"An alliance?"
Seated upon the main throne of Las Noches, Mazuru remained silent for a moment after hearing Yoruichi's proposal. Then, a mocking sneer spread across his face.
"Are you joking?"
His indifferent gaze settled upon the woman standing before him.
"I'm a traitor to Soul Society, remember? Not long ago, the Gotei 13 even mobilized a large army to attack me. My very existence was considered intolerable to them. And what did they do? At the height of their power, when they believed themselves strong enough to crush me, they came marching into Hueco Mundo to eliminate me."
He paused, allowing the implications of his words to sink in.
"Now, however, the quincies have invaded Soul Society. The Gotei 13 can barely protect themselves, and suddenly, you want to resolve your crisis by forming an alliance with me?"
A trace of ridicule entered his voice.
"What do you take me for?"
His tone remained calm, almost casual, but the contempt behind his words was unmistakable.
The moment Mazuru finished speaking, Yoruichi felt the atmosphere around her change.
The arancars, bounts, and other powerful individuals gathered throughout the great hall had all turned their attention toward her. Their gazes were cold and indifferent, and none of them made any attempt to conceal their hostility.
Yoruichi was an experienced warrior who had faced countless dangerous opponents throughout her life. She could recognize killing intent when she felt it, and the people surrounding her were certainly not the sort who would hesitate if Mazuru gave the order.
If their king commanded them to kill her, they would act without the slightest hesitation.
Yoruichi could not help but sigh inwardly.
As expected, this trip to Hueco Mundo was never going to be easy.
How could it be?
The relationship between Mazuru and Soul Society had deteriorated to the point where the Gotei 13 had already mobilized an army against him. If Mazuru had not possessed sufficient strength to repel that invasion, the consequences would have been disastrous. He and his followers might have been wiped out before they ever had the opportunity to become the force they were today.
The conflict had gone far beyond a simple disagreement.
The relationship between Hueco Mundo and Soul Society had been torn apart, and there was little reason to believe that either side could easily forget what had happened.
And now, with Soul Society facing a crisis that threatened its very existence, they wanted Mazuru to put aside all those grievances and come to their aid?
It was wishful thinking.
Frankly, Yoruichi felt that Mazuru deserved some credit simply for not joining the quincies and attacking Soul Society himself.
Although, the more she thought about it, the more another possibility occurred to her.
Perhaps he had already done so.
Yoruichi's gaze swept across the great hall once more, and this time, she paid particular attention to the spiritual pressures surrounding her.
Among the many powerful individuals gathered in Las Noches, one presence felt distinctly out of place.
It was neither the spiritual pressure of an arrancar nor that of a bount. It was not the familiar presence of a shinigami, either.
It belonged to a quincy.
Yoruichi's eyes narrowed slightly.
Bazz-B.
The presence of the Sternritter immediately brought a new concern to the forefront of her mind. She had already known that Mazuru commanded a formidable force in Hueco Mundo, but the existence of a quincy among his followers raised an entirely different question.
What if Mazuru had decided to cooperate with the Wandenreich?
If he had already reached an agreement with Yhwach, then Soul Society's situation would be considerably worse than they had imagined.
The Gotei 13 was already struggling to recover from the devastating invasion. If Hueco Mundo were to join forces with the quincies, the surviving shinigami might find themselves trapped between two powerful enemies with little chance of turning the situation around.
The thought made Yoruichi's expression more serious.
'Kisuke, Kisuke... You've really left me with a troublesome task this time.'
When Kisuke had asked her to travel to Hueco Mundo and negotiate an alliance with Mazuru, she had immediately suspected that he was being overly optimistic.
Perhaps there had been a time when such a proposal might have had a reasonable chance of success. Mazuru had been the one to reveal the existence of the quincy threat to Soul Society, after all. His actions had suggested that he regarded the Wandenreich as a dangerous force and had no desire to see it conquer everything in its path.
But that had been before the situation between him and Soul Society had deteriorated so severely.
After everything that had happened, Mazuru had become the king of Hueco Mundo, commanding a force that stood independently of the shinigami. His identity, responsibilities, and political position were now entirely different from what they had once been.
He was no longer merely a former shinigami who had fallen out with Soul Society.
He was the ruler of another world.
Asking him to cooperate with the very organization that had attempted to destroy him was no small matter. Even if he personally retained some affection for his former comrades, he could not simply disregard the interests of the people who now depended upon him.
Yoruichi understood that much.
Unfortunately, she had already accepted the task, and turning around without even attempting to negotiate was not an option.
She could only grit her teeth and continue.
"I know the people in Soul Society aren't exactly pleasant to deal with," Yoruichi began, choosing her words carefully. "To be honest, I've never been particularly fond of them myself."
She glanced briefly at Mazuru before continuing.
"But Soul Society is still the place where you spent so many years. You have old friends there, people you've known for a long time, and comrades who once fought alongside you."
Her expression grew more earnest.
"Are you really willing to abandon all of them? Are you prepared to watch them die one after another while the quincies conquer Soul Society?"
Mazuru did not respond.
Yoruichi took a breath and continued, knowing that she could not afford to let the conversation end there.
"I understand that an alliance between Soul Society and Hueco Mundo sounds absurd. Given everything that has happened, I won't pretend that the proposal is reasonable from your perspective."
She paused.
"But you don't have to reject it immediately. At least hear me out and consider the possibility before making your decision."
Strictly speaking, calling the proposal absurd was an understatement. It was practically outrageous.
Nevertheless, Kisuke had entrusted her with this responsibility, and Yoruichi had no intention of giving up without trying.
On the journey to Hueco Mundo, she had spent considerable time thinking about how she might persuade Mazuru. She knew that simply appealing to his former identity as a shinigami would not be enough. If he had been willing to let his old affiliations determine his actions, he would never have reached his present position.
She needed to understand what had driven him to become Soul Society's enemy in the first place.
From what she knew of Mazuru's past actions, one thing had become increasingly clear.
He held an extraordinary degree of hostility toward Soul Society's nobles.
Yoruichi did not know precisely what had happened between Mazuru and the aristocratic establishment, but she was hardly surprised that he had come to despise them. She had once been the head of the Shihouin family, one of the Four Great Noble Clans, and she knew firsthand how unpleasant the noble world could be.
Those people were not nearly as honourable as they liked to pretend.
Even after abandoning her position as head of her family, Yoruichi had never developed any particular affection for the aristocratic establishment.
Therefore, if she wanted to find a way forward, she first needed to separate the question of the nobles from the question of Soul Society itself.
Suppose the aristocratic establishment were removed from the equation.
Suppose Central 46 no longer held the authority it currently possessed, and Soul Society were no longer governed by the same entrenched system of noble privilege.
Under those circumstances, would an alliance between Soul Society and Mazuru still be impossible?
After thinking it through, Yoruichi arrived at an answer.
Not necessarily.
Apart from his massacre of Central 46 and the nobles, Mazuru had not committed the sort of crimes that would make cooperation with him entirely unthinkable.
His actions were different from those of Aizen Sousuke.
Although Aizen had also slaughtered Central 46, his crimes extended far beyond that incident. He had manipulated countless shinigami, orchestrated elaborate conspiracies, and caused numerous deaths both directly and indirectly through his schemes.
In terms of the sheer number of crimes committed, Aizen's record was far more extensive.
Yet when it came to the nature and severity of the offenses against the existing political order, Mazuru's actions had struck at the very foundation of Soul Society.
That was why the Gotei 13 had mobilized an army against him.
As long as the nobles retained control of Soul Society, Mazuru would remain a sinner who had challenged their authority. No matter how many lives he spared or how many warnings he offered, his actions against the ruling establishment would never be forgiven.
But what if the nobles were no longer the deciding factor?
If they could temporarily put aside the political conflict that separated Mazuru from Soul Society, then perhaps there was room for an agreement.
Yoruichi began recalling the previous confrontations between Mazuru and the Gotei 13.
When Soul Society had first mobilized its forces to attack Hueco Mundo, Mazuru had personally intervened and defeated the captain-commander who had confronted him. Yet he had not proceeded to massacre the expeditionary force. Instead, he had allowed the shinigami to return to Soul Society unharmed.
He could have killed them.
Given his strength and the advantage he possessed within Hueco Mundo, there was little doubt that he could have inflicted far greater casualties if he had wanted to.
But he had chosen not to.
Then there was the more recent incident involving Kenpachi Zaraki's escape from Muken.
When Kyouraku Shunsui had gone to Hueco Mundo, he had confronted Mazuru. Although their encounter had ended with Shunsui suffering severe injuries, Mazuru had not killed him. Instead, he had revealed information concerning the Wandenreich and allowed Shunsui to leave.
Those actions were difficult to reconcile with the idea that Mazuru wanted nothing more than to see Soul Society destroyed.
Taken together, they suggested that he was not entirely indifferent to the fate of his former comrades.
Perhaps he still remembered the people he had once known. Perhaps he retained some affection for the shinigami with whom he had spent so many years, even if his relationship with their organization had become irreparably damaged.
Whatever the precise reason, his actions indicated that he was not willing to slaughter every shinigami simply because they belonged to Soul Society.
That distinction mattered.
Mazuru had chosen to remain in Hueco Mundo, and his position as its king prevented him from openly involving himself in every conflict that threatened his former home. Yet when the Wandenreich emerged as a threat, he had still found a way to pass along information that could help Soul Society prepare.
He had not offered them an army.
He had not promised to fight beside them.
But he had given them a warning.
And now, with the quincy invasion threatening to overwhelm the Gotei 13, perhaps that small gesture offered a starting point for something more.
Yoruichi could only hope that Mazuru still cared enough about his former comrades to consider the possibility.
…
Soul Society, Seireitei.
The impromptu captain's meeting held beneath Sōkyoku Hill had eventually come to an end.
Unfortunately, the discussion had failed to produce a unanimous decision.
Although Urahara Kisuke was confident that an alliance with Hueco Mundo was worth pursuing, the captains who had been born into noble families still found the proposal difficult to accept. To them, Mazuru remained a criminal who had slaughtered numerous nobles and challenged the authority of Soul Society itself.
The most adamant opponent was Kuchiki Byakuya.
As the head of the Kuchiki family, he could not easily set aside the crimes committed against the aristocratic establishment. Even if an alliance might offer military advantages, accepting it would mean cooperating with someone whose actions had undermined the very traditions he had sworn to uphold.
For now, the disagreement remained unresolved.
After Yamamoto Genryusai had been brought to the Fourth Division, Orihime and Sado had accompanied Unohana, Kisuke, and the others back to the medical facilities.
There, Orihime had finally been able to reunite with Ichigo.
However, their reunion had done little to ease Ichigo's concerns.
His Tensa Zangetsu had been broken, and although Kisuke had assured him that the situation was not necessarily beyond repair, Ichigo had been unable to shake the uneasiness he felt whenever he thought about his Zanpakutō.
Orihime, naturally, wanted to help.
Having learned what had happened to Ichigo's blade, she immediately offered to use her ability to restore it. She raised her hands and activated Sōten Kisshun, attempting to reject the damage that had been inflicted upon Tensa Zangetsu and return it to its previous condition.
Yet the result was unexpected.
Her ability failed to restore the broken Zanpakutō.
Orihime stared at the blade, momentarily unable to comprehend what had happened.
She had restored countless injuries and reversed damage that ordinary healing could never have repaired. Even Yamamoto's destroyed body had been restored through her ability.
And yet, when she attempted to restore Ichigo's broken Tensa Zangetsu, she had failed.
The realization left her troubled.
Ichigo, meanwhile, looked at his broken Zanpakutō in silence.
If even Orihime's ability could not restore it, then the problem was clearly more complicated than he had initially imagined.
*****
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✓ Killed For 100 Years in Hueco Mundo, Aizen Invited Me To Soul Society!
✓ Naruto: Senmei Asahi
✓ Naruto: The Fifth Hokage Is Naruto's Uncle
✓ Naruto: Who Made Him a Ninja?
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✓ Naruto: The Accidental Incubus [R-18]
✓ Naruto: The Calamity of Amegakure