Chapter 114: Unlocking a High-Level Talent
The quest's judgment criteria ran on the stricter side, and from the look of things: the final appointment authority still rested with the old man.
Whatever. Not worth thinking about.
What mattered was the reward.
In hand, that meant it was good.
As the rewards processed, his capabilities shifted across multiple categories. Leaving the squad base, Matsushita Yusuke took a moment to check his panel.
[Reiatsu Level: 28] (current cap: 50)
[Zanjutsu: 45] [Hakuda: 43] [Hoho: 43] [Kido: 60] (total cap: 100)
[Overall Assessment: Bottom-Rank Captain Level]
The numbers had gone up considerably, but the overall assessment hadn't changed.
Which made sense. Once you entered this tier, significant improvement took real accumulation. The captain ranks contained no shortage of figures who had been operating for centuries. Surpassing any of them wasn't going to happen overnight.
So Yusuke didn't linger on those numbers. The part he actually cared about was the random Bankai selection.
He had three Shikai: Physical, Elemental, and Kido-type Zanpakuto.
The question was which one the random draw would land on.
With a small degree of anxiety, he swallowed once to settle himself, took a breath, and carefully opened the ability panel.
[Zanpakuto Ability Panel]
[Physical: 70]
[Elemental: 31]
[Kido: 53]
[Biological: 28]
[Rule: 22]
A large, bold 70 sat there on the Physical line.
Physical was selected.
His feelings about this were, to put it diplomatically, mixed.
On the good side: he could finally shout "Bankai" in front of people and gain some actual style points in the process.
On the concerning side: why, of all options, did it land on Physical, which was currently the most underwhelming of the three?
The honest truth was that Yusuke had a few issues with Kongozō.
As a Physical-type Zanpakuto, it wasn't brutal enough and it wasn't stat-heavy enough. The ability itself also had a somewhat redundant quality to it.
Against opponents who actually needed the ability: they generally weren't going to give Yusuke the sustained contact time required to get it working.
Against opponents who didn't need the ability: he could probably beat them without any technique at all.
Compared to the other two releases, Kongozō came up short in almost every practical scenario.
But.
Wait. Isn't that actually just my problem?
Because theoretically: Kongozō, with enough reiatsu behind it, should be able to break through anything. The "penetrate all defenses" principle was sound. The limitation was his current ceiling, not the sword.
The question was: what did the Bankai look like?
He'd need to develop that before the ghost's visit in a few days. Going up against an opponent at that level with pure Kido alone was clearly insufficient. He needed to expand his toolkit.
Matsushita Yusuke started running through possibilities in his head.
Returning to Squad 2, he found Kishinoshin waiting.
"How did things go, Matsushita-kun?"
Yusuke came back to the present and gave a complete debrief without holding anything back.
"Oh, that much happened? That's actually surprising."
After processing that, Yusuke pulled out the map Sasakibe had given him and spread it across the table.
"Kishinoshin-senpai, I have something I need your help with. Hypothetically, if you were the Squad 11 captain, where would you think the best place to rebuild the base would be?"
"Consulting my opinion? You're sharp."
"I'm just a newcomer. Someone with your experience in Seireitei matters is considerably more insightful. These things I can really only rely on you for."
"I'm not someone whose ears go soft from a few compliments."
He smiled silently and shook his head.
Though he said that, a serious expression followed almost immediately.
Because Yoruichi's instruction was to help Matsushita Yusuke with everything he had, and this fell squarely within that.
"Let me look... does Matsushita-kun have any particular requirements for the squad?"
Yusuke, who had been half-focused on reading through the Bankai ability and working out his strategy, refocused.
"Huh? What do you mean?"
"Requirements for the squad members. Simple example:"
Kishinoshin raised his hand and mimed drinking.
"Some squads have a heavy drinking culture. Placing the base near certain areas would make that convenient."
That's not something a normal person uses as a base selection criterion.
"Of course, there are also people who prefer quiet and remote locations. Placing the base over here would suit that better. And because it's more remote, the same budget can purchase more land. Once it's developed and divided into sections, it would come across quite impressively."
Yusuke nodded along, said he would think it over carefully before making a final call.
The urgency of having an administrative mind on his side was becoming impossible to ignore. Just handling these questions on his own would consume far too much of his energy.
He still needed to train. The ghost showed up in three days. After that, Aizen's plans eventually had to be navigated. And a hundred years down the line came Yhwach, round two.
Very busy. Not sure of the exact order of operations. But busy.
So.
Was there some kind of person who was both free and capable, worked tirelessly for next to nothing, and was available right now?
Yusuke's eyes drifted toward Kishinoshin without any particular expression on his face.
This "hereditary vice-captain of the Shihoin household" was something of a find in his own right.
Pulling Kishinoshin across to his squad felt a bit unrealistic. One step down from that: give me Marechiyo. Train him for a few years and he should be usable. One more nuclear-powered workhorse on the roster would be something else entirely.
But that was only a thought.
The Omaeda household was still nobility, and Yusuke was just a newly-appointed captain with nothing to show yet. There was no reasonable basis for handing over a son that quickly.
So this was a high-level talent that could only be unlocked once the infrastructure was already in place?
Tsk.
So he'd genuinely ended up in a management game.
What talent was actually available to him right now?
The thought had barely settled when:
Bang!
The door opened.
A familiar figure walked in, fixing Matsushita Yusuke with a haughty expression.
"Hey. Have you officially become captain yet?"
"Uh... yes, yes I have."
Soifon raised her chin slightly and placed a letter on the desk in front of him.
"Then I'm applying to be your vice-captain."
Only in that moment did it fully land.
She was with me all along. She was right there.
I unlocked a high-level talent ages ago.
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