Chapter 44: Kokonoe-kun! It's Overflowing!
For a normal swordsman, identifying someone else's Breathing Style is no easy feat.
In their eyes, every technique is fundamentally a physical strike. Even if it breaks the sound barrier, it remains pure kinetic damage—there are no literal "special effects." It is only after reaching a certain level of mastery that a Slayer can perceive the unique "aura" or "vibe" within another's sword-wind.
The gentle, inclusive weight of Water; the frantic, chaotic freedom of the Wind...
Without that level of enlightenment, a Slayer can only guess based on experience and posture. But to pinpoint a specific derivative style at a single glance? That is almost impossible unless you practice the exact same style yourself.
A bystander seeing a high-speed, nimble attack wouldn't be able to tell if it was Mist Breathing, Flow Breathing, or some custom variation like Frost or Petal Breathing.
And that went double for Uzui Tengen's Sound Breathing. That style was brand new; Uzui had even come up with the name himself.
He couldn't fathom how Natsuya had identified it so accurately.
If I changed the name to 'Music Breathing' or 'Rhythm Breathing,' would he still know? Uzui wondered. Wait, it has to be Nikaido! That crazy hag must have told him about me!
The Shinobi's mind raced as he settled on what he thought was the only logical answer.
Kanae, on the other hand, didn't overthink it. She simply assumed Natsuya was incredibly well-read.
"My Flower Breathing wasn't taught to me directly by a Cultivator," she explained, leaning forward slightly. "But it is indeed a derivative of Water Breathing. After I passed the Selection, I spent some time at the Butterfly Mansion. While I was there, I was lucky enough to find the personal journals and notes left behind by the first Flower Hashira in the archives."
The girl offered a shy, apologetic smile. "I've been practicing and figureing things out on my own. So, regarding the experience of 'creating' a style from scratch... I'm sorry, Natsuya-kun, I don't think I can be of much help."
Natsuya shifted his gaze to the ninja.
"I guess it's up to the Flashy Lord Uzui then?" Uzui grinned triumphantly. "Correct! My Sound Breathing is indeed built upon the foundation of Thunder Breathing."
"The standard Thunder Breathing is powerful, sure, but it lacks... pizazz."
Natsuya: ≖_≖ (Doubt)
"Fine, fine," Uzui coughed. "Mostly, it was hard to sync the standard forms with my shinobi tools and combat rhythm."
He began to break down the differences for Natsuya. Since Natsuya had already ground his own Thunder Breathing to LV.3, he could follow the technical jargon, even through Uzui's "flashy" metaphors.
"While it's not as fast as pure Thunder, it's still blindingly quick."
"I use high-speed rotations to trigger explosions with my tools, creating a 'Symphony of Slashes'."
"The techniques rely on using eyesight and hearing to 'read' the rhythm of the battlefield, turning the fight into a 'Musical Score'."
Translated into gamer-speak:
Thunder Breathing focuses on high-multiplier burst damage and "frame-one" lunges. It's a "Linear Assassin" build. But for Uzui—who specialized in stealth, subversion, and "kiting" enemies—the linear nature was a bottleneck.
Furthermore, Nikaido's curriculum followed a strict Bushido code. It didn't account for poisoning, ambushes, hidden projectiles, bombs, or wielding twin giant cleavers. For a prodigy like Uzui, abandoning ten years of grueling shinobi training just to follow a "Standard Build" was a waste of resources.
His "Best-in-Slot" strategy was to merge the stat-boosting properties of Breathing with his existing Ninja skill tree. He traded the "Infinite Speed" of Thunder for the "Versatility and Combo-Flow" of Sound.
Uzui also bragged that he had a "Secret Ultimate Move" hidden up his sleeve, though no demon had been strong enough to force him to use it yet.
Natsuya, naturally curious about "High-Damage Ults," asked if he could see it. Uzui refused instantly.
"The secrets of the God of Festivals are not for the un-flashy to see."
"Fine," Natsuya shrugged. "I bet it's just a really big pile of black powder."
Uzui's eyebrow twitched. "..."
"By the way," Natsuya leaned in, his eyes shining with gamer greed. "Can you teach me some Ninjutsu? You know, the kind where you breathe fire or shoot lightning? If not... can I at least borrow some bombs?"
Uzui: (*▼ ︿ ▼)#
(This brat has zero respect for the divine!)
As the food arrived, the three settled into a comfortable rhythm. Uzui and Natsuya did most of the talking, while Kanae sipped her tea, listening intently and occasionally adding a gentle insight. They exchanged stories of their mentors, the brutality of their respective Final Selections, and the tricky demons they had encountered.
After the initial tension faded, Natsuya even picked up a cup to join the "God of Festivals" in a drink.
A few cups of sake in, Uzui was in high spirits, recounting a particularly "flashy" battle where he had dismantled a demon using his "Musical Score" technique.
Natsuya listened silently, his eyes fixed on the skills floating above Uzui's head.
[Thunder Breathing LV.2]
[Sound Breathing LV.1]
[Ninjutsu LV.7 (Unique)]
Natsuya idly rubbed the rim of his wooden cup. Looking at the vibrant, laughing Tengen across from him, a thought flickered in the corner of his mind: It would be a shame if this guy died somewhere down the line.
"Hey, Tengen."
Natsuya spoke suddenly, cutting through Uzui's animated storytelling.
Uzui paused. "?"
Natsuya didn't answer immediately. He reached out with his right hand, gripping the rim of his wooden cup with his thumb and forefinger. He applied a sudden burst of pressure.
CRACK.
A small piece of wood snapped off the rim like a dry cracker.
Kanae blinked in surprise. Uzui raised an eyebrow. "What was that for? Flexing your grip strength?"
"No."
Natsuya rolled the splinter between his fingers.
"I just want to talk about your 'Build'."
"Your physical strength, your combat sense, your martial arts, your tools... even your Sound Breathing. These are your strengths."
Natsuya tapped the intact side of the cup with the splinter.
"They are the walls of this cup. They define your 'Stature'."
Uzui looked confused. Are you calling me a block of wood? Or a broken cup? As a ninja who had spent his life fighting rather than studying, he wasn't great with metaphors.
Kanae, however, seemed to sense where Natsuya was going.
Natsuya picked up the teapot and began to slowly pour water into the damaged cup. The cup filled rapidly, but once the water reached the jagged notch he had made, it began to leak out, soaking the table.
"You can pour water in as fast as you want," Natsuya said, pointing at the leak. "But once you hit a certain level, the broken side fails before the cup is even full."
"Your strengths allow you to build a 'Tall Cup.' You can hold a lot of power."
He tapped the leaking gap.
"But your Breathing Style level? That is your 'Shortest Plank.' It's the bottleneck of your entire performance."
"The mobs you fight now have stats and mechanics that fit within your current 'Cup'. That's why you look flashy and feel invincible."
"But what about later?"
Natsuya looked him in the eye. "Further into the game, the difficulty spikes exponentially. Take the Twelve Kizuki, the Elites. If the water they pour in is faster than your cup can hold, you break."
"The Twelve Kizuki?" Uzui asked. Wait, didn't his mentor teach him... oh, right. Nikaido. Never mind.
"Basically," Natsuya continued, "they are monsters stronger than the Hashira. If your Skill Multiplier doesn't match their scaling, all the 'Flashiness' in the world won't save you."
He gave the cup a sharp push.
A wave of tea splashed out of the broken side.
Low Skill Multipliers are the bane of late-game scaling, Natsuya thought.
[Mentorship LV.2 Activated] (Proficiency +37)
Huh? Natsuya blinked. Giving a lecture actually triggers the skill?
Across the table, Uzui's flashy grin had vanished. He stared at the leaking cup, his fingers drumming rhythmically on the table. He understood the logic—he just hadn't seen it laid out so clinically.
Coming from someone younger, someone with four styles, and someone clearly stronger... the words carried a heavy weight.
"Ah! Natsuya-kun!"
Kanae's sudden, panicked cry broke the silence.
"It's—it's overflowing! Way too much!"
Natsuya's shove had caused the tea to pour over the table's edge. It was currently dripping directly onto Uzui's expensive, flashy pants.
Natsuya: "Wait, what?"
I got too caught up in the 'Cool Mentor' role-play.
"YOU IDIOT!"
Uzui jumped up, frantically swatting at his soaked lap.
Kanae looked at the two of them—one second they were debating the peak of swordsmanship, the next they were bickering over wet laundry. She couldn't help it. She burst into a fit of giggles.
She reached into her sleeve and handed them a handkerchief that smelled faintly of flowers.
"If you break the cup, you have to pay for it, you know," she teased gently.
"OWNER!" Uzui shouted, dabbing his pants with a mix of frustration and amusement. "Another cup over here! A STURDY ONE!"
"Coming right up!"
Amidst the noise and laughter, Natsuya's words remained etched in Uzui's mind. The ninja's gaze occasionally drifted back to the broken cup on the table, his eyes clouding with deep, genuine thought.
☆☆☆
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