It wasn't that Ubuyashiki didn't want to reform the Demon Slayer Corps' system.
Rather, he faced multifaceted concerns and obstacles.
Was he unaware of the severity and high mortality rate of the Final Selection? He knew better than anyone. After all, the results from every selection site were reported to him, the head of the family, immediately. He knew exactly how many people fell just one step short of becoming swordsmen.
In fact, ever since he inherited the position of family head, he had silently kept a record in his heart of how many died and how many gave up at every selection site, year after year. Naturally, the thought of making a change had crossed his mind more than once.
However, the Breathing Styles, the Cultivator system, and the Final Selection—this entire institutional framework was the "optimal solution" the Demon Slayer Corps had derived through a millennium of trial, error, and countless lives lost in the war against demons. This "Gu-style" bloody battle of elimination had indeed successfully produced top-tier swordsmen like the generations of the Nine Hashira.
Reduce the difficulty of the trial? Lower the death rate?
In older records, there had been periods where the Final Selection was abolished. Once a recruit completed their training, they could immediately follow their seniors on missions. But the result was that the overall mortality rate rose instead of falling. Experienced veteran swordsmen lost their lives trying to rescue rookies. Those with weak wills sold out information, leading to the destruction of Corps outposts and Cultivator strongholds. There were even many swordsmen who begged for mercy before demons, or directly fell into depravity and became demons themselves when faced with the temptation of "eternal life."
Under the collective advice of several Hashira, the reforms enacted by that soft-hearted family head were swiftly abolished by the next generation. Later, other Ubuyashiki heads proposed similar concepts, but most of the time, they were met with fierce opposition from Cultivators across the country. Even the family head could not forcibly overturn a technical system and testing tradition defended by the blood of generations of swordsmen for a thousand years.
Of course, if that voice came from the swordsmen themselves, it might be a different story.
So, what if they did as Natsunishi suggested? Arrange several squads of swordsmen, or even the Hashira, to take ten days to a month out of the year to proctor the exams at the national selection sites? Or perhaps organize a centralized training session for all swordsmen who passed the selection?
The answer was redundancy—or the lack thereof. The Demon Slayer Corps had no redundant swordsmen. It could be said that almost every powerful swordsman was a firefighter; wherever the fire was fiercest, they were sent to fill the gap.
During the selection period, if a Lower Rank demon appeared in the North to slaughter a village, or if a Kakushi unit in the Southwest was struggling and waiting for rescue, should they be pulled away from the selection to provide support?
For Ubuyashiki, every day was a cruel exercise in scheduling and weighing priorities with limited resources. Every day, he had to temporarily abandon some people in order to save others.
If the Nine Hashira were at full strength, or if the ranks of Kinoe and Kinoto-level swordsmen were teeming with talent, it might be possible. But in the current predicament, with only four Hashira in office and fewer than ten Kinoe and Kinoto swordsmen combined, diverting high-level combat power to serve as proctors? It was undoubtedly a luxury.
Furthermore, not all Hashira and Cultivators agreed with "protecting the weak." Some even believed that mercy was an insult to those who had died in battle. They had grown strong by treading over the corpses of their comrades, so they naturally believed their successors should do the same. Lowering the intensity of the selection was, in their eyes, breeding "greenhouse flowers" that would tarnish the bloody spirit of the Demon Slayer Corps.
Finally, Ubuyashiki revealed a more personal and cruel fact. The average active service time of a swordsman was not long to begin with, and the men of the Ubuyashiki clan had even shorter lifespans. Men of his family rarely lived past the age of twenty-five. He didn't have ten or twenty years to gently push through a revolution.
Kagaya's father had held the position for only one year before taking his own life in endless guilt after witnessing too many swordsmen who loved and respected him die tragic deaths. Kagaya himself was only four years old when he nominally inherited the family. Now, the symptoms of the curse had already begun to manifest on his body.
Perhaps he had five years left? Ten? He did not have the energy or time to implement a brand-new, untested system. Moreover, no one could guarantee it wouldn't lead to worse consequences, as some historical attempts had.
It could be said that for most Ubuyashiki heads, half of their lives were spent fighting illness. And the rest? It had to be spent thinking about how to ensure the family continued until Muzan was dealt with. They could not falter. They could not be swallowed by the torrent of the era. They could not be consumed by the nobility, the Shogunate, or the Western powers knocking on the nation's doors.
Frankly, even with a near-prophetic ability, just maintaining all of this for nearly a thousand years while the family members dwindled away had taken every ounce of his strength.
"But even so, you can try starting with some small changes, right?" Natsunishi's voice pulled his thoughts back.
"If there aren't enough powerful swordsmen, then cherish the lives of ordinary swordsmen even more and let them grow slowly. Even if they can't become Hashira, they can gradually reach the level of Kinoe or Kinoto—"
At this point, Natsunishi couldn't help but add another suggestion. "And these ranks—Kinoe, Kinoto, Hinoto, and so on—they should be adjusted while you're at it. Right now, aside from the Hashira and Kinoe, the other ranks are basically accumulated through seniority. They don't reflect actual strength at all. There are so many tiers, but they're only tied to salary. If they actually face a Lower or Upper Rank demon, there's no difference at all for anyone below Kinoe."
He pointed to Kyojuro and Shinobu, who were still practicing in the courtyard. "I've seen Kinoto-rank swordsmen weaker than them. I've also run into Tsuchinoe and Kanoe-rank swordsmen who are stronger than them—"
Ubuyashiki nodded slightly. He understood what Natsunishi was saying.
"Boss, if you want to break the vicious cycle of talent depletion, you have to increase the source and reduce the waste. Gain new blood, and reduce pointless losses. I think if you start from this point, the resistance shouldn't be too great."
Although Natsunishi's speech was often peppered with terms he had never heard before, it didn't hinder Ubuyashiki's understanding. He even occasionally had the illusion that the youth before him was not a being that belonged to this era.
"So, starting bit by bit is definitely the right way to go." Reform shouldn't be too violent or drastic. It should be a steady, slow trickle. "Have you heard that saying? The best time to plant a tree?"
Is this some kind of gardening terminology? Shinjuro and Ubuyashiki exchanged a look. The Flame Hashira, who knew a bit about gardening because his wife loved plants, pondered for a moment and said, "It's spring, right? The temperature rises, the soil thaws, and it's beneficial for root growth—"
Natsunishi: "..."
No, you're being so serious, how am I supposed to follow that up?
He cut him off directly. "It was ten years ago."
Shinjuro: "?" What kind of nonsense are you talking?
But Ubuyashiki understood what Natsunishi was trying to express. He followed up gently, "Then, besides ten years ago?"
Natsunishi's expression turned serious. Here it comes! He said clearly and earnestly, "The second best time is right now."
Though it was a cliché to Natsunishi, it still carried significant impact for people living over two hundred years ago. For a moment, the tea room fell into a brief silence.
This kid, Kuguruma... ever since he came to my house, he's been constantly delivering shocks, Shinjuro had to admit. Some of the youth's words had indeed touched him.
Ubuyashiki also consulted him seriously. "Then, Kuguruma-kun, where do you think the first step should begin?"
Natsunishi said almost without hesitation: "Reduce the death rate of the Final Selection. Focus the evaluation on character and conviction. Those whose strength passes become swordsmen; those who don't pass join the logistics. If there aren't top-tier powerhouses available for this, then rely on mid-tier swordsmen or those with decent strength to observe and record. As for the demon-slaying part that tests will and character—you don't need to scrap it, but you have to regularly clear out the demons in the selection area that have grown beyond the expected power level. Ensure that swordsmen with potential don't die prematurely."
As for where the manpower would come from to clear the assessment sites?
"Train more strong 'Half-Hashira' or 'Hashira-provisional' types. Have them take turns sweeping the selection sites once a year. Even if demons grow, they don't suddenly become super-strong overnight. Once the numbers are up, you can even have them replace the ordinary swordsmen responsible for recording the assessment and serve as proctors."
Hearing this, Ubuyashiki let out a long, slow breath, as if releasing a portion of the heavy burden that had been pressing on his chest for a long time. His heart finally made some decisions.
"I'm sorry, Kuguruma-kun. I cannot agree to launch a full-scale reform of the Demon Slayer Corps at this moment. But—"
He paused. Reaching into his robes, he pulled out a special jade tablet that was neither metal nor wood and felt warm to the touch. He gently placed it in Natsunishi's hand. This gesture felt like handing over the only part of the thousand-pound burden that he could actually move.
"But, I can first entrust you with this trust that belongs to the head of the Ubuyashiki family. Take this jade tablet; it is the proof of the Ubuyashiki family. With it, you may freely enter and exit the five major Final Selection sites in the country. The local priests and the Wisteria families will not stop you. Please, go and prune those weeds that have overgrown in the Final Selection to ensure that those future seeds and seedlings do not wither before their time. One day, we can take the results of this work to push for deeper, subsequent reforms of the Demon Slayer Corps."
It wasn't a mandatory command from the family head. Nor was it an upheaval caused by an outsider's advice. It was a bottom-up, inside-out, naturally formed, and irreversible trend. Of course, if the core figure of that trend was a powerhouse who stepped from the bottom all the way to the top—that would be the most ideal scenario.
So—
"Kuguruma Natsunishi, for everyone's sake—" Ubuyashiki Kagaya lifted his eyes. Those pupils, eroded by the curse yet still clear, reflected the youth's frank face. "Please become a Hashira as soon as possible."
It was the request of the Ubuyashiki family head. It was also the hope entrusted to Natsunishi by Kagaya, as a member of the Demon Slayer Corps.
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