Kensei set his gaze on Setsuna. "You're Chiaki Setsuna, right? You fight me."
Setsuna looked slightly surprised. "Me?"
Kensei nodded. "Don't worry, it won't take much of your time."
Setsuna couldn't help but chuckle inwardly. He didn't believe Kensei hadn't heard about yesterday's battle. He should clearly understand the gap between them.
It must be said, truly befitting of Kensei, his head is indeed hard.
Setsuna rose from his seat and followed Kensei to the open area behind the dojo.
Sunlight spilled onto the level training ground, lengthening the shadows of the two figures at their feet.
Kensei took a deep breath, his eyes turning sharp.
Both the swordsmanship and Hakuda teachers had been defeated. He had to reclaim the dignity of an instructor.
"Watch closely!" He shouted, his figure suddenly blurring.
In the next instant, he appeared at the spot where Setsuna had been standing, but it was already empty.
"What?" Kensei's pupils contracted sharply.
He hadn't seen at all how Setsuna had moved. He hadn't even caught an afterimage.
Refusing to believe it, he released his Reiatsu at full strength, his perception spreading out like a spiderweb.
However, his perception sensed only emptiness, as if Setsuna simply didn't exist in this space.
'How is this possible... I can't even sense his Reiatsu?' Kensei looked around.
Then, he noticed the students at the edge of the field staring wide-eyed at a spot behind him.
Someone even couldn't help but exclaim softly, "Setsuna-san... is behind you, Sensei..."
Kensei spun around violently. Empty.
He turned again, faster this time, but still empty.
A third time, a fourth time... He flashed across the open ground using Shunpo like a madman, each Shunpo performed with all his might, but he just couldn't see him.
No matter how fast his Shunpo was, no matter how many perception techniques he exhausted, he couldn't see the person who should be standing behind him.
Suppressed whispers gradually rose from the sidelines, the sounds pricking his ears like needles.
Finally, Kensei stopped his futile Shunpo.
He stood in place, his chest heaving violently. A sense of powerlessness he had never felt before washed over him.
"Pitiful, truly pitiful," Yoruichi couldn't help but shake her head, feeling some sympathy for this teacher.
Someone chuckled softly, "See? I said Shunpo should be used for fleeing. Muguruma-sensei's been attacking for so long with no effect."
Hearing these voices, Kensei tried to salvage his dignity. "See? I told you Shunpo is for offense. My Shunpo was too slow, that's why Setsuna-kun could always appear behind me."
...
When Vice-Kido Chief, Chojiro Tachibana arrived to take over, he found the figure standing on the lecture platform seemed to be that famous new student.
Kensei, who should have been standing on the platform, was instead sitting properly in a student seat, listening attentively to Setsuna's explanation with a focused expression.
"The essence of Shunpo is not merely spatial movement, but the ordered reorganization of Reishi under specific rules," Setsuna explained methodically.
Although he hadn't practiced Shunpo for long, his realm was too high. Especially after devouring a part of Hades's divine essence, his soul's nature had greatly strengthened. Any training related to physical techniques could be analyzed by him from a commanding height.
"When you focus too much attention on the superficial phenomenon of 'movement', you instead overlook the inner rhythm of Reishi Flow..."
Seeing Kensei's expression of sudden enlightenment, Tachibana felt both amusement and exasperation.
'Before coming here, this guy had vowed to reclaim a teacher's glory. Yet now he had become a devoted listener to a student.'
'Good thing I'm here to teach Kido,' Tachibana's mood was quite relaxed. He had heard from Yamamoto that Setsuna had chosen to remain in the Academy specifically to learn Kido.
Moreover, if things like Hakuda and Shunpo could still be linked to Setsuna's strength from the Living World, then Kido was something everyone started from the same line.
Finally, it was Tachibana's turn. He entered the dojo. "I am Vice-Kido Chief, Chojiro Tachibana. I will be your Kido teacher for the foreseeable future."
"To practice Kido, one must first understand the rules governing the world's operation. Only then can one use Kido to harness these rules."
He raised his hand and traced a pattern in the air. Reishi gathered to form a clear diagram. "The three worlds are like a precise scale. The Living World is the central pivot, while the Soul Society and Hueco Mundo are the trays at either end. No matter how much slaughter occurs on the physical level in the Living World, it is inconsequential, because those souls will ultimately flow into the Soul Society and Hueco Mundo."
Tachibana's tone turned serious. "However, if souls in Hueco Mundo or the Soul Society are completely destroyed, it will disrupt the balance of the three worlds. And the primary duty of us Shinigami is precisely to maintain this balance of souls."
"When someone dies in the Living World, we perform soul burial. When a soul degrades into a Hollow, we must purify the Hollow so it returns to the cycle of Reishi. This is the fundamental reason Shinigami exist."
At that moment, a student raised their hand. "Sensei, Hollows invade the Living World and the Soul Society, devouring souls. That's why we need to slay Hollows to maintain balance. But if Hollows do not actively invade, wouldn't our act of killing Hollows become a force that disrupts balance instead?"
Tachibana shook his head. "When we Shinigami purify a Hollow's soul, we allow its Reiryoku to return to the three-world cycle. That does not disrupt balance. But there was once a group called the [Quincy]. They advocated completely eradicating Hollow souls. That would truly cause the three worlds to fall out of balance."
Setsuna muttered to himself: 'So, my method of roasting Hollows is even more extreme than the Quincy's. Calling it heinous wouldn't be an exaggeration.'
But some doubts also arose in his mind, 'In the original timeline, Aizen created the Hogyoku, absorbing the souls of many Shinigami. Urahara Kisuke created a Hogyoku, absorbing the souls of many Hollows. Yet no obvious changes in the three-world balance were seen.'
'If they coincidentally achieved some delicate balance... then the future decisive battle between the Soul Society and Aizen nearly wiped out the Espada.'
'According to the conditions for creating a Menos Grande, one Vasto Lorde-level Menos might need to devour hundreds of millions of Hollows to evolve successfully.'
'The impact of killing the Espada would be almost as great as the Wandenreich's conquest of Hueco Mundo.'
'If the defeated Espada were all purified... but the 8th and 9th Espada clearly went to Hell. A soul entering Hell is practically no different from being completely destroyed… the Reishi wouldn't circulate in the three worlds.'
'Moreover, if the three-world balance theory were truly that absolute, then Yhwach wouldn't have needed to bother subduing Tier Harribel.'
'He could have simply exterminated all Hollows in Hueco Mundo. Then, to maintain three-world balance, the Soul Society's side would probably have had to... well, 'commit suicide'.'
Lost in thought, Setsuna leaned closer to Yoruichi and whispered in her ear, "Yoruichi, your family's knowledge is extensive. Could you answer a question for me?"
Yoruichi's ear tips grew slightly warm. "Wh-what question?"
"If the three-world balance is truly so important, why doesn't the Soul Society prevent large-scale wars in the Living World? A single war could cause hundreds of thousands, even millions, of deaths. Those who die in war would have a high probability of degrading into Hollows. Wouldn't that cause the three-world balance to be disrupted?"
Yoruichi thought for a moment, trying hard to maintain a calm tone. "I'm not very clear about that either. I'll ask my father when I get back."