The standard for whether a soul could become a Soul Reaper, aside from whether it possessed spiritual power, was above all whether it could wield a Zanpakuto.
A Zanpakuto was an extremely important weapon to a Soul Reaper.
After the Shino Academy was established, the first thing every student did upon enrolling was receive an Asauchi. After that, the academy's teachers taught them how to resonate with their Asauchi through methods such as Sword Meditation. Resonance wasn't difficult. They simply had to pour their spiritual power into their Zanpakuto to nurture it. If the Zanpakuto stirred and responded, that meant the resonance had succeeded.
Once they had reached that stage, the next step was to find a way to enter the soul of their Zanpakuto and merge with it on a deeper level. Finally, they would obtain its release command and thereby master Shikai.
Shikai required a release command.
Generally speaking, any Soul Reaper who could join the Gotei 13 had the potential to master Shikai. Some did so while still at the academy, while others took longer and only mastered it after joining a Division.
Of course, there were also plenty of people who spent years stuck at the stage of resonating with their Zanpakuto, never managing to master Shikai.
Such people were either eliminated by the Gotei 13, had their Zanpakuto confiscated, and lost the right to serve as Soul Reapers,
or, if they had some special talent, went to work in organizations such as the Kido Corps.
Still, organizations like the Kido Corps weren't exactly prestigious. The Gotei 13 was the true mainstream.
While diligently studying the four basic Soul Reaper abilities—Zanjutsu, Hakuda, Hoho, and Kido—Natsuki certainly hadn't overlooked the fact that a Zanpakuto was a Soul Reaper's greatest reliance. He was also working hard to learn how to master Shikai.
In fact, judging from his hazy memories and what Watanabe Yuji had told him, he might already have awakened the power of his Zanpakuto when the Menos Grande had nearly killed him.
Otherwise, there was no explaining how the Menos Grande had died.
But after that, even though he had resonated with his Zanpakuto with ease, he still couldn't master Shikai.
It was hard not to feel disappointed.
Noticing the disappointment in Natsuki's words, Watanabe Yuji said, "You have tremendous potential hidden within you. I don't know why you haven't been able to call on that power again since then, but you've continued to improve all this time, haven't you?"
Natsuki looked at Watanabe Yuji.
The broad-faced man gave him a hearty smile. "As long as you keep improving, one day you'll master Shikai—and maybe even go further and master Bankai. You might even become a captain of the Gotei 13."
The last part was undoubtedly meant to encourage Natsuki.
Even across all of Soul Society, those capable of mastering Bankai were as rare as phoenix feathers. But anyone who could master it had the potential to become a captain of the Gotei 13!
He still had to get stronger. Much stronger.
Only by growing stronger could he survive in this cruel world.
After that battle, Natsuki joined the Expeditionary Force on its campaigns against Hollows.
The Expeditionary Force wasn't large, numbering only a few dozen.
Most of its members were Sinners who had come to Hueco Mundo to fight Hollows in order to atone for their sins.
Hueco Mundo was the Hollows' stronghold. New Hollows appeared there practically every moment, which wasn't strange. Hollows were souls that had fallen into depravity. In the Human World, people died every second, and it was impossible for all of them to have been good. Some, driven by desire or obsession, inevitably fell into depravity and became Hollows.
Especially in recent years, the Human World had been in turmoil, leading to even more human deaths. As a result, the number of Hollows in Hueco Mundo had surged. That was why the Expeditionary Force constantly "purified" Hollows there.
Of course, though they fought Hollows every day,
the Expeditionary Force members always confined themselves to the outer region. None of them considered entering the inner region and the Forest of Menos.
The Forest of Menos was where Menos Grandes lived. Gillian were as common as grass there, and even higher-level Menos Grandes could be found. With so few of them, entering the forest would be little different from walking to their deaths.
And yet, even fighting in the outer region, they could still encounter a Menos Grande.
One of their companions could still die.
Jiro, who had fought that Menos Grande and died, had saved Natsuki's life. But back then, Natsuki hadn't yet become part of the Expeditionary Force. To put it bluntly, Jiro's death hadn't affected him much.
But now he had truly become one of them. He trained with these people every day, learned from them, and grew close to them. After a comrade died, Natsuki found it hard to accept.
In his previous life, he had suffered from illness and died in agony. He had thought that after dying once, he would have made peace with life and death.
But when the mangled body of someone who had been laughing and talking with him just the day before was laid out before him,
he realized he hadn't made peace with it at all.
A wordless sorrow spread across Natsuki's face.
Watanabe Yuji, the Expeditionary Force's captain, stepped forward to comfort everyone, speaking at length.
In the end, they hastily dug a pit and buried their dead comrade.
Someone else collected the man's Zanpakuto, intending to take it back to Soul Society one day and deliver it to his Division.
That was standard practice.
Although there had been cases in Soul Society's history of Rukongai Commoners finding the Zanpakuto of a dead Soul Reaper, awakening the dormant blade, and becoming Soul Reapers themselves, those cases happened because the Soul Reapers had died so suddenly that their swords couldn't be recovered.
If a sword could be recovered, then of course it had to be.
After all, every Asauchi was extremely precious. They weren't made by the Gotei 13, and their supply was limited.
It wasn't only the Asauchi of Soul Reapers killed in battle that had to be recovered.
Soul Reapers who retired from the Gotei 13 also had to hand over their Zanpakuto to their Division for safekeeping.
After they had hastily completed the funeral for their fallen comrade,
Watanabe Yuji noticed the sorrow on Natsuki's face. Perhaps it was because Natsuki had joined the Expeditionary Force partway through and was still a newcomer, or perhaps because Watanabe Yuji had taught him himself. Whatever the reason, he paid close attention to him.
"Are you having a hard time?"
His voice sounded beside Natsuki's ear.
"Aren't you?" Natsuki raised his head and looked at Watanabe Yuji.
"Of course I am. But if you live long enough and go through this kind of thing often enough, you'll realize that this is simply a Soul Reaper's fate."
"From the moment we chose to take up that sword, our lives became nothing but fighting. We live to fight, and die fighting. Death is a common thing."
"So we shouldn't fear it. We should accept it."
"Look at them. Aren't they taking this in stride?"
Watanabe Yuji gestured for Natsuki to look at the other members of the Expeditionary Force.
Natsuki looked around. He saw no sorrow on their faces, nor any fear brought on by their comrade's death. Just as Watanabe Yuji had said, they took death in stride—or, rather, they had grown used to it.
Watanabe Yuji's voice sounded beside Natsuki's ear again.
"Of course, the main reason Soul Reapers die is that they aren't strong enough. If you're strong enough, you can survive even when facing a Menos Grande."
Natsuki suddenly understood.
"That's right. In the end, this is a world where the strong rule and power is everything!"
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