Chapter 83: Yamamoto's Doubts
"???"
Outside the arena, upon hearing Yamamoto's words, Satoru wore a bewildered expression.
Who was the examiner? Who was supposed to be the examiner?
He instinctively turned to Aizen beside him.
Aizen responded with a faint, enigmatic smile before taking a sip from his teacup.
Where the hell did you get that tea?!
Setting the cup down, Aizen leisurely remarked:
"After this, write me a three-foot-long calligraphy scroll—and make it a serious one."
"If you agree, I'll tell you what's going on."
"Guh…"
Satoru hesitated.
Writing a scroll for Aizen wasn't particularly difficult.
But this feeling of being intellectually outmaneuvered was deeply frustrating.
Weren't he and Aizen supposed to be evenly matched in wisdom? If Aizen could figure it out, why couldn't he?
He should stand firm and refuse—he couldn't encourage Aizen's smugness!
"Fine, tell me."
Satoru decisively chose to encourage said smugness.
Aizen smiled in satisfaction.
Lowering his voice, he explained: "The Captain-Commander is building your reputation."
"Building my reputation?" Satoru blinked, as if something had just clicked.
Aizen nodded. "It's obvious. The Captain-Commander has something he needs you to do."
"That's why he's using this captain promotion ceremony to establish your authority."
"For this fight, you must give it your all—no half-hearted efforts."
"Unless you want to disappoint the Captain-Commander, don't treat this with your usual carefree attitude."
"Make sure everyone sees that your strength is real—that you're truly capable of facing captain-level opponents."
"You always say the Captain-Commander has done so much for you, right? Now's the time to repay him."
With that, Aizen picked up his teacup again and took a leisurely sip.
From Satoru's usual tone when speaking of Yamamoto, Aizen knew how much the young man respected his teacher.
So, he laid it all out plainly, skipping the step where Satoru would have to figure it out himself.
Otherwise, given Satoru's thought process, it'd take him until tomorrow to connect the dots.
After hearing Aizen's analysis, Satoru's expression cleared in realization.
No wonder Yamamoto had insisted he win with overwhelming dominance.
No wonder Shunsui, despite sensing something amiss, had only reassured him without taking a stance.
Now that he understood, he couldn't help but sigh.
That old man Yamamoto—really, if he wanted something from him, why not just say it outright? Did it have to be this convoluted?
Seemingly guessing his thoughts, Aizen remarked with some emotion, "He's protecting you."
"This Captain-Commander truly lives up to being the founder of the Shin'ō Academy... He indeed has a keen eye for people."
"If he had explained it to you in advance, you would surely feel guilty toward that Eighth Division vice-captain."
"But if it's the Captain-Commander's mandatory order, you won't have that psychological burden."
As he spoke, Aizen raised his head and glanced at Yamamoto standing on the high platform.
According to historical records... the Captain-Commander a thousand years ago was a cold-blooded, ruthless sword demon renowned far and wide.
Now, it seems either the records are false, or something major happened over this millennium that caused a drastic change in the Captain-Commander's personality.
Only someone sufficiently gentle would think so comprehensively for their student.
Under everyone's gaze, Satoru exhaled deeply and slowly stepped onto the field.
The surrounding Shinigami wore increasingly astonished expressions.
A captain promotion exam, and the examiner is a freshly graduated student?
This was truly somewhat unbelievable.
But then again, this newly graduated student had just defeated the Eighth Division's vice-captain.
And it was a complete, overwhelming victory.
With such strength, serving as the examiner for a captain promotion didn't seem unreasonable...
Watching Satoru approach step by step, Kensei Muguruma pursed his lips.
For the previous two candidates, the examiners had been proper captains.
But for him, it was Satoru.
Although judging by his performance in defeating Lisa Yadōmaru just now, his strength was indeed impressive.
However, his own strength was far beyond what Lisa could match!
"You're Satoru, right."
Kensei suddenly spoke.
"I heard you defeated Captain Takada."
"But in fact, even if you hadn't, I was planning to challenge Captain Takada."
"Right now, I'm fully confident I can defeat Captain Takada!"
"So don't blame me for not warning you—I'm going all out to crush you, then request a proper captain to re-examine me!"
Tall and imposing, he crossed his arms as he spoke, exuding an oppressive aura compared to the youthful Satoru.
Many watching Shinigami couldn't help but gulp.
After his declaration, Kensei stared straight at Satoru, awaiting his response.
Yet contrary to his expectations, Satoru didn't show any anger.
The boy in the Shin'ō uniform simply gazed at him calmly.
"Examinee, Kensei Muguruma. The test will now begin. Prepare yourself."
Kensei blinked in surprise.
Satoru's composed demeanor actually made him feel a momentary pressure.
On the high platform, Yamamoto slightly narrowed his eyes.
He had originally planned to mentally communicate with Satoru, coercing and incentivizing him to take this battle seriously.
But seeing Satoru's expression, he suddenly felt this might be unnecessary.
For a moment, the old man felt puzzled.
Given Satoru's personality, being dragged into this situation—he should be clamoring to go home rather than cooperating so well.
Could it be... this kid guessed his intentions?
As Chōjirō loudly announced the test's commencement,
Kensei's eyes sharpened, and he swiftly drew his Zanpakutō.
Gripping the blade, he swayed side to side while charging toward Satoru.
Watching Kensei approach while constantly shifting positions, Satoru drew his Zanpakutō and raised it diagonally to the upper right.
Then, swinging it down sharply to the lower left, he channeled a surge of spiritual pressure into it—
At the sidelines, Seinosuke's eyes widened in shock.
Under his disbelieving gaze, Satoru's blade suddenly grew enormous.
The roughly one-meter-long sword instantly extended to over thirty meters, resembling a small mountain as it came crashing down toward Kensei!
Faced with such a colossal blade, dodging was futile. Kensei could only quickly reverse his grip on his own Zanpakutō and brace it at his side, attempting to block the strike.
BOOM!!!
The moment the blades collided, an overwhelming force surged through Kensei's body, churning his internal organs.
Satoru gave him no time to recover. After landing the first strike, he abruptly shrank his blade, used Shunpo to close the distance, and unleashed a flurry of over a dozen slashes in a single second.
Kensei desperately parried each one.
Just as he thought he might find an opening to counter, he groaned inwardly as Satoru suddenly extended his blade back to over ten meters and swung it down with crushing force!
From the high platform, Shinji Hirako couldn't help but chuckle.
This Satoru—his fighting style was truly unorthodox!
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