The time has finally come when the duo swordsmen had finally made it to the finish line. They walked towards the finish line, side-by-side as if they were new men. The big yellow sun had just risen up and the sky was blue. Natsu and Zenitsu stood next to one another. They had smudges and dirt on their bodies and clothes, but nothing serious. Natsu had helped Zenitsu walk toward the rendezvous point. As they got there, there were two contestants that had beat them to the rendezvous point, or the end of the Final Selection Exams. The ones who made it before them were Genya Shinazugawa, who looked mean and Kanao Tsuyuri, who looked happy and had not a single scratch on her body. She smiled peacefully at a butterfly that lied on her index finger.
"We did it. We finally passed." Natsu inhaled some air, then exhaled in relief.
Zenitsu opened his mouth, he suddenly broke down sobbing on the ground, comically. "Oh, thank god we did! These past seven days were the hardest days of my life! I thought I was going to die!"
Natsu looked at Zenitsu who sobbed on the ground. He then heard someone's footsteps coming from behind him. He turned around and saw a boy he just met at the beginning of the exams. He easily recognized the blue kimono with clouds and the hanafuda earrings. It was Tanjiro Kamado. He had smudges and dirt across his body and white bandages were wrapped around his forehead.
Natsu smiled in relief and decided to get Tanjiro's attention. "Hey, Tanjiro!" Natsu waved towards Tanjiro.
"Uh?" Tanjiro heard someone call his name. He squinted his eyes closer and saw Natsu waving to him. He gasped in relief and quickly ran towards Natsu and his friends. "Natsu, you made it."
"Of course, I did! I'm the Flame Pillar's younger brother after all." Natsu chuckled.
"Heh," Tanjiro chuckled as well. He looked around, only to see the others such as Zenitsu, Genya, Kanao and the twin proctors. He could've sworn that there were less than thirty taking the exams. His smile then turned into a silent frown.
Natsu noticed the frown on Tanjiro's face and felt a little worried. "What's the matter?"
"Natsu. Did you find a boy with short dark hair and a brown kimono?" He asked Natsu in concern.
"A boy with short dark and a brown kimono? Hmm..." Natsu took a moment to think, then shook his head no. "Sorry, Tanjiro. I never met a person with short black hair, during the exams.
Tanjiro sadly sighed. 'I knew it... He didn't make it. I lost conscious and the kid disappeared... I couldn't save a friend...' Tanjiro felt a little headache and placed a hand on the side. Tanjiro thought back when he fought that giant hand demon and tried his best to protect a stranger kid. He successfully defeated the hand demon, but failed to reunite with the kid he saved.
Natsu placed a hand on Tanjiro's shoulder after seeing the sad look on his face. "Hey. You did everything you could to help. He might've gotten scared and ran off."
"I guess you're right..."
Natsu then thought of an idea. He looked over to Zenitsu, who was blessed to be alive and Inosuke, who felt energetic. Then he brought his attention to Tanjiro. "Oh, Tanjiro. I want to introduce you to my new frie-"
"Congratulations. I'm glad you made it back alive." The twin proctors said.
Natsu was interrupted by the proctors. Everyone turned their attention to the proctors.
Genya Shinazugawa started to feel impatient. "When we I get my katana back?"
"First, we will provide you your uniforms. We will take your measurements and then engrave your rank. There are ten ranks in total." The Ubuyashiki twins announced.
"Kinoe."
"Kinoto."
"Hinoe."
"Hinoto."
"Tsuchinoe."
"Tsuchinoto."
"Kanoe."
"Kanoto."
"Mizunoe."
"And Mizunoto."
Kiria and Kanata Ubuyashiki took turns speaking the ranking names.
'That's a lot of ranking names.' Natsu thought.
"Right now, you are at the lowest ranking... Mizunoto."
"Where's my katana?" Genya asked again.
"Today, you will choose your ore for your katana. Then it will take up to two weeks for the katana to be finished." Kanata said.
"What!?" Genya said in a shock tone.
Natsu glanced at Genya, who he knew was getting impatient.
"Then we will assign you a Kusagi crow." Kiria said.
Then out of nowhere, the crows came out of the trees, squawking and flying. Natsu and the other contestants had crows either land on their arms or shoulders.
'Hey, it's a crow... I heard big brother and father had these when they passed the exams.' Natsu noted as he stared at the crow, which landed on his right shoulder.
"A crow..." Tanjiro noted.
"Hey... why do I have a sparrow?" Zenitsu questioned as a sparrow landed on his right hand.
Genya grunted. "Tch!" He then knocked the crow off his arm. "I don't care about no stupid crows! I want my katana, and I want it, now!" Genya demanded. He walked towards Kanata and grabbed a fist full of her white hair. Kanata did not react in the slightest of pain. "If you don't give me my katana right now, I'm going to make sure you're gonna get pain!" He threatened to do harm to Kanata.
Natsu saw this act and knew what Genya was going to do, next. He didn't like this feeling and was going to step up. He stopped in his tracks when another person intervened and grabbed Genya's arm. It was Zenitsu.
"Let her go!" Zenitsu demanded with an angry look.
Genya grunted. "Oh yeah? What the heck are you going to do about it, huh!?" Without a second thought, Zenitsu quickly swept Genya's feet, making him fall backwards on his back and twisting his wrist. "Ow! Ow!" Genya screamed as Zenitsu gripped his arm hard.
"Never put your hands on a lady!" Zenitsu growled at Genya, who was on the ground.
"Zenitsu!" Natsu called.
Zenitsu snapped out of his fit of anger when he heard Natsu's voice. "Huh?" He looked over at Natsu, then looked downwards to see himself hurting Genya's arm. He quickly let go and apologized. "Sorry about that!"
Genya groaned as he got his arm back and tried to shake his hand off. He stood up and glared at the blonde swordsman. "Grrrr. I'm going to make you pay for what you did." He said as he was about to grab Zenitsu.
"That's enough!" Natsu stood in front of Genya, shielding Zenitsu from him. Tanjiro did the same by stepping in. "You're taking this too far."
"What are you..."
"This isn't the time or the place to fight." Natsu said.
"We just passed the Final Selection Exams, for crying out loud. And you wanna fight?" Tanjiro tried to reason.
"Who the hell are you two?" Genya angrily questioned.
"Are you done talking?" Kiria asked while watching from the sidelines. Everyone turned their attention to Kiria Ubuyashiki. "If so, then please choose the ore you want for the making for your katana." Kiria moved over and showed everyone the large pieces of ore on a long red wooden table. "You can choose for yourself but choose wisely. This ore will be made to kill demons and protect you."
The surviving contestants walked towards the table with large pieces of ore on top. They all stood side-by-side, as they glanced at the ore before them.
'There it is. The ores that will make our katanas... I wonder, which one did big brother pick? No. I have to be the one to make the decision. I have to pick one that's right for me.' Natsu took a breather, then reached for an ore.