Chapter 004: The Five Types of Zanpakuto
[Quest complete... Rewards acquired]
[Calligraphy +10 (consolidated into skill: Elegant Bone), Reiatsu Level +5, Zanpakuto (self-directed affinity)]
A string of rewards like that would normally have him grinning ear to ear. But...
Not yet. Can't react yet. Got to hold it in.
Doing something weird in front of Rojuro Otoribashi would just be embarrassing. Wait thirty seconds. Get out of the room first, then celebrate.
The effort of suppressing it was genuinely painful, a full Light Yagami "just as planned" level of forced composure. Matsushita Yusuke gave Squad 3's captain a polite farewell bow, turned, walked out of the room, and jogged until he found a bathroom in a deserted corner of the building.
Yes! Zanpakuto acquired!
That said, he didn't actually have anything on him at the moment.
So how exactly was he supposed to collect the reward?
He raised his right hand halfway, let his thoughts settle for a moment, and then a trail of blue light curved through the air like something shifting from invisible to real.
In the span of a breath, the hazy impression solidified, and Matsushita Yusuke was holding a standard-issue...
Asauchi.
This was where things got a little technical. Back before he'd transmigrated, Matsushita Yusuke had assumed there wasn't much meaningful distinction in how Zanpakuto were referred to. But these past months at Shin'o Academy had filled in some of the more foundational gaps in his knowledge.
One of the more straightforward ones was the naming.
Any blade in its fully dormant state, before any release had been achieved, was called an asauchi. Just an asauchi. Shinigami trained their Zanjutsu to fight with the asauchi, and that foundation was the baseline from which everything else grew.
Once released, though, because every person's inner world was different, the blade would diverge into something unique. From that point on it became the basis for that individual's own combat style and philosophy.
Kira Izuru's Wabisuke, for example, doubled the weight of whatever it struck. Momo Hinamori's Tobiume fired explosive bursts, closer in nature to a Kido-type ability.
With a solid foundation established, the abilities that grew out of it would gradually replace that foundation, reshaping into whatever fighting style suited the person best.
These thoughts drifted through his mind as Matsushita Yusuke looked down at the blade in his hand, expression going a little complicated.
Because he'd read the source material, he knew not just where things were heading, but some of the deeper mechanics running underneath the surface of all three realms.
A Zanpakuto. Or in this state, an asauchi.
These things didn't come from nowhere.
They were forged by Nimaiya Oetsu, one of the Royal Guard in the Soul King Palace, and they were something genuinely special. An asauchi was essentially a weapon made from a refined and extracted blend of mixed souls. Through resonance with a Shinigami, the two would produce something far more than either alone.
Even the greatest half-blood in all three realms, Ichigo Kurosaki himself, couldn't sidestep that principle. His final-form Zanpakuto, one blade long and one short, was the direct result of sealing both his Quincy and Shinigami powers into the same weapon.
Which brought him to the obvious question.
Was his blade also forged by Nimaiya Oetsu? Or did it just... materialize as a System reward?
He thought about it. Then thought about it some more.
Nothing. No answer.
That kind of question was clearly too deep to untangle right now. Matsushita Yusuke let it go and moved on.
He pointed his attention at the Zanpakuto's actual abilities instead.
Just as the System prompt had described, a brand new menu was now floating in front of him.
[Zanpakuto Ability Panel]
[Physical: 0]
[Elemental: 0]
[Kido: 0]
[Biological: 0]
[Rule: 0]
All zeroes across the board!
He wanted to complain about that, but honestly his attention was elsewhere entirely.
What actually had him hooked was the fact that the System had divided Zanpakuto into five distinct categories.
Five types?
The original manga never broke things down this precisely. Which meant this was probably the System's own classification framework.
In other words.
A fan-made tier list. Unofficial rankings!
Matsushita Yusuke didn't actually mind. It was a clear and direct way to track changes and understand what was happening. Hard to argue with that.
As for the five categories themselves, he thought through them and found the logic came together fairly quickly.
Physical type.
Exactly what it sounded like. The straightforward kind.
The most obvious example would be Zangetsu, but since Ichigo wasn't a local, first place probably had to go to Kenpachi Zaraki. Nozarashi was the same type.
No unusual trick to speak of. It was more like the old man sitting inside a ring who simply gave you a direct, uncomplicated boost in power, enough raw force to cut the other person down with pure reiatsu.
Elemental type.
This one was even easier to explain. Hyorinmaru, the fan favorite, and Ryujin Jakka, dripping in prestige, were both textbook examples of this category.
In most other series, elemental abilities tended to be the second lead's thing, the reliable support type. But in Bleach, an elemental Zanpakuto carried serious potential. Deeply worth developing.
With Yamamoto Genryusai Shigekuni at the top, Toshiro Hitsugaya's label as a "warrior of the future" carried real weight.
Kido type.
Slightly more complex, but Aizen Sosuke and Hirako Shinji were the obvious examples.
One controlled all five senses, the other inverted perception. Both used their Zanpakuto's special ability to attack from within. Classic representatives of the category.
Momo Hinamori's Tobiume fit here too, as did the Shikai of Kisuke Urahara's Benihime.
And since Kido itself was a broad enough umbrella to cover both Hado and Bakudo, almost any Zanpakuto with a special ability of some kind could be filed under this heading.
Biological type...
This one was a bit unusual.
It took Matsushita Yusuke a moment to properly wrap his head around it.
Going by the name, a Biological type Zanpakuto released into an actual living entity that fought independently.
So something like the Hell Warden beast? Actually, no, that wasn't quite right either. The defining feature of the Biological type was specifically the concept of independence.
Thinking it through, the only example that really fit the criteria was Retsu Unohana's Minazuki.
Because when Unohana directed it in combat, she used something closer to a tone of negotiation than command.
Though to be fair, that might just have been an old habit of hers.