"You haven't held a blade in three months; your bones haven't rusted, have they?"
A cold voice drifted from afar. Standing on the eaves, Iguro Obanai looked down at Kiyokawa Izumi, seemingly very skeptical of his current state.
A wooden sword was tossed through the air in front of him; without even looking up, Kiyokawa Izumi caught it steadily.
'This is?'
"If you haven't recovered, you should probably lie down for a while longer."
Mr. Obanai, wearing a black-and-white striped haori, suddenly jumped down from the eaves and appeared before Kiyokawa Izumi.
The white snake around his wrist raised its head high, its red, jewel-like pupils staring intently at Kiyokawa Izumi, flicking its bright red tongue from time to time.
On its crystal-clear scales, there seemed to be a cold light like snow.
The little fellow wasn't frightening; instead, it looked quite cute.
'It seems the Serpent Hashira is also quite interested in my strength... Does he want to have a fight here to test his own abilities?
And incidentally see if I, this somewhat irresponsible Hashira, have completely recovered.'
Although Iguro Obanai's words were a bit sharp-tongued, compared to a certain Water Hashira who didn't want to be named, he was undoubtedly much easier to understand.
Truth be told, Kiyokawa Izumi was currently the only Hashira who had encountered an Upper Rank and managed to escape unscathed.
Whether it was the Serpent Hashira or the other Hashira, they were all quite willing to cross blades with Kiyokawa Izumi—because they also wanted to use the opportunity to examine their own strength.
Were they stronger or weaker than Kiyokawa Izumi?
If they really encountered an Upper Rank, would they have the power to put up a fight?
"Would the Sound Hashira like to join in as well?"
Casually flourishing his blade in a perfect arc, Kiyokawa Izumi turned his head slightly and spoke with a light smile to the flamboyant man sitting in the tree.
That's right, Mr. Uzui Tengen was also here.
"I've heard about the battle with Upper Rank Five; it was truly flamboyant, young man."
Mr. Uzui Tengen leapt down, patted Kiyokawa Izumi on the shoulder, and said with a laugh, "Then, let us see the power that's enough to defeat an Upper Rank, shall we?"
"I was here first, Sound Hashira!"
Iguro Obanai said quite bluntly.
The private relationship between these two was actually quite good.
Although the Serpent Hashira spoke bluntly, he still respected Uzui Tengen.
The latter also envied those flamboyant heterochromatic eyes.
"What does it matter? Why not let me go first? My three wives are still waiting for me to come home for dinner!"
"Actually, it's no problem if you both come at once!"
Kiyokawa Izumi said with a smile.
This was the warm-up training he wanted; having been bedridden for too long, his body was inevitably a bit sluggish.
Only this kind of high-intensity training could wake up his body.
Therefore, he didn't mind facing two Hashira-level Swordsmen at the same time; or rather, he was looking forward to it.
Unlike his previous fight against The Wind and Water Pillars, he hadn't fought these two before, nor had he ever observed their Sword Techniques, so he certainly wouldn't be able to use the Fourth Form immediately.
But wanting to face both of them at once wasn't just big talk.
With these eyes, plus swordsmanship that wasn't inferior to theirs at all, and a Breathing Technique that had greatly improved after its initial Fusion, he was no longer the same person he was three months ago—not the one who ranked at the bottom of the Nine Hashira and whose daily routine was being humiliated as a Weak Hashira.
It seemed they could feel the undisguised Battle Intent emanating from him.
A wooden sword, as winding and twisted as a snake, suddenly seemed to come alive, appearing before him at an incredible angle.
The crisp sound of a collision followed; Kiyokawa Izumi still stood steadily in place, casually and easily parrying the sudden attack.
Blood-red pupils emerged in his eye sockets; the long-awaited battle seemed to wake his sleeping body, and the hand holding the wooden sword trembled slightly.
This wasn't out of fear of these two.
Kiyokawa Izumi was very excited.
The recovery period had been boring and tedious; he couldn't hold a blade, couldn't use a Breathing Technique—there were far, far too many things he couldn't do.
Today, he could finally have a reckless battle.
"I've been wanting to ask for a while, why do you carry two nichirin blades?"
Stroking his chin, Uzui Tengen, who was in no hurry to join the fight, suddenly asked.
His lack of haste wasn't because he was unwilling to team up with the Serpent Hashira, nor because he felt it was unfair to Kiyokawa Izumi—with his Ninja background, he was observing Kiyokawa Izumi's movements.
To put it simply, Uzui Tengen had already begun memorizing the Moves.
His Score and Kiyokawa Izumi's Fourth Form were both Moves that couldn't be used just by wanting to.
With someone assisting him, he could complete the preparation for the Score quite leisurely—in a one-on-one fight, let alone the top three, even the top five would be a stretch.
He was probably around the strength of the top seven.
Kiyokawa Izumi didn't mean to look down on him; swinging his blade a dozen times in succession between breaths, his figure suddenly flickered, and the wooden sword in his hand was thrust out silently.
'I won't give you time to memorize my Moves.'
He thought to himself.
The not-so-sharp tip of the blade whipped up the air, slicing through the clothes on Uzui Tengen's chest.
'Is this the strength of someone who can face an Upper Rank and escape unscathed?'
'Swordsmanship honed to the absolute limit through thousands of refinements.'
'And, extremely sharp; during the fight with the Serpent Hashira, he could even sense my observing gaze. Truly flamboyant, young man!'