(Y/N): Thanks again, Captain Unohana. Sorry you had to heal me a second time.

Shortly after the arrival of Ichigo, Uryu and Yoruichi, Unohana arrived.

Unohana: It's no problem really. I made it a point to make a detour here when you decided to fight Azashiro by yourself.

(Y/N): Really? Well, I guess when you're going up against a Kenpachi, there's bound to be serious injuries involved.

Unohana: Not just that, but if Azashiro really did succeed in fusing with you, I would have made it my personal goal to kill him myself.

Despite saying that sentence with a smile on her face, everyone could feel the venom in her voice.

(Y/N): W-well... Thankfully we don't have to worry about that anymore.

Yoruichi: Agreed. So, (Y/N), what do you plan to do now that you've learned Shunko? Are you going to try to perfect it?

(Y/N): As much as I want to, I think I'll have to put Shunko on the back burner again.

Yoruichi: How come? You were so excited to learn it earlier.

(Y/N): Well this whole Azashiro and Cien situation has opened my eyes on something about my own abilities. No, it's more accurate to say I now understand what my zanpakuto was telling me about my true abilities.

Uryu: Hm? And what would that be?

(Y/N): Well, the whole reason Azashiro came after me was because he believed that my zanpakuto ability had the ability to evolve past creating copies or clones of other souls for me to use and take the original soul of the person I killed. However, I think I already have that ability.

Everyone was shocked.

Ichigo: Wait a minute... Since when?

(Y/N): Since the battle with Aizen. The same time I gained resurreccion I gained the true power of my Bankai. When I went to communicate with Ankou at that time, I came to the realization that I never knew the name of my own Bankai, despite using one. That's how I came to the realization that I was never at my full power when in Bankai. However we came to an agreement and I was given the name of my Bankai.

Uryu: But you've still been copying the souls, right?

(Y/N): Yeah. In all honesty, this situation gave me a clear understanding why Ankou refused to give me all my abilities originally.

Ichigo: What was the reason?

Unohana: Azashiro's goal made you realize that you can easily disrupt the cycles of souls, am I right?

(Y/N): Yes.

The silence at that moment was loud.

Yoruichi: I'm honestly upset that I haven't thought of that possibility until now. He wanted to use your power to transform the Hollows in Hueco Mundo into purified souls so that they can be added to the cycle of souls. But if you simply used your ability to steal the original soul then they could never be added to the cycle of souls until your soul dies.

(Y/N): Yeah, and who knows how long it'll be until both my body and soul dies. There could be a point where I simply live long enough to cause irreparable damage to the balance of souls. Azrael, my bankai spirit, even said as such.

~~~~

(Y/N): Hey I hate to remind you guys that we're... Oh I don't know... ON A TIME LIMIT. WE DON'T HAVE TIME FOR A STUPID SQUABBLE! AIZEN'S GOING TO KILL EVERYONE AND TAKE OVER IF WE KEEP ACTING LIKE IDIOTS!

???: If I were to give you my full power now, in combination with Thanatos', you could have the power to go toe to toe with Aizen, but there's no telling if you'll simply take his place.

~~~~

Azrael: The ability to tamper with death in any way is a dangerous ability... You don't know how much of a taboo that is...

~~~~

(Y/N): At the moment, I thought he was just being paranoid or that he didn't trust me, but he was valid for his concerns. Just as killing the Soul King could throw the cycle out of balance, the same could be said for my power if I decided to take the original soul. If I hold onto too many souls, who knows how we'd be able to release them. My only guess at the moment would be if I died. And even then, there's no way of proving it unless I actually died.

Yoruichi: But how exactly do you take the original soul and not a copy?

(Y/N): Though I haven't tried it myself I have a very strong idea how. The same way Hollows evolve. By consuming souls.

The conversation was suddenly taking a dark turn.

(Y/N): I've had multiple times to confirm this myself but I never wanted to know the answer to it. It scared me to be honest.

Ichigo: You're talking about trying to consume the real Ginjo, right?

(Y/N): Yep. And there's also the situation with Cien too. Despite him being on death's door, I decided to kill him normally rather than eating his soul. Hollows would normally consume souls to become stronger and later, regain their intelligence. However, in this case, consuming while I'm using my shinigami powers would almost be akin to storing another soul in my body in a way.

Uryu: What would be the benefits of taking the original soul anyway?

(Y/N): If I had to guess, having possession of the original soul means that the person I summon would actually be able to communicate and have a will of their own, unlike the mindless minions I have now.

Unohana: It sounds good on paper but that also comes with drawbacks.

(Y/N): Yeah. First would be the fact that most people I have under my command were originally my enemies. That would mean I would be fighting amongst my own army. That's why I opted against consuming Cien's soul. And doing it to Ginjo would feel far too disrespectful.

Ichigo: Sounds to me like taking the original soul sucks anyway.

(Y/N): Not necessarily. I'll give you an example. Imagine if Wiz got horribly injured and there was no way to give her medical treatment. If she were to allow me to consume her soul, I'd be able to summon her without fear of backstabbing considering we're almost like siblings.

Ichigo: When you put it that way then it makes sense...

Uryu: How would you be able to consume a soul anyway? You're nowhere near the size of the Hollows that require eating souls to even perform such a feat.

(Y/N): I'm sure there's a passive ability built in that allows me to pull it off.

Yoruichi: There has to be other issues with taking the original soul. Such as, how would you share a body?

(Y/N): Well I have a good idea how that would work.

Ichigo: Dude, how long have you been thinking about this?

(Y/N): I've had two years since the fight with Aizen to think all of this stuff through. But to answer Yoruichi's question, my inner world takes the form of a floating palace. Every hollow I've defeated and still have in my possession can be found somewhere in my inner world. In the throne is where my strongest members are located. My guess is if I take the original soul, they'll be situated somewhere in the inner world of my soul. Which means they wouldn't be able to take hostile control over my body.

...

...

...

(Y/N): Now that I think about it, Thanatos did say something strange that never made sense to me until now.

~~~~

Thanatos: Yo! You finally made it!

(Y/N): You certainly made yourself comfortable.

Thanatos: Well, when you're not here, someone has to keep these guys in check. Can't have them destroying the palace while the Emperor- sorry, the "Overseer" is away.

~~~~

(Y/N): There's probably an issue that can occur if the soul I take is far stronger than I am, copy or not.

Ichigo: But why does your hollow influence your abilities so much if they belong to your zanpakuto spirit?

(Y/N): Because they're linked. My Zanpakuto and my Hollow stressed that point a lot. Aren't yours the same way?

Ichigo: Well...

...

(Y/N): You don't know, do you?

Ichigo: Listen, my powers aren't as convoluted and confusing as yours alright!

(Y/N): Anyway, we deviated from our original topic. What I'm trying to get at is that my powers can easily mess up the balance of the 3 realms, Soul King or not. I need to get way stronger without relying on them so heavily. And I want to start by getting better at controlling the strength I have now. Who knows what Central 46 would do if they find out this. Although they've banned Bankais in the past, there's a chance my Shikai would be deemed worthy of facing the same treatment. Azashiro probably would've had his Bankai banned if he didn't have special treatment as a Kenpachi.

Yoruichi: That would be the responsible thing to do.

Unohana: If that's the case, would you like to train with me, (Y/N)?

(Y/N) froze in his tracks.

(Y/N): Huh? You mean it, Captain Unohana?

Unohana: Of course. Although, It would be hard to get permission to do so. But I'll do my best. We've pushed our Kaido training back far too long.

(Y/N): Something tells me it's more than Kaido training if you need permission. Especially if you helped me before without permission.

Unohana: I'm glad you picked up on that.

(Y/N): I appreciate the help, nonetheless.

Unohana: I'll inform you on whether or not I'm giving permission, but for now, I must take my leave. I'm sure my Squad has made it back to Soul Society.

(Y/N): Well I shouldn't keep you. Thank you for all your help Captain.

Unohana: It's been my pleasure. Oh, and don't worry about the conversation that has taken place today. I won't allow anyone to know what was talked about in regards to your ability.

And with that, Unohana opened a Senkaimon and departed the World of the Living.

Yoruichi: Well, we should be heading home. (Y/N), you should stop by tomorrow. Tessai, Ururu and Jinta no doubt are concerned about your safety.

(Y/N): Yeah, I should probably do that... And there's no telling how (S/N) will react once I get home. But first things first, we gotta head back to Hueco Mundo to get Chad and Orihime.

Ichigo: Why don't you just stay here and let me and Ishida pick them up.

Uryu: Kurosaki's right. You no doubt have been stressed and exhausted from this entire ordeal. Get some rest.

(Y/N): I guess... I'll take you up on your offer.

Ichigo: Alright Ishida, let's head to Hats and Clogs and open another Garganta.

(Y/N): Hold up, I can just make a Gar-

Ichigo: No, go home and rest.

(Y/N): But it'll-

Ichigo: Leave.

(Y/N): Fine...

Yoruichi then picked up (Y/N) against his will and threw him over her shoulder.

Yoruichi: You two go on ahead, I'll get him home.

Ichigo: Thanks Yoruichi.

(Y/N): Just come back safe, you two.

Uryu: The threats have already been dealt with, we'll be just fine.

And with that the four split up.

On his way home, (Y/N) thought to himself.

(Y/N): *thinking* Speaking of souls... Wiz said Cien broke into Mayrui's lab and found Szayelaporro's body... Does that mean Mayuri has bodies from other arrancars in his lab? Does that mean he has Luppi's body? I never thought about what happened after he died. What would happen if I put a copy of Luppi's soul in his body if he does have it?

Yoruichi: You okay there?

(Y/N): Huh? Yeah...

(Y/N) was now thinking there was a possibility that reviving one of his arrancars was a legit possibility. (Y/N) would wait until his next visit to the Soul Society to find out if his hypothesis was true. But for now, he should be glad he's still alive.

To be continued.

Damn... Foreshadowing, am I right?

Okay, for real though, I felt like I had to have this chapter because this exposition is gonna play apart of what I have in store for the TYBW arc.

Second, I know alot of people wanted (Y/N) to become a Kenpachi, but what it means to be a Kenpachi just doesn't fit his character. Although if I went for the "(Y/N) will change how the Kenpachi title works going forward" approach, then perhaps. But quite frankly I don't think he needs or wants it at all. He's just a simple guy who likes his peace and quiet.

Which is ironic because now he's going to be recieving training from Unohana of all people. Though to be fair, this is something I really wanted to do for a while. Both Unohana and (Y/N) fit the description of "Don't piss off the nice guy" so I always wanted to write more of their dynamic.

So yeah, look forward to that. Hopefully I won't have to write too many slice of life stuff before the start of TYBW. But this is the start of my break to write both the slice of life stuff and most of, if not all, of Cour 1 of TYBW