Chapter 18

"Normally, improving physical strength should boost recovery too, but I've only just started converting Reiatsu..."

"It's strengthening me way too fast."

Haruto frowned and muttered to himself.

The changes in his body were very different from those in Kuchiki Sōjun's, but they were all for the better, so he didn't dwell on the details.

"I swallowed it whole because I trusted him."

"But if I get the chance, I really should ask Captain Kuchiki or Captain Hikifune about it someday."

Haruto didn't hurry to leave.

Opportunities like this were rare, so he planned to go through all the Kidō he already knew while he was here.

The match just now had already revealed a lot: from numbers one through sixty, he knew every lower- and intermediate-level Kidō by heart, without exception, as long as it appeared in the Shin'ō Academy textbooks or he had seen it in a secret manual.

However.

Rather than the intermediate Kidō everyone else favored, Haruto had four particular favorites with single-digit numbers:

"Hadō #1: Shō."

"Bakudō #1: Sai."

"Hadō #4: Byakurai."

"Bakudō #4: Hainawa."

They were simple to use, highly adaptable, quick to cast, and consumed little Reiatsu. There was no need to worry about the side effects of a failed Kidō, and they could be fine-tuned to suit the situation. In Haruto's hands, these four basic Kidō served distinct purposes: instant sneak attacks, close-range suppression, frontal assaults, and long-range containment.

Of course, their most important feature was how impressive they looked: all four could be cast with a single finger.

Besides, those four were the only Kidō Haruto had revealed at the academy. As for the flashy Kidō he had used while fighting Byakuya just now... he certainly wouldn't admit to anyone else that he had cast them.

Even with that kind of strength, Haruto considered himself fit only to get by in Rukongai.

The Gotei 13 of this era might not have measured up to its predecessors, but it was far stronger than it would be later. There were four known Captain-level figures with Second-Class Spiritual Pressure alone:

Retsu Unohana of the Fourth Division, Shunsui Kyōraku of the Eighth Division, Kirio Hikifune of the Twelfth Division, and Jūshirō Ukitake of the Thirteenth Division.

And then there were all those lieutenant, third-seat, and fourth-seat officers who concealed their strength and would be qualified to become captains a century later...

Haruto had an extremely clear understanding of his own weakness.

If he went all out with Kidō as his main tactic, Haruto could escape from a third- or fourth-seat officer with Sixth-Class Spiritual Pressure, emphasis on the sixth class. Against a lieutenant, he had no chance at all. Against a third- or fourth-seat officer from a stronger division, or an opponent of the same rank who specialized in a particular field, his chances would drop below twenty percent.

As for Seated Officers below those ranks, it depended on the circumstances:

Take Sixth Seat Mitarai of the Fifth Division and Haruto's teacher, Seventh Seat Mutsuki. Their

Rei'i Grades were both seventh class, the same as Haruto's, but in a fight, Haruto had a chance of defeating the former and would certainly lose to the latter.

There was no other reason.

That was just how powerful fully mastered Shunpo was.

"Too weak."

That was Haruto's assessment of himself.

"It's not like I lack methods for Jinzen meditation, but my Zanpakuto... I can't even use this Asauchi at all."

Haruto sat cross-legged on the ground again.

He had never neglected his training with his Asauchi or his Zanjutsu, but his Zanpakuto had remained silent to this day. In that respect, he was worse off than many of his classmates, who could at least occasionally hear their Zanpakuto's "sword cry" during meditation.

Haruto's Zanpakuto had never given him even the slightest response.

Zanpakuto had souls, and Haruto was certain the Asauchi in his hand was neither defective nor a lifeless object. That left only one possibility:

His soul was incompatible with the Zanpakuto's.

In other words.

The other half of the consciousness taking shape within this Zanpakuto should have belonged to the Rukongai soul Haruto had "merged" with.

Haruto had no good solution to the problem either.

Of a Soul Reaper's four abilities, the Zanpakuto was the strongest and most iconic. If he couldn't use it, his combat strength would undoubtedly be severely diminished.

So.

Haruto could only hope his guess was wrong and continue trying to communicate with it through persistent Jinzen meditation.

"It'll be hard to make a breakthrough with my Zanpakuto anytime soon."

"As for Hakuda and Shunpo..."

"The pill Byakuya gave me should help me quite a bit, but that's a long-term undertaking too."

Even though he wasn't particularly skilled in those three abilities, Haruto had never stopped training them.

"As for a way to quickly improve my combat strength..."

"It really has to be..."

"Advanced Hadō above number sixty."

Volume one: 011, the Kuchiki Clan chronicles

The Kuchiki Clan, Seireitei.

As the clan currently ranked second among the Four Great Noble Clans, the Kuchiki Clan occupied a considerable expanse of land within Seireitei.

Although the estate didn't look extravagant, the heritage evident throughout it was something no upper noble clan could match.

The few koi kept in the garden alone were worth enough to empty the coffers of a lower noble clan.

Along both sides of the pond, a refreshing breeze through the woods rustled the green bamboo. In a white-jade corridor, two figures, one old and one young, strolled beneath an archway without making the slightest unnecessary sound.

They were Ginrei Kuchiki, captain of the Sixth Division, and his eldest son and lieutenant, Kuchiki Sōjun.

"Sōjun."

Without looking back, Ginrei Kuchiki spoke to the mild-mannered "young man" behind him as he walked. Although Kuchiki Sōjun had married and fathered a child long ago, he still looked no different from a young man in his early twenties.

"Father."

Kuchiki Sōjun immediately stepped forward to catch up, and Kuchiki Ginrei continued:

"How has Kōga been doing lately?"

"Kōga?"

Kuchiki Sōjun paused for a moment before answering:

"The same as always."

Kōga Kuchiki was a son-in-law who had married into the Kuchiki Clan.

The marriage of a member of the Four Great Noble Clans required the approval of the Golden Seal Noble Assembly. Despite its unremarkable name, the assembly held a higher position in Soul Society than the Noble Assembly; even the famous Central 46 Chambers was an administrative and judicial body that answered to the Noble Assembly.

For Kōga Kuchiki to have married into the Kuchiki Clan with the Golden Seal Noble Assembly's approval, his talent as a Soul Reaper was unquestionably among the very best in Soul Society.

"Then do you think... Kōga shows any inclination to compete for the position of clan head?"

Ginrei Kuchiki had asked about an inclination rather than an intention, and that alone spoke volumes.

"How could he?"

Kuchiki Sōjun immediately objected.

"Kōga isn't that ambitious."

"Is that so..."

Ginrei Kuchiki responded noncommittally.

"Sōjun, you need to be more careful lately."

"Stay out of the Hueco Mundo Expeditionary Force's affairs. The force doesn't need another Vice-Captain-level fighter like you. Without Yamamoto's approval or a request from you to join, your name will never end up on the list."

The Hueco Mundo Expeditionary Force.

Whenever Hollow activity in Soul Society became too frequent, Seireitei would dispatch a team of Soul Reapers specifically to Hueco Mundo to clear them out, not only for the stability of Soul Society, but also to maintain the balance of the three worlds.

"Yes, Father."

Kuchiki Sōjun immediately nodded in agreement, then asked his father:

"Has something happened with Kōga?"

Ginrei Kuchiki had kept Kuchiki Sōjun well protected, but Sōjun didn't lack the political instincts necessary for a great noble, especially when his father had made matters so clear.

"Someone within the clan has been spreading 'rumors' about him."

Ginrei Kuchiki answered.

Although his son hadn't explained the basis for his judgment of Kōga Kuchiki, Kuchiki Ginrei had chosen without hesitation to trust him. As head of the Kuchiki Clan, he knew his heir's abilities well.

"Are they targeting Kōga?"

Kuchiki Sōjun asked.

"It's more likely they're targeting you... As your future right-hand man, Kōga stepped on the interests of quite a few people in the family when he joined us."

Ginrei Kuchiki explained to his son.

"At first, we brought him in so you'd have a more dependable subordinate in the future. There was no need for Kōga to be particularly politically astute."

Kuchiki Sōjun's health had improved only recently, and no announcement had been made to anyone besides Ginrei Kuchiki, Sōjun, and Byakuya. Kuchiki Ginrei hadn't originally intended to tell his grandson, but Kuchiki Sōjun hadn't kept it from his son.

Kōga had been brought in to "take the blows" for Sōjun in the first place... the kind of person who could serve a purpose whether he lived or died.

"But he's been rather too naive."

Kōga Kuchiki was an unquestionable genius as a Soul Reaper, but in noble circles, where hidden currents ran deep, he wasn't quite sharp enough.

"If you get the chance..."

"Give him a few pointers. Don't let him be used by someone with ulterior motives."

"Yes, Father."

The two men's brief conversation in the corridor had, without their noticing, decided the lives and deaths of many people both within and outside the clan.

The refreshing breeze through the woods died down.

"Where's Byakuya?"

Ginrei Kuchiki looked toward the dojo with its doors standing open. It was where Byakuya spent most of his time, whether practicing swordsmanship in the open space beside the pond or practicing Kidō in the dojo covered in barriers and defensive Kidō.

"He's gone to Shin'ō Academy."

Kuchiki Sōjun was quite aware of his son's whereabouts.

"Has the boy... changed his ways lately?"

Although Ginrei Kuchiki also involved himself in his grandson's education, he mostly left the details to Kuchiki Sōjun, the boy's father.

"Not really."

At the mention of his son, Kuchiki Sōjun's smile grew a little wider than before.

"He went to play with a friend."

Before he came to study at Shin'ō Academy, Byakuya had never found training particularly interesting.

"A friend?"

At those words, Ginrei Kuchiki's voice inevitably grew serious. For people of their station, that was something very difficult to hope for.

"The student who came to the house last time?"

"Yes."

Kuchiki Sōjun nodded.

"He dared to take part in a Live-Blade Match. I suppose he has some potential."

News of what had just happened at Shin'ō Academy had evidently already reached Ginrei Kuchiki's ears.