Kurozawa Ren was puzzled after hearing the other person call out his name, and this strange space left him even more confused.
"Who are you? How do you know my name? And… where is this?" Ren asked aloud, his gaze fixed warily on the man standing before him. There was something about him—an unusually sharp and alert aura—that made Ren's senses tingle.
The man in front of him smiled at the question. The expression was out of place on his otherwise stern face, though he was undeniably handsome. Ren couldn't help but feel a twinge of jealousy.
"You just called my name a moment ago. Now that I stand before you, you don't recognize me?"
Ren paused, thinking.
He had just called out the name instinctively… Staring at the forest of swords surrounding them, a flash of realization struck him. There was something familiar about this place. These swords—he'd seen a similar scene before in the inner world of a Shinigami who had achieved Shikai—the first release of a Zanpakutō. Though the sizes varied, the resemblance was unmistakable.
If that was the case, then the person in front of him must be—
"Are you... Shinso?" Ren exclaimed, excitement rising in his voice. The appearance of a materialized Zanpakutō spirit meant one thing: his bond with his Zanpakutō was reaching a new level.
During his training, he had frequently called out Zanpakutō names, hoping to connect with them—especially Ryūjin Jakka, which he had focused on at first. But Shinso had only come to him more recently.
Yet no matter how often he called Ryūjin Jakka's name, it had never materialized—not even once. Sometimes, he wondered if the system's gift of Ryūjin Jakka was a faulty imitation. After all, every true Zanpakutō had a soul. Ryūjin Jakka should be no exception. But for some reason, it remained silent.
Hearing Ren's words, the spirit of Shinso nodded, confirming his identity.
"Then… did you bring me here to teach me Bankai?" Ren asked, unable to suppress the anticipation in his voice.
To his disappointment, Shinso shook his head.
"Your Reiryoku is still too weak. You haven't even met the threshold to project me into the physical world, let alone achieve Bankai. You're getting ahead of yourself," Shinso said flatly.
Ren's excitement deflated instantly.
"Then why call me here? My comrades are probably worried. I need to wake up and let them know I'm fine."
He glanced around, looking for an exit, but his eyes were drawn eastward. There, the landscape changed abruptly. Mountains blanketed in tea plants stretched into the distance, and vibrant red camellias bloomed across the terrain. But a large portion of the grove was scorched, with flames still flickering in the center.
Ren stared, stunned by the stark contrast. In Bleach, inner worlds were typically unified in design. Take Zangetsu's world, for instance—endless glass skyscrapers leaning at odd angles, but still consistent. He had never seen an inner world with two such distinct realms.
"Yeah, you saw it too," Shinso said.
"That's not part of your domain?" Ren asked, frowning.
"Of course not. I only arrived recently. I don't belong to this world either, and until some time ago, I wasn't even with you," Shinso replied, his voice tinged with intrigue. "Something—some strange force—drew me here. Even my inner world got merged with that one. I tried investigating, but there's a wall of flame deep in the camellia forest. The heat is too intense for me to cross."
He added, "That's why I pulled you in. I figured, since it's probably tied to your other Zanpakutō, maybe you could enter more easily."
Ren took a moment to process that.
But the ever-curious Shinso looked eager, too.
Realizing this might be the key to unraveling the silence of Ryūjin Jakka, Ren headed toward the camellia grove. Shinso followed him, equally invested.
As they reached the boundary, Ren realized the situation was worse than it looked. The destruction was extensive—gashes in the ground, scorched terrain, and upturned stone. It looked like a battlefield.
Hovering above the grove were massive boulders made of compacted earth and stone, suspended unnaturally in the air.
"Such a shame," Shinso muttered, shaking his head. "All those beautiful camellias… ruined. I wonder which lunatic did this."
But Ren wasn't listening. His eyes were locked onto the floating spheres.
They were identical in form to Chibaku Tensei—the Earth Gravitational Stars used in high-level Rinnegan techniques. And somehow, despite being in a world of Reishi, he could feel the overwhelming pulse of Chakra.
Ren wasn't even trained in sensory perception for ninjutsu, but this chakra was so intense, so familiar—almost akin to his own, yet vastly more powerful.
The contradiction shook him.
Why was there chakra here, in a space formed entirely from spiritual particles? And such powerful chakra, at that?
Soon, he and Shinso arrived before the flame barrier the latter had described. The heat radiating from it was staggering. This flame wasn't just spiritual—it was identical to the one produced by Ryūjin Jakka. Yet the temperature was far beyond anything Ren could conjure.
He hesitated.
"What are you waiting for?" Shinso nudged. "This space clearly belongs to your other Zanpakutō. Why not try using it to cut through?"
Snapped out of his daze, Ren followed Shinso's suggestion. He took a deep breath and reached into his spirit, calling upon the ancient flame Zanpakutō.
"Reduce all creation to ash—Ryūjin Jakka!"
As soon as the words left his mouth, the barrier of fire dissipated instantly. At the heart of the scorched earth, a woman in red robes sat cross-legged. Her clothes were scorched and torn, as if she'd weathered some great battle.
She let out a long breath. Flames danced around her, and her garments reformed instantly. When she opened her eyes, they shimmered like ruby.
Ren barely had time to wipe away the sweat—maybe even drool—when the crimson figure blurred.
With a flash of motion, the woman was in front of him. Then—BAM!
A single kick sent him flying across the landscape like a shooting star, slamming into the charred dirt.
"I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR SIX YEARS!" she shouted. "Today, I'm going to make you scream!"
Ren's body hit the ground with a thunderous crash. Sensing danger, Shinso wisely disappeared into the shadows.