Getsuga Tenshō/Earth-5

## Getsuga Tenshō

The **Getsuga Tenshō** (月牙天衝, *Moon Fang Heaven-Piercer*) is an anomaly in the reiatsu of certain members of the Shiba Family, allowing them to develop this technique. Unlike the other Four Great Noble Families, all of whom have a hereditary Zanpakutō of some kind, the **Getsuga Tenshō** is the inheritance of the Shiba Family instead.

## History

The **Getsuga Tenshō** is a technique first devised by the man who was the ancestor of what would later be called the Shiba Family. After the First Era had finally waned, the ancestor of the Shiba clan had been faced with a dilemma. The man who would come to be called the Soul King thousands of years in the future, had been sealed away, and mutilated for the benefit of those he had called comrades; the ancestors of the **Five Great Noble Families**. The Shiba Family ancestor, who had offered himself to be the lynchpin but refused, spent his remaining years desperately striving to find a way release the Soul King from his perpetual non-existence, and take his place.

His answer would later be found within his own sword; the idea of Zanpakutō were rudimentary at the time — Ōetsu Nimaiya had yet to perfect his own asaucihi creation process - but the Five Great Noble Families were in possession of such early Zanpakutō at the time. And so, the Shiba ancestor developed a technique, one which could consume his own reiryoku, adopting the traits that made it unique, and release a rush of reiatsu from his weapon.

It was still a nameless technique at the time, lacking in power and refinement. However, the Shiba Family ancestor made a fervent wish through his Zanpakutō, in the hopes that one day the technique would amass the strength needed to pierce the heavens themselves. This was what granted the technique its name - **Getsuga Tenshō**. The Shiba Family ancestor lost his own Zanpakutō in the process of his desire manifesting this way, and it merged with his very reiatsu.

Thus the Getsuga Tenshō pass from Shiba clansmen to Shiba clansmen, though it would not manifest in all of them. Each and every generation of Shiba, the Getsuga Tenshō grows in strength, and it would only in the recent generations, through Isshin and Ichigo Kurosaki, that a technique with the strength the Shiba ancestor desired was developed - the **Final Getsuga Tenshō**.

## Usage

While it differs between users, the Getsuga Tenshō is the same in its base method; at the instance of the slash, the user's Zanpakutō absorbs and condenses their reiatsu, releasing it from the weapon as their method of attack. The Getsuga Tenshō is known to manifest differently for different users, and to be employed differently as well. Isshin Kurosaki's **Engetsu** is a fire-type Zanpakutō, and therefore, his Getsuga Tenshō manifested as superheated blue flames. It is also close-range, requiring Isshin to release it directly by cutting an opponent. Ichigo Kurosaki's, however, is golden, and manifests as a Cero-like blast, and having all of the range this would imply. Each user's Getsuga Tenshō manifests differently.

## Known Wielders

* **Isshin Kurosaki** - Flame-like; close-range, **blue** in colour.
* **Ichigo Kurosaki** - Cero-like; ranged, either **yellow** or **black** in colour.
* **Kūgo Ginjō** - Identical to Ichigo's; **pink** in colour.
* **Hakuoro Shiba** - Unknown
* **Tōmai Kurosaki** - Condensed light, long range, **white** in colour.

## References

1. ↑ *Bleach: Can't Fear Your Own World III*

## Trivia

* The **Getsuga Tenshō** that the descendants of the Shiba Family would inherit is a result of the Shiba Family ancestor merging with his own **Zanpakutō**. It is for this reason that the Shiba inherited Zanpakutō is not a literal weapon, but a technique which manifests in the user's own Zanpakutō.

* To this end, the only Shiba Family members known to inherit the Getsuga Tenshō possess Zanpakutō in whose name have the kanji "月" (moon) in their name - namely **Engetsu** and **Zangetsu**. It is unknown if Kaien Shiba's Nejibana was capable of this technique.