What More Can A Master Learn? [ JT | Hibiki | Kenji ]

[Kamikawa Hibiki]

((Training for CTP))

Hibiki had been back at his post for a few days now with no sign of his power ever returning. He had gone through all the medical tests he knew how to perform, and tried every trick he could manage to get his body back in order. No matter what he tried though, he only grew weaker. It was as if a fog had drifted over his mind. His senses were cloudy. His wits were dull. His arms weak, knees heavy. Kido came out like spaghetti. There was simply no way that he was going to recover from this quickly. Man, that really sucked. Just when he thought he was going to have the power to make a difference it was snatched away.

There was only one thing to do. He needed to retrain his body and his mind. Hibiki had been through the journey of strength twice before now. Once on his own, and once as the guide for Amaya. He was certain that he could do it again. The situation in Soul Society was certainly in need of someone with his experience, especially with the lack of trained medics around. Though he could have certainly sought out someone more powerful, such as his adopted family member, Kyomei, he didn’t want to see his family in his current state. He wanted to be able to return to them at least able to call out his zanpakuto. If he couldn’t do that, it could well devolve into a game of “prove you’re not an impostor.”

Instead he went to go visit The Third Division. There was an upstart kido specialist there that he had heard talk about. Their Fourth Seat, Masaaki Kenji. That was the man that Hibiki had his eye on. He was strong enough to challenge Hibiki to become better, but not so powerful that his mere presence would cripple Hibiki in his current, powerless state. What Hibiki lacked in power, he made up for with experience. His plan was a simple one. Offer to exchange knowledge and practice with another Kido specialist. Even if he had lost most of his old oomph, Hibiki’s mastery of what his body could manage to put out was still pretty solid. Hopefully it would be enough to get a foot in the door.

With his target decided upon, Hibiki donned his Shihakusho, minus the old vice-captain’s badge, and made his way over to the barracks of Squad Three. At the gate to their compound he pulled out the oldest trick in the book, and merely introduced himself as a member of Squad Four. He didn’t even bother giving his name. All it took to get invited in was something muttered about routine checkups and they didn’t bother to inquire further. It was one of the nice perks of the job to be sure. Once he was past the front gate, he made his way over to the Fourth Seat’s office and knocked on the door before letting himself in.

”Fourth Seat of Squad Three, Maasaki Kenji I presume?” he’d wait for some kind of acknowledgement before he said anything further. Once he had that, he continued. ”Kamikawa Hibiki of Squad Four at your service. I’d heard of your talent for Kido and hoped that we might be able to trade a few pointers. I’ve a bit of a knack for it myself, though I dare say I’m not at my best today, but I think we might be able to learn a few tricks from each other.” He had purposely left a few things out, like his rank, or the fact that his power was less than a 20th of what it used to be. Hopefully Kenji didn’t ask too many questions.

[Masaaki Kenji]

Kenji was quite content with the fact that most people avoided him like the walking plague, it meant for more time for him to focus on his paperwork as well as just contemplating life and being generally lazy. One of the perks of being almost reclusive and ignored was that you had a little bit of leeway for when you wanted to have a drink on the job. Today's alcoholic beverage of choice was straight tequila. ahhhhh perfect Kenji thought when he took a sip before settling back to his reports. His alcoholic cabinet seemed to be rapidly decreasing at an alarming rate. At the rate he was consuming his alcohol, he was gonna be out of it by the end of the week damn Kenji thought to himself. He needed to upgrade his arsenal soon.

Sometimes Kenji wasn't too sure whether he fit in with the Third Division in the Soul Society, especially with the fact that he hadn't had a real taste in combat in what seemed like forever, now it seemed like he was destined to desk duty and managerial duties. Based on the fact that Kenji hadn't ever fully recovered from his partners death, they had been actively avoiding placing the man into the field, which Kenji understood. However he craved for a fight, he needed it. As much as Kenji liked creating reports and doing organisational duties, he had to get back into the field eventually.

Despite the fact he hadn't been into the field recently, Kenji still had been training with members of his squad and working hard to constantly improve himself and the newer members of the squad, after all, he was one of the best Kido experts in the entire Soul Society, being able to be on the same scale as captains. This was something that was common knowledge among those who struggled with Kido. Hell, he had helped so many people, he was tempted to start charging for the service. He would make a good amount of coin off it as well. That would be a good idea in the future.

Oh well, he had a stack of papers that he needed to be processed and written up, however he didn't have much time for that as he seemed to have a visitor. He quickly poured some tequila into his coffee however he heard the door open slightly so he was sure that he had been seen. However that didn't really matter now. He turned around to look at the shinigami addressing him with a small look of amusement. He liked the fact that people came to him for training. It was enjoyable and a little gratifying if Kenji was honest.

"Oh? You are wanting Kido training? What level of Kido can you preform?" Kenji asked politely, taking a sip of his coffee, feeling the tequila finally hit him however he made sure that he didn't react. "I think a better question is what Kido do you know? Therefore I can improve upon, and maybe teach you a couple more."

[Kamikawa Hibiki]

Well it seemed that the usual was to be expected there. Kenji didn’t seem to immeiately recognize the medic. In fact, he seemed to get the impression that this was a one sided training affair. Though his mind was a bit foggy, and his body not what it used to be, at his peak his skill was probably well beyond that of the man he was speaking with. Now this might not have been a big deal if Hibiki was humble, but that was far from who he was. The healer was vain to a fault, and was only tempered by his current debilitated state. Were in not for that he would have been genuinely offended by Kenji’s inital choice of words.

But he was here for a reason, and he fought to restrain himself in his reply. ”Ah, I’m afraid I’m a bit under the weather as of late, so my current capacity for spellcraft is a bit diminshed from the usual. Afraid that means you get two very different answers to your questions. I can perform Kido in the single digits with my current condition, but I’m normally capable of casting Hado, Bakudo, and Kaido through the 90s.” He spoke the truth, but he wasn’t sure how Kenji would take it. Assuming the other man could sense reiatsu worth a damn, it was likely that he would assume this was an outright lie.

He waited just a moment to judge the reaction on Kenji’s face before he offered a bit more of an explanation. The other man didn’t need to know all of the details, but offering a lie wouldn’t help either. He needed to tell just enough truth to convince the other man. ”We haven’t figured out exactly what’s wrong with me over in the Fourth yet, but all traditional healing methods have failed. I’m under the impression that the condition did some kind of permanent damage, and I have to regain my old strength the same way you’d recover strength in your limbs after a long period of bedrest.”

Once more he puased to let his words sink in a bit. The truth of it was real, and hopefully the explanation made sense to Kenji. If he was lucky, then it would be left at that, but it was hard to know how someone he had never met would react. He had stuck to his guns and went with nothing more than the truth that he needed to offer. ”The hope is that by practicing with someone more powerful than I am at the moment that it will help to kickstart my power back towards where it used to be. No clue if it will work, but given that all the tests say I’m not sick anymore it’s kinda hard to fix it with just Kaido.”

[Masaaki Kenji]

Hmmmm, this wasn't the reaction that Kenji usually got. Usually Kenji got a straight answer, a number of sorts to try and identify how much experience and mastery over the arts of kido that they had. So when Hibiki stated that he had lost his kido. How in the absolute fuck could you lose your kido ability like that? Kenji hadn't hear anything of the sorts. Yet still, he had to be someone noteworthy to be using a high-level kido into the 90's. That was something that only the best of the best could do, so why didn't Kenji recognise him. He kept track of everyone that had a major kido talent, he had done that since he joined the Soul Society.

However, while he didn't respond immediately, Kenji racked his brain to who the man standing infront of him was. He had to be someone relevant as he recognised the name but couldn't remember who this person was. However, the thought came to Kenji as he realized who that was he was talking to. "Waiiit. I recognise you know. Well I've heard of you at least, Vice Captain of the fourth division Hibiki." Kenji smiled before talking another sip of his half coffee - half tequila combo. He would wait for Hibiki to respond before answering his other statement. "So you lost your Kido? How is that possible?" Kenji asked, mostly talking himself through the problem in front of him. "I've never heard of such a thing to happen to someone. Especially losing their abilities."

Kenji sat and pondered for a moment before Hibiki started the second part of his statement, that was a hypothesis that Kenji was curious on. "So what you are suggesting is that I try to teach you so you can regain your powers? That's an interesting idea and its one I am willing to entertain. So what do you think will kickstart your power? What power level are you wanting to attempt first?" Kenji asked, after all, it was the man infront of him's idea.

[Kamikawa Hibiki]

SPOILER: Click to show

{Play This – Naruto OST – Mission}

Ahh, he’d been found out. Guess his reputation preceded him even after he’d been gone for so long. A quick hint of blush crossed Hibiki’s face for the briefest of moments. It had been awhile since his ego had been stroked like that. Just as quickly as it had appeared on his face it had faded away. He brushed a hand through his hair and laughed a bit. ”Ah, yeah, that used to be me. I’m stripped of my rank until I’m back into fighting shape, so for now you’re my superior officer, Masaaki-san.” He couldn’t really outright deny it, given that his identity had been pegged. Annoying though it was, he had to go with the truth on this one.

There was a good bit of doubt in Kenji’s voice about Hibiki’s predicament. He was correct that this was unprecedented. In all of the former Vice-Captain’s medical career he had never seen a prolonged case of loss of spiritual power. There had been a few edge cases, like Sozen’s final Bankai technique that rendered him unable to fight for a week, but that was simply overexertion. Hibiki’s case was quite a bit different from that one. ”Well, if we knew exactly how it was possible we probably would have stopped this from happening. Sadly we haven’t got a clue. I’m a walking, breathing, medical mystery right now. Were this happening to someone else I’m sure I’d find it quite intriguing academically.”

Thankfully his fellow Shinigami moved on from this line of questioning pretty quickly. He was willing to work with Hibiki on his theory, which was quite a relief. Sure, if Kenji wasn’t, then he could always find some other help, but Kenji had been his first choice, and he didn’t really fancy begging everyone in Soul Society for help on this one. The officer had asked him what he wanted to start with, and that was a good question for sure. ”Hmm. I think it’s best to stick to stuff I used to have mastered pretty well. For low level things, outside of Kaido, that only ones that I’ve got a shot at right now are probably Kyakko and Sokatsui.”

It had taken a little bit of thinking to reach that conclusion, but those were probably the best, and in that order. If he tried anything higher than the thirties, his body certainly wouldn’t be able to take it. ”I’ve found the limits for where my body is at right now, and I’ve got about ten casts of Byakurai in me before I pass out. It’s not a ton of juice to work with. I figure that’s about five casts of Kyakko or one and a half tries at Sokatsui full force. I do gotta ask though… do you have a better place to work on this than your office? Don’t wanna accidentally blow this place up or anything.”

[Masaaki Kenji]

Kenji loved the fact that Hibiki had his ego touched, as he saw a quick blush flash across the man's face appearing and disappearing just as quickly as it appeared. Kenji noted that little fact, that Hibiki responded well to his old rank being recognised. As would anyone if they were stripped of their old rank and reputation. That was just the way human's operated, they liked being talked about their achievements and Kenji was sure as hell that they were going to get Hibiki getting back to his original status as the Vice Captain of the Fourth Division. "I may be the superior rank now, but with a lot of lessons and patients, we could probably get you back to where you were originally!" Kenji smiled lightly.

That was something that Kenji wasn't too sure of. He had never ever heard of such a power that remove someone's powers, so how would this method bring back his powers? Of course he had to try and teach the man a few techniques, something that he would hopefully return his power to his own. If not, Hibiki may need to start learning everything again. However, Kenji was damn well going to try and get Hibiki back to his original status as a Vice Captain. It was his duty as an officer after all. "So they have no idea at all? That's fairly odd, I thought the fourth division was always ontop of things such as this? Have you tried the Twelfth Division? Aren't they usually all over these sorts of issues?" Kenji asked curiously, after all, he was surprised no one was able to help him.

"So you only have access to basic kido? I'll take with what I can work with then." Kenji stated when he got up out his chair. "So how about we find somewhere to practice? I have access to a training area that only squad 3 use? Would you like me to take you there?" Kenji asked, smirking a little bit. He wasn't going to let Hibiki get out without a few bruises. That wouldn't be training after all.

[Kamikawa Hibiki]

Somehow, Hibiki hadn’t realized where he actually was. He had said the words Squad Three earlier, but it hadn’t been until Kenji had said it that he realized where he was standing. Obviously he knew how he had gotten here, and who he had gone to see, but his brain had forgotten the history of this place until that moment. Squad Three hadn’t just been “one of the attack squads” or something like that to him. These barracks had been home to a friend of his that was now absent from Soul Society, as far as he could tell. The name Raygin Sakubara was nowhere to be found on any roster of the Gotei 13 anymore.

The healer remembered back to the days when the two of them had trained together, though the roles had been reversed from where he stood now. Through he was frustrated by his own lack of power compared to his memories of those times, the memory was still helpful. Hibiki had trained Raygin in the art of Kido back then. He could still hear that lovable idiot’s voice rattling around in his head. “I am here to learn your all powerful Kido!!” Yes, back then Hibiki had been a true master of spellcraft, but nowadays he was anything but. As his mind poured back over those days he realized that he had forgotten something incredibly important in his pursuit of strength.

Hibiki had forgotten his purpose. He had trained Raygin not to increase his reiatsu strength, nor to learn a specific Kido. He had taught the prankster how to fight for a reason. He had taught how to fight to kill. Hibiki had been so focused on the idea of regaining his power that he had forgotten why he needed it. The pursuit of power for its own sake was the goal of a warrior, not a medic. How could he have been so blinded by his own weakness? But in that moment, at the mention of Squad Three, he had remembered why power was important to him. He needed it not so that he could take lives, but so that he could save them.

Whereas Hibiki had looked rather wishy-washy before, unsure of why he wanted to be there, when he responded to Kenji next his eyes shone with a burning conviction that they hadn’t displayed since he had been back in Soul Society. ”I know the way. It’s been a long time, so I’d forgotten you had an area here, but it will be adequate given how weak my spells are right now.” Under the assumption that Kenji would follow him, Hibiki turned and walked out to the training area within the Squad Three Barracks. He had been here before with Raygin. They hadn’t been his most noteworthy sessions, but the two had trained together often enough.

Once he was out in the space, he awaited instructions from his trainer, Masaaki Kenji. The man reminded him of Raygin a little bit to be honest. He seemed a bit more serious on the surface, but the scent of bad ideas seemed to linger on this man the same way that it had on Hibiki’s old comrade. Whatever had happened to that boy though? He wasn’t in active duty, but he wasn’t definitively listed as killed in action either. One of these days the medic would have to track down what had happened to him. It wouldn’t sit well with him to leave that one as a mere mystery. For now though, he forced his focus towards Kenji, and waited for instructions on how their training would proceed.

[Masaaki Kenji]

Kenji was actually feeling a slight happiness and excitement to train the man before hi, afterall, that was what Kenji enjoyed to do. He loved the fact that he was able to train other shinigami however Hibiki seemed to be a rare case. A Vice Captain, that most likely when he was in his prime could completely destroy him in a fight Kenji thought. However, the roles had reversed for now and it was Kenji's duty to get Hibiki back to his peak power-point again. Plus, he was sure that with the man's experience, even Kenji might learn some new tactics from him. Afterall, every day was a learning day.



Kenji thought back to when he was training, occasionally helping his fellow squad members out with kido and getting trained by some of the best teachers that he could have ever asked for. Those were the good days, the days before he ever had to worry about responsibility or the fear of losing comrades and friends to the spiritual threats. His days in the academy was the best days of his life. He would have done anything to go back to that time which he didn’t need to do anything.



Kenji was initially quite surprised when he found out that Hibiki had actually been here before. It wasn't often when someone from outside the 3rd Squad actually were invited to their own training grounds. However, he had to remember that Hibiki wasn't just a rookie, he was once a Vice Captain and he had probably been everywhere that the Soul Society had to offer. He had to keep remembering that Hibiki wasn't a complete newbie at this. He just needed some help getting himself back up to that high-class level again. Kido was an important skill for shinigami to learn, so Kenji certainly was going to make sure that Hibiki remembered all the lessons in this session. 

"So, I want you to fire a kido, any you can think of! I just want to see your capabilities, after all, it will give me an accurate assessment of what I need to improve." Kenji stated, before moving out the way of direct firing range.

[Kamikawa Hibiki]

Well that was a simple enough request. Hibiki was able to to cast only a handful of Kido. Sho was invisible, and Diagnose was one that few people outside of Squad Four even knew existed. That left only one viable option: Byakurai. ”I can assure you that it won’t be a lot to look at, but I’ll show you what little flakes of power are left in me right now.” He took a few deep breaths in and focused his reiatsu towards his fingertip, with that right hand extended overhead and pointed towards the sky. Weak as he was at this moment, even such a simple spell took a good chunk of his concentration.

”Arise god of thunder! Awake mother of storms! Unleash the lighting on the sinners! Hadou number four: Byakurai!” Weak though it was, a pathetic little crackle of lightning leapt from Hibiki’s finger and shot off into the sky. It wasn’t a whole lot to look at, but it was what had been asked of him. He wasn’t honestly quite sure what exactly Masaaki-san was looking for. Did he just want to gauge the healer’s raw power? Was he looking for proof of his claims? It was hard to say what exactly his goal was. Thought he wasn’t sure, Hibiki decided he might as well offer a little more of a show than that.

”So that’s what I’ve got as far as capabilities go. If I try anything above that, well, it’s easier to show you I suppose.” Once more he focused his reiatsu and took in a few long, deep breaths. He figured his best chance of success was a technique he had invented. Well, technically the credit had gone to Amaya, but that’s another story. ”Ye Lord! Mask of blood, dripping with vital strength. Burn away the appearance of death itself and show them but a fraction of your mercy. Kaido number thirty three: Shoshaku-en!” What should have been a giant blue fireball that he would have summoned was naught but a puff of smoke.

Thought it was disappointing, that was his reality. Even a technique that his brain had been behind, and was a fairly low level, was currently beyond him. Even though there was not a single person in the world who knew that technique better than him, he couldn’t cast it. Honestly, it pissed him off quite a bit to be reminded of just how powerless he was, but more so than that it left him feeling tired. Thankfully, he found that he couldn’t even get the reiatsu out, so rather than it being wasted in a malformed explosion, all that reiatsu was still within him. The attempt did still leave him rather winded, but that’s life.

Reiatsu:225/250
-25 Byakurai

[Ludwig Verrlicht]

Hibiki: 180 CTP awarded

Kenji: 180 TP awarded