"What do you mean head captain?" Torin asked "Bankai takes 10 years to achieve at a minimum! Not to insult your skill at training, but there's no way any of you can teach me bankai anytime soon, certainly not in time for me to use it in the war!"

"That is why I have asked a certain someone to come and offer you her aid" Yammamoto said "We shall return in three days to see your bankai, your trainer should be here shortly, good luck, Torin Inzanki."

With that all of the captains vanished at once, leaving Torin alone and hopelessly confused.

"Hey! Wait! Who did you ask? And why are you all leaving?" Torin asked, but it was no good, they were gone.

"The answer to your first question is standing behind you" A deep voice said

Torin spun around, but there was nobody there, he looked around in confusion, this day was so weird he was hearing voices now, that couldn't be good... "I must be losing my mind from all these shocks." Torin said to himself

"down here" the voice said with a slight cough

Torin looked down, at his feet was a small black cat staring up at him.

"Yep, I've gone insane, now I'm hearing a cat talk to me" Torin said "Might as well humor the insanity, so the Head Captain... asked a cat to train me?" Torin said

The cat sighed "Why can nobody tell that cats don't talk? honestly what are they teaching academy students these days?"

Torin blinked, so he wasn't insane? That was a relief, but still... "but you're... a cat... and you're talking" he said dumbly.

The cat sighed again "I'm not a cat idiot" it said

"But... you're..." Torin began

"If you say I'm a cat again I'll claw your eyes out" the cat said

Torin hastily shut himself up. "Alright then... what are you?" he asked

"It'll be easier to show you" the cat said, then it exploded in smoke, causing Torin to fall back in surprise and land flatly on his but.

Looking up as the smoke cleared Torin's jaw dropped, and then his face turned a shade of red that made blood look blue in comparison "y-y-y-y-y-you're" he stammered

"A woman, yes, and what a refreshingly original statement that was" the cat said sarcastically, only now the cat was a stunningly beautiful dark skinned woman, it was also completely naked.

"I must say the look on your face is more shocked than most though, most people don't look quite so dumbstruck, this is the best reaction I've seen since Ichigo!" The woman said as she walked over to Torin and leaned over him. Torin blushed even more and tried to speak, but he was stammering to the point of being incoherent.

"Hm? What is it? Spit it out" the woman said

"Clothes!" Torin shouted "put on some clothes!"

-One set of clothes later-

"There, is that better?" the woman asked, she wore an orange jacked and skintight black pants now, allowing Torin to finally look at her and notice her other physical features, she had purple hair and light brown eyes.

Torin sighed in relief "Yes, thank you, so... who are you exactly?"

The woman smiled, this one was even more of a mess than Ichigo when it came to being around women, she was going to thoroughly enjoy herself teasing him. "I'm Youroichi Shihoin, pleased to meet you Torin" she said with a slight purr. Torin shifted uneasily, as she moved closer to him and stared at him with a studious eye, then flashed him a mischievous smile

"You're a lot more handsome than most of the people who've seen me naked, maybe I should've stayed in the nude and trained you in... other things" she said seductively

Torin blushed furiously and looked away, somewhat worried that Youroichi would take her clothes off again "Can we just get to the bankai training please?" he asked

Youroichi was laughing her ass off internally now, she wasn't done yet though, she had to get at least one more crack in before she got down to business.

"Oh so you want me to teach you how to achieve you're 'final release' hmmm?" she said "alright then, we'll begin your training now" She said as she bent over and grabbed something.

"Of my zanpakto! my final zanpakto release!" Torin practically screamed, covering his eyes

"Of course? what did you think I meant? you pervert" Youroichi wasn't holding back the laughter anymore, he had reacted so perfectly that she couldn't hold it back if her life depended on it.

Torin scowled "I'm going to strangle you!" he said in a menacing tone, he was mostly angry with himself for falling for the tricks so completely.

"relax, I'm done teasing you... for now, now are you ready to begin your training?" Yourochi said, finally calming down enough to stop laughing

Torin nodded, still not entirely convinced all of the teasing was over and done with, but eager to see how this training was actually going to proceed. "So how do you intend to teach me bankai?" he asked

"I do nothing, I just maintain the technique that we're going to use to get your zanpakto to teach you" Youroichi said as she picked up what looked like a cardboard cutout of a person. "Stab this with your zanpakto and your zanpakto spirit will be forced to manifest, from there you must force it to submit yourself, it wil not be and easy battle, but if you win it will teach you bankai"

Torin shifted his weight nervously again "and if I lose?" he asked

"Your zanpakto will kill you" Youroichi said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world "now are you ready?"

Torin gulped but nodded and picked up his zanpakto "alright, lets do this!" he said as he stabbed the cardboard.

A flash of light, and his sword and the cardboard were gone, Youroichi had moved a good distance away, and Torin was alone.

"You summoned me youngling?" Kessho Satsujinsha said as she landed softly behind Torin.

"Yeah, I take it you know why?" Torin said without turning to face his spirit.

"Yes, but I do not understand youngling, why do you wish for your bankai so soon? you are too young for such responsibility and power" KS replied

"You know my heart better than anyone... I am already a thousand years old, even if my body has not been alive for that long yet" Torin said

KS began to protest, then looked down "very well, but I will not give you this power willingly, you will have to take it from me by force."

Torin nodded "whatever it takes" he said

The angelic spirit flapped her wings, and a crystal wind filled the entire caver, when the wind died down the cavern was entirely crystallized, and had many pillars, arches,and ruined buildings, just like Torin's inner world.

"You must fight me here and now" she said.

"unarmed?" Torin asked, somewhat concerned.

KS nodded "we will fight hand to hand, as that is the truest form of our power, you may use anything you find in this arena against me, but you shall begin with your bare hands."

Torin grimaced, his hakuda was, apart from his kido, his worst attribute, he'd have to work incredibly hard to defeat anyone anywhere close to his level with hakuda alone, and now he was going to fight the embodiment of his power...

"Now we begin!" KS said as she flew at Torin.

Torin used shunpo to jump away, landing on the side of a pillar, then he sprang back at KS, throwing a straight punch.

KS brought one crystal wing in to block the punch, a few chips of crystal flew off as the blow landed, but then the other wing slapped Torin through 5 pillars of crystal.

Torin forced himself to his feet, he was about to charge back into battle when KS practically materialized next to him, delivering a powerful kick to the same of his face that sent him flying even further than last time.

Torin rolled to a stop, then threw himself sideways to dodge an axe kick from KS. Toriun rolled to his feet and launched himself at his opponent, spinning into a a powerful roundhouse kcik, but despite the increased force of this attack it was still easily blocked by the wing.

Torin saw the counter wing-slap coming this time, and he used shunpo to get away, but only narrowly.

"tsk..." Torin said as he began to shunpo away from KS, none of his blows were getting through those wings, not anytime soon, it'd be like trying to destroy a mountain by throwing pebbles at it until it crumbled. He needed a weapon, even if it wasn't a sword, he needed something to fight with.

KS had other things in mind for Torin though, and she appeared above him, flying high above, with a flap of her wings a shower of crystal shards rained down on the area Torin was standing in.

Torin knew getting even a small cut from KS would be fatal, so he ducked into a building that still had a roof as the shards tore up the ground where he had been standing. The pulverized rock dust would by him a few moments to hide, so Torin looked around the building he was in for something he could use.

Torin didn't see anything, but then his eye caught a glint of a crystal that waas buried under some rocks. Tossing them aside Torin found a gauntlet made of crystal. "What's this?" he asked as he put it on, immediately he felt a surge of power. "Woah!" Torin fell backwards in surprise, but he quickly stood up. "Alright, where's the other one? there has to be a pair right?" he asked nobody in particular as he searched for another gauntlet.

Torin found nothing, but he felt a sense of hope now, power coursed through him, if he could harness that power and attack KS now...

Torin's thoughts were interrupted by the rood of his shelter caving in under another crystal shard assault, planning time was over, it was time to get the heck out of there.

Torin began to use shunpo again, weaving in and out of some archways to make himself a difficult target for his zanpakto spirit. While she was up in the air he knew he'd never get close enough to her to throw a punch, he'd be turned into a statue and fall back to the ground before he cleared the pillars of crystal.

KS unleashed another storm of crystals at Torin, completely obliterating the archways, but again not harming Torin.

Torin stopped and grabbed a piece of rubble, then turned and with a grunt threw it at KS with incredible force, she dodged, but Torin had now reached her. He threw a punch with his gauntlet wearing hand, and he was surprised to see KS twist away from his blow and fly back a bit. KS's fist burst into a white light, and Torin's eyes widened as he recognized the attack, he threw himself back down to the ground as his spirit punched and sent a concentrated spear-like Kurisutarubimu at where he had been standing

Torin hit the ground and resumed running, he had learned several things, one of which was that he still needed more power before he would win a clash with his zanpakto spirit. Torin used shunpo again, and found that he traveled much further and faster now, perhaps because of the gauntlet?

Whatever the cause, Torin's increased speed, as well as KS's having retreated a bit to launch her attack, allowed him to lose her for a time. He hid inside another building, and after finding no additional items to add to his gauntlet, he sat down to think.

"So this whole challenge is like a big game of hide and seek" Torin mused "only both players are seekers, KS needs to find and attack me, and I need to find the rest of the items that go along with this, then use their power to defeat KS. And the time limit for me is 3 days according to the Head Captain, that's probably how long the technique lasts, so I need to hide from KS, and find the items in 3 days, but still have enough time to actually defeat her in combat"

Torin stood up and peered outside, he hadn't noticed before, but these buildings with roofs, were far more numerous than in his inner world. In addition, there seemed to be paths of pillars and arches leading between each building, they would make travel between the buildings possible without advertising his location, if not exactly easy. Torin realized that his breakdown of this challenge wasn't exactly accurate, it was a massive game of hide and seek, but also of memory and luck, he was sure the items would be hidden in the buildings, so he'd have to search each one and hope they had items in them. In addition to that, he'd have to remember which buildings he had searched, or he'd run out of time to search as he revisited the same buildings over and over.

Torin sat down again to plan, in a maze one had to just take the left turn repeatedly to find the exit, or they had to mark their path as they went, Torin couldn't mark these buildings in a way that would be noticeable from afar, otherwise he'd bring KS down on his head. So that left systematically going through the buildings in a pattern.

Torin took the time to make a mental image of the arena he was in, then observed the placement of the buildings he had seen and placed the buildings in that pattern across his mental image, using that image Torin began his search.

-2 days later-

Torin approached the next building, he was now clad in a full suit of armor, his searching pattern had worked well for him, now he knew all that would be left to find a helmet and his search would be complete. KS had been mysteriously absent the past 2 days, he had expected to clash with her at least a few times during his search, but he hadn't run into her even once, either she was horrible at searching for him, or he was really good at not being found. Torin wasn't buying either of those options, something was up and he knew it.

Torin entered the building and scoured it for the helmet, only to find nothing. "That's not right, I've searched every building in this arena now, Unless there's one at the center... of course!"

The center of the arena was a huge clearing with very little cover and what seemed to be no buildings in it. However, Torin remembered his own inner world had a specially designed building in the center, the crystals were shaped to manipulate the light of KS's wings to become full of color. Perhaps a similar building was in the center of the clearing, only this one was being concealed by KS rather than being made obvious. That would explain where KS had been, and why he hadn't found the helmet yet. It must be at the central building.

Torin left the building he was in and walked to the edge of the clearing. Upon studying the horizon, he was able to make out a slight distortion, he had been right. Steeling himself for an inevitable battle, he set out towards the central building.

-at the center-

KS appeared in the air before Torin, and the building slowly appeared, it was like the others, only bigger, and it had no openings to enter except one single arch-like door, but the door was firmly shut. "You have found all but one piece of your armor, and you know where to find the final piece, but the searching stops now. If you want to enter and claim your bankai, you must defeat me with the power you have acquired so far." she said

Torin stopped "I know" he said, then he vanished. He reappeared behind KS, throwing a hook punch at the side of her head. KS ducked and spun into a slash with her hand in a knife shape, narrowly falling short of Torin's chest.

Torin vanished again, and suddenly images of him were everywhere, Torin purposely stopped and started moving around KS in circles to leave afterimages of himself behind, all of which would posses his reiatsu signature. KS looked around frantically, unable to keep up with Torin's speed, then suddenly she doubled over as Torin appeared slightly below her and threw a running jab into her stomach, angled downward to send her crashing to the ground.

KS got back up and charged a Kurisutarubimu as Torin charged directly at her. As she fired Torin smiled, then for the first time in the fight he used shunpo.

KS never knew what hit her as Torin appeared, still moving forward, but at a perpendicular angle to his direction before, and grabbed her by the side of her head, then dragged face through the ground for a considerable distance before throwing her away from him.

As she tumbled to a halt Torin appeared above her, both hands blazing with reiatsu, he punched down with both fists and spoke a single word "Kurisutarubimu"

The dual punches and energy waves obliterated KS entirely, leaving no room for doubt as to the victor of the contest. When the dust settled Torin stood above a large crater, completely alone. As he looked around he saw that the doors of the final building were slowly opening, allowing him to enter and claim his bankai.

Torin walked slowly over to the doors and entered the building, inside was a sight to behold, murals surrounded him on the walls, each of them depicting a scene from his life. His birth, his parent's deaths, his time growing up, his meeting his friends, joining the acadamy, graduating and joining squad 13, meeting Rida and Aurora, all of these events were depicted in beautiful murals that would make even the most accomplished of artists sigh with envy.

Torin walked through these images and stared with awe, then looked at the end of the room, on a pedestal sat his helmet, the final piece of his bankai. Behind it was a mural of the time where his friends had died, comprised of such dark colors that it seemed to absorb the light of the rest of the room.

Torin walked to the pedestal and saw a plaque that read

"This room resembles your past, the armor you wear resembles the strength you wield in the present, and this helmet, it resembles the future you will see as you carve your path. It has no face-guard, for you should never avert your eyes from what is in front of you, no matter what your past, present, or future may be, you must look on ahead without fear. If you feel you can do this, then take this helmet now youngling, and my power is yours to command."

Torin looked around at the room once more, then back at the helmet. "I'm done running from my past, avoiding my present, and fearing my future, Kessho Satsujinsha, with your power I promise to look ahead to the future, I accept your condition, and your aid." he said as he picked up the helmet

"Now let us move on, together as one" he said, then put on the helmet. Immediately the room around him shattered into billions of pieces. obscuring his sight of everything but a myriad of random colors. When the pieces finished falling he was standing in the cavern once more, not the arena that had been created, Youroichi stood before him, and his zanpakto was in its sheath on his back.

"So do you know your zanpakto's true name now?" Youroichi asked

Torin nodded "I do, thank you Youroichi, thanks to you I have been able to achieve my bankai in a time span that would have been impossible through any other means"

Youroichi smiled "You're welcome Torin, I'll expect a favor from you to repay me sometime though, so don't think this was free"

Torin sighed "so long as you don;t use this 'favor' as a way to tease me again..."

Youroichi laughed "nothing like that, though a handsome man like you, maybe I would consider it" she said with a smile "but for now I'm off, that old man should be back any moment now, and he has made it clear he doesn't want to see me, I'm technically still a rouge shinigami after all, so see ya later Torin"

And with that she was gone, leaving Torin with another flushed face and another series of unanswered questions. "That woman... is quite infuriating" he muttered. Then he felt a truly massive reiatsu enter the room, almost enough to physically slow him down with its sheer size.

"Torin Inzanki!" Yammamoto said as he appeared before Torin "now that you have achieved bankai, you are ready to engage in your final training session, and this time..."

Yammamoto's haori blew off of him, and the top part of his robe burned away, revealing his ripped body coated in flames as Yammamotp's reiatsu took on the very properties of his zanpakto element.

"Your opponent is me!" Yammamoto finished "All things in the universe turn to ashes! Ryujin Jakka!"