BLEACH: Blade of Purification

What had been a picturesque snowfall had turned into a full-blown blizzard. Sheets of snow plunged from the sky, dancing before everyone's eyes as if to suffocate everything in a silent embrace.

The snowflakes were so dense that visibility became extremely low, and the accumulating snow quickly covered all traces on the ground.

Ukitake Jūshirō couldn't help but shrink his neck, but he suddenly felt something being draped over his shoulders. He turned to see Sasakibe Chōjirō placing his captain's haori on him. Ukitake gave Sasakibe a slight nod in thanks.

This was the 1st Division's training ground. Because it was so vast and open to the sky, the heavy snow invaded mercilessly. And yet, the captains—including Ukitake and Sasakibe, as well as Kuruyashiki Kenpachi and Sōichirō—all stood there in their yukatas in the howling blizzard, with no intention of leaving.

It was all because a battle was about to unfold before their eyes.

In front of them, in the middle of the snow-covered training ground, stood two figures.

One of them, leaning on a large staff, was the founder of the Gotei 13, the Captain-Commander—Yamamoto Genryūsai Shigekuni.

The other was an unknown youth, someone few had seen or recognized, but who, from this day forward, might well be carved into the history of the Soul Society—Shihōin Ling Qing.

This was a matchup that should never have happened, two beings who should never have fought. Yet here they were, standing in the middle of a blizzard.

To understand how it came to this, we must rewind time just a few moments—

"Wait, wait a minute, Captain Shihōin, what did you just say he needed help with?"

From Sōichirō's expression, it was clear he hadn't intended to reveal this at this time. But Kyōraku's prodding had pushed him into a corner where he had to speak. The instigator himself, Kyōraku Shunsui, was rather pleased, even shaking his head as he savored Sōichirō's helplessness. But then, as he savored it, his expression changed.

His amused look was instantly replaced by shock.

"Are you sure you didn't misspeak? You said Shikai, not Bankai?"

Sōichirō glanced at him, sighed helplessly, and nodded slightly. "That's right. Shikai."

This was why Sōichirō hadn't wanted to say it with so many people around. Because once this truth was revealed here, the attitude of the captains present—especially Kuruyashiki Kenpachi—toward Ling Qing would undoubtedly become one of absolute determination to recruit him.

"Hiss..."

Even Ukitake Jūshirō sucked in a breath of cold air in the hot bath. He even tried to calm Sōichirō, thinking he might have been lightheaded from the heat. "No matter how you think about it, that doesn't seem right. Captain Shihōin, why don't you go rest for a bit?"

"No, it's Shikai. I didn't misspeak."

Since he had already said it, Sōichirō decided to cast aside his reservations and reveal his thoughts completely.

Normally, for a talented Soul Reaper, achieving Shikai was an almost inevitable process with step-by-step training and combat experience. But the next stage, Bankai, was different. The second stage of a Zanpakutō's release—Bankai—also known as the final release, was something only a handful of the thousands of Soul Reapers in any given era could achieve. Once Bankai was attained, that Soul Reaper's name would be forever remembered in the Soul Society.

There were extremely strict prerequisites for training Bankai, but that didn't mean that meeting all the conditions guaranteed success. Each Soul Reaper's situation was different, and whether they could achieve Bankai sometimes depended more on the compatibility between them and their Zanpakutō.

However, if all the prerequisites for Bankai were met, there was a rather crude method to assist the process. It involved having one or several other Soul Reapers who had already mastered Bankai, or were sufficiently powerful, attack the individual with enough force to kill them. This was different from regular training or sparring; the attacks had to be made with the genuine intent to kill.

Under the pressure of near-certain death, the individual had only two choices: achieve Bankai, or be killed.

This method was, in essence, forcing the Zanpakutō to protect its user. Just as a Zanpakutō has a desire not to remain unknown, its instinct is also to prevent its user from dying and itself from disappearing. If, even in such a situation, one failed to achieve Bankai and died, it only proved two things: one, the prerequisites were not met; or two, the relationship with the Zanpakutō was so poor that it couldn't be bothered to care about its user's death.

This was an extremely dangerous method, rarely recommended among the Gotei 13. The current Seireitei was still relatively peaceful and hadn't reached a point where it was necessary to force its members to train to the death for combat power. After all, any Soul Reaper who could use this method was at least Vice-Captain level, a talent that could not be easily lost.

Sōichirō, as the head of the ancient Shihōin family, knew of this method, which was not a closely guarded secret.

Having the Captain-Commander as the assistant was absurd in many ways, but it wasn't entirely inexplicable. At least, Kuruyashiki Kenpachi found it quite reasonable in some respects. He had witnessed Ling Qing's combat power firsthand, which was stronger than most of the members of his own combat-focused 11th Division. Furthermore, he trusted that Sōichirō wouldn't let Ling Qing die in vain.

The truly absurd part was...

This wasn't for Bankai! This was for Shikai!!

Bankai was difficult to master; any bizarre training method was understandable.

But Shikai? For the people present, it wasn't an exaggeration to say they had never struggled with it. They could casually remark, "Can't anyone achieve Shikai?"

You're struggling with Shikai as if it's Bankai, and you even need the Captain-Commander's help using a method for Bankai?

Fine, let's assume what you're saying is true. If your Shikai is this difficult, what are you going to do for Bankai?

Will you have to find the Royal Guard, the Zero Division, and ask the Soul King himself for assistance?

It was just too absurd in every sense.

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