The next day, Tanjiro was sent off early in the morning to train on the mountain descent.
Urokodaki called Shinsuke aside to the same clearing from the day before.
The two of them stood facing each other, and after a long silence, Urokodaki seemed to finally steel himself, and spoke slowly.
“Shinsuke, your Breathing Style…
beyond the boost you get from being around women, are there any other limitations or characteristics?”
Shinsuke knew he couldn’t hide everything, and was too lazy to try anyway, since there were certain things he needed his master’s help to think through.
He considered for a moment, then said, “It seems like the closer the distance, the stronger the effect.
And I think the more women around me, the greater the combined boost might be, though since I’ve only been around Nezuko so far, I can’t say for certain.”
Even though he had prepared himself, Urokodaki’s shoulders appeared to sag slightly.
He was quiet for a moment, then asked again, “What about techniques?
Beyond the First Form, do you have any other ideas?”
“Not yet.” Shinsuke answered honestly.
“The First Form just came to me all at once.
Maybe it needs more…
inspiration?” He deliberately put extra weight on the word inspiration.
Urokodaki understood perfectly well what inspiration was a stand-in for.
He drew a deep breath, then let it out slowly, as though working to settle his feelings.
“Listen.” Urokodaki turned, and the tengu mask in the morning light looked especially solemn.
“I don’t care how…
how unique your Breathing Style is.”
“If you want to become a demon slayer swordsman, you must abide by the Demon Slayer Corps’s discipline and bear the responsibility of slaying demons and protecting the innocent.”
“Powerful strength is good, but character matters more.
If you ever dare use this power for anything that violates righteousness, harms others, or especially exploits women…”
His voice turned suddenly cold, and the air around them seemed to freeze for an instant.
“I will deal with you personally.”
“Do you understand?”
Shinsuke dropped the easy grin and nodded seriously.
“I understand, Master.
I want strength badly, but I also know what I should and shouldn’t do.”
He paused, then added, “My Breathing Style may have…
unusual trigger conditions, but at its core it’s still for fighting.
I’ll use it to slay demons properly.”
Urokodaki stared at him for a few seconds, as though trying to see something deeper beneath that clean-featured face.
In the end, he gave a single nod.
“Remember what you said.” He walked toward the small storage shed beside the training ground.
“Prepare to begin today’s training.”
Shinsuke stood there for a beat, then called out after Urokodaki’s retreating back.
Urokodaki’s footsteps stopped, and his entire frame went rigid for two seconds before he turned back with cold fury.
“You are not going!”
Shinsuke: “Why?” [・_・?]
“Why?!” The chill radiating off Urokodaki’s back was palpable, and he bit out the reply through clenched teeth.
“Because I am not yet prepared for total and complete disgrace!!!”
Shinsuke: “…”
Fine then…
if I’m not going, I’m not going…
It wasn’t like he was that eager to go so soon anyway…
“Master, what are we training today?”
“Wait.”
A moment later, Urokodaki came back out carrying three gourds of different sizes.
As a longtime Demon Slayer Corps fan, Shinsuke immediately knew what today’s, and the coming days’, training was going to be about.
“Starting today, we practice Total Concentration Breathing Constant!”
“But Master, I automatically enter Constant when I’m near Nezuko, so there’s no need to…”
“Silence!” A faint edge of anger sharpened Urokodaki’s voice.
“I know your Breathing Style is unusual, but can you guarantee there will always be a woman by your side?
If there’s no one with you, does that mean you stop training?”
“The same applies in combat: what if you’re completely alone?
And even if there are other women nearby, what if your weakness is discovered and a demon goes around you to strike them down?”
“Slaying demons is not a game!
Demons are not fools!
You cannot stake your life entirely on someone else!”
The easy lightness on Shinsuke’s face gradually faded.
He was genuinely a little lazy, genuinely a little careless about things.
But that didn’t mean he couldn’t take good advice to heart.
What his master said made sense, and he was naturally willing to listen.
“Understood, Master.”
Seeing the playful smile leave Shinsuke’s face, Urokodaki let out a small breath of relief.
A warrior must restrain many things!
This kid was clearly never going to be able to restrain his attraction to women.
If he couldn’t even restrain arrogance and rashness on top of that, he would truly be beyond saving.
After thoroughly passing on the essentials of Total Concentration Breathing Constant, Urokodaki went up the mountain to check on Tanjiro.
Things were simpler on Shinsuke’s end, just give him some gourds and let him practice on his own.
Tanjiro’s side was far more demanding, requiring the traps to be constantly updated and refreshed.
Before leaving, Urokodaki clung to one last shred of hope and left these words behind.
“Train hard, and strive to reach the point where you can bring out your full strength without needing a woman.”
Those words left Shinsuke caught between laughing and exasperation.
When it came down to it, Urokodaki still wanted to preserve whatever remained of his dignity as a Cultivator and former Water Hashira. This chapter was copied from novelping dot com without permission.
He had just gotten one thing slightly wrong.
What Shinsuke had demonstrated on the training ground was already his full strength.
Nezuko’s presence was what enhanced his physical capabilities and technique power.
It didn’t mean that without Nezuko his strength would regress.
Shinsuke simply chose not to explain that particular point.
He had stumbled onto a new Breathing Style and a new technique by chance just yesterday, and already had a clear grasp of all the mechanics underneath it today, which did sound slightly unrealistic when put that way.
He’d let some time pass, let himself grow more familiar with Harem Breathing, and tell his master gradually.
Time passes differently in the mountains…
A full year of training flew by in what felt like an instant.
Over that year, Tanjiro did not have a single day of rest: the first six months were nothing but the mountain descent run, repeated and repeated again, and the second six months added Breathing and technique training, while the descent run was moved to areas higher on the mountain where the air was even thinner.
Of course, Shinsuke was not idle either.
One could even say he was equally occupied.
He spent three months first getting to the point where he could barely maintain Constant in daily life.
But it was the kind of barely, where any vigorous movement would break the state immediately.
Compared to the original story, where Tanjiro, Zenitsu, and Inosuke, the three youngsters, managed to achieve combat-level Constant within just one or two months while simultaneously recovering from injuries and undergoing other training, Shinsuke’s lack of talent was plain to see.
Urokodaki noticed this problem too, and over this same period Shinsuke had been gradually letting him in on the specifics of Harem Breathing.
Once Urokodaki clearly understood that having a cute girl nearby was a boost for Shinsuke, rather than meaning his strength decreased without one, he finally overcame the barrier in his own heart.
He permitted Shinsuke to train beside Nezuko.
He even proactively helped Shinsuke convince Tanjiro that Shinsuke would take over responsibility for looking after Nezuko.
Of course, this arrangement was not without conditions.
From the day Shinsuke was allowed to stay near Nezuko, he inherited Tanjiro’s trap-maintenance duties.
And from that same day, the traps on the mountain became noticeably more vicious.
The posts that swung at Tanjiro were sharpened to points.
The bamboo poles that struck at him were soaked in alcohol.
The pit traps beneath his feet contained not only stakes, but a generous addition of scorpions and centipedes, non-venomous, but with bites that caused screaming pain.
Sometimes even Tanjiro’s bedroll would suddenly contain a nest of small snakes while he was trying to sleep.
They didn’t bite, but the terror alone was enough to stop a heart.
Shinsuke had the nerve to call it vigilance training.
Poor Tanjiro spent his days living in this kind of environment, and very nearly had his nerves broken by Shinsuke’s methods.
During that period, he wasn’t sure if it was his imagination, but he kept catching glimpses of Shinsuke lurking in some dark corner.
Crouching there with a sharp little knife in hand, fashioning some new trap component, while casting a smug and mean-spirited grin in his direction.
If it weren’t for Shinsuke’s never-abandoned ugly ambition of trying to steal his sister Nezuko away, Tanjiro would have genuinely wanted to beg for mercy from that scheming man.
But he couldn’t!
That was exactly what he wanted, for Tanjiro to break and give in!
He would absolutely never hand his sister over to someone like him!
Holding onto that conviction, the two of them competed fiercely against each other all year long, Tanjiro gritting his teeth and pushing through, while Shinsuke wracked his brain devising new ways to torment him.