By the time the examples were finished, a few grumbles of the stomach was heard throughout the field with one extremely loud one next to Itsuki. Itsuki and the others hadn"t ate anything since yesterday. As the teacher heard this she dismissed the cla.s.s and got one of their seniors to take the recruits to the cafeteria. Amidst, the excited look of the fellow recruits and a flushed Isazaka, Itsuki started contemplating in what stage he was with Hakudo and Hoho. Although there were some hand to hand combat techniques in the Hiten Mitsurugi-ryu manual, it was ultimately a sword style, even though he did train in them. In the end, he probably was in the untrained category.Itsuki felt quite confident in Hoho though. This was because Hiten Mitsurugi-ryu was a sword style that focuses on a combination of immense speed and agility, achieving "Ichi no tachi" or striking in a single blow. Due to this, he believed he would have some ease in learning Hoho and then Shunpo, though, he still thinks he would be categorised in untrained. He had only been training his body and some basic movements for a month, and, although he has reiatsu, he would still need some time to reach the threshold for Hiten Mitsurugi-ryu"s tremendous physical demands.
After filling their stomachs they were then led to the Kido training field. Once they arrived, a ma.s.sive open field was what greeted their view. Training dummies could be seen in the distance, some brand new while the others had faint marks on them.
This time the teacher wasn"t there so they had to wait quite a bit. Sometime later the teacher arrived and started its explanation.
Kido (Demon Arts) is a form of Shinigami combat based on advanced spells. These spells are produced with strong Reiryoku and fall into two categories: Hado for direct attacks, and Bakudo for battle support. It is one of the four basic fighting styles of the Shinigami. Kido spells are triggered by an incantation. Experienced users can trigger them without an incantation, though the effectiveness of the spell may be diminished.
Most spells are graded on a scale from 1 to 99, spells of the latter being the most powerful and the most difficult to perform. To use Kido, a Shinigami must recite the specific incantation for the spell, which is often long and requires a few seconds to speak.
There are three main types of Kido: binding spells, destruction spells, and healing spells.
Bakudo (Binding Spell): Supplementary spells which can immobilize an enemy or have an effect besides a direct strike.
- Barriers (Kekkai): Focused spiritual energy formed into a solid form of energy. This energy can take on many shapes or colours as determined by the user. Barriers are protective in nature, and can be as simple as a barrier only protecting one direction or encompa.s.sing all sides of an area. Barriers can be used for containment, and some barriers can be used offensively. Barriers can mask spiritual pressure and can make one spiritually and physically invisible.
- Seals (Fū): Somewhat similar to barriers, but far more powerful and require far more preparation to create. Seals can only be used by those of sufficient spiritual power, and are meant to hold the most powerful and/or dangerous artifacts or beings. Seals are usually hard to break.
Hado (Path of Destruction): Offensive spells which inflict direct damage to the enemy. Their effectiveness differs depending on the user. It is said the effectiveness of the higher-ranked spells are beyond imagination.
- Gisei Hado (Sacrifice Path of Destruction): A particular offensive spell like Ittō Kasō that requires the user to sacrifice a certain portion of themselves in order to use it.
Kaido (Turn Way): Also known as chiryoyo kido (Healing Spiritual Arts). These spells do not have known names, numbers, or incantations to cast, and simply heal the target. When one heals with regular healing kido, they perform Reiatsu restoration first. By doing so, one can attempt to recover the physical body using the patient"s restored Reiatsu and the healer"s external Reiatsu. Therefore, restoring the Reiatsu when the physical body is in a fully healed state is no trouble at all.
This teacher also started showing various examples of kido and honestly Itsuki felt quite overwhelmed from all of the knowledge he received from the introduction of kido. From all the four basic combat techniques of a Shinigami, kido was the one he didn"t know how good he was.
After this it was Zanjutsu, what everyone was waiting for. Arriving at the hall they entered to what seemed like a dojo. The floor was laminated while pieces of equipment were neatly places to the side. Two teachers were standing waiting for them with one being Onabara Gengoro and an unfamiliar man. Once everyone had settled down, the unfamiliar man started introducing zanjutsu.
Zanjutsu (Art of sword) was just kendo but for zanpakuto"s and is one of the four basic fighting styles of the Shinigami. It is shameful for a Shinigami to not master at least this technique. Its primarily
This can also be categorised into four stages:
Beginner – someone that has just started learning the sword
Swordsmen – someone that specializes in the use of Zanpakuto during combat. Someone of this level has to have basic skills in swordsmanship as well. All seated officers of the Gotei 13 have to possess, at the very least, this level of skill.
Expert swordsman – someone who is highly skilled in using their Zanpakuto while sealed or in its Shikai. Most lieutenants are experts, since they must know Shikai and have mastered it to a degree, in order to be promoted. This applies to some higher seated officers as well and, in some cases, to captains who, though possibly having attained their Bankai, do not commonly engage in swordsmanship as their desired form of combat.
Master swordsman – Master swordsmen vary greatly by power and technique. The criteria for a master is simple; one must have masterful skill in swordsmanship above all else. Most Shinigami captains are masters, since, as the heads of their divisions, they are the true military power of Soul Society. As use of the Zanpakuto is the Shinigami"s primary form of combat, it is preferable to have mastered the skill in order to achieve the rank of captain, though mastery is not excluded to them or even to Shinigami.
Once all the introductions were done, a few servants started to bring in a few boxes. Gengoro went on to open them and they were filled to the brim with standard katanas. They had a simple black handle and a black circular sheath with the blade being 70 cm long and 3.2 cm wide.
Gengoro picked one up and started to explain.
"This is an Asauchi, a zanpakuto without a name. This will now be given to you and hopefully you will awaken it. Meditate with it by placing the sword on your lap, try to connect with your spirit and learn the name of your zanpakuto. Grab the sword on the way out, your timetables would be sent to you later today"
After saying his piece he dismissed the cla.s.s and an Asauchi was handed to Itsuki as he left.
As they were leaving Rangiku turned around,
"Itsuki, Gin. Watcha going to do now?"
"Probably try and meditate with the sword" Gin replied as he looked towards Itsuki
"Training" A short word left Itsuki"s mouth before he turned around and left for the training grounds. Rangiku looked visibly downcast as she looked at Itsuki"s back. Yuroe, seeing this tried to cheer her up
"Rangiku-san, want to go do some shopping, I need to buy some things for our room"
Hearing the word shopping, Rangiku"s mood did a 180 and a smile formed on her face.
"Let"s go!" An excited voice left her mouth and she dragged Yuroe towards the market.
Gin just sighed seeing Rangiku and prayed for her success in moving that ice block.