Chapter Summaries

Tanjiro, Sasuke, Zenitsu, and Inosuke reached Mount Natagumo, where a dying Demon Slayer warned that their comrades were killing each other. Sasuke used his Sharingan to trace invisible threads into the forest and headed off alone to find their source.

• Tanjiro and the others arrived at Mount Natagumo, where Zenitsu feared the sounds within while Inosuke eagerly sensed powerful presences.
• A wounded Demon Slayer stumbled out of the forest, warned that the Corps members were killing each other, and died before he could explain further.
• Zenitsu fainted, while Sasuke activated his Sharingan and saw energy threads leading into the mountain forest.
• Inosuke rushed into the forest, and Tanjiro followed him to rescue the missing Demon Slayers.
• Sasuke left Zenitsu behind and took a different route, intending to confront the source of the threads.

Sasuke used his Sharingan to spot the threads controlling the Demon Slayer Corps members and incapacitated them without killing them. He left Tanjiro and Inosuke to watch over the fallen fighters as he went deeper into the forest toward the source of the threads.

• Tanjiro, Inosuke, and Sasuke entered the mountain forest, where Sasuke saw invisible threads spread through the trees and ground.
• Several controlled Demon Slayer Corps members attacked Tanjiro and Inosuke, while Tanjiro tried to avoid harming them.
• Sasuke stepped in, blocked an attack aimed at Tanjiro, and used his Wakizashi to sever the threads controlling the swordsmen.
• Sasuke incapacitated all the controlled fighters and told Tanjiro and Inosuke to stay behind with them.
• Sasuke headed into the forest toward the source where the threads converged.

After Sasuke freed the Demon Slayer Corps members, Inosuke rushed off to challenge a stronger presence, while Tanjiro stayed to tend the wounded. Tanjiro then followed a third path toward the evil demonic scent at the mountain’s heart.

• Sasuke vanished after freeing the unconscious Corps members, leaving Tanjiro stunned by his words and actions.
• Inosuke angrily charged into the forest, determined to defeat the stronger enemy he sensed on the mountain.
• Tanjiro stayed behind, bandaged the injured Corps members, and secured Nezuko’s box on his back.
• Tanjiro followed the powerful demonic scent toward the flank of the mountain’s source, choosing to fight and save people.

Sasuke tracked Mother to a forest clearing and killed her after burning her spiderweb and puppets with his Dragon Fire Technique. He then looked deeper into Mount Natagumo, where stronger demons remained.

• Sasuke followed the threads to Mother, who panicked over her failures and feared punishment from Rui and another person.
• Mother spotted Sasuke and sent dozens of dead Demon Slayer Corps members under her control to attack him.
• Sasuke used Fire Release: Dragon Fire Technique to ignite the spider thread and burn Mother's puppets and defenses.
• Sasuke decapitated Mother with his wakizashi and received 800 revenge points for the kill.
• Sasuke sensed stronger presences deeper in Mount Natagumo and turned toward them.

Tanjiro and Inosuke encountered the enormous Father Spider Demon, whose strength far surpassed any Demon they had faced. After the demon shattered Inosuke’s blades and knocked him away with one punch, Tanjiro stood his ground to protect Nezuko’s box.

• Tanjiro worried about Inosuke and Sasuke as he traveled alone through the forest, then met Inosuke, who had been fighting smaller Demons.
• Tanjiro offered Inosuke a rice ball, but a tremendous crash interrupted them as the Father Spider Demon emerged from a crater.
• Inosuke charged the Father Spider Demon with Beast Breathing, Third Fang: Devour, but his blades broke against its skin.
• The Father Spider Demon struck Inosuke with a single punch and sent him crashing through trees.
• Tanjiro faced the Father Spider Demon while gripping his broken Nichirin Blade and shielding Nezuko’s box.

Tanjiro tried to protect the unconscious Nezuko and Inosuke from the Father Spider Demon, but his strongest available strike could not pierce its skin. Injured and disarmed, he lay helpless as the demon reached for him.

• The Father Spider Demon turned toward Tanjiro after knocking Inosuke away, leaving Tanjiro to guard the unconscious Nezuko and Inosuke.
• Tanjiro used Water Breathing, Fourth Form: Striking Tide, against the demon’s arm.
• The blade bounced off the demon’s skin, leaving only a faint mark and throwing Tanjiro into a tree.
• Tanjiro spat blood as his broken blade fell beside him and the Father Spider Demon advanced.
• Tanjiro’s consciousness began to fade as the demon reached down to crush him.

Sasuke intervened just as the Father Spider Demon was about to kill Tanjiro, piercing the demon’s arm and then evading its attacks with his Sharingan. He finished the fight by decapitating the demon with Chidori, while Tanjiro watched in shock.

• Tanjiro nearly died beneath the Father Spider Demon's hand before Sasuke appeared and pierced the demon's arm with black lightning.
• Sasuke told Tanjiro to get out of the way, then dodged the demon's furious attacks with minimal movements.
• The Father Spider Demon abandoned defense and raised both fists for a crushing blow, exposing an opening.
• Sasuke vanished behind the demon and used Chidori to cut through its neck.
• The Father Spider Demon’s head and body turned to ash as Sasuke stood over the remains.

On Mount Natagumo, Zenitsu Agatsuma was poisoned by the Big Brother Spider Demon and fell asleep from fear, triggering his unconscious fighting instincts. He killed the demon with Thunderclap and Flash: Sixfold Strike, then collapsed as the poison’s effects spread.

• Zenitsu fled up a tree to escape the human-faced spiders and spotted the Big Brother Spider Demon on a suspended wooden house.
• The Big Brother Spider Demon poisoned Zenitsu and described how the venom would turn him into a spider.
• Terrified, Zenitsu scrambled to the treetop, fell asleep, and took up a calm fighting stance as his master Jigoro Kuwajima’s words echoed in his mind.
• Zenitsu used Thunderclap and Flash: Sixfold Strike to race around the demon and cut through its neck.
• Zenitsu woke confused after killing the demon, then screamed in pain as the poison took full effect and he collapsed.

Sasuke, Tanjiro, and Inosuke sensed a powerful demon approaching after the Father Spider Demon turned to ash. Rui, Lower Five of the Twelve Kizuki, appeared and demanded to know why they had disturbed his family’s peaceful life.

• The Father Spider Demon turned to ash, and Tanjiro and Inosuke recovered from their injuries as Sasuke prepared to search the forest.
• Sasuke and Tanjiro sensed a terrifying presence approaching, while Inosuke’s instincts filled him with fear.
• Rui emerged from the forest, and Tanjiro recognized the Lower Five rank engraved in his eye.
• Rui looked past Sasuke at Tanjiro and asked why they had come to disturb his family’s peaceful life.

On Mount Natagumo, Rui tortured the Spider Demon posing as his older sister and declared that Tanjiro and Nezuko should join his family. Tanjiro defied him, while Sasuke assessed Rui’s threads as Rui prepared to attack.

• Rui praised Sasuke’s unusual eye, and the Spider Demon posing as his older sister returned after fleeing the Hashira.
• Rui punished her for failing her role by binding and torturing her with nearly invisible threads.
• Tanjiro condemned Rui’s fear-based idea of family, and Sasuke studied the threads and considered ways to counter them.
• Rui mocked Tanjiro for carrying Nezuko, then said he would kill the others and make Tanjiro and Nezuko his new family.
• Tanjiro vowed to protect Nezuko and refused Rui, who gathered threads at his fingertips and threatened to kill him.

Tanjiro’s Water Breathing failed against Rui’s steel-hard threads, and his Nichirin Blade broke. Driven by memories of his father’s kagura, Tanjiro awakened Hinokami Kagura, while Nezuko used Exploding Blood to weaken Rui’s threads, leaving Tanjiro’s fiery strike rushing toward Rui’s neck.

• Rui trapped Tanjiro in a web of threads that Tanjiro’s Water Breathing could not cut.
• Tanjiro’s damaged Nichirin Blade snapped as he attacked Rui’s threads, leaving him facing death with only half a blade.
• Remembering his father’s kagura and breathing, Tanjiro used Hinokami Kagura: Dance to sever several threads.
• Nezuko awakened her Blood Demon Art, Exploding Blood, and set the threads around herself and Tanjiro ablaze.
• Tanjiro combined Hinokami Kagura with Nezuko’s flames and charged at Rui with a strike aimed at his neck.

Tanjiro exhausted himself trying to kill Rui, but Rui revealed that he had severed his own head and survived. As Rui's red thread cage closed around Tanjiro and Nezuko, a Hashira appeared and stopped the threads with Water Breathing, Eleventh Form: Dead Calm.

• Tanjiro's burning blade failed to cut Rui's reinforced neck, and Rui mocked his attempt while demanding Nezuko.
• Rui unleashed a red thread cage around Tanjiro and the unconscious Nezuko as Tanjiro ran out of strength.
• Tanjiro gave up resisting and shielded Nezuko with his body, expecting the threads to kill them.
• A man in a two-patterned haori appeared and made Rui's threads vanish before they could reach him.
• The man used Water Breathing, Eleventh Form: Dead Calm, revealing the power of a Hashira.

Giyu Tomioka used Dead Calm to nullify Rui’s threads and prepared to kill Lower Rank Five, but Uesugi Sasuke appeared between them and claimed Rui as his prey. Rui attacked Sasuke in a rage as Giyu and Tanjiro watched.

• Giyu Tomioka’s Dead Calm dissolved Rui’s threads, leaving Tanjiro stunned by the Hashira’s control.
• Giyu raised his Nichirin Blade to finish Rui while Rui tried to unleash his Blood Demon Art again.
• Uesugi Sasuke appeared between Giyu and Rui, stopping Giyu’s strike with his Wakizashi still sheathed.
• Sasuke told Rui, “This Lower Rank is my prey,” revealing a blood-red eye with two black tomoe.
• Rui furiously sent countless red threads at Sasuke, while Giyu watched Sasuke ignore him completely.

Rui unleashed his strongest Blood Demon Art against Sasuke, but Sasuke used his Sharingan to see through the threads and evade them with tiny movements. Rui was left terrified after Sasuke emerged completely unharmed and called his attack too slow and full of gaps.

• Rui poured his strength into a vastly stronger Blood Demon Art, forming a contracting cage of razor-sharp threads around Sasuke.
• Tanjiro feared the attack was inescapable, while Giyu Tomioka prepared to intervene as Sasuke stood still without drawing his sword.
• Sasuke used his two-tomoe Sharingan to perceive the threads’ trajectories and gaps, then dodged them with movements too small and fast for anyone to see.
• Rui celebrated the apparent kill, but Sasuke remained unharmed at the center of the devastated battlefield.
• Sasuke told Rui that his threads were too slow and their gaps too large, leaving Rui afraid as he realized Sasuke had seen through his Blood Demon Art.

Sasuke faced Rui’s strongest Blood Demon Art without drawing his sword and destroyed the demon’s immense net with Fire Release: Phoenix Flower Jutsu. Rui’s power and confidence crumbled, leaving him terrified as the burned web fell to ash.

• Rui grew enraged after Sasuke effortlessly nullified his attacks and dismissed him as prey.
• Rui unleashed Blood Demon Art: Thread Prison-Heavenly Net, creating an enormous blood-red web that descended on Sasuke.
• As the net was about to hit him, Sasuke formed hand seals and used Fire Release: Phoenix Flower Jutsu.
• Sasuke’s fireballs struck the web’s junctions, spreading flames through the threads and consuming Rui’s power.
• The web burned into ash, and Rui trembled with fear as Sasuke remained completely unharmed.

Sasuke used Chidori Sharp Spear to pierce Rui’s true body and prevent his regeneration. As Rui’s life faded, Giyu and Tanjiro stared at the overwhelming power Sasuke had displayed.

• Sasuke formed a several-meter spear of lightning from his Wakizashi and called it Chidori Sharp Spear.
• Giyu Tomioka and Tanjiro watched in shock as Sasuke hurled the lightning spear at Rui.
• The spear pierced Rui’s true body and pinned him to a tree while his fleeing body collapsed and disintegrated.
• The lightning paralyzed Rui and burned through his demon blood, preventing his chest wound from regenerating.
• Rui realized he had never stood a chance against Sasuke as Giyu Tomioka reflected on the enormous gap between them.

Sasuke killed Lower Rank Five Rui, whose final memories restored his understanding of his parents’ love. Giyu Tomioka and Shinobu Kocho witnessed Sasuke’s unfamiliar powers and recognized him as an anomaly in the Demon Slayer Corps.

• Rui remembered his human past and realized his parents had loved him before he killed them.
• Sasuke pulled the lightning-charged Wakizashi from Rui, then decapitated him as Rui saw his parents reaching for him.
• Rui died and turned to ash, ending Lower Rank Five.
• Giyu Tomioka watched Sasuke’s battle and concluded his flames and lightning were not a Breathing Style.
• Shinobu Kocho arrived after the fight and was shocked by Sasuke’s power.
• Sasuke looked toward Tanjiro, Giyu Tomioka, and Shinobu Kocho with his cold gaze.

After Sasuke killed Rui, Shinobu Kocho tried to attack Nezuko, but Giyu Tomioka blocked her and protected Tanjiro. A Messenger Crow then ordered Tanjiro, Nezuko, and Uesugi Sasuke to be escorted to Corps headquarters, where a new confrontation awaited.

• Sasuke killed Rui and watched as Shinobu Kocho confronted Tanjiro over carrying Nezuko.
• Shinobu rushed to stab the box holding Nezuko, but Giyu blocked her and told Tanjiro to run.
• Shinobu and Giyu clashed over whether Nezuko should be spared, while Sasuke watched without intervening.
• A Messenger Crow delivered the Master’s order to escort Tanjiro, Nezuko, and Uesugi Sasuke to headquarters.
• Sasuke realized that the journey to headquarters would bring further trouble.

After the Master ordered Tanjiro, Nezuko, and Sasuke escorted to headquarters, Sasuke anticipated that the central conflict was beginning. In the Infinity Castle, Muzan studied Rui’s memories and decided Sasuke was a major threat who needed to be killed before he grew stronger.

• Sasuke stepped forward and released a killing intent that made Shinobu Kocho and Giyu Tomioka freeze.
• A Messenger Crow announced the Master’s order to escort Tanjiro Kamado, Nezuko, and Uesugi Sasuke to headquarters under guard.
• Tanjiro felt confused and uneasy but gained hope, while Sasuke withdrew his killing intent and considered what awaited him at headquarters.
• Muzan Kibutsuji reviewed Rui’s final images of Sasuke’s powers and recognized them as something beyond any Breathing Style he knew.
• Muzan marked Sasuke as a threat of the highest level and resolved to find and kill him before he fully matured.

Tanjiro woke bound in the Corps headquarters courtyard, where all Nine Hashira gathered to judge him for harboring Nezuko. Sasuke silently studied their abilities with his Sharingan until Sanemi confronted him about killing Lower Rank Five and using sorcery.

• Tanjiro woke injured and bound before the Nine Hashira, who debated executing him for harboring a demon.
• Obanai challenged Giyu over protecting Tanjiro and noted that Giyu and Sasuke had stopped Shinobu from acting.
• Sasuke watched the Hashira with his Sharingan and assessed their strengths, judging their power unimpressive.
• Sanemi demanded to know how Sasuke had killed Lower Rank Five and what sorcery he was using.