"Simulated war?"
"Yes, a simulated war about protecting and capturing Shiba Miyako!"
In the 1st Division Captain's office, Kyoya sat facing Yamamoto, speaking confidently.
"Captain-Commander Yamamoto, you know the millennium deadline is approaching."
"And as of now, Seireitei hasn't found any traces of Yhwach and his Quincy, right?"
"This means that if Yhwach's Quincy forces suddenly attack Seireitei, the Gotei 13 has no practical experience to deal with it."
"Captain-Commander Yamamoto, I can guarantee you that in this simulated war, the Gotei 13 won't suffer any important casualties."
Yamamoto narrowed his eyes, watching Kyoya's performance.
Indeed, in Yamamoto's view, what Kyoya called this 'simulated war' was nothing more than child's play.
In Yamamoto's opinion, Seireitei's foundation for resisting Yhwach and his Quincy forces wasn't the Gotei 13, but himself!
As long as he existed, even if Yhwach revived, Yamamoto was confident he could kill him again.
A thousand years ago, he could kill Yhwach.
A thousand years later, though his physical strength had declined due to age, his mastery of his abilities had improved by more than one level compared to a millennium ago.
A thousand years ago, Yamamoto had to struggle with Yhwach for a long time and needed his Lieutenant, Chojiro Sasakibe to launch a sneak attack before finally killing Yhwach with one sword strike.
But now, Yamamoto was confident that if Yhwach hadn't improved over the millennium, he could kill him within one minute!
Even though Kyoya had hinted that Yamamoto might die at Yhwach's hands, Yamamoto didn't care much.
"Brat, stop beating around the bush!"
"Your main purpose is to rescue that Shinigami named Shiba Miyako, right?"
"Ha, you saw through us, old man..."
Kyoya laughed it off, not surprised that Yamamoto could see through the Revolutionary Army's purpose.
On the contrary, if Yamamoto couldn't see through this, he would have wasted all these years as Captain-Commander.
"However, old man, though our main purpose is to rescue that girl, our secondary purpose is also for Seireitei's benefit."
"Captain-Commander Yamamoto, over the past few hundred years, you should have noticed that Seireitei has serious hidden dangers."
"Otherwise, you wouldn't have agreed to slaughter the Quincy remaining in the living world two hundred years ago, right?"
The prophecy left after Yhwach's death was recorded in the Great Spirit Book Gallery.
As the Gotei 13's Captain-Commander, Yamamoto naturally knew its contents.
Normally, someone as proud as Yamamoto would believe that as long as he existed, even if Yhwach revived, he could kill him again.
But a millennium of protection had given Yamamoto a sense of guardianship toward Seireitei and compassion for his subordinates.
Indeed, even though Yamamoto believed the Gotei 13 under his leadership would ultimately triumph in battle against Yhwach's Quincy forces-
Yamamoto couldn't guarantee how many of his subordinates and the many Gotei 13's Shinigami he had trained would survive this battle.
That's why when the nobles proposed cleansing the remaining Quincy in the living world, Yamamoto took a default attitude.
To be fair, the Quincy remaining in the living world weren't on the same side as Yhwach's Wandenreich Quincy.
Otherwise, when Yhwach led the Wandenreich to invade Soul Society back then, these people would have followed Yhwach's footsteps into Soul Society.
Their staying in the living world itself indicated they didn't agree with Yhwach's approach of returning the world to chaos.
In fact, they might even stand against Yhwach during his destruction process, becoming a force to resist Yhwach.
However, the Shinigami side didn't trust them.
They also worried that after Yhwach returned, these Quincy descendants would continue to follow Yhwach, becoming his power.
So rather than hoping they would become allies, it was better to eliminate all Quincy in the living world.
After all, the strength of the remaining Quincy in the living world was nothing special in the Shinigami's view.
Apart from the incomplete [Vollständig] state after using the Sanrei Glove being somewhat threatening, other Quincy attacks meant little to Shinigami.
Yamamoto's main purpose in cleansing the living world Quincy was to prevent more Quincy from causing greater casualties among ordinary Gotei 13's Shinigami when war broke out.
In other words, Yamamoto had softened.
As for the hidden dangers in Seireitei that Kyoya mentioned-
"Kyoya brat, what exactly do you know?"
Yamamoto said gravely to Kyoya: "If you can't give me an explanation, I might just turn this simulated war into a real one!"
"Old man, calm down."
Kyoya waved his hand: "If I say more now, you might not believe it anyway."
"But believe me, the mastermind hiding in Seireitei's shadows also considers Seireitei… no, the entire Soul Society, as his personal property."
"Shiba Miyako's Gigai was made by former 12th Division's Captain, Urahara Kisuke."
"He placed something in Shiba Miyako's soul that that person must obtain."
"If that person wants to break through his limits and ascend to higher dimensions, this thing is indispensable."
"So this time he will definitely step forward and seize this thing with forceful means."
"Before the battle with Yhwach, the Gotei 13 might have to settle things with him first."
"The Gotei 13?"
Yamamoto raised an eyebrow: "Your Revolutionary Army won't participate?"
"This is your Gotei 13's matter. Would you let the Revolutionary Army participate?"
Facing Yamamoto's question, Kyoya directly countered.
"Hmph!"
Yamamoto snorted coldly.
Indeed, given his pride, internal Gotei 13's matters naturally wouldn't involve borrowing strength from Kyoya's Revolutionary Army.
What made Yamamoto unhappy was that regardless of the outcome of this 'simulated war', the Gotei 13 would inevitably suffer losses.
In contrast, Kyoya's Revolutionary Army would suffer no losses.
They might even gain significant improvement through confronting the Gotei 13.
Thus, with one gaining and the other losing, no matter how you looked at it, the Gotei 13 came out worse.
If not for Kyoya saying he would lead the Revolutionary Army to participate in the future battle against Yhwach's Quincy, Yamamoto would have wanted to give Kyoya a few strikes.
"Then let it begin!"
"But, Kyoya brat."
"Though it's only a simulation, I won't go easy on you!"
Actually, regarding Kyoya's strength, Yamamoto felt somewhat uncertain.
Without creating the Oken and obtaining the [Soul King's bones] forged by the Soul King's power, a Shinigami's strength would have a limit.
Yamamoto, relying on his Zanpakuto, Ryujin Jakka, could temporarily surpass the Shinigami limit after Bankai.
But though Kyoya's Zanpakuto also belonged to the [Strongest] series, light-based abilities themselves weren't powerful in terms of explosive force.
Perhaps Kyoya's speed could reach an 'unbeatable' level under his Zanpakuto's ability, but relying solely on Zanpakuto's Bankai couldn't make Kyoya's Reiatsu break through the Shinigami limit.
Additionally, Yamamoto knew that Kyoya had completely mastered his Zanpakuto's power and was constantly in a Bankai state in his normal form.
But he didn't sense the pressure of 'surpassing the Shinigami limit' from Kyoya.
Of course, what made Yamamoto more concerned about Kyoya was the Zanpakuto hanging at his waist.
Over a decade ago, Kyoya had learned about Zanpakuto mysteries from Mayuri.
Yamamoto also knew this.
But he didn't know exactly what Kyoya had gained during that period of exchange.
He only knew that Kyoya wouldn't carry useless items.
That is to say, this might be the product of that exchange?
'A second Zanpakuto?'
'Could one Shinigami possess multiple Zanpakuto?'
An ordinary person might think this impossible.
In Seireitei, at most there were Shinigami whose Zanpakuto were 'twin swords'.
That is, after Zanpakuto release, they possessed two Zanpakuto.
The most representative were Kyoraku and Ukitake.
But both cases were exceptions.
Kyoraku's second Zanpakuto was nurtured by the first Zanpakuto, merely a fake used to hide the Ise Clan's sacred treasure [Shinken Hakkyoken].
Originally, it wasn't considered a Zanpakuto.
Ukitake had the [Mimihagi] within his body, which could be considered having two souls, hence after release, his Zanpakuto appeared as twin swords.
The later Ichigo was similar.
The Quincy power transformed into Yhwach pretending to be Ichigo's Zanpakuto to suppress Ichigo's own power, forcing Ichigo's true Zanpakuto, White Zangetsu, to appear as the dark side of Ichigo's heart.
But in fact, as power with 'consciousness', both Quincy Zangetsu and White Zangetsu could be materialized by Ichigo in Zanpakuto Form, so when the Sword God Nimaiya reforged Ichigo's Zanpakuto, what Ichigo drew out were twin swords.
Kyoya wanted to use the opportunity to rescue Miyako to train the Revolutionary Army once, while Yamamoto wanted to use this opportunity to see if he could still suppress Kyoya.
Although Kyoya had said that as long as Yamamoto lived, he wouldn't let the Revolutionary Army enter Seireitei.
But what if?
Therefore, Yamamoto had to show Kyoya his strength.
In previous encounters, whether when Kyoya protected Kuchiki Koga or when Kyoya left Seireitei, Yamamoto hadn't truly used his 'full power'.
Now it was time to let Kyoya know what he would face if he dared to throw Seireitei into chaos.
Kyoya wasn't unaware of Yamamoto's thoughts.
But for the current Kyoya, Yamamoto's thoughts were meaningless.
Coincidentally, he also wanted to test whether Yamamoto's Zanpakuto Ryujin Jakka could break his defense.
…
After leaving Seireitei, Kyoya also convened a Revolutionary Army's meeting.
Attending besides Chief of Staff, Kuchiki Koga and Deputy Chief of Staff, Kuchiki Rukia were the six Army Commanders and their deputies.
"Everyone, just earlier, I had an exchange with the Gotei 13's Captain-Commander."
"Soon, the 13th Division's 3rd Seat Shiba Miyako will be arrested for violating Seireitei's ban."
"Our Revolutionary Army will engage in a simulated war with the Gotei 13 under the pretext of rescuing Shiba Miyako."
"This simulated war has two main purposes."
"First, naturally, is to rescue Shiba Miyako, bring her back to Rukongai, and win this simulated war."
"Second, I hope everyone remains somewhat vigilant toward the Gotei 13's Captains after entering Seireitei."
"After all, from what I know, among the Gotei 13's thirteen Captains, three will betray Seireitei in this simulated war."
"So, be careful."
"If you encounter these three after entering Seireitei, whether they will obey the rules I established with the Captain-Commander is unknown."
"Huh?"
Ikkaku opened his mouth in surprise: "Kyoya-sama, among the Gotei 13's thirteen Captains, three will actually betray Seireitei? That's too exaggerated!"
"What's so strange about that?"
Kyoya smiled: "Everyone gathered here because we share common ideals."
"But if one day you feel that following me can no longer realize your ideals and aspirations, then leaving would be good for both you and me."
"Isn't that similar to our relationship with Seireitei?"
"The Gotei 13 established by Captain-Commander Yamamoto mainly aims to protect Seireitei."
"If Captains become dissatisfied with the Gotei 13's duties or have greater aspirations in their hearts, naturally they won't confine themselves within the Gotei 13."