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Lu Li had no intention of bickering with a little girl. Standing at the starting line, he casually kicked off his wooden sandals and took a deep breath.
The students standing close by could clearly see his chest expand massively. It wasn't a normal, centering breath; it looked and sounded more like raw fuel being pumped directly into a heavy-duty combustion engine!
Immediately after, as he lowered his center of gravity, the loose fabric of his dojo uniform bulged outward. The students stared in shock, unable to fathom the sheer, violent contortion of muscles happening beneath his clothes. He didn't look like a Soul Reaper preparing for an "elegant Shunpo"—he looked like a feral beast coiled to pounce!
The next moment, accompanied by a deafening, thunderous boom and a geyser of pulverized dirt, Lu Li vanished.
In Aizen's eyes, Lu Li truly was a predator launching itself at its prey. This wasn't the Shunpo he knew. The biomechanical generation of force, the way he leveraged the anchor points—it was all fundamentally warped. But most importantly... it was way too loud!
The ear-piercing screech of friction against the ground echoed across the track as a thick cloud of dust plumed into the air. Lu Li skidded to a halt just past the 100-meter mark. Under the thoroughly shell-shocked gazes of Yoruichi, the students, and the instructor, he flashed a feral grin and looked at the digital timer.
2.939s
He rolled his neck, cracking his joints, before turning back to Yoruichi. "Looks like I win."
Yoruichi's mouth hung open. "...That... that wasn't a Shunpo!"
"You only said you'd run the full course and I'd run half, and whoever got the shorter time wins. You never explicitly stated I had to use Shunpo," Lu Li chuckled. "Besides, who says that wasn't a Shunpo? That was absolutely a Shunpo."
Everyone present—instructor and students alike—was rendered entirely speechless. What kind of Shunpo sounded like a detonating artillery shell? No matter how you looked at it, he had just brute-forced his way across the track!
But as the initial shock wore off, a few of the more perceptive onlookers furrowed their brows in deep thought. They realized that despite the catastrophic noise and collateral damage, Lu Li had genuinely utilized the foundational mechanics of the Flash Step.
He had simply completely discarded the concepts of "silence" and "elegance."
After class, Yoruichi stood before Lu Li, her expression a complicated mess of emotions. "A bet is a bet. Tell me, what do you want to learn?"
Logically, she should have been furious about losing, especially since Lu Li's technique completely defied the traditional definition of the Flash Step. But she had an unparalleled eye for movement techniques. After analyzing it, she had to admit that his violent variation of Shunpo had undeniable merit.
Considering Lu Li had never studied Shunpo before today, there was only one insane conclusion to draw: after his very first exposure to the technique, it took him a mere twenty attempts to invent an entirely new combat step.
That was just... absolutely absurd!
Yoruichi obviously knew that Shunpo wasn't the only high-speed movement technique in existence. In truth, the Shin'o Academy only taught the bare-bones, commercialized version of the step. It was the foundation of the foundation. Calling it "Classic Shunpo" was just a polite way of saying "Outdated Shunpo."
The Shihouin clan was renowned across the Soul Society for their mastery of Hakuda and Shunpo. They possessed numerous secret, advanced movement techniques that made the Academy's curriculum look like child's play. And every single one of those advanced techniques was the culmination of generations of genius ancestors pooling their collective wisdom.
Yet today, she had witnessed the birth of a brand-new "Advanced Shunpo," created by a vagrant from Rukongai in less than an hour.
Yes, she genuinely believed Lu Li's variation was superior to the standard Academy step—at least, it was infinitely more suitable for his specific physiology.
The only reason she had confidently handicapped herself by doubling her distance was because she had mastered those advanced Shihouin techniques. She assumed a rookie who had just touched a basic Shunpo could never beat her. Forget Lu Li—even if she raced the instructor, the 3rd Seat of the Stealth Force, under equalized Reiatsu conditions, she would still win flawlessly.
But never in her wildest dreams did she imagine this freak of nature would custom-forge his own hyper-lethal Shunpo variant on the fly. Sure, it was catastrophically loud, but in terms of pure, raw speed, it was terrifying.
More importantly, she knew this was only his first day. He had literally just invented it. With practice, his speed would only escalate. Eclipsing her peak was no longer an impossibility.
Watching Yoruichi's expression rapidly shift through a dozen different emotions, Lu Li had no idea what kind of mental gymnastics she was doing. He simply stated his demand. "I've heard of an advanced Shunpo technique called Utsusemi. I don't suppose you know it?"
"Utsusemi?" Yoruichi's brow furrowed tightly. "Where exactly did you hear that name?"
Lu Li shrugged nonchalantly. "I overheard someone talking about it in the cafeteria while I was eating. Can't remember who. Why? Do you not know how to use it?"
He honestly wasn't sure if she knew it yet. The canon manga never explicitly stated whether Utsusemi was an inherited Shihouin technique or something Yoruichi invented herself later in life. If it was the latter, he might be out of luck.
"That is a secret Shihouin movement technique. Very few people even know the name..." Yoruichi seemed deeply conflicted. After a long moment of hesitation, she relented. "I'll teach it to you next class."
Her hesitation stemmed from the fact that Utsusemi was considered a high-tier secret art even within her clan. It wasn't strictly forbidden to teach outsiders, but it certainly wasn't something casually handed out. If Lu Li was a member of another Great Noble Family, it would be manageable. But he was a lowly vagrant.
She was the heir to the clan, yes, but she didn't have the absolute authority to hand out secret techniques on a whim. However, backing out of a wager was entirely beneath her pride. She would just have to go back and wage war with the stubborn clan elders.
With the prize of his wager secured, Lu Li was in fantastic spirits. He and Aizen headed to the cafeteria to commence his daily feast.
"Lu Li, that variation of Shunpo you used... did you truly improvise that on the spot?" Aizen asked curiously over lunch. Today, Lu Li had completely shattered his understanding of common sense yet again.
He knew Lu Li was a genius, but forging a personalized, exclusive movement technique upon his very first exposure to the fundamentals was simply unheard of.
"I just made a few minor adjustments to better suit my own physiology," Lu Li smiled after swallowing a massive mouthful of rice. "Why? Do you want to learn it, Sosuke? I can teach you."
The corner of Aizen's mouth twitched almost imperceptibly. "I think I will stick to practicing standard Shunpo."
Moving with the subtlety of a detonating thunderbolt was something he would politely decline. It completely clashed with his low-key, inconspicuous persona.
As Lu Li shoveled food into his mouth, he analyzed his own technique. He knew his limits perfectly well. What he had created wasn't truly an "Advanced Shunpo."
He had simply stripped away all the intricate mechanics dedicated to staying silent and keeping a low profile, pouring a hundred percent of that kinetic energy purely into acceleration. In his eyes, he wasn't planning on playing the role of an assassin anyway.
Combat was meant to be straightforward. You face your enemy head-on and completely brute-force them into the ground. Silence? Subtlety? Who needed them?
"Oh, by the way," Aizen mentioned as they finished their meal. "I won't be joining you for the first class this afternoon, Lu Li."