On the surface, his resume is stellar—no criminal record, clean in office, and achieved quite a bit during his stint in the previous administration.
But in reality…
He's guilty of embezzlement, bribery, colluding with gangs, and abuse of power. If any of this comes to light, his political career will be over.
He has a wife, two children, three mistresses, and four illegitimate kids. His parents run a ranch in Kansas.
Elderly parents above, children below, and a pile of leverage—easy to control.
On the surface, his record is flawless, his governance is clean, and his policies are sure to be popular with voters. There shouldn't be much resistance to pushing him for mayor.
Perfect. You're the one.
Hardy snapped his fingers.
Immediately, a League of Assassins member serving as a bodyguard for the Hogg Group entered from outside.
"Get in touch with Hamilton Hill for me. Tell him I strongly support his bid for mayor and am willing to provide campaign funding for his team. Also… have Rattlesnake deliver some 'gifts' to his family—including those mistresses and illegitimate children—and make sure he finds out about it. Understand?"
Hardy tossed the Hamilton Hill file to the ninja from the League of Assassins.
"Yes, sir!"
The ninja accepted the file with both hands and bowed.
…
…
Demon Slayer World, Butterfly Mansion.
From inside one of the rooms came Hardy's low, muffled groans.
"Sigh, honestly, why are all these people so troublesome? Mr. Himejima tempers his body with fire, and now Mr. Hardy is using such harsh methods to strengthen himself too."
Standing outside the room, Shinobu Kocho rubbed her forehead helplessly—even though, in truth, she herself was secretly injecting wisteria poison to build up resistance.
In the Demon Slayer world, Hardy was using the Sand Body Tempering technique, borrowing the name of the Uesugi clan's ancient formula to ask Shinobu to find drugs with similar effects to those in the Naruto world, and concoct a secret recipe to temper his body.
The results were decent.
After a long while, the sounds from inside ceased. Worried, Shinobu called out toward the room.
"Mr. Hardy, are you alright?"
"I'm fine, Shinobu. Thank you!"
Hardy emerged from the bath, wrapped in a towel, and called out to her.
His skin was slightly red and glowing, steaming, his strong, full muscles rippling with explosive power.
"With the base stats of this body, I should be among the top ranks even among the Hashira of the Demon Slayer Corps."
Hardy squeezed his muscles and clenched his fists, using his newly learned Mind's Eye technique to feel the strength in his body and judge his progress.
This technique can be considered a sensory ninjutsu with difficulty close to A-rank. However, since Hardy is a puppeteer and excels in mental energy, it didn't take him long to master it.
He dried himself off, got dressed, and pushed open the door.
"Mr. Hardy, for the sake of your health, I suggest you let me check your pulse and examine you," Shinobu Kocho said with a gentle smile.
"Alright, thank you," Hardy replied, sitting down at the stone table in the courtyard and extending his arm to Shinobu.
A moment later—
"There's nothing wrong. In fact, your body is even stronger than before. There are just some minor scrapes on the surface—just apply some ointment when you get back and you'll be fine," Shinobu said, releasing his wrist.
"By the way, Mr. Hardy, you should be able to become a Hashira soon, right?"
"I'm still quite a ways off. I've only killed about thirty demons so far. At this rate, it'll probably take until next year for me to become a Hashira," Hardy replied, shaking his head.
"That's already an impressive pace. When we hunt demons, apart from the dangers of fighting them, the biggest challenge is tracking them down. Often, by the time we receive a mission, the demon has already moved elsewhere.
Even Tengen Uzui, who was once a ninja, doesn't have as high a tracking efficiency as you do, Mr. Hardy. Do you have some special trick?" Shinobu asked curiously.
Hardy rubbed his nose.
What a coincidence—I'm also a ninja, and the tracking techniques I know are certainly more numerous and effective than those of a traditional ninja like Uzui Tengen.
"It's nothing special. I just have a very keen sense of smell. Even if the demon has already left, as long as it killed someone nearby, I can track it by following the scent of blood from the scene," Hardy explained casually, offering a seemingly reasonable answer.
Whose sense of smell could possibly be sharper than a dog's?
Yet Shinobu simply nodded in understanding. "No wonder. Kyojuro Rengoku once told me that Tanjiro also has a peculiar sense of smell—not only is it extremely sharp, but he can even use it to detect flaws in an enemy's attacks. I didn't believe it at first, but since you have a similar ability, it's not so surprising."
Huh?
Hardy's expression remained calm, but he was momentarily stunned inside.
He had almost forgotten—Tanjiro's sense of smell is indeed so strong that it's practically a superpower.
Shinobu chatted with Hardy for a while longer, until a girl in blue came over to inform her that new wounded had arrived. Shinobu apologized and hurried off.
Hardy smiled as he saw Shinobu off, then sat at the table sipping tea.
His mastery of Breath of Departure was nearly complete, and he had accumulated plenty of experience. He could now begin attempting to fuse Wind Release chakra and Lightning Release chakra to develop Departure Release.
Hardy didn't know what other places called the kekkei genkai formed by combining these two chakra natures—there was no information about it in the records of Sunagakure. He decided to call it Departure Release. Once he succeeded in developing it and made a name for Departure Release in the ninja world, even if there were other names, people would still recognize his.
"Maybe when I return to the village, I can ask the Third Kazekage—the creator of Magnet Release—if there are any tips or tricks for fusing kekkei genkai."
As Hardy was drinking tea and pondering, a kasugai crow flew down from the sky.
"Uesugi Hardy, Uesugi Hardy! Please depart immediately for Ashikita Town in Kumamoto City! There are suspected sightings of a member of the Twelve Kizuki!"
Hardy's head snapped up.
A chance to become a Hashira in one fell swoop had finally arrived.
Up to now, Hardy had slain a total of thirty-two demons and had already been promoted to A-rank swordsman. At the Shiga Police Headquarters, his police rank had also risen to squad leader.
His fortune had reached a historic high—eighty-one point seventy-three percent.
When he accepted the Assassin's League mission, his progress was just over forty-three percent, nearly doubling in one go.
The bulk of that came from his main body advancing to jōnin, with smaller portions contributed by his rank advancement in the Demon Slayer world and the joint development with Hawk in the DC world.
If he could become a Hashira—the highest rank in the Demon Slayer Corps—it should give him a significant boost. At that point, he'd be that much closer to unlocking a new world.
...
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