Chapter 189: Hinokami Kagura

Words : 1155 Updated : Oct 11th, 2025

Chapter 189: Hinokami Kagura "Long time no see, Mr. Tsugikuni!" As Tanjirou approached, he greeted Riezel with a hint of excitement. "Oh, hey there." Riezel nodded. "It has indeed been a while." Back when Riezel was first welcomed into the Rengoku residence by Kyoujurou, he and Tanjirou used to meet quite frequently. However, since he began developing his new breathing style, attempting to evolve Sun Breathing, he hadn't seen Tanjirou much. Tanjirou would often drop by when Riezel was experimenting with Sun Breathing, but at that time, he was fully immersed in his experiment, neither noticing Tanjirou nor exchanging greetings with him. On top of that, after Riezel completed the evolution of Sun Breathing, Tanjirou went off on missions, away from the headquarters. From this, if counted, the two hadn't seen each other for at least a month or two, which could indeed be considered a long time. After a month or two, there hadn't been any significant changes in Tanjirou's body, but his breathing had become much more balanced and stable than before, proving that he hadn't neglected his practice during this time. His strength was still steadily increasing, steadily growing. "So, you're in this village too?" Riezel asked casually. "Yes!" Tanjirou nodded repeatedly. "Mr. Rengoku asked me to come here to practice. He said a big battle might be coming, and if I didn't want to be left behind, I'd better improve my strength as much as I could." As he said this, Tanjirou cast an admiring gaze toward Riezel. "I saw your training session just now. You're truly amazing, Mr. Tsugikuni! Even though the Hashira are so strong, you single-handedly defeated them..." Although Tanjirou knew Riezel was strong, especially after witnessing him defeat the Upper Three with a single slash, he hadn't expected Riezel to become so powerful in just a few months, let alone to become the head instructor of the Demon Slayer Corps. He had heard that the head instructor held the same status as the Master, which meant it was above the Hashira! 'Was it too impolite of me to just rush up and say hi like that? Should I bow down first, lower my head even lower than my knees?' Luckily, as Tanjirou was thinking this, Riezel intervened timely, interrupting his drifting thoughts. "Honestly, you're not bad yourself." Riezel assessed Tanjirou with a glance. "I can feel that you've gotten much stronger than before. Your strength should be close to a Hashira by now, right?" Riezel wasn't just making idle talk. During the incident on the Mugen Train, Tanjirou had already mastered 'Total Concentration - Constant.' Since 'Total Concentration - Constant' was the minimum requirement to approach the strength of a Hashira, one could strive to reach the rank of Hashira by learning it. Additionally, Tanjirou had also become Kyoujurou's Tsuguko after the incident, so while Riezel was evolving Sun Breathing, he received guidance from Kyoujurou. Clearly, this made Tanjirou much stronger than he was during the incident. Although he hadn't reached the strength of a Hashira yet, he wasn't far off. Currently, Tanjirou was probably equivalent to the limit of Level 3, just one step away from reaching Level 4, where the strength of the Hashira lay. At this level of strength, disregarding the Upper Ranks for now, the Lower Ranks were definitely no longer Tanjirou's opponents. If Tanjirou could awaken the Demon Slayer Mark as in the original work, he should immediately gain strength equivalent to a Hashira, right? Unfortunately, the side effect of the Demon Slayer Mark was a problematic thing. Riezel didn't want to harm this innocent and kind-hearted boy, so he decided not to mention it. "No, no, no, I still have a long way to go!" Tanjirou shook his head repeatedly, not daring to accept Riezel's high praise. Riezel didn't mind either and casually asked again. Due to his job of selling charcoal down the mountain, Tanjirou narrowly escaped death, but his family perished, leaving only one survivor, his younger sister—Kamado Nezuko. Even though Nezuko survived, she fell victim to Muzan's transformation and became a demon that fed on humans. If not for the deep bond between Tanjirou and Nezuko, and his success in awakening her human nature and preventing her from succumbing to her demonic instincts, his younger sister might have become a target for Demon Slayers. "My condolences..." Riezel sighed, merely patting Tanjirou's shoulder since he was unsure of how to console someone. "Thank you, but it's okay... I've learned to move forward, not dwell solely on past sorrows." Tanjirou wiped his wet eyes and shifted the conversation back to business. "Although my family only sells charcoal, we perform Hinokami Kagura annually to honor the Fire God." "Hinokami Kagura is our ancestral dance dedicated to worshiping Lord Fire God." Tanjirou sought answers regarding his family's traditional dance. "I just happened to use Hinokami Kagura during a fight with demons and found it to be a super powerful breathing style. Ever since, I've been wondering how it became a breathing style..." Tanjirou said, sounding unsure. Observing his hesitation, Riezel spoke up. "So, after witnessing my battle, you noticed your family's dance is identical to the Sun Breathing I used, correct?" Upon hearing this, Tanjirou nodded in agreement. "I've learned from Mr. Rengoku that Sun Breathing is the original breathing style, the first and strongest one..." Tanjirou said, looking confused. "But why would Hinokami Kagura be so similar to something so incredible?" In fact, Tanjirou had previously asked Kyoujurou the same question and received an astonishing answer, which Riezel now revealed. "You must have figured it out by now, right? Hinokami Kagura is actually just Sun Breathing." Riezel smiled and locked eyes with Tanjirou. "Actually, you already knew the answer; you just didn't want to believe it." "Am I right?" After becoming Kyoujurou's Tsuguko, Tanjirou had already inquired about his family's Hinokami Kagura, even demonstrating it in front of Kyoujurou, ultimately receiving confirmation from him. "Umu! What you just used was the Sun Breathing that Young Tsugikuni used!" Kyoujurou affirmed it back then. Even so, Tanjirou still wasn't convinced. Why? Why would Hinokami Kagura, a sacred dance passed down through generations in a family of mere charcoal sellers, be the strongest breathing style? Actually, the answer was quite simple. "It's pretty simple, really... your family is the inheritor of Sun Breathing, simple as that." Riezel unveiled the secret. "During the Sengoku period, Sun Breathing's creator, Tsugikuni Yoriichi, was close to your ancestor and demonstrated all the forms of Sun Breathing right in front of your ancestor's eyes. Even those hanafuda earrings you wear? They were actually his, given to your ancestor by him." Clearly, this was why the Kamado family's Hinokami Kagura was Sun Breathing.

Chapter 189: Hinokami Kagura

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