Around noon, Chiba Yo and Zenitsu arrived at Mount Sagiri.
As they followed the path up the mountain, Chiba Yo spotted a charred tree beside the road. Fresh shoots and green buds had already sprouted from it.
"That tree really is tough," Chiba Yo remarked.
"I think I'm tougher..." Looking at the tree brought back some unpleasant memories for Zenitsu, and he sounded rather unhappy.
Zenitsu's hair had originally been black. Once, while trying to escape Jigoro Kuwajima's training, he had climbed this tree and refused to come down. Then, out of a clear blue sky, a bolt of lightning had struck the tree, hitting him as well. His hair had been yellow ever since.
Of course, it was also possible that the lightning had struck him, and the tree had simply been caught in it.
"Huh?" Chiba Yo didn't understand what Zenitsu meant and let out a questioning sound.
"Nothing. Let's keep going." Naturally, Zenitsu wasn't about to share his embarrassing past. He laughed it off and continued walking.
"Oh." Seeing that, Chiba Yo didn't ask any more questions.
They continued along the path until a wooden house came into view. In front of it, an old man wearing clothes similar in style to Zenitsu's was stretching.
The old man was rather short, with white hair and scars on his face. A wooden prosthesis replaced part of his right leg.
This must be Zenitsu's teacher, the former Rumble Hashira, Mr. Jigoro Kuwajima.
That was what Chiba Yo thought.
"Gramps!" Zenitsu called happily when he saw the old man, then ran toward him with a spring in his step.
Hearing his voice, the old man noticed Zenitsu too. As Zenitsu came running happily toward him, he picked up the cane beside his foot and swung it straight at him with