Teaching the Three Rookies

Ascension to Godhood: You will become a god.

For Sosuke Aizen, whom the author had personally certified as having the trait "God," this ability seemed only to be expected.

Gaoyu was naturally very eager to get his hands on this ability. He couldn't wait to have it, but Sosuke Aizen was an even more dangerous man than Gin Ichimaru.

Gin Ichimaru's favorability toward him was at least in the single digits, while Sosuke Aizen's favorability toward him was...

0!

In other words, Aizen had no favorable impression of him at all.

Favorability could be negative, too. He had even checked the favorability of someone who disliked him, and that person's score was -20.

But Sosuke Aizen didn't hate him or like him. His score was simply a neutral 0.

Just as a god wouldn't care about a mortal, no matter how kind Aizen seemed on the outside, he wouldn't feel anything for Gaoyu.

To Aizen, Gaoyu must be like an ant. He was far inferior to Renji, Kira, and Hinamori. At least those three had made Aizen think they might be "useful."

As for Gaoyu, he was like an ant and wouldn't attract Aizen's attention at all.

Getting the ability of someone like that would be incredibly difficult.

But Aizen's ability was truly powerful. Once he used it, he could become a god. How powerful was that? How tempting!

No, he had to find a way to befriend Aizen!

Sorry, Soul Society, but I'm joining Aizen's side!

Gaoyu fell into deep thought.

As for the other seated officers, even those who hadn't been named in the original work all had abilities of their own.

Gaoyu naturally wanted to obtain their abilities, too. So after training for a while, he went to chat with the Sixth Seat, who was in charge of training them.

The Sixth Seat was named Toru Tanimoto, and his ability was "Destruction Death Ray."

Destruction Death Ray: Fires a black destructive beam from the finger. The beam ignores defenses and pierces through the target's body.

This was the offensive ability Gaoyu needed most right now. Tanimoto was also his squad leader, and they already got along fairly well. After chatting with him for a little while, Gaoyu raised Tanimoto's favorability to sixty.

Then he got his hands on the one-time-use Destruction Death Ray.

When work was over, he happily headed home, picking up some liquor along the way.

Gaoyu's family had once been a lower-ranking noble house, so their home was quite large. It even had an enormous front yard, where two trees had been planted. One was...

Well, both were persimmon trees.

The house was large, but Gaoyu lived there alone.

Carrying food and drinks, Gaoyu returned home and turned on the lights.

It wasn't dark yet, but turning on the lights was absolutely necessary.

A group of Quincies were hiding in the shadows of Seireitei, spying on everyone day and night. The Quincies probably wouldn't pay attention to a nobody like him, but the possibility that he might be watched still made Gaoyu feel very unsafe.

So he made a habit of walking where there were no shadows. Once home, he turned on the lights to make sure there wasn't a single patch of darkness around him.

From now on, he'd keep the lights on even while he slept.

After getting home, Gaoyu took out a book on Kidō techniques and began reading.

As a noble's descendant, his original self had wanted to restore the family's fortunes. Unfortunately, his talent was what it was; no matter how hard he tried, he was still mediocre.

Still, there were plenty of study books at home.

About half an hour after he returned, Renji arrived with Kira and Hinamori. Gaoyu welcomed them warmly.

"Come on, come on. I bought a jug of liquor, so let's have some together."

Gaoyu happily brought out the food and liquor he'd bought, then said to Hinamori, "Hinamori, if you don't drink, I also bought some Torii Monaka especially for you."

"Torii Monaka?" Momo Hinamori's eyes lit up. "Wow, that's really expensive! Senpai, didn't you spend too much?"

Torii Monaka was a popular snack in Soul Society, rather like liquor-filled chocolates. The filling was made from high-quality lees.

It tasted delicious, but it also had a high alcohol content. If you couldn't hold your liquor, one piece might be enough to knock you out.

"Senpai Gaoyu's got plenty of money, Hinamori, so you don't need to worry about him," Renji said casually. "But isn't it a little bad to train after drinking?"

"Of course. That's why I'll give you some pointers first."

With that, Gaoyu activated Strict Teacher, Talented Student. While it was active, he could easily see what others needed to do to improve.

Anyone he taught also received a powerful learning buff. The ability lasted for three days, and Gaoyu was sure that while it was active, he'd win the friendship of both Hinamori and Kira.

Gaoyu led the three of them into the yard and began teaching.

"Zanpaku-tō, Kidō, Hakuda, and Shunpo are the most basic skills of a Soul Reaper. But every Soul Reaper has things they're good at and things they aren't. Renji, I know you best, so I know you're not good at Kidō."

Gaoyu began with Renji. "So first, I'll teach you how to improve your swordsmanship."

"You two can watch, too. Everyone has their own way of improving, but you can learn from other people's strengths. There'll be plenty in what I teach Renji that you can learn from as well."

The three nodded excitedly. Renji drew his Zanpakuto. He hadn't learned Shikai yet, so it still looked like an ordinary Zanpakuto.

Once Gaoyu activated his ability, he immediately spotted some mistakes in Renji's technique. He began teaching him seriously.

Under Gaoyu's guidance, many things Renji hadn't understood at school finally clicked. Only then did Renji realize that his senior, who patrolled with him, really did have some hidden talents.

Even the teachers at school, some of whom had once been seated officers, had never been able to pinpoint his problems so precisely!

Renji's favorability: 73

In a short time, Renji's favorability had already risen above seventy. Gaoyu was secretly thrilled, and threw himself into the lesson with even greater enthusiasm.

After Renji, he taught Izuru Kira and Momo Hinamori. Kira was the top student in Class 1 and a rare All-rounder, excelling in every area.

So Gaoyu taught him all four skills: Zanpaku-tō, Kidō, Hakuda, and Shunpo. Hinamori focused mainly on Kidō, and Gaoyu also taught her a little healing Kidō.

As he taught them, Gaoyu realized that not only were his three students improving rapidly—he was benefiting immensely from the lessons himself!