Bankai Training

Within the forest of blades in the Zanpakuto space,

Ye Wuyue held Shinso and warily watched his surroundings. The enormous swords in the blade forest reflected his panicked figure like mirrors.

Suddenly, a gap opened in the blade forest behind Ye Wuyue.

Not good!

Ye Wuyue inwardly cursed and turned around. A long sword shot straight toward him, its blade extending more than ten meters.

Ye Wuyue hurriedly held his sword horizontally before him. The extended blade tip struck his sword with a piercing screech. Though he blocked the attack, he was knocked back nearly ten meters. Behind him stood an upright blade gleaming coldly—he'd been only an inch away from being sliced apart.

Fortunately, Shinso hadn't controlled this blade forest to attack him. It was merely using it to obstruct his vision. Otherwise, he probably wouldn't have lasted even a minute.

The blade forest shifted, and Shinso's figure vanished once more.

Ye Wuyue was currently holding Shinso while fighting Shinso, who was also holding Shinso. Yet he hadn't landed a single attack on Shinso. Within this blade forest, he couldn't even catch sight of Shinso, while Shinso's condition for granting him Bankai was to defeat him here.

Damn it, I can't keep being this passive.

Ye Wuyue gritted his teeth, leaped up, and paused in midair before jumping again. His figure rose higher and higher, bit by bit.

This was a way of using spiritual power. By gathering the spiritual power within his body beneath his feet, he could create a foothold in the air. This allowed him to hover and even walk through the sky. Byakuya Kuchiki and Renji Abarai had used this method after arriving in the World of the Living, though the technique seemed to have no particular name. For convenience, Ye Wuyue called it Air Step.

Using Air Step, Ye Wuyue was about to fly out of the blade forest. He intended to use the opportunity to locate Shinso, but the next second, the entire blade forest abruptly rose another ten meters. His view was once again filled with cold, gleaming blades, and Shinso remained completely out of sight.

"Damn it! Shinso, you're ruthless!"

His attempt to fly out of the blade forest and find Shinso had failed. With no other choice, Ye Wuyue returned to the ground.

"Fine! If you won't come out, I'll force you out!"

Looking at the endless blades before him, Ye Wuyue gave up on slowly searching for Shinso within them. It was completely meaningless.

"Ruler of the heavens! Mask of flesh and blood, myriad things, fluttering wings—bearers of the name of man! Upon the wall of blue fire, inscribe twin lotuses. In the abyss of raging flames, await in the distant heavens. Hado #73: Twin Lotus Blue Firefall!"

After finishing the incantation, Ye Wuyue released a vast burst of flames from his hand, blasting toward the mass of upright blades before him.

BOOM!!

Ye Wuyue's Hado blasted a massive hole through the blade forest, and Shinso's figure flashed past.

"Don't run!"

Ye Wuyue immediately chased after him as the blade forest shifted and began closing again.

"Fuck!!!"

Ye Wuyue was on the verge of breaking down. He had fought Shinso here three times already, yet he'd never touched Shinso from beginning to end. Every time, he stumbled about in the blade forest before Shinso defeated him with a single strike from some corner.

"Hado #88: Hiryū Gekizoku Shinten Raihō!"

Ye Wuyue no longer cared about conserving spiritual power. He directly unleashed an incantationless Hado #88. Right now, he only wanted to touch Shinso first.

The massive pillar of lightning once again blasted apart the blades blocking Ye Wuyue's path. Beyond the blade forest, Shinso's figure appeared before him for the first time.

"Shoot to kill, Shinso!"

Excited, Ye Wuyue shouted the Shikai command. Shinso in his hand extended and shot toward the manifested Shinso before him.

"Shoot to kill, Shinso!"

The manifested Shinso smiled and spoke the same Shikai command. The sword in his hand instantly extended, striking after Ye Wuyue yet arriving first and immediately piercing Ye Wuyue's shoulder.

"You still need to improve, Wuyue." The manifested Shinso pulled out the long sword, and blood immediately poured from Ye Wuyue's wound.

Shinso tossed away the sword in his hand. The moment it hit the ground, it transformed into an enormous upright blade.

"Ahhh!!! This is pissing me off! Why do you keep hiding? Can't you just come out and fight me fair and square?" Ye Wuyue threw down the sword in his hand. Green light flowed from his hand as he used a healing technique to treat himself while complaining to Shinso.

Shinso's game of hide-and-seek had completely shattered his composure. He could only wait for Shinso to attack and had no initiative at all.

"Sigh, we've fought four times already. Haven't you understood my intentions yet?" Shinso sighed, looking somewhat disappointed.

He continued, "I'm not a Zanpakuto meant for direct attacks in the first place. Hiding in the shadows and killing with one strike the moment I attack, swift as a venomous snake—that is my specialty. I fought you repeatedly because I wanted you to realize this, yet you didn't understand it at all and even blamed me.

"Besides, didn't you still lose when I came out and fought you head-on at the end?"

Shinso's words made Ye Wuyue fall into thought. He realized Shinso was indeed right. Shinso's Shikai extended its blade, which truly wasn't very useful in a direct confrontation. Once an opponent understood that ability, it became even less effective.

But if Shinso was used while hidden in the shadows, things would be entirely different. Shinso's Shikai allowed it to attack from a great distance. As long as he determined the enemy's position from concealment, he could directly extend the blade and pierce them through. At Shinso's speed, an enemy would find it extremely difficult to react.

So this was Shinso's proper use? Ye Wuyue only understood it today. Before, he'd thought Shinso was meant to take advantage of its blade length to trade blows with enemies. Going further than that, all he'd considered was binding opponents with Bakudo before attacking them with Shinso.

"Ahem, I admit I was a little too loud just now. I apologize to you now. I'm sorry!" Ye Wuyue said, bowing to Shinso in apology.

"Heh, it's fine. I only told you because you've always worked hard. Want to try again?" Shinso waved a hand, smiled, and invited Ye Wuyue.

"Not for now. There are still two more trials waiting for me." Ye Wuyue shook his head and turned toward an area to the left of the blade forest, filled with cherry blossom trees.

Amid a grove of cherry blossom trees stood a warrior wearing a fierce mask and a cherry blossom ornament on his head.

With a casual wave of his hand, hundreds of millions of cherry blossom petals fell from the trees and swirled around him. Every petal gleamed coldly, sharp as a blade.

"Come." Senbonzakura stood with his hands behind his back as he spoke to Ye Wuyue.

Ye Wuyue tightened his grip on his sword and charged toward Senbonzakura...

A while later, Ye Wuyue dragged his exhausted consciousness out of the Zanpakuto space. His three Zanpakuto had taken turns brutally beating him, and he hadn't been able to resist at all. Bankai now felt impossibly far away...

The next day, all the graduates in Iruka's class sat in the classroom discussing ninja squads. After a while, Iruka began reading out the team assignments.

"...Team 7:"