XX-level Hokage

"I understand, but even Byakuya-sama..."

"Don't worry, let Byakuya come. Perfect, I need you all to help me put on a show..."

The night sky over Karakura Town was shrouded in thick, dark clouds, with only a few streaks of crescent moon light piercing through the clouds and casting dappled silver streaks on the asphalt road. Kurosaki Ichigo stood on the roof of an abandoned warehouse, the blade of his Zanpakuto, "Zangetsu," gleaming with a cold, sharp light.

His breathing was heavy, and sweat trickled down his face, dripping onto the rusty iron with a soft "tap-tap" sound. "Coming." Rukia Kuchiki's voice came from behind him.

She gripped the white snow sleeves tightly, the hem of her shihachi uniform fluttering in the night wind, her pale face tinged with a thin layer of frost by the moonlight. Suddenly, the space at the end of the street distorted, and two figures fell like lightning tearing through the night.

Renji Abarai carried Zabimaru, his scarlet hair dancing wildly under the surge of spiritual pressure, while the man standing in front of him—Byakuya Kuchiki—remained as silent as a deep pool.

A silver-white floral veil draped over a jet-black Shinigami uniform; the scabbard of the Senbonro remained undrawn, yet the surrounding air seemed to solidify into blades, slicing through falling, withered leaves. "You have unauthorizedly bestowed the power of a Shinigami upon a human, Rukia Kuchiki." Byakuya's voice was colder than the night. "The judgment of Soul Society—are you prepared to bear it?" Rukia's fingertips trembled slightly. She took a half-step forward, but Ichigo blocked her with his arm. "Judgment?" The orange-haired boy smirked, his Zangetsu pointing directly at Byakuya.

"Ask my knife first!"

Before he could finish speaking, Ichigo had already charged out like a cannonball.

Zangetsu, enveloped in dark spiritual pressure, slashed toward Byakuya's face, but abruptly stopped three inches away—the scabbard of Thousand Cherry Blossoms had somehow blocked the blade, and Byakuya hadn't moved an inch.

"Too slow." Byakuya flicked his finger, the shockwave from the shattered scabbard sending Ichigo flying several meters. The boy landed, blood from his gaping hand staining the hilt of his sword. "Ichigo!" Rukia was about to rush forward when Renji's snake tail swept across, its steel fangs grazing her ear and embedding themselves in the water tank behind her, exploding...

A column of water shot into the sky.

"Don't get in my way, Rukia." Renji licked his lips. "The captain didn't give you permission to interfere." Meanwhile, Ichigo leaped up again.

This time, he lowered his body, and Zangetsu drew an arc of light, slashing towards Byakuya's lower body. Senbonzakura was finally unsheathed. In an instant, countless cherry blossom petals transformed into silver-white blades.

Ichigo's pupils suddenly contracted—those weren't flower petals, but tens of thousands of blades! He instinctively rolled to dodge, but his left arm was still slashed with a deep, bone-revealing gash.

A storm of blades tore through the warehouse's metal walls, and moonlight poured in through the holes, illuminating Byakuya's indifferent eyes. "You can't even force out your Shikai?" Byakuya raised his hand, and a torrent of cherry blossom petals slammed Ichigo against the wall.

The boy coughed up blood and propped himself up, his bandages soaked with blood. "Don't underestimate me... Getsuga Tenshou!" The dark crescent moon tore through the sword array, but vanished the moment it touched Byakuya's clothes.

Senbonzakura's blade was already resting against a neck guard, and Byakuya's voice came from behind: "It's over."

A sharp pain exploded in my chest.

Ichigo looked down and saw Byakuya's left hand piercing through his chest, his fingertips holding two pulsating orbs of light—the Lock and Sleep, the source of the Shinigami's power.

"No!!" Rukia's scream pierced the night sky. She waved her sleeve and forced Renji back, but the ice shards shattered into pieces halfway through. Byakuya withdrew his blood-stained hand, and Ichigo knelt on the ground like a puppet with its strings cut. Zangetsu fell to the ground with a thud.

"Why..." the boy croaked, supporting himself on the ground, blood seeping from between his fingers. "Rukia saved so many people..."

"The rules of the Tokishin world are above all else." Hyakuya turned around, and the wind pressure generated when the Senbonro was sheathed lifted Ichigo's collar. "Take him away." Renji's chains wrapped around Rukia's wrist.

She struggled to turn around, the moonlight stretching Ichigo's huddled figure long, very long, the boy's bloodied fingers digging into the ground, drawing five bloody streaks on the cement.

"Get up, you bastard!" he roared at the fading figure, his voice breaking in the night wind. The rain began to fall.

Cold raindrops pelted Ichigo's face, mingling with blood as they slid into his collar. He tried to raise his arm, but found he couldn't even move his fingertips. The excruciating pain of his broken chains and destroyed soul scalded his body, each breath feeling like swallowing a razor blade.

"What a scoundrel, Mr. Substitute Grim Reaper." A dramatic noise came from above.

Ichigo barely managed to lift his eyes and saw Gin Ichimaru straddling the edge of the broken water tank, his fox-like eyes crinkling into crescent moons. "Need any help?" The Third Division Captain waved a medicine bottle in his hand. "Urahara's special spirit power recovery potion." "Get lost," Ichigo spat out through gritted teeth.

"How unlovable." Gin suddenly stopped smiling, and the medicine bottle landed precisely next to Ichigo. "Don't you want to save Rukia anymore?"

Rainwater washed away the "High Risk" label on the medicine bottle. Ichigo stared at the glaring red, Byakuya's cold words echoing in his ears. He grabbed the medicine bottle and bit off the stopper. The moment the bitter liquid poured into his throat, it felt as if his veins were being branded with a hot iron.

"Ahhhhhh!!" The boy arched his body, and twisted black lines appeared under his skin.

A power not belonging to humanity surged within him, his left pupil turning a murky gold. When he looked up again, a grotesque roar echoed through the rain.

Before the gate, Rukia's darts made a crisp clinking sound, and Byakuya suddenly stopped, the hilt of Senbonzakura's sword gleaming faintly.

"Captain?" Renji turned his head in confusion, only to see a dark shadow tear through space and pounce. It was a monster wearing a bone mask, its pitch-black claws aimed straight for Renji's throat! Senbonzakura's blade clashed with the claws, sparks illuminating the golden vertical pupils beneath the mask.

The monster let out an inhuman roar, and its claw attacks became faster and faster, forcing Byakuya to take a half step back. Just as Renji was about to swing his snake tail, he was whipped away by a tail whip.

"This spiritual pressure..." Rukia's eyes widened. Through the cracks in the monster mask, glimpses of orange hair could be seen.

Byakuya finally pulled back his strength. A million cherry blossom petals transformed into a meat grinder, engulfing the monster, only to dissolve the instant they touched the black and red spiritual pressure.

The monster broke through the force array, its claws piercing Hyakuzai's left shoulder. Blood splattered onto his mask as it let out a painful groan, and the mask shattered with a crash. Moonlight illuminated the boy Ryou's face—his left eye was golden, his right eye blood-red.

"Ru...Kia..." Ichigo's voice was like sandpaper rubbing against metal. He reached out to grab something, only to see bone spurs extending from his fingertips.

Before his last consciousness faded, he heard Byakuya's cold judgment: "A substitute Shinigami who has fallen into the void must be eliminated." As the power of Senbonro faded, Kisuke Urahara's Red Fire Cannon exploded in the night sky.

The red light illuminated three figures: Ichigo was enveloped in Tetsuzai's barrier, Yoruichi's black cat form was perched on Urahara's shoulder, and smoke was rising from the tip of her umbrella.

"Everyone from the Tokishin world—" Urahara pressed down on his hat brim, "Could you please return our problem children to us? The rain was getting heavier.

Chapter 62: The Power of Hollows and the Power of Death

Byakuya stared intently at Urahara Kisuke, his eyes sharp as an eagle's, instantly recognizing his identity. "Urahara Kisuke, I didn't expect you to dare show yourself so openly." Urahara Kisuke's lips curled into a smile as he lightly waved his umbrella. "Byakuya, we've known each other for a while, why be so heartless? This child still has some..."

"The matter isn't finished. If you insist on eliminating him, it will likely cause even greater turmoil in the Soul World."

Byakuya frowned slightly, weighing the pros and cons in his mind. Senbonzakura trembled slightly, and blood slowly slid down the blade. He knew that what Urahara Kisuke said was true. If he clashed with them here, not to mention whether he could get away unscathed, the subsequent troubles would be unpredictable.

"Hmph, I'll let him go for now, but Rukia Kuchiki must be taken back to Soul Society for trial," Byakuya said coldly, sheathing Senbonzakura at the same time.

Renji looked at Ichigo, who was covered in blood, and felt a mix of emotions, but he could only obey Byakuya's orders. Kisuke Urahara nodded, "No problem. I know the rules of Tokami World regarding Rukia."

Byakuya turned and said to Renji, "Back to the Soul Society." Rain soaked their figures, and they quickly disappeared into Karakura Town. "Aren't you going to show up?" Yoruichi asked, looking in one direction.

"If I show up, Rukia will probably stay, which won't do anything good for anything that follows," Mashiro suddenly appeared and said with a light laugh.

“Alright, Yoruichi, take him back first,” Kisuke Urahara said.

With the unconscious Ichigo in tow, Tessai and Kisuke Urahara quickly disappeared into the rainy night.

The air in the underground training ground of Urahara Store was so thick it felt like a solid, and the blue-green spirit lights cast distorted shadows on the rock walls.

Ichigo Kurosaki lay on his back on a stone platform engraved with runes. Beneath the bandages soaked with cold sweat, dark red light seeped from the wounds where his chains and soul sleep had been destroyed.

Kisuke Urahara pressed his bat-shaped fan against the boy's throat, the tip of the umbrella glowing a dangerous red.

"It's about to begin~" Urahara's voice was as light as if they were discussing a breakfast menu. "If you fail, your soul will explode into fireworks."

Yoruichi, in her black cat form, perched on the edge of the stone platform, her tail thumping the ground in frustration: "Don't scare the wounded, you swindler." "This is called a risk warning." Urahara's fan suddenly pressed down, and the twelve candles around the stone platform simultaneously ignited with blue flames.

Amidst Ichigo's screams, the sealing array etched on his skin glowed with blinding golden light, and ethereal black lines spread wildly from the wound. Memories were burning.

Ichigo saw himself standing in the blood-red desert of Hueco Mundo, with the remains of Zangetsu lying at his feet, fragments of the White Hollow's mask piercing his palm, and black and red spiritual pressure transforming into chains that wrapped around his entire body. Rukia's shouts came from afar, but every time he ran toward the source of the sound, the chains tore his flesh even deeper.

"This is not your power." Ishida Uryu's voice suddenly rang out, the Quincy's figure appearing and disappearing in the sandstorm, the tip of Silver Ridge Archer's arrow aimed at his heart, "Yes."

The moment the arrow pierced his chest, reality and illusion collided violently.

Ichigo convulsed violently on the stone platform, his left eye turning a completely murky gold, bone spurs piercing his shoulder and foot, shattering the platform. Yoruichi, in human form, pressed down on his wrist, lightning crackling at her fingertips: "Kid, wake up!"

"Three seconds left!" Urahara's fan ribs plunged into the crack in the ground, and the barrier formed by his spiritual pressure blocked the flying debris. "Tetsusai-san!"

"Binding Spell #63: Chain Binding!" The giant's Kido transformed into golden chains that bound the berserk Ichigo. The boy let out an inhuman growl, and the black spiritual pressure shattered the chains inch by inch.

Yoruichi's fist, crackled with lightning, slammed into Ichigo's abdomen: "Don't get swallowed by that guy, you idiot!" In the flash of lightning, cracks appeared on the Hollowfied mask. Deep in the darkness, the claws of a white Hollow gripped Ichigo's throat.

Why resist? "The Hollow's voice carried a seductive laugh, "We are clearly the same kind of being." Ichigo grabbed the wrist of the claw, and the remnants of Zangetsu suddenly trembled.

Countless fragments of memory surged from the cracks—his father holding his hand and writing the character "protect," the wandering son crying as he bandaged his wounds from a fight, Rukia's trembling fingertips as she plunged her Zanpakuto into his chest.

"No!" The boy's pupils gradually cleared. "What I need to protect, how could a monster like you possibly understand!"

The white mask shattered with a snap. In reality, Ichigo suddenly opened his eyes, and in his left eye, where the gold had faded, he saw Yoruichi's charred hand. Urahara's fan tip was pressed against his brow, and the syringe for the spiritual energy recovery serum was about to pierce him half an inch away.

"Welcome back~" The shop owner smiled and put away the weapon. "Congratulations on passing the 'Virtualization Vaccination'!"

As the morning light pierced through the clouds, Ichigo stood in the center of the training ground, his modified shihaka suit covering his still-healing body, with Urahara's specially made bandages wrapped in a spiral around his right arm.

"The final step." Yoruichi tossed Zangetsu, the new Zangetsu, "Awaken it with your own spiritual pressure."

The moment the blade touched his hand, the Hueco Mundo illusion invaded once more. Ichigo bit his tongue, the taste of blood mingling with Rukia's lingering words, "Become a Shinigami," flowing into his spiritual veins. Dark spiritual pressure surged skyward, but was forcibly compressed by the sealing array on his chest just before it was about to spiral out of control.

"Crescent Moon—" The moon cleaved in a perfect arc, "Heavenly Strike!"

A dark crescent moon shattered the dome of the training ground, and the morning light poured down like a waterfall. Ishida Uryu pushed up his glasses, and the scope of the Silver Ridge Archer reflected Ichigo's swaying figure: "Barely passable."

Orihime Inoue pressed her hands to her chest, tears welling in her eyes: "Kurosaki-kun is amazing..."

"Don't get too excited." Urahara tapped his palm with his fan. "To maintain your Shinigami form, you need this—" He tossed out a metal necklace engraved with scales.

The circle is a "spiritual power limiter that prevents the ethereal from going berserk."

The moment Ichigo caught the collar, the Transcendental Gate burst open behind him. Yoruichi's black cat leaped onto the doorframe: "Time to go, kid."

The boy fastened the collar around his neck, the blade of Zangetsu reflecting the rising sun. As the indicator light on the collar turned from red to green, the mournful sound of Hollows echoed in the sky above Karakura Town.

On the streets of Karakura Town, a gigantic Hollow was wreaking havoc, its claws easily tearing apart buildings and emitting a piercing roar. Ichigo stood atop the ruins, Zangetsu tightly gripped in his hand, his gaze resolute.

"This time, I won't lose again," he muttered to himself, his spiritual pressure surging within him.

The Hollow's attention was drawn, and it roared as it lunged at Ichigo. The boy remained calm, his Zangetsu drawing a dark arc of light.

The crescent-shaped gate struck the void's face directly, abruptly silencing its roar. The massive body turned to ash under the impact of spiritual pressure.

"Well done." Yoruichi's voice came from behind. She returned to human form, crossed her arms, and smiled approvingly.

“Not enough.” Ichigo gripped Zangetsu tightly, his gaze fixed on the distance. “Rukia is still waiting for me.” “Then keep getting stronger.” Yoruichi patted his shoulder. “The path to the Tokami World is not easy.”

Ichigo nodded, his eyes blazing with fighting spirit. He knew this was just the beginning; to win back Rukia, he had to become stronger.

Chapter 63: Special Training (Part 1)

As Ichigo gazed at the distant sunset, his resolve to save Rukia grew stronger. He knew that to successfully rescue Rukia in the Tokami World, he had to become stronger.

So Ichigo turned around and rushed back to Urahara Store.

Inside Urahara's shop, the atmosphere was slightly somber. Ichigo stood ramrod straight in front of Kisuke Urahara, his eyes filled with eagerness: "Mr. Urahara, I would like to ask you to give me special training. I want to become stronger so I can save Rukia."

Kisuke Urahara paused for a moment, then a helpless smile appeared on his face as he gently shook the umbrella in his hand: "Ichigo, it's not that I don't want to help you, but I've been very busy with things at the store lately, and I really can't find the time to give you special training."

Ichigo's heart tightened, and he quickly looked at Yoruichi beside him, saying anxiously, "Miss Yoruichi, could you help me with special training?"

Yoruichi, in her black cat form, lazily stretched out her paws and yawned, "Kid, I'm busy too, I don't have time to train you." Ichigo's eyes instantly dimmed, his hopes dashed. Just as he felt utterly dejected, Yoruichi suddenly spoke.

He said, "However, I can recommend someone to you, someone you know."

"Who?" "Mashiro."

Upon hearing this, Ichigo felt a glimmer of hope rekindle in his heart. Although he had already learned from Rukia that Mashiro was a Shinigami, he had no idea just how strong Mashiro was.

But since both this strange old man and the black cat that can turn into a human recommended Mashiro, he could only place all his hopes on Mashiro.

The next day, after school, Ichigo called out to Mashiro.

"Mashiro, can you come with me? I have something to say." "Sure."