By the time Yoruichi arrived, Ichigo was sitting alone on the bed, eating dinner.
Seeing Ichigo eating and without any visible injuries, Yoruichi looked surprised.
"You finished your Bankai training?"
Ichigo swallowed his food and shook his head.
"Not yet."
But then he paused and suddenly reacted.
"Yoruichi-neesan, how did you know I was training for Bankai?"
Yoruichi gave him a look of exasperation.
"You've been training alone until your whole body's covered in injuries. Besides fighting your Zanpakutō's manifested form to achieve Bankai, I really can't think of any other reason!"
Ichigo nodded in understanding.
"I see."
"By the way, Yoruichi-neesan, since you know so much about Shinigami, you must be a strong Shinigami yourself, right?" Ichigo asked, a little curious.
After all, the first time Yoruichi left using shunpo, she'd scared the life out of him with her speed. Who would believe someone that fast was a weak Shinigami?
Not to mention, Yoruichi had correctly guessed he was training for Bankai. If she hadn't been through this herself, how could she be so spot-on?
Yoruichi sighed.
"I used to be a Shinigami. Now..."
She didn't know how to explain it. Technically speaking, Urahara Kisuke and Tessai were the ones wanted by Soul Society. She, Shihōin Yoruichi, wasn't officially listed in any arrest orders.
After all, she was the former head of the Shihōin Clan—one of the Four Great Noble Houses. The Central 46 had to show a bit of face.
Her refusal to return to Soul Society was for reasons beyond just that.
Ichigo noticed Yoruichi's hesitation and smiled.
"If you can't talk about it, then you don't have to."
After all, she had never once asked about what he was doing—just quietly handled all the support work behind the scenes.
"It's not that I can't say. I was framed, that's all. So I left Soul Society." Yoruichi spoke casually.
"I see." Ichigo didn't seem too concerned about it.
Seeing that he wasn't going to keep asking, Yoruichi didn't explain further either. Instead, she walked up to apply medicine for him.
But the moment she touched him, she realized—there were no wounds at all.
Surprised, Yoruichi asked,
"You didn't get hurt today?"
Ichigo answered casually,
"I did. But my Zanpakutō healed me."
Upon hearing that, Yoruichi frowned slightly, thinking,
"A healing-type Zanpakutō? What a waste for someone with such strong spiritual power..."
Ichigo had no idea what Yoruichi had misunderstood and smiled.
"Thanks for taking care of me these past few days, Yoruichi-neesan."
"It's nothing. By the way, how many more days do you need to finish your Bankai training?" Yoruichi asked.
"Conservatively... about three more days." Ichigo estimated.
Even with his rapid progress, it would take at least three days to meet white Ichigo's standards.
"Alright. Then in three days, I'll teach you shunpo!"
Without waiting for a response, Yoruichi vanished with a flash step.
This was a spontaneous decision on her part. After all, if Ichigo's Zanpakutō really was focused on healing, he'd be weaker offensively. Without compensating in other areas, his combat ability would take a huge hit.
But this was all due to a misunderstanding—Yoruichi didn't realize that the "healing" Ichigo mentioned was actually high-speed regeneration!
Of course, Ichigo didn't intend to refuse either.
White Ichigo's speed was fast, but still not on Yoruichi's level. Being able to learn shunpo from someone like her was something Ichigo absolutely welcomed.
After all, in his fighting style, speed was the key factor!
Even a brute force approach only works if you can land the hit!
For the next three days, Yoruichi didn't show up again.
Ichigo, meanwhile, thoroughly enjoyed his fights with white Ichigo—every day was a Bankai duel.
Since Ichigo's Bankai had very low energy consumption, as long as his spiritual pressure held, he could maintain it all day without issue.
At the end of those three days, white Ichigo leaned on his white Zangetsu and praised him.
"As expected of you, Ichigo! In just three days, you've completely mastered all my combat techniques!"
"It's time to hand over the final piece of power!"
White Ichigo looked up at Uncle Zangetsu, who nodded. Then, with a wave of his hand, Ichigo felt something itching on his face, like something was about to grow.
"Don't resist. Feel its power—it's the power born from your soul!" white Ichigo shouted.
"I know!" Ichigo replied, his voice becoming distorted, almost electronic.
A classic Hollow mask appeared on his face!
Half of his face was covered with red markings. The spiritual pressure inside him surged several times over!
If Ichigo's spiritual pressure had previously just reached the level of a standard Third-Class Spiritual Power, now it had broken into the realm of a Second-Class!
"What amazing power!" Ichigo exclaimed.
But less than thirty seconds later, the mask cracked and shattered.
The massive spiritual pressure vanished, and Ichigo felt a bit out of sorts.
"Thirty-seven seconds? Not bad at all!" white Ichigo affirmed.
Indeed, it was an excellent result. In the original story, Ichigo had only been a "five-second man" at first...
Of course, that was because Ichigo hadn't accepted this power—he used his Shinigami power to suppress his Hollow side, which made him far weaker in Soul Society than he should have been.
Without a clear combat goal, his fighting spirit wasn't what it used to be. All in all, the Ichigo after saving Rukia was mentally weakened by more than five times.
Otherwise, there wouldn't have been those later scenarios—Bankai Ichigo easily beating Espada 7, Kenpachi overpowering Espada 5, while Hollow Ichigo struggled against Espada 6.
In the end, Bleach is a series where mindset and belief matter a lot. Just like how Rukia couldn't even use her shikai when she first arrived in the Human World due to emotional issues.
"It's still too short!" Ichigo sighed.
"Don't worry. The more you use this power, the longer you'll be able to maintain it," white Ichigo said.
Of course... that was a lie.
The time limit of his Hollowfication was actually based on how much Uncle Zangetsu was suppressing it. But now, even Uncle Zangetsu was slowly losing control.
Because fundamentally, Ichigo's Hollowfication shouldn't even have a time limit—this power was his, and there should be no such thing as "maintaining the state" at all!
"That's it, Ichigo. Your Bankai test is now complete. From now on... we won't appear again," Uncle Zangetsu said, rushing down to cut off white Ichigo before he said too much.
(End of Chapter)
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