Rukongai, the outermost district.
This had once been a desolate place, with hardly anyone around.
But now, it had become a battlefield.
A huge Garganta yawned open, and a swarm of dozens of Hollows suddenly descended. If they were allowed to invade the gathering places of souls in Rukongai, the consequences would be unimaginable. So, after receiving the warning, Kuruyashiki Kenpachi personally led the entire 11th Division out. They used Shunpo and soon arrived where the swarm had appeared.
"What a lot of them!"
Seeing this, Kuruyashiki Kenpachi grinned.
Behind him, the many members of the 11th Division also looked eager. They were looking forward to the battle ahead. Then, without hesitation, all the Soul Reapers surged forward and charged the Hollows, who towered over them.
Natsuki was among them. Even though he sensed a more powerful Hollow inside the still-open Garganta, he didn't meddle. After all, Kuruyashiki Kenpachi and Lieutenant Gosu were here. There was no need for him to deal with a Menos Grande like this.
His Zanpakuto swung, a flash of cold light—and an ordinary Hollow was easily cut down.
A regular squad member beside him saw this and couldn't help praising Natsuki. "As expected of Natsuki, 9th Seat, back from the Expeditionary Force. That was clean and decisive."
Yes, Natsuki was now the 9th Seat.
Each Division had around twenty Seated Officers. Some Divisions even had two Soul Reapers holding the same seat. The 9th Seat was already a fairly high position among the Seated Officers.
Watanabe Yuji, for instance, had been only the 5th Seat of the 11th Division several decades ago. Of course, after decades of expeditions to Hueco Mundo, his current strength was undoubtedly far beyond that of a mere 5th Seat.
But Natsuki had joined the 11th Division barely a month ago, and he had already become the 9th Seat. That alone showed how exceptional he was.
At least, in the eyes of these ordinary members of the 11th Division, Natsuki was clearly a rising star.
"It was only an ordinary Hollow."
Natsuki casually explained this to the squad member, showing no sign of pride.
The 9th Seat might sound impressive.
But he was still far behind the true prodigies from the original story. People like Shiba Kaien and Ichimaru Gin had become the 3rd Seat of their respective Divisions not long after graduating. Shiba Kaien, in particular, had already possessed Sixth-Tier Reiatsu when he first entered the academy.
Sixth-Tier Reiatsu was the level expected of a 3rd Seat. That meant he had already possessed that kind of strength when he first enrolled.
Reiatsu levels were determined by testing a person's Rei-pressure with special instruments.
Rei-pressure, as the name suggested, was the force exerted when one released their spiritual power outside their body. The stronger the pressure, the greater the spiritual power.
At present, Soul Society classified Rei-pressure into twenty tiers.
Reaching the twentieth tier meant that one's spiritual power was sufficient to qualify as a Soul Reaper. Rei-pressure existed beyond the twentieth tier, of course, but it was difficult to measure. And there was little point in assigning levels to souls with weak spiritual power, so those levels were not tracked.
The twenty tiers of Rei-pressure covered the range of spiritual power from an ordinary Soul Reaper to a captain of the Gotei 13.
Sixth-Tier Rei-pressure corresponded to a 3rd Seat, while the fourth and fifth tiers corresponded to the level of a lieutenant. The first three tiers were the Rei-pressure only captains could possess.
Natsuki knew his current spiritual power was considerable, though he had never been tested and didn't know what tier his Rei-pressure had reached. In any case, he was more than qualified to be a Seated Officer.
As his thoughts turned, he used Shunpo and continued killing the other Hollows.
Ordinary Hollows were something a Seated Officer like him could handle alone. But to ordinary squad members, they were still extremely dangerous.
The battle had barely begun, and many squad members were already injured.
Just then, powerful Reiatsu suddenly poured out of the still-open Garganta. A Hollow far taller than the others stepped out.
"A Menos Grande! A Menos Grande has appeared!"
A squad member cried out.
Their alarm was understandable. They mostly dealt with ordinary Hollows in their daily work and rarely encountered Menos Grande. The textbooks at Shino Academy seemed to deliberately stress how terrifying Menos Grande were, urging Soul Reapers to take them seriously. They emphasized that "a Menos Grande is an enemy only a captain can handle." That wasn't wrong, but the textbook writers had apparently neglected to add that this was true of the "highest-level Menos Grande."
Over time, even the lowest-level Menos Grande came to seem like terrifying beings capable of matching a captain in the eyes of many squad members.
In reality, that wasn't the case.
Seeing the Menos Grande appear, Kuruyashiki Kenpachi finally moved.
He used Shunpo. Before the Menos Grande could fully form its Cero, he swung the Zanpakuto, still in its Asauchi state.
With a single strike, the Menos Grande and its half-formed Cero were split in two.
Then he passed through the opening in its body and entered the Garganta behind it.
"My target isn't a low-level Menos Grande like this one!"
"And, of course, it isn't a mid-level Menos Grande like you, either."
Inside the Garganta, Kuruyashiki Kenpachi encountered another Hollow. It was smaller than the Menos Grande he had just faced, but its Reiatsu was stronger. When it saw Kuruyashiki, it attacked him, only to be easily defeated.
But Kuruyashiki didn't kill it. During the fight, he realized that this Hollow was merely a pitiful puppet being controlled. The one he truly cared about was the higher-level Menos Grande hiding farther inside.
"You bastard, you send your Hollows out to die while you keep hiding back there?"
The Garganta had remained open the whole time. Though Kuruyashiki Kenpachi looked rough around the edges, he was actually a perceptive man. He had keenly sensed that a more powerful Hollow was lurking behind the scenes.
"If you won't come out, then I'll come find you myself!"
Kuruyashiki Kenpachi said, then headed deeper into the Garganta.
No one knew what exactly he had gone through inside.
After a while, he emerged from the Garganta.
The opening, which had been gaping wide, sealed itself again.
A faint look of disappointment crossed Kuruyashiki Kenpachi's face. He turned back toward the swarm of Hollows, ready to direct the squad members in the fight, but instead, he noticed an unexpected surprise.
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