Inside the Seireitei.
The figures of Yoruichi and Ichigo Kurosaki shot through the tangled alleyways like two bolts of lightning.
They moved at extreme speed, heading straight toward the Fifth Division.
However, this was a dead end that had already been carefully woven.
No matter how hard they tried, that door leading to the truth was never going to open for them so easily.
"Well! Well! What do we have here? Two little mice who've lost their way?"
Not long after the two of them left the noble district and turned a corner, they ran straight into someone who had clearly been waiting for them.
It was a man with short silver hair and narrow, smiling eyes.
Ichimaru Gin stood there with both hands tucked into his wide sleeves, a signature foxlike smile hanging at the corner of his lips, sly and dangerous, staring directly at the two who had just skidded to a stop.
Even though Gin did not know exactly what Aizen and Rosse were doing, he was certain of one thing; in the entire Soul Society, when it came to scheming and methods, no one could outplay those two.
Since that was the case, this bunch of fools who were bound to be eliminated were obviously not his allies.
All he had to do was carry out Aizen and the other man's orders.
"Captain of the Third Division… Ichimaru Gin!"
Yoruichi abruptly stopped, her whole body tensing as she stared at him with a grave expression.
This road led neither to the Third Division nor to any major route.
Meeting this dangerous man at a time like this, she could not tell whether it was just bad luck or whether he had already calculated their route and was deliberately blocking them here.
But whichever it was, getting to the Fifth Division today had just become much harder.
"Oh my~ No need to be so tense."
Gin tilted his head with a cheerful smile, that carefree look making it impossible to read what he was really thinking.
"I know you're both strong, especially that orange-haired kid. If we really fought, I might not even be your match."
Before he finished speaking, he suddenly turned his head toward the shadows beside him and called out softly, "So, Kira!"
"I understand, Captain!"
The blond, gloomy young man who had been standing in the shadows without a trace of presence, Lieutenant Kira Izuru of the Third Division, immediately stepped forward.
He did not draw his sword. Instead, he raised a finger toward the sky and began rapidly chanting a long Kido incantation, "Silken net of black and white! Twenty-two bridges, sixty-six crowning sash; footprints, distant thunder, pointed peaks, revolving grounds, nightly prostrations, sea of clouds, the pale ranks of troops, complete the grand circle and surpass the heavens!"
"Bakudo number 77: Tenteikura!"
Buzz!
As Kira gave his final low shout, a mysterious ripple of spiritual pressure burst from his fingertip like waves, instantly shooting into the sky and spreading in all directions faster than sound.
"Damn it!"
The expressions on Yoruichi and Ichigo's faces immediately turned extremely grim.
Ichigo was not skilled in Kido, but after that devil-like training under Aizen, he still understood the basics.
Bakudo number seventy-seven, Tenteikura, was a spell used specifically to transmit information over a wide area.
In other words, the moment Kira lowered his finger, their location and information had already been exposed without reservation to every Shinigami in the Seireitei.
Under the encirclement of tens of thousands of Shinigami, going to the Fifth Division to rescue someone?
That would not be a rescue. That would be walking straight into a trap.
"Retreat! We'll have to make a long-term plan!"
Yoruichi clenched her teeth and made a decisive call.
She shot Ichigo a sharp look, worried this hotheaded kid might charge forward on impulse again.
"Don't be stupid! We might not have backup this time. If we get tangled up, those captain-level fighters will surround us in no time!"
Last time, there had been a bug-level powerhouse like Masaki Kurosaki stepping in. This time, there was no guarantee anyone would help.
"I get it."
Though unwilling, Ichigo clenched his fists. He also knew the situation did not allow him to act recklessly.
Because in his senses, several suffocating captain-level spiritual pressures were already rushing toward them from different directions.
Now that they were exposed, that cloak which could only suppress spiritual pressure but not make them invisible was completely useless.
Without any more hesitation, they stopped caring about the Fifth Division. They turned around and burst into shunpo, fleeing at high speed toward Rukongai, away from the core of the Seireitei.
Watching their retreating figures in a sorry state, Ichimaru Gin and Kira Izuru did not chase them down to block them. They simply followed unhurriedly from behind, putting on the posture of driving out intruders.
"Captain!"
While moving at high speed, Kira could not help but ask with concern, "Is it really fine to just let them go like this?"
"Oh, Kira, you're still too young."
Gin narrowed his eyes, smiling in a meaningful way.
"Don't be fooled by that orange-haired brat looking ordinary right now. If he's really pushed into a corner and turns into that mindless monster from the day before yesterday, our little bodies won't be able to stop him."
"You saw what happened to the West Gate, right? I don't want our bodies ending up like that."
"I understand."
Kira nodded and said nothing more.
Indeed, rather than fight to the death here and wreck the Seireitei, it was better to drive those two plagues as far away as possible.
———
At the same time, First Division Barracks—
The messenger from Central 46 had successfully delivered the search warrant onto the desk of Captain-Commander Yamamoto.
When it came to reasonable and lawful orders from Central 46, Yamamoto Genryusai Shigekuni had always refused none.
Though he could tell at a glance that there was the smell of conspiracy behind it, he did not reject it.
Before absolute strength that could crush everything, all schemes were nothing more than clown tricks.
Right now, he only wanted to recover to his peak condition as soon as possible. When that time came, all monsters and demons would turn to ashes.
"Pass down the order."
With a single command from the Captain-Commander, four Hell Butterflies(Jigokucho) fluttered into the air, delivering the order to the four designated captains in a very short time.
———
[Sixth Division, Captain's Office]
A Hell Butterfly perched on Byakuya Kuchiki's finger.
"A proposal from the Kuchiki family? A real-name report? Me?"
As he sensed the information transmitted through spirit particles, his usually calm face tightened. His brows locked together, and a flash of disbelief crossed his eyes.
'Absurd! Absolutely absurd!'
He had indeed gone to the Fifth Division late last night, but that had been a private action, and his only purpose was to test Aizen's stance.
As for any human from the World of the Living being hidden in the Fifth Division, he knew nothing about it.
Most importantly, ever since a few days ago, the Kuchiki family had lost contact with the elders in Central 46.
Besides, how could the Kuchiki elders possibly issue a search warrant like this without authorization from him, the head of the family?
This was clearly a frame-up. Someone had used the fact that he went to the Fifth Division last night to set a trap he could not argue against.
What was even more hateful was that the Kuchiki family had no way to explain this.
Because to outsiders, the fact that a search warrant had been issued by a Kuchiki judge, clearly stating that the head of the Kuchiki family had made a real-name report, was undeniable.
If he did not deny it, the charge of reporting would be confirmed.
If he denied it, it would mean the Kuchiki elders were speaking nonsense, even at odds with their own head.
No matter what he did, the face of the Kuchiki family would be utterly disgraced.
"The ability to control the five senses… Captain Kyoraku, was it you?"
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