Finally finished this one. I'm gonna respond to some of the questions from the reviews
First, at the moment I have on intention of shipping Ichigo with anyone or shipping other characters with one another for that matter. I am actually one of the few or maybe the only one who doesn't like shipping characters. Unless it is a romance anime
Second, I am gonna use some of the filler characters. I just wont tell which ones
Now to the story
Disclaimer - I do not own Bleach
Chapter Seventeen - New Enemies at the Horizon
The next morning, everyone from the human world decided to return home. Surprisingly, only Rukia and Renji were the ones who saw everyone off.
As everyone was walking through the precipice world, Ichigo's inner spirits called out to him. "Ichigo, after a few days, you need to go back to the soul society."
'What? Why?' Ichigo thought in confusion
"Because the sword you're weilding now isn't your real zanpakuto but one formed from your father's spirit energy coated with your own so it would not be so obvious." White said
'Okay but why do I have to go back?'
"It is so that you can make your true zanpakuto, Ichigo. Creating your zanpakuto would release a massive burst of reishi. Last time you did it, it was at Kisuke Urahara's shop and he had barriers placed around it so nobody noticed. This time, there won't be any barriers to cover you and it will draw attention if anybody notices. The soul society on the other hand, is filled with reishi that is much higher quality than in the world of the living. Creating your zanpakuto there will most likely not draw attention." Zangetsu explained
'I get it but how do I go back there? Won't everyone notice me if I pass through the senkaimon?'
"Don't bother using the senkaimon. Just use the garganta to come back. I will teach you later how to use it properly as well as explain the misconceptions everyone has about it." White told him
'Alright but that will have to wait until everybody settles down.'
After a while everyone arrived at Karakura Town and went their separate ways. When Ichigo arrived home, he greeted his sisters before going to his room and went to sleep. To the others Ichigo may have gotten some rest, but the truth is he got almost zero rest during the whole time he was unconscious as his inner spirits taught him some of his powers that will enable him to lay low
-Ichigo's Inner World, during the time he was unconscious-
"Alright Ichigo. Let's begin your training. We will only teach you the most important of your powers. We do not have time for you to learn all of your powers so only the ones that will enable you to stay off everyone's radar are the ones we will teach." Zangetsu said
"Alright. I'm ready."
"Make sure you really are. I want you to close your eyes. Do not open them until you see or hear anything." White instructed him
"Uhh okay." Ichigo replied with uncertainty but did as he was told nonetheless
Moments went by and Ichigo heard nothing. As he was about to ask them what was that about, he suddenly heard the sound of swords clashing against each other. He immediately opened his eyes and found himself on a rooftop of one of the buildings at the fake Karakura Town. What he saw surprised him. It was Isshin, Kisuke and Yoruichi who were thrashed by Aizen. Unlike what had transpired, the three were place in a single location instead of being scattered after being defeated. 'What the hell? Why is this happening again? And how the hell did I get here?' Ichigo thought before the scene before him turned horrifying, for him anyway. Aizen was just about ready to kill drive his sword right through them. Ichigo immediately moved once he noticed but knew he would not be able to arrive on time and to make matters worse, he was only in his shikai form. 'This must be some sort of test. But at my current form, my getsuga tensho won't be enough to even scratch Aizen. Damn it all.' Ichigo thought before swinging his sword in the same manner as he would release a getsuga tensho. To his surprise however, it was not a getsuga that released, but a massive torrent of black flames that raced straight for Aizen and the other three. 'What the hell? Damn it. Stop!'
Without any knowledge on how to control the flames, Ichigo was helpless to stop it as it raced towards the four before immediately engulfing them. "DAMN IT! Dad, Kisuke, Yoruichi!" Ichigo yelled in frustration before finally the flames died out and he was shocked to his very core. Only Aizen was affected. The other three were doing just fine while Aizen appeared to have been incinerated by the flames he just unleashed. As Ichigo finally realized that, his inner world appear to be going some sort of distortion before the place before him reverted back to its usual skyscrapers. There was White with his usual grin clapping his hands with Zangetsu beside him as they walked towards Ichigo
"What the hell was that Zangetsu?" Ichigo demanded from both spirits
"I apologize for that Ichigo. It was your hollow's way of demonstrating your powers." Zangetsu said
"Demonstrate? By making me think Aizen was gonna kill them?" Ichigo raged
"Calm down strawberry." White told him. "Don't forget, we are gonna teach you about your own powers. What you just witnessed is the most important aspect of your powers. Rather than explain it to you, I decided it would be better if you experienced it first hand."
"And just what aspect do you mean?"
"That unlike most, if not all other zanpakuto, the abilities of yours will only affect those you consider as an enemy, or at the very least ones that you do not consider as allies so this would include people you do not consider an enemy or ally."
"What the hell do you mean by that?" Ichigo asked while still have not gotten over what he just saw
"Ichigo, recently, you consider Aizen as an enemy. Since you consider him an enemy, he was incinerated by the flames from your zanpakuto. Isshin, Kisuke and Yoruichi on the other hand, are people you consider as allies, as such they remained unaffected. Another part of this aspect is also you are immune to your own abilities. In the event someone turns your own powers against you, you will remain unaffected by it." Zangetsu explained
Ichigo, after a while, finally calmed down and digested the information. "So my powers are black flames?" Ichigo asked
"Not necessarily. Those flames are just the most basic of all your abilities and they are controlled in the same way you control your getsuga tensho." White explained to which Ichigo finally realized about when White trained him. "In fact the theme or whatever you wanna call it, of your abilities is Yami no Seifuku, the subjugation of darkness."
"Great. I wanna protect those closest to me and my power is darkness." Ichigo grumbled
White rolled his eyes at this while Zangetsu just sighed. White then flashed and tried to kick Ichigo which he barely dodged.
"What in the world are you doing?" Ichigo asked in shock
"Your powers are nothing..." White declared
"Your choice is everything. The choice on what you do with your powers." Zangetsu finished
"Choice?"
"That is correct Ichigo. As you should have already learned by now, you always have a choice in what you do. This includes on what you do with your powers. And as White told you before, always keep an open mind and do not limit yourself to what you currently know." Zangetsu explained
Red energy then began to emanate from White and distorted Ichigo's inner world. When the distortion cleared, they all found themselves in the place where he trained during bankai
"This is Yoruichi's training area where she trained me for bankai. What are we doing here?" Ichigo asked
White then got down on one knee and like when he was here in the real world, countless swords erupted from the ground. "You remember this part don't you Ichigo? I want you to do the same. Find your real zanpakuto from among all of these."
"This time however, it will be different. Last time, you found your zanpakuto was located within you so you pulled it out. However, since we are in your inner world, there is nothing for you to pull out. What you need to do is to concentrate real hard and locate your zanpakuto." Zangetsu explained
"So I have to go around and keep looking for it?" Ichigo asked in confusion
"No. Just do what you do to locate spiritual pressure Ichigo. Use that method to locate your sword. However, be aware, this will not be as simple as locating someone based on their spiritual pressure. There is something else about this one. I'll leave you to figure it out." White instructed him
"Alright. One last question. How would I know if the one I chose is the right one?" Ichigo asked
"Just grab hold of it. When you do, you will realize immediately if it is the right one or not." Zangetsu answered
"Okay then." Ichigo said before trying to concentrate. The swords were now at least twice as many as when Yoruichi trained him
'Are you sure this is how we teach him? He is not aware that he should not be concentrating on spiritual pressure.' Zangetsu asked White via a mental link they shared
'Not really. I just wanna show him about it first hand. Explanations can come later once he knows what to do. Besides, it should force him to really think about it. You said it yourself, spiritual pressure isn't what he should be looking for.' White responded. 'How long do you think it'll take him to figure it out?'
'I cannot be certain. The only thing I hope is that he figures it out soon otherwise it might draw suspicion.' Zangetsu expressed his concerns
'Yeah. Me too. This whole Yhwach situation really put us in a tight spot.' White agreed
Ichigo still concentrated on finding any spiritual pressure but could not find anything. The only spiritual pressures in the area were the ones belonging to White and Zangetsu, both of which were not significantly different from his own. 'Damn it, just how am I supposed to find this thing.' he grumbled
After a long time of concentrating and finding nothing, Ichigo decided something else. He went around and grabbed hold of one of the swords. Ichigo then realized what Zangetsu meant. When he grabbed hold of it, he could feel nothing, as if it was the sword he used after he first met Rukia. Unlike when he usually hold his zanpakuto, Ichigo could not feel any spirit energy, neither his own nor Zangetsu's, nor his hollow's for that matter
Realizing what the 'something else' was, Ichigo decided instead to concentrate on finding any spirit energy. Soon enough, Ichigo learned this was a lot harder than just tracking spiritual pressure. He then decided to go against what he was told and roamed around, grabbing hold of the swords. After a few dozen of them, he was getting frustrated as it did not work. With no other choice, Ichigo calmed himself down and got back to focusing. This time, he tried his best to focus on both locating any spiritual pressure as well as spirit energy from the place
Many hours of concentrating eventually passed and Ichigo finally managed to get the hang of it. Once he did, he found traces of spirit energy in one of the swords and it was way on the other side. Flashing to it, the trace moved which irritated Ichigo. He then chased it a few times with every single time it just ran away from him. 'Are you for real? Just how am I supposed to get this thing. Think Ichigo, he said there is something else. Wait, this is my inner world right? I wonder.' Ichigo thought before grabbing one of the swords. He then closed his eyes and focused on the spirit energy he was tracking with the sword in his hand. After a few moments, black flames erupted from the sword and soon it engulfed the whole area
When the flames finally died down, Ichigo found himself back on the skyscrapers with Zangetsu and White behind him.
"Well now. That took you faster than I thought you would. I am impressed." White called out
"Yeah right. You literally did not tell me what I should be doing." Ichigo complained
"Don't blame me. I gave you a warning there is something else. It's your fault you did not listen." White mocked him
"Hey. There's a difference between a warning and misleading instructions." Ichigo continued to complain
"Whatever."
"Why did you have me do that anyway?" Ichigo asked
"A few reasons actually Ichigo. The first is, your powers require you to concentrate in order to use effectively. You already succeeded in it when you were able to focus on two things at once in both concentrating something from a distance in conjunction with something you are holding. The second would be for you to enhance your ability to detect spiritual pressure. The last is, well, do you want to say it?" Zangetsu explained while asking White about the last part
"Ichigo, tell me. What do you think is the difference between spirit energy and spiritual pressure?" White asked
"Well. I'm not really sure. I just know it when I encounter it. Maybe spiritual pressure is on the outside and spirit energy is on the inside." Ichigo answered with uncertainty
"Figures. Can't blame you though. Nobody really bother to tell you this. Ichigo. Basically they are the same with only two differences. The first is what you said." White said which confused Ichigo. Noticing his confused face, White decided to explaing. "To be more precise, spiritual pressure is just spirit energy being exerted. The second is, while everything exerts spiritual pressure, not everything has spirit energy."
"What? How do you exert something you don't have?"
"Spirit energy is more complicated than that Ichigo." Zangetsu joined in. "The truth of it is spiritual pressure is everywhere. The spiritual pressure you feel that belongs to a certain being is basically the ambient spiritual pressure mixed with that being's spirit energy. The significance of this is that while spiritual pressure can be suppressed, spirit energy cannot be and as you learned, finding spirit energy around you is a very difficult endeavor."
"What you just learned to do Ichigo, is the ability called pesquisa."
"What? The pesquisa? I thought only arrancars can do it?" Ichigo said confused
"Not necessarily Ichigo. Any hollow can learn the pesquisa if they are strong enough but usually they wanna become arrancars first. They don't even realize that things like pesquisa and hierro aren't exclusive to arrancars. They just become one before finding out."
"Moving on, I think it's time for you to know how to spy on the soul society Ichigo." Zangetsu said with which White nodded in agreement. "In order for you to do this Ichigo, you need to concentrate. This is why we had you do what you just did, so you can learn how to use this specific ability. This also means that unlike before, you will not be swinging your sword at random until you defeat your enemy. You will have to learn how to use your powers to give yourself an advantage."
"Ichigo, I will tell you the details about your black flames at another time. For now, I will only tell you how to use it to avoid the soul society and the wandenreich's radar. Aside from it only affecting those you consider as enemies, those flames can be used to devour only what you want. So by having the flames devour the light that is in contact with you along with your own shadow, you can effectively hide in plain sight, just like this." White said before summoning his own sword. White flames the came out of the sword and engulfed him, slowly making him disappear from sight starting from the blade. When the flames reached the building they were on, White completely disappeared including his own shadow. "You can still hear me, can't you Ichigo?"
"Yeah." Ichigo replied. "I didn't even consider the possibility that my zanpakuto was not a direct combat type."
"Please. If you think this is cool, just wait until you learn exactly what the nature of these flames are." White said before appearing again
"Ichigo, there is a drawback to using this ability. While it allows you to effectively spy on anyone, you must remain silent while using it and also, you cannot make any offensive action so long as you are invisible. It does give you the element of surprise though." Zangetsu explained
"That's fine. I don't really want to use it like that anyway and I also don't want anyone to find out I can go invisible." Ichigo admitted
"You know, you're actually getting smarter Ichigo." White said
"Well you two have yourselves to blame for that." Ichigo responded with a smile
"Now then, Ichigo. I think you should practice a bit more. Your body still hasn't finished adjusting to your power so this would be a good opportunity to master it." Zangetsu suggested
"Makes sense. I'll do that." Ichigo replied and hopped right back to training
Much later, Ichigo was told his body finally finished adjusting. He then stopped training and prepared to go back
"How long was I out for anyway?" Ichigo asked his inner spirits
"Three hundred and sixty eight hours Ichigo. About sixteen days." Zangetsu replied
"Wow time sure does fly doesn't it. Still feels like it was yesterday when I came here." Ichigo commented
"Ichigo, before you go, you need to keep a few things in mind. First off, if two beings fight, the one with greater spirit energy can forcefully cancel out the abilities if his opponent is weaker than him. Since you are more powerful than anyone in the soul society, you don't have to worry about this. Just thought you needed to know. Second is, do not tell anyone about what we talked about or that you still have powers, this includes that big boob girl and your father or even Kisuke. The third is once you get back, release a bit of your spiritual pressure but over the course of the next few days, slowly lift it until it becomes undetectable. The last one should be fairly obvious, avoid getting into a fight. You are in no position to fight someone but if you ever get into a fight where you are forced to use your powers, end it quickly." White instructed him
"Yeah. I was just thinking about the same thing actually." Ichigo said
"One more thing Ichigo, keep your pesquisa active all the time. Since this only requires concentration, you will be able to use it while in your human body. If you ever detect any spirit energy, you should be able to immediately tell what kind of being it belongs to." Zangetsu pointed out
"Got it. See you guys soon." Ichigo said before waking up where he found himself in the Kuchiki Mansion
-Ichigo's house, present time-
It was late in the afternoon when Ichigo woke up from his nap. He decided to get a change of clothes and went down. He saw his father and Karin in the living room with Yuzu in the kitchen doing some cooking. "Hey guys. I'm going out."
"At this time? It's nearly night time Ichigo." Yuzu pointed out
"She's right Ichigo. Where are you going anyway?" Karin asked
"I'm just going for a walk. Don't worry. I'll be back before it gets too late." Ichigo responded while heading to the door
"Alright have fun." Yuzu said as Ichigo went out
Later, Ichigo came home about dinner time. The four of them then ate dinner. After a few hours, the sisters decided to go to bed leaving only the two males awake.
"Ichigo." Isshin called out which grabbed his attention. "I'm thinking about telling your sisters about what happened these last few months. What do you think about it?"
"I'm with you on that one. I think they deserve to know the truth now." Ichigo said
"Alright then. Tomorrow during breakfast time." Isshin said while going to his room
Ichigo watched his father enter his room. As he was heading up the stairs, he felt a bunch of people with spirit energy not that far from his house. He then decided to go back to his room. If he was gonna investigate this, he would have to do it once he is sure his father is asleep
Hope you enjoyed that one. I decided to make this into a little introduction about Ichigo's powers.
Translations. If the translations sucks blame google translate
Yami no seifuku - subjugation of darkness
Stay safe from the virus everyone. See ya next chapter
