After the commotion finally ended, Senju Haruto returned straight to his room.
The whole process had been a bit roundabout, but in the end, he had gotten what he wanted—a scabbard.
The one he had obtained from Ichikaku was a traditional Japanese-style saya, simple and refined, with a classic design that would protect the blade perfectly.
Haruto sat cross-legged on the tatami, resting his Asauchi horizontally across his legs. Slowly, he drew the blade from its sheath.
From what he understood, whether an Asauchi could awaken into a zanpakutō depended entirely on its wielder.
There was no harm in connecting with it like this—it might even speed up the awakening.
However, the moment Haruto pulled the blade free, the tatami beneath him, the wooden floor, the walls, even the ceiling—all of it began to crumble away at a speed visible to the naked eye, until nothing remained.
"…Where is this?"
Haruto straightened up, realizing that the Asauchi in his hand had vanished as well.
Looking around, he saw nothing but an endless desert stretching to the horizon.
This clearly wasn't the inn in the Land of Iron. It was… somewhere else.
"The inner world of the zanpakutō, huh?"
Haruto frowned. He vaguely remembered that when Kurosaki Ichigo had first awakened his zanpakutō, he entered his inner world and, guided by Zangetsu, found the blade's true form—thus achieving his shikai.
But Haruto wasn't trapped here—he could feel it.
If he focused, he could leave this place at any time.
"Come to think of it, Ichigo had Zangetsu guiding him the first time he came here…"
Murmuring to himself, Haruto scanned the surroundings. The sun blazed in a cloudless sky, and apart from the endless yellow sand, there was absolutely nothing.
"Is anyone here?"
He took a deep breath, lacing his voice with chakra, hoping for a reply.
The moment the words left his mouth, the ground beneath his feet began to tremble.
"…So it begins."
Haruto looked down just as the desert itself seemed to awaken, heaving him upward.
Even here, in this inner world, his own abilities hadn't been stripped away.
Because of that, there was no need to hide his strength—he let his chakra surge at full force.
The sand reacted as if startled, writhing in unnatural patterns beneath him.
"It can move…" Haruto narrowed his eyes. Before destroying whatever this was, he wanted to see exactly what form his inner world would manifest.
He kicked off with his toes, flipping back to gain some distance.
That's when he saw it clearly.
It wasn't sand at all—it was a massive giant made of earth, rising from beneath the dunes.
Even its skin tone was nothing like the yellow sands surrounding it.
"…Wait. This is the form of my zanpakutō?"
Haruto couldn't help but mutter in disappointment. He'd expected something more… impressive.
Sure, he didn't fully understand how zanpakutō worked, but before entering this place, he had been a shinobi who had mastered all five basic chakra natures, as well as two rare kekkei genkai—Wood Release and the Byakugan.
"All five natures…"
A thought occurred to him, and his expression grew serious.
"What if… because I've mastered all five, my zanpakutō has five different inner worlds?"
Taking a deep breath, Haruto decided to test the theory.
But before he could explore further, the earth giant below suddenly threw back its head and roared, the sound booming like thunder.
"Who dares disturb me!?"
This was his own inner world, but it was also the zanpakutō's.
An Asauchi only became a zanpakutō when infused with its wielder's soul and conviction. But zanpakutō spirits were notoriously proud.
Their bond with their wielder was more like a jinchūriki and their tailed beast—until friendship was forged, entering their domain would only be met with resistance.
Unlike tailed beasts, who were bound by seals, a zanpakutō spirit could move freely in the inner world.
Meaning a fight was inevitable.
Haruto didn't mind—he was just as unrestrained here as the giant was.
Clap.
He brought his palms together. "I don't want to hurt you."
"Heh." The giant's lips curled in a mocking grin. Raising a massive arm, it clenched its fist in the air.
"So you're saying… you could hurt me?"
With a roar, the giant's punch came crashing toward Haruto.
The moment Haruto had arrived here, the giant had already sensed his identity—but there was no way it would bow to someone it considered weak.
In its mind, it was the true master of this world, and Haruto was an intruder to be expelled.
Leave… or die here.
"You're pretty arrogant," Haruto said in a low voice. Then he unleashed Tree World Emergence.
Here, in his inner world, there would be no consequences to using his full power—so he didn't hold back.
Rumble!
The ground shook far more violently than it had when the giant first awakened.
Enormous trees burst from the earth, surging skyward at a terrifying pace. Even the giant's eyes widened in shock.
Its massive fist slammed into one of the towering trunks, only for thick branches to coil around its arm like living vines.
In seconds, the giant's enormous body was ensnared by a forest of uncountable trees.
The endless desert was now a vast sea of green.
"I am the master of this world."
Haruto stared straight into the giant's eyes as the forest pulled its legs out from under it.
Boom!
With a thunderous crash, the giant's knees buckled, slamming into the ground hard enough to make the earth quake again.
But just as Haruto was about to press his advantage and force the giant to submit—
Crack!
A deafening peal of thunder split the sky.
From the clouds above, a massive dragon of lightning plunged downward, its gaping maw aimed at Haruto as though to swallow him whole.
If the giant represented Earth Release… then this dragon was Lightning Release.
"…So my zanpakutō really does have multiple attributes."
Haruto's gaze sharpened. In his understanding, a zanpakutō typically had only a single element.
Looking up at the sky, he called out, "Anyone else? You might as well all come at once!"