Serpent Breathing

In front of me, there stand two mighty trees that have fused together after a multitude of decades of growth, and this was supposedly the "gate" that led into Obanai's Snake Pit.

Walking through the ark of trees, the voice of Obanai instantly sounds out.

"So, the non-demon slayer finally arrives. I've heard of your accomplishments with the others, but what have those accomplishments done so far. You haven't killed a single demon; you haven't saved a single soul."

Looking to where the sound of his voice was emanating from, I see him lounging on a tree while rubbing the head of a snake almost pleasantly. Contrary to his body, when I look to his face, I see his piercing eyes stare directly at me and a sneer that can be felt even through his mask.

"Even if I detest the idea of teaching you MY breathing form, I cannot go against the words of Master. So, non-demon slayer, I will teach you my art in the hopes that you will use it to kill Muzan. I normally don't place trust in others as they always end up betraying me, but I will give you the benefit of the doubt, be grateful."

You ever get the feeling that you and someone else will just never work out no matter how hard you try, well, Obanai is giving those vibes.

However, I do feel lucky that Obanai is only someone who cares for the rules and if someone were to break those rules, then he will be harsh.

Dropping from his tree ever so gracefully, he swaggers up to me before pulling out his twisted katana and putting it directly into my face.

"Serpent Breathing is my technique that allows me to mimic the movements and powerful bites of serpents and snakes. All the techniques I will show are focused on twisting and bending the sword like how a serpent slithers, the attacks are not direct and constantly meander which can ultimately strike anywhere. If you use my Breathing Art properly, you should be able to visualize yourself manipulating and generating snakes in lavender and white, making it appear as though serpents emanate from your weapon."

After stating that, Iguro then quickly explains his breathing forms.

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The Serpent Breathing forms are:

1st form – Winding Serpent Slash – The user moves like a slithering snake and releases several slashes in a winding pattern.

2nd form – Venom Fangs of the Narrow Head – The user dashes behind their opponent at blinding speeds and lops off their head.

3rd form – Coil Choke – The user circles around his opponent while using his sword to slice them from all directions.

4th form – Twin-Headed Reptile – The user leaps forward and preforms a horizontal slash that slices through the target.

5th form – Slithering Serpent – The user curves their sword in multiple directions and slices his opponent, making it capable of decapitating multiple enemies at once.

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The entire time, Obanai has a feeling of repulsion coming from him, as though he was completely against the idea of teaching me his art.

Fading back into the tree line, Obanai leaves me with one last piece of advice.

"The best way that I found to be able to use Serpent Breathing is to surround yourself with the venom of serpents or snakes and then breath in the toxic fumes that they create. However, if any normal human was to do that, they would surely die."

Hearing a creepy laugh then resound from the forest, I click my tongue in annoyance. Looking at the area that surround me, my eyes immediately caught on a katana that lay embedded in a tree.

Stepping up to the tree and ripping the katana, I watched as two slits of metal entwined themselves around each other, forming an intricate blade that looks exactly like an Indonesian Kris Sword.

With the blade in my grasp, I instantly set myself to learn it, conducting myself to use crescent moon strikes along with slightly feigning attacks.

Near the end of my grand, boring adventure in the Snake Pit, my eyes continued to linger of the cluster of trees within Obanai's compound. Nodding my head in affirmation at my decision, I climb up the closest tree. Stepping on a sturdy branch, I high jump directly from the branch before repositioning myself so that as my feet extend outwards, they push off against the length of the tree.

Having my face brush past tons of tiny branches, my foot lands firmly on another branch and I continue the process of jumping from tree to tree, increasing in speed and enjoyment with every jump.

Being like an entity of the wind as I pass through the forest of trees, my day ends happily as I had finally learned parkour. However, as I make my way through the halls of the Butterfly Mansion, my mind lingers on the advice that Obanai gave me.

Knocking on the door to the person with the ticket to the clue, Shinobu opens the door whilst wearing a haggard appearance. Not even noticing her lack of humility, Shinobu angrily grumbles.

"What do you want?"

"Well, since you work with poison all the time, I was going to ask if you had any sort of venom of a serpent or snake that is completely safe to inhale the fumes of."

Squinting her eyes at me with slight confusion, Shinobu answers, "Yes, I do, but why would you need something like that?"

"Apparently I can do this to learn Serpent Breathing."

"Ah." Shinobu says completely uninterested as I answer.

Closing the door on me, it takes not even thirty seconds before it opens again and a vial of what I can guess to be venom is held out to me.

"This is the venom of a rat snake, do whatever you wish with it. But don't break the vial at all costs. If you do, then I'll kill you in your sleep with something actually harmful to humans."

Nodding my head in complete understanding, I take the vial from her and walk back. Once in my room, I uncap the stopper, put a small dosage on a towel, before then placing it directly under my nose.

Falling asleep and letting my Total Concentration: Constant take control subconsciously, I wake up in the morning feeling very strange. Feeling as my breath was completely disorganized, I hold back my urge to change to a more comfortable breathing form, slightly believing that my breathing might be that of Serpent Breathing.

Dealing with the great amount of discomfort, I proceed to walk through the "gate" to the Snake Pit and immediately hear a sound of someone choking in disbelief. Looking towards the figure who was emanating such a sound, I watch as Obanai removes himself from the shadows, looking at me with utmost suspicion.

"How'd you achieve Serpent Breathing so fast?" Obanai hisses.

"So, this is Serpent Breathing, it's so uncomfortable though." I mumble under my breath before answering Obanai. "Well, teacher, taking the advice you gave me, I managed to get my hands on a vial of rat snake venom, and I guess my lungs acclimated to the ingestion of venom fumes."

"I didn't think It'd be that easy to learn" Hearing as Obanai grumbles, he continues by saying, "I will not watch you as you embarrass yourself trying to create my forms from scratch, so be grateful as I show how to preform them, and once you do, leave my premise immediately."

Pulling his katana from its sheath, Obanai immediately begins to flawlessly execute each of his forms. Even with his venomous attitude, Obanai's strength is still that of a Hashira, so watching him gave me a lot of insight into Serpent Breathing. Fading back into the tree line after showing me his art, I would have likes to set myself to replicate what he had done, but the discomfort of Serpent Breathing remained, so I used the first three days to acclimate myself to it.

After those three days, I felt comfortable enough to start trying his techniques. However, my growth was stopped by the addition of Shinobu's birthday being added to my schedule.

Being dragged from her room so as the residents could celebrate her birthday, I spent my own time spending my time with Shinobu rather than me spending it training. As Shinobu started receiving her gifts I gave her mine. Which is a painting using hand-made paint.

The painting is the depiction of a butterfly. One side of the butterfly is green with life and completely healthy; the other side of the butterfly is purple to represent decay and poison. Shinobu was ecstatic to have received this gift from me and gave me a prolonged hug in return for such.

Afterwards, her face was burning red, and she tried to lock herself away again, but the absolute authority that is Kanae prevented her from doing so.

Adding another memorable event to my mind, I began to train Serpent Breathing the very next day. Spending the remaining week plus another, I reached the acceptable peak of Serpent Breathing in which Obanai started to shove me off his premise quickly, as if removing a tumor.

Giving Obanai the same amount of respect that he gave me, I began my return to the Butterfly Mansion.

Complaining in my mind about the uselessness of Obanai's overall teachings, my eyes find Kanae standing at the entrance with a stoic looking bird atop her forearm. Seemingly giving me a bow of respect, the crow began to speak, notably quieter than any of the crows I've listened to so far.

"Gyomei Himejima, the Stone Hashira, has recognized your talent in learning and has finally decided to teach you. Please arrive within the morning, he will be expecting you."

The crow then seems to bow again before flying off Kanae's arm and returning most likely to Gyomei.

"It seems that the requirements to train under the strongest was for you to learn each other form. Congratulations."

Receiving a pat on the back from Kanae, I spend the rest of the day resting my mind and body, preparing for the training of the undeniably strongest Hashira, Gyomei Himejima.