When Tanjiro woke up the next day at Basecamp, he noticed that Inosuke wasn't in the bed beside him like he usually was.
"Inosuke?" Tanjiro asked. "Genya, have you seen Inosuke anywhere?"
"No," Genya replied. "I haven't seen him since he left to fight Kazuyuki-dono yesterday."
Tanjiro searched Basecamp for Inosuke, and eventually found him in recovery. He was asleep, and covered in injuries that would most likely keep him asleep for at least a few days. There was no doubt in Tanjiro's mind that it was from the training Inosuke had gone to do with Kazuyuki.
That night, it was Tanjiro's turn to fight Kimi for the first time.
Tanjiro could tell that Kimi was not even using half of his strength, and Tanjiro could still only last 2 hours against him. After those 2 hours, he ended up in recovery like Inosuke.
After four days, Tanjiro woke up. As soon as he opened his eyes, the first thing he saw was Inosuke clinging to the ceiling above him.
"Inosuke?" Tanjiro asked. "What are you doing up there?"
"You're FINALLY awake!" Inosuke said. "I woke up before you AGAIN!"
"That makes sense," Tanjiro said. "You were put in recovery before me, so..."
"I was put in recovery ONE day before you, and I woke up TWO days before you did!" Inosuke said triumphantly. "I've been up here on the ceiling since then!"
"Wow, that's amazing," Tanjiro said. "You're amazing, Inosuke!"
"Yeah I am!" Inosuke said.
"Where's Genya?" Tanjiro asked. "What happened to him?"
"He didn't stand a chance against half of Kazuyuki-dono's strength and was put in recovery like us," Inosuke replied. "He hasn't woken up yet."
Tanjiro looked around and saw that Genya was also lying down on a bed in the infirmary, asleep.
Tanjiro saw Murata walk over to him.
"What happened to you guys?" Murata asked. "Was it stage two of training?"
"Yes," Tanjiro replied.
"That's understandable," Murata said. "Kazuyuki-dono's endurance training is very hard. Only three people have passed all three stages yet."
"Only three!?" Tanjiro gasped.
"Yeah, that's why there's so many people here at Basecamp," Murata replied. "Two of them were the Mitsukuni brothers. The older brother is Mishi Mitsukuni, and he's a kinoe. The younger brother is Katsu Mitsukuni, and he's a kinoto. The other one, of course, is Kazuyuki-dono's tsuguko, Kimiko Kazuyuki-san."
"I guess they must be pretty strong," Tanjiro said.
"Yeah, they are," Murata said. "Kazuyuki-dono's tsuguko passed all three stages a while ago, and then as for the Mistukuni brothers, the older brother passed the same day you arrived here, and the younger brother passed a few days after that. Everyone else who passed the rest of the hashira training is just stuck here at Basecamp, trying and failing to pass Kazuyuki-dono's endurance training."
"Wow," Tanjiro said.
Over the course of the next few weeks, there were more corps members that passed all three stages of Kimi's endurance training, but none of them were Tanjiro, Inosuke, or Genya.
It took over a month, but after that time had passed, Tanjiro, Inosuke, and Genya were able to withstand 12 hours against Kimi without passing out and/or ending up in recovery.
"You were able to survive 12 hours against me," Kimi said to the three of them. "I wasn't even using half of my strength, but still, you were able to do it. Take some time to rest and let me know when you're ready to complete the third and final task."