Bleach: The Afterlife Saga

*Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach or any of its characters. All the characters mentioned in this story, with the exception of OCs, are the property of Kubo Tite.


Chapter 11 Lesson 2: Fight Club

The massive White Way gate opened, allowing a group of people dressed in white shirts and blue and red hakamas to cross from Seireitei to Rukongai. Among this group of people was a man with shoulder length black hair.

Ichigo, in his guise as Kurosaki Kaien, wandered through the Junrinan district. After he aced the end of term Kido exam, he and the rest of the elite freshmen class were dismissed for a week-long holiday, where they were allowed to visit their families either in Seireitei or Rukongai. Those whose families were in Rukongai were allowed to pass through the outer gates freely. Ichigo was eager to see his sisters again. He had made a promise to them that he would return regularly but due to the hectic study schedule he was unable to leave the Academy at all, let alone exit Seireitei.

He arrived back at Kukaku's house and knocked on the door. A few seconds later the door opened and Ichigo was greeted by Yuzu. She was dressed up in a black maid outfit, complete with a headdress and gloves, and holding a broom in her hands.

"Hey there Yuzu," smiled Ichigo. Yuzu stared at him a few seconds, as she couldn't recognise his appearance. But when she realized who it was she dropped the broom and hugged her brother tightly.

"Onii-chan I've missed you!" she cried. "We've been waiting for you to come back!"

"I'm sorry I couldn't come visit you earlier, Yuzu-chan," said Ichigo.

"Oh, I better call Karin and Kukaku oba-san to let them know you're here." Yuzu ran into one of the other rooms of the house. She came back a few minutes later with Karin running behind her. Ichigo was amused to see Karin wearing the same maid outfit as Yuzu wore.

"Uh, is that Ichi-nii?" Karin asked Yuzu. "He looks so different." Yuzu nodded her head, prompting Karin to inspect Ichigo up close. When she sensed his reiatsu all doubt in her heart disappeared.

"What took you so long to come back Ichi-nii? And what happened to your hair?" asked Karin.

"I'm sorry Karin-chan. I was too busy with study. And I dyed my hair so that no one will recognise me," replied Ichigo. Just then Kukaku came into the front living room carrying a mug of coffee. When she saw Ichigo, she completely froze in shock, causing the mug to smash onto the floor.

"K-Kaien?" asked Kukaku. She approached Ichigo in an awkward manner, half shuffling forward and half tip-toeing. She placed her hands on Ichigo's shoulders. When she touched Ichigo's hair she was suddenly brought to her senses.

"Er, Kukaku-san?" asked Ichigo. Kukaku shook her head and sighed deeply.

"What was I thinking? I thought you were my dead brother Ichigo. Your face now looks so like him that I couldn't tell the two of you apart," said Kukaku. "Geez, what an idiot I am, to still long for the figure of my brother to come back to me."

"Heh, I don't think you're an idiot for thinking that way Kukaku-san," smiled Ichigo. "When I was enrolling in the Academy, I consciously modelled my alias after your brother, though I don't really know why I did so. My fellow students also call me 'Kaien'."

"Is that so? Well, I then, I guess my imagination wasn't so far off after all. You do resemble Kaien Nii-san a lot, not just in appearance, but also in your personality, your mannerisms, and most important of all, your heart." Ichigo's face turned a bright red when he saw Kukaku putting her good hand on his chest.

"Um, thanks for the complement Kukaku-san."

Ichigo stayed in Kukaku's house for four days and got to spend quality time with his sisters. He found out that both Karin and Yuzu had found employment as house cleaners for the most influential Junrinan locals, and were now being paid a considerable amount of money. He was proud at how resourceful the two of them were. Ichigo promised that he would visit them again at the end of the second term.


The second term of the Academy began a day after Ichigo returned to the Seireitei. With the completion of the Kido curriculum, the two main subjects that were going to be taught throughout the second term were Hohou and Zanjutsu.

Ichigo found the Hohou classes extremely boring. For the most part the early Hohou classes were about improving the natural speed and endurance of the Academy students so that they could ran fast and for a long duration without using Shunpo. In reality, this meant constant athletic exercises that were identical to the ones Ichigo had done countless times when he was a junior and middle high student in the real world. Each Hohou class almost always started off with a 100 metre sprint, followed by several laps around the Academy oval, various long jump and high jump exercises, and the occasional obstacle course.

Ichigo was surprised to see that many of his fellow 'elite' freshmen weren't fitter than an average living human, for a lot of them couldn't even run successive laps around the oval without getting tired. Still worried about how his classmates would react if he upstaged them again, Ichigo refrained from exploiting his already considerable knowledge of Shunpo, which he had retained from his days as a Substitute Shinigami. Instead, Ichigo only used his natural physical speed, but even that proved to be faster than nearly all of his classmates. He could easily run the 100 metres in less than four seconds flat and could run six or seven laps around the oval without breaking a sweat. And Ichigo found he could jump ten or more metres into the air and cover the same distance across the ground with ease.

Because of his overwhelming physical superiority, Ichigo ended up receiving even further taunts from the freshmen who belonged to the noble families. They were envious of his athletic prowess. And after seeing his incredible feats during the Kido classes, these freshmen knew their only chance of surpassing Ichigo was in the Zanjutsu classes.

It was no surprise to Ichigo that Zanjutsu was the most popular of all the discipline classes at the Academy. Not everyone could run very fast or could cast a good Kido spell, but even a layman could swing a sword around and kill another person with it. There was no shortage of students in the elite freshmen class claiming they were the best swordsman. Whether their claims could be supported was something that could only be decided through one on one combat.

The Zanjutsu instructor was an ex 11th Division officer who had retired from active service. His face and body bore the scars of multiple battles. As the elite freshmen entered the Zanjutsu training hall, he gave all of them identical bokuto, or wooden swords.

"Alright you maggots, listen carefully! I'm going to teach you the basics of Zanjutsu!" shouted the instructor. "Don't think that Zanjutsu is simply about being able to swing around a sword. It requires finesse, technique, and above all, discipline! Watch my moves carefully and repeat them after me!"

The Zanjutsu instructor proceeded to demonstrate a series of stances, and preparation moves that Ichigo was instinctively familiar with. He had studied them before when he did Kendo classes as a child with Tatsuki, and during his time as a Substitute Shinigami he had employed many of these techniques. So Ichigo found it easy to copy the instructor's moves. So easy in fact, he could afford to observe how the other students were doing. He was amused to see that the 'noble' students struggled to even hold their bokutos properly. For the first two weeks of classes, no students were given the chance to fight each other. Instead the instructor made them do sword drills upon practice dummies. The Zanjutsu instructor was most impressed by Ichigo's performance, for he was the only student in the entire class that managed to hit every single practice dummy in the right place.

Ichigo wished he wasn't so instinctively good at what he was doing, for the envy of those students from noble families had risen to the boiling point. On the morning of the first class of actual fighting, Ichigo was approached by the 'ringleader' of these noble students, a fat ugly looking guy whose surname was Omaeda.

"Listen up punk, we nobles aren't going to tolerate your genius skills any longer," said the guy called Omaeda. "You think you're so much better than us? Well today we're going to prove to you that you're nothing but a second-rate Rukongai scum!"

Ichigo didn't bother responding. He knew better than to argue with a guy as stuck up as Omaeda. He would save his reply for the actual fighting itself. The Zanjutsu instructor paired off each of the students and instructed them to fight each other in a series of duels. Those who lost would have to do further training with the instructor whilst those who won could continue fighting until only one student was left standing.

The resulting matches roughly went according to the skill levels of the students. Those who weren't good at Zanjutsu quickly lost and were forced to stand beside the instructor. After three rounds only the most skilled students in Zanjutsu were left. Ichigo naturally found himself in this group but he was surprised to see the guy called Omaeda had made it this far as well. Ichigo was further surprised when he was drawn to fight Omaeda.

"You're going down Rukongai punk," said Omaeda. The two students faced each other. When the signal was given to begin, Omaeda started attacking aggressively. Ichigo on the other hand adopted a defensive stance, calmly blocking each attack whilst keeping up a guard that was so solid none of Omaeda's hits could get through. After a while the other guy got tired of Ichigo being all defensive. He swung his bokuto high above his head and with both hands brought it down on Ichigo.

"Why don't you fight back you coward? Are you afraid of me?" asked Omaeda.

"Afraid? You really think I'm afraid of you?" retorted Ichigo. "If you really want me to fight back then I shall." With a single diagonal stroke Ichigo struck Omaeda's bokuto with such force that it ended up flying out of his hands. With Omaeda defenceless and temporarily off guard, Ichigo swung again, with a horizontal stroke that knocked his opponent out of the fighting ring.

As Omaeda hit the ground hard, his gang of nobles watched on with utter shock. They couldn't believe that a scion of such an elite house such as Omaeda could be so easily defeated by a scoundrel from the worst districts of Rukongai. Their disbelief continued when Ichigo emerged as the last surviving student, after defeating several other members of Omaeda's gang. And in a further insult to their pride, Ichigo hadn't been fighting serious at all; not once did he think about taking his limiter off.

When the Zanjutsu class ended, Omaeda and his posse rushed to confront Ichigo before he headed home. They cornered him in one of the Academy main building's passageways.

"What do you guys want?" asked Ichigo.

"I'm challenging you to a rematch," declared Omaeda. "Tomorrow night, in the storage area of the Zanjutsu hall. This time we're going to fight with real swords. No cheap wooden swords and no ring outs to hold us back. Whoever draws first blood wins. You got that pal? If you don't show up we'll mount a hate and scare campaign against you the likes you've never seen!"

Ichigo wasn't in the mind for breaking Academy rules, but he didn't like the prospect of being ridiculed in public.

"Fine, I'll fight you tomorrow night. Just tell me when to show up."


Ichigo turned up at the rear end of the Zanjutsu hall at eight o'clock sharp on the following night, per Omaeda's instructions. As a precaution, he carried along his personal katana. He found the entrance to the storage area open. He tiptoed through the door and found himself confronted by a crowd of nearly twenty people, all of them Omaeda's followers. Each of them was carrying an Asauchi, probably stolen from the storage closets. When Ichigo saw Omaeda however, he was taken aback. The guy was not carrying an Asauchi or even a sword at all. Instead he was wielding what appeared to be a giant morning star. The weapon was so big that Omaeda was holding it with both hands, and the spiked iron ball was nearly two feet across.

"Hey, I thought this was a sword fight," Ichigo tried to protest. "What kind of weapon are you carrying?"

"Heh, heh, I said we were going to fight with real swords, but I never said we were going to fight fair," grinned Omaeda evilly. "This is a replica of my uncle's Zanpakuto, the mighty Gegetsuburi! I, Omaeda Nikkotaroemon Marejisaburo Marenoshin, will use it to crush you like a bug!"

Ichigo gave a silent groan. He was growing sick and tired of Omaeda's pompous attitude, and his ridiculously long name. The mention of the Zanpakuto name made Ichigo think back to the moments just after he rescued Rukia from being executed by the Sokyoku. In buying time for Renji to get Rukia to safety, he had fought three lieutenants with his bare hands. One of those lieutenants resembled this Omaeda fellow and he was carrying a similar looking Zanpakuto. This guy must be the nephew of that lieutenant I barehanded, Ichigo thought. I knew I saw his face somewhere before.

Knowing that he couldn't possibly lose this fight, Ichigo calmly unsheathed his sword and got into a defensive stance.

"Alright then, do your worst," said Ichigo. He calmly waited as Omaeda stepped into the circle made by his friends. Omaeda gave a yell before he raised the morning star above his head and swung it down at Ichigo. Ichigo calmly sidestepped the attack and watched the iron ball slam into the ground. At this point Ichigo could have ended the fight in one stroke, but he chose to watch as Omaeda reeled in the iron ball and swung it above his head again. As the iron ball missed again, Ichigo noticed it hardly made a dent on the ground. He thought it strange that such a large ball would make no noticeable mark. Aha, I get it now, Ichigo thought. The weapon he's carrying doesn't have any reiatsu in it all.

"What are you smiling so smugly for, you Rukongai scum!" shouted Omaeda. He swung the iron ball at Ichigo again. This time Ichigo didn't bother to dodge. Instead he caught the iron ball with his left hand. As he expected, there was no reiatsu in the weapon at all. In fact, the ball wasn't actually made of genuine iron, and the spikes weren't sharp either. The crowd around him gasped in disbelief.

"No way! How the fuck could you block my attack?" asked Omaeda. His hands were now shaking.

"It's simple really. That weapon you're carrying is a fake," said Ichigo. "It's got no spiritual pressure inside it. It's not even a real morning star. It might as well be made of plastic. So you shouldn't be surprised that it didn't even hurt me." With a single swing of his sword Ichigo slashed through the 'iron' ball like a hot knife through butter. The ball ended up in two pieces on the floor. As an unexpected side effect, the force of Ichigo's attack actually wounded Omaeda, as the guy suddenly clutched his right hand in pain.

"Gargh! My hand! That bastard cut my hand!" screamed Omaeda. "Get him all of you! Make him suffer ten times what I suffered!" Ichigo braced himself as the mob surrounding him brandished their swords and charged at him. Ichigo did not want to injure his classmates, however mean spirited they were, but he did not want to get beaten up either. He tried to block all of their attacks the best he could whilst slowly heading towards the door. Just before he was about to reach the door he suddenly tripped over, and the mob seized their chance to beat him up. The Asauchis they were carrying weren't sharp enough to cut him, but Ichigo nevertheless got pelted everywhere on his body. The beating only stopped when a loud voice came from the door.

"What are you hooligans doing?" asked the voice of the Zanjutsu instructor. "How dare you trespass in here in the middle of the night?"

"Oh shit it's the instructor! Run!" shouted a number of people. They all made a break for it but the instructor proceeded to knock them all out with his bare fists. When he finished dealing with Omaeda and his cronies he finally stood in front of a battered but still conscious Ichigo.

"Are you the one responsible for this fight?" asked the instructor.

"No, sensei, I didn't start it," replied Ichigo as he stood up. "Omaeda forced me to fight him here, and he threatened to spread hate messages and taunts about me throughout the Academy if I refused."

"I see." The instructor went over to the unconscious Omaeda. "This brat has been a serial troublemaker. He's had to repeat the first year three times already because of repeated indiscretions. Still, that doesn't justify what you did here tonight."

"I was only acting in self defence sir. I never intended to harm him."

"I know your intentions were good but you must remember that he and most of the students here are the sons of noble families, some of whom are influential members of the Gotei 13. If they find out that you've injured their children, these noble families will undoubtedly pressure the Academy to expel you."

"It was never my intention to provoke them in the first place. I guess they were just jealous about how good I was," explained Ichigo.

"Of course," said the instructor with a smile. "I could tell from the moment I first saw you that you're not just a run of the mill Academy student. Your skill and discipline is as good as some of my former 11th division colleagues, and the way you practiced those Zanjutsu techniques surpasses even the sixth year students I've taught. It's no wonder that your fellow freshman are no match for you." As Ichigo listened, he knew that the instructor had seen through part of his disguise. No matter how much he lowered his spirit power, Ichigo could not hide his instincts or experience.

"What should I do sensei? If I continue doing the classes I'll just make Omaeda and his friends look bad and they'll want to come after me even more."

"I understand. I too think it would be a waste of your time for you to continue doing the regular Zanjutsu lessons. Your skill level is already on par with a regular Shinigami of the Gotei 13. Which is why I am going to recommend you to someone who will teach you how a real Shinigami fights."


The following day, word spread around the elite freshmen class that the tensai Kurosaki Kaien had been excused for all subsequent Zanjutsu lessons. Omaeda and his cronies, having only received strong verbal reprimands from the Zanjutsu co-ordinator, rejoiced at the news. They thought they had achieved a victory against the punk from Rukongai by causing him to be barred from all classes.

The actual truth was quite different. Ichigo had indeed been excused from the Zanjutsu lessons, but it was not due to any disciplinary reasons. Instead he had been excused from all lessons because he was simply too good. The person the Zanjutsu instructor had recommended him to was none other than the headmaster himself, Urahara Kisuke. When Ichigo arrived in the headmaster's office with the Zanjutsu instructor's recommendations, Urahara was overjoyed. He relished the chance to spar with Ichigo again, and to put him through the same torturous hell Ichigo had gone through nearly six years ago.

Leaving the administrative duties to his subject co-ordinators, Urahara led Ichigo out of the Academy grounds and all the way to the base of the Sokyoku Hill. The two of them climbed up the steps of the hill until they reached a cliff face that Ichigo recognised.

"Um, Urahara-san, isn't this the place where Yoruichi-san helped me train for Bankai?' asked Ichigo.

"You've got a good memory Kurosaki-san!" exclaimed Urahara in a laugh. "Yep, this is the same place. We're going to have our private lessons here." Ichigo followed Urahara down a long ladder that provided the entrance into an immense underground cavern. The cavern, carved out of the rock of the Sokyoku, was a secret training area Urahara had made in his younger days. He had trained with Yoruichi when the two of them first joined the Gotei 13. The training room was also the place Ichigo had achieved Bankai in order to fight against Rukia's brother, Kuchiki Byakuya.

"I hope you find this place suitable," said Urahara.

"Yeah, this place is awesome as a training spot," said Ichigo.

"Now, you may be wondering what I'm going to teach you. I heard from Aizawa-san's recommendations that you've already attained a Zanjutsu level on par with a Shinigami recruit, so that is the level we're going to start from. From now until the end of this year I'm going to make you strong enough to fight at the level of a Shinigami officer."

"Till the end of this year?" Ichigo was confused. "But doesn't the Academy course run for five or six years?"

"Yes that's what the teachers told you. But I've heard from Yoruichi-san about your Kido results. Frankly, even some Shinigami officers aren't as good as Kido as you are. Take your old friend Lieutenant Abarai for instance. And the fact that you managed to keep up with me shows your Shunpo skills haven't declined at all since your time as a Substitute Shinigami."

"So what are you getting at Urahara-san?"

"Well, if you were to sit the Gotei 13 recruitment exam, you'd probably pass. The only substantial knowledge you lack are the techniques Shinigami use to move to and from the world of the living, how to use the Danreishinki and Jigokucho to communicate with other Shinigami and track down hollows, and most importantly of all, your shikai release. The former two you can easily learn in the two month long field trip to Karakura Town in the third term, but the final aspect is something that normally takes years to learn, sometimes even after you graduate. I'm going to accelerate that process. Not only will be able to sharpen your Zanjutsu skills but you'll be able to strengthen your reiatsu to the point where that blade you possess in your hands will start speaking to you."

Ichigo understood everything that Urahara had said. He had already grasped all four of the major Shinigami combat disciplines and had regained a substantial portion of his former spirit power. Now all that remained in order for him to become a Shinigami again was to unlock his Zanpakuto release.

From that day onward and for the following weeks until the end of the term, Ichigo trained with Urahara for one day every week. They didn't train using bokuto, nor was Ichigo was forced to train using only a fifth of his full power. Instead both of them fought using their real swords and Ichigo was allowed to use all of his strength. He had to do so simply to avoid being beaten to a pulp, for Urahara didn't hold back at all during these training sessions. For the first four weeks the headmaster only used his sealed cane sword, and had Ichigo hone his raw Zanjutsu skills until they were master class.

For the subsequent weeks Urahara increased the difficulty even further. He not only released his Zanpakuto Benihime but by the eighth week he started using his Shikai's abilities on Ichigo. Ichigo could barely do anything except block Urahara's attacks, such was their speed and ferocity. Ichigo found his spirit energy and reiatsu level steadily increasing, but he seemed no closer to awakening his Zanpakuto. By the final week of the second term, Urahara was impressed that Ichigo managed to withstand the full force of his Zanpakuto and counter attack using not only his sword but also Kido as well.

"Very impressive Kurosaki-san!" exclaimed Urahara as he sealed his Zanpakuto. "You've become a magnificent fighter. I'm surprised that I had to use my best Shikai abilities just to pressure you. But the thing I'm most impressed about is that you don't have a shred of fear in your blade at all, unlike the first time I trained you."

"But, I haven't awakened my Zanpakuto yet," protested Ichigo. Urahara smiled.

"I never said you would unlock your Zanpakuto during this training. But I've already given you all the steps you need to achieve it on your own. Maybe the reason why your Zanpakuto hasn't awakened is because you haven't faced a situation where your life is in danger. If you were to find yourself in a fight to the death I have no doubt your Zanpakuto will speak to you." Upon hearing Urahara's words, Ichigo remembered his fight in Uraya-cho and his fight with Dialgos. Perhaps his Zanpakuto spirit had been helping him all along, and now he was strong enough to speak to it face to face.

"Thank you Urahara-san. I can do the rest by myself from now on."


Notes: Yep, as the title indicates, this chapter is sort of a homage to Fight club and other underground fighting movies. I thought it would be a great demonstration of just how much better Ichigo is than the rest of his peers by having him own Omaeda again. XD

The chapter contains other homages to. The scene with Kukaku at the start is a homage to the 'heart' talk that Kaien gave Rukia. And Urahara's training with Ichigo is exactly the same as it was in the early volumes of Bleach, except I changed Urahara's words to Ichigo to give a sense of how far Ichigo has come since then.