บท 10: Kisuke Urahara's New Invention

Within Second Division, only the Penal Corps could be considered a high-risk post. The Detention Unit were guards tasked with overseeing the Maggot's Nest. Under normal circumstances, there was no need for them to get their hands dirty.

Even if force was required, their opponents were incarcerated prisoners without Zanpakutō. The Patrol Corps served as scouts monitoring the other twelve division's movements. The existence of these sentries was also something those divisions were fully cognizant of. Hence, none would take initiative to provoke them without reason.

The Reconnaissance Corps handled the gathering, processing, and archiving of intelligence from Soul Society, Hueco Mundo, and the Human World into the Great Spirit Book Archives.

The Internal Affairs Unit was responsible for conveying messages and disseminating orders from Central 46 or the Captain-Commander towards specified personnel. By transferring out of the Penal Corps to any of the other four units, Ailin's safety would be assured since he was still in Second Division.

After realizing Kuta Aokigi's kind intentions, Ailin's figure stiffened slightly.

Captain Kuta...

Ailin still remembered back when he first graduated from the Shinō Academy, his talents could at best be considered ordinary. He was still quite a distance away from qualifying for the Gotei 13 then.

It was Second Division's visiting team led by Kuta who noticed Ailin's satisfactory Shunpo standards and took the special initiative to recruit him into their folds.

The subsequent thirty years spent under Kuta's tutelage transformed Ailin from a greenhorn rookie barely surviving each mission into his present self.

Although now vastly more powerful than Kuta, the latter was still using his own methods to resolve the perils facing Ailin.

Seeing this subtle kindness left the edges of Ailin's lips curling up slightly while his eyes grew warmer. Even in such a shitty world, there were still people who treated him well.

***

"Oh? How interesting."

Within a desolate sandy land, a black Hell Butterfly rested on Yoruichi Shihōin's forefinger. After reading its delivered content, the edges of Yoruichi's lips quirked up amusedly.

"Hey, Kisuke. How much longer will you need?"

"Very soon, three more days at most."

"Fine. Let me reply to little bee first. We'll head back after three days."

Three days later, a disheveled Kisuke Urahara stood before Yoruichi and tossed over a wooden training post.

"It's finally completed. Manufacturing this really wasn't easy."

Stepping forward, Yoruichi rapped her knuckles against the human-shaped wooden post skeptically and asked in puzzlement, "Kisuke, just this thing here can really allow someone to achieve Bankai within three days?"

Kisuke Urahara and Yoruichi Shihōin were childhood friends who grew up together. In Yoruichi's perspective, if Kisuke Urahara willed it, there was nothing he couldn't accomplish.

However, the item he produced this time truly exceeded her comprehension. The most brilliant mind in Soul Society to Yoruichi would undoubtedly be Kisuke Urahara.

Yet even for Kisuke Urahara himself, completing his own Bankai training had required close to ten full years. This had already shattered precedents in Soul Society's records.

But now, this latest device fabricated by Kisuke Urahara astonishingly enabled one to finish Bankai cultivation within a mere three days? Once this information disseminated, it would surely trigger massive upheaval across Soul Society.

"Mm. The most crucial step for Bankai training is manifesting one's Zanpakutō spirit into physical form before subjugating it into submission to complete the process."

"However, throughout Soul Society's two thousand year history, those naturally gifted enough to accomplish this have always been exceptionally rare."

"For most Shinigami, their Reiryoku isn't sufficient enough to materialize their own Zanpakutō spirits."