9 Cleaning up
I use some of my Conquerors Haki and Reiatsu to pressure this man who believes himself to be above me. I won't tolerate disrespect like this. I am not really angry with him but I use this chance to make him fear me. I still don't know anything about the 11th Division and neither do they. So putting my foot down this early is the best course of action.
Kogan, the current Lieutenant, began to sweat and fell to his knees. His eyes lost their colour and he had foam come out of his mouth. It hadn't even been 4 seconds when I started and he already fell unconscious. What a weak will this one had. And he is supposed to be Lieutenant as well. And of the 11th Division!! That just won't do. I refuse to work with weaklings and arrogant weaklings even less.
Kogan's body drops to the ground and I see drool flowing out of his mouth and on the ground. I am unhappy with this. He will clean that up later. I don't think he will wake up anytime soon. I decide to take things into my own hands. I walk out of my study and ask the first Shinigami I meet.
"Excuse me. Would you please tell me if you could summon all of the members of Squad 11?"
"Hm? Who are you?"
"Byakuya Kuchiki, the new Captain of this squad. And who are you?"
"Oh, the new Captain. Nice to meet you, Captain. My name is Tano Nobuyuki (Faithful Happiness). Well, I could have all of the squad members gather but ... well ..."
"What is it?"
"You see the members of squad 11 are a bit ... how should I say this ... unruly."
"You mean to say they only respect strength. Well, it is good to know that but it is pretty obvious. Tell them that everyone that doesn't appear on the big training field will be forced to leave the Division."
"Uh o-ok. I'll do that.", Tano says and hurries to do what I asked. He seems like the wrong person to be in the 11th Division. I wonder whether he is more skilled than he appears. But I didn't sense anything special with him.
.
I wait on the grand training field for all of the squad members. Some come on time, but the majority are in no hurry. They take their time and disrespect me by not taking me seriously. After everyone has finally settled, I address everyone.
"Greetings. As you might have guessed, I am the new Captain of Squad 11, Kuchiki Byakuya. My-"
"A noble brat that takes advantage of his family's status to take away the position of someone that deserves it.", someone said.
I look at the man and ask him.
"What is your name?"
"Hayashida Takeshi, what of it? Are you offended?", the man sneered.
"Takeshi, that means violent. I guess it is fitting. Listen Takeshi, if you interrupt me again, I will hurt you ... very much. Now as I was saying, even though-"
"Oooooh look at the scary leader that we got ourselves. I'm so sca-"
*BOOM*
Takeshi's face is smashed in by my fist that no one saw. His nose and scull break and he is instantly knocked out. The force of my punch sends him flying back and he impacts with the wall at the end of the training field.
"Is there anyone else who would like to say something?", I ask and look around, "... thought so."
"Without any further interruptions, I wanted to say that I understand that I might appear young and like someone who took advantage of his family status to arrive where I am today, but if you truly believe that that would work, then you are an idiot and not deserving of being a Shinigami in the 13 Court Guard Squads.
There are two ways to become a Captain. And only the 11th Division follows the second option. That is, to kill the predecessor in a fight. Former Kenpachi Kiganjō has died. I killed him. And by right of succession, I am the new Captain of this squad. But I can understand that you might not believe that, so I am giving you a one-time chance to find out.", I say this and then spread my arms in a challenging way.
"Just this once, you are allowed to attack me. All of you can come and attack me to find out whether I am lying or not. Come!", I say and unleash my Conquerors Haki and Reiatsu on everyone present here. I make sure not to go overboard and kill them, but I want to test their willpower and conviction.
The results were abysmal. There were only a few who were still conscious and only two could somewhat resist. That was as bad as it could get for a squad that specialised in fighting. After a minute I stopped and looked at the results. To say I am disappointed would be an understatement.
"That was an embarrassing display for members of Squad 11. Now if there is no one else that wishes to challenge me, we will conclude this business."
"W-wait!", someone said and I looked at the person who did. I recognised the bald head of this man and also the 'stylish' one of his friend. I stopped and waited for him to catch his breath.
"Yes?"
"I *haaaa* would like to *haaaa* challenge you.", he says. I smile at that.
"What's your name?"
"Ikkaku Madarame."
"I see. Well, Ikkaku I am ready when you are.", I say and then wait for him to attack. He gets into position and unsheaths his Zanpakuto. He seems to wait for me to do the same, but I don't. I motion for him to come at me and he doesn't seem to be happy about that.
"What is it?", I ask him.
"Why aren't you unsheathing your Zanpakuto?"
"Why should that be any of your concerns? We're going to fight and how I do that shouldn't matter to you."
"I know but using my Zanpakuto when you don't seem-"
"Let me stop you there, Ikkaku. You seem to have the wrong mentality for being a Shinigami. Were you in the Shin'o Academy?"
"No."
"Well, then that explains it. You see if you were there, you would know the commandement that is taught there and understand what being a Shinigami means. It goes like this: 'Do not seek beauty in battle. Do not seek virtue in death. Do not make the mistake of considering only your own life. If you wish to protect that which you must protect, slice the enemy you must defeat from behind.'
Do you understand this? Do you understand what this means? I am telling you that if you challenge someone or fight someone in general, you don't do this for fun, honour or glory. You do it because you want and need to win. There is nothing wrong with having fun while fighting, but it shouldn't be your primary objective in fighting.
So when your enemy is not armed or has his back turned to you, don't hesitate. Kill him from behind if you can. The winner will live and the loser will die. Now I am not going to kill you, but the same applies to this fight. Just because I am here standing without a weapon shouldn't make you any less willing to fight me. If that is your mentality, then you will die sooner or later."
Ikkaku thought about what I said. He has to learn this soon, or he will die. And not by the hands of a Hollow, but by mine. I will beat this into his head.
.
Ikkaku nodded after a moment of contemplation. He then got into a fighting stance. I waited for him and after a moment of watching me, he attacked. He slashed his Zanpakuto from the right, from the left and down in an attempt to hit me or make me block. But he was in no way fast enough for that.
I pushed him back whenever he was within range and made him lose his balance. After 5 minutes of fighting, he stopped and was breathing. It seems like he was still not fully ready after my test. I was very skilled and knew how to make him use a lot of energy by messing up his breathing and movement.
Ikkaku took his Zanpakuto and his sheath and combined them together.
"Grow Hōzukimaru!", he said and his Zanpakuto took on the form of what initially appears to be a Kikuchi Yari (spear) with a wax wood shaft. The pommel has a red horsehair tassel.
[Picture]
Seeing this I decided that I would give him the honour of using a blade at least. I lifted my shirt, something I wore instead of the usual black Shinigami uniform and took out a pendant from my neck. This was a replication of Mihawk's cross-shaped knife Kogatana.
[Picture]
"Oh come on! Are you serious?"
"You're right ... it might be a bit too big. But I just don't have a smaller one.", I say in full seriousness.
Ikkaku attacked me without waiting for me to be ready. I smiled at that because it seemed like he was adhering to what I just told him. This fight wasn't something that went on in stages. The fight started and it would end, what happened in between was one continuous battle and no one had to wait for anyone.
Ikkaku stabbed with his spear but I just blocked them all. He tried to slash at me and use his increased range but it was no use. I blocked them all and after going at it for 10 minutes I cut his spear in calf and stabbed him in the chest. I considered the fight to be over now, but it seems that he has other ideas.
"This fight is over, Ikkaku. Don't throw away your life for something useless like wounded pride. Going further than this would mean committing to the end result that will come from it. And the result of that would mean death! So choose your battles wisely."
.
That day I fired all of those that came late. I told them that I wouldn't accept disrespect like that. If they couldn't be on time when I told them to, then they weren't suitable to be a Shinigami. That made quite a lot of waves and I was called to the Head Captain Yamamoto. Well, he called a Captain's meeting and I had to attend there.
"Captain Kuchiki Byakuya, it has come to our attention that you have let go almost half of all of your squad members, is that correct?", Yamamoto asked me.
"That is correct, Head Captain.", I said.
"Heh, what a joke. Firing that many members on your first day as well ... what were you thinking?", Hirako Shinji asked with quite a thick portion of sarcasm and ridicule.
"..."
"Oi, I asked you something! Answer dammit!", Hirako Shinji got riled up by this. It seems that he is a very easy person to anger. I could see his Lieutenant analysing me closely, even if he didn't want to be seen. I didn't say anything and waited for the Head Captain to ask me.
"You-"
"Enough! Captain Kuchiki, would you tell us why you released half of your squad members?", Yamamoto said.
"Yes, Head Captain. I released them because when I called for a meeting to introduce myself and see what I was working with, almost all of them came late. I then offered them to take the supposed 'stolen' position from me by attacking me at the same time. This led to nearly everyone falling unconscious.
I then released those who came too late and were knocked unconscious as well. They are not suited to be members of squad 11, in my opinion.", I said respectfully.
"Hmm ... I see. You acted according to the rules and it is your decision how many members your Squad has. However, there is a minimum amount that a squad needs before it stops being a squad. You understand, Captain Kuchiki?"
"Yes, Head Captain."
"Good. Dismissed."
