News of the Visored

Some time later, Tsunayoshi brought Tatsuki, Ichigo, and Orihime to the Urahara Shop.

Under Tsunayoshi's guidance, Tatsuki and Ichigo had already grasped the basics of their Fullbring. Now they came to the Urahara Shop specifically to ask Urahara Kisuke for help—to give them some practical combat training so they could fully master their abilities.

As the saying goes, you can't bear to beat up your own people, so you hand them over to someone else. Even someone as strong as future Renji had his daughter trained by Ikkaku Madarame, didn't he?

Tatsuki's Fullbring looked somewhat like she was wearing a set of karate gi draped over her body, except the gi seemed a bit illusory, much like the way Ichigo's Shinigami uniform appeared hazy when he first learned Fullbring in the original story.

Tatsuki's Fullbring was easy to understand. Having practiced karate since childhood, it was only natural for her to create a form based on her karate gi. But the sight of her short hair and that karate gi always made Tsunayoshi hallucinate a fighting game character named Kato Makoto.

No, Tatsuki looked far prettier than Kato Makoto—at least in Tsunayoshi's eyes.

As for Ichigo's Fullbring, it was completely different from the original story. Without any experience as a Substitute Shinigami, Kurosaki Ichigo's Fullbring didn't resemble a Shinigami at all.

Ichigo's initial Fullbring was a longbow formed from two streams of black flame. It was just a bow—no string, no arrows. When he trained with Tatsuki, he got thoroughly beaten. The longbow gave him almost no combat boost and actually restricted his movements.

Now Ichigo was holding in a breath of frustration, waiting for his Fullbring to fully develop so he could take back all the humiliation he'd suffered at Tatsuki's hands.

As for Orihime Inoue, after having Reishi infused into her body, she could now see spirits. Under Ichigo's guidance, she had also learned to control some of her Reiatsu, though she was still far from establishing her own Fullbring.

Why was Ichigo teaching Orihime? After the gathering at the Kurosaki Residence, Masaki Kurosaki had taken pity on the poor girl. At her strong insistence, Orihime had moved into the Kurosaki home.

It was just like when Masaki had lived at the Ishida Residence back then. Masaki hadn't liked Ishida Ryuuken at the time, but Orihime clearly had feelings for Ichigo.

After Orihime moved in, Masaki Kurosaki wore a smug smile whenever she looked at Orihime. To Tsunayoshi, it looked exactly like a mother-in-law sizing up her future daughter-in-law.

Orihime had come to the Urahara Shop this time because she was going to meet Sora Inoue. Thanks to Urahara's technological infusion, Sora could now take human form. With the Hollow hole on his stomach covered up, and aside from the mask fragment on his neck, he looked almost like a normal person.

But Sora's current strength wasn't impressive—only at the level of an ordinary Shinigami, not even a seated officer. Still, that was enough for him and Orihime to meet normally.

"Hey, hedgehog head, why'd you bring so many people this time?" That disrespectful tone could only belong to Jinta. He was sweeping the entrance and immediately spotted Sawada Tsunayoshi.

"Call out that shady shopkeeper and tell him there's business," Tsunayoshi said. This time he came to the Urahara Shop to do business—he planned to order their training services. He couldn't keep freeloading off Urahara Kisuke forever.

"Oh ho ho, rare for young Tsunayoshi to want to do business with my little shop." Urahara walked out of the shop with an exaggerated tone. Until now, their mutual help had been based on the intel and suggestions Tsunayoshi provided.

After explaining his intentions, Urahara led the group to the underground training space. Before Ichigo and the others could even marvel at the vastness of the space, Orihime spotted Sora Inoue wearing an ordinary kimono.

Orihime dashed over to Sora like the wind. Ignoring the siblings' reunion, Urahara had already arranged the day's training services.

Tatsuki and Ichigo's trainers were Koume and Jinta. Koume wore boxing protective gear, while Jinta kept it simple—he just carried a baseball bat and started trash-talking Ichigo.

"Tsunayoshi, you sure this brat's supposed to train me?" Ichigo asked irritably, pointing at Jinta. The moment they met, Jinta had already given him a nickname, and his tone rubbed Ichigo the wrong way.

"Hey, orange head! Watch out or I'll knock you flying with one swing!" Jinta showed Ichigo no respect, raising his bat and pointing it at him in provocation.

"Damn brat..."

Compared to the bickering between Ichigo and Jinta, the atmosphere between Tatsuki and Koume was much more peaceful. Still, Tatsuki hesitated when she saw how young Koume was, unsure if she should go all out.

"Tsunayoshi, this..."

Tsunayoshi saw through Tatsuki's concern at a glance. He called out loudly to both of them: "Don't underestimate Koume and Jinta. Right now, either one of them could take both of you on without any problem. Don't hold back—go all out."

With Tsunayoshi's assurance, Ichigo and Tatsuki finally began training. Ichigo swung his black longbow, clashing it against Jinta's baseball bat, while Tatsuki, clad in her illusory white karate gi, engaged Koume in battle.

Compared to Ichigo's pure melee weapon clash, Tatsuki's fight was much more intense. Her punches and kicks could channel Reiatsu into attacks, occasionally blasting small craters into the ground.

"Young Tsunayoshi, you didn't come all this way just to do business with me, did you?" Urahara sat at a distance with Tsunayoshi, watching the sparring pairs and making small talk.

"As expected of the shopkeeper." Tsunayoshi shifted his stance, donning his unique suit-style Shinigami uniform. He drew his sword in reverse—not the black Zanpakuto this time, but the pure white one. "Shopkeeper, are you familiar with the power of Hollowfication?"

Seeing Tsunayoshi draw that white Zanpakuto, Urahara understood his intent. He had long suspected the nature of Tsunayoshi's two swords: black for Shinigami, white for Hollow. Now that Tsunayoshi had mastered his Shinigami's Bankai, it was inevitable he'd want to grasp the other blade's power.

"Tsunayoshi, you can speak frankly." Given Tsunayoshi's intelligence network, Urahara didn't think he was unaware of why they had left the Soul Society.

"The Visored—the captains who were driven out of Soul Society a century ago for their Hollowfication experiments. Could you trouble the shopkeeper to tell me where they are?" Tsunayoshi sheathed his sword.

"Hollowfication? That's a very dangerous power," Urahara said. Back when they fled the Soul Society, it had taken considerable effort to help the Visored adapt to their Hollowfication.

"If you're talking about the mask, I've already mastered that power." Tsunayoshi drew a line across his face, and his voice suddenly shifted to a crisp, thin tone. The upper half of his face was now covered by a mask.

Urahara's eyes widened slightly—this was unexpected. "Young Tsunayoshi really is impressive."

"I couldn't just stand still during the time I wasn't coming to the shop, could I?" Tsunayoshi made a sharp gesture, and the mask on his face dissolved into Reishi.

"As far as I know, the Visored's power is only at that level. They might not be able to provide you with much help," Urahara said. He knew exactly how strong the Visored were.

Tsunayoshi didn't directly answer. Instead, he looked at the Inoue siblings in the distance and said, "Sora's Reiatsu seems much weaker. If I'm not mistaken, shopkeeper, you stripped away part of his power to let him take human form, right?"

"Nothing gets past young Tsunayoshi, does it? The external form of that power looks a lot like your sword—white, too." Urahara's gaze flicked to Tsunayoshi's waist again.

"So that means it's a Zanpakuto belonging to a Hollow? If that sword's power were released, would Sora be able to regain his true strength?"

"Theoretically, yes," Urahara replied.

"So what I want to master is the power of my other Zanpakuto. As for the Visored, I just want to observe the Hollow power in different individuals. It might give me some inspiration for mastering Resurrección."

"Resurrección? That's quite a vivid term." Urahara latched onto the keyword. "What's your plan?"

"The best case is to convince them to help train me. I can also push them to improve their strength on the side. As they are now, they're still a bit lacking for the stage ahead," Tsunayoshi evaluated.

"Then I'll tell you where they are..."

"Hold on. Let me place another order. Please have Tessai accompany me on this trip." Tsunayoshi said. "Convincing that unruly bunch might stir up some waves."

"Tessai isn't exactly good at verbal negotiations..."

"That's fine. I'm having Tessai come along just to reinforce the barrier at their location. It wouldn't be good if I accidentally broke through their barrier—it might affect the surrounding environment," Tsunayoshi said with concern.

"That's your idea of persuasion?"

"What's persuasion, if not physically beating someone until they listen to me? Otherwise, why would they bother hearing me out? Not everyone's like the shopkeeper, who can grasp my meaning in a few words."

"Makes sense. I'll send Kukaku right away."

Led by Kukaku Shiba, he and Tsuna arrived before a massive warehouse. Kukaku formed a hand seal, and a door made of Reishi suddenly opened before them.

"Huh?" Inside the barrier, a plump man let out a puzzled sound.

"What's wrong, Hachi?" someone asked.

"Someone's coming. By the technique, it's Lord Kukaku." The plump Hachigen Ushōda replied.

"Urahara? What's that guy here for again? He's been showing up way too often lately," someone answered with a tone of displeasure.

"I heard Urahara's started researching Hollowfication again. Is that bald guy planning to follow in Aizen's footsteps?"

"No need to guess—that bald bastard's up to no good!" The speaker's tone was sharp.

"I'll go check it out. Say what you will, Urahara did help us." The lazy tone of this speaker completely contradicted his words.

"I'll come with you. My training's done for today anyway, so it won't waste time." Sweat dripped to the floor as a muscular man flipped smoothly into a handspring, landing beside their leader.