Chapter 23 Chapter 23 Wanting to become a sly, thieving hen with Yan Sheng...
The day after moon-viewing, Yoriichi and I began our intense studies. I was really nervous; Fukuzawa-sensei was afraid we might end up back in the Demon Slayer world someday, so he practically crammed in all the skills he needed to survive.
I don't expect you to master those advanced sword techniques and jujitsu all at once. I just want you two to memorize them by rote, to imprint all the skills and training methods into your minds. That way, even if Yoriichi and I leave in the future, we can continue to train without a teacher.
Incidentally, I only learned kendo from Fukuzawa-sensei. Although he suggested that I also study martial arts like Yoriichi, after seeing me smash the rocks in the yard with a single punch using my superhuman strength, he realized that I already had a martial arts lineage and stopped insisting on teaching me jujutsu.
Two weeks later, this extremely liver-damaging cramming teaching finally came to an end, and Mr. Fukuzawa, having imparted all his knowledge, turned his attention back to his work at the detective agency.
Of course, this doesn't mean he abandoned me and Yoriichi. After finishing work and returning home in the evening, he would still guide me and Yoriichi in our kendo and martial arts training.
As for the daytime, Mr. Fukuzawa directly rejected my request to take Yoriichi to work at the detective agency. Instead, he hired a tutor so that we could receive academic education during our training breaks. In his words, knowledge is the most important thing in any era, and it's never a bad thing to learn more.
In fact, Mr. Fukuzawa would have preferred to send Yoriichi and me to school. However, considering that we might leave this world at any time and that spiritual practice is the most important thing now, he simply hired a tutor to teach us elementary school knowledge at home.
Although I agree with Fukuzawa-sensei's idea, I feel quite conflicted thinking about how I graduated from the ninja academy several years ago and now have to pick up my books again and go through the baptism of elementary school knowledge. It feels like such a waste of time!
Although that's what I was thinking, I didn't show it on my face at all, not wanting to disappoint Mr. Fukuzawa. Just like he said, there's no harm in it, so I might as well consider it as helping Yoriichi with his studies.
If Yoriichi decides to stay in this world in the future, cultural knowledge is indeed very important. It would be best to find a way to get a school registration and take the entrance exam, so that the Sun Breathing swordsman will also be a cultured person with education in the future.
I thought to myself with amusement, and suddenly became curious about Ji Guoyansheng's level of education.
As the heir to the throne, his level of education should be considered extremely high for the Warring States period, though it's probably only at the elementary school level. When Yoriichi starts teaching middle school later, it feels like Kokusatsu will lose to Yoriichi again. (Candle)
Perhaps because I had been thinking about it all day, I dreamt of Tsugikuni Iwakatsu again that night. Thinking about the kendo training I had received from Master Fukuzawa, I immediately gripped my wooden sword with full confidence and slashed at that jealous person.
Perhaps because our last chat had gone fairly well, Tsugikuni Iwakatsu's first reaction upon seeing me was to greet me. But when he saw my knife swinging directly at him, he hurriedly raised his own to block, shouting, "What are you doing?!"
When confronted with his questioning, he replied matter-of-factly, "Of course it's to avenge the beating I received from you before! You haven't forgotten the time you tried to stab me with a knife in my dream, have you?"
When Ji Guoyan Sheng heard what I said, he looked a little embarrassed, probably because he felt that it was not right for a boy to be so petty as to chase after a girl with a knife.
He hesitated for a moment before looking at me and saying, "I acted impulsively that time, but I won't apologize."
"Who cares about your apology? I've been practicing my swordsmanship incredibly hard lately in order to defeat you, and today I'm definitely going to avenge myself!"
As I was speaking, I changed my move and slashed at his waist. Ji Guoyansheng deflected my attack with a flick of his wooden sword, which annoyed me. I slashed several more times, but they were easily deflected again. I could hardly believe my eyes.
"How is this possible? How could you block it so easily?" I exclaimed in disbelief. I thought I had made great progress under Fukuzawa-sensei's guidance, but how could I be so weak against Iwakatsu, who was far inferior to Yoriichi?
"Isn't this normal? You've only been training for a short time, how could you possibly beat me? I've been getting stronger all along!"
As Ji Guoyansheng spoke matter-of-factly, the wooden sword in his hand slashed out with a whistling sound, directly pressing against my neck. It was so fast that I didn't even have time to react.
I was still staring blankly at the knife in his hand when the boy in front of me continued, "And you've been practicing swordsmanship for so long, although your sword-wielding movements are very standard, both your strikes and changes of moves are too rigid. They lack fluidity and have an obvious sense of disharmony. You don't actually have any talent for swordsmanship at all."
His words made me feel a tightness in my chest, almost suffocating.
It was only then that I realized I had been looking down on Iwakatsu all along. Because he was completely powerless against Yoriichi's godlike swordsmanship, I arrogantly thought he was weak and assumed I could easily defeat him once I learned swordsmanship.
The cold, hard wooden knife pressed against my neck made me realize how ridiculous my thoughts were. I was the weak one, so why did I have such an arrogant idea?
I suddenly remembered the hesitant expression on Fukuzawa-sensei's face after watching my kendo training. He took a long time to say "not bad." At the time, I thought he was just not good with words and couldn't think of any words to praise me. Now I think he probably saw that I had no kendo talent but couldn't bear to say it.
Unfortunately, I had a high opinion of myself and looked down on Kokushibo's strength. I remembered that his talent was that he would keep improving as long as he worked hard. Even though he couldn't compare to Yoriichi's talent that was blessed by the gods, it was still something that ordinary people could not possess.
Thanks to his talent and unwavering dedication, Kokushibo's swordsmanship was second only to Yoriichi, the son of God, but also surpassed that of all the human swordsmen of that era.
With such immense strength, how could I have looked at him with such a ridiculous gaze? It's utterly shameful. I never imagined I could be so arrogant. My surname is Uzumaki, not Uchiha!
Realizing I didn't possess the strength to match my arrogance, I couldn't help but feel a pang of shame. But really, it wasn't a big deal; Yan Sheng was unaware of my ridiculous thoughts anyway.
The bad thing is that I have absolutely no talent for swordsmanship. Suddenly, I feel that my plan to help Yoriichi cut down 300 shards of the boss is a bit unreliable.
Although if Yuan starts practicing kendo now, he could probably take on the boss who has split himself into 1,800 pieces all by himself, it's still necessary to have some insurance just to be safe.
Kokushiro is a good choice. Anyway, he already has the idea of killing Muzan. In the future, Sun Breathing and Moon Breathing can work together to kill Muzan. So it's best to build a good relationship with Kokushiro now. It will be very beneficial to brainwash him and kill Muzan in the future.
It's decided! I'll make Kokushibo the mastermind behind all the sneaky things. I'll treat him just as well as Naruto treated Sasuke!
"I acknowledge your strength, but I will definitely become stronger in the future! I will never admit defeat!"
"Whatever," said Ji Guoyan Sheng casually, putting down the wooden knife he had pressed against my neck, as if I were being completely looked down upon.
"Want to try my sword draw slash? I've worked really hard to learn it!"
My friendly suggestion was based on hard work, because Fukuzawa-sensei's sword-drawing technique, which was so fast that even the blade was invisible, was just too cool, so I've been practicing it these past few days.
Although I won't be able to improve much in two weeks, I still want Iwakatsu to take a look and give me some feedback. I have a lot of confidence in his judgment; after all, he is the second-best swordsman in the Sengoku period after Yoriichi.
"A quick draw slash?" Kokushibo's face darkened as if he had just realized something, and his originally clear and gentle voice turned cold. "Yoriichi taught you that?! Then I'd like to see it for myself."
I have a feeling that his so-called "insight" is extremely dangerous. Could it be that he's already thinking about how to defeat me, just like last time?
In the past, I would have complained that this jealous person was being envious of his genius younger brother again. But now that I consider Kokushibo a thief, I have to tolerate this flaw of his, just like my brother tolerated Sasuke's inability to change his pretentious ways.
"It wasn't Yoriichi, it was Fukuzawa Yukichi, who taught me swordsmanship. He was an amazing teacher!"
With sparkling eyes, I introduced my teacher to Iwakatsu. When he learned that my swordsmanship had nothing to do with Yoriichi, his gaze softened considerably, and the previous aura of wanting to cut down everything was gone.
I secretly breathed a sigh of relief. Thank goodness, I explained it clearly. Otherwise, Yan Sheng would definitely not have shown me any mercy in order to defeat Yoriichi's sword skills!
"I'm starting now!"
Just as I was about to draw my sword in imitation of Fukuzawa-sensei's move, the world consciousness of Demon Slayer suddenly appeared, instantly interrupting the tense atmosphere between me and Iwakatsu!
I stood up straight with regret and said to Yan Sheng, "It seems there's no way to compete today. Let's try again next time."
"Very well." Tsugikuni Iwakatsu, who had put down his sword, glanced at the World Consciousness with displeasure, whether it was because He had ruined the duel or because of His impolite attitude last time.
The Demon Slayer world consciousness completely disregarded Iwakatsu's attitude, looking at me with some resentment and saying, "I went to negotiate with the Bungo Stray Dogs world consciousness, but they refused to release him. They have absolutely no bottom line; they're holding onto my people and refusing to let them go!"
I paused for a moment, recalling his bizarre behavior when we first met—trying to make me marry both of the brothers. He probably had no bottom line at all.
"Why won't you release them? I remember the Bungo Stray Dogs world has a very dangerous setting regarding books. Apparently, if three people know about the existence of books, the world will become unstable, and if four people know about them, the world will be destroyed. The Bungo Stray Dogs world's consciousness should really hate those transmigrators who know about the existence of books!"
"Those time travelers caused a bug in the book's setting, so that even if the book's existence were made public, it wouldn't destroy the world. Therefore, the consciousness of the Bungo world is quite welcoming to the arrival of time travelers and is completely unwilling to let them go."
The words about the Demon Slayer world consciousness made my lower lip twitch; I was utterly speechless.
In Naruto, the existence of time travelers could potentially destroy the world, so they were simply kicked out. In Bungo Stray Dogs, the arrival of time travelers could prevent world destruction, so they were forcefully retained. These world consciousnesses are way too pragmatic!
Looking at the Demon Slayer world consciousness in front of me, completely ignoring Tsugikuni Iwakatsu's focus on me, I scoffed. I knew it was also part of the reality world, and if I became useless one day, it would definitely ignore me completely too.
Although he was a little annoyed, the thought that the other party was not human at all made his anger dissipate, and he turned to ask the most important question at the moment, "The Bungo World consciousness will not let us go, how are Yoriichi and I going to get back?"
“He won’t let you go, so I have to go to the Bungo Stray Dogs world to find you two myself. But because of the parallel world setting similar to Katekyo Hitman Reborn!, it’s impossible to find you all. Plus, breaking through the world barrier is very difficult. It’s not realistic to search for you one by one. I can only change the important plot to make a huge change in the world line. When I sense this change, I can confirm that you and Yoriichi are in the world and bring you back.”
The answer from the Demon Slayer world's consciousness made me frown, fearing that this so-called huge change might go in a bad direction. I cautiously asked, "What plot changes?"
"Change the plot of Oda Sakunosuke's death. At the same time, Dazai Osamu must also live, and the two of them join the Armed Detective Agency together."
"Huh? It's that simple?"
"How is it simple?! In all the Bungo Stray Dogs parallel worlds, only in the world where Dazai Osamu becomes the Port/Black Leader can Oda Sakunosuke survive. This also means that Oda Sakunosuke's death is almost predetermined. We must be extremely careful to save him, or the operation will fail. Furthermore, we must make him and Dazai Osamu join the Armed Detective Agency together. In all the parallel worlds, only one of the two can join the Armed Detective Agency, and the other will die. Only by changing this causal setting can the world line undergo a huge change."
What He said puts a lot of pressure on me. It seems like changing this plot will be incredibly difficult. If I fail, will I have to settle down here? I still need to go back to Konoha for my brother's wedding!
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