Bab 13: Wind Breathing
Standing in front of the Wind Compound, I look at the gateless door. Walking through the open entrance, my eyes immediately dart to an upside down Shinazugawa doing handstand push-ups.
Suddenly shooting himself up, Shinazugawa twists in the air before then landing safely on his previous placement. Staring at me with crazy eyes, accentuated by scars that cover his face and body, he speaks.
"So, you're the one I've heard so much about." Disappearing from his spot, Shinazugawa places his face right in front of mine. "You look like nothing more than a kid, but if I believe the words of Rengoku and Tokito, then I can start training the hell out of you."
Clapping his hands together, a major gust of wind blasts my hair and makes me take a few steps back. Smiling like a menace, Shinazugawa makes me begin the training I was put through in the Flame Enclosure and Mist Palace.
Uncertainly starting my first exercise, I begin to run around. As I get about a quarter around, the rock on my back is suddenly almost torn from my arms. Stumbling, I manage to barely keep my balance. Breathing out heavily, I look around to see what had happened, Shinazugawa suddenly appears in front of me, slowly clapping his hands.
"I'm surprised you managed to stay up, but you did stop moving…" Cracking his neck, he proceeds to threaten me. "Stop moving and I'll give you a punishment that no one has survived through before."
Disappearing, I resolve myself to keep running no matter what. Heightening my senses, I feel a murderous aura quickly moving towards my kneecaps. Jumping to protect myself, I look down and find a heavily condensed blast of air hitting the ground where I would be standing had I not jumped.
Horrified at the prospect of my limbs if I didn't keep myself alert, I continued the run for the next two hours before Shinazugawa once again appeared in front of me, halting my progress.
"Good, good. It wouldn't fit for my student to be crippled that easily. Although, your speed drastically dropped whenever you dodged. Once you're able to keep a constant speed for the entire run no matter the distraction, I'll actually teach you Wind Breathing."
Nodding my head in understanding, I am allowed the ice bath, but I don't get the rest after such. Continuing with my training, they all relatively stayed the same, but during each of them, I would get blasted by a highly pressurized gust of air that would nearly halt my training.
Upon reaching the muscle reinforcement training, Shinazugawa once again disappeared from my vision leading for me to become incredibly vigilant. Feeling murderous intent come from behind me, I twist my body out of the way and land safely on my feet only to be struck on the back of the head by Shinazugawa's hilt. Holding the top of my head in pain, I stare at Shinazugawa with tears in my eyes.
Staring at me with a sinister smile and his eyes wide open, Shinazugawa speaks.
"Focusing too intently on one thing can lead you to be killed. Even if you want to finish your opponent off, if you can't even complete your swing, then you're nothing more than dead weight."
Shinazugawa then laughs loudly before continuing.
"Looking at your face, I can tell that my time with you is going to be fun."
Blurring from my vision, I feel an omnidirectional killing intent appear. Clenching my teeth, I do my best…
Lying on the ground while bleeding from multiple gashes on my body, Shinazugawa starts to place ointment and bandages on my skin.
"Pain tolerance is a major part of being a Hashira. If you can fight, even while seriously injured, then you have what it takes."
Sending me home after that, I encounter Kanae who's standing out in the garden while watching the swings of Kanao. Noticing my presence, she's quick to ask the reason for my early return. Pointing at the numerous bandages that cover my body, Kanae only stands there while giving me eyes of sympathy.
"I hear that Shinazugawa ran his disciples ragged, by I didn't think he'd hurt them to this extent. I apologize profusely for his treatment. As a fellow Hashira, his treatment can therefore reflect on me."
Accepting Kanae's apology on behalf of Shinazugawa, I proceed to stand next to her and watch as Kanao continues to train. Entranced by the beauty of each stroke of Kanao's practice blade, I wonder if that's what I looked like while doing Flower Breathing. Kanae had shown me how to do her forms, but other than seeing them happen once, I haven't seen the movements any other time.
Standing there for a prolonged period, Kanao seems to notice me standing next to Kanae and immediately drops her sword before rushing over to me. Surprised by the sudden actions of Kanao, I stand there flabbergasted as Kanao inspects the wounds on my body.
"Hurt?" Kanao asks worriedly.
Smiling at the actions of Kanao, I place my hand atop Kanao's head. "I'm perfectly fine, but thanks for worrying."
Interrupting my moments with Kanao however, Kanae lets out a small squeal.
"Oh, you two are so cute together, I can't wait to see what you look like in the future."
Being then crushed into a hug against Kanae's bosom, I let out a slight grunt. Being released after a few moments, I can only sigh at the actions of Kanae. Continuing to interact with the mother daughter duo, it finally comes time for me to retire.
Returning to the Wind Compound, I enact the same training that I did the day before. After a week, I finally can complete the training without stopping.
Smiling at my success, Shinazugawa appears in front of me with his crazy look before then explaining Wind Breathing.
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Wind Breathing Forms:
1st form – Dust Whirlwind Cutter – The user dashes forward and slashes in a horizontal cyclone pattern.
2nd form – Claws-Purifying Wind – The user lifts their sword upwards towards the right, above their head and unleashes four vertical slashes down on the enemy like claws.
3rd form – Clean Storm Wind Tree – The user unleashes a whirlwind of slashes around their body that can defend them from incoming attacks and slice up their surroundings.
4th form – Rising Dust Storm – The user creates several slashes above them that attack from below the target.
5th form – Cold Mountain Wind – The user creates several circular slashes that increase in size and hit from above their target.
6th form – Black Wind Mountain Mist – The user rotates their body in an uppercut movement, creating a tornado of slashes.
7th form – The user leaps into the air while swinging their blade which generates gale-force winds to shred their opponents apart.
8th form – Primary Gale Slash – The user leaps into the air and swings their blade which generates circular torrents of wind.
9th form – Idaten Typhoon – The user backflips into the air and while upside-down, unleashes a powerful gust of circular wind.
---
"I heard a small rumor from Tokito that he didn't even show you his forms and you're able to use them. You'll be learning Wind Breathing that way, but I'd rather you not make my forms pitiful when you don't know what to do."
Becoming one with wind again, Shinazugawa leaves me with a hint.
"Wind Breathing is a style used to mimic air and wind, specifically its violently powerful torrents that create both tornadoes and whirlwinds. If you wish to use my form, then you should be able to utilize the air to generate enough power to decapitate those decrepit demons."
Knowing that the venom in Shinazugawa's voice was very real towards demons, I spend my remaining time in the Wind Compound trying to understand what it meant to be air. Not finding any answers on the first day, a sudden windstorm blows through the entirety of the Demon Slayer Headquarters.
Realizing that it was that time of the year in which windstorms were common, I make the most of it and immediately set myself to trying to breath like air. Having set my Total Concentration: Constant to the most neutral state I possibly could, I sat in the Wind Compound.
Having the wind whip all around me, blasting through my ears and messing with my rather lengthy black hair, the passage of time became irrelevant, and I felt myself slowly drift off the ground metaphorically. Allowing my mind to proceed even if it felt illogical, I found myself travelling around the world, enraptured by a violent wind. Hitting a breaking point, the apparent secret of Wind Breathing becomes clear.
Switching Total Breathing: Constant to Wind Breathing, I start to slowly let my lungs adjust and not explode whenever I would use Wind Breathing. Hearing clapping come from behind me, I a wide smile Shinazugawa looking at me.
"Congratulations to you, now you can proceed in my destructive art, and I can increase the intensity of your training even more."
Upon hearing that, my feeling of joy at achieving Wind Breathing were quick to diminish and I quickly put myself as far from the Wind Compound in the least amount of time. Being gripped by the back of the neck before I could even leave the premise though, my training unfortunately becomes even more dastardly.
Having even larger gashes placed into my skin now, Shinazugawa is forced to slather the ointment on my body and leave me covered from head to toe in bandages.
Thinking that the pain would remain for the remainder of my training under Shinazugawa, I am surprised when I wake up in the morning and find my wounds near healed. Stripping myself of the bandages, I carefully examine my body and realize that my skin remains completely unblemished even from previous injuries that should have left me with scars.
Returning to the Wind Compound, Shinazugawa is quick to notice my near undamaged body. Appearing next to me, he examines my body closely before looking at me curiously, distrustfully, and happily.
Learning he was only happy because he could torture me more, by the end of my training,
Shinazugawa stand in front of me. "Since you've learned Wind Breathing, you can now proceed on to the next step. Once finished with this step, I'll show you, my forms."
The next step was apparently using Wind Breathing to control the absolute flow of the air around me which would then allow for me to properly use Wind Breathing. After having Shinazugawa explain this to me, it finally clicked in my head as to why he was able to slash his blade diagonally and yet create four attacks vertically.
Spending the next week both adjusting my lungs, controlling the air around myself, and receiving the continuous multi-emotional stare of Shinazugawa at my healing ability, I finally reach a minor realm of controlling the air and making it respond to my will.
Spending the near entire next day increasing that minor realm, Shinazugawa finally decides that it's time to show me his forms. Upon watching them, I feel myself blink in surprise at the volatility and violence of Wind Breathing. Each form hist hard and fast without the need for the wielder to be anywhere near his target.
"Now that you've seen them, I don't want to see any elegance while using my forms. The forms you've learned so far are babies when compared to Wind Breathing, so your main objective is to use all your strength. Being sporadic is what we're looking for, so go wild."
After hearing that, I spend the two weeks mastering Wind Breathing. It started off as weak and like a shriveled version of what Shinazugawa had shown, but my talent allowed for me to greatly improve within two weeks and reach a realm of mastery.
Upon seeing my growth over the two weeks, Shinazugawa decided that it'd be fair if I sparred against him in a no holds barred match. Knowing that I still wasn't as strong as Shinazugawa, I tried to refuse his offer, but before I could even reject, I had a sword in my hand and a Shinazugawa quickly approaching me.
Putting my sword up in an upward stance, Shinazugawa slashes down and I immediately feel as a murderous intent comes from behind me. Quickly jumping and twisting my body behind Shinazugawa, I try and put pressure on him, but with each of his strikes I would be forced to dodge or block any of his wind strikes. I even tried using one of his own techniques against him, but upon my winds reaching him, they would immediately be overwhelmed by his own.
The spar continued for the next thirty minutes in which Shinazugawa finally put me down.
"Your strength greatly impresses me young demon slayer." Chuckling wildly, he continues. "I sure hope you survive long enough to win this war alongside me."
Feeling the sincerity behind Shinazugawa's words, he stands me up and sends me back to the Butterfly Mansion.
Upon my return, Kanae immediately engulfs me in another hug.
"I'm glad you were able to survive Shinazugawa's training and I bet Kanao is even happier than I am. It's just unfortunate that your next teacher has requested you, giving you no time to rest."
Looking at the pouting Kanae, I can only smile.
"Your next teacher is Tengen Uzui, the Sound Hashira, who will ensure that you are *cough* flamboyant *cough* enough to be a demon slayer."
Sighing at Kanae's antics, I can only shake my head before heading to bed and preparing for what might be a painful training session.
Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
stone