Ichiro smiled. He knew that, given the captain's character, her first thought upon learning about this would never be to forge powerful weapons. He took the booklet he had written last night from his robes and handed it to her.
"Captain, everything you asked for is in here. I've compiled all the healing-type Zanpakuto we can currently make and created one of each as a sample. They're not convenient to carry, though, so I didn't bring them with me."
Ichiro understood the simple principle of repaying kindness with kindness, and a drop of kindness with a flood of gratitude.
Honestly, Captain Unohana had always valued Ichiro with all her heart. Even if she prized his talent, she had also put in real effort for him: not only had she taught him everything she knew, she had also found him a stronger teacher.
Ichiro kept all of that in mind. Captain Unohana had two great wishes in life: to die in battle, and to save more people.
Ichiro couldn't fulfill the first—in fact, he might even have to go against the captain's wishes—but he could fulfill the second.
The Reiryoku recovery potion and Reiryoku healing potion he'd made before were just minor things. This was the real prize!
Combat-type Mimicry Zanpakuto didn't have much potential. Ichiro had claimed his Flame Sparrow had great prospects, but he was its creator. That made all the difference.
It came down to the same point: a Soul Reaper's battles were decided by spiritual pressure, not by Zanpakuto!
So a good sword couldn't change much.
But healing types were different.
As mentioned before, fewer than a hundred members of Squad 4 could truly use Kaido to heal.
Most of the others could only use Kaido in the sense that they could convert Reiryoku into life force. When it came to actual treatment, they were at a loss. Unless they were naturally gifted, they needed a great deal of time to gain experience and learn.
After all, no matter how fantastical this world was, medicine was still medicine.
"Convincing people to study medicine invites divine retribution!"
That wasn't just a joke.
But healing-type Zanpakuto were different. How could he put it? Apart from Kidō-type Zanpakuto, many others worked against common sense and leaned toward rule-based abilities.
For instance, in the original story, Hanataro's Zanpakuto could absorb injuries in its Shikai state, then release them as an attack once it reached its limit. But that raised a question.
"Absorb injuries" sounded simple, but in practice, it wasn't scientific at all!
In just four words, the phenomenon of injury was turned into a concept, extracted on its own, and absorbed. Once the injured person no longer had the concept of injury, they were naturally healed. That wasn't medicine.
Of course, this was only Ichiro's guess about how Hanataro's Zanpakuto worked in the original story. He didn't know the details. Perhaps it was a relatively scientific ability. But in the current Squad 4, Ichiro had found concrete examples!
Some Seated Officers couldn't use Kaido to heal—in other words, their medical skills weren't good enough—yet they could still perform healing with their Zanpakuto's abilities. It made no sense.
But at the same time, that very irrationality was part of a Zanpakuto's appeal. If every member of Squad 4 had a Mimicry Zanpakuto, their medical capabilities would be absolutely incredible!
So Captain Unohana fell silent as she looked at the booklet Ichiro handed her. It was a heavy responsibility.
In the end, though, the captain slowly accepted the booklet. She couldn't refuse it. This was a revolutionary development for the Seireitei!
After taking the booklet, Captain Unohana slowly bowed to Ichiro, to his surprise. But when she straightened up, she saw him standing off to the side with a horrified look on his face. He'd dodged the bow.
"Captain, that's going too far! I'll lose years off my life!"
The captain smiled casually and shook her head. "You little rascal, you haven't told anyone about this, have you?"
"No. You're the first to know. Don't worry, I'm not stupid."
"Heh, I suppose not." Ichiro's trust warmed the captain's heart. "Don't spread the word about this for now. Until you're strong enough to protect yourself, no one else can know. Luckily, you're clever enough not to have drawn much attention to yourself. Even if you made a bit of a splash this time, it was only this once. The impact isn't great, and we can still keep it under wraps."
After muttering a few more words, the captain looked up at Ichiro. "I won't say more than necessary. I trust you already understand. Keep attending the Academy as usual, but don't ask your teachers for guidance anymore. They can't teach you anything, and you'd only risk revealing how far you've progressed. I'll arrange a new teacher for you. You're not someone who cares about empty prestige anyway. What do you think? Any objections?"
Ichiro shrugged and replied casually, "I don't mind. Reputation doesn't matter to me. As long as I can keep doing research, that's all I care about. If I wanted a reputation, I'd have graduated already."
At that, the captain and the others nodded. It was true; Ichiro was already strong enough to qualify for early graduation.
"Good. Don't worry—with me here, you won't lose out on anything you're owed! This is important, so I need to discuss it with the Head Captain. You stay here and practice your swordsmanship. Do each of the basic sword strikes the Academy taught you five thousand times. I'll check when I get back. That's all."
Clang! Ichiro's face froze as the Flame Sparrow slipped from his hand and hit the ground. He stared, wide-eyed, at the captain's retreating figure. Before she disappeared from sight, he suddenly snapped out of it and shouted, "Captain! I thought you were satisfied! Why do I still have to practice?"
With her back to Ichiro, the captain's lips curled up slightly. Without turning around, she said warmly, "Yes, I'm satisfied. But I never said that being satisfied meant you could stop practicing your swordsmanship."
Ichiro: "..."
Kiyonosuke watched Ichiro turn ashen and struggled to hold back his laughter. Leaning against a pillar, he offered a "kind" reminder. "There are nine basic moves. Five thousand repetitions each. At one second per repetition, that's a little over twelve hours, so it's a pretty arduous task, Ichiro. Ganbatte!"
Ichiro rolled his eyes at Kiyonosuke, who was being so "kind" as to remind him, sighed, picked up the Flame Sparrow, and sheathed it. Then he drew out the World and began earnestly practicing his "swordsmanship." Kiyonosuke's brow twitched as he watched.
"Are you really a third-year?"
He'd only just advanced to his third year, but swordsmanship this "bad" was unbelievable, wasn't it?
Ichiro didn't answer. He just kept practicing in silence. He knew how terrible his swordsmanship was.
Kiyonosuke sighed and stepped forward to stop him. "Hold on a moment. Looks like the captain was blinded by your incredible talent for Kido. Damn, how did you manage to achieve Shikai with swordsmanship this awful? Is your Zanpakuto stupid and easy to fool?"
Thinking about how long he'd spent practicing swordsmanship and sword meditation to achieve Shikai, Kiyonosuke sighed again. The gap between people was greater than the gap between people and dogs!
"Don't follow the captain's instructions just yet. First, get your movements into proper form. Your stance is way off!" As he complained, Kiyonosuke adjusted Ichiro's posture himself. "Good. Hold still."
While Kiyonosuke supervised and coached Ichiro's swordsmanship, the Head Captain set down the booklet in his hands, his expression grave.
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