"Ugh! I'm going crazy. Isn't this too much?"
I laughed at Naruto, who was tearing at his hair. "Wait for the next volume."
As the house got noisy, Sasuke, wondering what was going on, came out of his room and looked toward mine. Naruto handed Volume 3 to Sasuke.
"Sasuke, read this. Isn't it unfair?"
Curious, Sasuke took the book, sat down, and began reading. After finishing, he pressed his brow. "Author-nim... this is a problem. You did it last time too..."
Naruto nodded in agreement. "Yeah, it's a problem."
Sasuke's serious opinion was a bit funny, but this was the joy of the cliffhanger. Still, I thought I should ease up a bit from now on. Overusing it wouldn't be good either.
"Okay, I won't end the next volume like this."
"Really? You promise?"
"Yeah."
Then Naruto, after thinking for a moment, said, "Come to think of it, you taught us various breathing techniques besides Water Breathing. So other breathing techniques will appear in the novel too, right?"
"Right, they will. Water Breathing appeared early because the protagonist uses it. Other techniques will appear later."
"I see."
Speaking of which, I wondered what Sasuke would think of Zenitsu.
The next day, I went to the printing press and handed Volume 3 to the owner.
"Oh~ It's finally out. I've been waiting."
The owner, beaming, took Volume 3 and began reading. After finishing, his expression was sour, of course, due to the cliffhanger.
"You're too much. You did it last time too. Shouldn't you stop cutting off at critical moments?"
"Owner-nim, think about it. That's what makes people curious and buy the next volume."
The owner thought for a moment, then nodded. Having fallen victim to the cliffhanger himself and being very curious about the next volume, he had to admit it.
"Hmm... I suppose you're right."
"But using it too often will tire people out, so I won't do it for the next volume."
"Alright."
I returned home and began to slowly craft swords for Naruto, Tenten, and Sasuke. I thought about how to blend chakra with Total Concentration Breathing, and considered incorporating the Eight Gates that Gai uses. It certainly made them stronger, but the strain on the body was far beyond what a human could handle.
'Hmm... I can manage up to the Gate of Life. But beyond that is impossible...'
Even the Gate of Life was only possible with an immensely trained body. From the Gate of Pain onward, it was suicide. It seemed the answer was simply not to mix them. So I decided to stop enhancing the body and instead make swords that could use chakra, further strengthening the swordsmanship.
'If this works, I might be able to use the techniques exactly as depicted in Demon Slayer.'
I immediately began making three swords. I gave them the ability that, when the user channels their chakra into the sword, it manifests abilities according to their nature. I was inspired by the chakra induction paper. If Tenten used it, she could launch powerful jets of water with her slashes. Of course, these swords were also alloy blades made with mithril and chitauri metal, and I gave them regeneration as standard.
After spending a long time making swords, I went home in the evening. Tenten and Naruto were overjoyed and said to me, "We did it too! We burst the second bottle, ya know~" "Master, we did it!"
"Oh~ Really? Good job. Then, to celebrate all three of you breaking through the second gate, let's have a party!"
"Wow~ Great!"
I made pizza and ate it with the children. Naruto, who had eaten pizza for the first time, said deliciously, "Bro, you know so many amazing foods. And the amazing thing is, they're all delicious."
Sasuke and Tenten agreed. "I know, Author-nim is really good at cooking." "Yeah, Master is amazing. The first dumplings you made were the best."
It was only natural. Chicken, pizza, hamburgers—they were globally proven dishes.
While eating, I handed Naruto and Tenten a training sword each, similar to the one I had given Sasuke.
"Wow~ Is this a real sword?"
"Yeah, it's the same as the one I gave Sasuke. It's a real sword, so don't fool around with it. You could get seriously hurt. Always use wooden swords for sparring."
"Okay. Thanks, Bro." "Thank you, Master."
After enjoying the pizza and having our celebration party, the next day I explained Wind Breathing and Water Breathing to Naruto and Tenten.
"Wind Breathing is a swordsmanship characterized by fierce consecutive strikes and light, agile movements. There are ten forms in total."
Actually, Wind Breathing had nine forms, but I included the tenth I had created.
"Got it."
"Water Breathing is a swordsmanship consisting mainly of soft, flexible techniques. It has twelve forms. Watch carefully and learn."
Water Breathing originally had eleven forms, but I included the last form I had created, making it twelve.
"Understood, Master."
"And both of you need to practice Total Concentration Constant, just like Sasuke is doing. It's hard to get used to, but work hard."
"Yes!"
From that day, while the children were at the Academy, I made swords. After their basic physical training, I began teaching them swordsmanship.
Finally, Demon Slayer Volume 3 was published and appeared in bookstores. As expected, the cliffhanger caused great suffering among the villagers.
"Ah~!! He did it again! Why does he cut off at the critical moment!"
"I know, right. Now we have to wait again."
"Wow... I want to confront the author."
There was also a lot of discussion about the encounter with Muzan.
"But if we were in Tanjiro's situation, what should we do?"
"I don't know? I guess you'd have to fight? You never know when you might meet him again."
"But then civilian casualties could be high."
"Still, if you let him go, wouldn't the damage be even greater?"
"Could Tanjiro, who just started hunting demons, really defeat Muzan? It might end up being pointless sacrifice."
"That's true."
Then some strange talk came up.
"By the way, isn't Nezuko really cute?"
"Are you a Nezuko fan?"
"Yeah. The scene where she shrinks and gets into the box is so adorable I just want to hug her."
"This guy's dangerous..."
I had drawn Nezuko cutely in the illustrations, because she was my wife. Because of that, the number of Nezuko fans in the village was gradually increasing.
'Are otaku being born in the Naruto world too?'
I thought it was just something that could happen in this kind of work and let it pass. A few days later, Hiruzen suddenly came to the house with a request.
"Excuse me? You want to make wooden figurines of the Demon Slayer characters and sell them?"
"That's right. We'll make them, so you just need to give permission. We'll give you 10% of the net profit. How about it?"
In short, he was proposing the village lead the production and sale of figures. I was worried about how much Embezzlezen and Danzō would skim off, but it wasn't a bad deal for me. I'd get money just by sitting still.
'Hmm... I suppose it doesn't matter?'
After some thought, I agreed.
"Alright. But make sure to send me one of each completed product."
"Understood. I will."
"Ah, speaking of which, has the 'Kagutsuchi-no-ya' (flame sword) you took found an owner yet?"
"No. It's just sitting in my office. It's a very troublesome sword to use. I'll consider using it if we find a way to seal its heat."
"I see. That's a shame."
"Don't be too disappointed. I'm sure an owner will appear soon."
It seemed no suitable user had appeared yet. I wondered if I'd made it too difficult.
Anyway, after Hiruzen left, a few days later, the promised figures were delivered to the house. I opened the box.
"What in the..."
They were decently carved and painted, suggesting they had skilled sculptors. But the poses were incredibly boring. All in 'attention stance'. Compared to real-world figures, they were incredibly dull.
"Will these even sell?"
I was quite worried, but contrary to my expectations, despite the high price, they were selling like crazy. No, 'selling like crazy' was an understatement; they were out of stock. I must have been thinking too much like a modern person. To these people, this was a new culture. I thought it might be possible.
Naturally, the best-selling figure was Nezuko. The worst-selling was Urokodaki Sakonji. The funny thing was, even Muzan and Haganezuka Hotaru sold better.
'Urokodaki-sensei...'
One day, while out shopping with Satoru (the ninja dog), I saw Naruto loitering in front of the bookstore. I called out to him.
"Naruto, what are you doing?"
"Whoa!! You scared me. Oh, it's you, Bro?"
Naruto seemed quite surprised when I called.
"Why are you skulking around here?"
"W-Well... I was wondering if the Tanjiro wooden figurine was out..."
"Huh? Are you a Tanjiro fan?"
"Yeah..."
"Really? Then let's go home. I have some, so you can take one."
At my words, Naruto asked again, unable to believe it. "Really? You have one?"
"Yeah. They were delivered while you were at the Academy. I asked them to send me one of each. They're in my room, so take one. I don't need it."
I had only asked for them out of curiosity about how they would make them, so I didn't mind Naruto taking one.
"Oh~ I see. I've been waiting for nothing."
"By the way, did you train today?"
"Ahaha... w-well..."
He stammered, so it seemed he had skipped training to come here. I immediately flicked his head.
Thwack!
"Ugh!"
"Go do it now. Otherwise, I won't give it to you."
"Ugh... okay..."
I asked Satoru to keep an eye on Naruto and make sure he wasn't slacking off.
"Okay! I'll watch him carefully."
That day, Sasuke and Tenten came together, and Naruto and Satoru came a bit late. According to Satoru, Naruto hadn't slacked off and had trained hard. I kept my promise and gave him the figure. Naruto was overjoyed. I also gave Satoru a dog treat.
A few days later, the swords were finally completed. But I didn't show them to the children yet; I stored them in my inventory. I planned to give them after they completed the final stage.
'I should start writing Volume 4 soon.'
Having finished the swords, I was about to focus on the novel when Hiruzen came to the house again.
"What brings you here this time?"
"Well, you see... Could you increase the number of characters in Demon Slayer? And... this is a bit awkward for me to say, but maybe a sexy woman too... Ahem!"
Hiruzen cleared his throat, perhaps embarrassed himself. It seemed the sales of Nezuko's wooden figurines were good, leading to this request.
"New characters will appear starting from the next volume. But adding a sexy woman right away is a bit difficult."
"S-Surely there's a way?"
I thought for a moment. Shinobu and Mitsuri wouldn't appear until after Rui was captured and the Hashira meeting happened, so it was still some time away.
"I already have the story planned out, so I can't change it for Volume 4. But I will definitely include them in Volume 5."
"Is that so? That's a shame, but I suppose it can't be helped. Then, be sure to include them in Volume 5. And make them big. Very big."
"Excuse me? What do you mean by 'big'?"
Hiruzen looked into the distance and tapped his own chest.
"Ah~ I understand."
"Ahem... Then I'll be going."
Hiruzen returned to the Hokage's office. I couldn't believe he would make such a request. And judging by his expression, I couldn't tell if he was asking for business purposes or to satisfy his own desires.