Chapter Summaries

Chiba Yo reported his encounter with Muzan to Kagaya, who approved of working with Tamayo and asked him to keep their alliance secret from the other Hashira. Meanwhile, Muzan punished Akaza for failing to kill the Demon Slayers, leaving Akaza bleeding in the Infinity Castle.

• Chiba Yo turned down Kaigaku's request for guidance and warned him that Gyomei Himejima would soon return to headquarters.
• Chiba Yo set training tasks for Tanjiro and his two companions, then reported his encounter with Muzan to Kagaya.
• Kagaya revealed that he knew of Tamayo and agreed that she and Yushiro could be allies, but asked Chiba Yo to keep the matter from the other Hashira.
• Muzan questioned Akaza about his failed mission and angrily punished him, causing him to bleed from his eyes, ears, nose, and mouth.

Muzan berated Akaza for failing to kill Kyojuro and ordered him to target Chiba Yo, while Akaza remained committed to his own principles. At Kyojuro’s hospital room, the Hashira discussed how the Demon Slayer Mark appeared, and Shinobu revealed that it damaged the marked swordsman’s organs.

• Muzan criticized Akaza for losing to Kyojuro, showed him images of Chiba Yo, and told him to kill the boy; Akaza left the Infinity Castle determined to face Kyojuro again.
• Sanemi, Giyu, and the other Hashira gathered with Kagaya in Kyojuro’s hospital room, where Kyojuro described how the Demon Slayer Mark appeared after he pushed himself to his limits.
• The Hashira discussed Kyojuro’s elevated temperature and heart rate as possible conditions for awakening the mark, and they resolved to awaken their own marks despite the danger.
• Shinobu told the Hashira that while Kyojuro’s mark remained, his organs worked at an elevated level but sustained permanent damage.

Shinobu Kocho proposed that the organ damage caused by the Demon Slayer Mark might be treatable, giving Chiba Yo hope that Kyojuro could live beyond twenty-five. After the Hashira agreed to let Shinobu examine them, Senjuro visited Kyojuro and revealed that he had come without their father's permission.

• Shinobu Kocho explained that she believed the Demon Slayer Mark's organ damage could be treated, though she still needed to verify the idea and find a method.
• Kagaya supported Shinobu's research, and the Hashira agreed to let her examine them after they awakened their marks.
• Giyu tried to improve his relationship with Sanemi but felt discouraged when his attempt angered him.
• Senjuro arrived at the ward to visit Kyojuro, and Kagaya welcomed him inside.
• Kyojuro asked whether their father had sent Senjuro, who admitted that he had sneaked out because their father would not let him visit.

Shinjuro refused Senjuro’s request to visit Kyojuro, but secretly watched as Senjuro left the mansion. Chiba Yo learned that Kaigaku had once lived at Gyomei’s temple, prompting Gyomei to reveal the tragedy that had killed the children there.

• Shinjuro angrily refused to visit Kyojuro and ordered Senjuro to return to his room.
• Senjuro waited until Shinjuro appeared asleep, then slipped out of the Rengoku Family Mansion; Shinjuro watched him go and returned to Ruka’s photograph.
• Shinobu Kocho asked Chiba Yo to let her examine his Demon Slayer Mark, and he agreed.
• Chiba Yo asked Gyomei whether Kaigaku had come to see him, and Gyomei reacted angrily when he heard the name.
• Gyomei told Chiba Yo that Kaigaku had been one of the homeless children he took in at a temple, where an incident left almost all the children dead and one survivor accused Gyomei of murder.

Gyomei learned that Kaigaku had let the demon into the temple and asked Kagaya to summon him, while Kaigaku destroyed the Kasugai Crow and abandoned the Corps. At the Butterfly Mansion, Shinobu found no organ damage in Chiba Yo, unlike Rengoku.

• Gyomei told Chiba Yo that Kaigaku had let the demon into the temple, then went to report him to Kagaya.
• Amane read Kaigaku’s records, and Kagaya trusted Gyomei to decide how to deal with him.
• Kagaya ordered a Kasugai Crow to summon Kaigaku to headquarters.
• Kaigaku feared Gyomei had uncovered his past, killed the crow with Thunder Breathing, and walked away from the Corps while vowing revenge.
• Shinobu examined Chiba Yo and found no organ damage, noting that his condition differed from Rengoku’s.

Shinobu Kocho found Chiba Yo’s body exceptionally healthy and said he was unlikely to die young from his Demon Slayer Mark. After leaving the Butterfly Mansion, Chiba Yo spoke with Senjuro, who returned home to find Shinjuro quietly worried about Kyojuro.

• Shinobu Kocho examined Chiba Yo and found his organs unusually strong and full of vitality.
• Shinobu Kocho said she would seek a way to eliminate the mark’s drawbacks and reflected on her weakness, her sister Kanae’s death, and her resolve to avenge her.
• Chiba Yo left the Butterfly Mansion and met Senjuro, who said he was going home to cook for Shinjuro and regretted failing to persuade him to visit Kyojuro.
• At the Rengoku Mansion, Senjuro brought Shinjuro dinner, and Shinjuro asked how Kyojuro was doing.
• Senjuro told Shinjuro that Kyojuro was in good spirits and passed along Kyojuro’s message that Shinjuro should take care of himself.

Chiba Yo accompanied Zenitsu on a demon-hunting mission so Zenitsu would face a demon alone and overcome his fear. Zenitsu entered a cave to hunt the demon while Chiba Yo secretly followed, and the demon suddenly appeared above him.

• After Tanjiro and Inosuke departed on missions, Chiba Yo and Zenitsu received assignments in the same direction and agreed to travel together.
• Zenitsu invited Chiba Yo to visit his trainer, Jigoro Kuwajima, after their missions, and Chiba Yo accepted.
• At the cave where villagers had disappeared, Chiba Yo urged Zenitsu to enter alone and encouraged him by invoking Nezuko and the girls who admired him.
• Zenitsu crept nearly three hundred meters into the cave, where a demon emerged from the earth above him and threatened to eat him.

Chiba Yo forced Zenitsu to face the Burrowing Demon while awake, interrupting his unconscious sword techniques until Zenitsu regained consciousness. Zenitsu finally fought back with Thunder Breathing, and the chapter ended just after his lightning-fast attack left the demon behind him.

• Zenitsu passed out at the Burrowing Demon’s approach, so Chiba Yo kicked the demon away and kept Zenitsu from attacking unconsciously.
• Chiba Yo covered Zenitsu’s nose and mouth to interrupt his Thunder Breathing, and Zenitsu woke when the demon hurled stone spikes at them.
• Chiba Yo left Zenitsu to fight alone and urged him to remember Nezuko, Jigoro Kuwajima, and his resolve not to give up.
• Zenitsu stopped himself from fleeing and drew his sword as the Burrowing Demon closed in.
• Zenitsu used Thunder Breathing, First Form: Thunderclap and Flash-Godspeed, and the demon saw Zenitsu’s sheathed sword and back turned behind him.

Zenitsu defeated the Burrowing Demon while awake for the first time, and Chiba Yo encouraged him after the fight. Zenitsu then imagined going on missions with Nezuko, but Chiba Yo reminded him that Tanjiro was a more realistic partner.

• Zenitsu beheaded the Burrowing Demon with his Nichirin Blade and watched it turn to ash.
• Chiba Yo praised Zenitsu for slaying the demon, and Zenitsu angrily confronted him before accepting his apology and a promised meal.
• Zenitsu told Chiba Yo he was still frightened of demons but would be brave to protect Nezuko.
• Zenitsu asked Chiba Yo to assign him to missions with Nezuko and imagined rescuing her from demons.
• Chiba Yo dismissed Zenitsu's daydream and suggested he hope to go on missions with Tanjiro instead.

Chiba Yo and Zenitsu reached an abandoned temple where a demon was believed to be hiding, but an old man pulled them to safety in a wisteria grove. The old man’s account of a blind monk who was blamed for killing the children in the temple led Chiba Yo to realize the monk was likely Gyomei.

• Chiba Yo and Zenitsu arrived at the abandoned temple at dusk, where an old man rushed out and dragged them down the mountain.
• The old man led them into a wisteria grove and explained that demons haunted the mountain and people had recently vanished there.
• The old man said children had once died at the temple and recounted how a blind monk had been accused of killing them before disappearing from prison.
• Chiba Yo connected the story to Gyomei’s past and realized the temple was where Gyomei had once lived.
• The old man insisted that a demon had killed the children and warned Chiba Yo and Zenitsu not to leave the wisteria grove that night.

Chiba Yo went to the mountain Temple to confront the demon while Zenitsu stayed with the old man. He saw through the demon’s illusions and attacked it, but its Blood Demon Art switched their positions, leaving their fight unresolved.

• Chiba Yo told Zenitsu to protect the old man and ran toward the Temple despite the old man’s warning.
• Zenitsu told the old man he thought the demon should be worried about Chiba Yo.
• Chiba Yo entered the Temple after hearing what sounded like a child crying and used the Transparent World to spot an invisible, two-horned demon.
• The demon used Illusory Dream to make a child appear as a beautiful young woman, but Chiba Yo saw through the illusion and drew his sword.
• Chiba Yo and the demon activated their Blood Demon Arts at the same time, and Celestial Shift switched their positions.
• Chiba Yo attacked with Sun Breathing: Threefold Heaven, and the demon defended itself with Black Blood Thorns.

Chiba Yo defeated Mirage, a demon with multiple copied Blood Demon Arts, and destroyed its remaining brain as it turned to ash. Mirage's dying words revealed its loyalty to Muzan, prompting Chiba Yo to ask whether it knew where Muzan was.

• Mirage used Celestial Shift to redirect Chiba Yo's attack, but Chiba Yo defended and decapitated it with Sun Breathing: Blue Heaven.
• Mirage recalled how it had copied abilities by consuming blood, including Muzan's Black Blood Thorns, and had planned to grow strong enough to challenge the Twelve Kizuki.
• Chiba Yo destroyed Mirage's remaining brain with Sun Breathing: Beneficent Radiance, ensuring its body turned to ash.
• Mirage shouted that Lord Muzan would kill Chiba Yo, and Chiba Yo eagerly asked whether it knew where Muzan was.

Chiba Yo defeated the demon Mirage but failed to learn Muzan's whereabouts, then returned to the wisteria grove and asked the old man about Gyomei's past. The old man revealed that a young orphan girl in town made and handed out wisteria sachets.

• Muzan's curse caused a giant hand to emerge from Mirage's mouth, but Chiba Yo cut it off before Mirage crumbled into ash.
• Chiba Yo left the temple after confirming that Muzan could silence demons who revealed information about him.
• Chiba Yo returned to the wisteria grove, where Zenitsu and the old man were waiting, and told the old man he had defeated the demon.
• The old man said that only one child, a four-year-old girl, had survived the incident involving Gyomei, and that the monk had disappeared before his execution.
• Chiba Yo asked about the old man's wisteria sachet, and the old man explained that a twelve- or thirteen-year-old orphan in town made and gave them to passersby.

Chiba Yo and Zenitsu spent the night keeping watch with an old traveling merchant, and Chiba Yo shared a rice ball with Zenitsu as he remembered his family. In the morning, the merchant revealed his family had been killed and gave Chiba Yo a crimson jade pendant to inherit.

• The old man told Chiba Yo about a kind girl who gave away wisteria sachets and refused payment.
• Chiba Yo offered to keep watch while the exhausted old man slept, then shared a rice ball with Zenitsu and spoke about his journeys.
• Zenitsu invited Chiba Yo to visit Grandpa Kuwajima after sunrise and share a meal.
• Chiba Yo stayed awake through the night while Zenitsu and the old man slept.
• The old man offered Chiba Yo his family's crimson jade pendant, explaining that his wife, son, daughter-in-law, and grandson had died.

After hearing the old merchant’s story about demons killing his family, Chiba Yo accepted his Jade Pendant and set off with Zenitsu toward Jigoro Kuwajima’s home. On the way, they saw a stubborn little girl insisting that a woman accept a free wisteria sachet, while the woman kept trying to pay her.

• The old merchant gave Chiba Yo his Jade Pendant, then left after saying demons would not appear in the daylight.
• Zenitsu woke up, and he and Chiba Yo headed toward Jigoro Kuwajima’s home after finishing their mission.
• Chiba Yo treated Zenitsu to breakfast, and they ate as they walked toward the foot of the mountain.
• Chiba Yo and Zenitsu saw a little girl offering a passerby a free wisteria sachet for protection.
• The woman tried to pay for the sachet, but the girl refused her money and kept insisting she take it for free.

Chiba Yo learned that Sayo had spent three years giving out wisteria sachets and kept returning to a mountain where people had recently gone missing. Before leaving with Zenitsu, he accepted sachets from her, and Zenitsu celebrated his first gift from a girl.

• Chiba Yo watched Sayo persuade a woman to keep a wisteria sachet and then offer more to passersby.
• A stallholder told Chiba Yo that Sayo had returned three years earlier, gave out sachets, and went up the mountain every six months despite recent disappearances.
• Chiba Yo learned the stallholders planned to accompany Sayo on her next mountain trip and warned them to carry sachets at night.
• Zenitsu returned with tea for the former Rumble Hashira, and Chiba Yo wondered what gift he should bring.
• Sayo gave Chiba Yo and Zenitsu wisteria sachets, and Zenitsu leaped and shouted with joy.

Chiba Yo bought all of Sayo’s ornaments by pretending he wanted gifts for companions who disliked him, then explained to Zenitsu that Himejima’s past matched the story of the temple they had visited. Sayo overheard and, shaken by the news of Himejima, asked Chiba Yo whether he knew him.

• Chiba Yo bought all of Sayo’s ornaments, convincing her that he wanted to give them to companions who disliked him.
• Chiba Yo told Zenitsu that Himejima’s temple past matched the old man’s story and that he hoped to help Himejima let go of his pain.
• Sayo trembled as she handed out wisteria sachets and then grabbed Chiba Yo’s clothes, crying.
• Sayo asked Chiba Yo whether he knew Mr. Himejima.

Sayo told Chiba Yo how her mistaken accusation had led to Gyomei Himejima’s imprisonment, and how she had spent years trying to atone. She asked Chiba Yo to arrange a meeting so she could apologize to Gyomei.

• Sayo asked Chiba Yo to speak privately after learning he knew Mr. Himejima.
• Sayo recalled how, as a child, she mistook Gyomei for the demon that had killed the temple children, leading others to arrest him and sentence him to death.
• After learning Gyomei had disappeared from prison rather than been executed, Sayo returned to her hometown and gave away wisteria sachets as atonement while hoping to find him.
• Sayo led Chiba Yo to her home and asked whether Gyomei was doing well.
• After Chiba Yo said Gyomei still fought demons to protect people, Sayo asked if she could meet him and apologize.

Sayo told Chiba Yo that her frightened testimony had led to Gyomei’s imprisonment, and he reassured her that the incident had been a misunderstanding. She chose to write Gyomei a letter rather than join the Demon Slayer Corps, and Chiba Yo sent it with his Kasugai Crow.

• Sayo confessed that she had mistakenly identified Gyomei as the murderer after a demon attack, leaving her burdened with guilt.
• Chiba Yo comforted Sayo and urged her to explain the truth to Gyomei so they could both move past the misunderstanding.
• Chiba Yo offered to arrange a meeting or help Sayo join the Demon Slayer Corps, but Sayo chose to remain where she was and write Gyomei a letter.
• Sayo wrote down her explanation and gave the letter to Chiba Yo, who attached it to his Kasugai Crow and sent it to Gyomei.

Chiba Yo and Zenitsu visited Zenitsu’s teacher, Jigoro Kuwajima, at Mount Sagiri. After Jigoro mistook Zenitsu’s return for another escape and struck him, he learned the truth, welcomed them, and praised Chiba Yo and Zenitsu’s progress.

• Chiba Yo noticed a charred tree as he and Zenitsu climbed Mount Sagiri, and Zenitsu avoided explaining how lightning had turned his hair yellow.
• Zenitsu ran to greet Jigoro Kuwajima, who mistook him for a runaway and knocked him down with his cane.
• Chiba Yo explained that Zenitsu had finished a mission with him and had come to visit, so Jigoro apologized and comforted Zenitsu.
• Zenitsu introduced Chiba Yo as the current Sun Hashira, and Jigoro praised Chiba Yo’s achievements and Kyojuro Rengoku’s bravery.
• Chiba Yo praised Zenitsu’s diligent training and demon hunting, delighting Jigoro, who recalled the many traps and ropes he had used to keep Zenitsu from escaping training.