80 Byakuya Begins to Understand Senbonzakura's Bankai  

Then, a small part of the blades from the swirling dragon separated and formed a pink dragon that rushed at Senbonzakura.

Facing Byakuya's attack, on the hilt of Senbonzakura's sword, a large number of cherry-colored blades sprouted out like a waterfall and rushed at the pink dragon.

However, Senbonzakura's straightforward attack was far inferior compared to Byakuya's accelerated swirling storm dragon.

Boom!

Senbonzakura's waterfall of blades was directly shattered by Byakuya's pink dragon, carrying immense might as it swept Senbonzakura back dozens of meters.

Swish!

Only after the pink dragon dispersed did blood spurt out from all over Senbonzakura's body, spraying quite a distance. Senbonzakura's body swayed a few times before collapsing to the ground.

"Huh? Is that it?"

Seeing Senbonzakura collapse like that, Kisuke Urahara and Yoruichi were extremely surprised and exchanged glances, able to see the astonishment in each other's eyes.

"That was too fast!"

Although no one besides Kisuke Urahara had used the Tenshintai before, from the time Byakuya inserted his Zanpakuto into the Tenshintai to when Senbonzakura was defeated by Byakuya, it hadn't even been ten minutes.

How could Urahara and Yoruichi not be shocked?

The Tenshintai was something Kisuke Urahara had invented, so he was clear on its pros and cons, which he had deliberately created.

For Zanpakuto, following a powerful master was their instinct. Only by making them submit could they completely hand over their power to their master and assist them in achieving Bankai.

Using the Tenshintai meant that the Shinigami's spiritual pressure was insufficient to materialize their Zanpakuto.

Shinigami who wanted to take shortcuts without proper cultivation would undoubtedly be looked down upon by their Zanpakuto.

Zanpakuto materialized through the Tenshintai would have even higher requirements when fighting the Shinigami compared to in the inner world.

However, Yoruichi and Urahara never expected that Byakuya's development of Senbonzakura's Shikai abilities would be above Senbonzakura's original form.

In the earlier fight, both Byakuya and Senbonzakura had released their Zanpakuto, and the sky filled with cherry blossoms was basically over for Senbonzakura in one strike without any chance to fight back.

"To reach this level, Captain Ailin must have given Byakuya special training."

Urahara thought of Ailin's abilities, as well as the three months of special training Ailin had given Byakuya six years ago, and understood in his heart.

Probably only someone who "creates swords," would understand a Zanpakuto's abilities to this extent, even surpassing the Zanpakuto itself.

This was also probably why after being defeated by Byakuya, Senbonzakura did not get up to continue fighting Byakuya.

Clearly, Senbonzakura felt Byakuya was qualified to make it submit. However, Byakuya's thoughts were the complete opposite.

"Huff... huff..."

Numerous cherry-colored blades fluttered around Byakuya, and he did not relax his vigilance even though Senbonzakura no longer had the will to fight. Slowly walking up to Senbonzakura, Byakuya's eyes were ice-cold.

"Get up, Senbonzakura.

My Senbonzakura is unbending, and was called 'very powerful' by Uncle Ailin. Your performance just now was far too weak, and extremely disappointing. Get up and continue fighting me, show me your true power. Just now I held back and didn't inflict much damage on you.

Now, it's no longer me needing your submission to complete my Bankai training, but you must gain my approval before I will allow you to share in the glory of the strongest Senbonzakura.

I, Byakuya Kuchiki, do not need trash!"

Following Byakuya Kuchiki's icy words, Senbonzakura, who was lying on the ground, slowly got up.

"I will follow your orders, Lord Byakuya. I will exert all my strength to gain your approval."

Kneeling on one knee before Byakuya, Senbonzakura first expressed his loyalty before jumping back to pull away from Byakuya.

Holding his Zanpakuto upside down, Senbonzakura then let go, and the Zanpakuto in his hand instantly dropped to the ground.

"Bankai - Senbonzakura Kageyoshi!"

Boom!

Massive spiritual pressure rose from Senbonzakura, and the huge spiritual pressure turned the surrounding ground into its own spatial realm.

The moment the blade touched the ground, the ground was like a water surface, rippling out circles of spatial ripples that completely swallowed Senbonzakura.

In the next moment, with Senbonzakura's body at the center, hundreds of giant blades formed from Senbonzakura's spiritual pressure rose from the ground like solemn guards, standing in columns on either side of Senbonzakura.

Then, these giant blades turned into countless tiny blade petals, rushing at Byakuya under Senbonzakura's command.

If Senbonzakura's Shikai was a tub-sized group of blade petals, after Bankai, the number of Senbonzakura's blades had reached a lake-like scale.

There was a hundredfold increase in the amount of spiritual pressure transformed into blades.

In Shikai, Byakuya's spiritual pressure could transform into tens of thousands of tiny blades through Senbonzakura's hilt, but in Bankai, the number of Senbonzakura's blades reached billions.

The increase in quantity was nearly ten thousand times. Such a vast number of blades was also sufficient to make up for the lack in attack power of Senbonzakura's individual blades.

It could be said that Senbonzakura in Bankai was its strongest state, with nearly a hundredfold increase in might compared to Shikai.

"Not bad, now that's worth looking forward to."

Although in terms of quantity of blades, Byakuya's Shikai and Senbonzakura's Bankai differed by a thousand miles, Byakuya's fighting spirit was even higher.

It was as if the advantage didn't lie with Senbonzakura right now, but with him, Byakuya Kuchiki!

…

"Amazing, as expected of the Kuchiki Family's young master."

Now that the Zanpakuto had submitted, it signified that Byakuya had the qualifications to train in Bankai.

All that was left was to fuse his spiritual pressure with Senbonzakura's original spiritual pressure and achieve unity between the Shinigami's and Zanpakuto's spiritual pressure to complete Bankai training.

However, the prideful Byakuya actually looked down on Senbonzakura's performance as too weak and rejected its submission, utterly shattering Urahara and Yoruichi's perceptions.

For Shinigami, successfully training their Bankai was such a rare opportunity. Any Shinigami capable of Bankai would not be weak, regardless of the Zanpakuto's abilities.

Yet Byakuya had refused!

He refused!

Not only that, he even wanted to test Senbonzakura instead.

Plainly stating that if Senbonzakura could not gain his approval, he would rather not have it.

Because he, Byakuya Kuchiki, "had no need for trash"!

What arrogance.

"Captain Ailin, do you think Byakuya has the strength to defeat Senbonzakura's Bankai?"

Seeing the intertwining tidal waves of cherry blossoms before him, Kisuke Urahara suddenly asked Ailin.

"Urahara, your question has stumped me."

Ailin shook his head with a smile. "If I had stayed in Soul Society all these years and constantly supervised Byakuya's training, Byakuya defeating Senbonzakura now would be no problem at all."

Ailin's words were extremely arrogant, as if he didn't care about Senbonzakura at all. But on this point, neither Kisuke Urahara nor Yoruichi disagreed.

To them, a Zanpakuto's abilities were ultimately still just abilities.

Take Yoruichi for example. Although she had a Zanpakuto, because she had developed Shunko that exceeded her Zanpakuto's Bankai, she no longer used her Zanpakuto, yet no one viewed Yoruichi's strength as inferior.

"However, I've laid a solid foundation for Byakuya. As long as Byakuya hasn't been slacking off, with Senbonzakura's current level, it shouldn't pose too big of a problem for him.

It just depends on what Byakuya intends to do. If he goes all out, defeating Senbonzakura isn't difficult. If he only wants to deal with Senbonzakura's Bankai using his Shikai abilities, the difficulty increases exponentially."

...

"Huff... huff..."

Byakuya brandished the hilt in his hand, constantly keeping the Senbonzakura blades around him spinning to enhance their attacking power.

It was precisely because of the attack power increase from the high rotation speed that allowed Byakuya to repeatedly block Senbonzakura's assaults.

However, even with Byakuya bringing Senbonzakura's Shikai to its limits, when faced with over ten thousand times more blades, he was still somewhat overwhelmed.

Thus, under Senbonzakura's tidal waves of cherry blossoms, Byakuya could only use Shunpo to dodge while keeping his Senbonzakura blades swirling at high speeds in a storm pattern, otherwise he could be engulfed by the billions of blades at any time.

"Not bad..."

Although somewhat disheveled, a smile appeared on Byakuya Kuchiki's face.

If even Senbonzakura's Bankai could not pressure him to this extent, Byakuya would have truly doubted Senbonzakura's capabilities.

"But Senbonzakura, like Uncle Ailin said, your abilities are powerful, but your application is far too crude!"

Although acknowledging Senbonzakura's abilities, Byakuya looked down on how it used its abilities completely.

"White Emperor Sword!"

Following Byakuya's low shout, the blade storm that had been swirling around him instantly surged onto Senbonzakura's hilt, condensing into a sword exuding a cherry-colored radiance. Outside this sword body, a visible whirlwind still swirled around it.

"Oh?"

Seeing Byakuya's move, not only Yoruichi, even Kisuke Urahara cried out in surprise, and Ailin inhaled sharply.

The White Emperor Sword was something Ailin had taught Byakuya based on the ultimate move Byakuya would have after Bankai, "Shūkei - Hakuteiken (White Emperor Sword)", to have Byakuya cultivate it himself during Shikai.

However, compared to six years ago, the might of Byakuya's "White Emperor Sword" had risen by a level now.

Six years ago, Byakuya's "White Emperor Sword" was condensing all of his Shikai's blades into the sword to enhance his slashing power.

Now, not only were all the blades condensed into the sword body, the condensed blades were still spinning at high speeds.

The whirlwind swirling around the pink Senbonzakura sword body was formed by the countless high-speed spinning Senbonzakura blades.

Whoosh!

Wielding the "White Emperor Sword", Byakuya slashed out. The whirlwind around the sword formed a powerful wind slash, cleaving the incoming sea of cherry blossoms into two...