In the First Squad meeting hall, the captains and lieutenant-captains had gathered. They didn't know the condition of their commander, so they didn't really question what was going on. As the captains entered the room, they were surprised to see Genryusai Yamamoto sitting in the Captain-Commander's chair. None openly questioned it, but inwardly they were all very confused.

Komamura's lone ear twitched as he picked up a faint argument somewhere in the Seireitei, but couldn't identify who it was. The Captain-Commader's cane hit the ground and he looked around at the assembled Captains.

"This meeting is to now come to order," Yamamoto said.

Captain Hitsugaya raised his hand and Yamamoto opened a lone eye and looked at him. "What is your question Hitsugaya-taicho?"

"Soutaicho-sama," the ten-year old looking captain asked. "What is the state of Kurosaki-soutaicho?"

Yamamoto took a breath, "My grandson is in a critical condition. Unohana-taicho (yes she lived. I the original captain of the eleventh division to teach Kenpachi Zanjutsu, but they didn't kill each other and now the first 11th division captain in mia) informed be that he was put in a forced comatose state to help him heal better."

"But when is he to awaken?" Byakuya asked.

"I do not know. It could be tomorrow, or it could ne-"

Just then, all of the Soul Society was hit with an immeasurable amount of reiatsu. All the Captains were forced to their knees and Genryusai was forced to one knee. But what surprised them is that they recognized this spiritual pressure.

"Ichigo," Genryusai muttered as he struggled to stand.

"Yamamoto-soutaicho what are you doing?" Komamura asked, frightened for his former comamnder.

"Going after my grandson," Yamamoto said.

The pressure was lifted and the captains raced to the source of the pressure. When they reached their destination, an open field, they were surprised to see Ichigo in the lower half of his shihakusho, Zangetsu in hand and the spirit outside of the blade. Ichigo grabbed the sealed katana and raised it up, gritting his teeth through the pain.

Zangetsu could feel the will of his wielder and felt such an immense sense of pride. He would advise caution as is his way because he didn't want his master hurt. But he knew how stubborn Ichigo was, but he would try anyways.

"Are you sure this is the route you wish to take Ichigo?" Zangetsu asked as he hefted his shikai form over his shoulder.

"Ikuze Zangetsu-oyaji," Ichigo said as he gripped Zangetsu's shikai harder. "I will not be caught off guard like that again. I know you're more powerful and since you're a melee zanpakuto I know it's possible for you to have greater forms. I don't know what will happen next so we're getting as far as we can right now."

"Are you certain of this Ichigo?" Zangetsu asked.

"I am Juha Bach," Ichigo growled.

"Why do you call me that when I told you I am Juha and I am not at the same time?" Zangetsu asked.

"Until I discover your true name," Ichigo said as he started charging his reiatsu. "I'll call you by either."

With that, the conversation was over and Ichigo raced at his zanpakuto. Zangetsu responded in kind, both giving a war cry as their blades clashed. Cleaver against katana, the two blades pushed against each other, vying for dominance. Ichigo kicked Zangetsu back and ran at him using shunpo. Zangetsu flipped back onto his feet and appeared behind Ichigo, slashing at his back. Ichigo turned and blocked, bracing his arm against his blade.

"Ichigo, you may have to release the blade to beat me," Zangetsu muttered.

"No," Ichigo growled. "I'll defeat you with my own power."

With a roar, Ichigo pushed back against the spirit and rushed him. Zangetsu prepared a Getsuga Tenshou and fired it. Ichigo shunpoed out of the way, and quickly realized his mistake and shunpoed in front of the Gotei 13 members that were watching and growled. His eyes briefly turned to their hollow color and the skull and horns of his hollow form appeared with the hole reappearing on his neck.

Now, Ichigo's mask was crossed with two black "X"'s starting from the crown of the head and going over the eyes and mouth. Ichigo sonidoed to the spot and roared, unleashing a Cero which negated the Tenshou and raced through the smoke at Zangetsu.

A Hakuda fight ensued, Zangetsu quickly proving to be Ichigo's superior, but a strange thing happened and all the captain's had noticed, as did Zangetsu. Ichigo was slowly adapting the Hakuda stances he knew to suit his purposes. He was learning as he fought, instinctually covering his mistakes and openings the longer the fight drew on.

Zangetsu was proud of this and did something no one thought possible, he made a mistake. Ichigo caught this and smirked, capitalizing on this and began pounding Zangetsu with blow after blow. The melee zanpakuto was slowly driven back and Ichigo drove a knee into Zangetsu's stomach, driving the breath out of the blade spirit and raised his leg up, slamming a knee into the side of his head.

Zangetsu went flying and started rollling, finally landing on his feet. Everyone was awed, everyone who fought Zangetsu knew that he was an opponent that would rarely make a mistake, yet here everyone was watching him get his ass handed to him by a 17 year old boy when Zangetsu was an over one thousand year old spirit. All they could say was it was getting good.

Their blades clashed over and over again, the sounds of metal striking metal ringing through the air. Both jumped back a considerable distance from each other and each fired a Getsuga Tenshou. The two attacks negated each other and the combatants raced through the smoke and their blades clashed again. The strikes of their blades kept coming faster and faster. In the end, the spirit's abilities ran out and Ichigo was laying on the ground, gasping for breath. Unohana was walking over to him when Ichigo flipped over, climbed to his feet and looked at Zangetsu, raising the katana he had picked up from the ground.

Unohana tried to stop him and Ichigo shook his head.

"No Unohana-taicho," Ichigo stated, gripping the blade more firmly despite the pain in his body. "I don't need, nor want your help."

"But Kurosaki-soutai-"

"Stand down Captain," Ichigo ordered sternly. "I do this to protect all of you as a Captain-Commander should. Do not hinder me by sending me to the infirmary and keeping me bedridden. Zangetsu,"

The spirit looked at him.

"Ikuze."

And with a roar, Ichigo launched himself at the spirit again.

And so, there is chapter five. I hope you all enjoyed it. Next chapter, I'll be skipping Ichigo's training and I will just tell you, he went long enough to achieve four other forms of Bankai, which would translate to about ten years in the Human World in this book and about fifty hours in the Seireitei. I know that in the manga and anime it says it'd take thousands of years, but we all know Ichigo is stubborn and will keep going unless he dies, so I used that to my advantage. Ja ne.