"Ah, Kurosaki-kun, please have some consideration for a small-time shop owner like me!"
"Handcrafting a Soul Candy that matches yours, and ensuring it can fool Kuchiki-san's senses, making it in two days was already pushing it to the limit!"
"You should know, Kuchiki-san was a top student at the Shin'o Academy!"
Kisuke explained in a lighthearted tone.
Of course, Ichigo didn't believe a word of it.
Kisuke's Zanpakuto, Benihime, is an extremely powerful Kido-type Zanpakuto.
Benihime's ability is transformation and reconstruction. Within the range of his Reiatsu, he can repair himself, create items, or even dismantle enemies.
Its common use is to create countermeasures based on the enemy the user currently faces.
For example, in the original work, when Ichigo emerged from his Hollow shell, Kisuke used a mimicked Getsuga Tensho against the real one for the first time.
Kisuke was marked by Yhwach as one of the five Special War Potentials. The reason it's 'means' and not 'wisdom' is precisely because of this.
If he wanted to, something like a Soul Candy would be simple.
So he must have been preparing something else elsewhere!
Sure enough, when Ichigo arrived at the Urahara Shop and entered the spacious underground space...
The first thing that greeted him wasn't an endless expanse of yellow earth, but… an endless expanse of Hollows!
Their evil, filthy Reiatsu even formed a haze, dyeing the perpetually daytime underground space as dark as the Forest of Menos!
"Holy crap, so many Hollows!"
"What's this for? How is this training?"
The live stream viewers, who had stayed up because they saw Ichigo wake up, were also curious seeing this scene.
The special training mentioned earlier was finally beginning!
At the same time, it was the first time they had seen so many Hollows. With the live stream's excellent production value, the Hollows felt terrifyingly real, putting a lot of pressure on the viewers!
"Are the players who entered the game fighting monsters like these?" A comment marveled.
"Feels like we won't be sleeping tonight, brothers!"
And indeed, as they predicted.
Looking at the Hollows ahead, Ichigo glanced sideways at Kisuke beside him. "I guess your special training involves me cutting down all these Hollows?"
"Bingo, correct!" Kisuke opened his fan, his tone becoming sinister: "After all, if I don't fully understand Kurosaki-kun's strength, how can I devise a training plan for you?"
"But don't worry, these are just low-level, small-fry Hollows. They won't all swarm you at once!"
As he spoke, Kisuke clapped his hands.
Four small-fry Hollows, completely under his control, stepped forward.
Clang! Ichigo drew his oversized Asauchi.
Snap!
Kisuke snapped his fingers. "Then tonight's combat training begins now! First, force out all your current strength!"
From four directions around Ichigo, the four small-fry Hollows charged simultaneously.
It has to be said, this was indeed the training Ichigo needed.
Ichigo's body, with its limitless potential, needed to be pushed to awaken its latent abilities!
However, just four was underestimating the current Ichigo.
"Not enough, Shopkeeper!"
Ichigo channeled Reiryoku from within his body into his blood vessels. Blut Vene activated, drastically boosting his physical abilities all over.
Then, gripping the huge Asauchi with both hands, his Reiatsu erupted. The moment the four small-fry Hollows closed in, he executed a sweeping slash!
A circular white light flashed. In the next instant, all four small-fry Hollows were bisected at the waist.
Then, their particles dissipated, and the four Hollows vanished from the spot.
Witnessing this, Kisuke's eyes showed surprise: "Indeed, I underestimated you. Even though you've just become a Shinigami, your strength is already not inferior to an average seated officer!"
"Then, how about this?"
Kisuke clapped his hands again.
This time, 16 small-fry Hollows surrounded him.
Coupled with the Hollows' naturally large size, the 16 of them formed a circle, leaving no gaps for escape!
"Ah, now this is more like it!"
Ichigo tightened his grip on the great sword in his hands, squeezing out Reiryoku from within!
16, 32, 64… with Ichigo going all out, his kill count kept rising!
How to swing the sword, how the energy should flow, the effective range of the sword in his hand, how to switch steps and breathing, how to make movements more efficient.
It was as if he was born for battle… Ichigo's various issues gradually became clear through practical combat!