The Alchemist in Bleach

As soon as he regained consciousness, an overwhelming wave of pain surged through him. Even with all his years of training, Ichiro gasped in pain. This was truly a matter of being shattered to pieces!

After taking a break from the air conditioning and making a tiny contribution to warming up Soul Society, Ichiro waved away the school doctor who had given him first aid. With that level of skill, it would take forever to cure him.

The school doctor hesitated for a moment, then took two steps back. Although he trusted Ichiro's ability to respond, he was seriously injured, and as the saying goes, a doctor cannot be without compassion... Well, geniuses are exceptions...

Watching Ichiro become lively and energetic in a flash of lightning, the school doctor's lips twitched. A person who was just on the verge of death was almost completely healed in an instant. His medical skills were comparable to those of the Fourth Division Captain, right?

Why are you still hanging around at school?

Wouldn't it be better to become a vice-captain and reach the pinnacle of life?

Shaking his head, the school doctor began packing his things to head to other places. This wasn't the only place that had been attacked; there were many others waiting for him to save. With Ichiro around, the next head of the Shihōin family should be fine, at least.

Indeed, after Ichiro took over the medical care from Urahara and Yoruichi, their energy recovered rapidly, and before long, their injuries were almost completely healed.

After all, he had received guidance from two great figures in Soul Society. The only difference between Ichiro and them now is their unique skills, such as the hot springs of Yusenki and the captain's Shikai.

……

In the mental space, after Ichiro left, Sekai remained in the same posture, sitting on the ground with her knees drawn up to her chest. However, unlike before, countless specks of light once again drifted in the air like snowflakes, and Sekai rested her delicate chin on her knees, smiling foolishly.

"Alchemy exists for the world...hehe...alchemy exists for the world, not to replace the world, hehehehe..."

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Chapter Thirty-One: Heading to the Fourth Division

Although Urahara and Yoruichi's injuries were serious, that was only relative to other ordinary medical staff. For a medical expert like Ichiro, not being on the verge of death was not a serious matter.

Of course, that's just bragging, but in reality, Ichiro's skills weren't that proficient yet. So, although he quickly healed Urahara and Yoruichi, he himself collapsed to the ground, too exhausted to even treat his own remaining injuries.

In this battle, Ichiro's injuries were truly severe. Urahara Yoruichi and the other two could only be described as superficial wounds. Although they looked quite intimidating, they were nothing compared to Ichiro's level of recovery.

However, his own injuries were different, with large areas of muscle rupture and large areas of bone shattering. Even with body alchemy, he would not be in good shape. His alchemy skills were not yet refined to that extent, so he could only do some rough treatments for now, and he would need to make extremely fine adjustments later.

This wasn't difficult for Ichiro, just troublesome and time-consuming. He had done this kind of thing often in his previous life, and it was much more difficult than this.

Because in the previous life, Ichiro also had to solve a problem: remove excess iron from his body and then replenish the corresponding flesh. Each time was a treatment that felt like hell.

It's far less convenient than the spirit iron of this world. Not only does the transformation into spirit iron not affect bodily functions, but the conversion is also much easier. You don't have to cut flesh and scrape bones like before. More importantly, it has high growth potential. The current quality of spirit iron is not the best, and it can be improved slowly.

Alternatively, it could be combined with Kido, for example, by using the method of creating a mimic Zanpakuto to apply to Spirit Iron Transformation, thus giving Spirit Iron Transformation even greater power.

However, these are just Ichiro's conjectures at the moment, and it's still a long way from being realized.

Just as the three of them were sitting on the ground chatting idly, Ichiro suddenly froze, gasping for breath as he stood up. The captain had arrived.

Jumping off the Minato Shizuku, the captain frowned as he looked at the bloodstains covering the ground, then turned to Ichiro: "You've got guts, daring to provoke an opponent at the vice-captain level."

Ichiro shrugged with a wry smile: "Captain, you're right. He came looking for us; we didn't provoke him."

"Hmph~ Anyway, it's your fault for not running away immediately." As she spoke, the captain frowned again. After observing Ichiro, she found that his injuries were serious, and waved her hand.

Nikushizuki let out a soft cry and flew toward Ichiro.

Ichiro's expression changed instantly. He crossed his arms in front of him and cried out in terror, "Captain! I can heal myself! Save your spiritual power for healing others! Don't waste it on me!"

As it spoke, it frantically retreated under the curious gazes of Urahara and the others. However, Nikushizuki didn't care about Ichiro's feelings. Even though the captain didn't say anything, it continued to fly towards Ichiro.

The captain had a faint smile on his face and said, "It's alright. I have to go report back later and don't have time to go to the Fourth Division for the time being. I'll let you go treat patients after I've healed you. With your skill level, you're more than capable of replacing me in this situation."

"Do not!!"

"Ap~"

To Ichiro's horrified gaze, Ninjazuki swallowed him whole, its belly churning violently as Ichiro's desperate and shameful cries echoed through the air...

"No, not there... Ah... Yamete! Ah... Oh..."

"Pfft~"

After a series of agonizing screams, Ninjazuki spat out Ichiro, who was covered in an unknown liquid, and slowly flew back behind the captain.

Ichiro was left lying on the ground, convulsing, looking completely broken...

However, it must be said that while the Minazuki is disgusting, its healing ability is top-notch. It is indeed a Zanpakuto that is said to be able to completely heal anyone who is still alive in a short time. If Ichiro were to treat his injuries himself, it would take at least half a year to repair them little by little. If he were to focus on treating his injuries and not do anything else, he could speed it up considerably, but even at his fastest, it would still take a month.

Now, in less than a minute, Ichiro has fully recovered, which is of course also related to the way his injuries were treated.

Ichiro is used to meticulous operations, a habit brought about by alchemy. The advantage is that it consumes less spiritual energy. With Ichiro's current spiritual pressure as a regular seated officer, it is enough to treat most injuries. The disadvantage is that it requires high skill and is time-consuming and energy-intensive.

The captain's specialty is overwhelming people with force, directly using massive spiritual energy to heal them. It's fast-acting but consumes a lot of energy, making it simple and brutal, just like the hot springs of Kirinji Tenjiro, except that she relies on her Zanpakuto.

That's why the captain healed Ichiro's injury, which would have taken him a long time to heal, in just a few moments. This is the difference in raw strength. If Ichiro had such immense spiritual pressure, he could do something similar, though it would be more taxing. After all, he and the captain are from the same lineage.

"If you're feeling better, get up quickly. Don't dawdle. There are still a lot of wounded waiting for us at the Fourth Division. Come with me to help."

“…I understand…” Ichiro got up listlessly, a flash of electricity on his body, the unknown slime disappeared without a trace, and he staggered toward the captain.

Seeing Ichiro's expression, the captain smiled and shook his head. He turned to look at Urahara Yoruichi and the young lady of the Kuchiki family and said, "The academy is not safe. You two should come with me. Go to the Fourth Division first and wait until everything settles down before going home. I will handle the negotiations with the Kuchiki family head and the Shihouin family head."

The four immediately bowed and replied, "Yes, Captain Unohana."

Then they walked towards the meat shards, but as they passed Ichiro, everyone instinctively moved slightly away. Although the mysterious liquid had disappeared, those who know, know...

However, this small action caused Ichiro great harm. He seemed to hear the sound of his heart shattering. His lips twitched, and his steps forward became even heavier.

……

Soon, Nijizukutsuru carried the group towards the Fourth Division's barracks. On the way, Ichiro pushed up his glasses and used psychological suggestion to throw the recent experience into the deepest part of his memory, locking it with several locks!

Psychological suggestion was something Ichiro excelled at in his previous life. Absolute rationality is not so easy to learn, but he mainly focused on self-suggestion and didn't know much about other categories.

The three most commonly used self-suggestion techniques are: one is concentration, which makes the body highly active and maximizes strength, and is also very effective during training; another is focus, which makes the mind highly concentrated and enhances calculation ability, and this is mainly used to assist the magic bullet technique.

The last one is deep thinking, which is the ability to dig out "forgotten" memories from the depths of the brain, which can be considered a castrated version of photographic memory.

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Chapter Thirty-Two: The Captain's Advice

"Captain, how come the rebellion ended so quickly?"

The captain's lips curled up slightly as he said, "Originally, it would have taken some more time, but they were bold enough to attack people from the four noble families, so we took action directly."

"Tsk~ You're really asking for trouble. Wouldn't it be better to just make a scene, then talk about the terms and back down gracefully?"

"Heh~ It's not that easy. When desire exceeds ability, then there's no exception to what he might do. As for you, your performance this time was terrible. A mere vice-captain, and you're injured like this. I'm very disappointed in you."

"A mere vice-captain..." Ichiro's lips twitched. He wondered if the captain had misunderstood the word "mere." "Captain, that's a vice-captain level person. There are only 12 in Seireitei on the surface, okay?"

"It's just that his spiritual pressure was affected, otherwise why isn't he the vice-captain?" The captain glanced at the unwilling Ichiro and continued, "In short, I am very dissatisfied with your performance this time. After this matter is over, you will set aside one hour every day for me to train your swordsmanship!"

Upon hearing this, everyone looked at Ichiro and the captain in surprise, including Urahara and Yoruichi. They knew that Ichiro's talent was definitely worthy of Captain Unohana's attention, but taking time out of their day to guide him was a different matter.

The Soul Society has always had a weak sense of time; once a week is considered frequent, let alone daily instruction, which is practically the same as being a disciple.

Or rather, this treatment is generally only given to direct disciples.

However, there's a problem with Ichiro's side...

There's absolutely no problem with the captain being his teacher. Even if the captain doesn't say it, in Ichiro's heart, she is his teacher.

but!

The instruction is on swordsmanship!

This is really frustrating...

The captain's swordsmanship is beyond doubt. He holds the tenth dan in Kendo and is said to have mastered all the swordsmanship techniques in Soul Society. He calls himself Unohana Yachiru! In the series of swordsmanship, the captain's strongest skill is his swordsmanship. Regardless of his actual teaching ability, he is certainly capable of teaching people. As the saying goes, a good teacher produces good students.

But this is all predicated on the fact that this "gifted student's" talent is at a normal level...

And it is clear that Ichiro is not within the normal range.

"Captain, I'm very touched by your high regard for me, but there's something you might not know..."

"What?" The captain turned her head curiously to look at Ichiro. She didn't think Ichiro was worried about the hard training. If we're talking about hardship, the practice of Kaido and Kido is much more tiring.

"I have no talent for swordsmanship... I've been enrolled for three years now, and I'm still only at the beginner level in the basic swordsmanship the school teaches. I haven't made any progress at all... I haven't even figured out the knives of sword Zen. It's embarrassing to admit, my Shikai was only achieved because my Zanpakuto initiated it..."

After saying that, Ichiro lowered his head in shame. Knowing the original story, he knew about the captain. It was no exaggeration to say that she was the number one swordsman in Soul Society. His talent was indeed not worthy of the captain's teaching.

This is actually one of the reasons why he was willing to join the Fourth Division and show his talents. Although the captain sought death, he hoped to die at the hands of someone who could bear the name of Kenpachi, because there can only be one Kenpachi in the same era.

Kenpachi Kenpachi, the name itself is related to swords. With his swordsmanship talent, it would be strange if he were targeted!

So, Ichiro is still a little bit panicked... Although he knows that the captain already has Kenpachi as the best candidate, he's still worried that the captain might change his mind and target him instead...

To Ichiro's surprise, the captain smiled nonchalantly and asked, "Ichiro, what do you think kendo is?"

"Kendo?" Ichiro pondered for a moment, then, instead of giving a perfunctory answer, truthfully stated his opinion: "In prosperous times, it is the way of the sword for self-cultivation; in chaotic times, it is the swordsmanship for killing enemies and achieving victory!"

The captain smiled, a very happy smile.

"As expected, Ichiro still has the habit of looking at things from multiple angles as always... So let me ask you another question: What is swordsmanship?"

"Swordsmanship?" Ichiro was taken aback. Hadn't he just said that? Was he not satisfied? However, Ichiro did not change his opinion and firmly stated, "The technique of killing."

"Yes, the technique of killing. So, does killing require talent?"

Ichiro was completely stunned. Yes, does killing require talent? A white knife goes in, a red knife comes out, a gun is pointed at the forehead and the trigger is pulled, an elbow strikes the heart and neck—these can all kill. Does killing require skill?

need.

But does it require talent?

uncertain.......

The captain glanced at Ichiro, who was deep in thought, and continued, "Swordsmanship is the art of killing, and killing doesn't require talent, so why does swordsmanship require talent?"

Ichiro thought for a moment, then realized what was going on and looked at the captain with a wry smile: "Captain, that's sophistry... They look the same, but they're actually different. Swordsmanship has different meanings in different eras, but when you reach a high level, they are the same."

"So, why bother practicing to such a high level?"

A flash of inspiration struck Ichiro, as if he had grasped something, or perhaps everything, and then the captain continued.

"Swordsmanship requires talent to reach a high level, because it is a way of swordsmanship for self-cultivation. But if you are only practicing the technique of killing, what talent do you need? Those with high talent have their own way of training, and those with low talent naturally have their own way of training. The key to combat is nothing more than speed, ruthlessness, and accuracy."

"Fast attack speed, fast reaction speed, fast thinking speed, ruthless attacks, accurate strikes, and precise training goals—tell me, which of these conditions don't you meet?"

Ichiro still didn't answer, but stared at the Zanpakuto in his hand, lost in thought. Yes, what was he lacking?

"Since you can't master a particular sword technique, learn more. If your enemy can break your sword with one strike, practice ten strikes. If they can break your sword with ten strikes, practice a hundred or a thousand strikes!"

There are so many sword techniques in the world, how many people can master them all? Sword combat is a battle of exchanging blows. If your swordsmanship is ever-changing, your reactions are unmatched, and your responses are flawless, what kind of swordsmanship talent is needed to achieve this?

After saying that, the captain quietly looked ahead, believing that Ichiro would understand.