This is my first time writing a novel. When I was dividing it into volumes, I miscategorized a chapter, and when I tried to delete it, I found out that contracted works on Fanqie Novel can't be deleted.

So here we are. Might as well chat.

I was born in 2000, and I'm currently an orthopedic surgeon. I watched the Bleach anime back in elementary school and got hooked immediately. In high school I read through the manga all the way to the Thousand-Year Blood War arc. Honestly? It felt rushed. The ending was a mess, and I wasn't a fan of the final form either, it had this cobbled-together feeling, like it was just spelling out Ichigo's bloodline traits for you point-blank.

I later found out it came down to real-life circumstances for Tite Kubo, health problems, serialization pressures, all of that. Over the past few years, the TYBW anime adaptation pulled a lot of people into Bleach, and I started digging through fan works too.

I've read a ton of great Naruto fanfiction. Joining the Uchiha, death-seeker systems, Sage of Six Paths systems, all kinds of stuff, and most of it was genuinely fun. But in the Bleach fandom, nothing really grabbed me. I hit a dry spell with reading material, and I figured, why not just write something myself?

Bleach fanfiction is trickier than Naruto, honestly. Naruto has a clean, well-laid-out timeline: the Otsutsuki era, Hashirama and Madara, the main Naruto Uzumaki storyline, then Boruto. Bleach has gaps everywhere. We know there was a Quincy war a thousand years ago against Yamamoto's crew, and the manga touched on the past in volumes 36 and 37 — the nine years leading up to Kisuke Urahara taking office, and how Aizen created the Visored — but everything else is a blank. If I want to start from way back, I have to build that history myself.

Now, some questions people have been asking.

Is there a single female lead?

No.

But it's not going to be a harem power fantasy either. Think more along the lines of Ichigo Kurosaki, surrounded by a lot of great female characters who develop feelings along the way (Nel Tu, Riruka, Tatsuki, and others like them).

Then there's the Zanpakutō question, which a lot of people seem to be waiting on.

Here's the thing, the title is Kidō Teacher. You don't need to fixate on whether the protagonist has a Zanpakutō. It's not as simple as giving him dual blades or some bookish aesthetic and calling it done. Zanpakutō and Bankai are a core part of what makes Bleach Bleach, so I'll work hard to design original characters with interesting Zanpakutō and creative ways to use them.

What I'm more focused on right now is inserting the protagonist into the main storyline in a way that feels natural, where he fits, where he pushes things, where he maybe even changes the direction things are heading.

In my view, Bleach's cast is genuinely great. Naruto has the classic frustrating villagers, Danzō doing evil around every corner, a Third Hokage who keeps dropping the ball, characters who attract a lot of criticism for good reason. But in Bleach, whether you're talking about the Gotei 13 or the Arrancar, the character work on both sides is exceptional. I don't want any of them going out cheaply, no overpowered protagonist one-shotting Espada left and right, no kill-stealing that derails the emotional journeys those characters are supposed to have.

That's not the kind of story I want to tell. What I want is for my protagonist to slot into that world like he was always there, like a stone dropped in still water. And when Tite Kubo's characters meet him, the ripples they create should come from who they actually are.

One thing I do want to fix from canon: I hate when characters stop mid-fight to explain their own abilities. I get it — that era was big on audience-friendly exposition, but watching someone gain a slight edge and immediately start narrating their own powers is genuinely painful. (You know who you are. Rōjūrō Otoribashi. Soi Fon.)

So whenever I design original Zanpakutō, I'll put the ability breakdown at the end of the chapter as "Publicly Available Information", not have characters monologue about it while they're supposed to be fighting.

That's about everything I wanted to say. I hope you enjoy the read.

One last thing.

I'll do my best not to miss updates. But I'm a doctor, so if night shifts come up, I might go dark for a night, and if surgeries pile up, I might just not have anything left in the tank. Who knows. I'm twenty-five and punching in like everyone else. Future problems are future problems.

➤ Next: Volume 2: The Muken Prisoners Arc - Chapter 31: A Night Visit to the Kuchiki

Chapter 31 - Volume 2: The Muken Prisoners Arc - Chapter 31: A Night Visit to the Kuchiki

[Volume 2: The Muken Prisoners Arc]

Chapter 31: A Night Visit to the Kuchiki

By the time Seijūrō slipped through the side gate of the Kuchiki manor, night had fully settled. He wasn't wearing his Kidō Corps uniform, just plain grey casual clothes, his steps quiet and easy. The guards recognized him. Over the past fifty-odd years, he'd passed through this gate more times than he could count. He knew the way as well as he knew his own home.

Lights were on deep within the courtyard. The sliding paper doors stood half-open, warm yellow light spilling through the gap and falling across the karesansui rock garden below. A slender figure sat at a low table, brush in hand, setting characters onto rice paper. Her wrist was delicate, her grip upright and unhurried. The lamplight softened her profile, refined features, lips pressed lightly together, an expression of quiet, settled focus. Beside her, a young man who shared something of her face ground ink in silence. When they noticed Seijūrō, both stopped at the same time.

Hisana Kuchiki. The woman Byakuya had married in defiance of noble tradition, against the weight of the entire Kuchiki Clan and the Seireitei's aristocratic circles.

Behind her stood a tall, lean figure. Black hair fastened neatly back with kenseikan, a few loose strands resting above his brow. The boyishness had long since left his face, the lines there now were sharp and composed, settled into something steady. A white captain's haori over his shihakushō, the Squad 6 armband pinned to his left arm.

Byakuya Kuchiki. Sixty-eighth head of the Kuchiki Clan. Captain of Squad 6, Gotei 13. Standing there, he was his own kind of silence. When he saw Seijūrō, the edge between his brows eased, just slightly.

"Teacher."

Seijūrō stepped up onto the veranda. "Sorry to intrude."

"Not at all. Please, come in." Byakuya stepped aside, clearing the doorway.

Hisana set down her brush and rose from the table. She wore plain house clothes, the Kuchiki crest embroidered along the lapel. Her face was a little thinner than in her younger years, but her smile was the same, warm and unhurried. "Teacher, your timing is perfect. I made some wagashi today. Please have a taste."

She turned and lifted a small dish from the lacquer tray beside her. Two delicate confections rested on it. The outer skin was thin and translucent, glutinous rice flour kneaded to a near-see-through wrap, the dark red bean filling just visible beneath. A fine dusting of kinako covered the surface. Where they'd been cut, the filling showed its texture in clean, careful layers.

"I always get something good when I come here..." Seijūrō picked one up and took a bite. The mochi skin was soft and yielding. The red bean filling was sweet without being heavy. The kinako's toasted warmth bloomed across his tongue and faded slow. "Byakuya really did find himself a wonderful wife."

A faint flush crept up to the base of Byakuya's ears. He lowered his head and shifted his grip on his sword hilt. Hisana raised a sleeve to hide the corner of her mouth, her eyes curving into crescents.

Seijūrō finished the rest of the confection. "Is Old Man Ginrei around?"

"Grandfather is in the tearoom. I will take you, Teacher."

"Don't bother — go keep your wife company." Seijūrō was already turning toward the back of the house. He waved a hand over his shoulder as he went.

The tearoom sat at the deepest end of the manor, well away from the reception parlor in the front and the living quarters in the rear. Seijūrō passed through several connecting corridors and stopped before a wooden lattice door. From the other side came the quiet strike of a tea whisk against a bowl, steady, unhurried, without variation.

"Enter."

Ginrei Kuchiki sat in the center of the tearoom with a complete tea set before him. Long white hair bound neatly at his back, his beard reaching his chest. He wasn't wearing the Squad 6 haori, just dark grey everyday clothes, but his spine was straight as an old pine that had weathered too many seasons to bother bending. The whisk moved slowly through the tea, his posture calm and focused.

"Kidōin-dono. The hour is late. What brings you here?"

Seijūrō sat down across from him. "Something has gone wrong inside the Kidō Corps."

Ginrei's whisk kept moving. Green froth formed slowly in the bowl.

"I've held the position of Vice Kidō Chief for over fifty years. In all that time, the breaches in the Seireitei's barrier have never stopped." Seijūrō kept his voice level. "I went back and re-audited every squad member who handled barrier maintenance. I found a pattern. Every time a breach appeared, the name on the maintenance report was different — a new signatory each time. But the duty assignments all traced back to the same source. Someone has been placing people who had no business being in barrier maintenance. The tampering was precise. Subtle enough that no review ever caught it. But leak a few souls each time, let it run for fifty years, and the number that accumulates is enough to make anyone go cold."

Ginrei's whisk stopped. "Why did you not inform Captain-Commander Yamamoto? And why are you only finding this now?"

"There is no evidence. Every signature on the maintenance reports is in order. Every assignment bears Mahiru Tokito's sign-off. The people who were planted left nothing that points back to them directly. And in these fifty years within the Kidō Corps, my work has been constrained at every turn."

Ginrei set the whisk aside and lifted the bowl. Fine green froth floated on the surface. "No evidence. Nothing but intuition." His voice was old and even. "I cannot support you on that alone. The Kuchiki Clan is first among the Four Noble Families. When nobles act, they need reason and proof. If you want me to shield you from Central 46, you need to give me something to stand on."

Silence settled over the tearoom. Water murmured softly on the brazier. White steam curled from the iron kettle's spout and dissolved into the bitter smell of the tea.

"Over fifty years ago, Kisuke Urahara was investigating the Hollowfication incident when Central 46 pulled him away before he'd finished. The judgment came before the investigation did. By the time he tried to go back, the evidence had already been rewritten. Every witness was testifying for someone else. He became the mastermind. His colleagues became traitors. His research became proof of his crimes." Seijūrō's voice didn't rise. "What I'm doing now is the same kind of thing he was doing then. I'm looking into barrier breaches, but whoever is behind this can operate for fifty years without leaving a trace on a single report. Can keep seeding their own people into position, year after year. Can turn the Grand Kidō Chief into a piece on their board. Someone like that can just as easily go before Central 46 and make my investigation look like overreach. Turn my questions into slander. Make me into a second Kisuke Urahara."

He looked at Ginrei.

"I'm not afraid of that. What I'm afraid of is being pulled out halfway, one summons from Central 46, and by the time I return, the mastermind is gone and every lead has been wiped. Exactly like fifty-odd years ago."

Ginrei held the bowl and didn't drink.

"That's why I need the Kuchiki Clan. Not to lie for me. I need your influence to hold off whatever pressure in Central 46 is coming from whoever is behind this. When I get summoned on some pretext — when I'm ordered to stop — I need someone standing before Central 46 with a reason that gives them pause before they move against me."

"You're afraid of being stopped before you can finish."

"Yes. The same way Kisuke Urahara was."

Ginrei was quiet for a long time. The bowl turned slowly in his hands, small ripples spreading across the tea's surface. He looked down at the green froth dissolving in the bowl. Then he spoke.

"On the day Sōjun fell in battle, I sat before his memorial tablet the entire night. Byakuya was still very young then. He stood behind me and didn't say a single word. Later, he took up Sōjun's blade. He took up the kenseikan. He took up the Squad 6 haori. He did all of that not only through what the clan gave him, but because you taught him, from the time he was a child, how to find a path where none existed." Ginrei set the bowl down onto the tatami and raised his eyes to Seijūrō. They were old, but they were clear. "Over fifty years ago, I asked Yoruichi to find a Kidō instructor for Byakuya. She recommended you. What she said was: this man will not stray from the path. Yoruichi Shihōin does not judge people lightly. The person she trusted, I trust. In these fifty-odd years, Byakuya has changed a great deal. From a boy who only knew how to draw his sword and charge, he has grown into someone who can carry both the Kuchiki Clan and Squad 6 with steady hands. I have never forgotten that."

He paused.

"Do what you must. Central 46, I will hold them. This is the Kuchiki Clan's promise. Not in the name of the greatest noble house. In the name of Ginrei Kuchiki. In the names of Sōjun and Byakuya."

Seijūrō lowered his head and bowed, slow and deep. Not the formal salute of a Vice Kidō Chief to a Squad 6 Captain. Just the bow of a younger man to an elder, plain and without ceremony.

➤ Next: Everything in Place