Author Note: This chapter was fun to write. I hope you guys'll like it!
Chapter Ten: The Legend Begins
Tanjiro sat under a palm tree near a pumpkin field. It was a sunny day. The clouds were idly moving in the sky, unknowingly forming odd shapes. One of those shapes looked too much like Hinata while two others looked like Boruto and Himawari.
"Why didn't I die?" He asked specifically no one. "I miss mom, dad, Pervy-Sage, Neji and Kurama…"
A few beads of tear fell from his eyes.
He closed his eyes and leaned to the tree. 'Why is it always me…'
He fell asleep.
Morning became noon and noon turned into afternoon. Soon twilight hour came and left.
It was about twelve hours later when he stood up. He began to look around anxiously. All of his clones have pooped out without any warning. It seemed as if someone attacked them from behind at the…. He stopped thinking for a moment….
'Someone has detached the seal from a kunai… somebody needs me…!'
He used the Flying Thunder God to teleport to the side of his family's house.
He saw his brothers and sisters standing by the door of your room. They were shivering furiously.
"Nezuko, Takeo, Shigeru, Hanako, Rokuta…!" He yelled as he ran towards them but stopped on his tracks as he felt a lot of presence behind him.
"Onii-chan…" Takeo sniffed as he said. "Mother…"
He turned a full one eighty degrees as he followed their gaze, he looked towards where they were looking and saw something that shook his world.
He saw that some demons were gathered in one place, surrounding his mother.
About thirty feet away he saw his fallen mother beside a small tree. There were at least a dozen demons standing around her.
She had scratches in various places. Her kimono, which he had bought delightly for her not too long ago, was torn here and there. If one looked closely, they could spot odd things hanging around her belly. Those 'things' were guts. A certain fluid was coming out of his lower abdomen in a steady stream. The substance was blood.
"I will eat first!" One yelled as it tried to tear off one of her hands.
"Have you finished your turn yet?" One inquired eagerly.
"Quick! I worked hard to finish the fakes, so let me eat first!" One shouted.
"Hey, I don't play even once…" Another said.
"You catch the kids and eat them!" Another said.
"Hey, get out of here!" The one, who was currently chewing an ear said.
"Sage Art—" they heard someone speaking from behind them. "Water Breathing: Eleventh Form: Dead Calm."
Before they could turn towards the person, they felt the world get incredibly faster. The last thing they saw before their heads hit the ground was a pair of glowing red orbs and a pair of odd flowers patterned in the same color, promising hell.
Killing the demons, Tanjiro calmed down - but this calm didn't last long; When he looked at the bloodied body of his fallen mother, he became agitated again.
"Mom!" Tanjiro kneeled. "How could this… happen… no… I… will save you… Medical Technique: Mystic Palm!" His hands began to glow green. But her unmoving form was indescribable. Her gaze was still and his Chakra wasn't healing anything.
"Onii-chan…" He looked back and saw Hanako with an emotionless face looking at him. "She's dead."
"No…!" He yelled. "I'll heal her…"
"She's gone." Nezuko said firmly. "Because of you."
"Nezuko…"
"She's gone." Hanako said. "Just like Hinata, Boruto, Himawari and Kurama."
"..."
"Yeah. All because of you…" Takeo said.
"I am…"
"You are a failure, Naruto or Tanjiro… or whatever and whoever you are." Shigeru said. "You are a disappointment."
"A FAILURE WHO COULDN'T SAFE HIS BEST FRIEND."
"Stop it."
"A FAILURE WHO COULDN'T SAVE HIS OWN SON."
"A FAILURE WHO WAS NOT THERE FOR HE DAUGHTER."
"...Please…"
"A FAILURE WHO WAS NOT THERE FOR HIS WIFE SHE NEEDED HIM."
"Please… stop"
"YOU WERE GIVEN A SECOND CHANCE, BUT YOU NEVER DESERVE IT. YOU COULDN'T EVEN SAVE HER."
"YOU COULDN'T SAVE US."
"Stop. It."
"A FAILURE WHO COULDN'T SAVE HIS VILLAGE— WHO COULDN'T SAVE HIS WORLD— A PERSON WHO FLED AWAY"
"Nooo…!"
He woke up, sweating furiously. 'Of course it was a dream.' He chuckled weakly. 'I am so pathetic, dattebayo.'
He noticed that he had accidentally activated sage mode. He was just about to inactivate it when…
About 36 km to the north he felt an uneasy feeling. Not only that, he sensed the presence of a powerful demon. Not as strong as Muzan, but stronger than all the demons he had killed so far. This demon may even be stronger than the sum of all of them.
Without further delay, Tanjiro ran to the north using his top speed. The closer he got to his destination the more he began to feel two presences— one of which was undoubtedly that of a demon. The other presence is also powerful— perhaps whoever they are— demon slayers.
35 km, 34 km, 33, 32, 31, 30…
His sage mode had already been deactivated.
But he has to go faster… faster… faster
20, 10, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1...
…zero.
He came closer to the place— a small empty lane. There is no moonlight in the sky— clouds cover the moon. Still, he could clearly sense three presences using his sense of smell.
A girl with a bloody body was lying on the ground, passed out— still clutching her sword in both hands. Undoubtedly, the girl's courage is sky high. The demon standing next to her was creamy white, wearing a red tight t-shirt, baggy pants, and a small red hat on his head.
"You are soooo beautiful!" The demon spoke dramatically. "Why are you working so hard? Look what has happened to you— I will absorb you and your beauty will be eternal! Your beauty will never decay; Admit defeat— it would be painless."
"I would…" the girl, or woman, spoke in a weak voice. "...rather kill myself."
"Such a shame…" he mused. He stepped forward and stretched out his hand towards her but had to stop as he felt a sharp killing intent directed right at him.
"Oi…" Tanjiro spoke in a freezing voice. "Lesson number one: never disrespect a lady."
Tanjiro swung his blade closer to the demon's throat with incredible speed— a little more... a little more... but the demon's ice-covered hand stopped the sword. There was a slight shrill sound of metal hitting metal. Tanjiro jumped back... but the demon stood his ground. Now Tanjiro could see the monster's face well. Milky white face, a very sweet smile on the face, the colour of the eyes were like a circular rainbow— colourful, like a majestic collection of colours. In both of his eyes were Kanji for 'Upper Moon Two'.
"Look who's come to save…" The demon laughed. "Are you the hero— come to save the heroine? How romantic!"
"Excuse me, she is at least 10 years older than me. Plus I've never seen her before."
"So love at first sight then?"
"I can't see her well because of the darkness. So yeah, definitely not love at first sight."
"So what is it?"
"Can we just continue the fight already?"
"You must have gone out in search of love," the demon ignored him. "Sensed the possibility of finding true love and came to save her, right?"
"..." Tanjiro ignored him and used Water Breathing: Eighth Form: Waterfall Basin but the demon easily evaded the attack. The demon is definitely stronger. The demon lazily threw an ice spear at him. Tanjiro cut it in half. The demon curled an eyebrow at the speed. Then the demon threw three spears at once. Naruto effortlessly dodged them too.
"Impressive," the demon remarked. "Quite some reflexes you've got, I must say. But how are you going to escape from..." He threw several dozen ice needles at him. "This!"
Naruto used a pale version of Hyuuga's Heavenly Rotation and instantaneously deflected all the projectiles. Naruto gave the demon no chance to attack again and conjured a Wind Style: Rasengan in his right hand and launched it. The demon, who was still amazed by the Heavenly Rotation, was unable to dodge it and the Chakra construct hit him on his chest. The demon let out a painful moan as he was sent a few metres away.
Naruto created a shadow clone who went to help the wounded woman. The clone's hands glowed in medical Chakra as it used Medical Style: Mystic Palm.
"Who… are you?" The woman opened her eyes weakly. She looked at the glowing hands. "What is this… this doesn't hurt…"
"You can trust me, I am a Demon Slayer. And stop talking, your body needs oxygen" The clone said. "Breathe as much as you can, otherwise you will die as you have lost enough blood already."
"'Ox-e-jen'?"
"It is a gas essential for our body." The clone explained. "Without it, we cannot survive."
"You are a doctor?"
"I am a doctor for you." The clone said. "Now stop talking."
"I want to say something."
"What?" The clone was irritated.
"I am not that old." She smiled. "I am only twenty."
"Just… concentrate on breathing." He said. "You are a Demon Slayer— you should be good at it."
Suddenly the demon began to laugh like a maniac, much to Tanjiro's surprise.
Tanjiro took a defensive stance.
"None of the people I've ever fought are as strong as you." The demon announced. "They are nothing compared to your speed, agility and reflexes. And there is so much power behind every attack." He licked his lips. "Your every step is measured. These tricks… I may recognize you, our King often talks about you. You are truly the strongest Demon Slayer I have ever met. But I can't recall your name. So tell me, what is your name?"
"You should introduce yourself first before asking someone else's name." Tanjiro said bluntly.
"I like you…"
"Ew."
"Ha. Ha! I am Doma, the Upper Moon Two! Pleased to meet you." The demon stood up. Naruto noticed that the Wind Style: Rasengan's damage had already been healed completely.
"You can call me Uzumaki Naruto or Kamado Tanjiro. I am not pleased to meet you, by the way."
"Two names? I like you more now!" He laughed like a maniac.
"..." Tanjiro sighed. "Water Breathing: Sixth Form: Whirlpool!"
Doma produced a hand fan from his pocket and began to move them in a powerful motion. This resulted in the strong cold wind being moved in whirlpool style. Naruto noticed something odd about the air around him and quickly stopped breathing.
"That's a smart move!" Doma laughed again. "No one has ever been able to deduce the trick so quickly!"
Doma quickly summoned half a dozen ice clones who were as fast as their creator.
'There are civilians not too far away.' Thought Tanjiro as he traded moves with Doma. 'A Rasenshuriken should have been enough to disintegrate the demon at the atomic level. Doma shouldn't be able to survive that. However, a mid-sized Rasenshuriken will cause problems as well as help. not use my powerful techniques. Besides, the girl will also be in the impact zone. I have to use that'
"I think it's time I show you my most powerful move." Tanjiro sighed. There was no other easy option left. "Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu." A dozen and half clones appeared and ambushed Doma. Doma laughed.
"Trying to overwhelm me with numbers?" Doma said. "I am rather—"
"Harem-no-Jutsu!" The clones shouted in unison.
More than a dozen poof of smoke appeared and engulfed the surroundings.
"What…"
"Doma-kun~" A sweet voice called him.
"Dom Maa-kun~" Another voice, different, but sweeter, called him.
"Dooo-ma-aa-kun~" Another, sweeter.
"Doma-chan~" Another.
They marched towards him in an intoxicating manner.
"..." Doma blinked once.
"..." Twice.
"IS THIS HEAVEN?!" Doma's eyes literally came out of their sockets and his head exploded.
They completely surrounded him; he was still not regenerating his head.
"Now for the final attack…" Naruto jumped straight at Doma. "Water Breathing: Tenth Form: Constant Flux!"
Whoosh!
A figure appeared out of nowhere and grabbed Doma and disappeared. The dragon hit nothing but the clones.
"Damn!"
Tanjiro looked at the new demon. It was wearing an odd pinkish-red shirt and loose white pants. It had the Kanji for 'Upper Moon Six' in its eyes. It was carrying Doma on its back— piggyback.
"Tanjiro Kamado," The Upper Moon Six said from about fifty metres away. "We shall meet—"
"Ninja Art: Great Fireball!" Naruto appeared in front of him and released a small, but very condensed fireball.
The demons were sent flying away before hitting a wall.
"Ahhh!" The new demon cried out in agony but didn't waste time and quickly stood up and stood a fighting stance. "I understand why King-sama talks so much about you. You are really full of surprises."
Meanwhile, a few Demon Slayers, senior to him in rank along with half a dozen Kakushi came to the place.
"Stay back!" The clone said on behalf of the original. "It is a battle way above your league." A girl, almost identical looking to the wounded woman, came rushing. She kneeled down and began crying. He looked at his patient. The wounded girl, she was currently— but she had lost a lot of blood. Her lungs cannot be healed completely— she can't use breathing techniques any longer, at least not the difficult and powerful ones. "I have healed her enough. She'll live."
The newcomer had no intention of interfering anyway. They were too shocked to even move. Killing intent was flooding the whole place.
The new girl looked at him, then at the original— she frowned. "Who are you? You are here, but also there..." The new girl asked in awe. "You are not a demon. What are you?"
"I am Tanjiro Kamado." The clone replied. "And I am a Shinobi."
"Multi Shadow Clone Technique!" A mighty voice was heard.
A mass of smoke appeared and engulfed the entire area. The demon launched himself into the air in order to escape, but was stopped by a sea of green and black. Soon he was assaulted with a barrage of sharp attacks that turned him into a humanish-caterpillar. The demon, however, regenerated almost instantly and stood up. He had a very annoyed expression on his face.
"You are really troublesome." He said. "I would love to kill you, really, but I am afraid I have orders to follow. So, later—"
He reached the place where he left Doma, but the Upper Moon Two was not there.
"Damn it, bastard!" The demon became furious. "Traitor!" He quickly dodged a slash from the boy and threw a punch meant for his guts, the attack did touch him but it turned out to be a fake. He looked around, frustrated. There were about twenty identical boys from which he couldn't detect the original one. "Come on you coward, show yourself!"
"Less talking, more fighting!" Naruto yelled as he jumped from who knows where and closed the proximity between him and the demon. He then prepared his katana to launch his most powerful sword attack. "Ninja Art: Water Breathing: Twelve Form: Super Uzumaki!"
A gigantic water swirl making a wheezing noise was conjured around the blade and made its way towards the demon who was yet to recover from the initial surprise attack. The spinning projectile beheaded the demon instantly. The demon slayers and kakushis present there were dumbfounded by the attack.
Naruto realized that the demon cannot be killed so easily, not without using IT. So he had no choice left. Doma had already escaped and this demon is great at hand-to-hand combat. Before the demon could regenerate completely he must use IT…
"Inferno Style: Rasenshuriken!"
For a moment, the night became day and earth became hell.
The attack was so intense that all of the Demon Slayers and Kakushis had no choice but to back off a good ten meters or so. Everyone had to shut their eyes lest they become blind by the light. The complete area, which was hit by the majestic shuriken, was turned into ashes. Nothing was spared within a ten meter radius. A huge five meter deep crater was formed. The fuma-shuriken-like crimson sphere had torn the demon in millions of pieces at an atomic level, leaving him no initial cell to begin regeneration with. There was nothing of that demon left.
Tanjiro fell on his knees, panting heavily as he tried to heal his now crisp hand. He felt that even a baby could tear it off his body as he could barely stay conscious. He had third degree burn marks all over his body. There was a reason why Inferno Style: Rasenshuriken was a forbidden technique. It comes with a great cost— losing your hand, and death in the worst case scenario.. But hopefully, Tanjiro knows advanced Sage Healing Techniques, which he learned from the toad sages as Naruto. He activated Sage Mode and let nature's energy handle the rest. About ten minutes later, his hand was good as new. His whole upper uniform was gone due to the intensity of the attack. Thankfully his haori was saved as he had taken it off before launching the attack.
He arrived at the spot where the Corp's people were at. They stepped back seeing him, awe, fear, confusion and respect in their eyes. 'They are still here?' He thought. Then he looked at the injured woman. 'They didn't even take her to the hospital! Are they really dumb or something?' But he really couldn't blame them. His clone, which was standing beside the unconscious woman, dispelled itself, further freaking the already shaken people out. He sighed and patted a Kakushi's shoulder. "She needs immediate blood transfusion. Get her help."
"What is blood transfusion sir?" The Kakushi asked.
"Really?" Tanjiro facepalmed. "Get her to the nearest treatment centre. Now."
"Y-y-yes sir!" The Kakushi rushed with two others as they carried the woman away.
The girl stood up and looked at him. "I don't know who exactly you are," he looked at her. "But you have my utmost gratitude for saving my sister." She bowed. "Thank you."
"No need for that kid, dattebayo." He immediately regretted it as he ruffled her hair. He was not a forty year old man anymore. She was at least three years older than his current form..
"I am older than you." She said, but looked confused for a moment before asking, "Am I?" She curled an eyebrow. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you are a perv."
Tanjiro laughed nervously.
~• •~
"We have an interesting news, Lord Ubuyashiki."
"Yes?"
"The newest student of Lord Urokodaki, Tanjiro Kamado has defeated an Upper Moon."
"Oh?"
"Yes sir. He saved Lady Kanae from inevitable death by both defeating the demon and healing her with strange powers."
"Where is he now?"
"He is currently residing in the Butterfly Mansion."
"Summon him tomorrow morning, please. I would like to meet our potential savior."
"As you wish."
~• •~
"Okay." Tanjiro said as he stood in the centre of the room filled with members of the Corp. "I need a blood donor similar to the lady in there." They looked at him with confused eyes. He sighed. "Are you not willing to help your comrade?"
A moment of silence descended before everyone replied in unison, "YES!"
"Good." nodded Naruto. "Now, I need you to draw a little blood from your palm so that I can get the perfect match."
They did that without hesitation.
Tanjiro , using his advanced smelling prowess, searched for an AB+. 'AB+... AB+... There!"
"You there," he called the young Demon Slayer, a boy, who was senior to him in rank. The boy pointed at himself with a questioning look. "Yes you. What is your name?"
"Murata, sir!"
"Okay kid, I need you to come with me. Your blood matches with the lady." Tanjiro took him into the operating room.
The transfusion was successful.
'Kami bless baa-chan and Sakura-chan!'
~• •~
The next day. Butterfly Mansion.
"Yes?" Naruto asked the old man in front of him. "What do you want?"
"Can you heal my knee pain?"
"Umm, sure, I guess." Naruto used Mystic Palm to do so.
Three minutes later.
"Thank you, doctor!" The man bowed before leaving.
Naruto sighed as he stood up and went outside his room only to have his jaw dropped.
A long queue of people from all ages were standing right in front of him.
"What…" He felt suffocated. Was he supposed to heal them all? And when did he say that he will be treating people? These were not even any fatal wounds or any emergency cases anyway. Perhaps the staff in this place can help him.
"Tanjiro-kun!" A girl, whom he recognized as Aoi, holding a board in her hand shouted at him. "Shall I send the next patient?"
"Oh… Kami…"
~• •~
"I am sorry my lord,"
"Have you not been able to fetch the boy?"
"The boy was… preoccupied."
"How so?"
"The boy is currently treating the patients in the Butterfly Mansion sir."
"So he has made quite a name for himself," The man chuckled a bit. "Perhaps I need to wait a bit longer."
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