Konoha's Mission Master

crackling sounds...

Blue arcs of electricity spread across the entire training ground, gradually turning golden. Yakumo was bathed in a golden ocean, like a martial god irrigated with gold, every inch of his muscle a masterpiece of God.

Steps appeared in the void.

That leads to... the second level of the arena.

With a single thought, Yakumo sent the surrounding golden arcs of electricity into his body, which gradually subsided.

Full of energy, he thought he might as well try his luck against the enemies in the second arena. Yakumo slowly stepped onto the stairs.

The moment he stepped onto the semi-transparent steps, space shifted, and when he opened his eyes again… Yakumo was still at the edge of the arena, with a brand new opponent standing a few dozen meters away.

"Sit upright in the frosty heavens, Hyōrinmaru!"

Extreme cold descended instantly, and the silver-haired, blue-eyed middle-aged man immediately launched an attack on Yakumo, with arcs of electricity surging and lightning colliding with the ice pillars.

The second time, the gatekeeper.

Captain of the 10th Division of the Gotei 13.

Hitsugaya Toshiro!

At this moment, Toshiro had grown into a grown man, tall and much more mature than his original appearance in the anime. He was holding the strongest ice-type Zanpakuto, Hyōrinmaru!

Around the arena, chilling ice pillars rapidly grew, seemingly with a mind of their own, piercing towards Yakumo and gradually compressing the space in which Yakumo could dodge.

"Six Extreme Ice Pillars!"

With a soft roar, Toshiro unleashed six ice pillars, each tens of meters long, from the void and immediately crashed into Yakumo. The surrounding icy thorns and spikes continued to spread, sealing off the space where Yakumo could dodge.

The entire arena gradually turned blue…

With the surrounding temperature already below zero, Yakumo now faces an attack from three sides, leaving him with absolutely no room to dodge.

"Waltz!"

The twin swords danced wildly, their blades roaring with energy.

Yakumo stopped in his tracks, manipulating dense sword energy to slash at the surrounding ice. In fact, he had heard of the strongest ice-type Zanpakuto, Hyōrinmaru, but he had never seen Bleach, so he had no idea about Tōshirō's fighting style.

With a whoosh, more than a dozen ice pillars were cut in half by Yakumo, the cuts smooth as a mirror. At this moment, Toshiro had already entered the ice trap he had designed for Yakumo.

"Protect Hinamori."

"Isn't this the girl who idolizes Aizen?"

Yakumo Shindo.

The next second, Toshiro gripped Hyōrinmaru tightly with both hands and unleashed a sword strike imbued with spiritual pressure. This powerful and heavy attack seemed intent on splitting Yakumo in two.

"Aizen used her! Why are you cutting me!"

Yakumo retorted, but the name Aizen seemed to be a switch, and anger flashed in Toshiro's emerald green eyes.

"Swastika: Dairedren Hyōrinmaru!"

As he spoke, a terrifying spiritual pressure emanated from his body, and a chilling cold that seemed to freeze one's blood filled the surrounding space. Yakumo temporarily chose to back down.

"This is bad..."

The next second, the dazzling, ice-blue, diamond-like wings gradually spread outwards, like a huge bird spreading its wings, with sharp ice shards at the ends, like cold, sharp blades that sent chills down one's spine.

His right hand, which was originally holding the sword, was gradually enveloped by an ice-blue dragon head. The dragon's eyes were blood red and ferocious, as if it was angry. The huge blue crystal dragon stretched outward and flew around Toshiro's body, with each scale lifelike.

Three lotus flowers bloomed in mid-air behind Toshiro, radiating an extremely cold aura in all directions. He was gradually enveloped in blue ice armor, and his left hand had transformed into a ferocious dragon claw.

At the same time, an incredibly terrifying spiritual pressure was also detonated. This energy directly penetrated the body's defenses and acted on Yakumo's spirit, causing him to feel fear and even want to prostrate himself in worship... to beg for the other party's forgiveness.

"My intelligence attribute is still not high enough..."

At this moment, Yakumo had already exited Sage Mode. An invisible spiritual pressure shook his mind, and a cold current spread towards Yakumo, as if his body was gradually being stiffened by winter.

Yakumo opened his mouth to breathe, and the water vapor he exhaled was immediately frozen into ice crystals, reflecting colorful light.

The surrounding temperature dropped extremely quickly…

Toshiro slowly stepped forward, his wings flapping rapidly, blowing a cold wind carrying icy shards toward Yakumo. The icy shards hidden within were extremely deadly weapons.

Yakumo immediately dodged, though he didn’t understand why Toshiro was so calm, he could sense a terrifying attack brewing.

Just then... Yakumo noticed that one of the three lotus flowers behind Toshiro had withered.

But the pressure emanating from him suddenly intensified.

"Could it be... that lotus flower is a timer for instant kills?"

Thinking about this…

Yakumo no longer hesitated, abandoning his initial plan to avoid the sharp edge, and directly charged at Toshiro with his twin blades, no longer caring about the consumption of energy.

Golden lightning, howling wind.

"A thousand-year-old ice prison!"

Toshiro wielded Hyōrinmaru, and thick ice pillars continuously appeared in the surrounding void, blocking Yakumo's advance in all directions, and even intending to freeze and trap him!

This is a cage made of ice!

"Instant Light!"

Yakumo transformed into light and once again wielded his blade against the tyrannical Raijin, shattering the ice pillars blocking his path. He violently advanced step by step towards Toshiro…

"A hundred flowers are buried in the icy sky."

Suddenly, icy blue snowflakes began to fall from the sky, and the surrounding temperature dropped even lower. However, Yakumo's body temperature gradually rose. Accompanied by the intense fighting, his heart rate gradually increased... like an engine operating at full power, hot and viscous blood was pumped to all parts of his body.

Toshiro suddenly shook his head. He suddenly realized his mistake. The icy blue snowflakes couldn't keep up with the enemy's speed at all, so how could they possibly land on the enemy?

The next moment, Yakumo was already in front of him.

"Ice Dragon Guardian!"

The icy blue dragon body wrapped around Toshiro, its originally smooth scales standing up like polished blue crystal triangular pyramids.

"Ding!"

Yakumo's pupils contracted slightly as he activated his Shunsho with both hands. This was almost the strongest attack he could unleash at this moment, but it was blocked by the blue dragon's body. Through the dragon's body, he could only see Toshiro's blurry shadow.

"Instant Light!"

Yakumo charged up and swung his sword, the blade slowly advancing, slicing through the scales to reveal the dragon's blue body, but the advance had already slowed down...

The blue crystal dragon suddenly began to move, its body wielding Yakumo's twin blades with a clanging sound that made one's teeth ache. A terrifying force surged forth, forcing him to grip his weapons even tighter.

Ding…

Caught between two immense forces, the overburdened Chasing Wind broke apart, along with Yakumo's chance of victory...

The two separated, and the dragon swam away, revealing Toshiro encased within. At this moment, the ice crystal lotus behind him had all withered, and an even more terrifying spiritual pressure spread out, like a heavy hammer striking Yakumo's mind.

Toshiro looked at the enemy and spoke softly.

"The four realms are frozen."

The next second, an invisible barrier spread outward from his body, enveloping the entire arena. At this moment, the world seemed to turn into black and white. The cold currents stopped surging, the gale stopped howling, and the wandering electricity returned to calm. Yakumo stared at his enemy with resentment, but there was nothing he could do. He and the entire space had been frozen by Toshiro, like a figure fixed in a black and white photograph.

Yakumo watched as Toshiro strolled leisurely toward him. As he moved, his wings began to shatter, his ice dragon gradually withered and turned to dust, and the ice-blue armor on his body slowly crumbled... Clearly, this move had taken a huge toll on him.

"No one... can hurt Hinamori."

With a swing of Hyōrinmaru, Tōshirō gently beheaded Yakumo, his vision went black... then returned to light.

Two large, blood-red characters floated in mid-air in front of Yakumo, as if the game system was silently mocking and ridiculing him.

"fail."

Should we try again...?

Yes or no?

Yakumo did not make a decision immediately, but was thinking about the battle.

"After Toshiro enters Bankai, the three lotus-shaped blue ice crystals behind him are the countdown to an instant kill. As the ice crystal lotuses wither, Toshiro's strength will gradually increase. Mentioning Aizen might make the BOSS full of anger in advance and start the instant kill countdown."

Yakumo has never watched Bleach...

Current solution:

First, enhance intelligence to cope with mental pressure.

Second, enhance explosive power to break through the dragon's defenses.

Third, enhance weapon sharpness to break through defenses.

After a dozen minutes, Yakumo finished reviewing the battle and decided on a strategy to defeat the enemy: to kill him with swift and decisive action before he could activate his Bankai!

Of course, this is the policy for the future.

Yakumo tapped lightly, "No."

Once his mind left the arena, what came into view was the wooden plank under the bed. Out of caution, he would try to hide in a safe place whenever his body lost its means of self-defense.

Yakumo swung his arm and crawled out from under the bed, just in time to see Jiraiya sitting on the edge of the bed deep in thought. The two looked at each other and the air gradually became a little awkward.

With a thud, the shadow clone on the bed disappeared.

"Yakumo, how did you get out from under the bed?"

“Ahem, better safe than sorry,” Yakumo replied.

Yakumo jumped up like a carp leaping out of the water, took out an orange from beside the bed and started peeling it, then asked, trying to change the subject.

"Is Yahiko awake?"

"She's awake... but she's not feeling well."

"The human body's self-healing ability has an upper limit. He lost so much blood yesterday, and suffered injuries to his lungs and heart. It's a miracle he survived."

"Is there no other way?"

"If you come back to Konoha with us and cooperate with the regular treatments, you can probably live for another ten years or so..."

Jiraiya gently shook his head. He knew Yahiko's ambitions and ideals perfectly well. Letting him live out his remaining years in peace in Konoha was no different from killing him now.

"now what?"

"Eight years, ten years, or twelve years... it's hard to say."