Bleach : The God of Flames Chapter 22: Self-Arrancarization

"Shopkeeper, I'm back again," Tsuna called as he pushed open the door of Urahara Shop.

"Ah, Tsuna-kun. What brings you here? Or have you finally taken a liking to one of my products?" Urahara Kisuke said with a laugh as he walked out.

"If there was sothing worth buying, I would've bought it already. Where is everyone else?"

"They went to the warehouse with Tessai to restock," Urahara replied.

"Perfect. Then I need your help with sothing."

"My services are very expensive, you know," Urahara said, pretending to make things difficult.

"No problem. Put it on Kurosaki Ichigo's tab," Tsuna replied casually before calling outside.

"Inoue-niisan, you can co in now."

Inoue Sora's spirit floated into the shop.

At first he hadn't wanted to enter—the instinct of his soul told him that this place was extrely dangerous.

"A spirit? Performing Konsō shouldn't require my help, should it?" Urahara said, lowering the brim of his hat slightly.

"Well, here's the situation…"

Tsuna carefully explained Sora's decision.

"Becoming a Hollow, huh?" Urahara circled Sora thoughtfully.

"Your obsession must be incredibly strong."

"However, I must say—it's aningless. Hollows are born when a soul develops a hole in its heart. Once the heart is lost, maintaining rationality is almost impossible."

Urahara turned to Tsuna.

"Tsuna-kun, in this matter I have more experience than you. Just perform Konsō."

"For an ordinary soul, that's true," Tsuna replied. "But Shopkeeper… what if Inoue-niisan has the potential for self-Arrancarization?"

"Arrancar?"

Urahara raised an eyebrow with sudden interest.

"That's an interesting term. A Hollow that breaks its own mask?"

"Exactly," Tsuna said.

"This could be one of the only two Hollows in history capable of doing it naturally. Otherwise, I wouldn't have agreed to help him."

"Only two?" Urahara asked imdiately.

"And the other one?"

"The strongest being in Hueco Mundo, probably," Tsuna said lightly.

"So? Interested?"

"A Hollow with the potential to beco a powerhouse in Hueco Mundo…" Urahara murmured.

Then he suddenly straightened up and spoke with exaggerated righteousness.

"Very well. I'll assist for free this ti. However, you must bear the consequences of the experint yourselves."

"Of course. I've already warned him."

"Inoue Sora, correct? Please follow ."

Urahara tapped his cane.

A hidden doorway opened in the wall.

Tsuna and Sora followed Urahara through a long dark tunnel until they arrived in a room filled with strange instrunts.

It was clearly Urahara's laboratory.

Urahara activated a machine.

A huge container lit up. Inside floated a white, unknown lump of flesh that resembled sothing taken from a Hollow's body.

"This is a purified piece of Hollow flesh I extracted," Urahara explained.

"Enter the container and let your spirit body touch it. It will rge with your soul and begin the process of Hollowfication."

He opened a hatch in the tank.

Sora glanced at Tsuna.

"Orihi… I'll leave her in your care, Tsuna-kun."

Tsuna waved his hand dismissively.

"Take care of your own sister. Rember Inoue Orihi—and survive."

Sora bowed deeply to both of them.

Then he jumped into the container without hesitation.

The mont he entered, the power of the Hollow began to erode his soul.

The Chain of Fate on his chest instantly disappeared.

A Hollow Hole opened in its place.

A horrifying scream echoed from the tank.

white Hollow matter burst from the fleshy mass, completely engulfing Sora.

Twisted limbs began growing from his body as he started transforming into a Hollow.

"Tsuna-kun doesn't seem surprised at all by my laboratory," Urahara said casually while pressing several strange buttons.

"Well," Tsuna replied, "if soone like you—who possesses so much black-tech—didn't have a research lab, that would be stranger."

"I assud you would be more resistant to experints like this," Urahara said.

"If possible," Tsuna replied calmly, "I'd prefer that your experints respect life a little more."

He didn't pursue the topic further.

Instead, he drew his Zanpakutō and spoke the release command of his Mist attribute Shikai.

A trident appeared in Tsuna's hand.

He stared at the container, ready to act at any mont.

"Tsuna-kun, please be careful with my equipnt," Urahara said quickly.

"These instrunts are very expensive."

"Relax. I'm not planning to smash anything. Just taking precautions."

Tsuna leaned the trident against a nearby table.

As ti passed, the Hollow inside the tank gradually took shape.

Its appearance was exactly the sa as the one Sora would beco in the original story—

a humanoid upper body with a snake-like tail, gray and orange in color. Behind the mask, Sora's familiar hairstyle was still visible.

However, just like in the original tiline, Sora had completely lost his sanity.

He had beco a Hollow driven only by instinct to devour.

He repeatedly slamd himself against the container, trying to attack Tsuna and Urahara.

"Looks like it failed, Tsuna-kun," Urahara said calmly.

Experintal failure was nothing unusual for him anymore.

"No," Tsuna said.

"Let add a little extra ingredient."

He kicked the trident into his hand.

He had already prepared for this possibility.

Now it was ti to reveal his backup plan.

The mont Tsuna slamd the trident against the ground—

Sora's world changed.

The laboratory disappeared.

Instead, he found himself standing inside the small ho where he and Orihi had once lived together.

Inside the house, Orihi looked at him gently.

"Welco ho, big brother."

Just like she used to when greeting him after work, she smiled and walked toward him.

She didn't react to his monstrous appearance at all.

Instead, she raised her hands as if to take the briefcase he used to carry ho.

In the next mont, Sora saw another version of himself—tired and exhausted—returning from work.

He watched as that version of himself shared stories of his day with Orihi.

The ordinary scene was so simple… yet it slowly cald Sora's frenzied mind.

He didn't know why he had stopped attacking.

He only felt that he should quietly protect this mont.

Then a cold voice pierced through the illusion.

"Inoue Sora! Rember what matters most!"

"Inoue Orihi!"

Under Tsuna's warning, the madness in Sora's eyes gradually faded.

"I… am… Inoue… Sora…" he muttered.

The scene changed again.

A timid little girl appeared in front of him—Orihi as a child.

Then another Orihi appeared beside him—her present self.

Another version appeared on his other side—Orihi as a high school student.

One after another, different versions of Orihi surrounded him.

All of them were illusions created from Tsuna's mories.

Each one called out softly:

"Big brother…"

With every call, Sora's gaze beca firr.

Finally, the surroundings turned dark.

One last figure appeared before him.

Orihi stood there wearing a white bridal kimono.

She pointed shyly to the ornant on her head.

"Big brother… could you place the tsunokakushi on ?"

Crack.

A fracture appeared across Sora's Hollow mask.

As more visions of Orihi's future life appeared, the cracks spread further and further.

When all the Orihis appeared together once again—

The mask shattered completely.

The face revealed beneath it was Sora's own.

Peaceful. Relieved.

The different visions of Orihi represented the very thing Sora had longed for before his death—

To witness her growth.

Because that wish had finally been fulfilled, he had achieved sothing unprecedented.

Self-Arrancarization.

"Fascinating," Urahara Kisuke comnted.

He had watched Tsuna's entire process carefully.

To be honest, he hadn't believed it would succeed.

Yet the Hollow had truly broken its own mask and regained its sanity.

Out of pure curiosity, he was already tempted to start experinting—though he still needed to consider Tsuna's reaction.

"Congratulations, Inoue-niisan," Tsuna said, returning his Zanpakutō to its sheath.

"Thank you very much, Lord Tsuna… Lord Urahara," Sora said respectfully.

He knew that without these two, he would never have regained himself.

"Save the gratitude for later," Tsuna replied.

"You're still a Hollow. Even if you can maintain your sanity, your current strength isn't enough to freely visit Orihi."

"You might get eliminated at any ti."

"First, focus on getting stronger."

"Once your power increases, you'll eventually regain a more human form. Visiting Orihi will also beco easier then."

"Please guide , Lord Tsuna," Sora said, bowing deeply.

"Not ," Tsuna replied, pointing beside him.

"Lord Urahara will handle it."

Then he turned to Urahara.

"Shopkeeper, leaving Inoue-niisan to you shouldn't be a problem, right? You've been itching to experint for a while now."

"Oh my, Tsuna-kun," Urahara said with a grin.

"Aren't you afraid I might perform so strange experints on him?"

"If possible," Tsuna replied, "please help him evolve to the Adjuchas level first."

"In exchange, you can collect whatever experintal data you need. That seems like a fair trade."

When it ca to Hollow evolution, Tsuna admitted he had no expertise.

Sora quickly demonstrated the social instincts of a forr salaryman.

He imdiately turned toward Urahara and bowed respectfully.

"Please take care of , Lord Urahara!"

"Very well," Urahara said with a satisfied smile behind his folding fan.

"Let's begin an interesting experint."

"Well then, I'll leave you two to it," Tsuna said, raising his phone.

"Ichigo and the others are already asking where I went."

Before leaving earlier, he had sent Tatsuki a ssage asking her to stall Orihi.

Now Tatsuki and Ichigo had already left Orihi's house and were impatiently ssaging him.

Urahara tapped his cane again, opening another hidden passage.

"I won't see you out, Tsuna-kun."

After eting up with Tatsuki and Ichigo, Ichigo imdiately asked:

"Tsuna, where did you go? And what about Inoue's brother? What happened to him?"

Even soone as straightforward as Ichigo could tell that Tsuna's sudden disappearance ant Sora hadn't simply passed on.

"Give it so ti," Tsuna said.

"When your Fullbring training starts showing results…"

"I'll take you to see him."

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