Naruto: This Genius is Somewhat Ordinary-Chapter 445

"Who are you?"

The question left both of them at the same time.

Fujimoto Tōma studied the man standing across from him, surprise flickering through his usually steady gaze.

No mask.

The figure looked nothing like the Hollows Tōma had been cutting down for days. Short, dark-brown hair with a slight curl, gray-blue eyes, and a neatly kept stubble along the jaw. He looked less like a monster and more like a rugged middle-aged man who’d wandered out of a battlefield by mistake.

And yet the pressure rolling off him was unmistakable.

Hollow energy. Dense, heavy, overwhelming. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

Tōma’s eyes dropped briefly to the necklace around the man’s neck. It wasn’t metal. It was bone, the same pale material as a Hollow’s mask.

So that was it.

A naturally unmasked Hollow.

An Arrancar... but that shouldn’t have been possible yet.

At least, not by any method Tōma knew.

While Tōma was observing him, the man was doing the same. His initial caution quickly gave way to open curiosity, even faint excitement.

"You’re different," the man said. "Not like the others."

Tōma narrowed his eyes slightly. The man clearly sensed the difference, but didn’t understand what it meant. He’d probably never met a human or a shinobi before.

"Have you ever heard the name Aizen Sōsuke?" Tōma asked suddenly.

The man blinked, confused. "No. Should I?"

That reaction was genuine.

Tōma relaxed a fraction. "Just checking."

The man tilted his head. "You’re the first one who’s been able to approach me without dying. I thought... maybe you were the same as me."

"Companion?" Tōma echoed, genuinely caught off guard.

So he thought Tōma was a Hollow too?

"I’m not," Tōma said calmly. "You’re a Hollow. I’m a shinobi."

The man frowned. "Is there a difference?"

Tōma almost laughed, but stopped himself. Considering who he was dealing with, patience was the smarter move.

He explained. Simply. No preaching. Just facts.

When he finished, the man nodded slowly. "I don’t see much difference. Aren’t we all just souls shaped by different paths?"

"...You’re not wrong," Tōma admitted.

That answer alone would’ve gotten most shinobi in trouble.

"What are you doing here?" the man asked.

"Trying to move forward," Tōma replied.

"Forward?"

"I’ve hit a limit. Normal training won’t take me any further, so I came here to look for something different."

The man considered that, then smiled. It was an unexpectedly gentle expression.

"If you haven’t found it yet, I can help you look. I know this place better than you do."

Tōma paused.

"...Why?"

The man looked away, hands slipping into his pockets. "Because being alone gets old. Having a companion sounds nice."

Tōma fell silent.

He could feel it now. The man’s power wasn’t restrained at all. It leaked constantly, crushing weaker Hollows the moment they came close. No wonder he was alone. No wonder this endless desert felt even emptier to him than it did to Tōma.

Another Kenpachi-type existence, then. Born too strong for his own good.

"Tōma," he said at last. "Fujimoto Tōma."

The man brightened. "Coyote Starrk. Just call me Starrk."

They shook hands.

Starrk didn’t reach for his weapons. Two gun-like shapes rested at his hips, but he left them alone.

"So," Starrk said casually, "where to next?"

"I already found what I was looking for," Tōma replied.

Starrk blinked, then pointed at himself. "...Me?"

Tōma nodded. "I came here searching for Hollows above the Gillian class. I wanted to see what happens when their masks break. Whether something... more could come out of it."

"And I’m the result?" Starrk asked, surprised.

"Looks like it."

Starrk scratched his head. "I can’t explain much. I just kept wandering, looking for someone who could stay near me without fading away. One day... the mask came off. This is what I became."

Tōma absorbed that quietly. Whatever the key was, the process itself was already gone.

His gaze shifted to Starrk’s guns. "Mind if I take a look at those?"

Starrk hesitated. Not refusal. Caution.

Tōma understood. Weapons like these were no different from a shinobi’s blade.

"We can trade temporarily," Tōma offered, holding out his own sword.

Starrk hesitated, then nodded. "I need to ask her first."

...Her?

A moment later, he handed over the guns and accepted Tōma’s blade in return.

Starrk examined it with appreciation, but quickly frowned. "I can’t use it. Something inside doesn’t like me."

Tōma wasn’t surprised. His sword had always been picky.

He, on the other hand, felt it immediately.

A soul.

Clear. Distinct.

"So Arrancar weapons have consciousness too," Tōma murmured.

After a brief examination, they returned each other’s weapons. His blade pulsed with mild annoyance, but nothing more.

"Anything useful?" Starrk asked.

"Your weapons aren’t that different from mine," Tōma said. "At least on the surface."

Starrk thought for a moment. "There is one difference. My guns are part of my body. Yours aren’t... right?"

That made something click.

"And yet," Tōma said slowly, "there’s still a separate will inside them. Why?"

Starrk smiled wryly. "Because I did something stupid."

He sighed. "I split my soul in two. I couldn’t find anyone who could stay with me, so I made someone instead."

Tōma’s eyes drifted to the guns.

Starrk nodded. "I merged us again earlier. Just in case you were dangerous."

"That’s... reasonable."

Tōma understood the hesitation. He wouldn’t have shared that secret easily either.

"Come out," Starrk said. "Lilinet."

The guns dissolved into light.

A small girl appeared, lightly dressed, half her face covered by a fragment of mask. Short green hair. Purple markings flickering near one eye.

She looked up, annoyed.

Tōma stared.

"...So that’s how it works."

And just like that, Hueco Mundo became a lot more interesting.

...

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