I'm back, two days until I'm offline for awhile. well, on with the show, NEXT CHAPTER!
The Fox, The Raven, and The Cat Raise Hell
ch 16 - how to reach bankai in a week
"you did what?!" Naruto shouted, Rikou having just informed everyone of the outcome of his encounter with Minato.
"oh calm down, I won't kill him, besides, what's the harm if he has such a high chance at beating me?" Rikou asked, Naruto enraged about Rikou and Zansatsu fighting his father in a week.
"that's just the problem! you're so fast he'll never touch you!" Naruto shouted, severely annoying Rikou.
"and when I do attack he moves his blade faster than I can see, making him the better fighter. his sword swipes are faster, he's physically stronger than I am, and he's smarter and more mature, he'll have a plan!" Rikou shouted, Rika and Hinata having had enough of the argument.
"WILL YOU MORONS JUST CALM DOWN AND THINK?!" the two yelled simultaneously.
"now," Rika began, "Rikou, Zansatsu said you would be able to take him on in a week right?" Rikou nodded, "and Naruto, Rikou is your oldest friend and one of your closest friends, you should trust his word when he says that he won't kill your dad."
"fine, I'll trust him, but if he kills him, I want his head." Naruto said, Hinata trying to calm him down.
"no problem there, I won't kill him." Rikou said walking towards a forest. "now, if you'll excuse me, Zansatsu has to explain how I'm going to be ready to take on the fourth in a week."
--
training ground forty-four, ten minutes later
"he he he he haaa, that incident this morning is still funny, wide eyes, pained expression, squeaky voice, everything! ha ha ha ha haa, okay, I think I'm done, now, in order to take on a captain and be able to hold back from killer force, you have to be marginally stronger, and even then, you have to watch out in case he goes for killing blows. the only way for you to get stronger is to master all of my shikai abilities and achieve my bankai form. now, usually my bankai form would be you wearing a white hakama and a white jacket with tatter edges reaching your calves, but, the bankai form of your zanpaku-to is the deepest extension of your soul apart from love, therefore, instead of having the bankai of Zangetsu's former master, this bankai will be all your own. Now, to get there, you have to master the techniques getsuga tenshou, issentzuki, and my strongest shikai technique, sanga herushou (sun fang hell stab)." Zansatsu said, Rikou going off to work.
--
Ten hours later
"not bad, you've mastered every technique you know. You even learned issentzuki. Looks like you're gonna have this stuff down in only 4 days, rather than 7. still, it wouldn't hurt if you got a training partner other than me who can stand against you while keeping this secret." Zansatsu said, his mad grin faltering for a second. "oh well! Tough luck, you don't sleep until you have bankai down!" Zansatsu said while laughing insanely. You wouldn't know it, but if you listened to the way he was laughing, you would notice that he wasn't as happy as normal. Things were getting boring and predictable, he needed something to kick typical everyday reasoning out of the water! Imagine his surprise when he got exactly that.
thud!
"well, what do we have here..?" Zansatsu said as he noticed someone in odd clothing had landed on top of Rikou just before he was going to practice again. The one person was actually two people, one wearing blue jeans, a black hoodie, glasses and white shoes. It was a guy, with wavy and poofy light brown hair. He also had blue eyes, with a gray ring around the pupil. Normally this would only be someone wearing weird clothes, but he clearly had some kind of tie to there world, as he bore a large sword upon his back. Actually, it wasn't all that large in the typical sense. its blade looked to have been cut at the 3-foot mark on the sword. The blade was a typical double-edged sword, apart from it's being 1-foot wide. The handle however, was 4-feet long, and in the same style as Zabuza's sword. It was attached by way of thick chains running across his body. He stood at 6-feet tall, and didn't actually seem to be any older than 14. the next person, having landed on top of him, wore blue jeans and a rather large black t-shirt. This person was a girl, standing 5'10", she had red eyes and light brown hair that reached to her mid-back. On her back was a 5'8" katana that was the normal width and handle size. It was secured to her body via a red cloth attached to the sheath.
"ow, Rikou-kun, I could swear you said we wouldn't get hurt." The girl said, clearly addressing the guy, confusing the Rikou holding Zansatsu.
"no, that's what you heard, I said that we wouldn't get hurt leaving, I didn't say jack shit about arriving. Besides, what's the problem, that didn't even hurt." Hoodie-Rikou said, clarifying him as Rikou. The Rikou holding Zansatsu was lost beyond hope of merely being confused.
"okay, who are you, where did you come from, and why do you have the same name as me?" Rikou asked, Hoodie-Rikou getting off of him and looking him over.
"you, tell me, what is your last name, and the name of the sword you're holding?" Hoodie-Rikou asked.
"I asked you my question first." Rikou said, readying Zansatsu.
"believe me, you don't want to try that, without Keiji, my power far exceeds that of a mere shinigami captain, and you are not even that level yet, now answer my questions, and then I'll answer yours." Hoodie-Rikou said, reaching for the sword on his back.
"well, this is interesting." Zansatsu said, Hoodie-Rikou acknowledging his presence.
"My full name is Rikou Karasu, my sword is known throughout the village as Zansatsu." Rikou said, Hoodie-Rikou bursting into insane laughter like Zansatsu would.
"I see, so, I have to use a different name here… I'll go with another description of my persona, you can call me Rei…" Rei said, the girl looking at him.
"so, you're calling yourself ghost in this world?" she asked.
"no Ari-chan, I'm not, I said persona, not fighting style, I am calling myself a lie." Rei said with a smirk as he drew his sword. "and in this world, I am just as strong as I was where I met you!" Rikou jumped back and assumed a stance with Zansatsu. Rei's sword transformed into a sword that looked to be a completed version of the one he had originally. It was black, as if made of obsidian, and it had a picture of a village burning to the ground on it. "c'mon, let's see if you can get a hang of your Sanga Herushou while you fight me!"
"how did you know about that?!" Rikou asked, his stance faltering. Rei appeared swinging at him the next instant, causing Rikou to block and regain his composure.
"that's not important, when fighting an opponent, you must fight with the utmost concentration." Rei said staring at Rikou's angry eyes. "in other words, if you just stand there you'll die!" fire began to flare out from the sword in Rei's hands, pushing Rikou and Zansatsu away all on its own. "Meet Keiji's flames! The heru no enkou!" (The flames of hell)
Rikou was pushed back into a tree when he came up with what to do. 'it's now or never, this attack of his is way stronger than the getsuga tenshou as I am now, my only chance is the attack Zansatsu told me about. It's this or nothing, if I just stand trying to guard, then this fire will surely kill me!' "It's all or nothing! SANGA HERUSHOU!!" Rikou shouted, pushing all his power into the blast that came out. It was a large blast in the same shape as the getsuga tenshou, but it was larger and instead of being blue-white like the getsuga tenshou, it was red-black. It pushed the flames away very easily, but the instant that it touched Rei's sword, it vanished.
"well, I'm glad that worked, Zansatsu, bring him to bankai within a day so that he can work on mastering it. Knowing your personality, if he charges blindly into your bankai, he'll end up living up to your name." Rei said, putting his blade on his back, the blade having returned to normal. Rikou was about to do the same thing when Zansatsu spoke.
"no way pal, you've got more training to do, we don't stop until you can use all of my powers as a second nature, and without draining all of the reserves of life energy. No, we don't stop until you unlock my ability to create the life energy found in blood on your own!" Zansatsu said, a normal zanbatou materializing in his hands.