"Tell me," Muzan begins. "Why are all of you so useless?"
Urokodaki's eyes widen hearing his masters words. His whole body is shaking from the pressure of the demon lord. Muzan currently has taken the form of a blonde business man. The form has smile wrinkles yet its clear that his lord would only smile for acts some would deem, cruel.
'What is he talking about?' Jigoro questions to himself.
"What am I talking about?" Muzan parrots as he stares at Jigoro.
Jigoro sweats as his lord's gaze bears into his mind.
"Well, since you can't comprehend it, I will explain to you simpleton," Muzan begins. "You are useless because you fail the simple tasks I ask of you all."
'Like what your asking is sooo simple.' Kanao thinks annoyed.
"What I ask of you is VERY simple. I ask you to find the last of the Ubuyashiki family, to find a single type of flower, and to not die in battle. What about those is not simple?" Muzan asks with his eyes glaring crimson red.
Kanao doesn't respond, knowing that her lord will contradict her no matter what she says.
"So tell me now, what is it about the lower moons that makes you all so weak?" Muzan questions as the air pressure itself intensifies, forcing all demons to put their heads down regardless of whether or not they were bowing before.
"I don't see a reason to respond." Tengen says with gritted teeth. He is the only demon not at Muzan's feet. 'Damn that little punk! Taking my position as an upper rank after being a demon for just two years?! I'll kill you someday.'
Muzan glances over Tengen. 'He's bitter over his loss, no matter. He's at the bare minimum for what a demon should be doing, although I won't let him even attempt to take back his spot until an upper moon falls, a punishment and a way of forcing him to do better.'
"Um my lord? Isn't this kind of unfair?" Mitsuri questions. "I mean, I haven't died in 45 years at this point, and even Upper moons die every 50 years or so."
"I have had to replace 20 lower moons in the time it took for ONE upper rank to fall." Muzan answers coldly. "Everytime a lower kizuki dies its almost always followed by a new powerful hashria, it makes me wonder what's the point in any of you."
The pressure increases by another level. Urokodaki vomits blood from the force, as does Jigoro. Kanao feels her head smash against the head as blood leaks from her eyes.
Shinobu shows discomfort but manages not to bleed, as does Mitsuri.
Tengen is still standing but it's clear even a prior upper rank can feel the pressure.
"Tell me." The air pressure increases. "Tell me." Shinobu feels blood flow down her face. "Tell me!" Mitsuri falls to the ground as her limbs spasm. "TELL ME MY DEMONS!" Tengen bows to the ground with a drop of blood falling down his cheek.
"My lord! We are simply too weak! If you could just give us some blood and another chance, I promise we will reach the heights you're looking for!" Urokodaki yells out as he feels his body almost fall apart into blood and guts at the pressure.
Every demon in the room freezes. Muzan's icy glare goes to Urokodaki with a fury beyond hatred.
Muzan appears in front of Urokodaki. His face morphs into disgust seeing his bloody body just laying there twitching. "You DARE to tell me that it is my own fault? That I don't give you all enough strength?"
Urokodaki realized his mistake far, far too late...
"N-no my lord! I didn't mean it in t-that way!" Urokodaki tries to say but Muzan simply reaches with his hand as Urokodaki screams blood murder.
Muzan rips into Urokodaki's eye that has kanji on it and tears it apart before removing what's left of it. Muzan's movement is only caught by Tengen as Urokodaki's limbs and tear are torn apart and twisted like a pretzel.
"You get one month, to prove to me that you still deserve to live." Muzan whispers as Urokodaki's eye grows back, but with no kanji on it. "As for the rest of you, I will be holding greater standards for the rest of you. Six months, half a year, to show me progress and proof the lower kizuki still has purpose."
All the kizuki, including a trembling Urokodaki, bow down and don't dare to even think.
"Good night." Muzan says as he disappears into the night, most likely to find another human to kill and take there place.
The room is silent for a few moments before laughter is echoed by Tengen. "Wow! You're all just a bunch of newbies! You should know better than to talk back!"
Mitsuri pouts. "Stop making fun of us Tengen! You're just as mean as you were 20 years ago!"
"Yeah but at least I found love unlike you, you little hor-" Tengen starts.
"Enough, the meeting is over and we know what we need to do." Shinobu says, speaking for the first time.
Tengen laughs. "Whatever, either way I can tell none of you are prepared! To be in the lord's good graces you need to be an upper rank, and I can tell none of you have what it takes."
"Didn't you get kicked out for a newborn demon being stronger than you?" Kanao says quietly as she tilts her head.
"He was at least two years old! And it's irrelevant!" Tengen yells out as he brings out his weapon. A strange rope with two sharp blades on either side.
"Ha! And you're trying to tell us that we're weak when you got beaten by a two year old demon!" Jigoro laughs in his gruff voice, which quickly turns into a yell of pain as be finds both his arms on the ground.
"Shut up." Tengen says with his eyes glaring. Beyond his cocky voice and smug face, power much beyond anyone in the room without Muzan rings out.
Mitsuri walks over to Urokodaki, who hasn't moved an inch. "Sorry Uro, goodluck on becoming better!" She says with her soft smile and yet there's madness echoing in them.
"Don't waste your time on him. He's useless compared to the rest of us, even Jigoro has more potential." Shinobu says.
"Yeah- wait what?" Jigoro says with a laugh as his arms had regenerated.
"Well I got people to eat, in a flashy way of course." Tengen says with a smirk.
Mitsuri deadpans. "Don't tell me you're still saying th- and he's gone." She mutters before disappearing in the blink of an eye.
"Let's go Kanao." Shinobu says as she and Kanao disappear.
"Well I'd say, "see you later", butttttt." Jigoro laughs as he rushes off
Urokodaki stands there for what felt like forever. 'I'm gonna die...I'm gonna die...No! I refuse to die that easily! I'll just have to get stronger and defeat more demon slayers...then my lord will forgive me!'
Urokodaki, filled with new determination, rushes off to find new prey.
Back at the Wisteria house
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN?!" Dai yells out as he shakes Tanjiro.
"I'm sorry okay! I didn't think it that important!" Tanjiro protests.
"Concentration breathing constant is the most basic and one of the most important skills any demon can have! Without it, well you're lucky you've made it this far!" Dai yells
"Okay enough." Imoto says as she slaps the back of Dai's head. Dai in return glares at her but stops shaking Tanjiro.
"Didn't your sword trainer teach you how important concentration breathing constant was?" Imoto asks a little confused.
"Wellllllll..." Tanjiro says
"Tanjiro, you should learn concentration breathing constant. It'll be useful in your fight against demons." Kyojonro says as he tends to their fire cooking the food. Nezuko is swinging her legs back and forth on the chair as Tanjiro nods.
"Of course Master!" Tanjiro replied.
"Then why didn't you try hard to learn it?" Dai asks with gritted teeth.
"Ummmmmmm..."
"Of course master!" Tanjiro replied. 'It must be so I can always keep my guard up incase of an emergency.'
"That is not why concentration breathing constant is important you imbecile!" Dai yells out.
"I'm sorry." Tanjiro says with a shy smile
Monomoto just sighs. "It doesn't matter anymore, we just need to teach you concentration breathing constant and then you should be able to finish rehabilitation training easily. Besides it is partially our fault anyway, we should've directly asked you instead of assuming you knew it."
"It's the most basic thing, how was I not supposed to assume?" Dai mutters under his breathe.
Imoto leans in to whisper. "Sorry about him, he just doesn't have much patience and since you don't know concentration breathing constant all that training before was basically pointless."
Tanjiro let's his head down as he feels bad. 'They've wasted so much time on me because I didn't ask for more specifics. This is my fault, I have to train twice as hard and make up for it!'
"Okay then," Monomoto smirks. "You ready to experience hell Tanjiro?"
20 minutes later
"First, we'll have you run along the track for 10 laps for repeated breathing, then we'll have you take breathes and stay under water for 60 seconds so you'll practice deep breathes, after that Dai and I will come at you with practice swords while you use concentration breathing to fight back against us." Monomoto explains to an increasingly nervous Tanjiro.
"Wait, what's the point of the running and deep breaths? I get actually using concentration breathing but why the other parts?"
"You need to strengthen your lungs first, otherwise you'll never master it." Dai explains with a glare.
"Okay!" Tanjiro begins running at top speed across the track.
"I was gonna tell him that he should slow down for endurance." Imoto says with a sigh.
Dai just smirks. "Let him, it'll hurt a lot more but speed up his progress."
days later
'Train! Train! Train more!' Tanjiro screams to himself as he fights Dai and Monomoto. Imoto was just a nurse, Hahao was a little girl, and apparently Mr. Iyasu was actually a retired demon slayer who couldn't fight due to his leg. While Dai and Monomoto were also demons who couldn't fight anymore, they had mastered concentration breathing constant and showed him exactly why it was important.
Tanjiro barley deflects another slash from Dai as Monomoto attempts to attack him from the back.
Tanjiro breathes in deep as he spins around and not only blocks her attack, but knocks it out of her hands before pointing the blade at her chin.
Monomoto nods. "Good but two things, one you're not using concentration breathing."
Tanjiro quickly corrects and begins using it when he feels a blunt poke of wood in his back and an evil laugh from Dai.
"And two, you have two opponents." Monomoto explains.
"Okay!" Tanjiro nods.
Days later
'Keep going! No matter how much your lungs burn or your legs ache! Keep running!' Tanjiro thinks to himself as motivation as he runs along the track at top speed.
transition
Tanjiro takes another deep breath as he plunges his head into the water. 'Don't give up! Keep going! For Haru, Kyojonro, your family, for Nezuko!'
transition
Tanjiro successfully blocks an attack from Dai and swipes his legs, knocking him to the ground before he raises his practice sword and blocks a swing from Monomoto and chops her in the neck with his sword.
'Never give up!'
a few days later
Tanjiro stretches as he walks out ready for another day of training. He finds Imoto already there smiling.
"Okay I'm ready to run!" Tanjiro says confidently.
"Actually, you're done running." Imoto says.
"Oh so something new?" Tanjiro asks.
"Nope, in fact you're done with all your exercises." Imoto explains.
"Wait what?! Did you all give up on me? I know I need to better but I promise to get the-"
"Tanjiro." Imoto says calmly as he takes a breath.
"Yeah?"
"Do you realize what your doing right now?" Imoto asks.
Tanjiro thinks for a moment before his eyes brighten. "I'm using concentration breathing, but I didn't even think about it."
Imoto smiles. "Me and Dai stayed up all night to see, you used concentration breathing constant all throughout the night as well."
Tanjiro smiles widely. "Does this mean?" He doesn't dare to ask afraid.
"Yup, you can officially use total concentration breathing constant." Imoto says with a smile.
"Yes!" Tanjiro exclaims happily as he jumps into the air.
Imoto smiles. "Now then, it's time to see if you're ready."
transition
Tanjiro stares at Dai in the eyes as they hover their hands over the cups of water.
The tension is palpable as they wait for Hahao to call it...
"Go!" Hahao's voice calls out as Dai is covered in water.
"Hooray!" Hahao says as she gives Tanjiro a hug which he responds with hugging back.
"Wow you look happy, I knew you were secretly proud." Imoto says with a giggle as she appears next to Dai.
Dai looks up with a smile. "Nope! Now he can finally leave and never bother me again."
Imoto slaps him across the head. "Do you even have a heart?!"
Transition
Tanjiro lays in bed with a wide smile. 'Tomorrow, I return to demon slaying. And I'll get to see Nezuko again. I hope she's doing well.'
Tanjiro raises his fist and clenches it with a determined look in his eyes.
"I refuse to die and be useless."
the next day
As Tanjiro walks out of the Wisteria house he suddenly smells a powerful presence and can't help but walk over.
Tanjiro walks over to the training area where his mouth drops.
Ume and some strange kid are practicing, yet it's very intense. The power behind each strike is insane and Tanjiro can smell bloodlust even if it's clear they aren't trying to kill each other.
The strange kid seems less than five feet and maybe 14 at best with black hair and blue eyes. He wears a standard demon slayer uniform with a white and black haori that has a spider web like design on it. Strapped to the kids waist is a sort of wire or rope although he doesn't appear to be using it this time.
The strangest thing of all is the fact that the little kid is absolutely destroying Ume...
"This...this kid must be a high rank if not..." Tanjiro mutters as he takes another smell. The kid is weaker but. "A hashria."
Tanjiro stares at the two of them as their swords strike and slash. The hashria is winning by far but at least Ume hasn't been disarmed quite yet.
Tanjiro clenches his fist. 'Someday, I'll be as strong as you two.'
Tanjiro then simply walks off as Megu, Tanjiro's crow, flies down on his shoulder.
"There you are Megu! I was wondering where you were." Tanjiro says with a smile.
"Well since you were incapacitated I was working as a messenger crow." Megu explains before pecking Tanjiro. "You made me wait for nearly a month and a half! You better be worth my investment!"
"Sorry, I'll do better this time." Tanjiro promises as he starts to walk off. Megu crosses his wings and huffs but let's it go as the Tanjiro begins running.
"Hey Megu, first though we need to make a pitstop."
Transition
Hours later Tanjiro arrives at the town of Ruisagu, one he hadn't been at for almost a month and a half.
Tanjiro had sent Megu forward ahead of time and so when he walked up the hill as the moonlight shown on him, there they were. Sabito, Makomo, Aoi, and...
"Nezuko!" Tanjiro yells out as he runs to his little sister and pulls her into a hug.
Nezuko smiles, feeling her kind boy is back and hugs him back.
"Well, you certainly took your sweet time." Aoi says sarcastically with an eyeroll.
Sabito looks over Tanjiro and smiles. "You've gotten much stronger. If you had fought the arrow demon at your current strength, you would've only needed your sister to defeat him."
Tanjiro smiles widely. "Thank you for the praise, but it is unwarranted. I still have much room to grow and become better."
Sabito laughs. "The true markings of a swordsman, is the never ending urge to improve."
Makomo pats Nezuko on the head as she hugs her goodbye. "Goodluck Tanjiro, and you two Nezuko. I'm sure you two will become much stronger and defeat him."
Tanjiro smiles and nods. "Yes, I will defeat Muzan Kubutsuji."
Tanjiro takes Nezuko's hand as they begin to walk off. They both wave to their demon allies who wave back, even Aoi.
"I will defeat him!" Tanjiro yells out as he leaves their sight.
"Hey boy! I got a misson for you!" Megu yells out as he lands on Tanjiro's shoulder.
The next day
Tanjiro enters a town at night with Nezuko inside his box. There was said to be a demon with considerable strength around here, and Tanjiro is ready to exterminate it.
Tanjiro runs through the town, on guard as his nose smelling the area when he suddenly hears something close to Thunder.
Tanjiro rushes over with speed as he enters what seems to be the main area of the town with a fountain and some ribbons rading of color.
Tanjiro suddenly sees it, although barely. A blur that speed forward and decapitated a demon with ease.
THUNDER BREATHING, 1ST FORM. THUNDER CLAP AND FLASH!
Tanjiro looks with wide eyes as he sees, Zenitsu Agatsuma.
Taisho Era Secret
Tanjiro: Wow, that healing took forever. But at least I'm back in shape and stronger than ever!
Ume: You think you're strong? Try fighting a Hashria.
Tanjiro: Yeah, that kid seemed rather young and tiny too, who was he?
Ume: Well his name is-
Zenitsu: Guys! I'm here! Somehow I'm not dead yet! Tanjiro thank goodness you're here to protect me!
Tanjiro: I think you're fine, anyway. The youngest Hashria in history was actually 13 and 2 months old. His name was Korosu Oni, and he was raised from birth to kill demons. His most incredible accomplishment was slaying upper moon 4, strongest upper ever slayed mind you, while he was 15!
Ume: Okay but the hashria I was fighting was named-
Tanjiro: Okay! Next episode, "Conflict because of choices"!
Ume: I give up.
(Author's notes)
Okay that was a quick one. I was super excited to write the lower moon meeting and kinda just did the rest because I felt like it. Now I know the hashria is probably super obvious but for the two people who don't know, I'm not gonna say it. As for the meeting itself, I was trying to show Muzan's frustration without making him do something stupid like kill off all his lower moons. These are strong demons and can fight well, they just need more motivation. In the next chapter we'll be spending time with Zenitsu and meeting two more characters. Well no idea when the next chapter will come out, sometime between next week and three years. Well laters.