Chapter 11: Chapter 11: Recuperation and Aftermath
Chapter 11: Recuperation and Aftermath
Yato lay there half-dead, swathed tightly in bandages like a mummy.
A heavy scent of medicine clung to him, and his blood-stained clothes were being incinerated in a nearby stove.
"Big Brother Yato, I got your stuff back."
The blonde-haired little girl sneaked the door open and placed the acceptance letter next to Yato.
"You buried it so deep; it took me forever to dig it out."
"Thanks for the hard work, Rangiku."
Yato gave her a strained nod. Even a movement that slight caused enough pain to make him sharply suck in a breath of cold air. Helpless, he could only lie back down and continue playing dead.
Last night had been the greatest crisis Yato had faced since his reincarnation. Even though he ultimately managed to slay his enemies, his injuries were extremely severe, and he desperately needed a safe place to recuperate.
Since his original courtyard had been burned to ashes by Kentaro Koizumi, after some thought, he decided to hole up at Gin and Rangiku’s place next door.
Thankfully, Yato had looted a significant amount of medicine and money before fleeing the Horiuchi estate; otherwise, given Gin and Rangiku’s meager savings, there would have been no way to treat him.
Rangiku crossed her arms, scrutinized Yato closely, and abruptly asked,
"Big Brother Yato, you still haven’t explained how you ended up covered in wounds."
"I fell down the stairs."
"?"
"Don’t look at me like that." Yato smoothly spouted nonsense.
"Falling down stairs can easily cause fractures, internal bleeding, and spinal displacement. That’s just common knowledge."
"Then what about your house? Why did it burn down?"
"I set it on fire. Got bored and felt like playing with matches."
"Tch..."
Rangiku puffed out her cheeks. Just as she was about to retort, Ichimaru Gin, who had been quietly tending to the medicine pot, subtly nudged her waist.
Gin had picked up on Yato’s hint yesterday, spending the entire night fishing in the river with Rangiku. Given the current situation and the memory of the thugs loitering outside, he had vaguely pieced together what happened.
Earlier, when Gin took the money Yato gave him to buy bandages, he noticed that the atmosphere in the Hanagare district was palpably tense. The area was under heavy lockdown, and he frequently spotted Gotei 13 Soul Reapers hurrying about in their shihakusho.
Moreover, to this very moment, Uchiha Yato maintained a tight grip on a katana. Gin saw it clearly—it was undoubtedly a Soul Reaper’s Zanpakuto!
In Ichimaru Gin’s mind, Uchiha Yato’s image had shifted from a "hardworking, gentle older neighbor" to a "highly dangerous, enigmatic figure."
Even lying battered and bruised on a tatami mat, he seemed like a slumbering tiger.
Don’t ask questions you shouldn’t ask.
Ichimaru Gin forced his narrow eyes open as wide as he could, desperately signaling Rangiku.
Seeing this nearly broke Yato’s composure.
Your eyes are already slits; making that face just makes you look like a goblin...
"Ahem." Yato coughed twice, interrupting their little exchange.
"Whatever money is left over after buying the medicine, you two keep it. Buy some more meat. Look how skinny you both are."
Matsumoto Rangiku scratched her head sheepishly. Suddenly recalling something, she added,
"Oh, right, Big Brother Yato. When I was out earlier, I ran into District Head Nomura. He asked if I knew where you were."
"And what did you say?"
"I told him you vanished after the fire, and since Gin and I were out playing all night, we had no idea what happened."
"Smart girl."
Uchiha Yato nodded gently.
In truth, Yuji Nomura had never been a concern in Yato’s eyes.
With the Horiuchi clan entirely wiped out, Nomura, as the District Head, had likely already been interrogated by the Gotei 13.
To save his own skin, he would absolutely insist that he knew nothing.
The living didn’t dare to speak, and the dead couldn’t. All evidence had been reduced to ashes in the Horiuchi estate, and the Tsunayashiro Clan probably couldn’t be bothered with the whole affair anyway.
The crisis before his enrollment had been thoroughly resolved.
The current problem was fabricating an excuse to explain [Akame]’s existence.
Seeing Yato deep in thought, Gin and Rangiku exchanged a glance. They placed the brewed medicine beside him and quietly left the room.
Yato was left alone.
Suddenly, a faint distortion seemed to appear in the air.
The girl, Akame, first reached a hand through the distortion before stepping entirely into the room, standing before Yato.
She still wore her Sengoku armor and carried the gunbai on her back, looking as valiant as ever.
"Kamui, huh." Yato looked at her with pure envy.
"What a convenient ability. I wonder when I’ll be able to use it."
"I only showed it off to motivate you to work harder." Akame patted his head. Sensing his fever had broken, she smiled.
"You’ve only just grazed the tip of the Uchiha power with [Stage One Shikai], kiddo."
"Sigh. I’ll worry about that once I get into the Shin’o Academy. I’d like to fully unlock Shikai before I graduate."
"How long do you plan on staying at the academy?"
"I was planning to do the full six years like a normal student, but after that battle, my Spiritual Pressure has skyrocketed. I can probably cut that time down significantly."
Yato picked up the Shin’o Academy acceptance letter, his thoughts drifting to the person whose existence had driven the Horiuchi clan to utter madness.
"I wonder how many years it took Byakuya Kuchiki in the original story."
As a reincarnator, Yato’s Zanpakuto, [Akame], possessed power from another world.
Because this power was far too massive to be fully unleashed in a standard Shikai, Akame had fragmented the power of Shikai into multiple stages.
[Stage One Shikai] was the level Uchiha Yato currently possessed.
The power of Stage One Shikai was roughly divided into two parts.
The first was the standard Tomoe Sharingan.
Single-tomoe, double-tomoe, and triple-tomoe. Yato could manifest these three forms by adjusting the output of his Spiritual Pressure.
Under the Sharingan’s amplification, his kinetic vision, observational skills, and neural reflexes were massively enhanced. He could even cast standard Sharingan genjutsu.
However, since last night was his first time using Shikai, his control over its power was still unrefined. In a life-or-death battle against an opponent like Kentaro Koizumi, Yato hadn’t dared to experiment with unfamiliar abilities on the fly. He had to rely on grueling close-quarters combat and hadn’t found the opportunity to utilize genjutsu.
Otherwise, it was highly likely that Kentaro Koizumi would have been slain by Yato before he even got the chance to use his own Shikai.
The second part was the form-change of the Zanpakuto itself.
Akame could transform into the "Uchiha Gunbai," granting him its corresponding abilities.
It possessed extreme physical durability, a perfect size for both slashing and deflecting, and most importantly... the "Uchiha Reflection."
It could absorb a non-physical attack from an enemy and reflect it back as a Wind-type Kido with tremendous speed and devastating power!
In the world of Bleach, this technique was unquestionably an incredibly potent weapon against Kido.
Of course, the ability to successfully absorb and reflect ultimately depended on the disparity in Spiritual Pressure between him and his opponent.
Since Kentaro Koizumi’s Spiritual Pressure was relatively close to Uchiha Yato’s, he was caught off guard and defeated.
If he had been facing Sosuke Aizen instead, last night’s Yato would have been obliterated in an instant.
Battles between Soul Reapers required considering multiple factors: overall proficiency in Zanjutsu, Hakuda, Hoho, and Kido, Zanpakuto abilities, willpower, luck, and elemental advantages. Each of these was of paramount importance.
However, Spiritual Pressure was indisputably the most fundamental prerequisite of all.
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