Only after using his staff to whack Kensei until he fled with his head in his hands did Yamamoto, his anger vented, turn and leave the training grounds, tossing back a single instruction: "Contemplate it well."
Tsk. That stinky old man Yamamoto doesn't understand the importance of style. No wonder he gets targeted every time he fights and was completely fooled by Yhwach in the Thousand-Year Blood War.
I tried to give him good advice, and he didn't appreciate it. Truly, the Soul Society's version of the farmer and the viper.
Sitting cross-legged on the ground, Kensei closed his eyes and began to reflect on Yamamoto's Nadegiri. On the surface, it looked like an extremely fast Iaijutsu draw, completing the entire process of drawing, striking, and sheathing in an instant. Its devastating destructive power didn't come solely from the immense spiritual pressure concentrated on the blade's edge but also from the swordsmanship skill Yamamoto had honed over a millennium.
If he were to use this technique, the power likely wouldn't match Yamamoto's, not just due to the spiritual pressure gap, but mainly because he lacked the "presence" forged through countless sword swings over a thousand years. He could mimic the form of Nadegiri, but without that accumulated presence, it would be a poor imitation at best.
Although the lifeforms in the Soul Society were varied—humans, Hollows, Quincies, Soul Reapers, etc., practically a big melting pot—they were all spiritual bodies composed of reishi. Coincidentally, he was highly sensitive to reishi perception. That was his starting point.
Kensei acted on his thought immediately. Mimicking Nadegiri's posture, he entered a preparatory stance, gathering his spiritual pressure onto his blade. More and more gathered, the pressure on the blade's edge became denser and more tangible... until Kensei felt the Zanpakutō's blade temperature rise sharply, the hilt trembling incessantly, like a pressure cooker about to explode.
Kensei hastily stopped and dispersed the spiritual pressure, looking at his Zanpakutō with some suspicion. Is it too fragile? But remembering a Zanpakutō's strength was linked to its owner's spiritual pressure, he immediately understood.
"Seems I need a different approach..."
This time, Kensei only channeled a small amount of spiritual pressure to gather at the tip of his blade while simultaneously attempting to mobilize the ambient reishi in the atmosphere, condensing it into a "thread." All spiritual structures had weaknesses. In Kensei's perception, a nearby massive boulder, composed of countless reishi particles, now clearly revealed the key reishi nodes sustaining its entire structure. He connected the condensed "thread" to this weak point, attempting to transmit the spiritual pressure concentrated on his blade's edge through the thread to that node.
There was no earth-shattering sound. The boulder's surface simply spider-webbed with countless cracks before the entire structure silently crumbled, decomposing into the most basic reishi particles that scattered like confetti in the wind.
Kensei sucked in a sharp breath, utterly shocked by his own world-shaking intellect.
"Yi-hahaha! This master has succeeded!"
Although the first attempt wasn't very smooth and the preparation time was long, Kensei believed that with more practice, he could achieve instant activation.
The question is whether it works on people or Hollows. If not, wouldn't that be embarrassing? Should I test it on Old Man Yama? Even if something goes wrong, I could just succeed him as Captain-Commander. I'm sure Teacher Yamamoto would be delighted to see that.
But better practice until I'm proficient before showing the old man. Give him a surprise.
"First, I need to name this magnificent technique. 'Spirit Reversion' sounds good."
After simply naming it, Kensei threw himself wholeheartedly into training Spirit Reversion, continuing until dusk. He stopped partly because his spiritual pressure was mostly depleted and partly because Chōjirō came to stop him.
"Vice-Captain Chōjirō, does Old Man Yama already know I've mastered a new technique?"
Kensei looked at Chōjirō suspiciously. Was the old man secretly observing me?
Chōjirō took out a handkerchief and wiped the sweat from his brow, sweeping his gaze over the now-bare training grounds. If he didn't ask this young man to leave, there might be nothing left of the training field.
"Lord Kensei, I trust your training today was fruitful?" Chōjirō's tone was exceedingly sincere, even carrying a hint of pleading. "If so, it is rather late now. Perhaps you should return and rest early, lest you exhaust yourself."
"Don't worry. We young people are best at pushing our bodies to the limit. I definitely won't get tired."
Seeing Kensei proudly pat his chest to prove his excellent physical condition, Chōjirō couldn't tell if he was truly foolish or just pretending. He could only continue, "It's mainly that the Captain-Commander is getting on in years and needs to rest early. Your presence here, Lord Kensei, might disturb his rest."
"Oh, I see." Kensei had an epiphany and patted Chōjirō's shoulder. "Old Chōjirō, you have it tough too. When I take over as Captain-Commander, I'll definitely approve a few hundred years of vacation for you to rest properly."
Kensei, not yet Yamamoto's successor, was already planning to clear out Yamamoto's old subordinates. Truly sinister.
Watching Kensei stride away, Chōjirō finally breathed a sigh of relief. Looking again at the nearly ruined training grounds, restoring all the dissipated equipment would require another significant expenditure.
Best to let the Captain-Commander handle this problem. After all, it was his student who caused it.
Chōjirō vanished from the spot, heading swiftly toward the First Division to report the training ground's condition to Yamamoto promptly.
After practicing all afternoon, Kensei could now instantly decompose objects within a 5-meter radius. Unfortunately, he had no living being to test it on. He wondered if Old Man Yama would agree to an application to go to Hueco Mundo.
Striding confidently on his way back to the dorm, Kensei was already imagining a single slash forcing even Yhwach to his knees, begging for his life.
I, Kensei Kenzuru, possess an invincible bearing!
Pushing open the dorm door, Kensei saw a familiar figure lying on the bed. So Sōsuke knows how to come back tonight.
"Sōsuke! Sōsuke! Are you asleep?"
Shaking awake a blue-haired man whose eyes were closed and breathing steady, Aizen, thinking something major had happened, nearly drew his sword on Kensei upon hearing such an inane question.
What kind of person asks that?
"You'd better have something important to tell me. Otherwise, I'll use Kyōka Suigetsu to make everyone in the Seireitei see you running around naked."
Hearing Aizen's threat, Kensei widened his eyes in disbelief. To think you, Sōsuke, with your honest appearance, would resort to such underhanded tactics! Even though he wouldn't fall under Kyōka Suigetsu's spell, others wouldn't know the naked runner wasn't him.
"Today, this genius exercised his brilliant brain slightly and developed an invincible technique. Listen carefully..."
As Kensei gave a talkative, detailed account, Aizen listened. To put it bluntly, Kensei's development process was a prime example of "I reckon...", and then he just made it work.
While there was some underlying principle—the technique was like using a fishhook to "hook away" a building's load-bearing wall, thus destroying the target with minimal force, and it was nearly impossible to dodge since ordinary people couldn't perceive the thread of condensed reishi—it just didn't look like a Soul Reaper's technique... Does this guy have some other kind of power?
Aizen looked at Kensei suspiciously, feeling an impulse to dissect him to find out.
"Let me draw a blood sample. I'll research it."
"Sōsuke, you're not jealous of my power and trying to dig out my 'Supreme Bone,' are you?"
"What nonsense! Give me your arm!"
Kensei obediently extended his arm, watching as Aizen unceremoniously inserted a needle and drew blood, making his mouth twitch. This guy really has no manners.
"Alright. I'll inform you if there are any results."
"Don't you want to learn this invincible technique from me?"
Seeing Kensei's eager-to-teach expression, Aizen could only warn him, "Don't use that technique lightly within the Seireitei. There was a former Captain of the Eleventh Division, Kenpachi Madarame, whose Zanpakutō ability was very similar to yours. He's now in Muken."
Kensei was slightly startled by Aizen's reminder, then promptly hooked an arm around his neck.
"Never thought you'd worry about me. You have some conscience after all. But I'm Old Man Yama's student. The Central 46 wouldn't dare do anything to me."
Besides, I have you as my safety net.
Pushing Kensei off, Aizen lay back down to rest. He'd been exhausted from experiments lately and finally managed to get some sleep, only to be woken up by this idiot.
Once the Hōgyoku is complete, I'll definitely reclaim the interest for all this torment from Kensei tenfold, a hundredfold.
***
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