Chapter 3: Zanpakuto

The next morning, as the birds started chirping and the sun shone through the branches, Kiruzu woke up.

When he saw the corpses that still lay around him, he immediately recalled the events of the previous night. He recalled the gruesome massacre, but more so he remembered the immense pressure brought upon him by a seemingly young kid.

However, one of the first lessons Kiruzu learned upon reincarnating into the Soul Society was that people can be much older than they appear, so he knew not to judge a fish by its scales.

In his first life he had encountered many bloody scenes like the one that surrounded him now - the wild west was rife with such violence. But he had never experienced such a tangible fear like what he felt from the young kid last night - to which even the monster that killed him in his first life paled in comparison.

As Kizuru placed his palm on the ground to push himself to his feet, he felt his hand touch something. Looking down, he saw that his hand had been placed on top of the hilt of a katana.

This katana still had a severed hand attached to it - stuck to the handle's wrapping by rigor mortis and dried blood. Unperturbed by such things due to his past experiences, Kiruzu pulled the hand off the hilt and threw it to the side.

This katana was almost the height of Kiruzu's entire body, making it incredibly unwieldy for his size. However, he felt something odd about this katana - something much different than his wooden sparring sword.

He felt an attraction to the sword, a suction force. It felt like something inside him was filling the sword, like a relationship was being established.

Relenting to his instinct, he decided to keep the sword. He retrieved the scabbard from the original owner's corpse before deciding to head back home before his absence became unexplainable.

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Before climbing back through his bedroom window, he knew he had to find a place to stash his new weapon. Feeling it too unsafe to hide it within the house, he decided to leave it beneath his bedroom window and cover it with dirt and leaves.

After doing so, he ambled back into his bedroom through his window. He knew his brother Isshin was even lazier than him, so he wouldn't be awake this early.

Later in the day, Isshin & Kiruzu ate breakfast, explored the Rukon District, sparred with wooden swords, practiced Zanjutsu & Kido, and cooked dinner like they did every other day.

However, that night Kizuru snuck out to practice Zanjutsu with his real sword.

Like this, several more years passed. Isshin's Kido became more and more outstanding, Kiruzu became more and more familiar with Zanjutsu, and the connection between Kiruzu and his sword deepened.

After four years, Isshin became of appropriate age to join the Shin'o Academy.

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"Well, little brother. This will be our last spar for a little while. I hope you can surprise me."

"Don't get your hopes up, you know I'm no good at swordplay. I have no talent for Kido either."

"You'll discover your talent with practice. You are a proud member of the great Shiba Clan. You will find this out when you join the academy, but Kido and Zanjutsu are not the only sources of power for a shinigami."

This piqued Kiruzu's interest. Kiruzu had a suspicion that the power of shinigami was not limited to Kido ever since the night four years ago when he first got his sword.

Although Kiruzu had a mental age greater than his brother, it was the truth that Isshin had spent two years longer than Kiruzu in this world and knew significantly more about shinigami due to his special status as the Shiba Clan inheritor. Isshin had also gotten personal training from their grandfather, who Kiruzu had heard was a great shinigami of his time just like their father.

While Kiruzu was lost in thought, his brother spoke:

"Let's go!"

Isshin jumped forward and thrusted his wooden sword towards Kiruzu's solar plexus.

Kiruzu responded by swiping his sword downward, parrying Isshin's thrust. He then turned his sword's edge upward and slashed towards Isshin's throat.

Isshin quickly rolled to the side and thrust his palm towards Kiruzu's chin.

Kiruzu was about to bend backwards to dodge, but suddenly Isshin let go of his sword with his other hand and formed another palm.

"Bakudo #9 - Geki!"

'What!"

Kiruzu's entire body froze, rendering him unable to dodge. Isshin's palm struck the bottom of Kiruzu's chin, causing him to fly backwards and land on his back.

When he landed the bakudo spell broke, allowing Kiruzu to speak.

"You always abuse Kido during our matches brother!"

"Sorry, but I need to practice for the academy. Besides, your Zanjutsu has been getting better, so I need to be careful."

Kiruzu had rarely heard Isshin or his grandfather talk about the shinigami academy, so he wanted to use this opportunity to learn more about it.

"Is Kido the only thing you learn at the academy?"

"No, the academy is where you receive your Zanpakuto."

"Zanpakuto?"

"Yes, a Zanpakuto is your real sword, one that is an extension of your soul. Having a Zanpakuto is the real difference between a shinigami and a normal soul like us."

'A Zanpakuto is your real sword?' Kiruzu wondered. He thought back to his own sword which he had been practicing with these past few years. He didn't think there was anything special about it though.

"Sorry brother, but it seems our sparring session is over."

As Isshin said this, Kiruzu noticed a group of individuals in black kimonos approaching the garden.

"I'll see you in two years when you come to the academy…"

With those words, Isshin followed the black-robed group, along with several other children already in the group.

Looking at his brother, the person with who he had explored this world, leave, Kiruzu suddenly had a question he never thought about before.

'What do I want to do with this life?'