Traveling from Soul Society to the Human World, aside from the time needed to open the Senkaimon (World-Piercing Gate), actually didn't take long at all. However, the coordinates for a Senkaimon could never be opened directly on top of a battlefield.
So by the time Shiba Kaien led his squad to the scene of the incident in the Human World, the area had already become a playground for Hollows.
Everywhere his gaze fell, more than a dozen towering beast-type Hollows—each tens of stories tall—were rampaging about, snatching up completely unaware humans and feasting on them with abandon.
"Damn it! How dare you Hollows do this?!"
"Beast bones scattered like stars, spires, crimson crystal, wheels of steel—
In motion they are wind, at rest they are void, the clash of spears overflows the hollowed city!
Hadō no 63: Raikōhō (Thunder Roar Cannon)!"
Shiba Kaien couldn't bear such a horrific sight. Just a single glance had already dragged his thoughts back to that Osaka Prefecture mission ten years ago, when the entire prefecture had practically been reduced to scorched earth and not even one in a thousand of the humans who had lived there survived.
However, this Hadō of Shiba Kaien's didn't even reach a single Menos' body before being shattered midway by a violent gust of wind.
"Shinigami, your opponent is me, okay?"
A beast-type Menos with a special shape, a white mask on its forehead carved with the symbol "No.3," appeared along the trajectory of Raikōhō. Two compact cyclones coiled lazily around its sides as it smiled and spoke.
As the future head of the Shiba clan, one of the Five Great Noble Houses, Shiba Kaien might normally only involve himself with Thirteenth Division business and had never set foot in Hueco Mundo—but he had long heard of this type of special Menos.
Not to mention that decades ago he had personally taken part in that noble hunting incident which had shaken all of Seireitei.
Afterward, he had developed a deep wariness toward these beings that had been named Arrancar.
According to the intel given back then by the Captain-Commander, this type of Arrancar possessed strength far beyond that of an ordinary captain, exceeding even the highest rank Soul Society had once assigned to the Menos of Hueco Mundo: Vasto Lorde-class.
In other words, as he was now—merely a lieutenant who had not yet mastered Bankai (Final Release)—he absolutely could not be the opponent of this Arrancar.
This was an incident that required captains to handle.
Shiba Kaien reached that conclusion the very instant he saw the Arrancar appear.
Then his Zanpakutō released.
"Suiten Nagi Makuru, Nejibana! (Water and Heaven, Surge in Reverse—Nejibana!)"
Even knowing he couldn't win, as a lieutenant Shiba Kaien could not abandon the Thirteenth Division members he had brought with him and flee alone.
Watching those Menos surge toward them like a tidal wave, he had to buy time for the others to retreat.
"Kaiten Ichisen (Sea-Sky Horizon)!"
Raising the trident-shaped spear that his Zanpakutō had become, Shiba Kaien carved a sweeping arc through the air. In front of him, a curtain of water rose straight up, linking heaven and earth. It cut a clean line between his side, where the Shinigami stood, and the Hollows surging in from the other side.
"Fall back! This incident isn't something we can deal with. We need to return immediately and inform Captain Ukitake!"
Shiba Kaien shouted to the surrounding Shinigami.
He knew that ever since the Arrancar's brief appearance in that incident decades ago, Soul Society had enjoyed a long era of relative peace. These current Thirteenth Division troops almost certainly had no true sense of how terrifying an Arrancar really was.
But even so, Shiba Kaien still underestimated the severity of this situation.
Was his Kaiten Ichisen (Sea-Sky Horizon) strong?
Compared to most Shinigami, of course it was. But it was nowhere near enough to leave someone like the current Espada No.3, Dordoni, at a loss.
The only reason Dordoni was merely standing quietly on the far side of that water curtain, ignoring the beast-type Menos hurling themselves at it like moths to a flame, was that another man had already taken up position on the Shinigami squad's line of retreat.
And that man was someone Dordoni only dared look up to from afar.
"Since you've come, you can all stay."
The voice of Hueco Mundo's current Espada No.1, Coyote Starrk, rang out from the sky.
Not a single Shinigami saw his figure.
Not because their eyes were bad—because they never had the chance to open them.
In less than a second, Coyote Starrk's silhouette had already flickered through the space between the dozen-odd Shinigami who'd come with Shiba Kaien.
He didn't even need to use Resurrección (Return to the Blade). Relying solely on Sonído (Sound Step) and spiritual pressure so immense it overflowed, every last one of those Thirteenth Division members met their end at Starrk's hands.
"Two… two Arrancar?"
Shiba Kaien let out a pale, wry smile.
What virtue or merit did he have, to warrant this kind of reception?
With a formation like this, it wasn't just him—a mere lieutenant—who couldn't cope. Even if his own captain, Ukitake Jūshirō, had come personally, would he really have been able to handle it?
At that same moment, over in Soul Society, the very Captain Ukitake Kaien was thinking of had already arrived at the First Division barracks where the Captain-Commander resided.
"You wish to go to the Human World?"
Seated on the platform, Yamamoto Genryūsai Shigekuni regarded Ukitake Jūshirō's late-night request with a hint of doubt in his eyes.
Just as a lieutenant like Shiba Kaien needed his captain's permission to go to the Human World, even a captain-level Shinigami like Ukitake Jūshirō had to obtain the Captain-Commander's consent beforehand. On top of that, there was an extra step—reporting to Central 46.
In principle, only when both Central 46 and the Captain-Commander agreed could an ordinary captain head to the Human World.
The point of that rule was to prevent captain-class Shinigami from impacting the World of the Living too heavily and throwing the balance of the three realms out of order.
Although, in practice, that rule hadn't exactly been very effective.
"My divination shows that Shiba Kaien might face an extremely grave crisis in the Human World."
Ukitake Jūshirō hid nothing from his teacher.
"Your… divination?"
Yamamoto Genryūsai Shigekuni asked slowly.
He had some vague understanding of what was going on with Ukitake, but since Ukitake's family took pains to conceal it, as Ukitake's teacher he couldn't dig too deeply.
Still, Ukitake's divinations had always been fairly accurate. If someone else had come to him with the same words, Yamamoto Genryūsai would have assumed they were joking. But Ukitake Jūshirō's words he could believe.
What's more, the person in danger was Shiba Kaien.
Even if the Shiba clan had fallen far out of favor among the nobility, there was one fact Yamamoto Genryūsai had to acknowledge: the Shiba were still one of the Five Great Noble Houses.
As the next clan head, and especially given that the current clan head, Shiba Mura, had long since passed his prime due to age, Shiba Kaien's importance to the Shiba clan went without saying.
"I approve. I'll handle informing Central 46. You just go."
And so, Yamamoto Genryūsai Shigekuni granted Ukitake Jūshirō's request.
Moreover, after the anxious Ukitake hurried off, Yamamoto Genryūsai did not go to Central 46 first. Instead, under cover of night, his first stop was the Shiba estate within Seireitei.
"My grandson is in danger?"
Facing the elder before him—someone nearly his own age, yet who had long since lost his son and now had only two grandsons and a granddaughter left—Yamamoto Genryūsai couldn't help but feel a twinge of sorrow.
"It seems so. You know Ukitake Jūshirō's divinations as well as I do; they're almost always on the mark. But I've already agreed to his request and authorized him to head to the Human World immediately as support."
Yamamoto Genryūsai nodded.
"Just Ukitake Jūshirō alone—is that enough?
Genryūsai, don't forget that incident ten years ago…"
Shiba Mura's voice was low as he spoke.
"Although afterward the Gotei 13 publicly announced that the enemy and the traitor had been defeated thanks to the original Thirteenth Division lieutenant's all-out effort and the work of the entire investigative squad, we both know the truth.
It was your disciple, Kyōraku Shunsui, who begged the man who is now Great Blade-Hunter Chief of the Katana-gari-shū (Blade-Hunting Corps)—back then still Soul Society's traitor, Higashino Shuuichi—to act. Only then did they manage to rescue Kaien from that group of Fullbring (Complete Manifestation Art) lunatics in the Human World.
If not for that, the order revoking Higashino Shuuichi's wanted status wouldn't have passed your desk so quickly, would it?"
"You're worried this incident will be like the one ten years ago?"
When his old friend brought up that past incident in the Human World, the expression on Yamamoto Genryūsai's face finally grew solemn.
"Genryūsai…"
Seeing that Yamamoto Genryūsai still didn't seem to grasp the current danger, Shiba Mura's gaze suddenly dimmed, and his tone sank even lower.
"Do you know how long it's been since I first mastered Bankai (Final Release) and gained captain-level strength?"
Yamamoto Genryūsai shook his head. Even if Shiba Mura had been his friend in the past, they had only ever been that—friends. He had never bothered to remember such details.
"Six hundred and fifty-three years and seven months," Shiba Mura said, giving a precise figure. "I never had your kind of talent. Reaching Bankai already used up every bit of luck I had in this life.
But you know… for a long time, I thought I hadn't just exhausted my own luck. I thought I'd used up the Shiba clan's as well. Otherwise, why has no younger generation of our clan ever managed to obtain Bankai?
At least until Kaien was born. He made me see hope again.
Everyone knows I don't have much time left.
Everyone also knows that, among our Shiba, only Kaien has the potential to master Bankai and, in the future, support the clan."
Shiba Mura's eyes darkened.
"Do you know what I think about that incident ten years ago, Genryūsai?
I wonder… might someone have planned it long in advance?
Maybe there's someone who doesn't like there being five Great Noble Houses—only four."
Watching the deepening lines in Yamamoto Genryūsai's brow, Shiba Mura knew his old friend still saw the nobility in too charitable a light.
"I read the report Ukitake submitted to me," Yamamoto Genryūsai said quietly. "It says this new incident in the Human World was caused by Hollows. Fullbringers could still be suspected of having been guided by someone. But Hollows, who by nature mostly follow instinct… it shouldn't go that far."
"Then why does it have to be now—at the very time when the Tsunayashiro clan has practically seized all the say in things? And why does it have to be in the Human World?"
Shiba Mura slowly shook his head.
"So, take it as a favor to this old man, Genryūsai. Please send a few more captains to the Human World and bring Kaien back safely.
After this incident, I'll keep Kaien here. He won't leave again until he masters Bankai.
And if—if—Kaien really does fall, Genryūsai… then I hope you'll cultivate a certain Shinigami from our Shiba branch family: Shiba Isshin. Aside from Kaien, he's the one I believe is most likely to obtain Bankai."
When he'd finished, Yamamoto Genryūsai Shigekuni gave Shiba Mura a long look. He knew this old friend's heart must be in agony. But as the Captain-Commander of the Gotei 13, he also had his own responsibilities. Even if he agreed with Shiba Mura's suspicions deep down, in his position there was little more he could do.
"Emergency convocation—captains' meeting."
A Hell Butterfly—Jigokuchō (Hell Butterfly)—rose lightly from Yamamoto Genryūsai's hand and vanished into the night outside the window in the blink of an eye.
That was all he could do—for now.
So as dawn began to break, the captains of Soul Society gathered in the First Division's captain's room.
Aside from the Thirteenth Division's captain, Ukitake Jūshirō, and the Great Blade-Hunter Chief Higashino Shuuichi—who, by his special status, could answer summons but ignore orders—every other captain was present.
The agenda of the meeting was as concise as ever: send several captains to the Human World as support, and decide which captains specifically.
Since Ukitake Jūshirō had only just departed for the Human World and no concrete information had yet returned, most of the captains were not pleased with what they saw as the Captain-Commander's rash decision.
Purely because that lieutenant was named Shiba Kaien—before the situation was clear and based only on a divination that he was in danger—a captains' meeting had been convened, and on top of already sending one captain, they were going to send more?
This wasn't just "special treatment" anymore; it was like taking the words "noble privilege" and slapping them across every captain's face.
If the current roster of captains were still the same as decades ago, when Urahara Kisuke and the others had not yet defected, it might have been easier to swallow. Back then, most of the captains were either nobles or closely tied to noble families; everyone simply understood how things worked without saying it aloud.
But now, after the great captain purge, more than half of the current Gotei 13 captains were pure Rukongai commoners.
Yamamoto Genryūsai was fully aware of this, yet he still chose to act that way.
In the end, those chosen to go to the Human World were almost entirely "noble faction" captains: the Second Division captain, Soi Fon; the Eighth Division captain, Kyōraku Shunsui; and the Seventh Division captain, Komamura Sajin, who really had no choice but to give Yamamoto Genryūsai this bit of face.
Only the Eleventh Division captain, Zaraki Kenpachi, seemed thoroughly out of place among them.
Yet at this moment, neither Yamamoto Genryūsai nor the assembled captains yet knew that this was nothing more than the prelude to the chaos that would begin today.
After the captains' meeting ended, the Fifth Division captain Aizen Sōsuke and the Third Division captain Ichimaru Gin left together to grab breakfast, while the Twelfth Division captain Kurotsuchi Mayuri returned alone at once to his underground laboratory.
Although the current timing no longer matched the schedule he and Higashino Shuuichi had originally arranged, Kurotsuchi Mayuri had no intention of letting such a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity go.
"Kanda Prefecture, Ichimoku Town, huh…"
Kurotsuchi Mayuri pulled out a map of the Human World. With a broad stroke of his brush, he quickly located a city very far from the Kanda estate but still with plenty of human inhabitants—Hokkai Prefecture.
Then, by himself, he set the coordinates, opened a Senkaimon, and cut off the drug injections to three first-generation Kaizō Konpaku (Modified Soul) experimental subjects who had long been kept in a state of deep hypnosis in nutrient tanks.
At the fastest possible speed, he hurled all three of them through the Senkaimon and then shut it.
Whatever happened to those three Modified Souls next would be relayed back to Kurotsuchi Mayuri in full—down to the last detail—through the surveillance bacteria he had implanted in their bodies.
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