flexibility that bends, high jump.
"This is my Berlin Olympics——!!"
My body flying into the air. But still a little, it doesn't reach the demon's neck.
Facing the demon's eyes, drunk with relief and victory, with a smile, I twisted my body in midair where there's no place to step, putting full power into the sword with the knack of Water Breathing 'Twisted Whirlpool'.
If the sword doesn't reach, then shoot. The slash!
"Moon Breathing Eighth Form: Moon Dragon Ring Tail!!"
...The flaw, that is... that thing.
I slightly left the bamboo forest.
"I am truly ashamed...!"
As the Hashira meeting held once every six months began, the Moon Hashira Tsuyuri Kōgetsu bowed his head before anyone's rebuke. The direction his crown pointed was towards Lord Kagaya and the other Hashira.
"That I encountered Upper Rank 6 and failed to defeat it is nothing but lamentable...!"
As he rubbed his head against the tatami, a month ago in the mission, the Moon Hashira encountered Upper Rank 6 but failed to defeat it.
It's said that he missed the fleeing Upper Rank 6's neck by a hair's breadth, ending up only slashing below the chest.
"But well, I think that couldn't be helped. Rather, I'm amazed that you splendidly landed a blow in that situation."
As Uzui Tengen, newly appointed as the Sound Hashira in recognition of his achievements so far, said that, Lord Kagaya also nodded.
"Tengen is right, Kōgetsu. Lift your head. There's not a single child here who would blame you who worked hard."
Lord Kagaya's words weren't just to smooth over the situation. The other Hashira also nodded, agreeing with his words.
The one who gently smiled at the Moon Hashira as he cautiously raised his head was the Water Hashira.
"Beast demons have an extremely low frequency of appearance compared to ordinary demons. That means it's that difficult to increase beast demons, I suppose. Since you have exterminated countless of them, the Moon Hashira's achievements can be said to be sufficiently splendid."
Though the Water Hashira had sharpened his blades against the Moon Hashira at the previous Hashira meeting, after receiving help when attacked by a manly woman using feminine speech, the Water Hashira's favorability towards the Moon Hashira shot through the roof.
The Water Hashira completely grew fond of the junior who forgave him with a smile, saying "It's okay to that extent," after he harshly spoke believing his mentor's words literally.
Demons are still hateful and detestable, and he wants to kill them as if tearing even the priest's robe if he dislikes the monk, but that's that and this is this.
Now, he sincerely cherishes the Moon Hashira as a (masculine pride's) life savior and excellent junior.
"But if the leader of the beast demons has become Upper Rank 6, we need to be more careful about the deployment for beast demon extermination from now on."
"How about assigning solo cases to members of Kinoe rank or above, and groups to Hashira?"
"I agree. To minimize damage."
As the Flame Hashira offered his opinion and the Sound Hashira proposed, the Water Hashira nodded.
As the discussion was being sorted out like that, the Moon Hashira hesitantly opened his mouth.
"The leader of the beast demons, Upper Rank 6, showed a particular obsession with eating white-haired, red-eyed individuals. I expect he will target the Sound Hashira intensively from now on."
"...That would be so. The possibility is sufficient. Twenty years ago, that guy deliberately caused a commotion targeting a white-haired, red-eyed member too."
Recalling a distant memory, the Flame Hashira lazily narrowed his eyes.
"Then how about I splendidly become the bait to lure the Upper Rank?"
"But doesn't Upper Rank 6 leave the fighting only to the beast demons and just watch from the safe sky? Without preparing a means to definitely defeat him, it's somewhat reckless as a strategy."
"Originally, didn't the subordinates of the Upper Rank decrease a lot due to the Moon Hashira's performance this time? Even if he targets the Sound Hashira again, it won't be right now."
"If the opponent uses tactics, it means he'll move after being much more prepared than now. We can't wait leisurely, but it's not something to rush either."
"A throwing weapon that can shoot down an Upper Rank in the sky... Besides Nichirin Blades, we should also consider producing firearms effective against demons."
As they each presented countermeasures against Upper Rank 6, the Hashira meeting ended like that.
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