The fight between Aoto and Shiro... was no fight at all.
Shiro tried to attack, but Aoto suddenly appeared beside him and slammed the hilt of his sword into Shiro's stomach, knocking him out cold.
What? Your Zanpakuto was powerful?
Then I'd just make sure you couldn't use it, wouldn't I?
When Shiro woke up, he still wasn't convinced, so the same thing happened again. This time, Aoto gave him a kidney punch.
The human body had far too many weak points. Aoto could repeat the same treatment on Shiro dozens of times without running out of options.
More importantly, the difference in their Reiatsu was enormous!
Even when Shiro covered his entire body in Reiatsu to defend himself, Aoto could still target a specific point and break through his defenses without any effort.
After spending most of three straight days unconscious, Shiro finally understood the gap between himself and his master.
Shiro suspected his master wouldn't tell him what level his spiritual power was because he was deliberately looking for excuses to beat him up.
"Good. At least you're not stupid!"
After laughing, Aoto found Shiro another opponent.
Ganjuro, 8th Seat of the 11th Division.
His Zanpakuto was ice-type. After its Shikai, it shrouded the blade in currents of frigid wind that rapidly lowered the temperature of anything it struck. In general, the lower the temperature, the more brittle an object became. So forget Hollows—even steel alloys could be sliced apart with ease... Which made it a direct-attack type as well.
Since Shiro's Zanpakuto had the same attributes, they'd surely have fun training together.
Although Shiro wasn't a Seated Officer yet, Ganjuro knew he was no ordinary person: he was 4th Seat Hyakume's disciple and had already achieved Shikai!
Aoto patted Ganjuro on the shoulder and smiled as he asked, "I'll leave Shiro in your hands for a few days!"
"Don't worry, Lord Hyakume. I'll make sure to teach Hitsugaya well!" Ganjuro replied to Aoto with great respect.
"Actually, I'm worried about you!" Aoto whispered to Ganjuro. "Shiro's strength fluctuates a lot. Stay alert whenever you fight him. If anything unexpected happens, don't hold back. Put on that armor of yours!"
"Yes, Boss Hyakume!" Ganjuro answered earnestly.
Aoto had discovered him, and he was one of Aoto's most loyal subordinates.
"Master, where are you going?" Shiro asked, puzzled. There hadn't been any sudden missions for the 11th Division lately.
"It's a mission in the World of the Living!" Aoto yawned. "Every few years, the 13th Division inspects conditions in the World of the Living, and the 11th Division gets called in to assist in case anything unexpected happens. Ever since Kaien became lieutenant, he's picked me to help every time!"
Aoto grinned at Shiro, his teeth flashing white. "It's a hassle, but I can bring back some things from the World of the Living! I make a fortune selling them every time!"
"So that's smuggling, then?" Shiro rolled his eyes.
Aoto raised his voice. "How can you call something a Soul Reaper does smuggling? At most... well, it's a perk of the job. Central 46 hasn't said anything, so what are you sticking your nose in for?"
Ruffling Shiro's hair until it stuck up in every direction, Aoto headed off toward the 13th Division barracks, feeling refreshed.
Shiro glared at Aoto's retreating back, a strange emotion stirring in his eyes.
"Don't worry! Lord Hyakume will be fine." Ganjuro truly respected Aoto. "His strength is no less than that of an ordinary captain!"
At that, Shiro turned to look at Ganjuro. "Are you saying Master can use Bankai?"
"Of course!" Ganjuro nodded firmly. "But Lord Hyakume has never shown us his Bankai. They say it's so powerful that he's forbidden from using it in Seireitei until he becomes a captain."
"What about after he becomes a captain?"
"Captains aren't allowed to use Bankai in Seireitei either!"
Oh, so no one was allowed to use Bankai in Seireitei, no matter who they were.
Those rules were pretty strict!
Shiro thought about the Soul Reaper regulations he'd learned over the past few days and decided that his master was wise to stay in his position as 4th Seat.
It meant a lot fewer restrictions!
"I envy you, Aoto. You're clearly stronger than I am, but you don't have to have your Reiatsu sealed."
Inside the Senkaimon, Shiba Kaien looked at Aoto, who seemed completely at ease, and sighed.
Whenever captains and lieutenants passed through the Senkaimon, a flower representing their division was inscribed somewhere on their body as a Limitation Seal. It reduced their Reiatsu to one-fifth of its original strength to prevent them from causing large-scale damage in the World of the Living.
At that moment, a Snowdrop mark had appeared on Kaien's arm.
There was nothing on Aoto.
"Don't be ridiculous!" Aoto rolled his eyes at Shiba Kaien. "You're a lieutenant, and I'm only 4th Seat. How could I possibly be stronger than you?"
As long as Central 46 still needed Aoto to keep an eye on Zaraki Kenpachi, they wouldn't transfer him to another division as a lieutenant.
And the combination of Zaraki Kenpachi and Yachiru Kusajishi couldn't be broken up, so Aoto was perfectly content with his position.
Kaien didn't know what to say to Aoto... so all he could do was keep saying how envious he was!
"Right, now that we're in the World of the Living, I'm going to stay hidden!" Aoto said to the other 13th Division members. "If anything seems wrong, contact me with the Command Divine Machine. I'll get there as quickly as I can... That's all!"
With that, Aoto disappeared before the 13th Division members.
The 13th Division members who had been to the World of the Living with Aoto before said nothing.
It was already a routine!
When reinforcements from the 11th Division hid themselves, they were a far more powerful deterrent lurking in the shadows than if they stayed by the others' side.
Of course, Kaien knew it was all an excuse.
Aoto was just going to visit someone he knew!
After landing on the roof of a house in the World of the Living, Aoto jumped into the shadow of a large tree, then quickly jumped back out.
But after Aoto had been gone for a while, another Aoto stepped out of the shadow.
He was now wearing a Gigai from the World of the Living, which completely sealed off the release of his Reiatsu. There was no way to tell he wasn't human.
Looking at his outfit, Aoto was thoroughly disgusted.
After half an hour of wandering around using human means of transportation, Aoto arrived outside an abandoned munitions factory.
But the moment he opened the door, he was attacked.
"What took you so long, Big Eyes!"
A girl in red leaped through the air and kicked Aoto in the head.
It was strange. The attack should have been easy to dodge, but Aoto didn't even try.
His head spun all the way around.
"Hey, Hiyori! I put a lot of work into making this Gigai! If you break it, you'd better pay me back!"
With a horrifying twist of his bare hands, he turned his head back around and shouted at the girl.
She was several hundred years old and had a terrible temper, but a girl was still a girl!
"What did you say?" After Aoto yelled back at her, the girl in red got furious.
Even if she was in the wrong, she was going to yell back.
Otherwise, she wouldn't be Sarugaki Hiyori!