Hideaki Tsunayashiro raised his Zanpakuto high. With him at the center, nine willow branches spun clockwise like a giant cutting machine, aiming to slice Rei in two.
Clang, clang, clang!
Rei stood firm with his sword held crosswise. The steel willow branches struck the greatsword with crisp, ringing notes. Not only did they fail to hurt him, but several green leaves were even scraped off.
What's going on? Why does his Reiatsu keep getting stronger as we fight?
Hideaki Tsunayashiro was already somewhat shocked. He had noticed that Rei's Reiatsu had nearly doubled from its original level, and it was still growing stronger...
"After his Zanpakuto's Shikai, it turns into a double-edged sword with two white blood grooves on the blade. The sword absorbs the blood he sheds from his wounds, then boosts his Reiatsu? What a frightening ability!"
Kyōraku pressed down on his straw hat, an inscrutable look in his eyes. A keen observer, he had immediately worked out the ability of Rei's Shikai.
"Cough, cough. I see. It looks like he deliberately chose not to dodge those willow branches earlier. With his speed, he could clearly have dodged or blocked them all."
The sickly Jūshirō Ukitake was there too. As a captain of the Gotei 13, he was also concerned about this Captain-level duel.
On the rooftop, Kyōraku and Ukitake were analyzing Rei's ability while two lieutenants listened. Then Kuruyashiki suddenly appeared using Shunpo.
"Hey, weren't you on a mission? Did you suddenly come back because you were worried about your subordinate?"
"Heh, don't you often worry about your subordinates too, Captain Kyōraku...?"
Kyōraku teased Kuruyashiki, but Kuruyashiki refused to back down. He gave Kyōraku and the lieutenant behind him a suggestive look, making the old captain blush. There was no need to poke into his private affairs like that.
"I don't think you need to worry, Captain Kuruyashiki. Judging by the current situation, Lieutenant Nangong has the upper hand."
"That's true for now... but I've heard that Tsunayashiro fellow's Bankai is difficult to deal with! There's no way Rei could have learned Bankai so quickly, either!"
Ukitake tried to put Kuruyashiki at ease, but Kuruyashiki still didn't think Rei's chances were very good... Unfortunately, he was wrong about that. Rei really had learned it; he just hadn't shown it.
The distant training ground was surrounded by mounds of earth, and the only elevated spots were the few rooftops on this side. The five of them could see people on the other rooftops too. Those were the other captains.
The three most conspicuous were Kuchiki Ginrei, who had brought Kōga and Sōjun to watch. The First Division's lieutenant was also watching alone, as were the captains of the Third and Fourth Divisions, the Fifth Division's captain, and others...
By now, the blood flowing from Rei had filled the blood grooves halfway, and his Reiatsu had surpassed Hideaki Tsunayashiro's by a wide margin.
"The willow branches are too slow!"
After the branches missed several times, Rei's voice came from three meters behind Hideaki Tsunayashiro, followed by a plain, unadorned slash.
With the boost from his Reiatsu and sword aura, the three-meter distance might as well not have existed. Blood sprayed from Hideaki Tsunayashiro's back.
That blood was absorbed as well. The newly filled portion of the blood grooves was lighter in color, a pale red rather than the dark red of the earlier portion.
The pale red portion came from Hideaki's blood. It soon disappeared as it was converted into healing power that closed Rei's wounds.
The captains who noticed this were even more shocked. Despite all their experience, this was their first time seeing an ability that could heal its user's wounds with an enemy's blood...
A wound so deep that bone showed had been cut into Hideaki Tsunayashiro's back. Enduring the intense pain, he used Shunpo to put some distance between them.
Rei did not pursue him. His wounds had healed, and without more blood to feed it, Blood Drink no longer boosted his Reiatsu.
"Huff, huff... Once your wounds heal, it stops increasing your Reiatsu? In other words, the more severely you're hurt, the stronger you become, and when you wound your enemy, you can heal your own injuries. Is that right?"
Hideaki Tsunayashiro took several heavy breaths. Though he had phrased it as a question, he was already quite certain.
He was Captain-level, after all, and had at least that much observational skill. Otherwise, how could he have remained a captain for so long? Someone would have killed him through underhanded means long ago.
"Mm, more or less. So shouldn't you be using Bankai now? Otherwise, you really won't get another chance!"
Rei gave a cold smile. The blood grooves on his blade were not yet full; they were only half-filled. Once full, his Reiatsu would double again, making it four times what it had been before Shikai.
"Bankai? Nangong Ling, let me ask you: you toss the word Bankai around so casually... can you use it?"
This was what concerned Hideaki Tsunayashiro most. Nangong Ling's base Reiatsu was too strong, enough to suppress him completely. After Shikai, the gap had not narrowed but widened instead.
"No! I don't need Bankai to kill you!"
Rei's answer was arrogant, and he had made no effort to lower his voice. After some of the Soul Reapers with sharper hearing relayed his words, whispers spread through the audience.
"Is that so? Then I understand what you're capable of. You came to challenge a captain relying on your own Reiatsu and your Zanpakuto's Shikai ability? Don't think your Shikai has no weakness..."
Hideaki Tsunayashiro was not surprised by Rei's answer. After all, how many years had the other man possessed a Soul Reaper's powers? He couldn't possibly have learned Bankai so quickly.
If Rei could use Bankai too, then he, Hideaki Tsunayashiro, might truly meet his end here.
He'll definitely let me wound him to increase his power. As long as I don't let him wound me, he won't be able to heal himself. Then he definitely won't last long!
After thinking it over briefly, Hideaki Tsunayashiro decided to end the battle with his ultimate move. In truth, he felt he couldn't finish Rei off at all without it.
"Let me show you what a captain is truly capable of..." After a pause, Hideaki Tsunayashiro plunged his Zanpakuto, transformed into willow branches, into the ground and roared, "Bankai: Nine Willow Forest Burial!"
Green Reiatsu radiated from him. The earth split open, and enormous trees shot up from the ground. Rei kept retreating to evade them.
By the time the surrounding landscape had completely changed, nine great willows had fully formed. Each was at least twenty meters tall, with a trunk over a meter in diameter. They stood in a row facing Rei, countless glowing branches and leaves swaying in the wind.
Over in the audience seats on the hillside:
"Th-this is Captain Tsunayashiro's Bankai? It's my first time seeing it."
"What incredible Reiatsu. It's coming through the Kidō to the outside."
"No! I-I can't breathe. I'm going to..."
The Captain-level Bankai left the watching squad members stunned. More than ninety percent of them had never seen a Bankai before.
Quite a few girls had only recently become Soul Reapers and could not withstand the immense Reiatsu coming through the Kidō Barrier. They left the viewing area to return to their barracks and rest.
"He actually used Bankai!"
Kōga was genuinely startled too. He was arrogant because his Zanpakuto's ability was powerful and he was strong himself; he had fully reached Captain-level strength.
But Nangong Ling was different. He was only a lieutenant who had joined recently and couldn't even use Bankai, yet he had managed to be the first to force a Captain-level opponent to use it.
"Captain Nangong is very strong. In Hueco Mundo, he could clear away Gillians like foot soldiers without even using Shikai, and he was unharmed after taking an Adjuchas's Cero head-on! And he goes to the Menos Grande Forest to train every few days..."
Sōjun held Rei in extremely high regard simply because Rei was so strong. Moreover, having seen Rei use Kidō, he didn't think Rei was certain to lose.
Ginrei Kuchiki heard his son praising Rei, while his son-in-law beside him showed a faint competitive streak beneath his disdain... If Nangong Ling wins, perhaps I can use him to temper Kōga.
The old schemer was at it again. Kuchiki Ginrei had high hopes for Kōga and wanted to add another Captain-level fighter to the Kuchiki Clan, so he tried every possible way to train him...
"The great willows are his Bankai. I wonder if they can move. If they can't..."
Before Rei could finish that thought, one of the great willows opposite him suddenly sank into the ground, then appeared behind him.
"Heh, if a Bankai couldn't move, what use would it be? Die!"
The great willow had spoken, and in Hideaki Tsunayashiro's voice. He had transformed into a great willow.
This Bankai could move rapidly through the earth, but it could not attack beyond the reach of its branches, nor could it leave the ground. The only good way to evade it was to take to the sky.
Once you flew up, neither side could hurt the other, and the opponent would release Bankai to reduce the drain on himself...
Hundreds of willow branches lashed at him. They attacked at about the same speed as they had in Shikai, but there were far too many. Rei swung his greatsword again and again, trying to cut them apart.
But the branches were exceptionally tough. They were not willow branches at all, but countless whips formed from Hideaki Tsunayashiro's Reiatsu. After Bankai, his Reiatsu had grown stronger again, once more surpassing Rei's.
This was only the first tree. A second and a third had also closed in, though they did not attack as quickly as the tree Hideaki Tsunayashiro inhabited.
Rei was struck three times in succession, blood pouring down his back. He used Blood-Coagulating Slash to scatter the attack of several hundred branches, taking the opportunity to fill the blood grooves with his own blood.
Boom!
Once the blood grooves were full, a pillar of red Reiatsu shot into the sky, temporarily blasting the attacking branches back. Rei released an overwhelmingly powerful Reiatsu that even seemed to gain a slight edge over Hideaki Tsunayashiro's again.
The chain at the end of the sword's hilt also continued to lengthen, wrapping around Rei's body and protecting three vital points of his soul body: his heart, Saketsu, and Hakusui.
Dozens of branches attacked at once again. Rei swung his greatsword, slashing repeatedly. With his increased Reiatsu, he could sever the branches with a single stroke.
Rei did not notice that the severed branches dissolved into Reishi, while the leaves attached to them drifted to the ground and remained motionless even when he moved over and stepped on them!
After Rei used Blood-Coagulating Slash to break apart a spiral drill formed from over a hundred willow branches, the slash continued onward, still carrying enough force to strike a willow trunk.
Unfortunately, several hundred shorter branches formed a shield and blocked it.
That was when Rei made a discovery. The willow branches are covered in Reiatsu, so does that mean the trunks are even more vulnerable? In that case... I'll cut down your trunk!
Rei went on a rampage. After swinging another Blood-Coagulating Slash to scatter the branches' attack, he fired Blood-Coagulating Piercer straight into the willow that had spoken earlier.
"You found me? But you're too late! Ten Thousand Leaves Dance Together!"
Hideaki Tsunayashiro spoke again, but this time from another willow. He could move instantly between the trees, and as his words fell, the willow leaves scattered across the ground began to move.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
A tornado of willow leaves surrounded Rei, then swallowed him up... This move was just like Byakuya's Senbonzakura in later years, except the willow leaves were completely visible, while Senbonzakura could only be seen clearly when sunlight refracted off it.