Sakonji Urokodaki shuddered in the tree, nearly losing his footing. He leaped down and strode over to Rokuya, his eyes behind his mask fixed on the tall, straight-backed young man before him, whose presence was as deep as an abyss and vast as the sea.
"Takanashi... Rokuya?" Urokodaki's voice trembled slightly, but he quickly covered it with a stern tone. "You little brat! So you still remember to come back?! I thought becoming some blasted Kai Hashira had made you forget all about Mount Sagiri! How long has it been since you last brought those two Water Hashira here?"
Rokuya laughed, not minding the old man's gruff affection in the slightest, and stepped forward to give him a bear hug. "Of course not! I've been missing your radish and salmon! As soon as I got some time off, I rushed straight over."
"Let go! Let go already! You monster, you're going to crush these old bones!" Urokodaki struggled, yet could not help patting Rokuya's broad back. "You've filled out... and grown stronger, too. I heard about what you did in the letters delivered by the Kasugai Crow. Well done. You haven't let that sword down."
For the next three days, Rokuya lived an extremely rustic yet heartwarming life on Mount Sagiri.
By day, he chopped firewood and carried water with Urokodaki, occasionally giving pointers to the old man's new disciples, whose fundamentals were extremely poor. At night, the two sat around the hearth in the wooden cabin, eating steaming radish and salmon and drinking cheap shochu.
Rokuya told Urokodaki in detail how he had incorporated Sun Breathing and created "Blade Tempest: Modified-Sunflare Chakram." The old man listened in utter astonishment, and in the end could only heave a long sigh. "Your talent and constitution have already surpassed human limits. The