Hello everybody, long time no see. Sorry for the long period of silence, but my hectic work, pandemic and my lack of motivation combined caused me to be unable to write for a while. But now I'm back. I can't promise how often updates will occur, but I can assure you that I'm not planning to drop this novel.
I must apologize however if there's a possible drop in quality of the chapter. I got a bit rusty.
Thanks for reading and enjoy.
When Kamui heard that Tessai arranged a trainer for him to better his Zanjutsu art, and further his understanding of Adonai, his feelings were mixed.
On the one hand such a trainer would most probably be a captain class, so it would be a phenomenal opportunity.
But on the other hand he was a bit resistant. The prolonged use of time manipulation for training purposes within Innovate Clear started to seriously burn him out. The prospect of another stringent lesson plan put him off a little.
That's why when he heard that the first candidate for this position was Ukitake he rejoiced. He didn't seem like a person who would push Kamui all that much. Sadly Ukitake, suddenly got a particularly strong attack of sickness. And he was forced to back off.
Then Kamui committed a grave mistake. During a conversation with Tessai about the second candidate for his teacher he was a bit distracted. That's why he didn't pay enough attention to his sensei's stingy explanations, and mistakenly assumed that his teacher would be Urahara.
And now he ended up here. Lying on the ground, with bruises all over, painfully groaning and trying to catch a breath, golden light fading from his blade, and auspicious symbols fading from his palms.
It was too late for regrets. Yet that knowledge didn't stop them.
"You've never struggled. Your talents instantly catapulted your strength past all the hurdles. Right now that holds you back."
"Fff… fu… *cough, *cough*..."
Fuck you.
Despite all his tries he wasn't capable of uttering those words. And he swore that he will do so before the day is over, regardless of consequences.
Even though Tenseigan caught sight of a foot approaching his midsection at fast speed, he was too exhausted to react.
Kamui was kicked and catapulted through the air, painfully hitting a wall. It was a miracle that he still held desperately to his Zanpakuto.
"I won't refuse your hundreds of hours of hard work. Yet that doesn't change things. Your pain threshold is too low for your level, you have no willingness to do whatever it takes regardless of possible injuries. You have not enough of a determination to win. And that unconsciously holds you back."
I wanna murder you. I will murder you. I will take that bloody cane of yours and shove it…
"Stand up brat. Show me that you can overcome limits of your body and I'll show you a real struggle. I will make you struggle enough for several lifetimes, and beat all of your flaws out of you."
With much difficulty, Kamui raised his head and looked directly onto his tormentor.
Frail and hunched body, oversized black haori. Surprisingly short stature. Long white beard, and two ridiculously long eyebrows.
Bald head covered with scars with two most prominent ones crossing over his right eye.
His eyes were narrowed, hiding his piercing red eyes. With well disguised twinkles of enjoyment showing in them.
But Kamui was easily able to discern them with his Tenseigan.
Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto.
Captain of the 1st division, and Captain-Commander of Gotei 13.
One of the strongest beings of this universe, and since this morning, Kamui's Zanjutsu instructor and archnemesis.
"Well, what will it be, brat? Will you stand up, and struggle, to end up again on the ground like a man; or will you stay now on the ground like a maggot?"
Kamui barely heard those words. He fully focused on this twinkle of joy in the eyes of the wretched old man, and on the signs of a faint smile on the lips of a bastard.
For the first time in two lifetimes, Kamui felt rage. And hate. So much hate.
He shut down Tenseigan. For the first time, since his rebirth, this dojutsu was deactivated, and all of the scraps of energy from it were redirected throughout the rest of his body.
He focused entirely on his opponent. He knew there was no hope of winning. But he Will hurt him.
Kamui exploded with movement. He was still on his knees when he shouted for uncountable time today:
"Exercise your authority. Adonai!"
His shikai wasn't even fully formed, before he slammed his left palm on the ground.
"Bakuto #21. Sekienton!"
Normally this Kido would require both hands, but thanks to the moon symbol he could do that with a single hand. Cloud of red smoke exploded instantly filling the tight space of a courtyard they were currently in.
With his left hand he pushed himself up and in the left direction, going in a circle around Yamamoto. Even if his dojutsu wasn't active, as an owner of the kido he was still able to sense the rough location of his opponent, despite obstruction of the smoke.
Milky white blade of his blade erupted with golden light, but Kamui forced it to dim, and compress around the blade, slowly accumulating more of it.
When he was finally in the correct position he reached with his mind, opposite of Yamamoto, using telekinesis to lightly stir the air, and make an illusion of two prompt attack.
Then he jumped. His jump was powerful, with a bit of a spin. His strike was clearly telegraphed, and without a chance to withdraw. All or nothing. He had no strength or motivation for anything less.
Zanpakuto met Zanpakuto. His strike was blocked.
"That was decent, brat. But…"
"Fururirisu!"
Smoke was already slowly dispersing. So Kamui was able to catch the sight of his opponent's eyes slowly widening in surprise. And flames exploded along the length of Ryūjin Jakka.
Too late.
Fururirisu. Full release. Technique storing full spiritual energy of its user and releasing it all at once in one overwhelmingly powerful strike. Despite Kamui currently possessing less than twenty percent of his usual lieutenant level reserves, the strike itself was equal to an average attack of a Vasto Lorde.
And it showed.
Powerful explosion occurred. Semi solid golden light and overwhelming fire mixed together filled the courtyard. Impact of the explosion picked Kamui who was still in the air and threw him back. Despite Tenseigan being deactivated or maybe thanks to that, the light didn't blind him. So he was able to catch the sight of a wrinkled hand breaking through the flames and going for his head.
Kamui tried to tilt his head away, but he was already unable to. His long flowing hair was grabbed. And yanked forward.
If he was still somehow able to bear the pain of it, the sensation of a knee impacting his face and breaking a nose was too much
Yet this overwhelming pain sobered his consciousness a bit.
Enough to see a full figure of his opponent bathed in surrounding flames.
Upper part of Yamamoto's haori was missing. It revealed a body covered with centuries of scars. And a lot of flowing blood quickly evaporating in high temperatures. Part of it belonged to Yamamoto himself.
This sight filled Kamui with grim satisfaction. And he finally was able to utter:
"Fuc…"
That's when his temple was struck with a powerful fist. Kamui was no longer capable of holding on. He immediately blacked out.
That's why he was unable to catch faint words drifting in the air.
"That was well done, brat."
Kamui woke up the next day. He felt like crap. And judging by the fact that he was covered with bandages from head to toe, he probably looked like one too. He wanted to send some Reiryoku through his body to self diagnose his condition, but he gave up.
He didn't want to know his condition after all.
As if that realization was a magic spell, the door opened. And a demon entered.
It was a beautiful and elegant, youthful woman. Blue eyes. Black hair worn as a loose ponytail flowing down the front of her shapely body.
Characteristic white captain uniform betrayed her identity as Unohana Retsu. Captain of 4th division.
Despite how gentle she appears, her presence unsettles a lot of people. And most people are unable to tell why. They fear her subconsciously.
Kamui however with his supernatural perception was able to tell why.
Madness. Carnage. Pain and despair. Literal murderous spirit surrounding and clinging to her body like a second skin. Remnant presence and resentment of tens of thousand of souls she's killed following her for all of eternity.
Kamui felt a strange kind of pain when looking at it. As if Tenseigan rejected the very existence of this murderous aura. Feeling that his dojutsu was somehow slipping out of his control, Kamui quickly shut it down.
It refused.
He started panicking. Tenseigan was stirring into action by its own will, while he tried to wrestle it into control.
Eventually he succeeded. It took him around a minute but he managed to calm his dojutsu doown, but the knowledge that it may have will of its own left a bit of a scar on his psyche.
He once again turned to Unohana, this time focusing strictly on her, consciously ignoring surrounding her spirit. He was a bit unsettled by the fact that all this time she just stood there silently, carefully observing him with a gentle smile.
Thankfully it seems that she didn't intent on pursuing what actually happened to him.
It was a huge plus in Kamui's book.
"It seems you're awake. That's good. Your physique appears to possess a surprisingly strong feeling factor."
Kamui opened his mouth trying to say something but his throat was too parched. Unohana visibly noticed that, yet she made no effort to help him out.
She quickly started losing all the extra points she had before.
"You've slept for about eighteen hours. It was mostly due to exhaustion of spiritual energy. After we restored your reiatsu most of your minor injuries healed by themselves. The only thing left is a minor fracture of your skull. Captain Yamamoto was very considerate. But in the long run it doesn't seem dangerous."
After helping him to sit up, she walked to the side for a while, leaving Kamui to mentally curse the old man. When she returned, she held a glass full of water. Yet she refrained from giving it to him. Apparently she enjoyed lecturing people without interruptions.
"You'll however keep a few bruises on your body for a few days. And your nose was broken, but it was a clean break, nothing to worry about. Signs should disappear in a day or two."
"Captain Yamamoto asked me to relay to you a message. Your spars will occur every monday and thursdays evenings. But please refrain from coming back in such a state."
She looked at him with a pressuring look, as if expecting him to answer positively.
Do you think I want to?! Complain to this sadistic old man!
However he still wasn't able to verbalize this. Faced with Unohana's terrifying stare, augmented by the creepy sensation of her murderous spirit looking inquisitively at him as well (how the hell is that even possible?), he could only nod obediently.
Captain of the 4th division gave him a soft smile, after which she gently inserted a glass of water into Kamui's hand. Then she threw a quick "Have a pleasant day" and she left, leaving the bewildered student to follow her with his gaze for a while.
Kamui with a slight difficulty raised a glass to his parched lips, and drank a bit through the straw, absentmindedly noticing the perfect temperature of liquid.
Then he sat there replaying two events in his head. His sparring session with that wrinkled bastard Yamamoto, and the moment when Unohana Retsu entered his room causing Tenseigan to go out of control.
Both of those events were a great source of emotional turmoil for him.
First of all was of course a beating he received at the hands of Captain Commander. Their sparring session lasted for about three hours. If you can call it that. It was mostly a struggle, as the captain adequately named it. Throughout the multiple fights Yamamoto only released his Shikai four times in short bursts of power. Rather than from any particular need, it was mostly to show Kamui the overwhelming power he was facing. Only the last time could be called to be out of necessity.
While the whole experience was deeply informative it was also humiliating. He went into the whole thing already expecting the beat down, so it itself didn't bother him too much. He wasn't conceited enough to think that his current power mattered in front of someone like Yamamoto.
Yet the manner with which Kamui was treated throughout the whole thing was really pissing him off. All this condescending attitude. All these deliberate strikes targeting the most painful areas possible. Ostentatious show of power.
This fight was aimed at shattering his pride. Kamui realized this. Yet it's exactly this knowledge that pissed him off.
Until now, Kamui's training was aimed at defeating Gin. Due to the fact that deep down Kamui already felt that he surpassed him, he started easing up in his strive for strength.
But now he met his archnemesis. An impossible summit of strength to overcome, and Kamui will not stop until he can surpass him and beat him down with his own power to see him on the ground.
Shaking out of his fantasies about victory, Kamui thought back to the behavior of Tenseigan in the presence of Unohana.
Normally murderous spirits are not a big problem. It's more of a stigma for someone who killed another in a particularly vicious way, causing the soul of your opponent to carry a hint of resentment for you.
It wasn't surprising that Umohana who previously carried a title of Kenpachi for centuries would develop such spirit. In fact almost every full fledged soul reaper carried such spirits with them, but it wasn't usually anything special.
But Unohana's case was different. The shroud of resentment around her grew to such an extent that it actually triggered a Tenseigan to react.
Kamui had a bit of a theory as to why that was.
The murderous spirits were a bit of a stigma inflicted on a soul, and as such held a possibility to be carried through the cycle of reincarnation disrupting the process. Tenseigan as an Eye of Reincarnation would obviously react to something like that.
But even if Tenseigan could purify all this resentment, Kamui didn't plan on doing that.
It was a private matter of Unohana. She was probably conscious of it, and she was actively seeking atonement of her own by giving her all in aiding others, and refraining from active combat. And despite Kamui being a bit of a busybody, he didn't plan on intervening. At least not in the near future. Especially since it would lead to the secret of his eyes leaking out.
The fact that he briefly lost control of his dojutsu was however worrying. Until now Kamui didn't spend too much time training it, instead being content in letting it develop naturally. This event however signified that he'll have to dedicate a lot of extra time for studying the secrets of Tenseigan in the future.
Sighing at the prospect of his free time diminishing even further, Kamui called a nurse passing by his room.
He held a simple request. He came to this decision after reviewing his fight with Yamamoto.
"Is it possible to get a haircut here? Just cutting it short would do."
And that's it.I tried to give Kamui a believable reason to get stronger and I hope setting Yamamoto as his personal goal will do.
As for Unohana and her 'murderous spirit' it's an element I always enjoyed in books so I decided to incorporate it in some form. Knowing her background she seemed like an obvious choice for it. Some people encouraged me to make her and Kamui friends, and this is a first foreshadowing of this happening.
Next chapter we'll have graduation, and finally Kamui will go into his desired division.