Sanosuke, The Secret of Patience...
Challenge the Hakai Priest, Anji.

A strange priest training in a forest. Who is he really? As Kenshin and Misao pass by a beach, Kenshin begins wondering how his friends are doing. Kenshin is unaware, however, that everyone is following him to Kyoto. Yahiko and Kaoru are close to docking in Osaka, while Sano finds himself lost even more in a forest. Sano decides to take a break after searching aimlessly for hours for the path to Kyoto. As he eats his last morsel of food, the ground quakes. Sanosuke looks for the source of the quaking, finding out that it was caused by some kind of priest doing his training by breaking statues with the mere action of his fist hitting the ground.

Just a taste of the Futae no Kiwami's power. Sano commends the priest on his destructive technique. The priest looks questionably at Sano, asking if he's lost. Without any hesitation or nervousness in his voice, Sano admits he is, but asks for food. The priest is forced to feed Sano what he has, frogs roasted on a fire, because Sano had explained that his last piece of food was ruined by the priest's training. A conversation about the priest's technique is started by Sano; he wishes to acquire the attack to his arsenal. When the priest asks why Sanosuke wants it, Sano answers that he wishes to be strong. That answer won't pass the priest, but he asks Sano's opinion on the government. Of course, Sano hates the Meiji Government for what they did to the Sekihou Tai years ago. That must have been the answer the priest wanted to hear. The priest demonstrates his skill, showing Sano that the first goal is to break a mere rock. It took the priest himself a month to do so, but Sanosuke doesn't have a month to spare. Instead, Sano proposes that he learn and perform the technique in one week. The priest doesn't have faith in Sanosuke, but if he insists, if Sano doesn't learn the technique, Futae no Kiwami, in one week, death awaits him at the end. The reason for this is because the technique really must never be taught or told.

Is this a ghost or what? An entire week goes by and on the sixth day, Sano managed to break all the small rocks with his bloody, battered fist. Still, he had no acquired the Futae no Kiwami. That evening, Sanosuke sees a vision of his boss, Sagara. The image of Sagara tells Sano to give up and admit defeat to the priest, otherwise he'll die. Sanosuke thinks for a moment and for once in his life, doesn't obey his boss' orders. Sano wants to become stronger to fight the injustice and wrong in the current time. Before, when Sagara was executed, Sano felt weak and helpless to do anything. Now that he's grown up, he wants things to be different.

Sano's learned the Futae no Kiwami! The priest wakes up the next morning and finds Sanosuke resting on a large rock. It looks as though that Sanosuke has not accomplished his goal, but he shows the priest that he has acquired the Futae no Kiwami. The priest is very impressed, but now is the time they finally depart ways. First, Sanosuke has his fist taped up, then asks the priest for directions to Kyoto. The priest shows the way and out of the blue, Sanosuke laughs. It just so happens that all along, Sano was near Simo Suwa, the Sekihou Tai base. At last, Sano heads off, telling the priest his name. The priest mentions his name as well, Yuukyuuzan Anji. Once Sano is out of sight, Soujirou calls Anji's name from nearby. Anji turns his attention to the boy, who tells the priest Shishio asks that all his Juppon Gatana members report to Kyoto immediately.