Chương 18: Zangetsu
"[Awaken Benihime]"
As these words left Kisuke's mouth, things became rather unsightly as he chased after Ichigo, making it look like a scene of a man chasing after a dog with a stick.
As Ichigo continued rolling around, frantically trying to block Kisuke's strikes, Ichigo gritted his teeth and raised his Zanpakuto, blocking Kisuke's attack with the small part of his brokenZanpakuto that was still present.
"I applaud you for no longer running away; however, are you looking down on my Benihime?"
As these words left Kisuke's mouth, he put more strength into his Zanpakuto, resulting in it easily cutting through Ichigo's, causing his eyes to widen in shock.
Seeing that he couldn't block Kisuke's Zanpakuto, he immediately started fleeing again as Kisuke continued rushing after him while taunting him.
"See? Your sword is nothing special. Just a bloated mess of uncontrolled Spiritual Power. So what if you have a lot of Spiritual Power? If you can't control it, it's useless."
While Ichigo continued dodging Kisuke's strikes, he was occasionally forced to redirect one of his strikes, and after another minute of cat and mouse, only the hilt of Ichigo's Zanpakuto was left.
"Well, now the blade is completely gone. What will you do now? Since the victory condition is knocking my head down, you can still do it with just a hilt; however, if you continue fighting me with that toy..."
Powerful Spiritual Pressure erupted out of Kisuke, causing Ichigo to tremble as he instinctively took a step back.
"... I will kill you."
A shudder went through Ichigo's spine as he immediately started running away, closely followed by Kisuke, who clearly was toying with him from an outside perspective.
Meanwhile, Tatsuki frowned deeply as she spectated what was happening in front of her. Initially, she still found watching the chase rather fun as well, but now she thought things were going too far.
"Isn't this too much? Ichigo seems absolutely terrified."
Hearing Tatsuki's concerned words, Yuna simply shrugged her shoulders.
"It's definitely too much, but that's the point. What we are about to do is extremely dangerous, so there can be no hesitation. The incident of him easily getting defeated and almost losing his life left a deep scar on Ichigo, and since time is limited, Kisuke decided to use a rather forceful method to help him with his trauma: Throw him into the cold water without any preparations, hoping he will just start swimming."
A deep frown appeared on Tatsuki's face as she pondered Yuna's words. Although she could understand what Yuna meant, that didn't mean she approved of the method used.
"Isn't this dangerous? Couldn't this make the situation even worse?"
Yuna nodded in agreement as Naruto shrugged his shoulders and answered Tatsuki's question.
"Indeed, quick-fix-methods tend to be riskier, but it seems like Kisuke is confident that Ichigo will be able to push through the situation."
As soon as Naruto finished speaking, the atmosphere surrounding Ichigo changed as his chaotic Spiritual Pressure stabilized while simultaneously growing stronger.
"Ohh? Seems like he found the light~"
"Indeed, I wonder what his Zanpakuto will look like~"
"[ZANGETSU]"
As soon as Ichigo yelled out his Zanpakuto's name, a dense beam of Spiritual Pressure shot a Kisuke, which he easily dodged by sidestepping, and moments later, the dust settled, revealing Ichigo's new sword.
Frankly, it looked pretty basic as it was only a rare blade with a hilt and no guard. As its base, it was relatively wide, even wider than Ichigo's initial sword, but it became thinner the further one went to its tip, making it look a little like a beast's fang.
Seeing that Ichigo finally managed to hear his Zanpakuto's name, a happy smile appeared on Kisuke's face as he got ready for combat.
"Ohh~ Much better. Now that you have your sword back, we can start the third test properly."
However, instead of answering him, Ichigo glanced at his sword, Zangetsu, and shook his head.
"No, I'll finish this now. You should be able to dodge this, right? Personally, I don't think I'll be able to control this."
As he said that, he raised Zangetsu above his head while holding it with both his hands, resulting in incredibly dense Spiritual Pressure condensing at the Zanpakuto's edge.
Realizing what was about to happen, Yuna shook her head as she pointed her finger upwards, resulting in a sheen of ice forming between her little group and the fighting duo. Simultaneously, Kisuke's eyes widened in shock as he took a defensive position.
"[Scream, Benihime]"
A blood-red shield formed in front of Kisuke as soon as he finished talking while Ichigo slashed Zangetsu down at the same time, resulting in another powerful slash filled with Spiritual Power flying at Kisuke. The shield and the slash collided, causing a powerful explosion ending with Ichigo's attack getting redirected by Kisuke's shield.
Unfortunately, it was directed towards Yuna's group, where the ice shield Yuna had prepared was already waiting. Yet again, Ichigo's attack slammed into a shield, but after a few seconds, it simply fizzled out, leaving a gash in the ice.
"My, that's quite the powerful move. Not bad, Ichigo."
Ichigo couldn't help but frown at how easily Yuna blocked his attack, but in the end, he decided not to bother with that. After all, they were all in the same boat, and there was no point in having a conflict at this point in time.
Fortunately, as Ichigo's attack passed Kisuke, it slightly grazed his head, resulting in it flying off his head, marking the third test as passed.
"Mah, that was quite dangerous. If I hadn't blocked it with Benihime's shield, I might have actually lost an arm~"
As those words left his mouth, he briefly glanced at Yuna, who blocked the attack seemingly with ease, causing him to frown. Then he lightly shook his head and redirected his gaze at Ichigo, who fell asleep leaning on his sword.
'What's with all these scary kids around? I really don't know what I'm supposed to think about this.'
"Oh well, congratulations on passing the third test, Ichigo."
Just like that, a few more days of training passed, and the initial ten days training period ended. The remaining seven days were needed for Kisuke to create a path to Soul Society.
In those remaining days, Yuna and Naruto would continue nurturing their newly hatched Zanpakuto Spirits in the hopes that they would at least reach Shikai before they had to leave.
Hinata, on the other hand, spent most of her time getting used to her Zanpakuto Spirit, while Tatsuki and Ichigo spent most of the time increasing their combat awareness while simultaneously getting used to their new powers.
However, none of that matters much to the current Tatsuki, as she currently was at Naruto's house, sitting next to him on a couch while watching TV.
When Naruto invited her over, she expected Yuna and Hinata to be there as well, but the duo was apparently on a date, leaving Naruto and Tatsuki alone in the house resulting in Tatsuki being nervous as hell.
She was constantly fidgeting around, while her face was constantly changing from light red to crimson and back. Additionally, despite the TV running for quite a while now, Tatsuki had not picked up a single word that was spoken due to her mind constantly wandering.
'It's just the two of us! What is going to happen? Are we going to do it? Nonono, it's way too early! THEN WHY DID I BRING PROTECTION!? NO, calm down, Tatsuki; I'm sure nothing will happen. E-Even if Naruto wants to do it, h-he will stop if I tell him to, right? B-But won't he dislike that? M-Maybe it won't be so bad? Might be fun, right? Nonono, i-it's too early for me. Much too early. I'm not ready yet... THEN WHY DID I BRING CONDOMS!?'
While Tatsuki was close to a mental breakdown due to nervousness, Naruto had slightly different thoughts.
'Man, seeing her fidgeting around like this is so cute~'
[I'm pretty sure your personality wasn't always this bad. Even at the end of your last life, it wasn't like this.]
'Well, what can I say? Seeing Tatsuki trying to act mature while occasionally blushing like a schoolgirl in a teen drama, caused something dark to awake inside me.'
[Y-Your inner Yuna!?]
'Not THAT dark. Geez, you're overdoing it, Kurama.'
[T-True, that would be outrageous.]
As he was bickering with Kurama, he gave Tatsuki another glance, and seeing her crimson face; he couldn't help but smirk as a concerned expression appeared on his face moments later.
"Are you alright, Tatsuki? Your face is all red. Do you have a fever?"
As those words left his mouth, he gently moved Tatsuki's head towards his so their foreheads touched, causing Tatsuki to blush even harder.
"I-I'm fine! L-Let go already!"
"Mhh, I'm not sure about that. Your forehead does seem to be a little too warm~"
"G-Get away from me already!"
As she said that, she lightly pushed Naruto away from her before lowering her head.
'Shit, what am I doing? Why did I push him away like that? Naruto was just concerned about me, and now he surely will be angry at me for pushing him like that.'
As those thoughts of concern rushed through Tatsuki's head, she slowly raised her head to get a glimpse at Naruto's current facial expression, and when she saw it, she froze in place. He was smirking. The puzzle pieces quickly clicked into place, and not even a few seconds later, she glared at Naruto with a fierce expression.
"You tricked me!"
Hearing Tatsuki's accusation, a smug expression appeared on Naruto's face as he leisurely leaned back on the couch.
"Yup, your face as I was teasing you was adorable~"
Tatsuki showed a mixed expression to Naruto's words as the previous glare was still present, but now it was mixed with a light red blush.
"Why are you always teasing me like that? You better have a good answer, or I'll deal with you."
While threatening Naruto, she menacingly clenched her fist at him, making him chuckle.
"Now, now, no need to pack out the big guns. I tease you, because you always show me a cute expression when I do so. That's honestly all there is to it."
Despite usually like a tomboy, Tatsuki was greatly pleased with being called cute, and Naruto calling her fists "big guns" certainly stoked another part of her ego as well. So, her glare with quickly replaced by a cute pout, causing Naruto to nod in appreciation.
"Fine, I forgive you if you invite me to dinner."
"Sure, I'll bring you somewhere nice and fancy."
Hearing Tatsuki's demand, Naruto replied instantly and agreed. Eating at a fancy restaurant to forgive him? Wasn't that a win-win situation? He would get to eat at a fancy restaurant, his girlfriend would "forgive" him, and he could go on a date with his adorable girlfriend. That wasn't two birds with one stone; it was three!
As the duo returned to a relaxed state, Naruto could feel that Tatsuki was slowly sinking into a state of unrest, causing him to frown. He might enjoy teasing her, but that didn't mean he genuinely cared for her as well.
So, without waiting any further, Naruto's hand snaked around her and landed on her shoulder, causing her to twitch a little, resulting in a chuckle of amusement from Naruto, earning him another glare from Tatsuki. However, before she could complain, he lightly pulled her towards him, making their shoulders touch.
"Something is bothering you. Tell me so I can fix it."
Tatsuki couldn't help but be startled by how fast Naruto picked up that her mood was getting worse. She squinted at him, trying to find out his trick, but all he could see was him looking at her in concern. The duo held eye contact for a short moment before Tatsuki sighed deeply and leaned closer against Naruto.
"*Sigh* How in the world did you pick up my concerns so quickly?"
Hearing Tatsuki's question, a wide grin appeared on Naruto's face as he gave her a thumbs up.
"Because I'm just that awesome."
Tatsuki rolled her eyes at Naruto and fell into silence. She was currently pondering how best to say what she wanted to say without showing any weakness, but after around 3 minutes of doing so, she gave up and simply resumed speaking.
"What we are about to do... I mean, Rukia's rescue mission... that's going to be incredibly dangerous, won't it."
Naruto hummed in acknowledgment before simply shrugging his shoulders, clearly not bothered by the inevitable danger.
"Yeah, it will."
Tatsuki pouted at how easily Naruto admitted to that while not seeming bothered in the slightest, so she continued asking.
"Aren't you afraid? I don't mind being wounded, but there is a genuine chance that one or even all of us will die. How are you so nonchalant about this."
"Yes, albeit small, there is a chance that some of us will die. However, why would I be bothered by that? I am confident in myself to overcome whatever obstacle appears in front of me. Additionally, not only am I there, but nee-san and Hinata are as well. If we three go all out, nothing can stop us."
Hearing Naruto's arrogant words, Tatsuki couldn't help but look at him in bewilderment. A small blush crept up her cheeks as she looked at Naruto's eyes, which seemed to radiate domineering confidence and determination.
'I have never seen him act like this. Not bad, not bad at all. That heroic look filled with determination suits him quite well, hehe.'
While those thoughts crossed her mind, a somewhat sloppy expression briefly appeared on her face, which unfortunately was noticed by Naruto, resulting in a massive smirk.
"What, have you fallen for me again, Tatsuki?"
Initially, Tatsuki was slightly dazed by his words, but a few seconds later, she realized that her face briefly turned indecent, making her hide her face while her whole body shook lightly.
"I-If you tell anyone about what just happened, I-I will punch you."
"Hahaha, relax, relax. My girlfriend's cute moments are exclusively reserved for me, so no one will know."
Tatsuki huffed due to being called cute again but didn't comment further as she was satisfied with Naruto's answer. She did, however, snuggle a little closer to Naruto, fully leaning into him while sighing in contentment.
'This damn idiot, why is he always teasing me?'
Despite her inner complaints, she couldn't help but smirk happily as she hugged Naruto back, making him smile as well.
'I wonder how else I can tease her~'
[You really have changed...]
Another day later, Yuna and Hinata were sitting crossed-legged in their shared bedroom with their backs touching each other. For a normal person, it would look like they were simply relaxing against each other's backs, but the truth was far from that. A more spiritually aligned person could see energies constantly shifting between the duo.
Basically, Yuna was allowing Hinata's Zanpakuto Spirit, Undine, to absorb minuscule motes of Spiritual Energy from Kurama while Undine was allowing Yuna's freshly hatched Zanpakuto Spirit, Chaos, to do the same to Undine.
Unlike Undine, who only started cooperating with Hinata a few weeks ago, Kurama did so pretty much since Yuna's birth, skyrocketing his Spiritual Pressure far beyond what Undine had at her disposal. So, even if Undine absorbed some of it, Kurama would, at worst, lose about a week of training, while Undine could get months' worth of Energy, greatly boosting her power before things get dangerous.
So, while Undine was constantly absorbing Kurama's dense Spiritual pressure, she could easily share some with Chaos, producing the same results as Kurama and her, just on a lower level. As for why Chaos didn't directly take some from Kurama? She simply wasn't skilled enough to handle Kurama's comparable ridiculous amounts of Spiritual Power, so Undine was a much better candidate to nurture her.
'How are you doing, Chaos? Can you still take more?'
[Gah~ More! Can take! Gah~]
[Don't overdo it, Chaos.]
[I fine, big brother. Gah~]
'What a heartwarming family I have living inside me~ How nice~'
[Urgh, I can't even complain as I somewhat accepted the role without a complaint.]
[Gah~ Big brother, nice!]
[Urgh, thanks, little Chaos.]
Yuna couldn't help but chuckle in amusement at Kurama smoothly becoming Chaos' big brother and put her attention on Hinata instead.
"How is Undine doing? Chaos said she is still fine."
Hinata waited a few seconds, seemingly listening to something before she answered Yuna's question.
"She says she is still fine for now, but she will probably be exhausted after about another hour."
"Got it."
Funnily enough, while Yuna and Hinata were seated like this, with their Zanpakuto Spirits sharing energies, Undine could speak directly to Yuna, but she preferred to continue only communicating with Hinata. Apparently, it was something about not cheating on their partner or something like that. Chaos had the same view, while Kurama couldn't care less. Yuna could only conclude that that kind of view had something to do with being born as a Zanpakuto Spirit.
Anyway, Yuna shelved those thoughts as her mind drifted back to herself.
'Undine says she can endure another hour. What about you, Chaos?'
[Gah? What is, hour?]
'Oh right, you are rather new to this. It's about the time it takes for "a quicky" to end.'
One mind reprimand Yuna for using such a vulgar method to describe a time span in front of someone newly born, however...
[Gah~ Quicky, okay! Gah~]
... Yuna's attribute of causing chaos wasn't the only thing Chaos had inherited. Somehow, the freshly born Chaos was a pervert that took great interest in Yuna's night activities. Although Kurama usually tried all attempts to take a peek, Chaos' name certainly was well chosen as she quite frequently found a way to slip through Kurama's defense attempts.
In conclusion, she was a perverted troublemaker.
Yuna couldn't be prouder.
Tình trạng nguồn điện hàng tuần
-- Xếp hạng
Quyền lực 
-- Đá
Quyền lực