Bleach: Stirring Up a Storm

Ichigo really hadn’t come to school. It seemed Rukia hadn’t returned to Ichigo’s house since last night, either. Inoue stared at the pitch-black window; Chad wasn’t home, either.

Although Mr. Chōzuka, Ms. Yoruichi, and Mr. Urahara had stepped in last night to promptly resolve the disturbance caused by the Arrancar, it didn’t seem to offer anyone much of a sense of security.

More accurately, everyone was actually more anxious. At least, that was how Inoue felt. The Arrancar that had appeared so far seemed to prove one thing: apart from a select few, no one had a hundred percent certainty of defeating them.

But even at a generous estimate, they had only encountered eight Arrancar so far. Just how many more were there? And how many could Mr. Chōzuka and the others fend off?

This feeling of an approaching doomsday, coupled with a profound sense of powerlessness, was bound to make people anxious. However, everyone was definitely working hard right now. Wandering aimlessly, Inoue unknowingly arrived at the front of the Urahara Shop. Might Ichigo be here? Or perhaps she, too, wanted to do her part for the future?

The sky wasn’t completely dark yet, but the Urahara Shop had already closed its doors—or perhaps it hadn’t even opened today. Inoue hesitated for a moment before knocking. After a short wait, the door opened. Urahara didn’t seem surprised at all to see her.

”Ah, it’s Inoue.”

”H-Hello...”

”Are you here looking for Ichigo?”

”Is he here?! And are Kuchiki and the others here too?!” Inoue asked excitedly, but her spirit instantly deflated when Urahara shook his head.

”However, Kuchiki is here, and so is Chad.”

Urahara smiled and invited Inoue inside. He didn’t take her down to the underground training area, but instead led her to the living room. Compared to her last visit, there was now a massive screen in the room. Kōe and Yoruichi were sitting in front of it, seemingly discussing something.

Noticing Inoue, the two turned around and greeted her. Though Inoue replied politely, her attention was entirely captivated by the images on the screen.

The huge screen was split horizontally into two halves. In the top half, Chad was locked in a fierce battle with Ikkaku, but from the looks of it, Chad was definitely going to be the first to give out.

The bottom half showed only Renji. At the moment, he was vigilantly observing his surroundings. The others, like Matsumoto, were nowhere to be seen.

”Where are Kuchiki and Ms. Matsumoto?”

”Them?” Kōe didn’t turn his head. His fingers tapped rapidly across the keyboard on the table, splitting the screen into a few more feeds. They showed Rukia and the others, already unconscious. ”As you can see, they’ve already been defeated in the mock battle.”

*’A mock battle? That should count as a type of training, right?’* As Inoue thought to herself, the feed showing Renji suddenly changed. Before she could point it out, Kōe enlarged the image again.

A little girl with black twin-tails appeared on the screen—it was Ururu, one of the employees of the Urahara Shop. She wore a calm expression while shouldering a cannon barrel several times larger than her own body. A flash of fire erupted from the pitch-black muzzle. Just watching it made Inoue instinctively shrink her neck back.

*’She finally showed up!’* Renji quickly spun around while crouching low. This was the brat who had been harassing him earlier! Because of her, he hadn’t been able to finish off that little punk with the baseball bat, allowing him to escape. Now that she was delivering herself to his doorstep, he would take her out first!

The cannonball grazed right over his head. Before Renji could strike, the red-haired Jinta suddenly burst out from the ground below. ”Nice pitch, Ururu!”

”Now it’s my turn!” Jinta swung his absurdly oversized baseball bat, smashing it fiercely into the oncoming cannonball. ”Jinta, home run!”

Renji spun around and slashed at the rebounding cannonball with his blade. But the moment he swung, he regretted it. It wasn’t as if he hadn’t tried cutting these cannonballs before, and the result was invariably the same: an explosion!

*Boom!* Even though he dodged as much as possible, Renji was still sent flying by the close-range blast. *’They’re just two brats, how are they so hard to deal with?’*

Just as he was trying to figure out how to immediately teach the two kids a lesson, he suddenly felt something soft against his back. He had fallen right into a broad, thick chest.

Two large hands swiftly clamped down on his wrists. Before he could react, he was hoisted into the air in an incredibly humiliating posture. The voice from behind was deep and obnoxious. ”I’ve got him.”

”Good job, Tessai!” Jinta cheered happily. He readied his stance and called out to Ururu on the other side, ”One more time, Ururu!”

”Wouldn’t that be going too far? We just need to defeat him.”

”Cut the crap!”

Ururu seemed startled and obediently shifted the cannon’s aim from Renji toward Jinta. ”I’m firing, Jinta.”

”If you’re going to kill me, just kill me! Don’t insult me! Hey, you brat!”

Jinta stuck his tongue out at the screaming Renji. Who cared about all that? Mr. Chōzuka’s orders were to defeat them using whatever means necessary. ”Jinta, second home run!”

*’Since that’s the case, of course we have to choose the more fun method, idiot...’*

A blinding light filled the entire screen once more. Renji—no, Mr. Tessai—no, that wasn’t right either. Inoue realized she didn’t even know who she should be worrying about anymore. She hurriedly asked Kōe, ”Are they okay, Mr. Chōzuka?”

”The cannonballs Ururu fires produce extremely fast but highly localized explosions. Although it will catch Tessai in the blast radius, Tessai is already using Renji to shield his chest and most of his vital areas like his head.”

Kōe pointed at the screen, where Renji was now covered in blood and unconscious. ”If this were a real battle, Renji would be dead and Tessai would be severely injured. Right now, well, Renji is severely injured and Tessai will suffer some minor wounds.”

It was too cruel, both for the injured Renji and for Tessai, who had used such a mutually destructive tactic. Inoue couldn’t help but ask, ”Does training really have to go to such extremes?”

”Training?” Kōe shook his head. ”This is a mock battle. While it is a form of training, it’s absolutely not some play-pretend game where you stop before anyone gets hurt.”

Seeing that Inoue still seemed unable to understand, Yoruichi chimed in to explain. ”By combining different terrains and conditions, it’s used to train tactical operations like assassinations, defense, and sabotage. It doesn’t stop halfway. The criteria for victory or defeat are based solely on whether the final objective is completed, simulating a complex battlefield as realistically as possible.”

This type of training method rarely appeared within the Gotei 13. It was generally a technique used internally by the Executive Militia. As the heir to the Shihouin clan, Yoruichi had frequently undergone this kind of training in her youth.

Unlike standard sparring, take assassination for example: an assassin being discovered didn’t mean failure. When discovered, should they decisively kill the person who spotted them, immediately relocate to find a new hiding spot, or perhaps launch a feint to make the enemy protect the wrong target? There were many choices when facing the unexpected, as long as the final mission succeeded.

If it were a group operation, it became even more complex. Individual choices and team coordination were both crucial factors in determining success or failure.

However, individuals and teams weren’t mutually exclusive. Overwhelming individual strength could bring unexpected turnarounds to a disadvantageous situation, while excellent teamwork could compensate for individual shortcomings.

Because it adhered as closely as possible to a real battlefield, a mock battle was a training method that allowed people to become much more well-rounded in the shortest amount of time. It was also the method Kōe had planned to use on Kaien and the others.