Emergency meeting

- 9 years later -

(3rd Person POV)

Toji and his Lieutenant Rose were walking to another one of those pesky Captain's meetings. It seems that was all they did. Life as a Captain was quite dull in times of peace. 

Thankfully Toji had the power he did and could fight someone strong whenever he wished. And that is also what he did. 

Toji entered his inner world. He had found out very soon that he didn't have a Zanpakuto spirit. As strange as it sounded, he didn't have one. The reason for that is it was all about his imagination. He could imagine a Zanpakuto spirit, but why would he do that?

No, he used his inner world as a place to train his powers, just as it was intended. He would imagine different characters from anime or fiction and then fight them to get better with the use of his powers. 

And just recently he had been training and fighting with Musashi Miyamoto, from Vagabond and Baki. As well as Atomic Samurai, from One Punch Man. Then there was also Yoriichi Tsugikuni from Kimetsu no Yaiba, Toji Fushiguro from Jujutsu Kaisen, Himura Kenshin from Rurouni Kenshin and of course, Dracule Mihawk from One Piece. 

He tried to take something from every swordsman that he fought and refine his own style. He wanted something that was unpredictable and powerful so that he wouldn't have to always use his Shikai for everything. 

That was something he always thought was embarrassing. Shinigami and Captains as well, seemingly used Bankai as soon as something wasn't going as planned with their Shikai. 

If after fighting for 10 minutes you already have to use your Bankai, then you are not a Captain class Shinigami. The only one who was worthy of his position in Toji's opinion were the older Captains, like Unohana, Yamamto, Kyoraku and Kenpachi Zaraki. 

Using your Shikai to win fights is not bad, but having to immediately use Bankai that was a sign of weakness for Toji. So he wanted to train his Zanjutsu and swordsmanship in general and get powerful enough to just use his spiritual power and his Zanpakuto in its sealed state. 

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Apart from fighting swordsmen from around the anime verse and polishing his Zanjutsu, Toji also fought with other characters to train his imagination. 

One important part of his powers was that he needed to think fast enough to truly shine. His power was dependent on his thought-processing speed. And thankfully, he had gotten a massive boost since he fused with the Hogyoku Mk. Infinity. 

He finally had a real body and also all the inherent abilities of Hollows, Shinigami and Quincy. He enjoyed not having to constantly imagine having them. They were now accessible to him, truly. 

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Another thing he noticed was something huge. After training his powers for about 900 years and never truly stopping. Always grinding and pushing himself, Toji has reached the stage, where his imagination, doesn't just disappear anymore!

That's right thanks to the Essence of the Blank, Toji has reached the stage, where the things he imagines don't disappear anymore if he loses focus. They are now truly real. 

This was a huge step for him and he would only grow stronger. The interesting thing was that this 'step' wasn't proportional to the power Toji could unleash with his imagination. 

He reckoned that he was easily a 4B to 4A-level being with 'the Visionary'. The things he could imagine were truly marvellous and he took inspiration from different characters in fiction. 

Toji didn't just want to be able to summon meteors, moons or planets and then throw them around like Thanos. Sure that was cool but it was not really imaginative. He also wanted to have the finesse to imagine subatomic particles and manipulate them.

That was why he started small. He imagined Jean Grey when she was young and worked his way up and imagined older and more experienced versions. 

What he would do was he would fight them ... to the death and note all the techniques she uses. She is a very versatile fighter. Her use of psychokinesis started out very crude but then got better after she got some training in the X-Men.

So killing her was harder and harder. He would let her do all the moves she could and then he would kill her after trying the same moves out on her. And he got a lot of ideas to use during a fight. 

- stopping someone's heart

- 'turn off' the nervous system

- stop someone from using his/her powers

- absorb kinetic or potential energy

- create forcefields

- influence and manipulate emotions

- turn off minds

- create illusions

- manipulate memories to make the other think you are his friend or ally (similar to Tsukishima)

- biological manipulation

- etc.

Of course, Toji wasn't bound to only these things. It just gave him ideas on some moves he could use. And he liked to use his true power to fight. The fact that Jean Grey was a woman was of no importance. She was an enemy so he would kill her. 

It was a weird feeling at first. The stronger Jean's were very quick to use their powers to 'kill him'. So he first had to get used to the way she fought and then he got better and more skilled. 

An interesting thing about his powers is that as long as he imagines not being able to die, he won't. It's as simple as that. So even if she does all those moves that might kill him otherwise, he still has the Hogyoku and his imagination that won't allow him to die. 

Simply because he doesn't want or wish to die. 

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He also had others to train with, to train against someone who was far more powerful than you were. And he chose to imagine Beerus the Destroyer from Dragon Ball. 

Now this guy completely stomped him. In the beginning at least. Toji survived thanks to being immortal and this being in his inner world. He imagined being able to react to Beerus' speed and then to be able to tank his hits. 

That was how he survived until Beerus upped the difficulty and power...

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(Toji POV)

I won't say that I like pain, but after nearly a millenia of not having anything to truly fight and enjoy myself, it was refreshing for once to be on the other end of a punch. 

The adrenaline shot through my body and I smiled for the first time since nearly 500 years during a fight. For every punch I received I tried to come up with a counter and always first imagined to adapt to Berrus' speed. 

After my brain could keep up with his speed, I would then imagine my body withstanding his punches and then tried to do damage to Beerus in a smart way. 

I would either imagine my skin ahving corroding properties and whenever he punched me, his hand would start to corrode. But he would just power through those things. 

Over all it was a fun experience. 

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(3rd Person POV)

Toji and Rose, were walking towards the Assembly Hall. Yamamoto had summoned his Lieutenant. This was uncommon in a Captains meeting. But Toji didn't think about it. He thought it might be that Yamamoto wanted to give Rose a task or something. 

While Rose did do a lot of work in the 3rd Division, in Toji's opinion he was not Captain level powerhouse. But if he compared him to other Captains, then he had to admit, that Rose was indeed at their level. 

He was thinking about Kensei Muguruma, Love Aikawa and even Ginrei Kuchiki. Sure they had more spirit energy than other Shinigami, but their power had much to be desired. 

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There had been an incident of disappearing souls that called for an investigation group. This group was led by Kensei and some of his Squad members. 

And now, these Shinigami had also gone missing. What incopetence this was. But Toji could not hold it against them that much. They were up against Sosuke Aizen and his Kyoka Suigetsu. 

Toji and Rose reached the Assembly Hall and Yamamoto started the meeting.

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(Assembly Hall)

Yamamoto: "According to reports from Squad 9's camp that's now standing by at the scene, the spiritual pressures of both Squad 9 captain Kensei Muguruma and Lieutenant Mashiro Kuna, who were out in the field, have vanished. The cause is unknown! We must consider the possibility that this is a worst-case scenario! What, until yesterday, was simply an incident that occurred in the Rukon district has now become something that we must stake the pride of the 13 Court Guard Squads to resolve! 

Therefore, from this moment, I will select five people from the captain class and dispatch them to the scene!"

Kisuke comes in, breathing heavily. He has run the entire way from the 12th Division barracks. 

Yamamoto: "You're late, Kusuke Urahara."

Kisuke: "Let me ... go there, please!"

Yamamoto: "No."

Kisuke: "My second-in-command is headed there now! I must ..."

Yoruichi: "Kisuke! You're making a scene. Pull yourself together! Didn't you choose to send her?! Can't you see that your panic is an insult to her?!"

Kyoraku: (comes and guides Kisuke) "Now, don't just stand there. Line up over here."

Yamamoto: "I will now continue. Lieutenant of Squad 3, Rojuro Ohtoribashi. Captain of Squad 5, Shinji Hirako. Captain of Squad 7, Love Aikawa. The three I just named will head to the site. The Captain of Squad 2, Yoruichi Shihoin will stand by for further orders. Captain of Squad 6, Ginrei Kuchiki, Captain of Squad 8 Shunsui Kyoraku, Captain of Squad 13, Jushiro Ukitake, Captain of Squad 3, Toji Fushiguro. The four of you will guard the Seireitei. 

Captain of Squad 4, Retsu Unohana. You will stand by in the Medical Treatment Room to await possible casualties that come in."

Unohana: "Just a minute, Head Captain. If your concern is treating casualties, shouldn't I head toward the scene?"

Yamamoto: "As long as the situation remains unclear, we cannot risk dispatching the head of the medical treatment unit. I will send someone else to the scene. Enter."

The door opens and there stand two people from the Kido corps. 

Ukitake: "It's been a long time since he came out into the open ..."

Kyoraku: "This has sure become a major issue, hasn't it?"

Yamamoto: "You've head, I assume. I want the two of you to head to the scene."

Tessai: "Will do."

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Kiske looks very down and worried. Kyoraku sees this and then suggests something, trying to lift his spirit. 

Kyoraku: "Oi Yama-ji. Sorry about that. But you know I was thinking, without knowing the situation better isn't sending both the Kido commander and his Lieutenant a bad idea?"

Yamamoto: "Then what would you do?"

Kyoraku: "I would send my Lieutenant in place of the Kido Commander."

Ukitake: "You're going to summon her now?"

Kyoraku: "Yeah. Hey! Lisa!" 

Lisa appears at the window, from where she seems to have listened to the entire thing.

Lisa: "What is it?" 

Kyoraku: "You see? Didn't I tell you that you must not peek into a Captain's meeting?" 

Lisa: "I couldn't help it. It's human nature to want to see something you keep hidden!"

Kyoraku: "And the details?" 

Lisa: "I heard"

Kyoraku: "Can I ask you to do it?"

Lisa: "Of course!"

Kyoraku: "Then I'll be counting on you."

Lisa then grabs her books and sprints off. 

Yamamoto: "Deciding things on your own like that ..." 

Kyoraku: "We don't get to see an incident this big very often. I'm like a parent who wants his subordinate to gain experience. Can't you understand that? She'll be fine. My Lisa might not look it, but she's pretty strong. That's why, will you let her do it? Kido commander?"

Tessai: "It's okay with me. Then I will take you up on your offer and sit this one out." 

Yamamoto: "All right then. Rojuro Ohtoribashi. Shinji Hirako. Love Aikawa. Hachigen Ushoda. Lisa Yadomaru. I am assigning you five as the investigation unit in charge of this vanishing soul case! 

Dismissed!"

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This marked the end of the meeting and surprisingly, Toji got a nasty gaze from the Shihoin woman. It seems like she took the fact that Yamamoto rather sent his Lieutenant to investigate instead of him as a sign that even the Head Captain looked down on his capabilities.

What a drag.