chapter 6

Ichibe hyosube is a man that I cannot trust.

Let me explain. He can beat anyone within bleach with very few exceptions. I, am just an inexperienced combatant. While I have the power and skill of Kenpachi, that is useless in front of his zanpakuto.

But the main reason as to why I cannot trust him...

Is because he was one of the main contributors to the Soul King's current state. He assisted the five noble family's in the mutilation of the soul king.

It makes training with him all the more nerve-wracking. The man's gaze doesn't leave me.

He doesn't really have much to teach other than swordsmanship and he said that nimaiya was going to teach me that. All he's taught me is that words have power and that incantations can strengthen attacks.

Anyways, after about 3 weeks, we had to go over to tenjiro's. Ichibe told me his name when he told us to head over to his place.

Anyway, he's going to teach us about the healing arts and the like. Very likely that he'll also teach us hand-to-hand combat.

Though I don't think that'll be necessary for yachiru.

"took your time, eh?" The yakuza-looking man clearly seemed to be irritated.

"was there a need to rush?" Tenjiro disappeared from sight and I dodged a blow to the head by instinct.

I turned around and saw mitsuri's blade was wrapped around his neck with yachiru's aimed directly at his heart.

"you've all got good reflexes. That's good. Right, so here I will be teaching you two things. Firstly, healing. Taking damage is a given on the battlefield. Healing is a necessity. And secondly, you cannot always rely on your zanpakuto. So I will be teaching you hand to hand combat. By the end of this training, you will have developed at least one hand to hand combat technique. Understand?" The three of us nodded our heads, mitsuri and yachiru removed their weapons from tenjiro.

'I've already got somewhat of an idea of a technique. Kanoh agito's dragon shot. At its core, it's a one inch punch. But it allows for full power strikes regardless of the range or proximity.' The hot spring demon cut me out of my thoughts with an attempted strike to the face.

I barely dodged his punch and it left a cut on my cheek.

"I won't be giving you any warnings, scrub. I'll be sparring with you and your subordinates are gonna spar with each other." Tenjiro stood in a boxing stance and I raised my arms to mimic kanoh agito's martial arts stance.

"strange stance." He rushed right towards me and attempted a strike at my face. I brushed his punch aside with my left arm and struck for his gut with my right.

"quick little fucker aren't ya?" Tenjiro had caught my punch just before it hit. "Now what's it gonna be? You can't get a full power strike from this range." He grabbed me by my throat with his free hand and brought me into the air.

I moved my fist in front of his face, the man gave me a questioning glance. I focused on my arm, with some focus, I tensed all my muscles in my arm while simultaneously thrusting my fist forward.

The fist struck tenjiro in the face and launched him backwards causing the yakuza to lose his grip. I rubbed my throat which was in pain.

'his grip was really strong. I think I pulled off the dragon shot. I remember reading about how one inch punches use "fa jin" or explosive force. I'm lucky that I pulled it off. I pretty much just tried a theory and it worked.' Tenjiro walked over to me and raised his hand. I was prepared to defend myself again but he slapped me on my shoulder.

"good job. From what I just felt, that looked like a one inch punch. But it felt like a full power strike. What's that technique called?" I smiled a bit at my success.

"dragon shot." Tenjiro smiled back at me.

"badass name. I think we'll get along pretty well. So long as you're not one of those bastards who think they're smarter than anyone." I chuckled at the demon's comment.

"no. I'm pretty average in intelligence. Oh, I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Walter Newgate, it's nice to meet you." I held my hand out and tenjiro grabbed it aggressively.

"nice to meet ya Walter." We turned to mitsuri and yachiru who were just staring in amazement. "The fuck ya lookin' at! Get to sparring!"

"sorry!" Mitsuri turned to yachiru who stood with her arms at her side.

Mitsuri held her fists up in a grappling stance with a serious look on her face, it was unusual to see on her face.

Neither of the two made a move until mitsuri sprinted forward. The swordless swordswoman reached for yachiru but the first Kenpachi casually sidestepped it.

Yachiru jabbed her in the arm as she dodged. I watched mitsuri's face twist into confusion.

'what did she do?' Yachiru's actions had me stumped but mitsuri's face returned to her serious one.

In a blink, mitsuri was behind yachiru. Both yachiru and I were shocked.

"hirenyaku. She just used hirenyaku." Mitsuri struck yachiru in the back making her stumble forward. Yachiru jabbed mitsuri in the left leg and she fell to a knee.

"ah, I surrender!" Yachiru helped mitsuri up but she still couldn't stand on her left leg. Tenjiro and I walked closer to the two.

"yachiru. What did you do?" The black-haired woman held up her index finger while showing her nail.

"I used my nails to jab her nerves. Her sense of touch is numbed and so it makes them unable to feel their limb. Mitsuri was about to move again when I jabbed her so she fell." Mitsuri looked like she had a moment of realisation.

"so that's why I couldn't feel my arm. I think that's why my attack failed." I raised an eyebrow towards her comment.

"further explanation would be appreciated." Mitsuri moved both her arms and let go of yachiru.

"good. I'm fine now. I uh, tried to compress all of my muscles to a singular point and expel the force through a punch." I held my hand over my mouth.

'that's... that's Takeshi Wakatsuki's blast core. Amazing. And yachiru's technique was... I believe the man's name was... I... I can't remember. The Frenchmen from the kengan vs purgatory tournament.' Mitsuri poked me in the forehead which brought me back to reality.

"keep practising that technique. It'll work if you can perfect it. Not only that, it'll be a very powerful technique which can turn a battle around."

"yeah it would be. Right, so now that people are injured, onto healing. Well... really I'm the only one injured. Walters only got a cut. Eh, it'll work. Walter, use your spiritual pressure and funnel it into your wound. And focus on repairing the injury. Healing uses no chants and is dependent on detailed imagination." I placed my hand over my cut and did as tenjiro said.

Green reiatsu flowed into my wound and I could feel the cut closing.

"yeah like that. Generally, you also use these techniques to restore spiritual pressure. But it's going to be a lengthy teaching session. You see, healing can only be done a few people at a time. That's at most. Though only with kido. The way the process works is that the healer's spiritual pressure infiltrates the target's body and funnels out any bad reiatsu caused by injuries before sealing the wounds."

"it sounds like a very complicated process." Tenjiro nodded his head.

"it is complicated but also a delicate process. Now, we'll head to the hot springs. I guarantee that you'll be healthier than when you came in." I activated the visionary and used it to adapt mitsuri's muscles density to a similar level of Wakatsuki's so that blast core would be more effective.

It seems she noticed because she glanced at me but I only smiled back.

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After a brief stay in the hot springs, we returned to training.

"why did the soul king say that you're his heir? I wanna know considering that I don't really have much to teach you. The hand to hand combat part is almost done except for the dango-haired girl but she's got a good grasp on her technique. And the only other thing to really teach is that hand gestures can increase precision."

"it's because I am the soul King's brain. As you probably already know, the soul King's body was split into various pieces. I, am his brain. But since his other body parts have aligned with his son, mimihagi being an exception, he has given me the task to fully unite his body and become the new soul king."

"that's a tall order. One hell of a task you have ahead of ya." I nodded my head in agreement. I'll have to fight pernida, take mimihagi from ukitake safely, fight Gerard Valkyrie and somehow steal all of their powers. Successfully might I add.

That's not accounting for any changes to the Canon storyline. It is impossible for there to be no changes because my very existence affects the plot.

"and that is one of the reasons I'm trying to build my sternritter. Now, in relation to that, I would like to ask you whether you would like to join my sternritter.  You are allowed to refuse. In no way am I forcing you to join." Tenjiro took the stick out of his mouth and remained silent for a moment.

"sure. If you're going to be the next soul king, you'll end up being able to order us around anyway. Being a part of this 'sternritter' thing seems no different than the zero squad to the soul king." I nodded my head and flipped the switch.

A red sake cup with my blood inside appeared in my hands. Tenjiro took the cup and as he started to drink i spoke.

"tenjiro kirinji. I, Walter Newgate, bestow upon you the letter 'Y' the yakuza. Welcome to the sternritter, tenjiro." He handed me back the cup and I erased it with magic.

Off the switch went.

"so you know magic as well? I wonder how that happened."

"it was... a painful experience I assure you. Let's see. Sternritter B, check. Sternritter Z, check. Sternritter Y, check and Sternritter V is pending. So, three sternritter, possibly four." Tenjiro showed me the rainbow-coloured eye with a confused look.

"that's proof of you being one of my sternritter. As well as proof that you recognise me as your leader. Simply relax your hand and it will disappear until you want it to appear again."

"interesting. Well, I've already taught you all you need to know, you just need practice." I created a key through my magic and handed it to him.

"in this world exists a separate dimension called the frozen forest. I created the frozen forest. This key allows you to create a portal there. All sternritter will have one of these. You may visit whenever you so wish. Otherwise, do as you please unless I give a specific order." Tenjiro nodded his head.

The ground rumbled underneath us and we turned to the source to see mitsuri had shattered the ground.

"I did it! Walter I did it! My technique is done! What should I call it though?" I approached mitsuri and patted her on the head.

"I'm proud of you. As for the name, blast core. It sounds good, doesn't it?"

"I was thinking something like love punch or heavenly fist of love. But blast core sounds really cool!"

"Well done! Now, next you're going to nimaiya. Good luck. Nimaiya is a bit... eccentric."

"alright, Tenjiro... can you personally train yachiru while we're at nimaiya's?" The yakuza nodded his head.

"sure."

How stressful.

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