Penetrating Seireitei

[Detecting High Level Soul… Optimal Spiritual Environment… Recommend: Maintain Proximity with High Level Entities in Combat. Awakening Accelerated.]

At this moment, Gin Ichimaru, the captain of the third division arrived and heavily injured Jidanbo. Then he struck Ichigo, knocking him back out of the opened gate along with Jidanbo. Orihime had already approached and caught the two of them with her barrier.

Orihime could feel the hogyuko stirring in the presence of captain Gin. The gate slammed shut and their path into Seireitei was blocked. After a few moments, the hogyoku calmed back down.

'This is a game changer. I need to be in the presence of the three big fights to speed up the awakening of the hogyuko. No wonder Aizen created all those Arrancar!'

The residents of the town began to come out after they were blasted away from the gate. Orihime went over to the injured Jidanbo and crossed her wrists together with her palms forward.

When she spread her arms, a large healing zone was created over the ugly wound. Thanks to this, it sealed up in a matter of seconds, much faster compared to the original Orihime at this time.

"He'll be fine now. However, he's still worn out, so he may rest for a while."

All the souls cheered for her healing. Yoruichi rounded the group up and explained the next step. Naturally, they needed to go find Kukaku Shiba at this point. Going through the front gate would never have worked.

The chief offered a place to stay for the night to rest after the fight, so they accepted. Orihime sighed because they were about to meet her most hated character. He was useless, loud, and arrogant.

'At least Kon is kind of cute, but Ganju Shiba is just…'

The door was knocked open in the middle of Yoruichi explaining the plan. A bulky man with a bandana stood up and looked at the people in the room. Following behind him, a large boar appeared.

"Hey, how you doing old man, long time no see."

"This isn't a good time, its best you leave!"

"I know I don't come around often, but is that really a way to treat me in front of guests…"

Then he looked at Orihime and Ichigo and scowled.

"What are two dirty Soul Reapers doing here?"

"And who the heck do you think you are?"

"My given name is Ganju. And my clan name is Shiba..."

After introducing himself, Ganju and Ichigo were about to start going on a battle of words which would lead into an actual fight. However, Orihime really wasn't interested in this petty squabble.

The only purpose of this event was to foreshadow conflict between Ganju and Rukia so she stepped in.

"We were just leaving. There's no need to fight between people on the same side. You said your name was Shiba? We are looking for help from Kukaku Shiba in order to infiltrate the Seireitei."

Ganju wasn't sure how to react to that. Orihime's tone was very soft and what she said made sense. He just couldn't help getting angry at the spiky haired Soul Reaper. Orihime sighed because she knew it was due to their clashing personalities.

"Fat chance! Why would I lead Soul Reapers to my sister…"

"Good catch, Orihime. So, you are Kukaku's little brother. I am Yoruichi, and I vouch for these kids."

Yoruichi leaped into Orihime's arms to talk to Ganju. Although he did not like it, he knew that Yoruichi was an important friend to his sister. It was also almost time for dinner, so he should head back anyway.

"Fine. Follow us, we're heading back. Try to keep up, hehe."

"Good job Orihime."

"Thanks, Uryuu."

"I still don't like that guy; he pisses me off."

"Ichigo, you can't just fight everyone you don't like. You didn't like Uryuu at first and now you two are friends…"

"What, friends with a Soul Reaper? Nonsense."

"I have the same opinion!"

She realized her mistake. The main character's personality is a bit rough until later arcs, when he begins discovering certain truths.

'Technically he is only a teenager so its understandable, but still, he's the overpowered, triple plot armor main character! Would it kill him to take some responsibility?'

Their group of four chased after Ganju's group of four. Although they were quick on their boars, Ichigo's group was able to keep up. It wasn't long before they reached Kukaku's house.

"Just in time! Sister, I'm home!"

A woman with short, black hair and a prosthetic arm exited the strange building in the middle of a grassy field. She looked a lot like Tatsuki, with a similar personality too. Kukaku noticed the guests and got angry.

"Ganju, why are you bringing people over without telling me!"

"Kukaku, it has been a long time."

The cat resting in Orihime's arms spoke, and realization dawned on Kukaku.

"Well, it certainly has, Yoruichi."

They were led down stairs in order to talk properly. The building was rather strange as it had a large cannon buried at the back. This would naturally be the method of infiltration. Once they settled down in a room the two continued talking.

They had a strange dynamic, seemingly talking in a context the others couldn't understand. Orihime realized she had inadvertently sped up the events by one day. She wasn't going to interfere in Ichigo's poor control; However, considering Ganju and him didn't have a fight, he should be more willing to help.

Once the talks between the two were over, the group was offered a meal while the cannon was being set up. Then, the group was brought to check out the device that would send them into Seireitei.

The building shook as the large cannon was raised to ground level. Everyone was shocked about the plan once it was revealed. Even Orihime, who knew it already, was a bit shocked.

'It's a lot different compared to reading or watching it. Honestly, it's a bit scary, but the plot will certainly protect us… maybe.'

When they returned to the main building, they were shown the spiritual tool that would create the "cannon ball" using their own Reiatsu. Orihime was able to summon a perfect cannon ball on her first try.

"Impressive, you certainly have the talent to be a Kido master. As for the others… they still need a bit of work."

No one else was able to activate the barrier before the next day. Meanwhile, Yoruichi and Orihime were lazing around playing. Orihime knew Ichigo would take a lot of time to figure it out, so she wasn't in a rush. Fortunately, Orihime saw Ganju going over, most likely to him to show him a trick.

At this point, everyone already had a chance to eat except Ichigo. Just as they were about to check on him, the building started shaking. The group ran over to see what was happening, and Ichigo was creating a giant cannon ball. After being scolded by Kukaku, he was able to reign it in. However, in his excitement he exploded.

"Alright, seems that everyone's ready. Orihime will be in charge of flight correction."

Kukaku handed her a long sheet of paper with incantations written on it. Orihime was stunned.

'Ganju was supposed to come along and use this…'

"Sister, I will go with them. I have already memorized the chant!"

'Oh, good, he's an idiot.'

Meanwhile, Ichigo was passed out because of the cannon ball situation. Yoruichi was dangerously close to his face. Orihime suddenly had flashbacks of a certain devestating incident. Quick on her feet, she immediately ran over and scooped Yoruichi up. However, Ichigo suddenly grabbed Orihime's wrist.

"Phew, that was close, he almost grabbed your tail."

However, she underestimated the strength of his grip. Orihime thought the crooked tail was a gag, but now she really understands. Her wrist started to hurt. If not for the wristbands it might have broken the bone.

Sado and Uryuu managed to pry his hand off after much struggling. However, she couldn't escape being bruised. Yoruichi carefully hid her tail and looked up at Orihime in admiration. Any previous grievance for the tail grabbing incident was cleared up at this point.

When Ichigo finally woke up, he noticed Orihime's healing power mending her wrist. He wanted to know how that happened, but he was given awkward glances by the group.

"Alright, now that Ichigo is awake, we will begin the launch."

Orihime noticed that Ganju didn't have a chance to talk about his dead brother. She didn't think it was relevant to the plot so it was fine. It's just more unnecessary characterization in the grand scheme of things.

Everyone huddled together in the cannon's tube and held the cannon ball tool. They were warned to keep a constant level, but Orihime knew that Ichigo would fail, distracting Ganju, and causing them to crash land into Seireitei after being separated.

Fortunately, the scenes played out exactly the same. Orihime had wondered if her increased spiritual power would make a difference, but it didn't. She was actually a bit depressed. Even though she worked so hard to get stronger, Ichigo was simply just too overpowered.

As the cannon ball impacted the barrier around Seireitei, they unloaded all of their spiritual power to punch through it. After the large spinning whirlpool formed, the party was separated into four small groups and launched to separate sections of Seireitei.

Uryuu and Orihime to sixth district, Sado to fifth district, Ichigo and Ganju to eleventh district, and Yoruichi to twelfth district. They were effectively on opposite sides of the Seireitei.

As Uryuu and Orihime were falling, she quickly formed a cushion with her barrier, giving them a comfortable crash landing.

"Good work Orihime, your powers are really impressive."

"Thanks, Uryuu, lets hide first."