"Ah!" "Ah!" "Ah—"
Kurozawa Ren's shrill screams echoed endlessly within the inner world. After some time, the crimson-clad woman finally stopped her assault. Only then did Ren come to learn her identity. Just as he had suspected—she was like Ryujin Jakka, a Zanpakutō spirit of fire.
As for why she had been beating him senseless… According to her, it was because she was irritated by him calling her by her full name repeatedly. She forbade Ren from using her full name unless she released her Zanpakutō. If it wasn't released, he had to call her only Liuhuo.
"If you had answered me earlier, wouldn't I have stopped yelling?" Ren muttered under his breath, rubbing his aching face.
But even that mutter was caught by Liuhuo.
"Hmph! Do you know why I didn't answer you earlier?" she snorted coldly, her fiery gaze burning through him.
Ren was speechless. Normally, a Zanpakutō would respond to its wielder once its name was correctly called. So why had Liuhuo refused for so long?
"Could it be… Miss Liuhuo was injured?" interjected a new voice. Ren turned and saw his second Zanpakutō spirit—Shenqiang, the Sharp Spear—standing nearby, arms crossed.
Ren's eyes widened. Now that he thought about it, Liuhuo's tattered appearance earlier—her scorched clothes, her broken surroundings—did seem like she had just survived a catastrophic battle.
Liuhuo glanced at Shenqiang and nodded faintly. "You've got some insight, at least."
Then her eyes shifted back to Ren. "Do you remember the night you first arrived in this world?"
Ren's expression changed. He began to recall—that night, six years ago.
He had just bound his system and arrived in the Shinobi world, still in a soul state. He had been detected by a local Shinigami—or, more accurately, someone mimicking one. Just before he was captured, the system gave him Liuhuo and a hollow mask as compensation.
After that, he battled the Nine-Tails, somehow overcame it, and then found an infant Uchiha Sasuke to anchor his soul through fusion. At the same time, there had been a peculiar chakra—wild and ancient—that had merged with his essence.
Now, thinking back, that chakra was eerily similar to the lingering residue within this space.
Ren felt like he was on the verge of uncovering something critical… but couldn't quite grasp it.
"That night, I was forcefully drawn from the Seireitei into this world," Liuhuo said quietly. "Originally, I was wielded by Captain-Commander Yamamoto Genryūsai. After his death… I drifted, lost. Then, for reasons I didn't understand, I was suddenly bound to you. At first, I was overjoyed that my new wielder wasn't a decrepit old man but a young soul."
Her voice trembled, just a bit, and Ren could see sorrow flicker in her eyes. After all, Yamamoto had wielded her for over a thousand years. His death was no trivial matter.
But Liuhuo's sadness turned into fury, and her glare once again turned molten. Ren instinctively backed into Shenqiang—only for the latter to step aside coldly, abandoning him.
"But I never expected a weakling like you to cause me such grief. Shortly after we worked together to seal the Nine-Tails, someone invaded your soul."
Ren froze.
"That bastard with the target symbol on his forehead suddenly barged in and tried to obliterate your soul. If you had died, I would have dissipated too. So I dragged him into my domain to protect both of us."
Liuhuo's face hardened as she continued.
"My inner world suffered for it. The old man wasn't just insane—he was absurdly powerful. He kept screaming, 'Give me back my son!' while attacking me non-stop."
Her tone turned grave.
"One of his abilities let him form small black spheres—each one radiating gravity so intense it distorted the terrain. My entire inner world was crushed by their pull."
Ren's eyes widened. "Wait… were there many of those black spheres around him?"
"Yes. And each one had horrifying destructive potential. If I were grazed, I'd suffer heavy wounds. Thankfully, my realm is composed of reishi, and I could absorb ambient spirit energy to restore myself.
Even so, those spheres devoured all elements. My flames were useless… but not my heat. That part of my power still burned him."
Now, Ren knew for sure.
"That man was… the Sage of Six Paths."
The gravity spheres, the "Give me back my son"—it could only be Hagoromo Ōtsutsuki. And that ancient chakra he fused with back then—it had to be Indra's.
No wonder the Sage tried to kill him. By fusing with Indra's chakra, he essentially killed the reincarnation cycle—Indra could no longer reincarnate. That alone was unforgivable to the Sage of Six Paths.
Ren exhaled shakily. Even without a body, that man still held terrifying control over the ninja world.
"What happened next?" he asked.
"I won," Liuhuo said proudly, folding her arms. "His techniques were strange. He nullified my flames and overwhelmed my terrain—but my heat pierced his defenses. And my swordsmanship is not something he could counter."
"You killed him?"
"No," she said, frowning. "Though I bested him, I sustained severe damage. He fled. I've been healing in this space ever since."
Liuhuo clenched her fists and stepped forward, flames licking her heels.
"But while I was trying to recover, you kept calling my name every single day! I couldn't even block your annoying voice! And you—trying to unlock my Bankai without completing Shikai?"
She shouted now, her voice thunderous.
"Even now, your spiritual pressure is two or three times below the minimum required for Bankai training! And that's just the entry requirement! Meeting that threshold only allows me to manifest in the real world.
After that, I get to set the condition for whether you qualify to achieve Bankai. And believe me, I can choose something impossible—so you'd never… ever… ever! unlock! my! Bankai!"
Each word was punctuated by a jab to Ren's forehead.
Ren finally understood the gravity of the situation: he had thoroughly angered his Zanpakutō spirit.
"Sister Liuhuo! I was wrong! Please don't punish a fool for being foolish! I swear—I won't bother you for no reason ever again! Just give me a chance, please! I'll do anything you say!"
He dropped to his knees and clung to her legs like a child, wailing with genuine regret.
"And that Sage of Six Paths who hurt you—I'll kill him! I swear I'll avenge you one day!" Ren thumped his chest in a loud vow.
Shenqiang watched all of this in silence. Compared to his last wielder—the squinting swordsman—this new guy was clearly less reliable.
But, Shenqiang mused, he was definitely more entertaining.