"Hmm…"
"Sealing off the reiatsu outlet? What a genius idea!"
Reality.
Kisuke Urahara stood silent—
even he, the man who did it, seemed astonished.
The actions of his future self had impressed him.
"Heh, shopkeeper, you never disappoint," said Mayuri Kurotsuchi, giving a thumbs-up.
"Touching Aizen's body in that state is like yanking a tiger's teeth."
"Only you would dare to lay hands on him directly."
Mayuri spoke with genuine admiration.
After all,
anyone who truly understood Aizen's real nature—
including them, and the Visoreds—
knew the terrifying ability of his Zanpakutō, Kyōka Suigetsu,
and its absolute hypnosis.
Unless one could resist illusion
or shut down their own senses entirely,
getting close to Aizen was suicide.
What you saw—or touched—might not even be real.
No one could ever be sure
if Aizen would quietly cast an illusion without them noticing.
A single careless move…
and you'd be backstabbed before realizing it,
your back bleeding, Zanpakutō falling from your hand.
That was exactly what had happened
to Hirako Shinji and the others a century ago.
They were all played by Aizen like fools.
So after watching that clip,
Mayuri couldn't help but admire the courage of the future Urahara.
It was simply insane.
"Too gutsy," he muttered. "Way too gutsy."
Yoruichi rested her chin on one hand and smiled.
"Actually, I think Aizen's power surge made him weaker."
Her tone was casual, but her words sharp.
"As much as I hate to admit it, the old Aizen was flawless.
Otherwise, Shinji and the others wouldn't have been forced to hide in the Human World all these years,
waiting endlessly for the right moment to strike."
Her golden eyes turned toward the glowing screen,
where the seal around Aizen radiated faint light.
"But now… he's careless."
"Aizen made a rookie mistake. He's trapped by his own arrogance."
Yoruichi chuckled softly.
Blocking one's own reiatsu outlet—
that was something even a rookie Shinigami knew to avoid.
And yet Aizen had fallen for it easily.
The fusion with the Hōgyoku had backfired.
His rapidly expanding reiatsu,
instead of empowering him,
had become a weapon against himself.
A paradoxical self-destruction.
For someone who had transcended the Shinigami,
it was the most humiliating death imaginable.
Yoruichi's bold conclusion:
"Right now, Aizen isn't stronger—he's weaker."
Meanwhile, inside the video.
As the audience murmured,
Aizen's sealed hands flared with light,
completely enveloping his body.
"It's over, Aizen."
The future Urahara lowered the brim of his hat.
It looked almost like a salute—
a silent gesture of farewell.
And then—
"BOOM!!!"
A deafening explosion erupted.
A blinding sphere of light spread violently across Karakura Town,
like a nuclear blast tearing through the clouds.
The shockwave shredded the dark storm above—
the remnants of Hyōrinmaru's Bankai still controlling the climate.
As the clouds dispersed, sunlight broke through once again,
illuminating the battlefield below.
But though the world regained its light—
Aizen's body vanished within the explosion,
his presence gone completely.
The scene triggered an uproar among viewers:
"?"
"Wait, is it over?"
"Wasn't Aizen supposed to be invincible?"
"He went down twice in a row—and the last time was this stupid?"
"Did our intel overestimate him?"
The Quincies stared at the restored cityscape,
remembering Aizen's earlier declaration:
"Now, I am unbeatable."
For a moment, they were baffled.
Whatever dread they'd felt toward him vanished instantly.
Aizen had indeed grown stronger—
but apparently at the cost of his judgment.
"He deserved that," one muttered.
From the corner, a man who'd been silent all along—
leaning lazily against the wall—finally spoke.
Askin Nakk Le Vaar,
whose appearance faintly resembled Aizen's,
yawned and said:
"Actually, we should be watching Urahara instead."
"If I remember right, through all those scenes—he swung his sword once."
"One slash, and Aizen was cornered. Who knows how many tricks that man still has hidden?"
"Fighters who rely on intellect are always the hardest to kill."
That remark struck everyone like lightning.
"He's right…"
"It's true…"
They recalled the red arc of reiatsu—
that single crow-like slash Urahara had unleashed.
Benihime.
Urahara's Zanpakutō.
It had only shown a fraction of its power.
What about its other Shikai abilities?
Its Bankai?
No one knew.
The ranking video hadn't revealed anything yet—
but Urahara already felt terrifying.
Could it be…
that his Zanpakutō was so powerful
he didn't even need Bankai to face Aizen?
The thought alone made the Quincies tense up,
their expressions hardening.
From this moment on,
Kisuke Urahara and Benihime
had become marked targets of the pure-blood Quincies.
The camera shifted.
The view zoomed in on Urahara,
then panned across the battlefield—
revealing the figures beside him.
Reality — Karakura High School.
Watching from the screen,
Ichigo Kurosaki suddenly shouted:
"Wait—!!"
"Hold on! That guy in the black Shihakushō—
isn't that… my dad?!"
The image froze.
He wasn't wrong.
Standing to the left of Urahara—
was Isshin Kurosaki.
Black robes.
A white armband on his left shoulder—
the insignia of a former Captain.
A Zanpakutō gripped in his hand,
barely visible through the bright light.
Everything about him screamed one thing:
Isshin had long since regained his Shinigami powers.
And not only that—
he had clearly surpassed his old limits.
Even standing next to Urahara,
his aura didn't feel weaker in the slightest.
But Ichigo—
had no idea.
Karakura High School Rooftop.
"Chad, Tatsuki, Orihime…"
"You saw that, right?! That's my dad!!!"
"Why the hell is he there?!"
Orange hair whipping in the wind,
Ichigo's eyes were wide with disbelief.
His mind couldn't process it.
"What's going on?
My dad's just a normal guy—a doctor who drinks too much!
Sure, he's kind of loud and weird, but…"
That was the only image Ichigo ever had of him.
A goofy parent.
A man with no connection to Soul Society.
He'd been chatting with his friends seconds ago,
trying to remember where he'd seen Urahara before—
some little shop in the suburbs.
Then suddenly, bam, Isshin appeared on the screen.
Ichigo froze solid.
"Uh… what the…"
He wasn't the only one.
Chad, Tatsuki, and Orihime all gawked at the screen.
Different reactions—same shock.
They rubbed their eyes repeatedly,
as if trying to prove it wasn't real.
But the image didn't waver.
Isshin stood firm.
Flesh and blood.
Undeniably real.
Silence filled the rooftop for a full three minutes.
Then Tatsuki Arisawa turned toward Ichigo,
her voice trembling.
"Ichigo…"
"Is it possible that in the future—not just your dad, but you too—
both of you become Soul Reapers?
Father and son, fighting side by side?"
"Huh?!"
"Me and my dad, fighting Aizen? No way!"
"That's impossible!"
Ichigo's protest echoed through the rooftop—
just as the video shifted again,
cutting to the 10th Division's reaction…
(End of Chapter)
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