Death God Transformation

In the underground space of the Urahara Shop, Urahara and Yoruichi stood on high alert. Beside them, Kukaku Shiba had already been injured by the Hollowfied Tsuna, leaving only Urahara and Yoruichi as effective combatants.

"Kisuke, use your power if necessary," Yoruichi said. Her speed could no longer suppress Hollowfied Tsuna; with that eerie yellow flame, Hollowfied Tsuna had adapted to his enhanced body and fully matched Yoruichi's pace.

"I understand." Urahara glanced at his Red Princess. If they still couldn't suppress Hollowfied Tsuna, the only option would be to alter the terrain to limit Tsuna's attacks, just like they had remodeled this underground space.

Hurry up and finish, Sawada-sensei.

Just as Urahara raised Red Princess to block Hollowfied Tsuna's assault once more, the Hollowfied Tsuna before them vanished, replaced by a violent Reiatsu erupting behind them.

Damn it. Urahara tried to move, but Yoruichi was faster. The compressed, violent Reiatsu exploded across her body as she unleashed a Flash Cry punch, barely blocking Hollowfied Tsuna's sneak attack claws. But Yoruichi couldn't stop the blue-green long hair that Hollowfied Tsuna lashed out with from behind.

In that thousand-jun moment, Urahara's words were already at his lips: "Bankai..."

Suddenly, Hollowfied Tsuna's movements stopped. A series of cracking sounds came from his body. Urahara pulled Yoruichi back, and then they saw a white Hollow-shaped mold peel off Tsuna, shattering into fragments on the ground.

Tsuna's small form emerged, clad in a white suit with a black outer layer and black tie. At his lower back hung two short blades horizontally—one black, one white, one above the other, their hilts positioned left and right. His face was handsome yet stylish.

Beyond that, Tsuna wore a half-mask covering his upper face, with an inverted blue crown emblem beneath the left eye.

Tsuna removed the mask and opened his eyes. Seeing Urahara and the others on guard before him, he asked dazedly, "Did I... succeed?"

Urahara Kisuke straightened his clothes slightly, walked over to Tsuna, crouched to circle around him, and covered half his face with a folding fan. "Technically, you succeeded, but what's with the style of that Shinigami Uniform?"

Tsuna only then noticed his attire. In the inner world, he'd been too busy chatting with Decimo and Byakuran to realize that Decimo had given him not a traditional Shinigami Uniform, but the suit Sawada Tsunayoshi wore when fighting as a mafia representative.

"Looks more like the Western style," Yoruichi commented.

"The West... the West Bureau?" Urahara muttered, deciding not to dwell on it. His gaze fell on Tsuna's two blades. "Another pair of Zanpakuto? That makes three pairs now, doesn't it?"

"Kisuke, open your eyes and look closely. His swords are different. Strictly speaking, they can't be called a pair of Zanpakuto." Yoruichi stared at Tsuna. "Kid, do you know what's up with your swords?"

Tsuna smiled sheepishly and played dumb, scratching his head. "Huh? Aren't all Zanpakuto like this? I just learned their names and got kicked out."

Of course, Tsuna knew what his swords were. One black, one white—didn't they symbolize his Shinigami power and Hollow's power?

As for the other two pairs Urahara mentioned, they belonged to Shunsui Kyōraku, captain of the 8th Division, and Jūshirō Ukitake, captain of the 13th Division in the Soul Society. But strictly speaking, theirs weren't true pairs. Shunsui Kyōraku's Katen Kyōkotsu had Kyōkotsu born from Katen through a special method, while Jūshirō Ukitake's Sōgyo no Kotowari had a chain connecting the hilts of its two blades.

So neither Shunsui Kyōraku's nor Jūshirō Ukitake's Zanpakuto were true pairs in the strict sense. In contrast, Sawada Tsunayoshi's two blades, born from two different powers, were genuine paired Zanpakuto.

Yoruichi didn't fully believe Tsuna's words. This kid, clearly showing maturity beyond his years, was definitely hiding something.

"It seems Sawada-sensei knows his Zanpakuto's names, so the third-stage training can be canceled," Urahara said.

Tsuna shot Urahara a glare. He just wanted to see Tsuna's Shikai, but had to go in circles. "By the way, where's Kukaku-sensei? I don't see him."

"Cough, cough. I'm here. Congratulations, Sawada-sensei."

Kukaku Shiba walked over, clutching his left arm. His right hand was using Kaidō to heal himself. He'd been injured earlier while resisting Hollowfied Tsuna—first a hand injury that made Kido casting difficult, then a punch from Hollowfied Tsuna that caused internal damage.

"Sorry, Kukaku-sensei, for getting you hurt." Tsuna immediately realized his Hollowfication had caused the injury.

"It's fine. Don't worry about it."

"No, please let me do something for you."

Tsuna drew the black Zanpakuto from behind. This blade was pure black—not just the hilt, but the tsuba and edge as well.

Seeing this, Urahara quickly stepped in front of Tsuna, waving his hands frantically to stop him. "Sawada-sensei, Kukaku's already injured. You don't need to give him another cut, do you?"

"That's right. It's just a minor wound. I'll recover in a little time," Kukaku Shiba also refused hastily. He'd been prepared for injury when he joined this endeavor.

"It's fine. I didn't say I was going to cut you." Tsuna twirled the blade and spoke the release command: "Illuminate the sky, Sun!"

The black short blade transformed. A yellow glow enveloped Tsuna's hands and feet, and a pair of white fingerless gloves and thick white combat boots appeared on him. Both gloves and boots bore the yellow Vongola Family Emblem.

When Decimo had refined Tsuna's Shinigami Uniform in the inner world, Tsuna had learned all his Shikai release commands. Like Fullbring, by chanting different world words, Tsuna could gain abilities of different attributes. What he used now was the Sun-attribute Vongola equipment: the Sun Gloves and Propulsion Boots.

Among the Sky Seven Attribute Flames, the Sun attribute's characteristic was activation.

Activation had different effects depending on usage. Normally, it could stimulate cell activity, accelerating cell growth for healing.

Tsuna opened his palm and released a sun-like radiance toward Kukaku Shiba's injury. This was Tsuna's first time using this ability. His Sun-attribute Fullbring equipment was purely for attack, with no healing function.

The sunlight bathed Kukaku Shiba. He felt a warm sensation all over; his wound itched as it healed, and even his internal injuries began to recover.

After a moment of sunlight, Kukaku Shiba had already lowered his hand from the wound. Visibly, his injury had fully healed, so Tsuna withdrew the Sun-attribute flame.

Kukaku Shiba stretched. Not just his arm, but even his internal injuries had recovered. The speed was far faster than his own Kaidō, though a side effect was that his body hair had grown much thicker—his beard now completely covered his neck.

With Kukaku Shiba's treatment done, Tsuna sheathed his Zanpakuto. Urahara stared at Tsuna's blade, lost in thought.

"A Kaidō-type Zanpakuto? But that Shikai form doesn't look like a recovery type at all. If anything, it resembles the equipment form of a certain friend of mine," Urahara commented.

"Right, that's clearly a Hakuda-type Zanpakuto!"

Yoruichi's eyes gleamed with envy. If her Zanpakuto had that form, she wouldn't have hidden it away unused.

"Hey, kid, Shikai now and let's have a couple of rounds." Yoruichi cracked her knuckles. Earlier, afraid of hurting Tsuna, she'd held back even with Flash Cry. She couldn't wait to beat up the lucky Tsuna.

"It's already late, Yoruichi. Let Sawada-sensei go home first. Starting tomorrow, we'll help him get familiar with his Shikai's power," Urahara Kisuke interceded.

With Urahara's send-off, Tsuna hurried toward home, his mind racing to come up with a new club excuse to justify his late return.

"Kisuke, you're just letting him go? Those twin blades of his feel strange to me." Woman's intuition told Yoruichi that Tsuna's all-white Zanpakuto was suspicious. That white reminded her of the Hollow they'd just fought.

"Well, no rush. We'll have plenty of time to interact with Sawada-sensei. We'll get the information we want eventually." Urahara's deep eyes were full of thought. From the tip of the iceberg Tsuna's words revealed, Urahara judged that Tsuna knew a lot more.

On the way home, Tsunayoshi silently calculated his abilities. From the state of his inner world, his Shinigami power was the adult Sawada Tsunayoshi—that is, the Decimo—while his Hollow's power was Byakuran.

But this Decimo and Byakuran were clearly different from the ones in his memory of Reborn!. Both of them, like him, possessed the full power of the Sky Attribute flames.

Broadly speaking, the Decimo and Byakuran didn't each represent themselves alone; rather, they embodied the combined strength of everyone in that teaching building.

In other words, Tsunayoshi's Shinigami power wasn't the Decimo himself, but the Vongola Family represented by the Decimo. Correspondingly, his Hollow's power was the True Funeral Wreaths and the Millefiore Family represented by Byakuran.

After realizing this, seven pieces of information appeared in Tsunayoshi's mind—the complete Shikai incantations for his Shinigami power.

Tsunayoshi's forehead broke out in a sweat. He hadn't expected the Decimo to hold back, not telling him all the incantations directly. That was why, when he'd used the Sun equipment before, he'd had to picture Ryohei Sasagawa in his mind to know the Sun's release phrase.

Now, though, knowing all the release incantations, he didn't even need to draw his blade. He could simply chant the release phrase and use the corresponding attribute's Shikai power.

Devouring All, Sky, Equipment: X Gloves, Hyper Dying Will Mode.

Raging Tempest, Storm, Equipment: C.A.I System.

Cleansing All, Rain, Equipment: Bamboo Sword Shigure Kintoki.

Illuminating the Sky, Sun, Equipment: Sun Gloves, Propulsion Shoes.

Mighty Strike, Lightning, Equipment: Twin Short Horns.

Pursuing One's Path, Cloud, Equipment: Floating Cloud Tonfas.

Elusive Phantom, Mist, Equipment: Trident.