"Want to have a match?"
After sensing Natsuro's improvement, Unohana for the first time took the initiative to speak.
At this moment, Unohana's heart was also stirring, she wanted to personally experience Natsuro's progress.
"Here?" Natsuro naturally didn't refuse.
"Let's change the place." Unohana glanced at the flowers and plants around them. They were all cultivated by her with painstaking care, and it would be troublesome if the battle damaged them.
"Then you pick a place." Natsuro said.
Soon after, Natsuro followed Unohana toward the Fourth Division's secret dueling grounds.
On the way, they also encountered some busy Fourth Division Shinigami. Seeing Unohana and Natsuro together didn't surprise them much.
After all, within the Fourth Division there had long been countless rumors about the relationship between Unohana and Natsuro.
Neither Unohana nor Natsuro ever paid any attention to such gossip, so over time the others simply assumed the two of them tacitly acknowledged it.
At this moment, Unohana deliberately sought out Isane Kotetsu, gave her some instructions, and then continued walking with Natsuro.
"Isane's mastery of Kidō healing is quite good, and she's far more responsible than you," Unohana remarked as they walked.
"Mhm, she is indeed a good girl." Natsuro nodded. He also rather liked the girl, who worked tirelessly without complaint.
"I think you only say that because she takes care of everything for you," Unohana teased for once.
Natsuro chuckled and didn't answer.
At this moment, Unohana said again, "If one day Isane masters Bankai, then she'll have the ability to become the captain of the Fourth Division."
"No, I don't think she has the ability," Natsuro denied directly.
"Oh? Why not? Whether in Kidō or in the healing-type powers of her zanpakutō, Isane is exceptional. Why wouldn't she have the ability?" Unohana was a bit puzzled.
"Precisely because of that, she doesn't." Natsuro said meaningfully, "Think carefully. As captain, you are actually the first Kenpachi. Your power, even among the Gotei 13, is absolutely at the pinnacle."
"And I, as the vice-captain of the Fourth Division, if I challenged the Head Captain right now, I might not necessarily lose. So I think, in the future, it would be best for the Fourth Division to continue inheriting this tradition of ours."
"Then there will probably be no Shinigami capable of taking over after us," Unohana said helplessly.
"There will be." Natsuro smiled, thinking of the protagonist of Bleach, Kurosaki Ichigo. Once he grew, he might indeed have the ability to succeed him.
"Oh? Looks like you found a promising seedling in the Human World?" Unohana was slightly surprised. For someone to earn Natsuro's recognition now, just how high must their talent be?
"Talent, yes. His potential might even surpass Zaraki Kenpachi's." Natsuro thought of Kurosaki Ichigo's fourfold hybrid bloodline and felt from the bottom of his heart that this was true.
Ichigo's birth was absolutely no coincidence, perhaps even secretly orchestrated by the legendary Soul King.
Unfortunately, there were too few records of the Soul King, and even within the Gotei 13, Natsuro could hardly find much information about him.
Hearing Natsuro's words, Unohana paused, her face full of shock.
As for Zaraki Kenpachi's potential, few knew it better than she. Aside from Natsuro, she had never met anyone whose potential surpassed his, not even Yamamoto, the Head Captain.
Now, encountering Natsuro already felt like a miracle to her, yet another one had appeared?
Was heaven playing a joke on them? Or would more of these "monsters" continue to appear in the future?
Was it that they were simply born in the wrong era, or had the world itself already begun to change in secret?
Unohana naturally had no idea who Ichigo Kurosaki was. And yet…
Perhaps her instinct wasn't wrong, for Ichigo's potential would indeed prove unprecedented. And his children afterward would likely inherit that gift as well.
The two didn't speak further. Amid Unohana's astonishment, they arrived at a dueling ground rarely visited by others.
"Come." Natsuro stood opposite Unohana, holding Meikyō Shisui, and called out.
At this moment, Natsuro seemed just like an ordinary person, his spiritual pressure and power suppressed to the same level as Unohana's.
Since Unohana had brought him to an ordinary dueling ground rather than Muken, it meant this battle wouldn't be a fight to the death, just like usual, a contest of swordsmanship.
Unohana took a deep breath, suppressing the earlier shock, and focused all her attention on him.
And then, she noticed the difference in him.
Before, whenever Natsuro fought her, he treated it as a life-or-death struggle. Now, however, he seemed far more relaxed.
Right now, Unohana could see many openings in Natsuro's stance that had never been there before.
Yet those openings made her hesitate to attack, for knowing Natsuro, he would never make such mistakes.
"If you won't move, then I will." Natsuro's voice suddenly reached her ear.
The next moment, his blade was already flashing before her eyes.
Clang!
The two zanpakutō struck together, then clashed again and again.
Every slash of Natsuro's was sharp and fast, filled with apparent flaws, but…
Unohana found it difficult to seize those obvious openings.
At that moment, from Natsuro's sword she glimpsed the shadow of Zaraki Kenpachi, but Zaraki was far from his level.
Because Natsuro's sword didn't merely contain the essence of Zaraki's wildness; it was also imbued with exquisite technique.
Absorbing the essence, discarding the dross, this was what Natsuro did.
It was a principle everyone knew, yet few could truly achieve.
At this moment, he was also exhilarated, each strike flowing out as if without thought, yet each one also felt as if it had been calculated with care.
While swinging, he could already see and anticipate from which angle her sword would come and how she would counter.
Thus he didn't need to defend unnecessarily, he only had to follow that instinct, slash, and cut.
Refreshing!
That was Natsuro's only sensation.
After a moment of surprise and confusion, Unohana also focused fully, bringing out the complete strength of her tenth-level swordsmanship.
In an instant, the two reached a strange balance, as if neither could overcome the other.
In the past, during such pure contests of swordsmanship, Natsuro usually fell behind.
After all, when it came to swordsmanship alone, Unohana stood at the pinnacle of the world, the Yachiru of "Eight Thousand Styles," who had mastered every sword technique in existence.
Yet now, he was gradually catching up with her blade!
This left Unohana incredulous. He hadn't used any power beyond hers, yet he was not falling behind in the slightest.
Her heart began to race with excitement. In past duels with Natsuro, she often had a mind to guide his swordsmanship. But now, for the first time, she could devote herself entirely to her own swordplay.
Clang!
The sounds of blades colliding filled the dueling ground, ringing out like a strange symphony.
Both of their faces showed expressions of pure joy.
Especially Natsuro. Battling Unohana felt entirely different from fighting Zaraki Kenpachi.
With Zaraki, it was like facing a beast whose combat instincts had reached their peak. That kind of battle was pure collision of strength and bloodlust, where Natsuro released and honed his own fighting instincts.
But with Unohana, it was dueling a master swordswoman whose skill overflowed. This was a contest of technique, every moment pressing against his blade with pressure and exhilaration.
No one knew how long it lasted before they finally stopped, sweat on their foreheads.
The duration was nothing compared to his fights with Zaraki, yet it was far more exhausting, spiritually draining to be so tense at every instant.
"Didn't expect the one area I surpassed you in to be caught up so soon." Unohana smiled bitterly, yet showed no discouragement.
"Not yet." Natsuro shook his head. He couldn't lie to himself.
This duel with Unohana had been his peak moment. To fight her to a draw had required many different abilities.
Perhaps in pure swordsmanship, he was still a fraction behind her. Only by mixing other elements into his swordplay had he managed to bridge the gap.
From this, Natsuro also found the direction for further growth.
Swordsmanship itself must continue to improve, that was beyond question. Then, he had to fuse that perfected swordsmanship into instinct.
And finally, he had to merge into his combat instincts the direct perception granted by the Meikyō Shisui.
If he could perfectly fuse all of these together, then in this world, there would be no one stronger than Natsuro in tactics.
"Swordsmanship, instinct, intuition, the peak of skill, the peak of strength and wildness, and the ability to perceive everything without being deceived…"
He could already sense how terrifying this combination would be once completed. Of course, for something that even he felt was truly powerful, the difficulty of achieving such a fusion could not possibly be low.
Unohana, still immersed in the thrill of their recent battle, also wanted to draw from Natsuro the ability she herself needed.
In the end, Unohana seemed to realize something and gave a bitter smile.
This path, perhaps only Natsuro could walk it. After all, though she had reached the peak in swordsmanship, when it came to bodily instinct…
She simply didn't have that capacity. Only Zaraki Kenpachi, and Natsuro who could fight him evenly, might truly have that opportunity.
But Zaraki Kenpachi, Unohana thought of his burly figure and his completely unrestrained, rough fighting style. To have him reach the pinnacle of swordsmanship…
That seemed impossible.
"So that's why you're a one-of-a-kind existence." Unohana looked at Natsuro and sighed in admiration.
Hearing this, he just chuckled and didn't deny her praise. This ability of his was different from what he had in the Naruto world.
Because when he came into the Bleach world, the inability to use ninjutsu had caused his combat power to plummet.
If not for the fact that his soul had already evolved to the peak back in the Naruto world, his strength here could not have been so overwhelming.
But now, the ability he had grasped would not weaken in any world.
Swordsmanship, instinct, intuition…
Once these three reached their absolute peak, no matter what world he went to, they would hold up! They would never be limited by the rules of a world or prevented from displaying their full power.
"Can you tell me about your battle with Zaraki Kenpachi?" At this moment, Unohana was curious about the outcome of Natsuro's encounter with him.
She had thought it was just a simple fight, but hadn't expected him to gain so much from it.
Natsuro didn't hide anything and recounted his battle with Zaraki to Unohana.
"Going all out and clashing for seven days and seven nights? Truly, only the two of you could do something like that." After hearing it, Unohana couldn't help but smile bitterly.
"From my own feeling… perhaps you won't need to sacrifice yourself after all." Natsuro recalled Zaraki's reddened skin at the end, his opponent had indeed been constantly surpassing himself throughout that battle.
"Is that so?" Unohana smiled softly, gazing at Natsuro.
Perhaps it really was as Natsuro said, that one day, Zaraki Kenpachi would fully recover his power.
Unohana also wanted to see that day with her own eyes.
Natsuro didn't add more. After all, this was only a possibility. Until Zaraki completely released the seal upon himself, no one could be certain.
"Thank you, Natsuro," Unohana said then, knowing he had done all this for her sake.
"No need to thank me. After all, battling Zaraki Kenpachi benefited me as well," Natsuro replied.
This time's gains had been an unexpected windfall, and it made Natsuro decide that, when he had the chance in the future, he would seek another fight with Zaraki.
Of course, not right away.
Although he believed that with Zaraki's monster-like body he should have fully recovered by now, rushing into another fight without time to digest and absorb the experience would be pointless.
He needed time to integrate his abilities, and Zaraki also needed time to find his own path to greater strength from their battle.
Only then, when they fought again, would both of them reap even greater rewards!
For Natsuro and Zaraki Kenpachi, battle itself—and the insight gained after battle—was the best form of training.
If you want to read more...
Check out the patreon and get 55 chapters in advance -> SaintXI
Currently on Chapter 492 - Abduction