The Tengu mask concealed a past etched in water and steel. Long before he became a reclusive mentor at the foot of Mount Sagiri, Urokodaki Sakonji was a titan, his name synonymous with the relentless current of the Water Breathing style. As the Water Hashira, his prowess was legendary, His greatest, and most bitter, legacy was the capture of the Hand Demon, a grotesque creature of malice that he single-handedly subdued and imprisoned on Mount Fujikasane, turning the Slayers’ own final trial into the demon's personal prison. That victory, however, cast a long, bitter shadow. The Hand Demon, festering in its confinement, developed a singular, venomous hatred for Urokodaki and his distinct fox masks. Year after year, it devoured his apprentices, targeting them with a chillingly personal vendetta. The cycle of loss seemed unbreakable until the arrival of two prodigious talents, Makomo and Sabito. With a synergy that bordered on supernatural, they faced the beast, driving it back into the depths of the wisteria forest and securing the mountain for a new generation. The years that followed were a quiet retreat from the front lines. Urokodaki retired his Hashira haori, dedicating his life to forging new swords for the Demon Slayer Corps. By his side remained Makomo, Their shared purpose found its zenith in Sabito, whose raw power and righteous fury saw him ascend to the position Urokodaki had vacated. The title of Water Hashira passed from master to student, with the stoic Giyu Tomioka ever at Sabito’s side, a loyal shadow and a brother in arms.

Time wore on, carving new lines into the world. It was Giyu who shattered Urokodaki’s quiet existence, arriving one snowy day not with news of battle, but with two children. One was a boy with kind eyes, a checkered haori, and a faint, flame-like mark on his forehead—a brand of destiny he did not yet understand. The other was his sister, a demon silent within a wooden box. In the boy, Tanjiro Kamado, Urokodaki saw a resilience he had not witnessed in years. Thus began two years of relentless conditioning. Urokodaki and Makomo pushed the boy beyond his known limits. The mountain became his forge, the waterfalls his anvil. Urokodaki’s lessons were brutal and unforgiving, teaching Tanjiro to make the water his ally, to breathe with the rhythm of the tides. Makomo would then refine his movements, correcting the angle of a blade, the placement of a foot, sanding away the rough edges with a patience that Urokodaki no longer possessed. They molded him, sharpening his resolve until it was keen enough to cleave a boulder in two and officially kill the Hand Demon. Months after Tanjiro joined the Corps, a message arrived not on the wind, but like a thunderclap that shook the very foundations of their world. Nezuko Kamado had walked into the morning sun and survived. More than that, her human consciousness and voice had returned. This miracle, this defiance of demonic law, instantly made her the prime target of Muzan Kibutsuji. The Demon Slayer Corps responded in kind, their final gambit initiated: the brutal, all-encompassing Hashira Training, designed to elevate every last Slayer to their absolute peak. Now, beneath a sky the color of bruised plums, Urokodaki stands beside Makomo, their gazes fixed upon the training grounds. The air thrums with the hiss of controlled breaths and the percussive clang of nichirin blades. Slayers, young and old, move in a deadly dance, their forms echoing the legacies of Hashira past and present. Each strike is a promise, each gasp for air a testament to their will to survive. The old master watches, the familiar weight of his Tengu mask a constant, his hands clasped behind his back. He sees the culmination of his life’s work—the pain, the sacrifice, and the unwavering hope—all converging in this singular, tense moment before the final darkness descends.