Welcome Back

Worn out and leaning on a stick, Tanjiro trudges back up Mount Sagiri toward his master's hut. He regrets failing to learn anything from the demons he met during the trial and apologizes inwardly to Nezuko for his misplaced hope.

Reaching the hut at nightfall, he is stunned when the door bursts open and Nezuko steps outside, finally roused after two years of sleep. The siblings rush together, and Tanjiro collapses in exhaustion before she embraces him. Sakonji joins them, weeping behind his mask, overjoyed that a pupil has returned alive.

Fifteen days later, the swordsmith Haganezuka arrives to present Tanjiro's blade. He explains the special ore drawn from a sun-soaked mountain and remarks on Tanjiro's red hair and eyes, predicting a crimson sword. When the blade is drawn it instead turns black, which Sakonji reassures is merely rare. Disappointed, Haganezuka lashes out at Tanjiro, and a Kasugai crow cuts in to send him on his first mission.

Tanjiro returns from Final Selection alive.

Nezuko wakes after sleeping for two years.

Tanjiro meets Haganezuka and receives his first Nichirin Sword, which turns black.

A Kasugai crow assigns Tanjiro his first mission in a neighboring town.

This Final Selection Arc chapter appears in Volume 2 and was adapted in Episode 5. It introduces the color-changing nature of Nichirin Swords and the recurring debate over the meaning of a black blade. The closing mission about girls vanishing nightly sets up Tanjiro's first true assignment as a slayer.