After fully recovering his Chakra and stamina, Ye Uchiha heard the fierce clash of metal weapons. He slowly opened his eyes and saw Gin Ichimaru and Naofumi Iwatani sparring, though he had no idea when they had started.
Gin wore his usual composed, foxlike smile as he fought. Every time the short blade in his hand struck Naofumi's shield, sparks sprayed from the impact.
Naofumi, on the other hand, had no chance to fight back. Holding his shield in front of him, he struggled to fend off Gin's attacks, his mouth open as he panted lightly.
Gin's relentless barrage came like a raging storm, leaving Naofumi hard-pressed to resist. Whenever he tried to turn the tables and counterattack, Gin's swift strikes pinned him down again, leaving him no room to do anything else.
"What a sturdy shield. Even after taking so many of my slashes, it hasn't suffered so much as a scratch."
A flicker of curiosity crossed Gin's face. Though he was sparring with Naofumi, his gaze remained fixed on the shield on Naofumi's arm, as if wondering what metal it had been forged from. He hardly seemed to be taking the fight seriously at all.
Naofumi forcefully knocked Gin's blade aside. Seizing the moment while Gin was distracted, he switched to the Twin-Headed Black Hound Shield and growled through gritted teeth, "Stop messing around and fight me seriously!"
The shield's crimson beast eyes flashed. Its two hound heads abruptly extended their necks and opened their enormous, fang-filled jaws, snapping viciously at Gin.
"Oh my, how frightening. It can even turn into a living creature." Gin chuckled and stepped back, instantly appearing several yards away, beyond the reach of the shield's hound heads.
"This is my chance! Watch this-Prison Shield!" As Gin landed, Naofumi's lips curled into a smile of triumph.
The shield transformed again, taking on a rectangular shape. A sudden light flared beneath Gin's feet. As he watched curiously, a spherical steel cage instantly enclosed him, thick, sturdy chains winding tightly around it to seal it shut.
Wiping the fine beads of sweat from his face, Naofumi declared smugly, "You can't escape now, can you? Since you're trapped in there, that means you've lost."
"Well, well, my apologies. You may say that, but I'm not quite as helpless as you seem to think."
Crack-
A brilliant flash of sword light swept past. The tightly sealed steel cage might as well have been made of paper; in an instant, it was slashed into fragments and vanished.
That irritating, foxlike smile appeared before Naofumi again. Still speaking in the same flippant, teasing manner, Gin toyed with his Zanpakutō, Shinsō.
He had yet to use either Shikai or Kidō, relying entirely on sword strikes to handle Naofumi. Though he had been toying with him to some extent, Naofumi's combat instincts had genuinely surprised him.
At Gin's taunting words, Naofumi spat softly, his expression darkening. His gloomy eyes flickered as he considered how to respond.
"All right, all right. Let's leave our sparring at that for now. We can have another round when we get the chance."
Just as Naofumi was preparing to make his next move, Gin abruptly sheathed his Zanpakutō on his own initiative and waved a hand at him.
Unwilling to accept it, Naofumi wanted to say something. But when he noticed Ye Uchiha standing nearby watching, having woken at some point, he reluctantly returned his shield to its original form.
Walking over to Naofumi, Gin offered his assessment with a smile. "Your reflexes are quite good, Naofumi. Your technique is completely haphazard, though-a total mess. You fight purely on instinct. You do have some tactical sense, but unfortunately, you're too impatient and easily provoked."
The words were harsh, but Gin's assessment was incisive and fair, striking straight at the heart of the problem.
Naofumi remained silent. As a shut-in from the modern world, he had never received any professional combat training. He had made it this far entirely by figuring things out on his own. He had never considered how he should develop from here, thinking only of raising his level.
Ye Uchiha smoothed things over. "All right, Raphtalia and the others must have been waiting a while. Let's head back."
It was nearly three or four in the afternoon when the three of them emerged from the mine. Upon returning to Lute Village, they spotted Raphtalia and Princess Kaguya standing at the village entrance.
A rare, faint smile graced Princess Kaguya's cold, snow-white face. Her delicate, jade-white hand stroked Raphtalia's head, while Raphtalia leaned toward her with narrowed eyes and an expression of bliss, even swishing her tail from side to side.
"Oh, Master Naofumi! You're back!"
Her brown bear ears twitched at the approaching footsteps. Raphtalia suddenly opened her eyes, and upon seeing Naofumi return, she immediately abandoned Princess Kaguya's head pats and rushed to greet him with an excited smile.
Princess Kaguya's pale hand remained frozen in midair. The smile had already vanished from her face, and she stared broodingly at Raphtalia and the three men.
The chill in her luminous white eyes, along with the inexplicable trace of power spilling from her, sent a sudden shiver down the keenly perceptive Gin's and Ye Uchiha's spines. A few drops of cold sweat appeared on their faces, and they grew tense.
This presence is just like Captain Aizen's after he evolved again with the Hōgyoku... no, it's even more terrifying than Captain Aizen was in that state!!!
She's practically an unbeatable monster.
Sensing Princess Kaguya's immense, unfathomable power, as deep as an abyss and immovable as a mountain, Gin could no longer maintain his composed expression. Shock gripped him as he narrowed his eyes at her, those thoughts running through his mind.
"Achoo-"
Naofumi suddenly sneezed and shivered. Feeling as though the temperature around him had dropped considerably, he rubbed his hands together with a puzzled expression.
Raphtalia asked with concern, "Master Naofumi, have you caught a cold?"
"I'm fine. I just suddenly felt cold for some reason," Naofumi replied, waving a hand.
His gaze happened to catch the displeased Princess Kaguya, who seemed to be glaring straight at him. An invisible pressure weighed on him, making his chest feel tight and leaving him short of breath. He nudged Ye Uchiha with his elbow.
Naofumi swallowed and glanced toward Princess Kaguya. Deliberately lowering his voice, he asked in confusion, "What's wrong with Miss Kaguya? She looks unhappy."
"Nothing. She's always like that. Don't worry about it."
Ye Uchiha stole a seemingly casual glance at Princess Kaguya's slightly puffed cheeks and disgruntled expression, then looked at Raphtalia clinging close to Naofumi. He had a rough idea of what was going on.
Princess Kaguya actually gets jealous?
Although Raphtalia was obedient, considerate, polite, and so adorable that even Ye Uchiha wanted to adopt a girl like her as his daughter, he truly could not imagine what was so special about her that she could attract the normally cold and aloof Princess Kaguya.
Could this be what they call same-sex attraction?!
Before you continue