"Too… too strong!"
Shihōin Yoruichi spoke haltingly, her golden eyes gleaming as she stared at Akira. Despite her calm demeanor, a rare flicker of awe passed through her gaze.
As the prodigious heir to the Shihōin Clan, she possessed unmatched mastery over Shunpo, a lineage of high nobility, striking strength, and a beauty that made even Onmitsukidō captains whisper Sui-Fēng's praise: "noble, radiant, and terrifyingly powerful."
All of it made her the kind of person whose standards filtered out the unworthy—few ever earned her attention.
Even Byakuya Kuchiki, despite being her childhood sparring partner and the young head of the Kuchiki Clan, would have struggled to draw her eye were it not for their long-standing history.
But Akira was different.
The longer she spent around him, the more Yoruichi felt her identity blur. Her position as a noble, as a peerless Shunpo expert, seemed to lose weight. In his presence, she found herself wondering—who was really the noble here?
Unpretentious strength. Quiet dominance. Natural presence.
It almost felt as if she were the commoner and he the soul born from a thousand years of pedigree.
That confusion of roles stirred something strange in her heart.
And curiosity… made her want to step closer.
"This is his strength…"
"He's come this far… already."
"Can I still catch up?"
Byakuya Kuchiki questioned himself silently.
Beneath his flowing sleeves, his hands had curled tightly into fists.
He had watched—mouth dry—as Akira abandoned incantation and cast Hadō #78: Zangerin, the Reiatsu output measuring above captain-class by any standard. And in that moment, a cruel, whispering illusion crept in:
Had everything I've trained for, all these years… amounted to nothing?
"Monster," he muttered.
"They say we're both from Rukongai… both enrolled only three days ago…"
"Why is the gap so vast?"
"We're still working through Hadō #10, and he's already abandoning chants to unleash high-tier destructive Kidō…"
"With power like that—no, even a Vice-Captain would fall behind…"
Around them, other Shin'ō Academy students—whether from the same class or elsewhere—were frozen, overwhelmed by what they had witnessed.
Hadō after Hadō, each stronger than the last, cast chantless without so much as a spiritual hiccup. They couldn't believe it.
If Akira had been born into a noble house and trained by Central 46's elite tutors since childhood, this might have been easier to swallow.
But no.
He was one of them.
From Rukongai.
Admitted three days ago.
Yet he already stood at the doorstep of captain-level power—while they still struggled with basic spell recitations.
"Teacher Isshin, what's your opinion?"
Akira spoke calmly, unaffected by the crowd's stunned stares and the growing storm of awe in every direction. He walked straight toward Shiba Isshin, relaxed, as if nothing unusual had occurred.
"When I become a captain," he added with a casual smile, "you'd better treat me to dinner."
"This Kidō stake wasn't cheap."
Isshin stared at him, eyes wide, breath caught halfway between laughter and disbelief. After a beat, he exhaled through his nose and barked a sharp laugh.
"Must," he said, smirking.
Akira chuckled and nodded lightly.
But Isshin's expression quickly turned serious.
"Still—don't get arrogant," he warned.
"You've passed the trials in Kidō, Zanjutsu, and Reiatsu."
"But what about Hakuda and Shunpo?"
"Those are essential for a true Gotei 13 captain."
"Ha! I can't say much about the rest," Yoruichi interjected, flipping her wrist, "but when it comes to Hakuda and Shunpo…"
"…I'm your best bet."
Her voice was teasing, yet confident. She thumped her palm against her chest with a grin, the folds of her sleeveless top shifting as she did.
"Akira," she said, eyes gleaming, "I can teach you Shunpo. If I do, I promise—Hirako Shinji won't even see your afterimage."
"Demon cat… you don't mean that footwork, do you?" Byakuya spoke sharply for the first time, his voice tinged with disbelief.
"You're not thinking of teaching him the Shihōin Clan's secret techniques, are you?"
Yoruichi tilted her head and gave a fox-like grin.
"Why not?" she said.
"I can teach it. And he deserves it."
Byakuya Kuchiki was speechless.
Could this truly be happening?
The Shihōin and Kuchiki Clans—both pillars among the Four Great Noble Houses—have always stood on equal footing within Soul Society's hierarchy.
He and Shihōin Yoruichi, as scions of their respective clans and childhood sparring partners, shared a bond deeper than most of their ancestors had in over a thousand, even ten thousand years.
If today, Yoruichi imparted the Shihōin Clan's secret Shunpo techniques to an outsider like Akira, then by tomorrow, the Kuchiki family would be pressured—politically or ethically—to reciprocate. The precedent would open the way for Yoruichi to learn the Kuchiki Clan's sealed combat techniques, such as the Senka or refined Hakuda arts.
And that… would put Yoruichi at a disadvantage in the long run.
"If your father finds out, he'll thank you personally," Shiba Isshin muttered with a helpless shake of his head.
"Of course he will," Yoruichi replied, utterly unfazed.
Whether she truly misunderstood Isshin's warning or was merely pretending to be oblivious, no one could say. But instead of showing restraint or embarrassment, she smiled radiantly, a trace of self-satisfaction dancing in her golden eyes.
"No need for that, Yoruichi."
"I'll just attend the standard Shunpo classes."
"After all, my opponent is only Hirako Shinji. The Shunpo taught by the Shin'ō Academy is more than enough."
Akira's tone, to the uninformed, might have sounded arrogant. But to those present—who had seen him casually nail Hirako Shinji to the wall with a single strike in their Kendo match—it felt entirely reasonable.
Add to that his chantless execution of high-level Hadō…
There wasn't a single rebuttal anyone could offer.
"It's fine to master Zanjutsu, Hakuda, Hohō, and Kidō," Isshin interjected with a note of caution.
"But the key lies in Bankai."
"That's the true foundation of a Gotei 13 captain's strength."
Isshin wasn't worried about Akira's progress in the Four Pillars—Zanjutsu, Hakuda, Hohō, and Kidō. What really weighed on his mind was Zanpakutō evolution.
Before Urahara Kisuke developed the Tenshintai artificial soul device to forcefully draw out a Zanpakutō spirit, even noble-born prodigies would spend decades training before achieving Bankai.
Even Chōjirō Sasakibe—Yamamoto Genryūsai's lieutenant for over a century—had nearly reached Bankai before challenging his captain, and even then, his development had taken years.
That's why Kisuke's invention was so radical—it compressed the decades-long process into a month.
But Akira?
He had only been enrolled for three days.
Expecting him to reach Bankai within a month, even with extreme measures, would be madness—beyond even what Ichigo Kurosaki had accomplished when Urahara pushed him to the edge.
"Bankai is the complete release of a Zanpakutō, advancing from Shikai and amplifying a Shinigami's Reiatsu anywhere from five to ten times," Isshin continued.
"In terms of raw spiritual pressure alone, once Hirako Shinji uses his Bankai, his Reiatsu will spike three to five times above his base level—and that's not accounting for the overwhelming abilities each Bankai grants."
"But Bankai isn't something that can be learned like Zanjutsu or Kidō. It requires sword resonance, Zanjutsu mastery, and above all… inner harmony. There's no written formula for it."
"To my knowledge, the fastest anyone's ever reached Bankai—from first touching a Zanpakutō to achieving Bankai—is ten years. That's the Soul Society's record."
But what Isshin didn't know was that, the moment he finished speaking, Akira's normally quiet Reiatsu began to ripple unnaturally.
For someone who had practiced so silently—rarely letting his power flare—this sudden unrest was unusual.
Even he couldn't suppress the reaction.
His Zanpakutō spirit stirred—irritated.
And for once, even his Reiatsu, the most low-profile of his abilities, spoke up.
[Ten years?]
[Your Zanpakutō scoffed and muttered: "Trash standard." She said she could unlock Bankai in three days, and master it completely in half a month.]
[Who dares claim superiority? Your Reiatsu, usually silent, snorted: "I'm already ten 'carriages' strong. Give me ten more days, and I'll be eighteen. Find out."]
Akira cast a side glance at Isshin.
As expected of Ichigo's father… he really knows how to provoke a reaction.
It didn't matter if his Zanpakutō had stayed composed until now—she was clearly agitated.
Even his Reiatsu—normally content to hide in the background—had surged forward to challenge the very air.
It was remarkable.
Among all his awakened traits, Reiatsu had always been the most reserved.
During these three days of enrollment, it had only emerged once or twice.
Unlike Kidō and Zanjutsu, which enjoyed flexing whenever the chance arose.
Yet now, even the silent ones wanted to show off—because of Isshin's offhand