The Soul Reaper's "Opposing Force"

Though he was in the Soul Society, he was still an Uchiha, so he was bound to differ from the natives in some ways.

Yato also understood that the Uchiha Clan's power had greatly affected him.

First was his appearance.

Jet-black eyes and hair, an extraordinarily handsome face—even in the Seireitei, where handsome men were plentiful, he was the topic girls discussed most often late at night.

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Second was his talent.

His physical abilities were clearly far beyond those of ordinary people, and his aptitude for fire-type Kidō was obvious at a glance. A casually cast Blue Fire Crash Down was enough to blast apart buildings, and it retained considerable power even without an incantation.

Thus, Yato had often been thinking lately that he could probably pull off the crazy tricks from Naruto as well.

Madara Uchiha bit off a piece of Hashirama Senju's flesh and spent decades evolving his Rinnegan; Obito Uchiha transplanted Hashirama's cells and was then able to use Mangekyo frequently.

For the Uchiha Clan, Opposing Force was practically a super tonic. At worst, it could strengthen their abilities; at best, it could lead them into a higher realm of power.

But this was the world of Soul Reapers.

Reiatsu, Soul-Cutter Swords, Fullbring, Schrift... these were the true mainstays.

And even if Yato turned the World of the Living upside down, he would never obtain the power of the Senju Clan.

So he changed his way of thinking—

If he could not find the Uchiha Clan's Opposing Force, weren't there plenty of Soul Reapers' Opposing Forces?

He was both a Soul Reaper and an Uchiha, not split into two separate beings. In theory, the two constitutions should have fused into one.

As for the Soul Reaper's "Opposing Force"...

Yato's first thought was Hollows.

One wore a black Soul Reaper uniform, while the other was covered by a white mask.

One shared its "heart" with a Soul-Cutter Sword, while the other lost its "heart" and became a monster.

One became a Visored, while the other became an Arrancar.

In the original story, when Ichigo Kurosaki lost his Soul Reaper powers, Kisuke Urahara gave him two choices: either become a Soul Reaper or fall into becoming a Hollow.

Vaguely, Soul Reapers and Hollows seemed to represent two directions in which ordinary souls could evolve.

Therefore, when Uchiha Yato confirmed that he would participate in the practical combat exercise, he secretly made a plan to hunt some Hollows in Hueco Mundo and see whether he could acquire Hollow power.

The result was obvious. Every attempt ended in failure.

But Yato was not discouraged. For an Uchiha Soul Reaper body to devour Opposing Force was clearly an extremely difficult matter. He was already prepared to spend a hundred years on it.

By constantly experimenting through trial and error, he would reach his goal one day.

"Imitating Sword Zen still doesn't work."

Somewhere in Hueco Mundo, Yato drew his Soul-Cutter Sword and purified a tiger-shaped Hollow, sending it to the afterlife. He then gave Scarlet Eye beside him a bitter smile.

"Since we both think this is a viable path, help me come up with a solution."

"Huh? But I'm only good at cutting people."

"Brainstorming, you know."

"Let me think..." Scarlet Eye pressed a hand to her temple and said hesitantly, "Do you think it might be because these Hollows are too low-level?"

"Hm?"

"Look, all the ones you've killed were mindless grunt Hollows. The cores of their souls were already riddled with holes, so they aren't good materials for experiments at all. I suggest you go deeper into Hueco Mundo and catch a Menos Grande or something."

It was an incredibly suicidal suggestion, but Yato's eyes lit up at the words.

The Shin'ō Academy's practical combat exercise had marked out its boundaries in advance. If students approached the edge, the Hell Butterflies attached to their collars would emit faint Reiatsu as a warning.

Although this ensured the students' safety, the designated area was a remote part of Hueco Mundo. Combined with Yoruichi Shihōin's cleanup, it was difficult to encounter a powerful Menos Grande.

Wandering near the boundary and venturing a few dozen kilometers deeper was not difficult for the current Yato. At most, it was only somewhat dangerous.

Compared with the possible gains, that amount of risk was nothing.

Besides, since he aspired to visit the Throne of Heaven, he could not keep playing it safe forever.

Otherwise, with this handsome face, he could casually slip into the Red-light District, and countless rich women would fight to pay for his upkeep. Wouldn't he easily coast through until the Thousand-Year Blood War ended?

Uchiha Yato made up his mind, praised the girl a few times, then got his bearings and ran toward the edge of the exercise area.

Another two days passed.

Boom!

Uchiha Yato fell from high in the air, smashing a deep crater into the desert. The immense force jolted his bones, and a metallic sweetness immediately rose in his throat.

In the distance, a monster roared wildly at him.

Its body was black and slender, like a bizarre high-rise building. It wore a white mask with a long clown-like nose, and at the center of its body was a hole larger than that of an ordinary human.

—This was the lowest rank among Menos Grande, a Gillian!

Though it was low in intelligence and slow-moving, it was still a powerful monster formed from the mutual devouring of over a hundred Hollows. The Gotei 13 had even made a special rule: ordinary unseated members who encountered a Gillian alone were permitted to flee.

"It really is strong..."

Uchiha Yato braced his trembling left arm and rose to his feet, calmly looking at the Menos Grande in the distance.

At that moment, the Menos Grande stopped roaring. Rather than attack with its body, it opened its mouth wide, revealing rows upon rows of sharp teeth. Its lower jaw stretched wider and wider until it hung down to its chest.

Extremely condensed Reiatsu gathered in the Menos Grande's mouth, compressing continuously before finally forming a red beam that shot toward Uchiha Yato like lightning.

Cero!

"Just as expected, its intelligence is low. It didn't notice the trap at all."

Yato shook his head slightly and raised his Soul-Cutter Sword, transformed into a war fan, before his chest.

"Uchiha Deflection!"

Rumble...

After absorbing the Cero's power, the might of this wind-type Kidō exceeded Yato's expectations.

The hurricane mercilessly crushed the Gillian's body and took its life.

Its enormous clown nose spun through the air, landed, and rolled unsteadily to a stop before Uchiha Yato.

The youth did not delay, pressing one hand onto it.

A long time later.

"Just as I thought, I didn't feel a damn thing."

Yato cursed.

Scarlet Eye's guess was probably wrong as well.

"Looks like I still need more materials and experiments. Scientific research really is troublesome. Tch, in the entire Soul Society, only Aizen and Kisuke Urahara have the brains for this sort of thing..."

He dealt with the corpse, casually smeared some ointment over himself, and turned to leave.

He had been in Hueco Mundo for four days. In three more days, the academy students had to gather at the Senkaimon.

Yato knew that, at least for now, there was no way to verify his hypothesis. Having lost the desire to linger, he planned to wait at the Senkaimon early and return to the Soul Society.

However, after he had run for more than ten kilometers, an unusual Reiatsu suddenly entered his range of perception.

"This... an Adjuchas?"

Yato's gaze sharpened. He immediately dropped to the ground and hid behind a dead tree. At the same time, he activated the first stage of Shikai and observed the distance through his Sharingan.

An unmistakably Adjuchas-class Menos Grande was wandering around over there.

It resembled a lion from the World of the Living, stood roughly three meters tall at the shoulder, had dark brown skin, and was extremely muscular. Even while not in combat, the Reiatsu it leaked was enough to make ordinary Hollows bow their heads in submission.

Yet as Uchiha Yato watched from behind the tree through his Sharingan, his expression grew increasingly strange.

The Adjuchas-class Menos Grande was neither hunting nor resting. Instead, it kept sniffing the ground and occasionally used its claws to turn over the sand, its movements rough and brutish.

Judging from its body language, it seemed somewhat anxious?

Uchiha Yato closed his eyes and searched through his memories.

And this appearance... hadn't I seen it somewhere before?

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