"What do you mean which side I'm on? You know about controlling the five senses, but you don't know that's Aizen's ability?"
Yoruichi stared at Ichigo with an unfriendly expression. When she came back today, she already felt that something was off about this brat in front of her.
No, not just today. Even when she first brought him to Soul Society, something had already felt a little strange.
'This kid's understanding of Soul Society… isn't it a bit too much?'
But aside from her, where could Ichigo have heard all this information? It couldn't have been from Rukongai gossip, right?
"Huh? How could controlling the five senses possibly be Aizen's ability? If you said it was Rosse's, fine. It's way more likely to be Kyoraku Shunsui's ability," Ichigo sneered.
"I saw Aizen's ability with my own eyes. How could that be fake?", Yoruichi frowned slightly.
"I saw Rosse use the ability to control the five senses with my own eyes too. Are you stupid? If that's his ability, how can you be sure what you saw wasn't fake?", Ichigo looked full of disdain.
"Huh? Kid, what you're saying actually makes sense!"
Yoruichi froze for a moment, not knowing how to refute him.
In truth, she had not actually seen Aizen.
That night, it was Urahara Kisuke who went to save Hirako Shinj. It was Urahara who personally saw Aizen appear, alongside Ichimaru Gin and Tosen Kaname, and openly declare himself the mastermind.
What she had personally witnessed was the scene in Central 46, where Urahara and those sages were talking past each other, each insisting on their own version, which confirmed that Aizen possessed that ability.
But, just as Ichigo said, if the enemy's power was to control the five senses, then why were they so sure that the Aizen they saw was real? Couldn't it have been someone else in disguise?
'If it isn't Aizen, then the one conducting the Hollowfication experiments… could it really be Shunsui?'
Yoruichi unconsciously swallowed. For some reason, Kyoraku Shunsui's figure flashed through her mind.
She had recently returned to Soul Society frequently to investigate, and Sui Feng's death could not be separated from Kyoraku Shunsui's actions behind the scenes.
But then again, if that person was already the mastermind and had the ability to control the five senses, then why would he end up getting framed?
For a moment, even Yoruichi felt lost.
And when Ichigo saw her confused expression, he felt a bit relieved.
At least her intelligence was on the same level as his.
No, maybe even a little lower.
Anyway, not everyone in Soul Society was a genius.
"It's not Rosse!"
Yoruichi suddenly said, her tone firm.
"What's your reason?"
Hearing her denial, Ichigo frowned slightly.
He did not understand why everyone thought it wasn't Rosse.
In his heart, Rosse was the first suspect.
The feeling Rosse gave him was just not good.
It couldn't be that every single time they met, the mastermind just happened to be hiding beside Rosse.
"The mastermind with the ability to control the five senses first appeared a hundred years ago. At that time, Rosse hadn't even shown up yet," Yoruichi said with certainty.
"How do you know he hadn't shown up?", Ichigo shot back, "If he can control the five senses, he could've fooled everyone and hidden inside the Seireitei all along. Don't you think he knows Soul Society a little too well?"
"That's true…"
Yoruichi frowned slightly. She really had no way to refute that.
Rosse's appearance had been sudden to begin with.
He had seemed like those captains who came from Rukongai, rising quickly in a short time, without any obvious abnormalities.
But Rosse had risen too fast.
He became a captain with ease. Then Head Captain Yamamoto was defeated and fell unconscious. After that, through a series of circumstances, Rosse became the Acting Head Captain. And then the entire Soul Society began to thrive.
At that thought, Yoruichi shook her head.
"It won't be Rosse. If it were Rosse, he would have no reason to reform the Gotei 13. Whether he's someone from the Royal Palace or the mastermind behind the Hollowfication experiments, there would be no reason for him to strengthen the Gotei 13."
Even though she and Rosse, along with Shiba Kukaku, were already enemies, she could not go against her conscience and pin false charges on them.
If it was them, it was them. If it wasn't, it wasn't.
Shiba Kukaku ending up like this was partly her responsibility. She would not stoop to falsely accusing them of being from the Royal Palace.
"If you put it that way, the logic doesn't hold. Anyway, if it's not him, then it's Kyoraku Shunsui," Ichigo frowned.
For him, the situation had actually become more troublesome.
His goal was simple: save Rukia and Inoue Orihime.
But the problem now was that Rukia was being held in the Ninth Division. With his strength, forcing his way in probably would not work. He couldn't just count on Kurosaki Masaki saving him again, nor could he drag Aizen into it.
As for Inoue Orihime, she had already been rescued once, only to disappear again. That made things even harder.
"We'll know if we test them."
Yoruichi had never been the type to sit around guessing. For her, acting was always better than overthinking.
From Ichigo's words, she could tell one thing.
He definitely had his own secrets. But he definitely was not on Rosse's or Kyoraku Shunsui's side.
That alone was enough.
Now that even Aizen might not be the mastermind from back then, her entire way of acting had to change.
She had to find out who that person truly was.
And there was a simple way to do that.
"How do you want to test it?", Ichigo asked with a frown. He truly had no ideas left.
"We're going to the Tsunayashiro family. There's a passage there that leads directly to the Great Spirit Book Corridor. Even if Central 46 is sealed, we can still sneak in," Yoruichi said seriously.
That secret path was known only to the Shihoin and Tsunayashiro families. And now both families had been exterminated. The only person left who knew about it was probably her.
No matter who the mastermind was, they would never expect that someone could infiltrate the Great Spirit Book Corridor at a time like this.
At this critical moment, that person probably had not had the time to alter the records inside.
Only by going now could they check Inoue Orihime's location and uncover information that had not yet been hidden by the mastermind.
"The Great Spirit Book Corridor? Let's go! We're going!", Ichigo's eyes lit up.
He knew about the Great Spirit Book Corridor too, and that it recorded all events that happened in Soul Society.
He just had never known where it was exactly, so he had never thought about going there.
"No time to lose. We leave now!"
"Let's go, go, go!"
═❀═❀═❀═❀═❀═❀═
[email protected]/AmbitiousTranslator
🥳Joining P@treon keeps me motivated and eager to work diligently, so please consider joining.🥰 You can access upto 20 advance chapter through P@treon.