Chapter 11
5 minutes later saw Yoruichi and Koushirou sitting at a table in his house, drinking tea. Koushirou was explaining the technique he showed her earlier. “It is more of using its ‘momentum’ to then flow out of the body. You harness the energy, and then have it flow out of your body. For swordsmen, who can use haki on their weapons like I showed you, can use their weapons as a final medium of doing so. It helps with attacking people who are out of range.”
Yoruichi took a sip of her tea, before asking, “Do you have to consciously control the haki in your body? Or is it something that is less control, more letting it happen?”
He pondered the question for a moment with the tilt of his head, before saying, “I would say it is both. Think of the haki in your body like water. You let it flow, but you give it guidance on where to flow. Eventually, you can get it up to a good enough speed to be emitted out into the world. That is why the technique is called emission.”
“Could you show me? Just the internal flow part. I want to see how it moves around in your body.”
Koushirou looked confused. “How can you see inside my body?”
Yoruichi chuckled, before saying, “You seriously don’t think someone who is a spirit only sees with their eyes, do you?”
Koushirou’s eyes widened. “Ah. No. That does make sense, doesn’t it. Well, here goes.” Yoruichi watched as the Haki in his body started flowing. It seemed to start forming a natural whirlpool like motion, going in circles in his body. It was only in his torso though, not in any of his limbs.
‘Hmm. I wonder if instead of pushing the Kido into my limbs, I could revolve it around my body like this, and then use it the same way when I need to. It might keep all the Kido contained until I need it to do something. Shunko wouldn’t only push boulders around though. More like pulverize them. Also, might help with that usage of Shunko, if I can keep the Kido from affecting my brain.’
Yoruichi looked at Koushirou and stood up. She then bowed slightly; hands clasped in a thanking gesture. “You have given me much to think about, Mr. Shimotsuki. Thank you for the instructions. Do you have a place to practice? I have some things I would like to test.” Yoruichi then paused for a moment, remembering the explosive nature of Shunko. “Actually, never mind. I will go out into the forest. The things I would be practicing have explosive tendencies.”
“Ahh. Yes. I would not want my prized dojo to be splinters. Very well, if you need anything, you are welcome to come back. Again, thank you for helping my child.” Koushirou said, before seeing her outside of the dojo.
After saying their goodbyes outside, Yoruichi flash-stepped over the mountains, and into the forest that took up most of the other half of the island. A minute or two, she found a rocky clearing, with a bunch of boulders around.
‘This will be perfect. I even have test subjects.’ Yoruichi grinned cheekily, before shuddering. ‘Oh dear, that sounded a lot like Kisuke, didn't it.’
Yoruichi shook her head, then stepped into the center of the clearing. She then took off her orange jacket and Zanpakuto, along with her wrist bandages. She put them inside the satchel she had, and then put it on a rock near her. She was now in only her black tank top, with the back and arms missing, as was standard for the clothing, and her black leggings.
She stood in the clearing with a relaxed posture, hands at her sides. She focused inward, pushing Kido into her back and down her arms, creating what she had called Shunko. The energy jetted out of her back and shoulders in a visible white aura. Still focusing inward, she thought to herself, ‘OK. Now, to reign it in, and make it spin. Focus, Yoruichi. You don’t want to lose your only shirt.’ She drew the Kido into her chest and abdomen, spiraling it clockwise in her body.
Slowly, the aura grew smaller, but when she was pretty much finished, she felt a bit of it start flowing into her feet. She quickly grabbed it and put it back into the flow, but then another bit, this time in her right arm, tried to go back into where it was originally. She brought that back two, but then more tried to go down her left arm and right leg. She tried to grab both, but missed her left arm, causing all the Kido to flow into it, and then rush back into her back and shoulders. She had failed. “Damn.” She mumbled to herself. “So close. Why did it fail? I was so close too.”
She thought about what Koushirou had said. She was supposed to let it flow but give it guidance. ‘How am I supposed to do that?’ She thought. She kept trying for another 30 minutes, then an hour. After a point she decided to strip to not destroy her only clothes.
A few hours later, a panting Yoruichi collapsed on the ground. She was exhausted, but she was happy. She started laughing aloud, happily saying. “I thought I had already perfected Shunko, but this is so much better! Hahaha” She lay there, spread eagle on the ground laughing like a maniac. The key was just as Koushirou said, don’t control it, just give it guidance.
She took that idea, and with her Shunko wanting to go into her limbs, she let it. But she made it turn right back around once it reached her hands or feet, following a path like veins and arteries in a human body. She had a vortex-like system going, with the energy constantly revolving around her body. But it didn’t leave. No, it only left when she told it to exit her hands or feet. Her extremities acted as dams, blocking the internal pressure of the technique. The only issue is it made her glow like a firefly.
Yoruichi sat up, still laughing. She winced a little as she did so. ‘Damn, this thing is intense. I guess having all the Kido in your body is much more physically intensive than having it outside. I doubt anyone above a seated officer would be able to survive this, but even then, only the Lieutenants and Captains could use this effectively. Everyone else would just either exhaust themselves too quickly or have significant injuries after.” She then grinned, saying aloud. “Nothing I can’t handle though. I’m one tough kitty.”
***
It took Yoruichi another two days to iron out the kinks of her newly upgraded Shunko. Over those days, she had a few conversations with Koushirou. In those, she learned that he was someone from a prestigious family of blacksmiths of Wano, and that Wano was an isolationist country, which had allowed it to be taken over by pirates some years ago.
She had also learned that he was the only Shimotsuki left, and that his legacy rested in his child, kuina’s rival in the form of his family’s treasure, Wado Ichimonji.
Today, saw the last day she was going to stay on the island. It also saw a spar between her and Koushirou, who had asked if she was willing to do an exhibition match with him for his students.
“You see, there is no one even close to my skill in any of the blues. The things I learned from my father would be able to put me up against most if not all paradise pirates in the grand line. Because of that, I never get to show my students exactly what, or why, I am their teacher. Most here think they are the best. They don’t have the drive to get better anymore. That is why I wanted to ask you to help me set a new goal for them.”
Yoruichi chuckled. She could understand. In the soul society, the soul reapers had the captains as goals. Here? Especially if Koushirou never really showed his skill? He was probably despairing at the loss of motivation in his students.
“Sure,” she acquiesced, “why not. I will warn you; I am a bit rusty, and my fighting style doesn’t exactly work well with exhibition matches.”
Koushirou smiled a bit but nodded anyway. “It is no matter. If they can see new heights from this.”
That was how Yoruichi and Koushirou were standing across from each other inside the dojo proper, surrounded by about 20 students, both adult and child. Most of them were confused, as they had never seen Yoruichi before. Nor had they seen their sensei duel outside of teaching them.
Yoruichi could hear mutterings among the students. All of them at least knew what was going to happen. It wasn’t the first time they had seen duels. People come challenge their dojo every so often, plus the duels between students. What they were muttering about was that Yoruichi looked like she was going to be in for the worst fight of her life.
She smirked, putting her right hand on the hilt of her Zanpakuto. She had promised herself that she would only use those blade skills she had honed so long ago.
Koushirou turned to his students, a stern look on his face, “You all have seen duels against each other, and against challengers to this dojo for many years. However, ever since Zoro left, you all have been lazing about, with no compassion, no motivation for the art of the sword. There has been no progress here. No reaching for your goals wholeheartedly like Zoro would have had he were here.” He turned to face Yoruichi, drawing his blade, before saying finally “hopefully this will stoke the fires within you all.”
Koushirou decided to act first, dashing forward with his blade held behind him in a low guard. Once he got close, Yoruichi sidestepped him to her left, putting herself out of his strike zone. She kicked him in the side, sending him stumbling back. She then settled in her ready position, hand on hilt, and leaned forward. Before Koushirou could recover fully, she was darting forward, blade swinging out of her sheath. She went for a low cut to the liver, aiming to spill his insides out. Koushirou was able to get his blade up in time, blocking the blow. He smiled challengingly, saying, “well, I haven’t felt this intense in a long time.” He pushed her blade off to his right side, causing her to stumble a step from the lack of pressure.
Twisting aside, she barely dodged the follow up thrust. ‘Damn, it’s harder than I thought to consciously not use any hoho. I must think about it all the damn time and catch myself.’ She thought.
Yoruichi jumped back a few feet, putting space between them. The students around them were completely silent. Deciding to take the initiative, Yoruichi stepped forward, closing the distance between them in an instant. Flipping her sword into an upright grip, she sent a flurry of attacks at Koushirou. He was only able to block a few strikes, before receiving a cut on his forearm and backing away.
At that moment, Yoruichi heard something inside her mind, “What do you think you are doing with Our body? Cease this at once!” Rain said, growling in anger. Yoruichi snickered. ‘We probably woke him up from his afternoon catnap with all the banging.’
“I heard that you insignificant flea! Cease this racket at once!”
Yoruichi focused on ignoring the spirit’s complaining. Koushirou smiled at her, looking somewhat reminiscent of Unohana, enough that it weirded her out. “Are you distracted over there? Bad form. Now’s not the time to be lost in thought!” he said, finishing his sentence with a thrust from his sword, which she quickly parried, sending a quick slash at his arm. It hit, but this time he kept up the offensive.
Shashing at Yoruichi’s left foot, he tried to put her on his good side, aiming for a large, powerful cut. She fell into where he wanted her to and started his movement. As he was swinging, she saw his blade coat in black, “Oh, that’s how it is, huh? Don’t mind me then!”
Yoruichi bent backwards, using her catlike flexibility to duck under his cut, his cut, which otherwise would have gotten her from hip to shoulder. Once she was lower to the ground, she twisted, sending only a bit of her strength into a punch that would hit him in the lower ribs. ‘Don’t wanna kill the guy after all,’ she thought, as he was sent sprawling back, falling to one knee, holding his side.
She grinned at him from across the makeshift arena of people and said, “That distracted enough for ya?” Yoruichi could still hear her spirit clamoring in the back of her mind.
‘He usually doesn’t get upset like this, then again I haven’t actually used him in almost a century, so I honestly wouldn’t know what pissed him off.’ She chuckled to herself wryly. If he keeps going, she might have to end this little exhibition just so she can shut him up.
Koushirou rubbed his side, and shook his head, laughing a bit. “Well, I certainly wasn’t expecting that. Either way, let’s pick this up another notch, shall we? This is an exhibition after all, we must show off some things.” he said, holding his blade up. The blade, along with most of his forearms were now black.
Yoruichi smirked at him, then said, “Don’t worry, Ill be able to heal most things done to either of us, so don’t be worried about getting hurt.” He just slashed his sword forward, a compressed blade of air very similar to the Rankyaku Garp had shown her. She cut through it with her Zanpakuto, before using a minor flash-step to appear next to him, going for a diagonal slash. She could sense his haki flare, and he barely turned around to get his blade in front of the slash.
During their little hold, she felt the haki start flowing into the blade. Having been shown this technique a few days prior, her eyes widened a bit, and she was then sent flying onto her back by a forceful blast of pure power.
Coughing, she got up onto her knees before having to backflip again, to dodge another blast of Haki following the first one.
Up against the ring of people now, she only had one way to go but forward. She flipped her Zanpakuto into a reverse grip and started reinforcing her left hand. When Koushirou came up to press his advantage, she palmed the side of the blade down to the ground, while simultaneously going for a horizontal cut aimed at his neck. She saw his eyes widen, and could visibly see his neck turn black, before she got a direct hit in. She still hit his neck, causing him to stumble back and choke.
She paused, giving him a moment. He coughed a bit more, before saying “I *hah* thought you said you *hah* could heal most things. I don’t think a *hah* decapitated head would count.” He coughed some more, before finally standing straight. He was breathing a bit heavily.
‘Might be time for this little match to end’ she thought. Rain, who had been committing all sorts of hate crimes towards dead people with his mouth, took that moment to speak up.
“We forgive the intrusion into Our time. You have not wielded Us in such a manner in some time. It has been nice to stretch Our legs a little.” Yoruichi facepalmed internally. ‘The hell do you mean, “stretch Our legs”?? You haven’t don’t anything, you lazy ass rat repellant!’
She focused back on Koushirou, who looked like he was meditating a bit to recover energy. She glanced around at the students, who had backed up to the walls to give them as much room as possible. All of them had awestruck looks on their faces, but she couldn’t tell who it was directed at. Yoruichi shook her head, before turning back to Koushirou again.
He had raised his sword into a normal front guard, blade held by both hands, one foot in front of the other. Still breathing a bit heavily, he said “Thank you for allowing me to demonstrate such things. It has been since my own father since I have been able to fight anyone of your strength, Shinigami.” Yoruichi frowned a bit at the formal speech, and him just outing her like that. ‘He probably wants to ask something, if hes getting all formal’. She was right.
Koushirou raised his sword into a high guard, aiming to do a powerful downward slash at anyone in front of him. Tension in his whole body, he said, “Shall we end this with one final move? Going out ‘with a bang’ was always my father’s favorite catch phrase.”
Yoruichi shook her head, before preparing herself. Her skillset was not attributed to flashy skills and techniques, like a certain stuffy flower-boy she could think of, but she was very durable. ‘Hmm, might as well see what the people here can do when they get serious. Garp was more of a blunt instrument, but he didn’t want to go too far. Something about ‘Don’t wanna give Luffy any ideas. This was the first actual fight where damage was done beyond some light bruising.
She spread her arms in a welcoming gesture. “Hit me with it. Let your students see what you are capable of, and what they should strive for. Don’t hold back.” Koushirou nodded in acknowledgement, before dashing forward, much faster than he did before. As he ran forward, she could sense his Haki start to manifest itself, and could see with her eyes a visible red aura coming from his blade.
Her eyes widened, before she put her Zanpakuto up into an upward blocking position, holding both ends of the weapon. “Enkosen” she cried, right as the strike was coming down on her.
There was a loud crash, causing all the students to cover their ears in pain. Right after, there was a massive boom, and dust started flying all over, covering everyone’s view.
All the students were coughing and waving the air. After a few seconds, the dust cleared, showing Koushirou barely standing, his breathing moving his body up and down, it was so heavy, in front of a very tall gash in the dojo wall. It led completely outside, and if one looked out the hole, they could see some damage done to the wall of the compound of the dojo. Yoruichi was standing to the side of the hole, with about 4 students tied up by a white, flickering rope.
‘Damn,’ Yoruichi thought, ‘That his almost as hard as Kisuke’s Benihime.’ She glanced over at Koushirou, who looked like he was about to collapse. Walking briskly over, she held out her hands, and they started glowing green. After a few seconds, she had him sit down on the ground, before continuing.
‘Hm, it looks like the Kaido can restore Haki, though it is definitely slower than I usually take with Reiatsu.’ A minute or two later Koushirou was able to stand again, and he gathered his students.
He stood tall, still giving off his kind but stern teacher-like presence despite his fatigue.“That.” Pointing to the hole in the wall, “Is what is possible when you follow the way of the sword.”
Yoruichi chuckled a bit, before shaking her head before helping the still exhausted man out into his house, leaving the students in part shock, awe, and horror staring at the now breezy wall.
He had raised his sword into a normal front guard, blade held by both hands, one foot in front of the other. Still breathing a bit heavily, he said “Thank you for allowing me to demonstrate such things. It has been since my own father since I have been able to fight anyone of your strength, Shinigami.” Yoruichi frowned a bit at the formal speech, and him just outing her like that. ‘He probably wants to ask something, if hes getting all formal’. She was right.
It has been since my own father since I have been able to fight anyone of your strength.
this sentence needs rework because the "since" is confusing me when I read it
It has been some time since I have fought anyone of your strength after the passing of my father.
this sentence is my fix of it but you can change it how you want
Thanks for the chapter