Hitsugaya's entire body ached. He and Rangiku had spent hours trying to land a single blow on Akio and had failed. Hitsugaya was sure he could've managed to land a blow in his Bankai, but as it stood Akio had defeated both he and Rangiku without using anything but his fists… and the massive reiatsu boost from simply having his Bankai active. The rest of the squad had fared no better. He had battled everyone with what they were the weakest in, except for him and Rangiku. Though next time Hitsugaya had been told that it would just be one on one. He had also told both Hitsugaya and Rangiku that he expected them to train with him at least 6 days per week.

Currently, the only people who felt well enough to properly patrol squad 10's territory in the human world were Hitsugaya and Akio, but Akio had insisted that it was far more important that Hitsugaya attend to his duties within the Seireitei, so Akio had offered to handle patrols for the day. This left Hitsugaya in a meeting with Captain-Commander Kyoraku, who was telling him about some upcoming event that Soul Society would be hosting. Hitsugaya was half asleep, however. He was exhausted and to be honest he was barely paying attention.

"So Captain Hitsugaya, do you have anything to add?" Kyoraku asked him.

"No sir, I agree with you," Hitsugaya responded. He really didn't know what Kyoraku had said, but the man was smart so Hitsugaya just agreed and hoped that he could be out of this meeting soon.

"Good, I'll send notice that squad 10's zanpakuto will be replaced with balloon swords at once," Kyoraku responded and Hitsugaya realized he'd been exposed.

"...I take it you figured I wasn't listening and said something outlandish to see if I would agree to it?" Hitsugaya asked, face flushing a bit in embarrassment.

"Bingo, so tell me. What's got you so tired?" Kyoraku asked Hitsugaya.

"Training with Akio, he started a training program for our entire squad yesterday, and even just one session has most of the squad in bed today and exhausted," Hitsugaya answered, rubbing his shoulder when it began to ache.

"Ah that makes sense, explains why Akio took on the patrol for the entirety of squad 10 today, and I imagine he'll be taking over a lot of patrols while you and your subordinates adjust to his training, it is intense," Kyoraku chucked to himself, seemingly amused, "I remember when he trained me at the request of the late captain-commander. Probably the hardest training I've ever been through."

"Really? Harder than Yamamoto's?" Hitsugaya was stunned, he'd always heard of how much of a hardass Yamamoto was back in the day, and Hitsugaya had thought he was enough of one when he knew him.

"Well, it was a different sort of difficult I suppose. With the old man, it was like being beat down and having to find a way to survive each time, but with Akio it was different. He would target exactly what I needed and help push me along, but he would also push me as far as I could go each time, he knew exactly where to stop. Both were greatly effective in the end," Kyoraku reminisced on his past, Hitsugaya listening along.

"I expect that I'll have to get used to being tired like this often," Hitsugaya remarked.

"Absolutely, but give it some time. Eventually, you'll find yourself in a circumstance where you're able to feel rejuvenated and you'll be shocked at how strong you've become," Kyoraku grinned, "I am excited to see how our great prodigy can grow under the tutelage of one of the Gotei 13's greatest mentors."

"I promise to not disappoint you," Hitsugaya swore.

"It isn't me you should make that promise to, it's Akio. Just trust this, no matter what walls you seem to hit on your path to getting stronger, Akio will always believe in you," Kyoraku told Hitsugaya, "You are dismissed, we can complete the planning of squad 10's role in the festival at a later date."

Hitsugaya nodded and quickly got up. He bowed to Kyoraku before he returned to the squad 10 barracks, seeing most of the desks occupied by seated officers empty. Usually, he would be upset about a lack of attendance among his officers, but on this day he understood entirely and found himself retiring to his room as well, desperately wanting sleep.

Akio stood atop a lamppost in the human world. He was in Karakura town, the town next to the one he was supposed to be patrolling, but he would still be able to sense any hollows in Naruki City. Currently, Akio was face to face with Ichigo Kurosaki himself.

"So you're telling me that despite not even knowing any kido, you still managed to fight equally with multiple captains? And this was after only a short time of training? And you acquired your Bankai within 3 days?" Akio had been conversing with Ichigo for a short time. Ichigo had felt Akio enter the town thanks to the vast amount of reiatsu Akio possessed, even with a limiter on, and had come to investigate.

"Yeah, I guess I just never really tried to learn any kido," Ichigo replied, "Never needed it really."

"I suppose that Central 46 would probably put a stop to anyone trying to teach you kido. I have to imagine they already hate that a human is the strongest soul reaper, if you got even stronger they may just snap," Akio laughed, "I'd love to see that."

"I take it you don't like these Central 46 people?" Ichigo deadpanned.

"They're the same now as they were 700 years ago, perhaps worse because Yamamoto isn't around. A bunch of aristocrats who've never seen a true battlefield, how can people like that be expected to decide what the Gotei 13 can and can't do? And have you seen the far reaches of Rugonkai? It's shit out there," Akio stated with a scowl. Before he could continue, a huge burst of reiatsu surged from the mountains nearby Karakura. Ichigo looked off in the direction and in a moment both he and Akio were speeding there, arriving nearly immediately.

"The hell was that? It didn't feel like a hollow," Ichigo stated, looking around.

"It was definitely a soul reaper, but it felt familiar… oh I see. It's him." Akio stated, grabbing his blade immediately.

"Uh, who's him?" Ichigo deadpanned, "Could you be a bit more specific?"

"Sorry but I actually can't, Ichibe Hyosube blacked out his name, but before he could give him a new one he escaped. Meaning that he has lost no power, unfortunately," Akio grumbled.

"What a pain in the ass, so tell me about this guy then," Ichigo groaned as he grabbed Zangetsu.

"He has a zanpakuto that lets him fuck with time, he's the one who froze me in time for 700 years. He would've killed me if I hadn't used a forbidden kido that would've caused me to explode if my heart stopped beating. I guess we were both lucky that freezing me in time did not trigger it, but killing me probably would've," Akio explained, "That is all you need to know right now."

Before anything else could be said, the roar of hollows sounded out from Karakura Town.

"Go Ichigo, I'll be right behind you, but I need to release the limiter that was set on me," Akio stated. Ichigo nodded, he could tell that the hollows in the town weren't the strongest he'd ever faced, but there was a whole lot of them.

Akio watched Ichigo leave and placed his hand on the limiter that was on his left shoulder. Usually, he'd have to request permission to undo it, and he wouldn't even be able to do it on his own, but there was an upper limit to what the limiters could do, otherwise, they'd be slapped on every strong threat that Soul Society faced. Akio forced the limiter open, reiatsu flaring into the sky. He could feel Ichigo killing tens of hollows by the second. Akio flash stepped into the town and looked around. The citizens didn't even realize anything was happening. The hollows were all dying before they could do anything at all. Akio cast a kido that sent darts of reiatsu into hollows all around him, tracking them down even if they tried to run.

"That all of them?" Ichigo asked Akio.

"Probably. I was expecting there to be stronger hollows but I guess it was just a bunch of weak ones," Akio looked perplexed, "I released my limiter for nothing."

"I wonder what the point of that was, do you think that it has something to do with Mr. lost-his-name-to-the-crazy-monk?" Ichigo asked.

"Possibly, I wouldn't be surprised if he used something to lure a bunch of hollows here, but why take us out of the city when he should've known that we could get back in an instant…" Akio pondered.

"He's trying to confuse you," A new voice sounded out from behind Akio, who spun around and was immediately on guard. Why had he not felt this person approaching? "Ah, you must be the legendary Akio Takanashi. I am Kisuke Urahara, former captain, and current sexy shop-owner."

"Ah Urahara, I have heard a lot about you," Akio spoke, "Do you mean that he has no ulterior motives past trying to confuse us all with these actions?"

"That is most likely correct. It is an attempt to make you overthink this so that you miss something else further down the line because you fixate on this event," Urahara waved his fan as he spoke, "Furthermore, you should be more worried about the fact that you forced open your limiter. Central 46 won't like that at all."

"They'll get over it," Akio shrugged, "I will return to Naruki City now. I did not sense any hollows there but it is where squad 10 patrols so I should get back."

"Does squad 10 not have anyone else patrolling?" Ichigo asked.

"I began a new training regimen for the entire squad yesterday. As of today none of them were feeling recovered enough to properly patrol anything. I decided I'd take care of patrols for the day and let them recover before I begin to spread out when I begin to stagger their training times so that there's always at least some soul reapers available from squad 10," Akio placed his hand on his left shoulder and placed the limiter back on himself. When he forced it open he hadn't destroyed it. What he had done was more akin to forcefully holding it open so that reiatsu could freely flow out of him, as if he was stretching open a bag so he could spill the contents of it. Now he just needed to stop keeping it forced open and allow it to seal his reiatsu once again, which he did.

"I see, so squad 10 will return to the glory days of its past?" Urahara wondered.

"Glory days?" Ichigo was confused. To be truthful he really didn't know anything about squad 10 or its past.

"Back when I was a captain, at my peak both my lieutenant and my 3rd seat were able to use their Bankai, though my 3rd seat was poached to be a captain for a different squad. Every member of my squad was also able to use their Shikai. Out of all the squads, on average a soul reaper from squad 10 was stronger than an average soul reaper of another squad," Akio boasted.

"That's incredible!" Ichigo exclaimed.

"The goal is to return squad 10 to that level of strength and then take it further. I want to make Captain Hitsugaya into the strongest captain that Soul Society has ever seen," Akio proclaimed.

"That's quite the long term project there, but when one of the greatest prodigies in the history of the Gotei 13 teams up with one of the greatest trainers in our history, it seems possible," Urahara closed his fan as he finished talking, "You should return to the Seireitei and report what happened to the captain-commander, I'll watch over Naruki City for the rest of the day."

"Thank you," Akio nodded to Urahara and Ichigo before opening a doorway to the Seireitei and leaving.

One week of Akio's training had Hitsugaya feeling more exhausted than he knew was possible. Rangiku seemed exhausted as well, to the point where Akio had actually taken to helping them both with their paperwork. The rest of the squad had gotten into their routine, usually training with Akio once every couple of days. Hitsugaya knew from the way his body ached that the training was working. This was the end of the week, however, and Akio had informed Hitsugaya and Rangiku that today would be a rest day for them.

Hitsugaya currently sat at his desk, working on paperwork for the upcoming festival. Each year, there was a festival to celebrate the victory over Yhwach and the Quincy. Each year a different squad would be in charge of planning the festival, which made sure that it wasn't ever really the same. This year it was Squad 10's turn, and Hitsugaya was understandably stressed as he had never done anything like this before. Luckily he did have a few months before the festival, but he had to make sure he could reserve the venue he wanted for it. So far, Rangiku had been surprisingly helpful in his planning. He assumed this was because she loved festivals.

As if on cue, Rangiku entered the room. She looked rested and Hitsugaya figured that she must've decided to sleep in, and he found himself wishing that he had done the same.

"Hey captain, have you seen Akio anywhere? He was supposed to help with my paperwork again today…" Rangiku asked.

"He said that he had an errand to run earlier, though he didn't specify what it was or when he'd be back," Hitsugaya responded. To be honest, he had expected Akio to be back by now. He had also not expected Akio to be so vague about what his errand was.

"Really? He didn't say anything about what he was doing?" Rangiku sighed.

"Correct. Now that I think about it… that's strange of him," Hitsugaya looked up from his paperwork, "I'll ask him about it when he returns."

The universe must've been listening to everything Hitsugaya was saying because at that exact moment Akio walked into the room.

"Ah hello Captain Hitsugaya," Akio bowed, "And Lieutenant Matsumoto."

"Akio! Where were you?" Rangiku asked.

"I was running an errand in Rukongai," Akio stated, "I needed to do some shopping."

"Really? What did you buy?" Rangiku asked, at the mention of shopping Hitsugaya lost all interest. He supposed that it made sense why Akio had not bothered to inform Hitsugaya about the specifics of his errand, it wasn't anything important. Hitsugaya only began paying attention when he heard Akio calling his name.

"Hey Captain Hitsugaya, what do you say we three go out drinking tonight? We can use it to get to know each other better," Akio proposed.

"I don't drink," Hitsugaya responded, surprised that the request had come from Akio and not Rangiku, "Besides, I don't like bars."

"I never said anything about a bar. I know a nice quiet place outside the city that I go to whenever I need to think or just want to be alone. It's a perfect place for drinking with a small group of friends as well, though if you don't want to drink you can be the chaperone," Akio bargained.

"Come on, please captain?" Rangiku pleaded with Hitsugaya now.

"Fine, if all our paperwork is done before it gets too late then I suppose we can do that," Hitsugaya relented.

"Wonderful!" Akio clapped his hands together, "Let's get down to work."

Hitsugaya and Rangiku were unsure what to think of the place that Akio had lead them to. It was a cliff with a small rock overlooking a deep valley. It was in a mountainous region of Rukongai, and Hitsugaya had to admit that he had never been in this area, this was within the jurisdiction of other squads. Hitsugaya sat at the tio of the rock, with Akio to his left and Rangiku to his right.

"This place must seem a bit unnatural I imagine?" Akio asked. The place did seem unnatural. The valley was more of a crater now that Hitsugaya looked at it. It was as if a mountain should be there, but simply wasn't.

"A little bit yeah," Rangiku agreed.

"This is where Yamamoto and I had our first and only true fight. He beat me here and then told me that I could either join the Gotei 13 or forfeit my life. Up until that point I saw myself as invincible. I believed that there was no one who could challenge me and Kagayaku Yari. I used my power to slay hollows for fun, but I had heard of a legendary warrior in what is today Seireitei. I was absolutely stomped by Yamamoto. Everything I threw at him, he answered. He was able to match me in every area, and I had never seen a more complete warrior in my life. Even now I would not be able to defeat him. He died before I could ever surpass him…" Akio reminisced.

"Hitsugaya, Matsumoto," Akio began, calling them without their titles for the first time, "I would like to make you both into warriors that are on the level we original captains were. If you two will allow me, I will help mold you both into legends."

Hitsugaya and Rangiku looked a bit stunned at Akio. Rangiku especially, she had never assumed herself to have any sort of potential that could ever rival the legends of Soul Society. Even so, when met with the overwhelming confidence that Akio seemed to have in her, she could not bring herself to deny his wish, and Hitsugaya could not either.

"We will gladly allow you to lead us on that journey, Akio," Hitsugaya declared, Rangiku nodding in agreement.

"Good, now that the important part is over with, we drink!" Akio proclaimed, grabbing out a few bottles of alcohol. Hitsugaya refused the alcohol but Rangiku accepted, and Hitsugaya had a feeling that these would be a long couple of hours…

Hitsugaya sighed as he flopped back down on his bed. The hours of drinking had been filled with obnoxious singing, laughing, and a few close calls with the cliff, but even so, Hitsugaya could not find himself to regret the experience.

He was glad to be back in his room though. Hitsugaya kept thinking about what Akio had said, about how he wanted to make Hitsugaya into a legend. Hitsugaya's train of thought was stopped by a fit of coughing. In the ten years since the Thousand-Year Blood War, he had started to have these coughing fits at night from time to time. They had gotten worse over time, and Hitsugaya remembered something that Mayuri had told him during the war. After he had been zombified, Mayuri had cured him and Matsumoto, but had told them that his method of doing so had drastically decreased their lifespans. Hitsugaya had assumed that he would still at least have a few hundred years of life, but with his coughing fits he had begun to wonder how much time he actually had left. He had not been able to bring himself to tell anyone about this, and he found himself relieved that Akio was around now, for he knew that if he were to die, he would be leaving Squad 10 in good hands. Even so, Hitsugaya did not want to admit it, but he was scared. He didn't want to die, which was normal, but Hitsugaya felt that as a soldier it was cowardly for him to feel. All the same, he did not want to die. Hitsugaya's coughing calmed down as he finally managed to sleep.