Insect Breathing

Insect Breathing imitates the deadly stings and darting movements of insects. Its techniques rely on stabs, thrusts, and shallow cuts that pepper a target with wounds, each one delivering doses of wisteria-derived poison. When the style is used, the practitioner pictures themselves taking on the shape of an insect that matches the chosen form.

Shinobu Kocho created the art herself to compensate for being unable to cut a demon's head off by force (Chapter 142). It can only be wielded by her, using a one-of-a-kind Nichirin katana with a slender, needle-like point that works much like a stinger to inject poison. As Doma notes, even the sheath is built as a portable mixer, letting Shinobu swap the toxin coating her blade in an instant.

At least five techniques are recorded, each named after an insect's dance. Butterfly Dance: Caprice (Chapter 41, Episode 20) sends the user leaping in to sting the target many times in what looks like a single strike. Dance of the Bee Sting: True Flutter (Chapter 141) pours all of the user's speed into one strengthened thrust. Dance of the Horsefly: Enticing Slash, introduced in the Infinity Castle film, redirects an opponent's counters to open them up for a finishing stab.

Dance of the Dragonfly: Compound Eye Hexagon (Chapter 142) drives six rapid thrusts into vital points to flood the target with poison, while Dance of the Centipede: Hundred-Legged Zigzag (Chapter 142) uses a confusing zigzag run, amplified by sheer momentum, to bury the blade in the demon's neck. Doma observes that the footwork behind the last move is forceful enough to shatter a wooden bridge.

Shinobu Kocho is both the creator and the only known practitioner. Because the style depends on her specially built poison katana and her own approach to combat, no other slayer is shown using it. It also holds the distinction of being the only style branched from another branch, descending from Flower Breathing, which itself grew out of Water Breathing.