Heading to Squad 4

Although Urahara and Yoruichi's injuries were severe, that was only relative to ordinary medical staff. To a medical heavyweight like Ichiro, if you weren't on the brink of death, what was there to be serious about?

Of course, that was just talk. In reality, Ichiro's own technique wasn't that refined yet. While he had healed Urahara and Yoruichi quickly, he himself was left slumped on the ground, lacking the energy to even address his own lingering wounds.

In this battle, Ichiro's injuries were truly grave. Urahara and Yoruichi's wounds could only be called superficial; while they looked intimidating, they were nothing to someone with Ichiro's level of Kaido.

His own injuries were different: massive muscle tears and extensive bone fragmentation. Even with Body Transmutation, it was agonizing. His alchemy hadn't reached a level of such precision yet; for now, he could only perform rough treatments, requiring extremely delicate adjustments later on.

This wasn't difficult for Ichiro, just tedious and time-consuming. In his past life, he had done this often, and it had been far more difficult than this.

Because in his past life, Ichiro had to solve another problem: purging the excess iron from his body and then replenishing the corresponding flesh. Every single time, the treatment was like hell.

It was far less convenient than the Reishi Iron Transformation of this world. Not only did Reishi Iron Transformation not affect bodily functions, but the conversion was also much easier. He didn't have to slice flesh and scrape bone like before. More importantly, it had high growth potential; the quality of the Reishi Iron he used now wasn't the best, and it could be improved gradually.

Or, he could link it with Kido—for instance, applying the method used to forge a mimic Zanpakuto to his Reishi Iron Transformation, granting it even greater power.

However, these were currently just Ichiro's conjectures. To actually realize them, he still had a long way to go.

Just as the three were sitting on the ground chatting idly, Ichiro's expression suddenly went blank. He hissed in pain as he stood up. The Captain had arrived.

Jumping down from Minazuki, the Captain frowned at the blood covering the ground before looking at Ichiro. "You've got some nerve, daring to provoke an opponent at the lieutenant level."

Ichiro smiled bitterly and spread his hands. "Captain, please be fair. He came looking for us; we didn't provoke him."

"Hmph. Regardless, not running away at the first opportunity is your problem." As she spoke, the Captain frowned again. Upon observation, she realized Ichiro's injuries were severe, and she waved her hand.

Minazuki let out a soft cry and flew toward Ichiro.

Ichiro's face changed instantly. He crossed his arms in front of his chest and shouted in terror, "Captain! I can heal myself! Please save your Reishi for the others! Don't waste it on me!"

As he spoke, he scrambled backward under the curious gazes of Urahara and the others. However, Minazuki didn't care about Ichiro's feelings; as long as the Captain didn't speak, it continued to fly toward him.

A faint smile hung on the Captain's face as she said, "It's fine. I have to report back later and won't have time to go to Squad 4 for a while. It just so happens that once I heal you, you can go treat the others. With your level of skill, you're more than capable of filling in for me in this situation."

"No!!"

"Apu~"

Under Ichiro's horrified gaze, Minazuki swallowed him whole. Its belly began to churn incessantly, emitting Ichiro's desperate and shameful cries...

"Pfft~"

After a soul-shattering scream, Minazuki spat out Ichiro, who was covered in an unknown liquid, and slowly flew back behind the Captain.

It left Ichiro lying on the ground, twitching as if he had been broken...

However, one had to admit that as disgusting as Minazuki was, its healing ability was top-tier. It was worthy of being called a Zanpakuto that could fully heal anyone within a short time as long as they weren't dead. If Ichiro had treated his own injuries, it would have taken at least half a year of meticulous repair. He could have sped it up significantly by focusing solely on his wounds to the exclusion of all else, but even then, it would still take a month.

And now, in less than a minute, Ichiro was completely restored. Of course, this also had to do with the method of treatment.

Ichiro was accustomed to precision operations—a habit brought over from alchemy. The advantage was low Reishi consumption; with Ichiro's current Reishi pressure as an average seated officer, it was enough to handle the vast majority of injuries. The disadvantage was that it required high technical skill, time, and energy.

The Captain excelled at overwhelming others with power, using vast amounts of Reishi to heal directly. It was fast and effective, but consumed a great deal—simple and brutal, much like the hot springs of the Hot Spring Demon, Kirinji Tenjiro, though she relied on her Zanpakuto.

Precisely because of this, injuries that would take Ichiro a long time to heal were fixed by the Captain in a few moments. This was the gap in raw strength. If Ichiro possessed such vast Reishi pressure, he could do something similar, albeit with higher consumption. After all, in a sense, he and the Captain were cut from the same cloth.

"If you're done, get up already. Don't dawdle. There are a large number of wounded waiting at Squad 4. Hurry up and come with me to help."

"...Understood..." Ichiro climbed up with vacant eyes. A flash of electricity surged over his body, causing the unknown mucus to vanish without a trace, and he walked toward the Captain with a staggering gait.

Seeing Ichiro in this state, the Captain shook her head with a smile. She turned to look at Urahara, Yoruichi, and the young lady of the Kuchiki Clan, saying, "The academy isn't very safe. You should come with me as well. Stay at Squad 4 for now, and once everything has settled, you can return home. I will handle the negotiations with the heads of the Kuchiki and Shihoin Clans."

The four immediately bowed and replied, "Yes, Captain Unohana."

They then walked toward Minazuki. However, as they passed Ichiro, everyone instinctively moved a little further away. Although the unknown liquid had vanished, well... those who knew, knew.

Yet, this small action dealt a massive blow to Ichiro. He felt as if he could hear his heart shattering. His mouth twitched, and his footsteps grew even heavier.

Soon, Minazuki carried them toward the barracks of Squad 4. On the way, Ichiro pushed up his glasses, activated a psychological suggestion to throw the recent experience into the deepest recesses of his memory, and locked it away with several layers of mental seals!

Psychological suggestion was also something Ichiro had excelled at in his past life. Absolute Reason wasn't something easily learned, but he had focused primarily on self-suggestion; he didn't have a deep understanding of other categories.

The three most commonly used self-suggestion techniques were: Focus, which kept the body highly active to exert maximum power and was also very effective during training; Concentration, which heightened mental focus and boosted calculation speed, mainly used to assist the Magic Bullet technique; and finally, Deep Thought, which could excavate "forgotten" memories from the depths of the brain—a watered-down version of photographic memory.