Bleach : I Need To Rizz To Become Stronger ?!
Chapter 144: That Which Is Called Fear

Chapter 144: That Which Is Called Fear

The hollowed pit lay still—but the moment Shin moved, the air froze.

Steel clashed—Zanpakutō colliding in a flurry of sparks. The clang split the silence, sending out shockwaves that shattered the ground beneath their feet, spiderweb cracks crawling in all directions.

Their spiritual pressures exploded outward, thickening the very atmosphere. The weight of it bore down like gravity turned cruel.

Blades flashed—Shin’s strike, like a drenched crescent moon, slashed through the air with a wailing hiss aimed straight for Unohana’s throat.

She leaned back gracefully, evading the killing edge. Her own blade arced in reply, the crescent of her slash tracing a line through the air—only to be deflected with uncanny precision by the haft of Shin’s sword.

Strength and speed—barely acceptable.

Unohana’s eyes lowered, contemplative.

At her level, swordplay was distilled to those two points alone. If Shin couldn’t match her speed, no matter how refined his technique, it would be meaningless. She could disarm, wound, or kill before he’d even register the attack.

Fortunately, he wasn’t that slow.

He was... testing her?

A twitch of her wrist. She knocked his blade aside and thrust toward his chest.

Shin’s pupils shrank—he twisted, blade across his body, deflecting her strike and flashing backward several meters.

"What’s wrong?" Unohana asked calmly, flicking bloodless steel. "If you’re trying to probe my strength, you’d best abandon that thought. You’ll die before you learn anything."

She had no intention of holding back.

Shin glanced at her Zanpakutō, his grip tightening around the hilt of his own. "Looks like I was foolish, treating you like someone else."

She had capitalized on an opening—an honest one. His reaction had saved him, or maybe she hadn’t fully committed. Still, it had been too close.

This was the first time his guard had been pierced. Against Ikkaku, against Gin, against Kenpachi—he’d dominated with swordsmanship alone.

But Unohana... Unohana was something else.

Yachiru Unohana. The first Kenpachi. That title wasn’t simply about body count.

Her blade was... different.

Shin reset his stance, and his aura narrowed, more honed.

Unohana stood motionless, then watched as he blurred toward her again, faster than before—but to her eyes, the increase was negligible.

Boom!

Their blades met with a thundering shockwave. Her white haori fluttered like butterfly wings in the pressure. Her counterstrike coiled like a serpent’s fang, snapping toward his throat.

Clang—

He parried with an almost unnatural angle, a deflection that felt instinctive and unorthodox. Then his assault surged. Blade after blade—each strike tighter, faster, more precise.

Lines of light danced before Unohana’s eyes.

She saw them all. She blocked every strike with cool precision, but the spiritual pressure radiating from their clash flung stone and dust into the air.

They vanished and reappeared in bursts of shunpo, sword flashes weaving a silver web. Each footfall shattered the stone beneath them, their reiatsu carving the very battlefield apart.

But the more they exchanged, the more Unohana felt... something was wrong.

Shin’s rhythm grew faster, tighter. His guard didn’t open. His sword became a wall of needles. She couldn’t find an opening, could only deflect.

If not for her superior speed, she might already be bleeding.

Then—whoosh! A deceptive upward slash came from a strange angle.

Her eyes widened. She hadn’t seen it coming.

It severed a strand of her black hair. Before the strand touched ground, it was shredded to dust by residual reishi.

She retreated and counterthrust with speed lightning couldn’t catch.

Clang!

Blocked.

She flipped backward, blade raised instinctively.

After a pause, she spoke. "Your swordplay has changed."

Shin brushed a hand along his cold blade. "So I’ve left you with no options?"

Unohana’s expression remained serene. "Your technique is exceptional. But swordsmanship alone does not determine battle. Do you really think it’s enough to bridge the gap between us?"

BOOM—!

She unleashed her full spiritual pressure.

A column of reiryoku erupted from her like a solar flare, shooting skyward—only to smash against an unseen ceiling high above, the limits of the dimensional barrier.

Rocks levitated under the intensity. The very air trembled.

A lesser soul would be crushed under that weight. That was the reason for the division between Seireitei and the Rukongai. Anyone without spiritual power would be obliterated on the spot.

"You’d better not release your full reiatsu," Shin said softly, still unfazed. "This space can’t hold it. If others sense it, they’ll come, and our moment will be ruined."

He knew he was being watched. He’d vanished from the Fourth—surely the Onmitsukidō had noticed by now. Yamamoto would know.

How long could they keep fighting? Even he didn’t know.

Unohana’s eyes glinted. "So... this is your ploy. To keep me suppressed to your level."

She had every right to say that. Shin’s spiritual pressure was only Third-Class. That was the bare minimum to be a captain. Barely an insect before her.

"You misunderstand," Shin said, pointing up.

The barrier above shimmered faintly under the weight of her pressure. "That’s my Zanpakutō’s ability. If not for it, your reiatsu would’ve shattered this place already. But even it has limits. If you go all out, it will break."

A smirk curved her lips. "So you know full well the gulf between us—and you still try to force me into a close-quarters duel?"

Shin replied calmly, "If that’s how you choose to see it, I can’t help it. Maintaining this barrier while fighting you is exhausting, so let’s skip the small talk."

Her eyes darkened. She heard the edge in his voice. He was saying she had the advantage.

This man’s tongue was just as annoying as his sword.

She raised her Zanpakutō and launched forward in a blur, speed leaving only an afterimage.

Shin reacted instantly, dodging her thrust. She twisted mid-movement, slashing diagonally. Sword pressure surged—shear force clashed with his blade.

BOOM!

He was blasted back, barely landing before she was upon him again, blade aimed for his throat.

Clang!

Blocked again.

Her eyes narrowed.

From her wide sleeve, her left hand shot out—a small dagger streaked toward Shin’s shoulder.

No one would have expected it.

But Shin’s off-hand snapped up and caught her wrist.

Impossible.

A flicker of shock passed through her.

Then—slash! Shin’s blade knocked hers aside, carving through haori and shihakushō with a wet slice, cleaving into her clavicle.

Blood streamed down his blade. The wound pulsed. She gasped.

She slashed back and leapt away, retreating several meters. Her chest rose and fell. Her arm trembled.

Dust swirled with dense reishi. Shin’s silhouette shimmered like a ghost between worlds, blade dragging silver sparks.

Warm blood soaked her snow-white haori.

She stared.

Her hidden dagger—nearly a sure kill—had failed.

Why...?

He couldn’t have known. Had he just reacted?

But he wasn’t faster than her...

She replayed it. Her strikes. The one opening she thought she had.

Had he known the whole time?

She breathed evenly, her left hand glowing green, Kaidō healing energy closing the wound.

"I underestimated you," she said quietly.

She was the First Kenpachi. A master of the highest swordsmanship tier—Level Ten. The pinnacle of Soul Society’s martial skill.

She could see through any blade.

But Shin... his sword held no mysterious technique. No tricks. Just clean, perfect lines. She could see every motion—and yet couldn’t predict where the next would land.

Only her superior speed kept her safe.

But him... he wasn’t faster. Yet he could read her.

Was this his Zanpakutō’s power?

Could a person really do that?

Shin shook his head. "You still haven’t seen, Captain."

And then—he sheathed his sword.

Unohana’s eyes locked on the movement.

He took a stance.

Iaijutsu.

She’d seen this before.

A single draw. The moment it cleaved a Menos in two.

During his duel with Ikkaku... with Gin...

Sword beams without reiatsu.

She halted her healing without thinking. Her muscles tensed without her noticing.

Whoosh—

He vanished. The impact rang out as his foot crushed stone.

Sching—

The sword left its sheath.

"Yasha Shinkū!"

A cold arc cut the space in front of her—crescent-shaped sword pressure launched straight toward her.

Her body surged with reiatsu to counter.

But when she saw the sword wave—cold invaded her veins.

She could not block it.

She had seen this sword strike scar columns of reishi-dampening sekki stone.

Witnessing it from afar was nothing like facing it.

It was coming for her.

Her body screamed.

She dodged.

And Shin was already there.

Appearing in sync with her flash step—sword coming down.

She caught the blade.

It skidded past her nose as she leaned back—her counterstrike cut toward his ribs.

He jumped, knees bending at an unnatural angle. Her blade passed harmlessly beneath his feet.

She landed. Leapt.

From above—her blade slashed down in a burning arc.

He raised his sword—CLASH!

The collision detonated in a ring of pressure, annihilating the terrain in a hundred-meter radius.

BOOM!

He flew backward—but released another blade wave mid-air.

Unohana’s eyes widened.

The same feeling.

That sword wave... could cleave her in half.

It didn’t care about her reiatsu, her body’s defenses.

She imagined it: her body riven, her death swift.

And yet—

She felt no thrill.

No relief.

Only a gut-deep, primal fear.

A reflex screamed: Run!

Move! Dodge! Survive!

This—

This is his sword?!

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New translation : Naruto : I Got "Return by Death" Kind Of Cheat

New story translated ! This one is interesting, give it a try !