Xia Xi had wanted to spend a little longer observing how a ninja fought.
He hadn't expected the other man to take a stance for a single decisive strike and finish the battle so soon.
If it had been an ordinary mob, he would have let it go.
But this was an Elite Monster with a Blood Demon Art! It had to be worth at least 200 experience.
One head was worth several months of grueling training.
Xia Xi's gamer soul stirred.
He acted faster than he could think.
In the split second before Tengen swung his twin blades, Xia Xi drew his Nichirin Blade too.
Total Concentration!
Thunder Breathing, First Form: Thunderclap and Flash!
He held almost nothing back.
Xia Xi's figure abruptly became a streak of surging, brilliant lightning, trailing wisps of blue sparks as he shot through the entire forest.
It was the ultimate expression of speed, all his strength concentrated into a single point, a single line.
He moved later, yet arrived first!
The lightning pierced the demon's neck a step ahead. The vicious expression froze on its face, and its head flew high...
Wait, what? Why was there another Demon Slayer Corps swordsman here?
Where's my little brother?
Cover me!
Bewildered, the demon slowly began to disintegrate.
[Proficiency +289] [Thunder Breathing] LV.3 (909/2000)
His soles scraped fiercely against the ground, and Xia Xi barely managed to stop in front of a large tree.
Faced with that enormous haul of experience,
Xia Xi wore a thoroughly satisfied smile.
Tengen Uzui: (´･_･)?
Tengen relaxed his twin blades, his stern, wary expression turning somewhat puzzled.
The spectator's sudden, lightning-fast slash had made him think the young swordsman was about to betray the Demon Slayer Corps.
After all, who jumped in with a slash when the outcome was already decided and the battle was almost over?
Wasn't that something you did to save the losing side, or launch a sneak attack on him?
Yet, after he'd braced himself, the other man had simply beheaded the demon?
What was the point?
Naturally, the ninja couldn't understand Xia Xi's gamer mindset.
He put away one blade and raised his chin to look Xia Xi over. "Oh? You weren't saving the demon, but... racing to kill it? Did you really hate it that much?"
"You had to behead it yourself to settle the score?"
As far as Tengen could tell, the only explanation for this almost obsessive insistence on landing the finishing blow was a blood feud with the demon.
Naturally, Xia Xi couldn't explain.
He merely went along with the suggestion and gave a vague reply. "Ah, more or less."
The ninja carefully studied the young swordsman before him.
"Not very flashy, but you've got some moves," Uzui said.
"I'm the God of Ninjas, Tengen Uzui. And you?"
The God of Ninjas?
Then I'm Tezuka Hashirama.
Looking at this overgrown edgelord, Xia Xi frowned. He thought of a ninja from a certain manga who could clap his hands and summon whatever he shouted for.
The guy looked seventeen or eighteen. Wasn't it time he grew up a little...?
"I'm Kurumazuka Natsumi, a Special Jonin of the Hidden Leaf Village."
Uzui: ...
He made that up, didn't he? He'd never heard of such a ninja village in the Far East.
Out of respect for the other man's considerable strength, Uzui chose to ignore that nonsense.
He was a highly confident, proud man.
But even he had to admit that the speed and power of Xia Xi's last strike had far surpassed his own.
He acknowledged his strength.
It was just that this Thunder Breathing gave him an inexplicable sense of familiarity.
He'd occasionally encountered swordsmen who used Thunder Breathing in the Demon Slayer Corps, but none of them had felt as familiar as this boy.
Wait?!
Could this boy be...
"Kurumaji, did you learn your Thunder Breathing from that old woman?!"
Old woman?
Which old woman?
He suddenly thought of a sharp-tongued female swordswoman with wheat-colored skin and an eyepatch.
Frowning, he asked tentatively, "You mean that lunatic Nikaido?"
As though they'd suddenly tuned in to the same wavelength, Uzui burst into hearty laughter.
"Hahaha, lunatic? Hahaha! She really is a crazy hag! What a flashy description."
"I knew that sake gourd looked familiar."
Xia Xi: ?
What was flashy about that?
Besides, he didn't think Nikaido was particularly old.
Thirty-five or thirty-six at most. Outside the game, she would be an attractive mature woman, plain and simple.
Not to mention her exotic, half-Japanese, half-European looks, and the firm, shapely figure she'd maintained through years of training.
In most movies, even if she wasn't the female lead, she'd at least be a beautiful supporting actress or action star.
"I only said she was crazy. I never said she was old, okay?"
Xia Xi glanced at the Kanoto-ranked swordsman nearby and the dumbfounded NPCs.
"And she's not really crazy. She's just straightforward," he added earnestly, his survival instincts in full force.
Hopefully that lunatic wouldn't come after him with a sword one day.
No, even if she did turn up, she'd probably cut down that ungrateful disciple Uzui first.
"She's already thirty-six. How is that not old?"
Uzui gave him a look that said, "Is there something wrong with your tastes, kid?"
Only then did Xia Xi remember the era the game was set in.
Average life expectancy seemed to be under fifty here. Perhaps people in their thirties already counted as elderly to him?
"Don't worry, junior brother. This God of Flashiness won't go tattling to our Cultivator."
How had he gone from the God of Ninjas to the God of Flashiness?
Had this overgrown edgelord spent so long repressing himself that something had gone wrong with his brain?
Xia Xi suddenly felt that, compared with Tengen Uzui, Uchiha Giyu and Nikaido Mei were both pretty easy to communicate with.
"It's not about whether you'll tattle... and I'm not your junior brother."
Uzui gave him an "I understand" look.
You're just afraid Ms. Nikaido will drag you into it when she gets angry. As your senior brother, I understand.
Xia Xi: ≖_≖
Why do I feel like you're thinking something weird?
Chatting as they went, the two walked over to the Kanoto swordsman, who was now slumped against a tree trunk.
Unlike Xia Xi and the others,
the wounded Kanoto-ranked swordsman had no strength left for such relaxed conversation after that intense battle.
Just sitting there without losing consciousness was already a struggle.
Seeing Xia Xi approach, Kojiro raised his bleary eyes.
Did these two senior swordsmen who'd come to help have something to say to him?
It's so hard to breathe. I just want to sleep...
"An open femoral fracture, tension pneumothorax, and quite a few open wounds..."
"You did your best. Pretty good for a bot teammate."
Was he talking about him?
So his injuries were that serious. It looked like this was the end of the road...
Kojiro turned to look at the lumberjacks and their families, who had yet to recover from their fear. Among them was a young girl, still sobbing.
But this time, he seemed to have successfully protected other people.
He had some regrets, but... this wasn't such a bad ending.
Breathing grew harder and harder.
The Kanoto-ranked swordsman felt his eyelids growing heavy.
Then he felt a warm palm press against his chest.
It was the senior swordsman who'd come to help... was he saying goodbye?
Huh?
Why was he gripping his neck and pressing on his wounds?!
"I'm pretty strong, so bear with it for a bit."
Crack.
With the help of [Medicine LV.2], Xia Xi began expertly setting his bones.
Ow, ow, ow, ow!
A short while later, Kojiro lay beneath the tree trunk, wrapped in bandages and hurting so badly his soul nearly left his body.
At least he could breathe normally now...
Meanwhile, Tengen Uzui silently watched Xia Xi pull the swordsman back from death's door, treating him from start to finish.
Though the swordsman was still very weak, he was no longer in the critical state where he might die at any second.
His junior brother had some pretty good medical skills too?
"Junior Brother Kurumaji, you must have spent quite a while practicing those techniques, right?"
As a ninja, Uzui knew a little medicine himself, enough to provide emergency treatment.
But compared with what Xia Xi had just done, his skills fell far short.
It was roughly the difference between an apprentice and a seasoned master.
What techniques?
Xia Xi froze for a moment, then realized he meant the treatment he'd given the swordsman.
Oh, he meant medicine.
In real life, Xia Xi did know a little medicine, though his knowledge was limited to short videos and basic first-aid education at university.
But none of that mattered in the game.
After activating his medical skill, all he had to do was select a treatment plan on the system panel, then click like mad to play a minigame.
Basically, after a round of match-three, the patient's injuries would improve within the limits of his medical skill.
As for how long he'd practiced?
Xia Xi thought for a moment, then said, "About ten days or so?"
Most of that grinding had happened during his time on Mount Sagiri.
His thanks to all the creatures of nature for their outstanding contributions to medical progress.
Tengen Uzui: (´･_･)?
Are you sure you mean days, not years?
Xia Xi ignored Uzui and instead called over the rescued NPCs.
He had them line up and gave them emergency treatment one by one.
Get out of the way, you overgrown edgelord.
I'm busy farming experience.
(Tengen Uzui · Ninja)
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