Gengoro stayed in the same spot as Itsuki ran towards him. A clear sound of impact occurred when the swords clashed and before Itsuki could make a second move Gengoro attacked and hit him on the chest."Too many openings. Once more"
Itsuki got up, went into the chudan stance and once again rushed at Gengoro. After the hit, Gengoro tried the same attack but it was blocked by Itsuki. Pushing his memory part.i.tion and thought acceleration to the limit, Itsuki was able to hang for a few minutes before being taken down.
Seeing Itsuki improving at a visible pace only one thought was in Gengoro"s head
"Extremely talented in the sword"
This continued on for an hour before Gengoro dismissed him. Itsuki didn"t immediately go to the dormitory but instead headed to the training grounds even though he was still tired. After a round of training he immediately went to his room and, without greeting Gin or even having dinner, he immediately fell asleep.
- The next morning -
Waking up to the sound of his stomach growling, Itsuki got up, washed and went to the cafeteria. As the sun was yet to rise, there was no one in the cafeteria so Itsuki was finally able to eat in peace. Some moments later, Gin finally joined him.
"You couldn"t have gotten ready any quieter" asked Gin in an irritated voice as he sat down next to him
Not expecting a reply he continued
"Rangiku and Isazaksan are in the same Kido cla.s.s so we"ll wait for them"
Itsuki had just eaten when people started pouring into the canteen. They were later joined by Rangiku and Yuroe before they left for Kido cla.s.ses.
The training field was larger than the one they went to before. It was a long stretch of gra.s.s where cardboard target practices were placed at the other end. The teacher and her a.s.sistant were already there waiting. Once all the students had arrived, she started her lesson.
First she demonstrated on the a.s.sistant teacher by pointing at him
"Bakudo #1. Sai"
She swung her pointing arm to the side as the chant was called out causing the a.s.sistant teacher to have both his hands restrained behind him. Everyone looked on in awe as they saw the kido being performed.
She then explained the principle behind it and repeated the incantation, then, just like the others, asked the students to start practicing while correcting their mistakes.
Fortunately for Itsuki, his time spent meditating and emptying his reiatsu has helped increase his control of it. Along with his mental abilities, it wasn"t hard for him to quickly learn the kido, even taking it a step further and using it without a chant.
Astonishing another teacher, he was told to visit the library to learn more kidos. The cla.s.s ended and its was lunch
After having a satisfying lunch, it was time for general knowledge.
Nothing happened in that cla.s.s apart from the teacher talking about Soul society.
He explained that the government of Soul society consisted of the Soul King, n.o.bility and the Judiciary, also known as the central 46.
There are four armed forces in soul society:
Gotei 13 – This is the largest organisation most Shinigami join and is their main military branch.
Royal guards – These are the personal guards of the Soul king and consists of former captains of the Gotei 13
Kido corps – A group of people who specialise in kido and preside over the spiritual law. The operate in absolute secrecy
Onmitsukido – This is the second largest organisation that a Shinigami can join and are in charge of from things like a.s.sa.s.sinations, intelligence gathering, transmitting messages to things like imprisoning and supervising criminals.
The lecture carried on as Itsuki got a better understanding of Soul society.
Once the lecture was over Itsuki said bye to his friends and went over to start his training regime.
- Four months later -
Itsuki could be seen taking his weights off as a gleeful smile was plastered on his face. His top was slowly removed, showing off his perfect muscles clearly indicating the explosive power hidden inside them. Over these four months Itsuki had made great improvements overall. He was able to learn 30 bakudo and hido kidos, and had perfected hoho, moving onto learning Shunpo. With Hakuda he was on top of the cla.s.s as he prioritised speed above all else, however, he showed most improvements in his swordsmanship. He was well above his peers and with the occasional spar with Gengoro he showed astonishing results.
Surprisingly, even though he showed drastic improvements in the attainments of the sword, he had hit a bottleneck with his zanpakuto. It was still the similar black and white handle with the colours being more prominent. Whenever he tried connecting to his inner world it seemed to always be covered by a fog, it was like he was missing something. Realising that he wont get an answer soon, he fully concentrated on his swordsmanship as he barely attained the swordsmen level.
He also trained his mystic eyes of death perception by slashing at them without concentrating on them and his mental capabilities rose as well. He can accelerate his thoughts to a faster degree but there has been no changes to his memory part.i.tion.
The reason for todays happiness was one thing, he had finally attained the physical requirements to practice the proper Hiten mitsurugi-ryu not just the basics. With the help of reiatsu and regular weight training, Itsuki was finally able to bring up his physical capabilities to the required level.
Also known as the Flying Heavenly Sword Style, Hiten mitsurugi-ryu id an ancient kenjutsu from the warring states period. It was developed to allow a single samurai to defeat numerous foes single-handedly using a combination of immense speed and agility, battojutsu, and acquired, observation-based pseudo-clairvoyance that permits a pract.i.tioner to antic.i.p.ate an opponent"s movements. Both offensive and defensive manoeuvres are executed with minimal movement to increase a pract.i.tioner"s ability to counter-attack and to conserve energy.
The style commonly has the user keep one hand on the sheath at all times and stresses two-step attacks to ensure that the pract.i.tioner is never off guard while executing said attacks and allows the user to use the sheath as a shield to block attacks. Arguably, its most well-known trait is the surreal speed pract.i.tioners of this style use in battle (known as Shinsoku, or G.o.dspeed), allowing the user to accelerate, manoeuvre, and strike at speeds most eyes are unable to properly follow. This allows the user to close considerable distance in seconds and strike down enemies before they can react.
A user can only bring out the techniques true potential if he has the body fit for it, in which Itsuki has just achieved the minimal needed.
Itsuki finished todays training with practicing two step battojutsu while continuously sheathing and unsheathing his sword trying to get the proper rhythm. Finally achieving on of his goals he decided to take the day off tomorrow.