After seeing Sasori of the Red Sands off, life in Kirigakure returned to its former peace.
Besides continuing to familiarize himself with the newly developed [Breathing of the Sage], Araki occasionally went to chat nonsense with Jiraiya about secret tales of ancient demons and monsters.
Although what Jiraiya knew was merely scattered fragments he had occasionally heard at Mount Myōboku, there were no other sources of information about such ancient secrets apart from a few places and people.
"Inhale—"
"Exhale..."
"Inhale—"
"Exhale..."
That day, Araki sat cross-legged on the bed, his chest rising and falling slightly. White vapor flowed in and out of his nose and mouth like a nimble swimming dragon.
The fiery red patterns on his cheeks and the golden gleam in his pupils rose and fell, appearing and fading as though following some strange rhythm—at times like surging undercurrents in mighty rivers, at others like the slender, lingering flow of a mountain stream.
"Almost there..."
Araki murmured softly, then closed his eyes.
The next instant, he appeared within the Consciousness Space.
It was still a dark, profound expanse of space that did not hinder his vision. A picture book emitting a faint golden glow floated in midair, slowly rotating.
Gorgeous and mysterious.
"Come out, Tanjiro!"
As Araki shouted, the Book of Sword Masters rapidly flipped through its pages. Specks of golden light scattered down, gathering beneath the book into a brown-haired, red-eyed youth carrying a small wooden box on his back.
The moment he appeared, he immediately gritted his teeth and exhaled a puff of white vapor. His figure flickered continuously, his steps as smooth as flowing water. He moved so fast that several afterimages remained in his wake.
"Water Breathing: Third Form, Flowing Dance!"
As he closed in, a dim blue gleam flashed over Tanjiro's Nichirin