Hitsugaya walked down the streets of Karakura. He did not bother using a human body, it was easier for him if only the people he wanted to see him could actually see him anyways. He was here to see two people, Isshin Kurosaki and Karin Kurosaki. First on his list was Karin since she was who he went to when he wanted to clear his mind and he also just wanted to see her; the two had grown to become close friends since after the Quincy war. They still even played soccer together sometimes, and Karin had even become a professional player. He arrived at her house and knocked on the door. She opened it a moment later before grinning.
"Hey, Toshiro! I felt your energy from a mile away, what brings you here?" Karin pulled him into a hug and Toshiro didn't resist, he'd learned better than to try and argue with a Kurosaki at this point.
"I have something I was hoping you could talk about me with. You have a way of making things… simple," Hitsugaya stated, stepping inside her home. It was a small one-story house, despite the fact that she was quite well off thanks to her position as a professional athlete.
"No you soul reapers just have a way of making things complicated, but sure I've got nothing else to do," Karin sat down on her couch and Hitsugaya sat down at the other end of it.
"Very funny," Hitsugaya deadpanned, "so uh. Basically, the first captain of squad 10 who had been missing in action for 700 years returned. As it turned out he was uh, frozen in time for 700 years so it all passed in a blink for him. So one moment he was a captain and the next he wasn't. He uh, made it clear that he wanted to return not as a captain but as a member of my squad. He even turned down the third seat because he thought it would cause discord among the squad as people were suddenly pushed out of their seats. But even so, it is highly unorthodox for a captain to have a subordinate stronger than them, and for me who is already an easy choice as a weak link among the captains due to my age… I'm worried that I'll begin to lose credibility among even my own squad."
Karin listened until he was finished, before taking a few minutes to think. Hitsugaya waited anxiously until she spoke.
"I'm sorry but I really don't see a problem here? Like, at the end of the day if he's sworn loyalty to you then it doesn't matter if he's stronger than you. And a little burst of your reiatsu should be enough to remind anyone who doubts you that you are a captain and they are not," Karin said, "And besides, you're a prodigy, he won't be stronger than you forever."
Hitsugaya considered her words before smiling, "Thank you Karin, I knew you could help."
Karin smiled back and patted his back, "Anytime Toshiro."
Hitsugaya nodded, "Now I think I owe you a favor, what do you want?" Whenever he'd go to Karin for advice he would always do a small favor for her in return, even though she'd always insist he didn't need to.
"Hmm, how about staying for dinner? It's lonely here with Yuzu in grad school and Ichigo being busy with fatherhood," Karin said, Hitsugaya was a bit surprised at her request but he saw no problem with it.
"Sure, I've cleared out the whole day so I'm in no rush to get back," He smiled at Karin as she grinned.
"Good, we can get takeout and watch a movie or something," Karin began planning their day and Hitsugaya smiled to himself, she was still just as energetic as she had been when she was younger.
Akio stood in the cemetery of soul society. He had gone to each of his close comrade's graves and placed flowers at them, and now he was onto Ukitake's grave. He looked at the tombstone and found that it seemed to be lacking something, so he knelt down and held out his finger. His finger shone as he used reiatsu to carve a message onto the grave that stated "here rests the kindest man soul society has ever known." Akio then moved onto Unohana's grave, leaving flowers there as well.
"I'm going to test your successor today, Unohana. I heard he killed you in battle during the Quincy war while you were training him. I'm sure that the joy you must've felt during that battle was something that no one else could've ever given you, but even so I still must test him," Akio spoke to the grave, "I suppose it's a bit self indulgent as well, I also just want to see what the second true kenpachi is like."
Akio looked into the sky and let some tears fall from his eyes. They were really all dead huh. Almost everyone from his time was gone. Akio wiped his eyes and grabbed a string from his pocket. He tied his hair into a bun that left a few strands falling in front of his face but kept his vision mostly clear. He flash stepped towards the squad 11 barracks.
When Akio arrived Kenpachi was more or less waiting for him. Akio figured that Kenpachi had felt his reiatsu approaching and was going to ask for a battle.
"Ah Kenpachi, I was looking for you," Akio began, "I want to duel you."
Kenpachi grinned like a child during Christmas, "Absolutely! Right here right now?"
Akio shook his head, "we need a place where we don't have to worry about collateral damage as much. How about at Sokyoku hill in an hour?"
"Fine by me, you better not be late," Kenpachi looked a bit disappointed that he'd have to wait but Akio had no doubts that he'd forget about that once they battled.
Akio stood atop Sokyoku hill. Kenpachi and a mob of soul reapers from squad 11 were there, while just Rangiku and a handful from squad 10 were there to watch the battle.
"Here are the rules of this duel, neither of us will use any kido or release our zanpakutos. The duel ends when one of us loses our sword," Akio explained to Kenpachi, "I intend to test you to see if you're truly worthy of the name Kenpachi."
"What? Why don't we fight to the death then? What fun is a fight with all these rules?" Kenpachi groaned.
"You'd be surprised. Besides, if I battled with all my power here, there'd be nothing left of the Seireitei," Akio stated. Some soul reapers from squad 11 scoffed to themselves, even if he was a legendary figure they couldn't imagine him being that strong. Rangiku fully believed his words, however.
Akio drew his sword and Kenpachi did the same, an immense amount of reiatsu leaking from the two of them. A moment later both of them disappeared and the sound of blades clashing rang out.
Rangiku watched in awe. She had known that Akio was strong but, to be honest, she had not expected anyone to be able to match Kenpachi in a straight-up sword fight without at least using kido. However, that was exactly what he was doing. He seemed to have a clear edge over Kenpachi when it came to technique, but Kenpachi was above him in physical strength.
Akio clashed with Kenpachi. So far he had managed to avoid being hit by Kenpachi's blade, but his hands still throbbed in pain from blocking his strikes. Kenpachi's physical power was truly superb even if his technique left something to be desired. Akio parried a blow from Kenpachi and aimed a slash at his midsection, expecting him to attempt to block or dodge it somehow. Kenpachi did neither of those things. He instead ignored the attack entirely and swung his blade at Akio's head. Akio ducked the attack and elbowed Kenpachi's stomach before stabbing at his sword hand, but Kenpachi was quick and met the stab with an attack of his own. Akio head-butted Kenpachi and slashed him across his chest. Even so, Kenpachi did not falter, landing a blow on Akio's sword arm. Akio leaped back before immediately turning around to block a blow from Kenpachi, who had moved behind him.
Rangiku watched in shock as Kenpachi's blow sent Akio flying despite the fact that it had been blocked. Akio regained his footing and leaped at Kenpachi who swung his sword at him. A shockwave that almost knocked Rangiku off of her feet, and did knock down many of the soul reapers watching, resulted from the clash of their blades. Something whizzed past Rangiku's cheek and she looked behind her, seeing Akio's blade stabbed into the ground. She looked back to where the dust was clearing and saw that Kenpachi didn't have his blade either, though his blade was a lesser distance away.
"Ahh? A draw? What a boring end," Kenpachi looked disappointed.
"No, it's your win, I lost hold of my sword first, and mine flew further. I was wrong about you Kenpachi, you are most worthy of the title. You are the first true Kenpachi since Unohana," Akio smiled and walked past Rangiku, picking up his blade and sheathing it.
"Akio cmon we need to get those cuts looked at!" Rangiku looked at the wounds Akio had sustained. They weren't life threatening but it would still be better to not leave them alone.
"I can handle these myself back at the barracks, let's go," Akio nodded before he began walking back to the squad 10 barracks, with Rangiku and the other members of the squad following.
By the time Hitsugaya left Karin's home it was dark outside. He felt like there was a huge load off of his shoulders, and he was grateful for Karin's kindness. He now only had one thing left, and he found himself arriving at Isshin Kurosaki's home quickly. He had been shocked when he found out that Ichigo's father was his former captain, but he'd come to terms with that fact by now. Hitsugaya knocked on the door and it opened almost instantly.
"Oi Toshiro! Long time no see, how've you been buddy?" Isshin grinned at Hitsugaya.
"At least call me captain Toshiro if you refuse to call me by my last name," Hitsugaya deadpanned, "and I have been well, soul society is at peace."
"Ok captain Toshiro, so what brings you here?" Isshin asked the question as if he'd already guessed the answer to it.
"I presume you've heard about the most recent big event in soul society that everyone's talking about?" Hitsugaya asked.
"Yeah, Urahara told me all about it. So the first captain of squad 10 is back huh? I wonder which captain they'll replace with him," Isshin wondered.
"Well the thing is… he asked to be allowed to simply join squad 10, I even tried to make him the third seat at least and he refused because he didn't want the current officers to suddenly lose their positions," Hitsugaya stated, "but it's strange. Having a subordinate stronger than me, I'm not exactly sure what to do about it."
"And you wanted some advice from your former captain I take it? Hmm, I suppose this is similar to what would've occurred between you and I if I hadn't left soul society. Though to be honest I just planned to retire once you surpassed me. Though I will say, you're lucky enough that you have a chance to meet the soul reaper who arguably has the second strongest purely elemental zanpakuto in the history of soul society. Given that you have an elemental zanpakuto yourself, I'm sure there are some things you could learn from him," Isshin stated. Hitsugaya nodded as he spoke.
"I see. Thank you Kurosaki," Hitsugaya responded. Isshin simply nodded and Hitsugaya decided that he had gotten the information he needed and left to return to soul society after saying his goodbyes to Isshin.
Hitsugaya returned to his office expecting to find a stack of paperwork on his desk that most likely would've actually been Rangiku's work. Instead there was nothing, and since he knew that there was no chance that a day would go by without any paperwork, that had to mean that someone had done the paperwork for him. A moment later he heard the door to his office open and saw Akio and Rangiku entering.
"Oh, welcome back Captain Hitsugaya," Akio bowed a bit.
"Akio, was it you who completed all the paperwork while I was gone today?" Hitsugaya asked, shooting a glance at Rangiku.
"Not entirely, Lieutenant Matsumoto did her fair share of work as well, I simply helped," Akio stated.
"Is this true Matsumoto?" Hitsugaya asked.
"Well… I was planning to do it eventually today but I was going to take a trip to a bar first, but then Akio placed a kido barrier around the room and said that he wouldn't take it down until the paperwork got done! So we did it as quick as possible so I could make it to a bar in time for happy hour!" Rangiku exclaimed. Hitsugaya chuckles to himself a bit.
"I don't know why I never thought of that myself," Hitsugaya joked.
Akio laughed and Rangiku groaned.
"Anyway, Akio I have a request of you," Hitsugaya began, thinking about what Isshin had told him, "I would like you to train me."
Akio stared blankly at Hitsugaya, "Just you? I mean I could but I could also train our entire squad. When I was captain that's what I did, I oversaw training for the entire squad and worked personally daily with those who could withstand it."
"Oh we have instructors already but if you want you could work with them," Hitsugaya responded. Training an entire squad? That wasn't possible, there was no way that a single person could work with so many people and actually help them with what they need. One person could only work with so many people at once.
"You sure? Training 200 people at once is nothing impossible for me if people with similar needs and strength levels group up," Akio insisted.
"Ok I'll bite, how would you do that?" Hitsugaya asked.
"By using my Bankai. It lets me control light, even going as far as to give it physical form. Don't ask me the science behind it because I don't know nor do I care, but it makes it possible for me to clone myself. The clones are taxing on me if I use them in an actual battle so I tend to not bother, but I can easily make clones at the strength level of a lieutenant and maintain that" Akio began, "My clones are all linked to my mind but they act independently based on instruction I give them, though once I disperse them all of their experiences are transmitted into me. This is naturally a very jarring thing to go through and was it not for the fact that my zanpakuto helps me to sort and comprehend memories, I would surely not be able to do this."
"That's… incredible. I grant you permission to provide training for the squad, though I doubt it will be as simple as making everyone gather at once," Hitsugaya stated.
"That will only be needed at the start for me to put people into groups, after that, each group will have their training times decided on based on their schedules. Of course, you will not have the leisure of choosing your training time captain, you will train daily with me, the real full-powered me. Lieutenant Matsumoto will also train daily with me, though she will train with a clone that is on the level of a captain," Akio stated, "When I was a captain I made it a requirement for my lieutenant to have access to their Bankai. Every single member of my squad was able to use their Shikai to some extent."
"I did read about that… the golden age of squad 10…" Hitsugaya spoke mostly to himself, "I will arrange for our entire squad to gather as soon as I can."
"Erhm… Akio if I may… you see I've been working on my Bankai and haven't really found any success so I uh… I'm not sure if I'll be able to live up to your expectations, perhaps it would be better if you became the lieutenant," Rangiku stated. Hitsugaya was shocked at seeing this side of her, he always knew that Rangiku tended to downplay her own powers, and try as she did she could not completely hide the fact that she was full of insecurities about everything but her looks. At the very least, Hitsugaya had been able to figure that out. Even so, he did not expect her to be so direct here.
"Nonsense, first of all, it is up to the captain to decide if their lieutenant is worthy or not, and second of all, within a year of my training, you will achieve your Bankai. I have a special method," Akio began, "and lastly, never doubt your own strength. Not everyone has to be the strongest soul reaper to ever live. All we have to be is the best that we can be."
Rangiku and Hitsugaya just stared at Akio for a moment. Neither of them had really been expecting that reaction, though, from the way Rangiku threw her arms around the man in a hug thanking him, Hitsugaya assumed it had been what she needed to hear. Though he was still curious and once Rangiku released Akio he voiced his question.
"What is this special method you have?"
"Oh it's simple, I study your combat style and create clones of you basically. You fight yourself and by beating these clones you discover what weaknesses you have, getting stronger and obtaining a better mastery of your Shikai are vital elements to obtaining and then mastering your Bankai, as I'm sure you know, Captain," Akio responded, "far as I know it's only possible with the usage of my Bankai."
"That sounds… intense," Rangiku remarked.
"It's exhilarating. And besides, there's no danger of death because I can stop the clones whenever I wish, they are still just solid light being controlled by me after all," Akio explained, "but we have to build up to that phase."
"I see. I will send out a notice that all squad members are to gather for a meeting tomorrow, I'll have to call in a favor to get someone to cover our territory for that time," Hitsugaya began planning on who he'd ask.
"I'll trust you to take care of that then, I'm going to retire for the night," Akio waited till Hitsugaya nodded in approval before leaving.
When Akio returned to his room he immediately sat on his bed and entered his inner world.
"How is it?" Akio spoke to Kagayaku Yari.
"The energy has not attempted to break free since I contained it. It has not spoken either," his zanpakuto replied to him.
"Very good," Akio approached the cage in which the energy was trapped. The energy itself was little more than a floating blob of green. Akio's inner world itself was more or less identical to what the squad 10 barracks had looked like when he was captain, except for the existence of various buildings that he or his zanpakuto had manifested into his inner world for various purposes, such as the cage.
"What do you plan to do with the energy?" Kagayaku Yari asked.
"Hmm, I could try to extract it from my inner world, but given the fact that the kido I used steals a piece of the victim's reiatsu and attaches it to my soul, I don't think that's possible… which means that I'll have to mess around with it in here," Akio studied the energy. He had stolen a piece of his reiatsu on purpose, one was to weaken him. The kido Akio used would steal a portion of the victim's reiatsu and keep them from ever calling on it again unless the energy was stolen back. He had been the only one to use it before it was immediately declared forbidden, even if the amount of reiatsu one could steal from stronger opponents wasn't worth much.
"So you're going to experiment with it directly?" His zanpakuto inquired.
"Of course, I'm a genius after all. If I can find some way to manifest even his Shikai powers, I can train against it here and overcome it," Akio answered.
"You're only a genius when it comes to fighting," She responded. Akio looked at his zanpakuto.
"Hey, that's not true! I've invented a ton of kido!" Akio exclaimed.
"You've never invented a spell that wasn't offensive. Almost every kido you invent is also declared to be forbidden immediately after the first use of it," Kagayaku Yari began, "just be careful with what you're doing, if the energy is given free rein within your inner world it will wreak havoc on us."
"I know, I won't let that happen. I just need to learn how to simulate his powers," Akio turned away from the cage.
"I'm trusting you, Akio. Don't make us regret this," the zanpakuto stated before she turned away from the cage as well.
"I know. Thank you. I'm going to sleep now," Akio thanked his zanpakuto. She nodded and Akio faded from his inner world. He returned to the physical world and laid down in his bed.
Akio began setting up in preparation for the whole squad being gathered hours before it happened. He made signs that listed each of the major combat methods for soul reapers, placing them in a line so that soul reapers could line up behind whichever sign was their weakest area. He then designated areas where clones would take each line before further dividing up each group until everyone was in a specific training program. As people improved enough and had their weaknesses changed, Akio would have them reevaluate themselves, and as such the groups would shuffle around with time.
Hitsugaya woke up at an hour that he believed to be early, only to find Akio already at work.
"Good morning, Akio," Hitsugaya greeted the former captain. Akio looked up at him.
"Ah, good morning Captain Hitsugaya," Akio bowed a bit.
"Are you setting up the sorting?" Hitsugaya questioned.
"Yep, this is phase one, the further sortings will be handled by my clones. I will begin working directly with you and lieutenant Matsumoto at that point before I create a clone for her as well," Akio stated, "I'm just about ready, I've set up locations for us to train, though many are outside the walls of the Seireitei. But we shouldn't need to worry about danger while training, my clones are more than strong enough and if one is destroyed I will know immediately, besides, we are soul reapers, after all, we're strong."
"What location do you have planned for us to train in? Is it somewhere that we may use our full powers?" Hitsugaya asked.
"Well, I would've liked to use Muken, but I already visited Kyo this morning and he refused me. I could just hold back but we won't get enough done that way so I'd rather not have to do that. Which leaves us with a few options. One would be to ask Ichibe Hyosube for permission to use his dojo, though being that far away from the Seireitei is not ideal to me and would cause me difficulty in maintaining my other clones," Akio spoke. As soon as he said the Monk's name, he was sure that Ichibe was fully aware of Akio's conversation.
"That would be impossible, so what are the other options?" Hitsugaya asked.
"We train in our inner worlds. Most likely mine since most zanpakuto refuse to allow strangers into their inner world," Akio stated, "Or we just use any uninhabited land, but we'd eventually ruin the landscape and I'd feel bad."
"Wait… you can let others into your inner world?" Hitsugaya was stunned.
"Yeah. I told you, Kagayaku Yari and I are extremely close. She would gladly let almost every soul reaper enter my inner world should I request it. You will have access to your full powers there despite it not being your inner world as I will grant you that access," Akio explained.
"That would work best for our purposes. I presume we will remain within the barracks while we train? One is vulnerable when they are within their inner world after all," Hitsugaya wondered. He was amazed at the level one of the original captains was on. There was a world of a difference between them.
"Correct! Regardless, I am prepared for the gathering today, until then I will be within my inner world in my room. Send someone to get me when you're ready," Akio stated, bowing before leaving to his room. Hitsugaya nodded and went to prepare for the meeting by calling in his favor. He had decided to ask Ichigo to watch over squad 10's assigned territory, it was close to Karakura anyways so Ichigo hadn't minded. Besides, Ichigo had owed him for saving Karin's life twice during the first times he had met her.
"All of you will be entering a training program from today onwards that is instructed by Akio Takanashi. You will be sorted into groups based on your proficiencies and strengths and will attend training sessions with him at least 3 times every week. You are still expected to complete your duties during this time, but I will be lenient for a few weeks at the start as we all adjust to the exhaustion of this training," Hitsugaya addressed his entire squad at once. Akio stood to his left, and Rangiku to his right.
"All right, Captain Hitsugaya pretty much covered it. On these signs are various methods of combat used by soul reapers. I did not include defensive kido spells or healing spells as those are not areas I can teach in. Please line up in front of whichever sign has your weakest area on it," Akio stated. Members of squad 10 looked at each other before they began moving.
Once everyone was finished, Akio clapped his hands. "Good, now please brace yourselves for a moment. I am going to release my Bankai."
Akio did not even grip his blade as he shouted out his Bankai's name, Tengoku no Hikari. A blinding light enveloped Akio and brought many of the soul reapers to their knees. Hitsugaya had the wind knocked out of him just from the burst of reiatsu that was generated when Akio released his Bankai. A moment later the light faded and Akio was standing as if nothing had changed. He looked the same physically, but his sword was gone. Hitsugaya noticed something above them and looked up to see 7 spears in the air floating above the crowd. They looked the same as his Shikai release. They dissolved into light and Hitsugaya watched as clones of Akio formed, looking identical to Akio except for the fact that they had their swords as if they were in their base form.
"Follow the clones, they will lead each group to their training location," Akio stated. Lines began to file out of the barracks as clones lead groups of soul reapers away. Eventually, only Rangiku and Hitsugaya remained, alongside Akio's actual body.
"Well, I suppose this is where I ask you both to show me your powers. We can use the space here if we're careful, I just need a quick demonstration," Akio looked at them. Hitsugaya gripped his blade to release his Shikai, and Rangiku did the same. Akio watched their powers rise as they both released their Shikai and grinned, "Splendid.
I hope you all enjoyed the second chapter! Fun facts, Akio's zanpakuto name translates to "Shining Spear" (according to google translate), and his bankai translates to "Heavenly Light" (according to google translate).