Xiamu's story of how he met Yoruichi wasn't particularly complicated.
It began with a training session on his own.
He had made great strides in the war in the Human World. Fighting the Quincy to the death, and facing their combat style—so different from that of Hollows—had allowed him to fully master the Zanjutsu techniques Unohana Retsu had taught him.
With Zanjutsu alone, Xiamu was already considered strong.
But he felt that wasn't enough.
Aside from their Zanpakuto, Soul Reapers had four other abilities.
They were Zanjutsu, Hakuda, Shunpo, and Kido. He had already become proficient in Zanjutsu. Thanks to the exceptional talent his Zanpakuto had granted him, his skill in Kido was impressive as well; he had even mastered the highly specialized Healing Kido.
Like Zanjutsu, Hakuda required time and real combat to hone. It was difficult to make much progress in a short time. Shunpo was different. Improving his skill in Shunpo was what Xiamu needed to focus on next.
In the battles in the Human World, countless Soul Reapers had died because the Quincy disrupted their Shunpo. Unable to evade the Quincies' Spirit Particle Arrows, they had met their end.
Xiamu had also experienced firsthand, more than once, just how troublesome that Quincy ability was.
Though it seemed that the Soul Reapers were currently pushing the Quincy back,
that was only on the surface. The truly powerful Quincy were still lying in wait.
Xiamu remembered Yhwach and the Wandenreich Sternritter under his command.
Time had passed, and the Sternritter's abilities were so varied that he couldn't remember each member or their powers.
But he knew the Quincy were a formidable threat.
The Soul Reapers' unique Zanpakuto might not be enough to deal with them. Only strength across the board could give them a better chance of winning against the Quincy.
The Quincy could counter Shunpo.
But that was only because the Soul Reapers weren't fast enough.
If they were fast enough, they could still overcome that weakness.
After all, manipulating Reishi wasn't something the Quincy could do instantaneously. It took time.
If a Soul Reaper could move right in front of a Quincy within that brief window and land a lethal blow, the battle would be over.
These were all lessons Xiamu had learned firsthand in the battles in the Human World.
The war might not have been a just one, but it had taught him a great deal about the Quincy.
Thanks to that experience, Xiamu began training in Shunpo as soon as he returned to Soul Society.
The 11th Division training grounds were fine for practicing Zanjutsu and Hakuda, but they were too small for Shunpo. So Xiamu sought out an uninhabited area to train. Rukongai was the best place to find one.
There were vast stretches of empty wilderness near Rukongai's residential areas.
While Xiamu was practicing Shunpo there, he happened to run into Shihoin Yoruichi, who had just returned from a mission. The Shihoin Family excelled at Shunpo and Hakuda. Its heads, in particular, had always sought to improve upon those techniques, creating many secret arts unique to the family.
When Yoruichi noticed Xiamu practicing Shunpo in Rukongai, she immediately grew interested. She was naturally outgoing, so she approached him first. After talking a few times, they became familiar with each other.
After all, they were both vice-captains in the Gotei 13.
They hadn't interacted much before, but after getting to know each other a little, they became friends.
Yoruichi learned a lot about the battles in the Human World from Xiamu.
And Xiamu received plenty of pointers from Yoruichi.
Later, following Yoruichi's advice, he began practicing Shunpo in the woods.
"You look like you've gotten the hang of it. How about a match?"
Yoruichi asked Xiamu without hesitation.
Xiamu nodded.
And so the two of them began competing in Shunpo through the woods.
In the end, Yoruichi won.
Among the many Soul Reapers in the original story, Yoruichi was one of the very best at Shunpo. She was known as the Flash Goddess. Xiamu had some skill in Shunpo, but against someone like Yoruichi, who had trained in it since childhood, he still had a long way to go.
"Want to test our Hakuda, too?"
After conceding defeat in their Shunpo match, Xiamu asked Yoruichi.
In the past, when he and Yoruichi met up, they would sometimes spar in Shunpo and then test their Hakuda against each other.
After all, the 11th Division was a combat division, and Xiamu was a formidable fighter to have become its vice-captain.
Yoruichi wasn't about to pass up a chance to spar with someone so strong.
"Let's not."
Yoruichi shook her head, turning down Xiamu's suggestion.
"Today, I'm going to introduce you to a new friend."
A strange smile appeared at the corner of her mouth as she spoke.
"A new friend?" Xiamu asked, curious.
Yoruichi used Shunpo to lead the way, with Xiamu following close behind. Soon, she brought him to a secret base not far away, where he met his new friend.
The man wore a black Shihakusho and had short, slightly tousled light-yellow hair and military-green eyes. He habitually kept his head lowered, and an air of gloom hung about him, making him seem rather insecure.
I knew it!
At the sight of him, Xiamu couldn't help thinking that.
Yoruichi and Urahara Kisuke were close childhood friends. They had trained together and grown up together from a young age. Urahara was probably Yoruichi's best friend. When Yoruichi had offered to introduce him to a new friend, Xiamu had immediately thought of him.
"Kisuke, let me introduce you. This is Xiamu, vice-captain of the 11th Division and a friend I recently made. He's very strong. I've learned a lot from sparring with him lately."
"I thought you were training here, so I figured I'd introduce the two of you."
Yoruichi first explained things to Urahara Kisuke.
Then she turned to Xiamu and introduced Urahara Kisuke.
And just like that, Xiamu and Urahara Kisuke met.
Afterward, Yoruichi showed Xiamu around the special training base.
It was beneath Sokyoku Hill, a place she and Urahara Kisuke had dug out together when they were young.
It was extremely well hidden. They used to practice Hakuda and Zanjutsu here, while Yoruichi practiced Shunpo in the woods.
Xiamu listened quietly as Yoruichi explained, all the while thinking of the place where Kurosaki Ichigo had trained in Bankai.
This had to be it.
Since it was beneath Sokyoku Hill, after Kurosaki Ichigo learned Bankai here, he could go straight to the hill to rescue Kuchiki Rukia, saving a great deal of time.
Meeting Urahara Kisuke and Yoruichi gave Xiamu a few more friends in Soul Society. They brought some new fun into his otherwise peaceful life, though that was about all.
As time passed,
the war between the Soul Reapers and the Quincy quietly came to an end.
It wasn't because the Quincy had all been wiped out and the Soul Reapers had achieved their goal.
Rather, intervention from above had brought the war to an abrupt halt.
In Soul Society, Central 46 was the highest judicial body. There were others with greater influence, such as the Five Great Noble Families, who could sway some of Central 46's judgments if they wished. But they generally refrained from doing so, since it would seriously disrupt the order of Soul Society and undermine the law.
Even though nobles committed all kinds of unsavory acts, ignored Soul Society's laws, and broke the rules, they did so in secret. Bringing those deeds into the open was another matter entirely.
The main reason the war ended this time was the Soul King.
Where was the Soul King hidden? Where did the Royal Family live?
For ordinary Soul Reapers, these were secrets.
Even the captains of the Gotei 13 weren't necessarily privy to them.
But the Soul King did exist.
The Five Great Noble Families were all subordinate to the Soul King. The other noble families ranked beneath them, while the Gotei 13 was overseen by Central 46, which was made up of nobles. It followed naturally that the Soul King stood at the very pinnacle of Soul Society.
No one could defy the Soul King's will.
When the Soul King sent down his will, ordering the Soul Reapers to stop trying to exterminate the Quincy, the war could only end this way.
Though the Quincy hadn't been completely wiped out,
the years of war had nearly destroyed their entire fighting force, leaving them a rare people. That was a fact.
In the face of the Soul Reapers' mercy,
the remaining Quincy had no choice but to "sign" a series of treaties. Aside from having to help Soul Society deal with Hollows when necessary, they also had to live under Soul Society's watch.
Naturally, those terms were deeply unfair.
But the Quincy had no other choice.
The deaths of so many Quincy had already proven that they had no power to fight back against the Soul Reapers.
If they kept resisting, all that awaited them was death—and the complete extinction of their people.
And so the war ended.
Xiamu no longer had to go to the Human World to fight.
After the battles, the 11th Division finally had a chance to recover.
Xiamu treasured the respite.
Aside from training with his new friends, Yoruichi and Urahara Kisuke, he never avoided a fight. Whenever Hollows appeared in Rukongai, he was always among the first to rush in and fight them.
Until one day.
While Xiamu was fighting Hollows in Rukongai,
an outsider arrived at the 11th Division, openly challenging Gosu Kenpachi by name.
The news caused a sensation.
Before you continue