CH 17: GETTING AN ASAUCHI
[Shin'o Academy; Training Ground]
The moment Gojo entered the training ground, he was surprised by how large and well furnished it was.
A large field equal to two football stadiums equipped with training dummies, targets, a track course, a zone for resting, and many such things.
When he remembered that this was just the ground for Hakuda, Zanjutsu, and Hoho, he couldn't help but imagine what the Kido training field looked like.
At the center of the field, a large line could be seen slowly advancing, each of the people in it receiving something one after another.
"Yo! Man, what took you so long? I thought you two got lost on the way."
A red-haired man who was watching with a bored expression next to a black-haired woman perked up the moment Gojo and Momo entered.
"Haha! Sorry, I was a little...Let's say busy. Momo had to wait for me."
Momo lowered her head in shame when she remembered the reason why Gojo was 'busy'.
"Oh?" Renji was a little surprised at Momo's reaction but didn't pay much attention to it,
"Anyways, you should line up to take your Asauchi. Kira took a place behind Hitsugaya to help you."
"Well, this is good and all, but could you introduce us to your friend?"
Gojo looked at the short black-haired woman as he said this. In terms of height, his eyes, even though blindfolded, told him that the woman standing in front of him was nothing more than 144 cm tall which, when compared to his 190 cm or Renji 188 cm, seemed ridiculously small.
"Oh? Do you mean this small girl? Her name is Rukia. She is an old friend of mine."
Renji shrugged as he introduced the girl. Though, from the way she stomped on the ground, it seemed that she didn't appreciate
"Small?! Monkey face! I am not small! Okay? It isn't my fault if you guys are so ridiculously tall. What's more, I am still growing."
Renji snickered, "Growing? Wake up, please. It has already been 100 years since we've known each other. Pretty sure this is it for you."
Watching the two fight like this, Gojo smiled gently. Lifting the corner of his blindfold, he stretched his hand toward Rukia,
"I feel like I said it too many times already, but the name is Satoru Gojo. Happy to meet you Rukia. So, I have a question."
Shaking hands with Gojo, Rukia tilted her head, "Go on."
"When is the marriage between you and him?"
Gojo never thought that a face could turn as red as a tomato so fast.
----
A few minutes after escaping from Rukia's shame-fuelled, but useless hits since she couldn't even touch him, Gojo was standing behind Toshiro as he waited for their turn to receive a sword.
From what he understood, after receiving the Asauchi, it was necessary to inject your Reiryoku in it for an initial synchronization.
Once this was done, years of constant contact and slow nurturing were necessary to finally hear the name of the Asauchi.
Even then, aside from seated officers, few official shinigami could awaken the name of their zanpakuto, much less students like them.
At least this was supposed to be the reality.
Finally, it was Toshiro's turn to take his Asauchi.
But the moment he began to inject his Reiryoku into it, for a very short amount, so short that nearly no one caught it, the temperature around them suddenly dropped.
Gojo trusted his senses more than anything, and he knew what they were telling him.
This lowering in the temperature had been unnatural, and he knew the culprit.
It hadn't been that visible to the others, but the moment Toshiro filled the sword with his Reiryoku, it wasn't just his energy that entered it. But also what looked like a part of his own self.
'So this is how the spirit of a Zanpakuto is born.'
He could deduce from this that Zanpakuto were born from the soul of their owner.
'This is getting interesting. So those things are a little like Yuji and Sukuna? No, this is closer to the relationship between Yuta and Rika.'
When he was alive, aside from Yuji, who had initially swallowed a part of the king of curse and became its vessel, he had another student. Yuta.
Yuta was linked to an extremely powerful cursed spirit that Gojo had named as the Queen of curses, and she was born from Yuta's own cursed power and the spirit of his dead childhood friend.
Thinking about how all his star pupils always had troublesome situations, and a weird tendency toward being executed by the higher up, he could only sigh,
'Well, with a teacher like me, how could my students be any less awesome?'
Gojo thought smugly as he patted Toshiro's shoulder and stood in front of the man giving the sword.
"Name and class."
"Gojo Satoru, Class 1."
"Take your sword and inject your Reiryoku like the others."
Taking the ordinary-looking Katana, Gojo observed the weapon curiously before filling it with his Reiryoku.
He felt the same thing happening to him as it happened to Toshiro.
A small part of him, fused with the sword before it fell silent.
Swinging a little the sword, he put it back in its sheath and left.
In all the history of the Soul Society, he might have been the one who ported the least interest to his sword.
For him, this Zanpakuto wasn't any different from a cursed tool or cursed spirit manipulation. Having it was nice and all, and it could have some nice effects. But this wasn't something he really needed.