Retiring in Soul Society, Chapter 41

And so, the prototype of the Shinigami Uniform was born.

Besides the most basic Shinigami Uniform, there was also the Captain's Haori worn by each captain. The Captain's Haori was a pure white cloak, uneven along the bottom like bird feathers, hence its name!

This thing might not have any practical use, but it looked cool!

Just imagine it: thirteen captains in Shinigami Uniforms and Captain's Haori, coming and going freely amid thousands of troops, taking enemy generals' heads as easily as reaching into a bag. How blood-pumping would that be?

He had prepared one for himself as well, except the back of his haori did not bear a division number, but the character "Strategist." He was a bona fide strategist!

Right, should he pair it with a feather fan too? When fighting enemies, he could wave the fan in hand and, laughing amid casual conversation, reduce mighty fleets to ashes! How could a single word like "cool" possibly describe that?

Too much, too much! Ahem!

Soon, through Shūtara Senjumaru's efforts, the first Shinigami Uniform and Captain's Haori in Soul Society history were born. Yamabuki Chidori immediately took them to show the Captain Commander.

Yamamoto was quite pleased with them. With a wave of his hand, he allocated a large sum of funds for producing Shinigami Uniforms.

As for the Captain's Haori Yamabuki Chidori had delivered, the Captain Commander was already wearing it.

After handling all the large and small affairs in the division, Yamabuki Chidori returned to the underground training ground beneath his home. At the center of the training ground were two hot springs: replicas of Bone Hell and Blood Pool Hell.

Yamabuki Chidori discovered that not only was he exceptionally gifted in battle, he also learned far faster than ordinary people. After analyzing the formulas for the two hot springs, he soon recreated identical versions.

Truly worthy of being the Child of Destiny.

A Word on Retsu Unohana's Abilities

Unohana would be appearing soon, so here was a brief explanation of her abilities.

There were currently two mainstream theories regarding Unohana's Bankai.

First: excessive healing caused cellular necrosis, which was why Kenpachi Zaraki instantly became a skeleton. Another theory held that Kenpachi becoming a skeleton was the awakening of his own power—Nozarashi: bones exposed in the wilderness.

Second: a rule-based ability, Causal Acceleration.

Being born was the "cause," while death, decay, and becoming bones was the "effect." Kajōtenketsu accelerated the process of cause and effect.

If that was the case, then her Shikai was not merely healing either; it might also be "Causal Acceleration."

For example, if someone had a small cut on their hand, the eventual outcome would be for the wound to heal.

But during the bloody war, Rukia, Byakuya, and Renji were severely wounded, and their eventual outcome pointed toward "death." If Unohana used her Shikai to treat them, it might accelerate their deaths instead. That was why their injuries exceeded Unohana's limits of treatment, forcing them to be sent to Zero Division.

Therefore, I personally leaned more toward the second theory. If you had any thoughts, please leave a comment to discuss.

If there were no objections, when Unohana appeared tomorrow or the day after, her Bankai's ability would be the rule-based Causal Acceleration.

Of course, this was only one person's opinion, so take it with a grain of salt. If you disagreed, go with your own interpretation. Blame Kubo for not explaining such a cool ability clearly enough! Hmph!

I'm Invincible!

Everything was ready. All necessary preparations had been completed.

Now, Yamabuki Chidori needed to consider how to perfect his Perfect Sanctification.

This was an ability that could save his life at a critical moment. Unless absolutely necessary, he could never reveal it.

Moreover, his Perfect Sanctification was still incomplete. How could he stand it if using it once left his whole body wrecked?

It was precisely in order to continuously improve his Perfect Sanctification that he had shamelessly gone to Tenjirō Kirinji's place and stolen Blood Pool Hell and Bone Hell.

Yamabuki Chidori stripped off all his clothes, gently closed his eyes, and began absorbing the Reishi around him. The density of Reishi in Soul Society could not compare to Hueco Mundo, but it was still far greater than in the human world. Before long, he felt that his absorption of Reishi had reached its limit.

Any more would exceed the limit of what he could control, causing a qualitative change through sheer accumulation while also inflicting tremendous damage on his body.

"Little by little! Don't rush, little by little!" Yamabuki Chidori slowed the rate at which he absorbed Reishi. Yet soon, tearing pain came from his back. Blood burst forth, and a pair of wings of light extended from his back as he entered the Perfect Sanctification state once more.

That power beyond mortal limits descended upon him again.

This time, he paid even closer attention to the changes within his body. Every cell in him brimmed with power, but once that power reached its limit, the cells would suffer damage. He could endure it for a short time. Previously, in Hueco Mundo, he had chased Baraggan and hacked at him for an entire hour, leaving his body on the verge of collapse. Now, however, his body had only just begun to break down.

He hurriedly deactivated Perfect Sanctification. Blood immediately poured from his seven orifices, and his body tilted before collapsing to the ground. Without a word, he leaped straight into the Bone Pool and began repairing his injuries.

This time, his injuries were not serious. He recovered completely in just a few minutes.

It seemed the burden was closely related to how long Perfect Sanctification remained active.

If he underwent long-term training, could he strengthen his cells and allow them to hold even more power?

Like how a person's muscles slowly grew stronger through constant exercise.

But the human body could not grow infinitely stronger. Once it reached a certain limit, no amount of effort would improve it even the slightest bit. That was the biological limit.

Soul Reapers, Quincy, and Hollows—these three kinds of beings all had their own limits.

Yamabuki Chidori used this method to train himself, but his cells quickly reached their upper limit of strength.

With Perfect Sanctification activated, he could only barely maintain it for thirty seconds. Once he exceeded thirty seconds, the cells in his body would collapse from overload!

"Am I destined to be a thirty-second man for the rest of my life?" Yamabuki Chidori stared unwillingly at the two hot springs before him. If he only had thirty seconds, it was practically meaningless.

"Is this what they call a limit?" Yamabuki Chidori slowly began to understand why Aizen had chosen to use the Hogyoku to break through his own limits. The road ahead was clearly still so long, yet his body could no longer endure it. That feeling was unbearable.

It was like facing a table full of delicacies. You had eaten less than one thousandth of it, yet you were already full. Your eyes told you to keep eating, but your stomach told you that one more bite might kill you from overeating.

It was simply torture!

The next day, Yamabuki Chidori came to the Gotei 13 cafeteria for a meal. With enormous dark circles beneath his eyes, he stared at the cup before him.

After thinking all night, he had already found a solution: increase his Reiatsu by any means necessary.

A Soul Reaper's body was composed of Reishi. Theoretically, as long as one's Reiatsu was strong enough, the strength of a Soul Reaper's body could be limitless.

If he currently possessed Xue Lan's Reiatsu, then combined with Perfect Sanctification, he would dare flick Yhwach on the forehead twice if he came knocking.

But after his Reiatsu entered the captain-class level, he discovered that its growth had gradually slowed.

"Brother Yamabuki, what are you thinking about? Is today's food not to your liking? If you don't like it, how about giving it to me?" Chōjirō Sasakibe quietly extended his chopsticks, only for Yamabuki Chidori to grab him and fiercely flick his forehead twice.

"You dare steal food from my mouth! You're getting more and more presumptuous!" Yamabuki Chidori laughed as he scolded him. "Let me test you. See this cup? How would you pour this pot of tea into it?"

One pot of tea could fill three cups to the brim. Yamabuki Chidori had thought this was a difficult problem, but the next second, Chōjirō Sasakibe solved it in an incredibly simple way.

He brought over three cups.

Then he filled them one by one.

"Is this a brain teaser? Are you trying to test me again?" Chōjirō Sasakibe asked with a smile.

Yamabuki Chidori could not smile. He stared fixedly at the three cups, his expression becoming incomparably grave.

Holy shit!

So the problem could be solved like this too!

There was no need to agonize over smashing the cup or buying a larger one!

He only needed to prepare several more identical cups, didn't he?

Yamabuki Chidori reached out and heavily patted Chōjirō Sasakibe on the shoulder. "You really are a little genius! Help me ask the Captain Commander for leave later. Just tell him I have something to deal with and will be back this afternoon."

Yamabuki Chidori turned and returned to the basement beneath his home.

What Chōjirō Sasakibe had done just now reminded him of a problem from long ago.

Many years ago, mobile phones—those old-fashioned phones for the elderly—had very little storage, only a few KB. But some people liked listening to music and reading novels, and a few KB was nowhere near enough. So those people invented memory cards.

The smaller memory cards held several hundred MB, while the larger ones held more than ten GB. At the time, that was completely sufficient for listening to music and reading novels.

Why couldn't he install a "memory card" in his body?

Since his body's performance was insufficient to bear the side effects brought by Perfect Sanctification, he could use a "memory card" to suffer in his place. Wouldn't that solve the problem perfectly?

Yamabuki Chidori pondered for a moment, then drew his Zanpakuto.

The true function of a Zanpakuto was similar to that of a guide, drawing out a Soul Reaper's inherent ability. In other words, Yamabuki Chidori's own ability was spatial control, and once Perfect Sanctification was activated, it would greatly enhance that ability.

Yamabuki Chidori grinned. There was a way.

He drew his Zanpakuto and tried to create two miniature spaces. It actually worked.

He gathered all the Reishi he absorbed into those two miniature spaces. Since those miniature spaces had also been created by his power, the Reishi within them was likewise part of his body. Once it reached a certain density, Yamabuki Chidori activated Perfect Sanctification once more.

It was exactly as he had expected!

After activating Perfect Sanctification this time, the two miniature spaces he had created bore the burden rather than his own body. As long as he used a small portion of his Reiatsu to keep those spaces from collapsing, his Perfect Sanctification could continue forever, until the end of time!

"Hahahaha! I'm invincible! Hahahahaha!"

Unohana: "I Don't Believe It."

Spring was bright and radiant. The warm breeze drifting over one's body was intoxicating. Tender shoots had emerged from the grass, flower buds had appeared on the little wildflowers beside the road, and a faint fragrance filled the path.

The tinkling sound of a stream came from the distance.

A pair of pale, tender feet soaked in the cool stream, while their owner hummed a leisurely tune.

Unohana had stopped and started along the way, and she had finally reached the Rukon District not far from the Seireitei.

With her feet immersed in the stream, it was as though all the fatigue in her body had been washed away. Unohana wore a gentle expression as she gazed upon the beautiful scene before her, feeling quite pleased.

Just then, two passersby carrying firewood came by. When they saw the sight before them, their faces twisted in terror. They screamed miserably, abandoned their firewood, and turned to flee!

Unohana slightly tilted her head and saw that they were merely two ordinary woodcutters. She paid them no mind.

Behind Unohana lay a dense field of corpses, piled high into a small mountain. Every one of them had died from a single strike. She never needed a second move to kill.

Their blood had already seeped deep into the soil. Presumably, the flowers and grass here would grow exceptionally well next year!

Thinking of that, Unohana smiled gently.

In order not to dirty this stream, she had put quite a bit of effort into it.

"Hm hm hm!" Unohana continued humming her cheerful little tune, but soon, someone else arrived.

It was a young man, skinny as a rake and wearing a miserable expression. Seeing the bloody scene before him, he did not feel the slightest fear and merely sighed.

Why did I have to run into something like this?

Unohana turned around and softly asked, "Are you here to kill me?"

"No, I'm just an ordinary passerby. I don't want to get dragged into this troublesome matter. Goodbye!" The young man turned to leave without even looking back.

Unohana suddenly raised her hand, and a sleeve arrow flew toward the back of the young man's head. He instantly spun around and pressed his palms together, viciously catching the sleeve arrow between them.

"You're clearly so beautiful, yet your personality is so vile. What a frightening woman!" Although the young man claimed to be frightened, a different light had already appeared in his eyes.

Unohana withdrew her feet from the stream and stepped onto the soft grass.

"You're strong! What's your name?" Unohana asked.

At the same time, she noticed the sword hanging at the young man's waist.

With a helpless look, the young man said, "The most terrifying thing in the world is being targeted by an unreasonable woman! But there's no harm in telling you my name. I'm Shijima Chiru, just a useless bum muddling through life and waiting to die!"

Before his words had even faded, a flash of blade light descended from the sky.

Shijima Chiru instantly drew his sword and raised it to meet the attack. The two blades collided, and he was forced to one knee by an irresistible, tremendous force.

"Hey... are you really a woman? Could there be a gorilla inside you?" Shijima Chiru spoke the most irritating words with a completely expressionless face.

But soon, he could not say another word, because he discovered that the woman before him was suppressing the full force of both his hands with only one hand.

A trace of surprise appeared in Unohana's eyes.

It had been a long time since she had encountered someone capable of blocking one of her strikes!

Then she twisted her body, and her toes instantly drove into Shijima Chiru's abdomen.

"Pfft!" Shijima Chiru was kicked flying. He could clearly feel that his ribs had broken.

"Wait, wait, wait! I'm really just a passerby! Why did you suddenly draw your sword and attack me? We have no grievance from the past or hatred in the present, so just let me go..." Shijima Chiru cried out in panic.

But what greeted him was a sword flash that seemed capable of tearing apart heaven and earth!

Shijima Chiru's pupils contracted. He had never seen such a fast sword in his life. In an instant, he retreated at top speed, but he still could not outrun that ghostly blade light. Blood mist sprayed through the air as Obana Danjirou's shoulder was pierced by a single strike.

"I didn't want to lower myself to your level because you're a woman! But since you insist on pressing me..." Shijima Chiru's miserable expression vanished, replaced by a chill as cold as ice!

The arm that could still move suddenly swung, and two flying shuttles shot straight toward her.